Off the Beaten Poem Path: Writing the Clerihew

This is the Open Write, a place for educators to nurture their writing lives and to advocate for writing poetry in community. We gather every month and daily in April — no sign-ups, no fees, no commitments. Come and go as you please. All that we ask is that if you write, you respond to others to mirror to them your readerly experiences — beautiful lines, phrases that resonate, ideas stirred. Enjoy. (Learn more here.)

Our Host

Glenda serves on the NCTE Children’s Poetry Awards Committee and writes a poem a day as part of the Stafford Poetry Challenge. Glenda blogs at Swirl & Swing: www.glendafunk.wordpress.com   

Inspiration

Back in 2022 Mental Floss published an article about “11 Offbeat Types of Poems You’ve Probably Never Heard Of.” The feature introduced me to the CLERIHEW, a short form invented by Edmund Clerihew Bentley. The first Clerihew featured Sir Humphrey Davy, a chemist:

Sir Humphrey Davy
Detested gravy.
He lived in the odium
Of having discovered Sodium.

The clerihew often eschews concern with meter. “In fact, clerihews are often intentionally arrhythmic (and not quite historically accurate) to make them seem more juvenile and therefore funnier.” 

Process

The clerihew form follows these guidelines:

• Four lines long. 
• Rhyme the first two lines. Rhyme the last two lines. 
• The poem should be about a person identified in the first line.

Compose a clerihew or check out the other offerings at Mental Floss. Feel free to write as your heart and inspiration lead you.

Glenda’s Poem

bad billionaire bromance

it had to happen:
the explosion implosion
of a transactional romance–
bad billionaire bromance

As you’ll no doubt notice, I’m taking a little liberty with the form. I also realize writing this poem and prompt a year in advance may mean my topic isn’t timely, and these two greedy men may be back together by the time you, dear poets, read this.

Here’s another version of my poem, but I like the first one better.

the Trump-Musk bromance–
a doomed billionaire dance–
ended in a messy split
as two greedy men pitched a fit

Your Turn

Now, scroll to the comment section below to write your own poem. (This is a public space, so you may choose to use only your first name or initials depending on your privacy preferences.) Not ready? That’s okay. Read the poems already posted for more inspiration. Ponder your own throughout the day. Return later. And, if the prompt does not work for you, that is fine. All writing is welcome. Just write something. Oh, and a note about drafting: Since we are writing in short bursts, we all understand (and even welcome) the typos and partial poems that remind us we are human and that writing is always becoming. If you’d like to invite other teachers to write with us, tell them to subscribe. Also, please be sure to respond to at least three writers.