ghastly_geography_limericks epitome of incomprehensibility The title laughing_in_horrific_times reminded me of last year when there was horrific fire in Maui. It scared me, but I also wrote a silly limerick about it for my Ghastly Geography collection. A few days later, some misfiring group of braincells conspired to have me recite it in front of my dad: A quiet young girl in a choir Was burned by the flames of desire. Her crush in Hawaii? She found him kawaii, But alas! He was truly on fire. Dad's rebuke was something like: What's wrong with you now? Don't you have any compassion?? This I asked myself and then David, that time through a computer screen. I concluded something like this: I can have compassion about something bad and also put it into a joke. The first doesn't negate the second. The moral badness comes in if/when I use morbid for the purpose of bothering people. Now, this time it wasn't completely cruel or targeted, but I could have thought ahead and guessed the limerick would bug him - he worries about both global warming and human evil. I do too, asking, for instance, a) Why am I mean sometimes? b) Why do I think reusable straws excuse otherwise non-reusable plastic cups? For shame. But this wasn't all self-revolving. Turns out it related to some things David was thinking about concerning the intersection between ethics and aesthetics. Namely, ethical badness doesn't automatically make something aesthetically bad, but it can contribute to devaluing it as art. If this holds, though, than so does the reverse: making something aesthetically good contributes to moral goodness. I wasn't sure I agreed about this part. If I see an artwork I find interesting, it does give me pleasure...but is that ethically good? Isn't it just neutral? Regardless, my rhymes were bad. Kawaii/Hawaii indeed!! ...But my only edit was to change "burned" to "scorched" because I found "scorched" a more interesting word. As for the planned chapbook, I didn't make a collection of these for David, just gave him a crossword puzzle I made. If I do collect these and feel compelled to include natural disaster in some double-ii place, maybe it's safest to stick with Pompeii. Except I didn't think of anything to rhyme badly with Pompeii yet. Except that the Pompeii volcano was horrible too - too_late for many, if not too_soon for us. On a lighter note, with two eyes: Young Frankenstein tried to recall Where he'd gotten his monster parts. All The skin was from Finland, The eyes from Wake Island, And the nipples shipped straight from Nepal. 240113 ... raze my favourite limerick of my own isn't geography-related (alas), but it is pretty silly: for your birthday, i thought of a limerick. something witty but wonderfully basic. the second i wrote it, my manhood exploded. i guess i should stop huffing chapstick. (i can't for the life of me remember whose birthday it was when i came up with that.) 240114 ... e_o_i Ungeographical is okay! All the better to wander into goofy randomness. What_made_you_snicker_today if by "you" I mean "me." 240115 ... e_o_i Belles Lettres (for D.C.) With TM, an INFJ Can recall all his past lives, they say - But what's if he panics At all things volcanic With PTSD from Pompeii? 240808 ... Soma There was an old man from Peru, Whose limericks all stopped at line 2. 240809 ... raze (okay, i *did* think of one that might be semi-relevant.) there once was a woman named wanda who packed up all her things in a honda. upon reaching the pier, she cracked open a beer and said, "this ain't so much like rwanda." 240811 ... warmthofrelease Alright, here's the best ones from my stash (cracks knuckles in preparation) There once was a poet named Herman He's not very good but he's learnin Though he tends to offend For he so often ends Alle sein limericks auf deutsch Once a young vegan named Hugh Picked up the wrong sandwich to chew As he took his first bite He cried out with a fright OMG WTF BBQ There once was a small juicy orange ... ... ...fuck 240812 ... Soma There once was a man from Cork, who got limericks And haiku confused I saw this in the wild and thought of you, eoi. 240830 what's it to you? who go blather from