Excellent idea. I will certainly be hitting this thread with some of my own limerick stylings. I'm assuming it will be permissible to be loose with the technical aspects of the form. Limericks are notoriously difficult to write formally because of the traditional use of anapestic or amphibrachic* meter on top of its legendary rhyming scheme (a-a-b-b-a).
* simply put, it's one of two syllabic stress formats, alternating short (unstressed) and long (stressed):
anapestic stresses: • • —
E.g. from William Cowper's "Verses Supposed to be Written by Alexander Selkirk" (1782):
I am out of humanity's reach
I must finish my journey alone
vs.
amphibrachic stresses: • — •
E.g. from Dr. Suess's
If I Ran the Circus:
All ready / to put up / the tents for / my circus.
I think I / will call it / the Circus / McGurkus.
(Thanks, Wikipedia)
* * * * *
But this is getting highly formal and traditional. The key is to at least maintain the rhyming pattern. Of course, maintaining the traditional levity helps too.
/poetry nerd