Advance Warning
If I catch you cheating, this is what I’ll do:
first, I will remove myself completely from your view.
I’ll take a long vacation to some desert isle
to learn acts of seduction and perfect my guile.
Of course, I’ll have to practice on a man or two,
and if I’m a slow study, perhaps I’ll have a few.
And then when I get home, I’ll know how to cheat on you!!!
For Esther’s Writing Prompts, the prompt is “Catch.”
Edvard Munch, The Dead Mother (1899)
Lonely
Whatever I say to her, Mommy can’t hear,
so I’m raising a hand to cover each ear.
Monkey see, monkey do is a familiar rhyme
but she doesn’t seem to see me this time.
She’s either sleeping or maybe she’s ill,
tucked under covers, all quiet and still.
Because daddy is busy and feeling real sad,
I’m afraid if I bother him, it would be bad.
But, once she’s finished napping, I hope that she’ll say
that she is all rested and ready to play,
For dVerse Poets
Kittens reacting to Morrie and Diego, jealousy barking at the closed gate that separates them from their arch rivals, the cats.
Cat Napped
My dear little creatures, I did not expect
that your lives and mine would intersect.
I didn’t know in the hush of my life
your antics would make such a mush of my life.
I spout silly names like “kitty” and “baby.”
Have I gone dotty? I must admit, “Maybe.”
I’m given to lying prone on my bed
letting the boy kitten claw at my head,
combing my hair with his kittenish claws
as his sisters cavort without mercy or pause,
biting my fingers and licking my knees.
I let them assault me wherever they please.
I find them adorable and entertaining.
Besotted with kittens, my interest is waning
in matters less feline. I neglect the dogs.
Leave them to possums and squirrels and frogs.
I feed them and throw an occasional ball,
but lately, obsessions more easily fall
into matters of cat, I’m embarrassed to say
it’s entirely possible one day I may
turn into that cat lady, brunt of those jokes
told by low-lifes in bars and other brash blokes
making fun of those who, although different, perhaps,
get pleasure enough from cats on our laps!!!
(From 9 years ago…)
The Epistoler
One persistent lunatic, he urged incessantly
for me to view the letters that he had written me.
Mere pranks, they held the bones of words, lacking pulse and skin.
Only a fool would open them to see what lurked within.
His ghastly mind existed in a world the devil cast––
dark and cruel and twisted. Interminably vast.
If he goes east, I must go west, my hand curled in a fist.
The world would be much better if he did not exist.
For the Sunday Whirl Wordle 779 the prompt words are: letters urged exist pranks view incessantly west fools lunatic bones ghastly vast
One No Trump
It seems that any smartie would
have questions of the hardihood
of one who can’t control his urges,
but opens mouth and simply purges!
It’s anything but recondite
that he is less than erudite.
He stammers and he mispronounces
as he proudly mis-announces
facts and figures he’s invented,
letting out hot air that’s pented
up inside his roiling brain.
The scuttlebutt? This man’s insane!
For the present, we’re stuck with him,
but (we hope) his future’s grim.
In the future, perhaps a cell—
a domain that would suit him well.
No more oval office for
this vain and posturing dimwit bore!
If they ever choose to make
a movie of this shyster flake,
casting’s bound to be a bummer—
choosing between “Dumb” and “Dumber.”
Which will most aptly replicate
our soon-to-be ex “Fool of State?”
photo and collage by jdb
Waiting for the Rest of Her Life
She has faith in the future that her life will fit.
She sits at home patiently, planning on it.
But as she sits waiting for the rest of her life,
the fear it won’t happen cuts like a knife.
As day after day goes by in a whirr,
she’s starting to realize it might not occur.
Her little white dog lies curled up beside her,
but stroking his coat won’t relieve what’s inside her.
She’s yearning for something–she’s not quite sure what.
Inside her, the want of it roils in her gut,
then digs itself deeper into her soul.
It’s like playing a game where she can’t find the goal.
In every city, far up, looking down,
there are folks in tall buildings, surveying the town—
every alley and walkway for as far as they can
eyes staring out as they survey and pan
the small world below them that must have an answer
to this life that’s consuming them like a slow cancer.
I want to tell them that love can’t find you.
You must lean yourself over and pick up a shoe.
Put it on, then the other one. Walk out the door.
Waiting’s not what life was intended for.
We were pushed into life at the time of our birth,
and life goes on pushing all over the earth.
So all of you people with all of your faces
behind all these windows in all of these places,
Give up your pining and wishing and hoping.
No happiness lies in all of this coping.
Go find your soulmate, no matter the weather,
and then you can spend your life waiting together.
I don’t know why we all look so pleased about that really big one on my chin.
Teenagers are a strange species. This photo circa 1961, summer camp.
Zits
(A Cure for Acne)
Hormones need an exit too,
and I fear, dear teen, it’s you
they choose to make their mark upon;
but rest assured, they’ll soon be gone.
The need for Retin-A is urgent
when a new batch becomes emergent,
and though you quell the vile insurgent,
all too soon it is resurgent.
The solution for you is not simple.
You might consider veil and wimple
that hide both blemish and that dimple,
or simply choose to pop the pimple.
And though your folks will foot your bill
to pop, instead, the pimple pill
or swathe your face with Clearasil,
another can show up, and will.
Most folks my age have reached concurrence,
so please accept our reassurance.
Against each crop there’s no insurance.
it simply takes faith and endurance.
You might obsess and cry and pout
and wonder what it’s all about;
but it will pass, without a doubt
when age replaces it— with gout.
Kittenish
Happy child with brand new kitten,
fully rapt, besotted, smitten.
Length of yarn a perfect toy
for kitten, pulled by playful boy.
Every toy another gimmick,
child on floor, a playful mimic.
Rolling over, willy-nilly,
feeling loving. Feeling silly.
All day long, antics and fun
in the house or in the sun.
Inside, outside, all the same.
With a kitten, life’s a game.
Sundown creates a sleepy-head
tucked under covers, snug in bed.
Mom and Dad survey the scene.
Gentle snores. Quiet. Serene.
Window open, curtains billow.
Kitten curled up on the pillow
nested in her master’s hair.
Two creatures in their common lair.
From Oct. 16, 2019
Skinny-Dip
If he’d been more well-imbued,
perhaps the ladies might have queued
to be the one he might have wooed.
Instead, when he swam in the nude,
all the women bathers booed,
making comments crass and lewd.
His face turned pale, then roseate-hued,
his manner cringing and subdued
as he hurried to elude
each smug and cruel insulting prude—
the cat-callers who stood and viewed
that poor unfortunate naked dude.
As those ladies,smug and rude,
Departed, calling his act crude,
as each one passed me by, I mooed.
The prompt today was “Subdued.” (This is a reblog of my poem published on my blog on October 15, 2016––Ten years ago today.
The words to tussle with for The Sunday Whirl 778 this week were: anchor search moment laugh find inhibits comfort always want squirrel spaz auto, but I decided it was too much of a hassle to do so last Sunday. Let’s seen if I’m better equipped to deal with them today!!
Yes.. I admit the illustration is by Meta AI!!!! Shame on me.
Social Security
Protective of my comfort, I don’t search trouble out.
I prefer a sheltered life. It’s true without a doubt.
I’ve never sought to have a match with a spastic squirrel,
for the truth is that I’m an inhibited sorta girl.
I don’t find fun in restless seas. I much prefer an anchor.
Laughter is my favorite state. I do not thrive on rancor.
I always cinch my seatbelt tight when riding in an auto.
I don’t play craps in Vegas and I don’t waste cash on lotto.
Moment by moment, I just want the safest way to be.
On comfort and security, I claim monopoly.
I’m the tamest person that you’ll likely ever see.
“Precautionary” is a word that fits me to a “T.”
