Clerihews

The Clerihew is a brief poetic form used in the 17th & 18th centuries to satirize famous people. It fell out of favor, however, and few people in our times have ever heard of a "clerihew." I recently wrote these, and they were rejected by The New Yorker magazine last week . . . so I'll share them here.

News Clerihews

. . . a clerihew is a psuedo-biographical verse of two rhymed couplets in which the subject's name makes one of the rhymes . . . although not many people can recite an example of a clerihew.

Mark Kurlansky in Salt: A World History

Tiger Woods

Had the goods

But in reprise

He womanized.

Mark McGuire

Played with fire

And now, tsk, tsk,

He's an asterisk.

Conan O'Brien

Was flying high in

Late-night show

But had to go.

Jay Leno

Left the show

But got the dough in

Before Conan.

Meryl Streep

Tops the heap

Of actresses

In movie biz.