Title: Around the World in Five Lines
Author: James B. Anstead
Publisher: URLink Print and Media
ISBN: 978-1-64753-717-3
Genre: Poetry
Pages: 46
Reviewed by: Allison Walker
Hollywood Book Reviews
Limericks have long held a spot in the hearts of children and adults alike for their playful themes and strict structure, which makes them all the more joyful to read, and poet James B. Anstead’s collection is no exception. Anstead’s collection of limericks, titled Around the World in Five Lines, is a fun and funny assembly. The title of the collection is called “Around the World in Five Lines” because each limerick is about a person from a different city doing something silly or being caught in an outlandish predicament.
Limericks are playful and humorous rhyming poems that follow a strict rhyming structure and cadence. The first, second and fifth lines must have seven to ten syllables, share the same verbal rhythm, and must rhyme. Likewise, the third and fourth lines must have five to seven syllables, and must have the same rhythm and rhyme. Creating a poem which follows these rules is difficult, making a poem that follows these rules and is genuinely funny is even harder still. Anstead nails it. Clever and funny, Around the World in Five Lines is an absolute delight. While the collection may not be altogether geographically accurate, it’s not altogether inaccurate, either. Who’s to say that certain aggressive soccer players from Mauritius aren’t accused of being too vicious and, concerning their style of play, wouldn’t claim those rumors were downright pernicious.
The purpose of the limerick is to be whimsical and funny and at this Anstead succeeds page after page. Some of his limericks are downright laugh-out-loud funny; for example, “An extremely vain woman from Laos/ Was quite proud of her polka-dot blouse./ Her friend said, ‘My thoughts with you I’ll share./ If that were the only thing I had to wear,/ I wouldn’t step out of the house.’” Anstead knows how to use a clever one-liner to crack a punchline and he does so again and again. Some of the vocabulary must have been a challenge to include or find a rhyme for; such as, “An aspiring young thespian from Belfast/ In his first role was sorely miscast./ He was required to play a tough Brooklyn rogue./ However, after hearing his thick Irish brogue,/ The audience was left utterly aghast.”
There is no age at which you cannot enjoy a limerick. Around the World in Five Lines is a joy to indulge oneself in and, as such, it demands to be shared. It’s impossible to imagine any reader who wouldn’t find a smile on their face upon reading Anstead’s Around the World in Five Lines.