I love a good joke and I love a good limerick. This poem isn’t quite a limerick because the first line doesn’t rhyme with the second and fifth lines, but it’s close; it has the same rhythm and length, and almost the same rhyme scheme. So, it’s almost a limerick.
And it’s also a pretty good joke, if I do say so myself. At a recent school visit, I recited this poem to a group of third and fifth graders. The fifth graders all got it right away. It took some of the third graders a minute, but once they got it, they all laughed.
If you’re in third grade or younger and you don’t get the joke, feel free to ask a parent or older sibling to explain it. Once you get the joke, I think you’ll laugh too.
By the way, if you like this poem, I think you’ll also like my poems “I Miss My Sister” and “My Teacher Ate My Homework,” which have similarly surprising endings.
I Washed Our Dad’s Car
I washed our dad’s car with my sister,
to clean off the grime and the grunge.
My sister got mad and
complained to our dad and
asked, “Why can’t he just use a sponge?”—Kenn Nesbitt
