The last bunch of limericks I have to share is actually the first group that I wrote. The subject (the Mandela Effect) was also the most demanding and the most problematic. First, I wasn’t even sure that it quite fit the theme of the contest (events of the last 25 years). Second, in order for a limerick on the subject to make sense, you’d have to know what the Mandela Effect was, so ideally the limerick would directly reference it. But how do you squeeze the three necessary concepts (Mandela’s election, his supposed earlier death, and the phrase “Mandela Effect”) into five short lines? Limericks are simply not meant to hold so much information!
I tried, though, and it was not a bad thing to start out ambitiously. The effort got my brain working. Here are three of the variations that I came up with.
There’s a theory that Nelson Mandela
Really died in his old prison cell-a
Before his election.
A time-line correction?
Or simply a longer-lived fella?
In the year ’94 was elected
Ol’ Mandela, but now it’s suspected
That he died years before.
Some recall it. They’re sure.
So they say we’re Mandela-Effected.
Have you heard of the “Mandela Effect”?
Nelson died before being elect-
ed. The timeline has changed.
Please don’t call me deranged.
All the proof is on YouTube. I checked!