This assignment was supposed to include imperfection, limerick, and enjambment.
I struggled with this one. I’ve been struggling a lot today, with my own imperfections and insecurities, and that certainly didn’t make writing any easier. But I guess some days you just spit out what you can and move on, getting some practice anyway and hoping something better comes tomorrow.
Grad School, Week 5
Some times I feel hard and frozen
I know that this is what I’ve chosen
But days like today
I don’t see a way
I’ll survive all of the corrosion
I know it is a game we signed
Up to play, mind versus mind
Maybe I’m not strong enough
(Though I like to think that I am tough)
I feel so awfully behind
Everyone else who has their work
I see them with that secret smirk
Judging those of us who lack
A pre-made project, some sure track
I wonder if their own doubts lurk
In secret shadows as my own
I cannot truly be alone
In feeling overwhelmed and blue
Surely there is someone who
Could recognize my tone
When I answer, “Oh, I’m fine.”
And know that that is just a line
We speak to calm ourselves
Putting feelings up on shelves
Oh please world, give me a sign
(It was weird to write a more serious limerick. I still have those 30 periodic table mystery element limericks I wrote nine years ago for fun– and used to give my high school students for extra credit, so those are my silly associations with the form.) [Warning: See below only if you are a giant chemistry nerd like me!]
#80
Oh it’s that liquid metal of fame
(Quicksilver is another name)
Used in thermometers
Also barometers
Yet turns you “mad as a hatter”—a shame!
#8
If you want to make something combust
Then this common gas is a must
Its liquid form’s blue
With the atoms in twos
It reacts with Fe to make rust
EDIT: For those of you requesting other element limericks, I’m attaching a worksheet I used to use in my class. I added many of the other limericks as well, so you can mix and match ones you think your students might know at different points in the year, or peruse them for your own entertainment. Fair warning, some of them are terribly clunky. It was just a fun diversion for me one semester as an undergrad. If you do reproduce/distribute them in your class, please give me credit. Thank you! You should be able to access them here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1URuMik4vJLqjgB1jJ58RrYRsfTJrQ5HhXyTrtWDvpCM/edit?usp=sharing
Let me know if you have any trouble!
No imperfections here! You went all out!
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Thank you!
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I love the nerdiness of these limericks, which I can say, because I am a geek:)
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Haha thank you– me too!
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Wow! I love the idea of a periodic table of limericks.
You are amazing! (You should publish your chemistry limericks somewhere on your page. Or sell them in book form to other chemistry teachers.)
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That is so nice– thank you! Maybe I’ll put a few more on my page in the future. I’d be happy to share them with any teachers who want them. I used to remove the number titles (which are, of course, their atomic numbers) and let my students guess after we’d learned a little.
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Well, if you’d be willing to share, I’d love to use them here in a small town in rural Zululand! 😊
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I’d be happy too, I’ll try to post more later tonight or tomorrow 🙂
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Thank you!!! 😊
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Ok, I posted a link that should work. Let me know if it doesn’t!
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Got it! Thank you very much. These are brilliant. 😊
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Thanks!
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I really enjoyed both sets of limericks — they both did something interesting with the form.
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Thank you!
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Very well done! I had to think reeeeeally hard for Day 4 assignment. Limerick alone is hard enough for me, with all the suggested rules (believe me, I’m a stickler for rules, and since this is my first limerick, I’d like to do it right… or close to it, anyway). And enjambment? Don’t get me started 🙂
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Haha I think you did a great job!
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Aw! Thanks!
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Well, I do like the periodic table. Always have. And I enjoyed the rhyme about quicksilver. You cover all the elements this way? The lyric about your feeling frozen is direct and honest. There’s no greater quality to have in writing. Uncertain, going through the motions, waiting for a sign. Don’t we all go through that? I think we do, though we all can’t say it. So Thank you!
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It was just a for-fun project during my first year of college. I made it through about 25 elements or so. I always wanted to do them all! Thank you for your kind feedback!
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Sure! Let me know when you finish the table. Or take up another complicated grid of information.
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