[2]
Human language ranks even above the much-vaunted opposable thumb in my book. Sure, thumbs came in handy for our ancestors when it came to throwing spears at bison and such, but I think we can all agee that it was when humans developed the ability to order a mastodon sirloin rare with a side of sloth that things really started to take off progress-wise.
The human brain has a positive genius for nonsense [3]. I'm not talking about its propensity for buying exercise equipment [4] at 3 a.m. [5] based on the testimony of a well-oiled Mr. Olympia [6] while its fleshy chassis sprawls in a La-Z-boy whose cushions bear a permanent and anatomically detailed imprint of its nether regions. I'm talking about its facility with lines like, "`Twas brillig, and the slithy toves / Did gyre and gimble in the wabe: / All mimsy were the borogoves, / And the mome raths outgrabe."
Below are a few collections of nonsense verse from the Harris County Public Library.
Cautionary Tales for Children [7] by Hilaire Belloc; rediscovered and illustrated by Edward Gorey 
[8]
They've Discovered a Head in the Box for the Bread and Other Laughable Limericks [9] / collected by John E. Brewton and Lorraine A. Blackburn
The Complete Illustrated Works of Lewis Carroll [10]
Phantasmagoria and Other Poems [11] by Lewis Carroll [computer file]
The Hopeful Trout & Other Limericks [12] by John Ciardi
The Poems of Lewis Carroll [13], Selected by Myra Cohn Livingston, Illus. John Tenniel, et al.
Revolting Rhymes & Dirty Beasts [14] by Roald Dahl [audio cassette and downloadable audio file]
Vile Verses [15] by Roald Dahl
Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats [16] by T.S. Eliot ; drawings by Edward Gorey
The Headless Bust : A Melancholy Meditation on the False Millennium [17] written and illustrated by Edward Gorey
[18]The Iron Tonic, Or, A Winter Afternoon in Lonely Valley [19] by Edward Gorey
A Book of Nonsense [20] by Edward Lear
The Jumblies [21] by Edward Lear
Of Pelicans and Pussycats [22] by Edward Lear
Boshblobberbosh: Runcible Poems for Edward Lear [23] by J. Patrick Lewis; illustrations by Gary Kelley
Ghastlies, Goops and Pincushions [24]by X. J. Kennedy
A Book of Pigericks [25] by Arnold Lobel
A Penny Saved Is Impossible [26] by Ogden Nash
I Wouldn't Have Missed It: Selected Poems of Ogden Nash [27] /
Verses from 1929 on. [28] by Ogden Nash
The Penguin Book of Limericks [29] / Compiled by E. O. Parrott
A Book of Nonsense [30] by Mervyn Peake
Rhymes Without Reason [30] by Mervyn Peake
Ride a Purple Pelican [31] by Jack Prelutsky
Fox in Socks [32] by Dr. Seuss
On Beyond Zebra [33] by Dr. Seuss
Falling Up: Poems and Drawings [34] by Shel Silverstein (also in Chinese [35])
Remain in Light [36] / Talking Heads [CD]
Stop Making Sense [37] / Talking Heads [VHS]
Gross Songs Kids Love to Sing [38] by Twin Sisters Productions [electronic source]
*Amphigouri [39]
**Granfalloons [40]
***Cromulent [41]
Sir John Tenniel's from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and courtesy of Wikimedia Commons [42]
- Arnold Lobel [43]
- Dr. Seuss [44]
- Edward Gorey [45]
- Edward Lear [46]
- Hilaire Belloc [47]
- John Ciardi [48]
- Lewis Carroll [49]
- Limericks [50]
- Mervyn Peake [51]
- Nonsense [52]
- Ogden Nash [53]
- Phantasmagoria [54]
- Poetry [55]
- Roald Dahl [56]
- Shel Silverstein [57]
- T.S. Eliot [58]
- Talking Heads [59]
