I had to have the flowering/fruiting bundles cut out of my tall palms and while they were there, decided it was time to chop the who cutoff tree trunks out of my sidewalk. This guy made fast work of it. Now, what to plant there? Formerly, I had flowerpots sitting on the stumps filled with flowers, but they were both stolen, even after I glued one down, so this time I guess they need to go into the ground.
For Bushboy’s Last on the Card prompt.
Foggybaby Dreams Clarified
(For My Nephews––now Six Feet Tall.)
You flinched from my touch,
hated the red cowboy hats
I bought for you,
preferred the hundred
tiny grass frogs
to the cows we tried
to introduce
into your city lives,
had eyes only for the trucks
carrying salt for the cows
to gather after.
Early mornings,
you leaned against
my sleep.
And oh,
your sleep-wicked
hair
and your
sweet sour milkbreath
and the
slight fart smell
of your warm bunny p.j.’s,
your impeccable smiles.
Daylight
had barely
bedeviled
you yet.
Five minutes until
you melted
back into your
foggy baby dreams,
and I became
your
nostalgia.
For NaPoWriMo 2023, the first prompt is to write a poem inspired by a book cover.
Below is information for the book cover that seemed to best illustrate this poem:
And also for dVerse Poets Open Link Night.
I signed on to dVerse Poets Open Link Night post to find the prompt, but in addition, I found this wonderful post by Linda Lee Lyberg which I have to share with you…both her story of her husband’s proposal and a wonderful poem by Neruda. I hope you enjoy both. HERE is the link.
Romantically Retired
I think i’ve formerly related
that I’m neither wooed nor dated.
Zero heroes, zero traces
of besotted hearts or faces.
Gamblers better put their money
on the fact I’ll have no honey.
Chances more likely for a win
on the roulette wheel’s random spin.
Fortune tellers’ only visions
are of partings and divisions.
No new meetings, no reunion
that might prompt a future union.
So I guess I’ll go on missing
bouts of geriatric kissing.
And instead of passions new,
fond memories will have to do.
Prompt words today are spin, related, traces, vision, money and zero.
Lifelessons
My perception see-saws between wonderment and worry,
all our lovely world devoted to such hurry
that in the furious ruckus, much is overlooked,
as if every second has been overbooked.
Take time to watch the sunrise and to hear the finch’s song.
Pick these things like flowers and carry them along.
Everything’s a lesson. All of nature is a book,
so between your rushing-offs, be sure to have a look.
(Be sure to click on the blue links in the poem to see the rest of the story.)
Prompt words today are wonderment, ruckus, see-saw, perception, lesson and sing.
Before the below words are imputed to be of my crafting, I must say though I am hugely partisan to their genius, I did not, alas, write them. The story below is full to the brim with creativity and good humor—its word choice both spry and original, and although the plot line may at first seem indecipherable, I trust that your mind will soon snap in line and make transliteration on my part unnecessary.
Although H.L. Chace wrote Ladel Rat Rotten Hut seven years before my birth, my folks were still quoting it when I became old enough to memorize it myself. After 70 years, I can still quote lines of it by heart. I want to quote a bit of it here with a link to its online source. Hopefully, it won’t require transliteration:
Ladle Rat Rotten Hut
by H. S. Chace
Wants pawn term, dare worsted ladle gull hoe lift wetter murder inner ladle cordage, honor itch offer lodge, dock, florist. Disk ladle gull orphan worry putty ladle rat cluck wetter ladle rat hut, an fur disk raisin, pimple colder Ladle Rat Rotten Hut.
Wan moaning, Ladle Rat Rotten Hut’s murder colder inset.
“Ladle Rat Rotten Hut, heresy ladle basking winsome burden barter an shirker cockles. Tick disk ladle basking tutor cordage offer groin-murder hoe lifts honor udder site offer florist. Shaker lake! Dun stopper laundry wrote! Dun stopper peck floors! Dun daily-doily inner florist, an yonder nor sorghum-stenches, dun stopper torque wet strainers!”
“Hoe-cake, murder,” resplendent Ladle Rat Rotten Hut, an tickle ladle basking an stuttered oft. . . . .
To read (and hear) the rest of the story, go to https://www.exploratorium.edu/files/exhibits/ladle/
Prompt words today are brim, spry, partisan, impute, craft and transliterated. (Transliteration changes the words from one language or alphabet into another corresponding, with similar-sounding letters with different characters.) Image by Šárka Jonášová on Unsplash.
Click on photos to enlarge.
Click on photos to enlarge.
My plumeria tree had barely produced a few blooms when a strong wind blew this petal down like an offering to me. It’s nice to have it back starting to leaf out and bloom.
For Cee’s FOTD
lifelessons - a blog by Judy Dykstra-Brown 