Monthly Archives: June 2020

Hisssstory

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Hisssstory

He oozed into the room with a sibilant sigh,
scraping up cobwebs as he slithered by.
The risks of survival for this little guy
I must admit would not be very high.
He’d end up on a spit or perhaps in a pie
if it weren’t for one factor, and I’ll tell you why.
This is where all of his courage must lie:
for if he embedded his fangs in your thigh,
you would have to act quickly or else you might die.
That’s why he is joyous though just an inch high,
and why he soars by with a gleam in his eye.

 

In case you are interested in what sort of snake this is, HERE is an earlier post I made about it. Thanks to Forgottenman for reminding me about it.

Prompt words for the day are sibilant, risk,joy, courage and survival.

Wall Flowers: FOTD June 11, 2020

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Neighbors
Closing In
Star Attraction: Sister Act

For Cee’s FOTD

Toppers

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Click on photos to enlarge.

1950
I don’t thin Oscar wants to be King.
Dad in the Amana Colony, visiting my sister Betty in College, 1958

What reflects our personalities more than what we put on our heads?

For Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: Hats.

The Comfort of Old Men

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Photo by Jan Abellan for Unsplash. Used with permission

The Comfort of Old Men

Children are sleeping sound in their beds,
inured to the missiles launched over their heads.
They’re used to the discipline of a cruel world
where bullets are served when the flag is unfurled.

They call it allegiance their country to serve
Old men sit at tables displaying their nerve
by setting out battle plans whereby the young
provide the chests where the medals are hung

that they earn facing death so the old men can gain
more gold that the young men pay for with their pain.
They posture and pose. They salute and they brag.
They call it a privilege serving your flag,

but none of the old face the bullets and fire.
It is not the aged men marked to expire.
Their rigors of battle are all of the head.
None twist to the impact of napalm or lead,

but war’s golden rewards are amassed in their pockets.
Munitions and guns and bullets and rockets
are the fruit of their plunder and part of the fun
they will buy from the profit they make from each gun.

This generation’s blood sweat and tears
will pay for the yachts of the rich and the gears
of the factories smudging the skies with their waste.
Air chokes on their vapors, the oceans all taste

their lethal remainders and sicken and die.
We have poisoned our water, our earth and our sky.
What is left once the old men have all had their say?
They will live life in splendor and the future will pay.

Prompt words for today are inure, twist, golden, privilege and discipline.

There is a distinction between avarice, self importance, grandstanding and obtaining a meal for your family in the wild. This man has no honor and is making all US citizens pay for his and his family’s outrageous vacations and splurges. *** This should make you think how you will vote while you are sitting at […]

via Greed — The Bag Lady

He

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DSC00516

He

would have married the girl and had children
and been less overt with his teachings
of peace and love too radical
for a world immersed in their opposite.

He would then not have changed the world, perhaps,
but  only lived in contrast
to that power popular among those who needed it
and effective in keeping those averse to it quiet.

If he had married the girl, the world would probably have ended up
pretty much how it has anyway, but he might have had a different ending.
Grown old, had his cronies over to talk about the good old days,
converted water into wine and served them loaves and fishes.

Mary Magdalene would have danced for them in their memories,
and all of his grandchildren would have listened in awe
to hear the tales of how he walked on the water,
bade Lazarus to rise from the grave.

He would shush his cronies as they started in
with tales of how he smashed the souvenir stands
and threw the money changers out of the temple.
Not stories for young ears not quite ready to learn revolution.

And all of the ill done in his name might have happened anyway,
but at least he would have had a good life.  Would have suffered less.
And some other savior might have found a way to save the world
that would have worked.

 

FordVerse Poets Pub: Write a poem about a deceased person.

 

Plumeria: June 10, 2020

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For Cee’s FOTD

Men At Work

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Click on photos to enlarge and read captions.

Planning
Executing
Long hot days in the sun.
Like father, like son.
Eduardo
If you’d like to see this photo or any other photo larger, click on it. Another side almost finished.
Jesus
One side finished. North facing.
East facing wall
Possible addition to the center of the east facing wall. See the blank spot?

Jesus and Eduardo have been working here for about 2 1/2 months now and have worked wonders. They’ve finished with the house, but I took a few photos yesterday and today as they worked on the studio. What next???

 

Jumping to Conclusions

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Photo by Ashwin Vaswani on Unsplash. Used with permission.

Jumping to Conclusions

She’s a lady of distinction. You can tell it by her walk,
in her whole deportment—her manners and her talk.
It seems it is a given, since she has a lot of dough
just where, in November, her vote is bound to go.
She lies back on her chaise, even graceful while recumbent,
but quickly springs erect when you mention the incumbent.  
If you ask her about politics, she’s apt to tell the truth.
She will not give allegiance to the stupidly uncouth.

 

Prompt words today are distinction, apt, allegiance and walk.

It’s a Jungle Out There! FOTD June 9, 2020

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I can’t believe how lush everything is right now, even before the rainy season. This is the view from my studio.

And here’s a closeup:

For Cee’s FOTD