Leave your endless odes at the door please! Sometimes all it takes is a couplet to hit the spot. Post your witty or clever couplet of rhymed verse in the comments section below. Here are some examples from the challenge initiator Roy E. Peterson:
Our Christmas Party
Our office party was a blast.
The cop cars got there pretty fast.
A Pan Is a Pan
A pan is a pan. A kettle has a spout.
A man is a man. The reason will stick out.
Sitting in Public
If you sit in public and a stranger’s next to you,
Ask him, “Did you bring the money? I did what I had to do.”
Antivirus Wipes
I finally cleaned my house today and dusted TV panels.
Alas, my antivirus wipes lost all of the news channels.
If they tell you you must write a couplet
Please don’t leave it up to your puppet!
Great spur of the moment couplet! Thank you for sharing.
without my morning coffee
my brain is unwarmed toffee.
start the day with a sudoku
life will then make sense to you.
Sunday’s roast is best of beef:
a good head start for the next week.
Linda, how true were your excellent couplets! Thank you for sharing with us.
those are just off the cuff,
i will try to do more and post them tomorrow,
this is quite fun!
SILENCE IS GOLDEN UNLESS…
Silence is golden unless you have a two-year old.
In that case be suspicious, they’re into things untold.
WHEREFORE ART THOU ROMEO
“Wherefore art thou, Romeo?” Juliet spoke.
“I’m in the bushes, the ladder done broke.”
FACT CHECKERS
Friends said Noah’s crazy until the rain came down.
That is when we learned the first fact checkers drowned.
LADY GODIVA
Lady Godiva, have you no remorse
Riding through the village naked on a horse?
Lady Godiva with hair down past your breast.
I wish the wind would blow, so I can see the rest.
BACK FROM WHENCE THEY CAME
At my age raking leaves can become very hard.
I will let them blow back into my neighbor’s yard.
Roy, I love your take on Shakespeare!
Thank you very much, David!
‘Twas in a restaurant they first met, young Romeo and Juliet.
‘Twas there he first fell into debt, for Romi owed what Juli et.
Not really a couplet… but close enough!
Sounds like a couplet to me and a clever one at that.
Close enough for me and very clever.
I agree with jd. This is indeed one of, if not the cleverest couplets of those I have seen
It’s two perfect iambic tetrameter couplets. Excellent examples of the genre.
Thanks, JD, Roy and Richard..,Thanks!
All credit goes to my Dad who taught me the rhyme when I was a tot.
I’ve always thought of it as a quatrain:
‘Twas in a restaurant they first met,
Young Romeo and Juliet.
‘Twas there he first fell into debt,
For Romi owed what Juli et.
I took the liberty!
Be good to yourself; your ego dispel.
In no time at all, you’ve outsmarted Hell.
Excellent couplet, jd! Thank you.
About a Stupid Exercise Device
But the most idiotic rep
Belongs to what they call The Step —
A plank of laminated wood
That promises to do you good
If you just go up and down
On it, like a witless clown.
(from A Gallery of Ethopaths)
That is a great set of couplets, Joseph! I am ecstatic with your contributions.
Three Puckish Couplets
While knocking pucks into the net’s the goal,
To win Olympic gold is worth your soul.
Poor Canada fell short not onced but twiced.
And didn’t think it niced to be out-iced.
The Donald’s off-the-cuff, ice-hockey joke
Was proof beyond all doubt he isn’t woke.
They would have won the gold—a happy fate—
If Canada had been a U.S. state.
REWARD
Those who write poetry find a reward,
Is not knowing what it is like to be bored.
Wonderful and so true, Russel!
Excellent and timely, James! I particularly loved your “play of words” with “puckish.”
I hope you saw m comments a couple of comments below after Russel’s.
I can control the sun. Last night I bid
Him rise at seven-zero-two. He did.
I’ll try anything once. I’ve never passed
But I am saving BASE jumping for last.
Don’t write a book that people want to read.
Sell books that they think other people need.
Very clever couplets, Morrison! I am so glad you “controlled” the sun.” BASE jumping is not even on my to do list. What a great thought on what type of book to write!
Thanks, Roy. Love your couplets as well. You can start to worry when you get to Plan Z.
PLAN A -Z
Here is a quote for the fancy trend setters:
If Plan A does not work, there are 25 more letters.
TEXAS HEAT
The color of my grass is brown. I call it burnt sienna.
The heat dome Texas has now should be over the Sahara.
WHAT KIND OF FRIEND ARE YOU
A friend will offer you a warm hot toddy.
A good friend will help you move a dead body.
PARAPHRASED QUOTE FROM THE DEXTER TV SERIE
There are some people that I know whom I cannot forgive.
It’s not that some deserve to die, it’s some should never live.
FOUR TO FLEE
One if by land. Two if by sea.
Three to make ready and four to flee.
Here’s another from good ole Dad…
How ugly I are… my face is no shining star.
But I don’t mind it, I’m behind it, the folks out front get the jar!
A little off-meter… all in fun though…
Mike, a good one.
A gold medal performance brought the Kanooks to heel,
Rewarded with a happy meal.
If climate change is fake, and leaves you snoring,
Why is the Greenland Ice Sheet thawing?
Eat, drink, be merry, we’ll soon be dead,
with global warming on our grandchildren’s head.
I detect some tongue-in-cheek meaning in your couplets. Good ones for sure. I always wondered why Iceland was greener ice Greenland.
Hope exists in the darkest places
Ascending toward the brighter spaces
Great contribution, Vanessa, and so true!
Thank you! I think that it would look great on a t-shirt! Actually, it was inspired by my spinal surgeries.
Vanessa, I agree with you. It would look great on a t-shirt. Bless you for mentioning your spinal surgeries regarding hope.
the games they put on my phone
make my data counter moan.
bird watching is good for the brain
especially in the pouring rain.
Delightful couplets, Linda! Thank you for sharing.
From Boone—a novel in verse
1.
If we but wait and leave the tree alone,
the rotten apple falls all on it’s own.
2.
They say forgiveness is a Christian act;
I say it’s like the tree that shades the axe.
3.
Although revenge seems sweet when it is chased,
you’ll find it leaves a bitter aftertaste.
4.
If you spend time with skunks, ‘spite what you do,
you think the skunk will start to smell like you?
5.
Fer men, the Bible says revenge is God’s,
but reckon that it don’t apply to dogs.
Nicely done, Michael! There are some complex thoughts in these concise couplets.
STAPLED TO THE COUCH
A man was shot 100 times by an upholstery gun.
His wife had shot him on the couch, so that he could not run.
They pulled out all the staples in his skin they discovered.
Surgeons have said that by now he is fully recovered.
BIRTHDAY WISHES FOR AGING ADULTS
BETTER WITH AGE
Things get better with age, some say on reflection.
In your case I think you are approaching perfection.
VINYL RECORDS
While media changes and never is final,
don’t be embarrassed your music’s on vinyl.
COLLECTIBLE
You are not old; your heartbeats detectible.
You are not old, as a friend you’re collectible.
NO CURE
The older we get, of one thing I’m sure,
Old age is a thing that hasn’t a cure.
RICE KRISPIES
We become like Rice Krispies, crackle, pop, snap,
And at our age our happy hour is a nap.
GETTING BETTER
One thing to remember, in your birthday buzz,
The older I get, the better I was.
RUM
No matter how old, or what you’ve become,
there’s someone that’s older and still drinking rum.
FIRE EXTINGUISHER
When they light your candles, I hope they remember
To have in their hand’s a fire extinguisher.
I say, you are approaching perfection
And as a poet you’re becoming collectable
When all is broken, hope is banned
Life comes to take the witness stand.
Wallace, this one has such a great meaning!
A 1984 Prediction
Global warming’s out there, the doomsters say it’s true.
There’s only ten more years left for the likes of me and you.
A 2084 Afternoon
The bay outside my window, ain’t raised a dad burn inch.
It ain’t no warmer, neither, and that’s a frickin’ cinch.
Mike, fantastic marriage of two clever couplets! I am with you on the climate conspiracy.
sun is glowing in the gloaming
while i watch the sea waves foaming.
(nice trochees).
ignoring Smokey Bear’s grim warning;
ignited forests die through scorching.
(this one contains a beglet, or beginning matching syllble).
someone should make a cento , actually duocento from some of
all these posted couplets.
Linda, both of those are thoughtfully written. I am glad you called attention to their wonderful features with your notes. They are captivating and excellent.
i had a little more time,
not just a cent and a dime.
what can eleven cents buy?
not even a pie in the sky!
I love your allusion to “pie in the sky.” Thank you, Linda.
Here’s another recycled one… I understand that recycling can save the planet…
Night Terriers
I suffer from insomnia, each night I burn in Hell.
Strangely, I’m agnostic and dyslexic – I can’t spell.
I toss and turn all through the night; my head is in a fog,
Deliberating over the existence of a doG.
I catch what you did and why the double couplets. Clever indeed!
Day Tripper
I bought a pair of shoes in town last night.
My sneaky dealer said, “They’re dynamite!”
Today, I’m trippin’ everywhere I go.
What did he lace them with? I’d like to know.
Creative as the “sneaky-sneaker” dealer.