Monthly Archives: February 2023

Bugbear

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Bugbear

My bugbear really is a bear, but it does more than bug me.
When I take a walk in woods, I fear that one will hug me.
I shake in terror every time I hear a dry branch crack,
afraid that I might have a bear descend upon my back.
My footsteps are deliberate. I do not want attention,
fearing that a grizzly bear will demand my detention.

At church camp I stayed with the group as we walked to chapel,
imagining a black bear with his sharp claws like a scalpel
ripping through my backpack and shredding through my tee,
getting down to business. Getting down to me.
When father saw something was wrong as he heard my confession,
he said that i could tell him all, that it was his profession

to listen to the foibles and the fears of kids like me.
Whatever worries I might have, he could set me free.
And so I told everything—my excessive worry
that I might encounter something clawed and toothed and furry.
Then he disqualified my fears and did it in a hurry,
by saying that God put no bears in central Missouri!!!!

 

Prompts today are bugbear, profession, disqualified, deliberate, shake, chapel. Image by Mana on Unsplash.

Computer Updates

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Computer Updates

Modern life is a rigmarole, day after day.
It radiates chaos for which you must pay.
If you’re hindered by change, then this isn’t your world.
Week after week, more updates are hurled
that change the position of all that you do.
How do I find “send?” I haven’t a clue!

They make no provision for those who are old
who have to remember instructions they’re told.
And just when they’ve memorized everything new,
all the things that they need have been placed out of view.
I find it uncouth that the programmers make
change after change just for change’s sake.

What is the purpose of changing a word
into a symbol? I find it absurd.
Then putting it somewhere we don’t think to look
so we have to survey every corner and nook
just to perform a task that used to be easy?
It makes us confused and a little bit queasy

that all of this change is performed at a rate
that means that we’re always newly out of date!!!!
Does it give you a lift and make you feel jolly
that you’re making your predecessors melancholy
for the old times when things found yesterday
are in the same place when looked for today????

Does anyone else keep getting the “Exchange Password Required” message dozens of times a day from Microsoft??? It is driving me crazy!!!!

Prompts for the day are radiate, hinder, rigmarole, couth, provision and melancholy. Click on the links to see what websites have provided the prompts.

 

Nature Photo Challenge: Patterns

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I got a bit carried away, initially intending to only post photos of caterpillars with interesting patterns, but then a few butterflies flew in followed by beetles and bees and wasps and pretty soon I had a crowd.  I’ve been fascinated by the incredible number of insects there are in Mexico. I believe all of these beautiful creatures were photographed in my own yard except for the fifth one of the huge hopper on the hand which was photographed in the rainforest in Peru. So, here they are, Denzil!!! Thanks for the prompt

 

For Denzil’s Nature Photo Challenge: Patterns

Infirm Ingratitude

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(Click on photos to enlarge)


Infirm Ingratitude

Since I broke my arm and leg and am out of commission,
all my friends and neighbors have assumed it as a mission
to bring us over casseroles—two or three a day.
Way too many meals-on-wheels for us to put away.

Not one of us encouraged them, yet they seem to compete
in conjuring up mixtures that they feel that we should eat!
And though it’s rude to quibble over what it has elicited,
allow me to point out that all this food was unsolicited.

One concoction more has just wound up at my door
that I know my family is sure to abhor.
That the dogs and cats won’t eat it is our in-family joke. 
I’d put it down the drain, but our garbage disposal broke.

My husband says it’s wasteful to throw out all this food,
but I would have to chain up my picky-eater brood
and pry their clenched jaws open to get them to just taste
all this food my husband has said I shouldn’t waste!!!

Yet I’ve lately noticed that he, too, seems way less able
to consume the edibles delivered to our table.
So I’ve devised a plan and tonight is my rehearsal
for my plot to deal with leftover food dispersal.

My broken leg is slowing down the speed with which I dash
to sneak out after midnight bearing our inedible trash.
I lug the laden bags out with my one good arm,
hoping that my passing won’t trigger the alarm

to turn the backyard floodlights on to wake up all the neighbors
so that they can witness my furtive nightly labors.
Now it is my incentive to speedily get well
just to end this present culinary Hell!!!!

Prompts today are: chains, concoction, unsolicited, quibble, compete and encourage.

For Leya: Desktop Confusion

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Click on photos to enlarge.

Leya, it was just at first glance that  I thought your desk was a photo of mine. Big differences, yet some similarities. Mine changes project to project and two of  these are much messier than your lovely collage.  (For those curious about this post, I had remarked to Leya that at first glance I thought her photo of her desktop was my desktop. She asked to see mine and I couldn’t figure out another way to show her my messy desktops. The window, the view, the color of the desk and the  number of items on it are perhaps the only similarities but at first glance, can you see my flashing thought????) The last photo is of Leya’s desk.

In Bed at Midnight

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In Bed at Midnight

The small dog
snuggles closer,
chin on my computer 
keyboard, brown eyes
begging, “Love me!”
and I do.

Words in the night
fly in like bats to bring
the whole world
here in bed with me.

Outside fireworks
celebrate the current
fiesta, holy day or wedding.

Wind stirs the Solari bell
that hangs from my
plumeria tree in the lower garden.

Celebratory whoops from some
party down the block.

Slow whirr of the ceiling fan.
Darkness pierced only by the light
from my computer screen.
All is well–– as is usual in my world.

 

For the Weekend Writing Prompt # 300, the prompt is Midnight. We need to use exactly 94 words!!!  I hope the title didn’t need to be included in the word count….