A Word with Laurie: Nonsense

“I like nonsense, it wakes up the brain cells. Fantasy is a necessary ingredient in living.” ~Dr. Seuss

According to good ole faithful Webster, the word nonsense means meaningless or absurd words or actions; and anything trifling or of little use.

As far as poetry is concerned, nonsense verse, or amphigory, is light-hearted and rhythmical word play. It contains muddled or ambigious grammar that transposes the meaningless into something meaningful, as in this excerpt from One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish by Dr. Seuss:

In yellow socks

I box my Gox.

I box in yellow

Gox box socks.

...or the incompatibility of phrases can be a form of nonsense poetry, as shown in this example:

'I see' said the blind man to his deaf and dumb daughter

as he picked up his hammer and saw.

…or poems with nonsensical meaning or situations rather than drivel can be a form of nonsense verse, as demonstrated in Jack Prelutsky’s piece:

Katy Ate a Baked Potato

Katy ate a baked potato, strolling through the mews

in her yellow elevator alligator shoes.

That was Katy’s last potato, she did not survive-

her elevator alligator shoes were still alive.

~~

Lewis Carroll, Jabberwocky

Of course, Lewis Carroll is perhaps most well-known for his use of nonsense in his pieces, as you can see in this excerpt from Through the Looking-Glass:

Jabberwocky

’Twas brillig, and the slithy toves

Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;

All mimsy were the borogoves,

And the mome raths outgrabe.

~~

Here’s one by yours truly, written last year:

To Gibberish
by Laurie Kolp

Frain breeze,
trimb clees,
squain meeze,
chiss sweeze;

pockey huck,
stumb-duck,
measy gruck,
trast f____ (oh,dear)-

the older I get
the more I find
gibberish spewing
from my mind!

~~

~~~   ~~~

Roald Dahl

Habberdegosh! Let’s join the ranks of Edward Lear, Jack Prelutsky, Roald Dahl, Lewis Carroll, Shel Silverstein (and many more); write some nonsense doggeryosh. Oh, and it does not have to be a children's poem or Limerick either.

But then again, you might just want to use the word nonsense in your piece... or ballderdash, poppycock, baloney, fandangle, jabberwocky, gobbledygook, mumbo jumbo, malarky, rigmarole, flummery, flimflam... you get the picture. Have fun being silly!

Post the link to your poem on the Mr. Linky and then leave a comment. Please visit others who have linked to this prompt, especially those who have visited you.