Nonsense poems have delighted our childhoods and colored our imaginations to portray that anything is possible. Children delight when we recite them. My Welsh Grandmother would make up her own. I went like this.
Lauren a boren a wick stick sporen, a rye leg, a bow leg, a bumpkin Lauren. I know tee hee its nutty.
But it did not stop me reciting the same to my son when he was little, His went like this – Sammy a bammy a wick stick mammy, a rye leg, a bow leg a bumpkin Sammy, and yes he used to laugh at the nonsense of it.
I love nonsense poems, they are a play on words for the rebellious amongst us that refuse to stick to the rules. I have been writing poems since I could pick up a pen and to be absolutely honest with you I was never taught any rules and to this day, I have no idea what they are. One of my personal hates are the critics, the lingo nerds who look down on us riff raff and pour disgust over our writing skills.
You would never tell an artist to stick to the rules, well not these days. Take the artist and poet Edward Lear
What on earth was going through the head of Edward Lear when he wrote the most famous nonsense poem of all times, The Owl and the Pussycat. Remember how they went to sea in a beautiful pea green boat, they took some honey and plenty of money wrapped up in a five pound note……who would do that? He wrote the famous poem for his friends daughter who was three at the time. But I love the freedom and creativity of a good ole bit of nonsense writing, especially when we make up words to fit the Rhyme.
On the Coast of Coromandel
Where the early pumpkins blow,
In the middle of the woods
Lived the Yonghy-Bonghy-Bò.
Lears, artistic talents included landscape painting and illustrations of birds and animals. He was a great source of inspiration for others, and many of his works are still treasured today. He was the first to write limericks, we all have tried those rhymes as kids. As the 20th child of 21 siblings, you can imagine the words he must have played with in the nursery, very wooblydoodly if you see where I am coming from.
In a former poem that I wrote with a friend, we created a place on our pages called the Murky Splurge. It was here that mixed-up words converge. Make of it what you will. Readers can make sense of it, if they are able to read between the lines.
Nonsense poems are often written for kids and they sometimes start off with a parent making up words and singing them to a tune as they rock their child to sleep or amuse them to try and make them laugh.
Creamy dreamy. Teenie weeny. Tiptop teary. Cheeks all bleary. Nosy posey. Lips all rosy. Cheeky chin me. Great big grin me. Tickle my Tummy. Naughty mummy. Ice scream, You scream. Its so dreamy. Ice all creamy, You are meany. Easy peasy. Pat your kneesey. Freezy squeezy. Tiptoe teasy. Toes are blowing. Feet are growing. So supposing Eyes are closing.
You just make it up as you go along.
This nonsense has been so absurd
remember the yellow fluffy bird
the one that led a merry dance
and then for two months went to France
The hatter stuck his stick in the ground
and with piercing eyes, he looked around
a circus ring in one big tent
to where the mad have now been sent.
Bring on the bees they are the clowns
and foolish actions let them down
they were not spies just keeping stum
they ran to the sound of the freedom drum.
The frog stood proud his stake was bare
for it was never really there
so they gave him a hat, a coat and a whip
a ringleader he with a hop and a skip,
But the show is now over
the curtain had dropped
and all the ideas
are about to go flop,
can he keep up his chin
as the crow swoops in?
there s a butterfly ball
it will happen in spring.
It will flip and then flop but it will never stop
till the ego it feeds on gets caught in the mop
and starved of attention is the only cure
and that’s when the frog will hop out the door.
So the bees and the wolf now the spider as well
all met on the sand to break the spell
the power of love and a friendship now broken
and all are set free so words can be spoken.
So why does a poet or writer revel in nonsensical verse? What are they trying to achieve? Because being a tad silly is good for us. Bringing in humour can make light of a situation. In a world that is sensitive and wants to be taken seriously, a bit of nonsense can help us to stay grounded. My kids remember their funny poems and will pass them on to their own kids and so on and so on.
