Marjorie Maddox, Winter 2017

Two Sets of Clerihews by Marjorie Maddox

Literary Clerihews
Marjorie Maddox

Shakespeare
has an ear
for lovely sonnets.
He must know phonics!

* * *

Edgar Allan Poe
loves to scare us so
with thumping hearts beneath the floor
and ravens squawking, “Nevermore.”

* * *

Peter Pan
won’t ever be a man.
It’s too much fun to stay
a boy and fly away.

* * *

Greedy Peter Rabbit
has the nasty habit
of always wanting more
carrots from McGregor.

* * *

Cinderella’s
prince-like fellow
met her through his second trade:
selling shoes to nice young maids.

---

Historical Clerihews
Marjorie Maddox

Franklin, Ben
thought in the dark and then
went out and flew a kite
and made it light.

* * *

Abraham Lincoln,
when all was said and done,
couldn’t tell a lie
no matter how he’d try.

* * *

Orville and Wilbur Wright
let their dreams take flight,
and then by dreaming more,
they made that airplane soar.

* * *

Babe Ruth
lost a tooth
somewhere between third and home.
If you can’t find it, you’re not alone.

---

Marjorie Maddox, professor of English at Lock Haven University, has published 11 collections of poetry, most recently True, False, None of the Above (Poiema Poetry Series); Local News from Someplace Else (Wipf and Stock); and Wives’ Tales (Seven Kitchens Press). Her short story collection What She Was Saying will be released in 2017 by Fomite Press. Co-editor with Jerry Wemple of Common Wealth: Contemporary Poets on Pennsylvania (Penn State Press), she also has published two children’s books, with several more forthcoming. (marjoriemaddox.com)