It’s not just the sound of laughter that makes us giggle along, sometimes it’s also what we see. Sparkling eyes and a wide, toothy grin are downright contagious. This clever and witty poem paints a portrait of an interesting man, none other than a cheeky Edward Lear:
How pleasant to know Mr. Lear,
Who has written such volumes of stuff.
Some think him ill-tempered and queer,
But a few find him pleasant enough.
His mind is concrete and fastidious,
His nose is remarkably big;
His visage is more or less hideous,
His beard it resembles a wig.
He has ears, and two eyes, and ten fingers,
(Leastways if you reckon two thumbs);
He used to be one of the singers,
But now he is one of the dumbs.
He sits in a beautiful parlour,
With hundreds of books on the wall;
He drinks a great deal of marsala,
But never gets tipsy at all.
He has many friends, laymen and clerical,
Old Foss is the name of his cat;
His body is perfectly spherical,
He weareth a runcible hat.
When he walks in waterproof white,
The children run after him so!
Calling out, “He’s gone out in his night-
Gown, that crazy old Englishman, oh!”
He weeps by the side of the ocean,
He weeps on the top of the hill;
He purchases pancakes and lotion,
And chocolate shrimps from the mill.
He reads, but he does not speak, Spanish,
He cannot abide ginger beer;
Ere the days of his pilgrimage vanish,
How pleasant to know Mr. Lear!
—by Edward Lear
MAKE ME LAUGH, PHOTO PLAY PROMPT: Take a photograph of laughter. Within your frame, create a scene that invites the viewer to join in and laugh a little, too.
NOTE TO POETS: Looking for your Monday poetry prompt? On Photo Play weeks, it’s right here. Find inspiration from the photo in the post and respond with a poem. Leave your poem in the comment box. We’ll be reading. 
Photo by Boudewijn Berends. Creative Commons license via Flickr. Post by Heather Eure.
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Richard Maxson says
https://www.flickr.com/photos/125528196@N08/15953151416/
Prelude To a Kiss
This is one of those movies you see
over and over. No not that one,
with Alec Baldwin and Meg Ryan.
This one features my two daughters
and has been revised through the years
to accommodate their ages.
In the original movie one was three,
the other nine, that alone sets up the conflict.
It may have been colored pencils
or a pad of paper then. A couple years later,
CDs, hairclips, maybe even airspace,
stuff they both had in equal amounts.
Little girls pull hair and pinch. Outgrowing
that, there are the accidental slaps on the arm,
the wrestling over territory resembling
thunder. Older now, questionably fully grown,
they’ve learned what eyes can do, how
they are capable of rolling into white,
or staring holes through personal space.
It is a constant revolving of roles
from that other movie Beauty and the Beast.
There are long silences, like in a Bergman film.
In the end, there is the love and laughter,
suddenly, like a plot, but there is no script for this.
Heather Eure says
Love the poem. Love the photo! Thanks for sharing it, Richard.
Dolly@Soulstops says
Richard,
I enjoyed the images of your daughters in your poem…for some reason, this phrase struck me..”that alone sets up conflict”…not sure why…maybe I’m thinking about my younger sister and I?
Richard Maxson says
Thanks for commenting, Dolly. Sounds like you know this movie quite well. As my youngest, Abby, once said, when we asked why do you and Ally fight so much—”It’s what sisters do.”
Richard Maxson says
What a great photo by Boudewijn Berends. No one laughs like a child.
Edward Lear and Ogden Nash are the funniest. I always think of this one by Nash, when I think of funny poets:
The Purist
I give you now Professor Twist,
A conscientious scientist.
Trustees exclaimed, “He never bungles!”
And sent him off to distant jungles.
Camped on a tropic riverside,
Once day he missed his loving bride.
She had, the guide informed him later,
Been eaten by an alligator.
Professor Twist could not but smile.
“You mean,” he said, “a crocodile.”
–Ogden Nash
Heather Eure says
I like Ogden Nash, too! I read one of his poems at a recent wedding reception while giving a toast:
To keep your marriage brimming,
With love in the loving cup,
Whenever you’re wrong, admit it;
Whenever you’re right, shut up.
Didn’t give the title (“A Word to Husbands”) because it clearly goes both ways. 🙂
Richard Maxson says
Very funny and yes it does go both ways. Thanks for acknowledging us husbands.
Richard Maxson says
Walking
I cannot help
but notice the old oak
still has its scars;
for us,
what gives me hope
is not the cuts,
curled and tar
brushed,
not the homes
like hives,
nor the lush branches,
drooping
over the streets
and drives,
but last year’s cars,
invisibly aging,
powerless
against the birds
pooping.
L. L. Barkat says
Ha! 🙂
Richard Maxson says
Thanks, Laura. Glad you liked it.
Heather Eure says
Powerless, indeed. The birds do it on purpose, I’m convinced. Jerks. 😀
Nicely done, Richard!
Monica Sharman says
This month’s theme took me back to this post:
https://www.tweetspeakpoetry.com/2013/08/29/top-10-funny-poems/
and I just remembered that my “Limburger Warning” was mentioned there! 🙂
http://us2.forward-to-friend2.com/forward/preview?u=9e5e4dd4731a9649c1dd1cf58&id=f6adf85f4e
Heather Eure says
Limburger Warning is still one of my favorites, Monica!