Author Archives: lifelessons

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About lifelessons

My blog, which started out to be about overcoming grief, quickly grew into a blog about celebrating life. I post daily: poems, photographs, essays or stories. I've lived in countries all around the globe but have finally come to rest in Mexico, where I've lived since 2001. My books may be found on Amazon in Kindle and print format, my art in local Ajijic galleries. Hope to see you at my blog.

What She Had Cookin’

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What She Had Cookin’

A wizard in the kitchen, she performed well her thaumaturgy
by transforming  porridge into fine cuisine for me.
Each dish she served just seemed my hunger to inflate
as she put spells on my stomach and magic on my plate.

Her stew pot made by blood boil, her milk pudding made me purr,
every single dish a symbol of my love for her.
Then lying in her oaken bed, my hunger still intact,
She finally quenched my appetite. And that, folks, is a fact!!!!!

Prompt words today are: oak, intact, stomach, thaumaturgy,  symbol and porridge.

*Pronounced thaw’ muh tour gee,  with the accent on the first syllable, thaumaturgy is the performance of miracles; specifically : magic.

Say hey, good lookin’ – what ya got cookin’?
How’s about cookin’ somethin’ up with me?
Hey, sweet baby – don’t you think maybe
We can find us a brand new recipe?

I got a hot rod Ford, and a two dollar bill
And I know a spot right over the hill
There’s soda pop and the dancing’s free
So if you wanna have fun, come along with me
Say hey, good lookin’ – what ya got cookin’?
How’s about cooking somethin’ up with me?

I’m free and ready, so we can go steady
How’s about savin’ all your time for me?
No more lookin’, I know I been tookin’
Hows about keepin’ steady company?

I’m gonna throw my date book over the fence
And buy me one for five or ten cents
I’ll keep it till it’s covered with age
Cause I’m writin’ your name down on every page

Say hey, good lookin’ – what ya got cookin’?
How’s about cookin’ somethin’ up with me?

Bird of Paradise: FOTD March 18, 2023

6 Replies

For Cee’s FOTD

Bird in a Cage

Still Life with Bougainvillea, Succulents and Dogs: FOTD Mar 17, 2023

7 Replies

For Cee’s FOTD

Tending the Zoo

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Tending the Zoo

Grooming tasks inside the the zoo seem to go on forever
with so many body parts to clean or trim or sever,
but when it comes to manicures, one group must be exempted,
for when it comes to ungulates, the groomers are not tempted
to attempt to trim the hooves of rhino or of elephant.
Even the most burliest of manicurists find they can’t!!!

And in respect to dentistry, though elephants are easy,
when it comes to giraffes, zoo dentists are most queasy.
Giraffes are not unruly, capricious or uncouth.
The problem is the distance between the turf and tooth.
And thinning out a lion’s mane simply can’t be done.
Relinquishing their hairs? They won’t part with even one.

And every time the groomers’ van goes into parking gear,
far up in the shady green, the monkeys disappear.
For though every mosquito, every flea and every tick
that invades their body may itch or make them sick,
inter-monkey grooming is a method sure to please
better than the insect sprays, which only make them sneeze!

 

Prompt words today are green, ungulate, relinquish, capricious, shady and exempt. Image by Thomas Oxford on Unsplash.

Duck!!!!

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This duck came all the way across the lake to see us, hoping for crumbs. Sadly, we had none.
ducks

For Denzil’s Nature Photo Challenge: Ducks

Old Man Cactus: FOTD Mar 16, 2023

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Please click on photos to enlarge.

The hairs on the Old Man Cactus are modified spines and serve to protect the plant from frost and sun by reflecting the rays of the sun and insulating the cactus from heat and cold.  The hairs are only the radial spines of the cactus; beneath them are sharp yellow central spines. The solitary, nocturnal flowers are red, yellow, or white, though the plant may not flower for 10 or 20 years.  Since I don’t know if I’ll be around that long, I’m going to share these photos of these flower guardians which are as beautiful as flowers in my estimation!.

See Cee’s lovely tulip cluster  with lots of real flowers HERE.

Click on photos to enlarge.

Here are shots of the entire plants. Don’t get excited. What looks like a flower is actually a bird of paradise flower peeking out from behind the cactus. We will have to wait at least 10 years for these ladies to bloom.

 

Fat Tuesday: CBWC Mar 16, 2023

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For Cee’s CBWC–Anything with a number on it.

Gain and Loss

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Gain and Loss

I’ve found I simply must inure
myself to things I must endure.
I’m overweight and immature
and told my writing is obscure—
written in a dialect
that people find hard to detect.

I joined a gym, but now my trainer
says he cannot make it plainer
than to say I won’t lose weight
until I choose to fill my plate
with other food and smaller portions
to decrease present proportions.

I thought if I became a spinner
I’d become a weight-loss winner,
but in fact, no pounds I’m doffing—
only panting, wheezing, coughing.
But I didn’t waste the time.
At least I came up with this rhyme.

Now perhaps if you’d elect
to check my poem’s dialect,
you’d find that though my waist and thighs
have not decreased in girth or size,
perhaps I have lost one small thang.
Have I lost, perhaps, my Dakota twang?

Today’s prompt words are winner, dialect, coughing, proportion, trainer and obscure. Image by Kenny Eliason on Unsplash.

FOTD Mar 15, 2023

2 Replies

For Cee’s FOTD

Spray-paint and Poetry

4 Replies

Spray-paint and Poetry

Written as calligraphy or scrawled upon a wall,
a book tucked in our pocket or extending down the hall,
expressed as tight couplets or as an angry stew,
words impart great insight and volunteer a view
into minds of wisdom or the hapless few
who unfortunately have little else to do

but to spray-paint imprecations of gender or of race
here in public places where all of us must face
those dark spots of the soul brought into public view
so volunteers of vitriol can share with me and you
those murky muddy sentiments better buried deep
instead of out here in the world to cause us all to weep.

If left to steep within the soul perhaps some inner magic
might turn them into poetry—profound and deep and tragic.
Some inner mental chemistry performing that gestation
that makes insight of vitriol, transforming imprecation
into understanding to write upon the pages
of potential misanthropes transformed now into sages.

 

Or, in a nutshell:

Metamorphosis

imprecation
perturbation
emanation
vacillation
gestation
germination
education
equation
mutation
anticipation
excitation
elation
maturation
new creation

True, probably more graffiti is about love than hate,
but these poems are written in response to the latter.

Guiding words today are hapless, imprecation, insight, volunteer, mud and calligraphy.