Bird Limericks: Verse About Our Fine-Feathered Friends

Hugh Oliver is editor-in-chief at the OISE Press.

The limerick is a deceptively simple verse form, which is probably why
so many people attempt it. Its simplicity is deceptive because, if you
don’t get the metre and rhythmical pattern right, it doesn’t work.
Many of the limericks in this collection do not work. The following is
typical: “A Brown Creeper climbing up trees / Came upon a nest of
bees. / It could have been worse / For he had no reverse / But he blew
off the bees with a sneeze.” Distressingly short on wit, and the first
two lines are metrically disastrous. But in view of the large number of
contributors (more than 150), the uneven quality of the verse is perhaps
not surprising. The seemingly random mix of typefaces doesn’t help
either.