Prologue:
Can you figure which one I like best?
I'll post it along with the rest.
And we'll just wait and see
Whether 'Crafters agree
When the lot of ye's put to the test:

- - - - - - - - - - -

A.
On her way from Chicago to Rome
In a yard was a rather large gnome.
It was clothed all in red
In the dead flower bed
So she nicked it and took it right home.

B.
A shepherdess hailing from Rome
Distracted with mirror and comb
Lost track of her sheeps
But 'Cool it,' say peeps:
They'll soon bring their waggy tails home.

(note: Rome NY, has hills & sheep)

C.
Picket Fences was set in Rome
And the judge looked a beardless gnome.
Ray Walston, the judge,
That Martian, oh fudge!
Wisconsin or Mars was his home.

(note: see here, here, and here)

D.
A pompadour'd fella from Rome
Struts proudly and preens with his comb
They say he’s no churl,
But can't keep a girl --
It's just that he's hung like a gnome.

E.
Mrs. Slocombe traveled to Rome.
Her pussy she left on its own.
When the men didn't leer
Or come anywhere near,
She drank the whole flight back home.

(note: see here) )

F.
The city I'd like to call home
Is Italy's fabulous Rome.
Pizza, museums.
Art, Colosseums -
All over the country I'd roam.

G.
Hab says, "Let's all go to Rome."
The one with the Catholic dome?
Or the one in GA
With the K K and K?
Forget it, Hab, I'm staying home!

H. (Thanks to Geoff for the inspiration)
Alice wandered and found herself mome(1)
'Twas in Rome(2), or in Rome(3) or in Rome(4)
Or in Rome(5) or in Rome(6)
Or in Rome(7) or in Rome(8)
She had wandered from brillig(9) till gloam(10)

(notes:
(1) lost, far from home, according to Humpty Dumpty
(2) Rome, Illinois
(3) Rome, Iowa
(4) Rome, Kansas
(5) Rome, Kentucky
(6) Rome, Maine
(7) Rome, New York
(8) Rome, Italy
(9) four in the afternoon, according to Humpty again
(10) The time immediately after sunset - Collins English Dictionary )

I.
Young lovers will fly off to Rome
To hug on a hill in the gloam
While back in LA
The crooks have their way
Stealing all the contents of their home

J.
In Italy there is no Rome
It's "Roma" Italians call home
Rome Oregon, Iowa, Maine,
And many more; get on a plane
Any fly to one with your yard gnome!*

(note: see here)

K.
Some words about Roma in Italy:
In English it's spelled with a little "e"
It's been there for aeons,
Housed Doges and peons
And lots in between, he said wittily.

L.
A limerick is sort of a poem
You can rhyme the word gnome with Rome.
A short line goes here.
Now, isn't that clear?
Forget it. I think I'll stay home.
____________________________

I think this is all we're gong to get, so here they are. Some are noteworthy, at least in the eyes of their authors; some are gleeful and some despairing; some conversational and some didactic; some recurring themes; some meta-limericks (limericks about limericks).

For Kalleh - our list if rhymes-with-Rome is
- comb
- dome
- gloam
- gnome
- home
- mome
- own
- poem
- roam
Make of it what you will.

And incidentally Italy rhymes with
- little-e
- wittily
(and -prettily, too, for that matter)


Have at it, folks ! :-)

This message has been edited. Last edited by: haberdasher,

My last minute entry didn't make it in on time, I see. No matter, it was not competitive in this great field, although I also used "gloam."

It's a dead heat between H and K, with C making me smile the most. I LOVED Picket Fences!!! Soooo, you can't count my vote.

F and I are the same, Hab.

So they are. Mea culpa. I've fixed it now!

I'm choosing B.

I had a hard time with this one. I am not as big on perfect rhymes as some are, but I do like perfect meter. At least for me, and I read them a number of times trying to make the stresses work, there were only one or two that worked. So - my pick: D (Geoffs?). It slides easily off my tongue and is funny.

I did like H, which I think was Bob's, as well. My own had good meter, but the content was a little drab. I just couldn’t come up with something clever.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Kalleh,

Running Vote Total. So far -
A -
B |
C
D |
E -
F -
G -
H 1/2
I -
J -
K 1/2
L -

As for the rhymes for Rome, you are right, Hab, that there were quite a few. I just had a hard time working with them. I was anxious to see what others would do.

For the record, as I am still learning to write these things, we aren't allowed to use homonyms to rhyme, such as roam rhyming with Rome in F, are we? Also, with K, Rome isn't used as the last word in sentence 1 or 2, which I thought is a requirement? I actually liked both of these limericks, but eliminated them for these reasons. Was I wrong in doing so?

Sattva, you are right about both of those limericks. F was mine - how stupid of me not to have realized it was a homonym! We went back and forth about where the venue should be rhymed, but in the end we decided on LL 1,2 or 5 - though of course the designated place should be at at the end of any of those lines so that it can be used in the rhyme. That’s really the whole point of this game - rhyming words with the chosen place. Actually, Bob started this game many years ago.

Besides not meeting the rules, I like them! If it makes you feel any better Kalleh, I wanted to use roam, too, and then remembered that I couldn't! The Italy one was quite good I thought, though it wasn't Rome at the end of the sentence.

quote:

Also, with K, Rome isn't used as the last word in sentence 1 or 2, which I thought is a requirement?

Stickler-for-the-rules though I usually am, I'm not sure I agree with you in this instance. When Rome was first proposed as our destination, the first response was to point out its ambiguity. If whoever-it-is wanted to clarify that as "Roma in Italy" then that's its name (at least for this limerick) right there at the end of the first line. Yes?

Edit - It _is_ bending the rules a bit, I grant you.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: haberdasher,

Cast my vote for A.
Wish I'd written one about a yard gnome.

Running Vote Total. So far -
A |
B |
C -
D |
E -
F -
G -
H 1/2
I -
J -
K 1/2
L -

I get poetic license, so you're good with K, hab. (It is yours, right? )

However, for Sattva's question, the rules are that the place can be put at the end of lines 1, 2 and 5 - but not in lines 3 & 4. I know because once I wrote what I thought was a great one, but put the rhyme in line 3. No one would vote for it (sob! sob!). I should have pleaded poetic license!

Not tellin’. At least not till after the polls close.

quote:

Originally posted by bethree5:

Wish I'd written one about a yard gnome.

Here's a Gnome in a yard: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nk9Dl6RZxmQ

Ha ha, geoff. Interesting. I'd hoped to post a pic of a yard gnome in a dead flower bed [the detail I fancied in Lim A], but google images has only gnomes or dead flowers. No imagination!

D

Has Stu voted? Looks like there might be at least one more vote out there.

Running Vote Total. So far -
A |
B |
C
D ||
E -
F -
G -
H 1/2
I -
J -
K 1/2
L -

Shu hasn't voted but the polls are still open. I haven't either, but as current Geographer-in-Chief I only vote as a tiebreaker; since at present D is ahead 2-1-1-0.5-0.5- my vote isn't needed.

...and as we all wait with bated breath - take a peek here !