Inspired Poetry

[kb83]

This quote of Charles Haddon Spurgeon reminded me of a limerick I posted to another one of his. I'm including the comments and then at the end, my limerick which was to a different one of his.

"None are more unjust in their judgments of others than those who have a high opinion of themselves. "
— Charles Haddon Spurgeon

montyb
May 14, 2015, 1:53 pm
You think so, Butterball?
oddcouple
May 20, 2015, 3:59 pm
Butterball?
LLapp
June 9, 2015, 12:43 pm
He was named after two different kinds of misspelled fish.
universalmom
January 15, 2016, 11:07 am
Hahaha hilarious comments
kb83
March 8, 2017, 11:42 am
Were his names mis-spelt?
Roxanne
April 5, 2017, 9:28 am
Looks a little porgy to me.
slow1
July 18, 2017, 8:45 am
How can any of us criticize without becoming that very judgmental person. Is there anyone who never judges?
badbob
August 20, 2017, 12:26 am
Buddha is always represented as a little fat guy but no vitriol from the resident intellectuals on this site ..save it for the Christians , much easier targets
LLapp
January 31, 2018, 7:08 pm
Vitriol? Where?
blueladyblue
August 11, 2019, 5:29 pm
It was either the Butterball or the misspelled fish that got to bob. So I'll go ahead and say it: Buddha is a misspelling of barracuda. Feel better?
MissKitty
December 14, 2019, 2:53 pm
Kilroy 150 Hi fish names don't surprise me. Isn't Jesus known to be the great fisherman.
NotTooOld
May 24, 2020, 9:01 pm
I always think this is a most wonderful portrait. I wonder who the artist is? I think I have tried to look it up. I wonder if I found the answer.

Young Charles Haddon Spurgeon
Was dining on a sturgeon
So rare it was
It snapped its jaws
And he required a surgeon.

[kb83]

"The last temptation is the greatest treason: To do the right deed for the wrong reason. "
— T.S. Eliot
CarpeLanam
August 5, 2013, 8:33 am
From "Murder in the Cathedral."
tgreen517
August 9, 2015, 5:50 am
Well, at least it rhymes.
LLapp
September 1, 2016, 9:38 am
But what rhymes with "cathedral"?
LLapp
November 15, 2016, 8:07 pm
I've got it -- tetrahedral!
Andy451
March 30, 2017, 12:47 am
Beagle, seagull, Beatle, triangle, wrangle, spangle, squirrel (almost!), catalogs made by Spiegel, people, steeple, purple, toe nail, feudal, and ephemeral. And if'n you want to kick it up a notch, try cooking with Emeril. Bam! For T. S. Eliot, believing in the British god out of personal despair and terror at the meaninglessness or absurdity of life might have been his last temptation and greatest treason. Don't do it, Eliot! Murder in the Cathedral isn't that good of a play. For every one person religion liberates, it enslaves a million. Believe in that!
vintage38
March 18, 2018, 4:01 am
28 seconds
Persephone59
March 24, 2018, 11:34 am
In the room the women come and go talking of Michelangelo.
Eureka
December 12, 2018, 4:59 am
How often this is true.
zengard
August 31, 2020, 12:29 pm
My Crypto story: When I get 20, everyone else gets 10.
kb83
March 8, 2022, 4:39 pm
A poetical man T. S. Eliot, / Of men, limned the brawn and the belly fat. / And deaths in cathedral, / And plots polyhedral, / And the mystical magical jellicat.
xenia
October 4, 2023, 5:37 pm
I , for one, have always like this line from TS Eliot. It seems true to me
LLapp
January 23, 2024, 10:27 pm
Thanks to Andy451 and kb83 for accepting my challenge!

[hrossa]

Wow, those are good! Two by darkyr, I hadn't seen poetry from him before. Nice!

[LLapp]

Four poems, all theme-based, all in one thread! These are so good that I guessed at line breaks; my apologies if any line break doesn't match the author's intent.

"There is something about a bureaucrat that does not like a poem." — Gore Vidal

Roxanne
January 1, 2017, 2:16 am

blank spreadsheet flutters
in hot wind from angry boss
quarterly closing

darkyr
November 3, 2017, 4:11 am

See the trend,
lurching and reeling
across the graph,
like a fiery line
highlighting
your misfortunes.

blueladyblue
April 23, 2018, 11:10 am

Setting forth the righteous
pencil-gripping billers,
pleased and joyous, lo,
born to be form fillers.

munchlet
November 7, 2018, 6:55 am
Nice spin on Robert Frost's poem.

darkyr
October 3, 2022, 3:20 pm

Oh, political activist,
railing, fist clenched
Do you not see you are
the orchestra of the play?
Sometimes wailing,
sometimes silent
Yet the actors continue
on their way.

[kb83]

"Poetry is a way of taking life by the throat. "
— Robert Frost

universalmom
September 26, 2012, 11:20 am
Wow! That must be some violent poetry
WRQ9
November 17, 2012, 10:30 pm
Subtlety has it's very own adventurous side, with pitfalls and treachery, for those who are opened to it.
Andy451
May 22, 2016, 5:29 am
Frost figured out a lot of stuff alone in the dark, on especially cold nights, particularly. Read the great essay on him by Joseph Brodsky called On Grief and Reason. If every person in the world took a month off to read his poetry, and discuss, and write about it, the world would be a better place. And who couldn't stand being better acquainted with the night?
skeeter
December 22, 2017, 10:37 am
I grabbed a stanza by the throat / and killed it in its prime. / The cops arrested me, and now / I'm doing rhyme crime time.
munchlet
January 14, 2018, 10:45 am
Clever verse, skeeter. Thanks for the recommendation Andy.
LLapp
February 10, 2018, 3:51 pm
Skeeter, sounds like something from Law and Order: IPU (Iambic Pentameter Unit)
vintage38
May 13, 2018, 3:39 am
28 seconds
Queethebean
May 29, 2019, 5:18 pm
What are you in for, buddy? Armed robbery, and you? Poetry.
pickleball
December 30, 2020, 1:54 pm
easy, bobby !! Andy451 ,can't afford to take month off, you know ,bills, food,gas etc.. ps, i'm very acquainted with the night, years ago anyway stay safe all and happy new year!!
jbb33054
May 18, 2021, 5:08 pm
46
kb83
June 30, 2021, 11:45 am
LLapp, wonderful idea! If I may, though: "Common metre or common measure—abbreviated as C. M. or CM—is a poetic metre consisting of four lines that alternate between iambic tetrameter (four metrical feet per line) and iambic trimeter (three metrical feet per line), with each foot consisting of an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable." Skeeter's (wonderful) poem is da Dah da Dah da Dah da Dah da Dah da Dah da Dah. (repeat) So this would be Law and Order CMU.
abra
July 18, 2022, 7:31 pm
Poetry fight! Poetry fight! Oh, skeeter, what have you wrought. (Yes, I know it's not a real fight and LLapp will be delighted with the discussion. )

[Eureka]

"Poetry is the lifeblood of rebellion, revolution, and the raising of consciousness." — Alice Walker

pickleball
December 22, 2020, 11:13 am
i'm no poet, and believe me i know it!!

[kb83]

A cryptogrammer's garden of verse?

[skeeter]

Thanks, hrossa. Yes, I'm a painter. Watercolors. Thanks for remembering.

[kb83]

Just saw a cryptoquote by John Barrymore, and it is not the quote that inspired my limerick (below), but I don't know if I will ever see the one that did inspire it again. It was a quote in which Barrymore referred to a girl (woman) as looking like a "haddock" when the lighting was better.

Anyway, I saved the limerick (obviously):

There was a great actor named Barrymore,
In love he was not one to tarry more,
“This girl is a haddock
So back to the paddock,
My attention I shall give nary more.”

On 9/1/2025, I found the quote: "Love is the delightful interval between meeting a beautiful girl and discovering that she looks like a haddock."
— John Barrymore

Also, I found the original limerick I wrote which was (and I think I prefer):

There was a young actor named Barrymore,
In love he was not wont to tarry more,
"This girl is a haddock
So back to the paddock,
A concern for her I shall have nary more.

[hrossa]

I think I remember seeing that one of our members is an artist, maybe Skeeter?

[LLapp]

Not I -- I don't draw. But I'm thinking it should be someone who draws like James Thurber.

[kb83]

Well I know it would not be I! Something tells me it's you, LLapp. (It sounds like fun.)

[LLapp]

Kb83, a little book full of original limericks (and other poem forms) that are each inspired by a quote from someone or somewhere, from antiquity to today's headlines, might not be a bad idea, even in the shrinking world of book-publishing. I'm thinking something pocket-size that might display nicely in the impulse-purchase area of the bookstore because it would be so fun to peruse. Hmm, now I'm wondering who would be the perfect illustrator....

[kb83]

Here’s one with several poetic contributions, and I just added one.

"It is a sad fact about our culture that a poet can earn much more money writing or talking about his art than he can by practicing it."
— Wystan Hugh Auden

Barnabas
March 17, 2012, 6:16 pm
There once was a poet named Hugh In dollars he earned so few But when he wrote or he spoke The poverty dam broke And like weeds his money just grew
montyb
April 3, 2012, 6:19 pm
Nice, Barnabas! I love a good limerick. Heck, I even like bad ones.
abra
September 21, 2013, 2:40 pm
I'm always amazed that there was a time when people made money writing poetry. Nowadays, it would have to be set to a tune. Or are there bread winning poets out there still?
JD_1947
December 4, 2014, 5:58 am
There once was a poet but you wouldn't know it, He wrote and spoke trying to show it, Though the dollars came in, He just couldn't win, No one read the lines that he writ . . .
hrossa
November 21, 2020, 1:24 pm
Lol, enjoyed the poems! Maya Angelou did quite well financially
marnita
November 24, 2020, 8:59 pm
You can probably make good money writing advertising jingles.
gracefulghost
December 4, 2021, 10:13 am
I think if my name were Wystan that I might consider just using my initials, too
jbb33054
January 9, 2022, 9:53 pm
85
RedEnoch
December 27, 2022, 4:27 pm
And even more fixing toilets.

And I (KB83) added on 3/9/2025:

A poet named W. H. Auden
Complained of the path he had trodden,
"For my verse they won't pay,
But they want me to say,
How it causes our culture to broaden."

[LLapp]

Mayo / may owe -- nice.