Freebie Mondays: Charity Stream Haikus and Limericks!

Back in August of 2023, amidst a hot, dry and largely rainless summer, a forest fire jumped the lake near where we live and ignited frightfully close to our house. I’ve detailed our experience with the fire in a pair of previous posts. Though thankfully, the flames never reached our neighborhood, and we were never ordered to evacuate despite spending a few nights at a friend’s house.

After our brush with natural disaster, and after hearing the stories of many friends who were suffering in other locations (earthquakes and hurricanes were happening at about the same time), my husband and I decided to run a disaster relief charity stream. Rather than setting a specific charity to raise funds for, we encouraged people to donate to any disaster relief fund that felt relevant or worthwhile to them.

We raised a fair amount of money for different charities, and provided some chaotic antics as reward incentives. For instance, Gh0stpeppr agreed to drink vinegar if someone donated $250 (which instantly happened, and he more than fulfilled his promise).

I can’t consume crazy things like vinegar and ghost peppers. My constitution simply isn’t strong enough. (I’m convinced my intestines are made of paper.) But I do have a few talents I’m happy to put to work, including the crafting of words. I offered poetry to the top five donators, and this is the first round of rewards – crafted on one of my streams, of course.

Our first winner, Exiledfae, requested their poems be dedicated to cats.

Here’s a cute little kitty-oriented haiku:

Adorable floof
Soft, fluffy murder machine
Let me rub your belly

And here is a cat-oriented limerick:

You like to spend all day lazing in sun beams
Though you are happiest with a bowl of cream.
And though you knock items to the floor,
You know I’ll never push you out the door.
Your adorable purr hides the plotting of your schemes.

Our second winner was Immersa, another friend of ours who streams. We have done charity events with Immersa before, and as part of the donation incentives, he prepared several small song clips to sing on stream. Including one of my childhood favorites – the Song of Nations from Animaniacs.

So I wrote this haiku in dedication to him:

Bard with golden voice
You know our youthful classics
Serenade our streams

Immersa is a fellow lover of dragons, so I dedicated his limerick to them!

Oh mighty lizard with majestic wings,
Never would I consider touching your things!
I know you breathe fire,
So I must avoid your ire.
But stories of your cunning tug all my heartstrings.

Our final winner for this round of poetry is Cauliflumps, a streamer who has become a good friend of mine and Gh0stpeppr’s. His stream avatar is a cauliflower, and his name comes from how his nieces name the vegetable.

This Haiku is dedicated to him:

Friend-shaped tree of white
Your laughter is infectious
Too sweet to be sus

Cauli’s limerick is dedicated to a series of funny incidents on stream. During a game of Raft he played with Gh0stpeppr, he named several animals after members of his chat. Some animals (such as goats) can be milked to provide ingredients for recipes. But instead of saying he would ‘milk the goat,’ Cauli would say “I’m going to milk Lisa.” (The name of his chatter).

(This story can be witnessed in clips here, here and here!)

In typical streamer fashion, this led to hilarious results, including this limerick:

One day, Cauliflumps needed milk from an unlucky goat
But he never considered granting her a vote.
He was warned of permission,
But wouldn’t stray from his mission,
He just kept shoving his foot down his throat.

That’s it for this round of poetry. But two of our winners were also promised sonnets, so it won’t be long before we try our hand at another round!

Incidentally, I streamed the creation of these poems, in case you’re interested in watching them come together!