Limericks

Form: Limericks are a type of poetic verse with specific rhythm and rhyme.  They're usually five lines long where the 1st, 2nd, and 5th lines' rhyme alter from the 3rd and 4th lines' rhyme.

Limericks make for quite amusing reads.  Most subject matter typically leans to an exhibition of the ridiculous, making these the perfect poetical material for tweens.  Break out some Edward Lear to your elementary and middle school son's delight!  When you find your tweens on a critical streak, encourage them to place their complaint in the form of a limerick.  The humor will be a welcome relief! 

Where do I find limericks?  Shel Silverstein writes some catchy ones in Where the Sidewalk Ends, Falling Up, and A Light in the Attic.  Edgar A. Guest and Edward Lear are know for some ridiculous rhymes.  And Poetry for young People has a special volume devoted solely to Limericks.

Here's one by Edward Lear for your enjoyment:

There was an Old Man with a beard,

Who said, "It is just as I feared!

     Two Owls and a Hen,

     Four Larks and a Wren,

Have all built their nests in my beard!