I composed the four limericks below for the summer reading event with the St. Charles Writers Group, sponsored by the St. Charles Public Library in St. Charles, Illinois. As always, I appreciate the group’s indulgence that everything we do always has to be Science Fiction for me.
I also like to indulge myself with SF tropes, sometimes respecting them, sometimes having a little fun at their expense.
I hope you enjoy my short attempts at humor. [TV-MA warning: In keeping with limerick tradition, the fourth verse is a bit bawdy.]
Little Green Men [I don’t know why aliens have to be green.]
There was a little green man known as Gluck
Cheered by fans for his courage and pluck
He jumped in his ship
Gave the launch switch a flip
‘Cuz an interstellar trip sure don’t suck
Invading Earth (and losing) [Why do aliens, who can journey across interstellar space, miss these minor details?]
An alien species from space
Plots against Earth from their secret moon base
Ignoring the virus
A human snack’s more desirous
Their conceit saved the whole human race
Watching TV [OMG. No wonder they want to come and wipe us out.]
They came, and they watched our TV
To blend in on Earth was the key
In pursuit of their ends
They watched too much Friends
And figured we survived on coff-ee
Extra Appendages (Gluck arrives on Earth) [And they always seem to have an extra something: eye, arm, leg, ???]
Gluck used his stellar cartography
To come to LA’s film geography
He won the girls’ hearts
Using both his male parts
And landed a role in pornography