Talk:Limerick

There once was a young man named Clyde,

Who fell down an outhouse and died;

The next day his brother had slipped down another,

And now they're interred side by side.

NefariousWheel 07:32, 8 July 2011 (EDT)

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Rhymed couplets have a history of their own in the pop art of American lore; they're enshrined in the early 20th century meme, the Burma Shave phenomenon. These were sort of a harbinger, sensitizing people to popular poetry who otherwise might not have picked up a book. They were a butterfly flapping in a bath of nutritious chaos.

"Within this vale / Of toil / And sin / Your head grows bald / But not your chin - use / Burma-Shave" (1933)

These were first published on a series of road signs placed alongside the Interstates as a sort of moving advertising jingle. You could still see them in the 1950's - or rather, I could, when my dad drove the anchovy truck to the fish farms in Victorville. They were a great discussion point among travellers, an early binding meme.

During one of those trips my father gave me my first taste of Dadaist art when he photographed a small skate (like a tiny manta ray) hanging from a Saguaro cactus in Antelope Valley.

When not driving a truck, he drove a Rambler, as should I.

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