Adolescence and Anorexia
When I was a teenager, I thought that I was fat.
I felt that I must be obese if I wasn’t flat.
To look like Twiggy was our goal, but we never achieved it.
The media said curves were bad, and dumb us, we believed it!
Normal flesh felt flabby and we feared cellulite pebbles.
and though in other matters, we felt like we were rebels,
when it came to body image, news and fashion led us.
Thankfully, in retrospect, they weren’t the ones who fed us!
Mr. Wordy
If you have any questions, he’s there for you to query.
It’s rumored he’s a veritable walking dictionary.
Phrases pile up around him, Paragraphs drift like snow.
He simply has to put in words all that he claims to know.
If you’re breaking the rules of grammar, he’ll put you in your place,
and if you mispronounce a word, he’ll tell you to your face.
He’s a pain to talk to, a vain and tiresome man.
So if it’s possible, I’d say avoid him if you can.
He leaves his words behind him, tracking nouns right down the hall.
Adjectives and participles fall where they may fall.
As rotund in his rhetoric as in his derriere,
if words were spoor, I’m sure that we could track him anywhere!
Prompt words are rhetoric, rotund, breaking, spoor and dictionary.
Turning the Tables
The turtle stuck his neck out to see where he was going,
but might have hidden in his shell if he had means of knowing
that the chef had plans for turtle soup, so caught him at the threshold
and put his hands around his neck so he could gain a flesh hold.
But such plans “gang aft astray.” The turtle put a spin on
and designed a different course from one that he had been on.
He dragged that gourmet chef along and headed for the sea.
Their noise of battle was the thing that awakened you and me.
We put our vinyl raincoats on and fiddled with the locks,
scooting feet into our shoes, devoid of any socks.
No moonlight eased our journey, for rainclouds obscured all,
and amidst the raindrops, we commenced to slip and fall.
Around us, many turtles were streaming towards the sea,
intent upon their journey. Ignoring you and me.
So we turned back homeward, to sit upon our stoop
imagining those turtles enjoying human soup.
Prompt words for The Sunday Whirl are: turtle neck shell hidden
but design no spin fiddle amidst noise vinyl
For Wordle 542 Image by Dusan Veverkolog on Unsplash.
If Nothing but the Truth Was Possible
Your child is not as charming as you think he is.
Perhaps if you just said, “No!” to him now and then?
I’m allergic to dogs. Could you get your St. Bernard off my lap, please,
and lock him out of the room where we’re sitting?
As much as I enjoyed the first hundred of your family photos,
could we perhaps move on to conversation of a less familial theme?
My husband has seen enough of your cleavage for one evening. Could you cage them?
Your poem’s triteness is only equaled by its misspellings.
I can see why you would want to be a swinger. Someone as gross as you are
should not expect his wife to shoulder all the responsibility.
Walmart art does not really count as a collection.
Whether your rocks are cubic zirconium or diamonds, they are still ugly!!!
When people back away from you, there’s a good chance
they don’t want you to advance on them again.
A good way to check for bad breath is to lick your wrist.
Have you ever wondered why only beautiful women want you to ask them to dance?
If you expect things in Mexico to be just like they were in the U.S., please remember
that there is a country just north of the border that is the U.S.!! Why don’t you go there?
No I am not ill. I’ve just spent two years starving myself and spent a fortune
on appetite suppressants. Couldn’t you just tell me I look fabulous?
Be honest now. Would you ever have thought to eat raw fish if it weren’t all the rage?
Your life depends on telling the truth. Do you you really, truly enjoy opera?
Just what is it you find enchanting about Paris? Oh, right. It must be the friendly people!
The adage I chose as inspiration for my poem was, “The truth shall set you free.” John 8:32
Image by Brett Jordan on Unsplash. To see more poems based on adages, go HERE.
And HERE is a link to the prompt itself.
No Chip Off His Block
He cannot get a rise out of his insouciant daughter.
A woman on a tightrope, he cannot make her totter.
Cool as a cucumber, a lamb chop with no gristle,
teasing does not faze her. No insult makes her bristle.
He sees her as a puzzle he’s determined he will solve.
Where did she get her backbone and her strong resolve?
He’s had too many beers, but when he goes to get another,
it’s clear to everybody else she takes after her mother!
Prompt words today are gristle, mimic, insouciant, totter and tease.
Payback
When Hal at the feed store hired a new clerk,
he was friendly enough, but a bit of a jerk.
He quickly filled orders for packets of seed
of a kilo or so, but he didn’t accede
to requests for help out with a heavier sack.
He had an excuse as he claimed a bad back.
Then later that rascal would go to the gym
and work out with weights far heavier than him.
Of course word got around and was cause for his layoff.
Good news for his back which now has every day off!
Prompts today are layoff, rascal, friendly, accede and clerk. Image by julian-andres-carmona-serrato on Unsplash.
Squirreled Splendor
Why this crazy diadem so intimately curled?
How quizzical you’ve seen it fit to be completely squirreled.
If I decide to follow suit to don a furry coif,
will you claim a copyright and make me take it off?
Prompt words today are decide, diadem, copyright, quizzical,
New Puppy
She’s distracted in a heartbeat by a petal or a stone.
No errant tuft of grass is ever left alone.
She does battle with the gate, makes fairy trails through sand,
makes a complicated plaything of a single human hand.
The spill of lacy shadows by the sun above the trees,
the ticking of a clock or the slightest little breeze
all demand attention. There’s no limit to the things
that become her playthings: bottles, fingers, strings.
Only sunset brings a finish to frenetic hours of play.
There is a certain surcease, finally, at the end of day.
But 1 a.m. and 4 a.m. and 6.a.m. again
mark hours when new playtimes are scheduled to begin.
Prompt words today are: sunset finish string spill heartbeat trails tick stone gate
Stop and Go
Consider the ramifications
of an excess of libations.
You can kiss but you can’t hug
the frothy lip of a bar mug.
It takes a bit of nerve and spine
to veer off course, to forsake wine
and face the angst of barroom gents
in favor of family events.
Hats off to drinking men who know
The proper time to stop and go!
Prompt words today are ramifications, angst, veer, spine and hug,
Harridan
I’m standing at the crossroads between a saint and bitch.
Schooled in forebearance, I’ve stayed within my nitch.
But lately things are changing. I’m losing self-control.
The hounds of Hell have been released and now they’re on patrol.
They’re fluting all the pillars formerly unmarked—
scoring them with unfurled claws every time they’ve barked.
Soon I will be certified as a nagging crone—
the sort of aging harpie who prefers to live alone.
I’m sure its hard to fathom it, as perfect as I’ve been,
kowtowing to authority—especially to men.
But privilege must come to all as we come to age,
so I’m expressing sovereignty, at least here on the page.
Word prompts today are flute, crossroads, certified, bitch. Image by Camila Quintero Franco on Unsplash.
lifelessons - a blog by Judy Dykstra-Brown 