Edward Lear made the form popular for children, and Anon wrote the great dirty limericks, and Garrison Keillor does both while pushing the limerick envelope. E. g. Here is a yawp for old Walt Whitman, who's well worth his salt Though sometimes he'll slip And just let her rip And say: Camerados! What is this blade of grass? Who am I? Who are you?" And you have to say HALT. Of course he deals in the vulgar. And the semi-salacious: Chopin wrote a lovely etude That, when performed in the nude By a mademoiselle Who plays fairly well Can certainly uplift the mood. Many are educational, including his 26-limerick abecedary for English majors. And also: The Confederate general Bob E. Lee Committed treason quite freely And General Grant Beat him up cause you can't Attack federal troops... I mean really. He's written limericks in honor of friends, members of the New York Philharmonic, his daughter's teachers, a quintuple for Emily Dickinson, and one for his ophthalmologist. My eye surgeon, good Dr. Khanna, Looked through her eyepiece down on a Novelist's retina Who thought he was gettin' a Vision of the blessed Madonna. Woven through the verses are terse reflections on daily life, work, faith, and the old man of St. Paul whose office was a toilet stall." | There Was an Old Man of St. Paul by Garrison Keillor, Hardcover | Indigo Chapters