Double Dactyls, the Higgledy Piggledy Poetry Thread

Cafe Society
1

While posting in verse to another thread (don’t ask), I did a little research and ran across something called a “double dactyl”. It’s a bit like a limerick; a short, strict-form and (ideally) humorous poem.

Eight lines, in two four-line stanzas. The syllables are 6-6-6-4, 6-6-6-4. The six-syllable lines should be double-dactylic (HARD-soft-soft-HARD-soft-soft). The fourth and eighth lines rhyme.

The first line is nonsense. “Higgledy piggledy” is common but I’ve seen variations.

The second line is the subject of the poem, usually a person.

If at all possible, one of the six-syllable lines in the second stanza should be a single word.

An example (from this site), about Sergei Rachmaninov and the difficulty of playing his music:

Higgeldy Piggledy
Sergei Rachmaninov
wrote his concertos for
handspans like wings.
Few realistically
can pianistically
digitalistically
play the damned things.

Another good page, with a little history, rules, examples and links.

And a few of my own attempts:

Inkery dinkery
Doonesbury, Doonesbury,
each day the newspaper
just goes to show
drawings and dialog
characteristically
spouting the sayings of
Garry Trudeau.

Dippity dopity
Zotti, adminstra-
tor of our friendly Straight
Dope Message Board;
easily maintains the
congeniality
'til sacred cows are de-
liberately gored.

So, join in. I know we have a few people here who consider themselves poets.

Tinnity tunity
doper community,
don’t let this just be a
good thread that flops.
Channel your energies
hexasyllabically;
mixed-metaphorically
pull out the stops.

MODERATOR NOTE: This thread is from 2003, until revived in Post #8. Just alertin’ y’all – CKDH

2

GAMES magazine had a contest about this some years back. I remember two other rules about Higgledy-Piggledy poems.

The first line is nonsense, such as “Higgledy-Piggledy.”

The second line is the name of the poem’s subject.

And the more six-syllable double dactyl words you can cram in, the better your style.

3

Higglesky pigglesky
Vladimir Ulyanov
Thought as he pulled into
Old Petrograd:
“Ulyanov, shmulyanov!
I need a monker.
How about Lenin? Well,
That ain’t too bad.”

Did that one back in the late Eighties after reading about them in GAMES magazine. OK, so it’s got no hexasyllabic words. I like it anyway.

4

Moppity floppity,
Summer is here and the
Heat is skyrockety;
Worst time of year.

Mercury’s soaring! To
Sweat is so boring! This
Superthermality
Calls for a beer.

5

Oops; didn’t see the rule about the second line being the name of the subject. But I don’t feel like spending another fifteen minutes chewing on this, so I’ll let my entry stand as is.

6

I didn’t realize these were a whole class of poem, but I always liked this one that I encountered on the net sometime in the early to mid '90s:

Higgledy-Piggledy
Kibo, ubiquitous
Greps for his name in the
Happynet spool.
Interdimensional
Cyberspace deity:
Didaktyliaios
Dada is cool.
– Lewis Stiller

7

Hollywood, schmollywood,
J-Lo and Benjamin’s
romance is everywhere,
so very sweet.
Pass me the insulin!
I need to hurl because
all the gays know
he and Damon slap meat.

8

After seeing this post in the recently resurrected thread, I became rather interested in double dactylpoems, thinking that it might be an interesting challenge to try to come up with some. A search revealed this old thread, so I figured I’d just post here instead of starting a new thread:

Since it’s an old thread, I thought it might be good to try a zombie-themed one:

Oogle-y Boogle-y
Zombie George Washington
Eating the brains of the
Founding fathers

“Unconstitutional!”
“Someone should stop that fiend!”
George keeps on eating 'cause
No-one bothers.
This was my first attempt at a “Higgledy Piggledy”:
Hippity hoppity
Slim Shady (Eminem)
Walking the 8 mile long
Road to Detroit

Who should he run into
Serendipitiously*
Yep Doctor Dre and his
Bling to exploit.

*I find it flows better with this word spelled incorrectly :wink:

9

Higgledy-Piggledy,
Tony Stark, Iron Man,
Heart’s made of chromium
Reinforced Steel.

Which he invented for
Sustainability,
Since a hole in his chest
Really never could heal.

10

I recall Time magazine had an article on double dactyls back around 1970. Another rule is that the sixth line should be one word.

Higgled Piggledy
William O. Douglas, Judge
had a propensity
for a young wife.
When she declared him
unconstitutional
he found a younger one.
Justice runs rife.

Douglas was a very Liberal supreme Court Justice back in the late 60’s with a young trophy wife.

11

One of my threads has been resurrected, I am beside myself with joy!

One of the things that makes these hard to write is that the subject has to be expressible as a double dactyl, and that kinds limits the people who qualify. When Cardinal Ratzinger became pope it was perfect, but I never came up with anything I was totally happy with.

12

I have the Hecht-Hollander edited “Jiggery Pokery” (somewhere), and though they did say that the single-word line being #6 was ideal, #5 or #7 were acceptable as well. WH Auden proposed to ban adverbs as the single-word line, but this was not accepted as law.

Anyway, I have posted this somewhere before, perhaps even this site, though I hope not. I’ll try to come up with something new, but for now:

Higgledy piggledy
Marian Anderson
Eleanor Roosevelt
Asked to perform

(Unconstitutional
Hall having reckoned her
Coloratura not
Up to the norm).

Sorry to use “unconstitutional” again so soon, but it couldn’t be helped.

13

Higamus hogamus,
Well-meaning amateurs
Rather too often get
Horribly stuck

Polydactylical
Metrical patterning
Leaves them defeated and
S.O.L.

14

One I remember from long ago:

Higgledy-Piggeldy
Rodion Raskolnikov
Belted two dames with a
broad-bladed axe.

“I am a victim of
Miseracordia;
Beaten,” said he,
“By religion and sax.”

15

Higgledy Piggeldy
Einstein’s relativity
Shows my stupidity-
I’m too dumb and fat.

I tried to study it
Wow- my head hurt a bit
When Mister Shroedinger
Showed me his cat.

(I just made this up while at work, between phone calls from an irate boss…)

16

I’m dropping in after lurking for ages to mention that my father, Paul Pascal, now 88, is the (half) inventor of this verse form. He was friends with Anthony Hecht at the American Academy in Rome shortly after World War II. Hecht was very pleased with himself one day because he had managed to write a poem with a one-word-long line (schistosomiasis). But then my father pointed out that the poem was iambic, while schistosomiasis is dactylic. My mother suggested that they come up with a verse form where the word *would *fit, and so the two of them invented the double-dactyl.

But when the time came to publish a book of them, my father withdrew. He was just beginning his career as a classics professor, and I think he thought a book of comic verse would compromise his dignity or something. So the book ended up being edited by Hecht and John Hollander instead. But it did include one of my father’s verses.

17

One of my favorites:

Higgeldy-piggeldy
Ludwig Mies Van der Rohe
Softly complained to the
Heavenly host,

“Buckminster Fuller says
Dodecahedronals
Carry stress better than
Lintel and post”

18

Cool. I’ve enjoyed them for a few decades now, and this insight is very interesting. Thanks for sharing!

19

I have the original book (1966, first edition). I found out about it from a Time magazine review, in which the reviewer wrote:

Higglety-pigglety
Anthony/Hollander
Two poetasters who
Write with one hand

Soon they must issue
New co-miscellania
If they’re to live off
The fad of the land.

And, being music-oriented, I must repeat a related verse:

Higglety-piggledy
Ludwig van Beethoven
Bored by requests for some
Music to hum,

Finally answered with
Oversimplicity,
“Here’s my fifth Symphony:
Duh, duh, duh, DUM!”

20

Higgledy-Piggledy,
Good old Methuselah
Lived many years and was
A bit of a stud.

Life was delightful, though
Antediluvian,
His days finally drowned
Whence cometh the Flood.