We recently started our poetry unit in the Reading Literature class I’m teaching this quarter at DePaul. To better understand how poets work with both content and form, everybody wrote two clerihews. The following are just a few of many fine examples, including the school-spirited…
Saint Vincent DePaul
Stares upon us from a wall.
Always promoting to do others good,
Being humane, as we should.
…the literary..,
Ernest Hemingway
Smoked cigars and drank all day,
And when not in the boxing ring
He wrote. And lived in Cuba like a king.
…the envious…
Oprah Winfrey
Must be so full of glee.
Money to spend or give away.
I would enjoy an Oprah Winfrey payday
…the fictional…
Harry Potter
Has no mother or father,
But he has a magic wand
And two best friends of whom he is fond.
…the heart-throbbing…
The lovely Justin Bieber—
If a thirteen-year-old girl sees him, she comes down with a fever.
Oh Baby, Oh Baby, Oh Baby…
This young pop singer kind of looks like a lady.
…the train-wreckish…
Courtney Love
Does things not to be proud of,
Yet still has a career.
Which, why? That is unclear.
…the Gaga…
Lady Gaga
Makes her fans say “Oh la la”
And wore a meat dress on the red carpet today.
Apparently she was born that way.
And the topical:
We have a new mayor named Mr. Emmanuel.
He can run the city without a manual.
And lucky for Rahm,
This city is also the bomb.
Thanks to my students for writing not one but two poems in a class where you didn’t think you’d have/get to write any.