[Dixielandjazz] Verses

[Fred Spencer]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: Fred Spencer 
To: Fred Spencer 
Sent: Tuesday, October 26, 2004 12:19 PM
Subject: Verses


The interest in haiku reminds me of another abbreviated verse form,--the "Clerihew". Named after its inventor, the erudite English author, Edmund Clerihew Bentley, it is "usually biographical in nature and consists of two rhyming couplets. There are no restrictions concerning the length of the lines" (William Cole, "Pith and Vinegar.  An Anthology of Short Humorous Poetry"). One of Bentley's best known originals is: 
Sir Cristopher Wren 
Said, "Iam going to dine with some men.
If anybody calls
Say I am designing St. Pauls."

and another, with the occasional disregard of a name:
The Art of Biography 
Is different from Geography.
Geography is about Maps
But Biography is about Chaps.

Turning to jazz (two of mine from from the Potomac River Jazz Club's "Tailgate Ramblings"):

Sammy Kaye
Could often Sway.
But attempting to Swing
Wasn't his thing.

When Louis played
Sweethearts on Parade.
Said Guy to Carmen
"How asbsolutely charmin'."
Cheers
Fred