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