(Click on photos to enlarge them.)
The NaPoWriMo prompt today was to write a poem about poetry. I wrote this poem two years ago for NaPoWriMo, but it is perfect for this prompt, so I’m reblogging it. I also wrote another fresh poem today which you can find HERE.
lifelessons - a blog by Judy Dykstra-Brown

Poet Pie
Pick an armful of fresh words from the poet tree.
Trim off dry leaves. Dispose of the ordinary or over-ripe.
Choose words that flower when juxtaposed.
Choose tiny clinging bees that sting.
Choose pollen dusted blossoms that make you sneeze.
Choose fragile leaves that swing when you breathe on them,
staunch stalks that do not budge.
Throw them in a vase so that they go where they want to go,
then rearrange to suit your fancy.
Admire your arrangement
as you bring a stock to boil.
This stock consists of honey and vinegar,
water to float the theme,
lightly peppered with adjectives
and salted with strong verbs.
When the water boils, break nouns from your bouquet.
Tender stalks may be sliced to syllables, but leave the flowers whole.
Do not cook too long lest they be too weak to chew upon.
Scoop with a wire ladle and lay…
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This is the intricately beaded cape of a voladore or “flier.” More about this incredible Mexican ritual later. For now, let’s concentrate on the flowers.
Urban Princess
Those bucolic pleasures such as sleeping in a tent
are clearly not the pleasures for which this girl was meant.
I prefer my pleasures slightly more urbane.
Cooking over campfires? Definitely insane.
I find it most peculiar— this sleeping in the sticks—
where there are bears and badgers and mosquitos and ticks!
If life is a tapestry composed of warp and weave,
the warped part would be country life, I’m given to believe.
I represent the city scene. That is where I belong,
so If your plans include the countryside, I shall not go along.
Picnics? They’re for peasants. This sitting in the grass
with merely a thin blanket to separate your ass
from the dirt and ants and briars , friend, just isn’t me.
I prefer a terrace floor complete with canopy!
That’s the extent of sylvan pleasures that I’m content to try,
so if vacation plans are rural, I beg—just pass me by!
Disclaimer: This is an assumed personality, dear readers. I used to love camping and I’m not averse to cooking over a campfire or, if given a hand up afterwards, to sitting in the grass.
Prompt words today are warp, bucolic, represent and peculiar. Here are the links:
https://ragtagcommunity.wordpress.com/2019/04/28/ragtag-sunday-warp/
https://fivedotoh.com/2019/04/28/fowc-with-fandango-bucolic/
https://onedailyprompt.wordpress.com/2019/04/28/your-daily-word-prompt-represent-april-28-2019/
https://wordofthedaychallenge.wordpress.com/2019/04/28/peculiar/
Something in nature loves beauty. Nothing shows that as surely as these incredible birds.

I couldn’t resist slipping this delicious mango flower into my FOTD post!
For Cee’s Flower of the Day prompt.

Dinner Party Snafu
That tiny jar of olives on the shelf
called out to me to add them to my list
carefully planned by no one but myself
and yet, it’s true that I could not resist.
To add to salad, plotted from the first
to blend so perfectly into the meal
to whet the appetite and prompt the thirst
for my perfect wine-soaked succulent veal.
Who knew that bottle would be so well sealed
that it would remain steadfast to my grip?
meanwhile, the veal course cooled and congealed
as I used armpit, hand and tooth and lip
to try to budge those olives from their jar,
to spill them onto salad quickly wilting.
My guests called out for dinner from afar,
their hunger-weakened voices softly lilting.
Thus do dinner plans oft turn out Hellish
due to starter courses we can’t relish!
In this lackluster party,
even the guacamole’s gray!
It’s not the proper ending
to an equally dull day.
The secret of good parties
lies within their zing.
Who enjoys a party
that never quite takes wing?
The soda pop has all gone flat,
The wine being decanted?
Everyone who tasted it
thereafter soon recanted.
From this dreadful party,
we all beg prompt respite.
What could possibly happen
to address our stressful plight?
I’ve wasted this new outfit
that makes me look so thin,
for it’s identical to one
our party giver’s in!!
The music is all polkas
and the orchestra’s off-key.
What will be the next disaster?
I cannot bear to see.
I see that last thought’s irony
as I flick off the light,
grab my coat, slip out the door,
and vanish in the night.
The prompt words today are identical, respite, lies and lackluster. Here are the links:
https://ragtagcommunity.wordpress.com/2019/04/27/rdp-saturday-identical/
FOWC with Fandango — Respite
https://onedailyprompt.wordpress.com/2019/04/27/your-daily-word-prompt-lies-april-27-2019/
https://wordofthedaychallenge.wordpress.com/2019/04/27/lacklustre/

Well-timed Adoration
You’re such a marvelous beauty. I worship at your feet.
You’re the most gorgeous woman of any that I meet.
Every day I see you on my usual rounds
around this graceful city where beauty so abounds.
And now my lovely lady, would you find me rash
if I asked if you could spare a little cash?
Prompt words for today are rash, lady, worship and marvelous. Here are the links:
https://ragtagcommunity.wordpress.com/2019/04/26/rdp-friday-rash/
https://fivedotoh.com/2019/04/26/fowc-with-fandango-lady/
https://onedailyprompt.wordpress.com/2019/04/26/your-daily-word-prompt-worship-april-26-2019/
https://wordofthedaychallenge.wordpress.com/2019/04/26/marvelous/
Tidelines
The water laps from shore to shore,
From India to Ecuador,
bringing precious things and more—
dried starfish and an apple core,
a never-ending seashell store.
The water laps up ever higher.
The ocean wave will not expire.
Tide on tide, it does not tire,
topples chair, douses campfire,
to the wind’s insistent choir,
The water laps around my feet
in the day’s insistent heat,
always destined to repeat,
to the moon’s consistent beat,
this constant rising from its seat.
The water laps against the dock.
Listen to its constant knock,
testing the seawall, block on block,
undiminished by the tock
of nature’s ever-ticking clock.
The water laps by halves and thirds
against the sides of ships and birds.
All its shores it scours, then girds,
undetained by poets’ words.
To stop the sea? it is absurd!
For NaPoWriMo’s “repetition poem” prompt.