The cover of Les Linz’s latest book, “A Year of Lesricks: 2022 Volume I,” was created by Seymour pastor Gary Dyer.
Submitted photo
Laughter. It’s what Lesricks are all about.
What are they? Limericks written by Les Linz of Seymour, who has written an entire book of them called “A Year of Lesricks: 2022 Volume I,” released April 29.
Linz writes limericks on a weekly basis for an internet prophecy program by The Superior Word, a Sarasota, Florida, church led by Pastor Charlie Garrett.
The Superior Word is named so because the church is located on Superior Avenue in Sarasota. Though situated in Florida, the church has listeners all over the world.
Linz is fond of writing limericks, and in 1992, he decided to rewrite the entire Book of Matthew in limericks. He wrote 573 limericks that were personally reviewed by Mark Taylor, then president of Tyndale House Publishers.
“He said he thought they were well-written, but Tyndale had no use for them as they didn’t publish poetry,” Linz said. “As any aspiring writer, I appreciated the comment, and as any aspiring minister of the gospel, I disagreed with his theology.”
Linz saw the Matthew limericks as creative commentary, and though he has never had the manuscript published, he still has a rough copy of it. A limerick is a five-line poem with a strict rhyme scheme and a reasonably strict meter and is almost always used for comedy, according to literaryterms.net.
It wasn’t until 2016 that Linz visited The Superior Word for the first time and met Garrett.
“Charlie and I had an enjoyable chat before the update and service, both broadcast over the internet,” he said. “Our conversation included the various works I’d already published, or almost published in the case of the Matthew limericks.”
A short time after Linz returned from Florida, he emailed Garrett to ask what he thought about him doing a limerick each week for the prophecy update story of his choosing.
“He liked the idea, and so did I, so the next week saw the first of over 300 Lesricks, the term Garrett gave the poetic commentary on his commentary,” Linz said.
Linz’s wife, Kathi Linz, also is an author and eventually decided to make the weekly limerick writing a competition. Sometimes, Garrett will read both of their submitted limericks.
“Charlie is a very colorful character, and we enjoy him,” Linz said. “He has a long beard and wears a bandana, and the best way I could describe him is just think of Merlin the wizard.”
“A Year of Lesricks: 2022 Volume I” contains about 50 Lesricks, and the release of the book is timely because National Limerick Day was May 12.
The front cover of Linz’s book was created by Pastor Gary Dyer, a local minister and Vietnam veteran. In addition to his illustration skills, Dyer is a phenomenal evangelist, Linz said.
“Gary and I meet weekly for ministerial meetings that are part Bible study and then maybe coffee, and I noticed Gary likes to doodle, and one time, he doodled a picture of me,” he said. “When it came time to choose a book cover, I learned that humor and political humor books were mostly using exaggerated caricatures, so I knew just the person to ask.”
Linz said the art on the back cover of the book was drawn by Douglas Kallerson, who also does illustrations for The Superior Word’s Bible studies and sermons.
Linz said what he would like for people to take away from his book is to be able to laugh at life and also to encourage them to tune in for Garrett’s prophecy updates or his sermons.
The Superior Word website can be found at superiorword.org. Dyer can be reached at [email protected], and Kallerson has a blog at irishpropheticart.com.
Linz’s new book and his eight other book titles can be found on Amazon or by contacting him on Facebook.
