Category Archives: Poem

Cracked

12 Replies

Cracked

My thoughts are arabesques that curl—now looser and now tight.
They coalesce, then part again to let in needed light.
When ponderings go underground, they tend to matte and cloy,
but when they leave some room within, they seem to invite joy.
So in between colloquial thoughts, I wedge out open spaces
where I can  I leave some fractures, inviting fresh new traces
of innovative modes of thought and bright new points of view
so bit by bit, over the years my attitudes accrue.

Prompt words for the day are coalesce, colloquial, fractures, cloy and underground.

Workaholic

10 Replies

Workaholic

Be it cleaning out the closets or the pantry or garage,
I do not mind the grunt work nor the labor or barrage
of details that may add to the hours of my work.
I do not seek avoidance and make no attempts to shirk.

When I’m on a roll and in the spell of my creation,
the only way to curb me is probably sedation.
for when I’m in the throes of work is when I’m most sublime.
I’m an expatriate from worry. I come unfixed in time.

I do not ask for recess and I only take a break
for water or the potty. These are all the rests I take.
I make no excuses to quit and come back later,
because for me these marathons are a mood-elevator.

I don’t regard the task-at-hand as drudgery or working,
so I make no attempts at avoidance or at shirking. 
Be it working in the studio, arranging, cutting, gluing,
or cleaning out friends’ clutter, I’m happiest when doing!

 

Prompts today are break, sedate, expatriate, regard and elevator.
Image by Neonbrand on Unsplash. Used with permission.

 

Swingers

4 Replies

Swingers

Romance is better on the swings
for it’s true Cupid has wings
and if he inspires a kiss,
it’s clear that you don’t want to miss
that moment on your mutual ride
where your lips might coincide,
and on the teeter-totter or slide
it’s harder to go side-by-side.

 

For the Weekly Prompts Weekend Challenge: Side-by-Side
Image by Brandon Couch on Unsplash.

What Goes Around Comes Around

2 Replies


What Goes Around Comes Around

The facts at your disposal are ones you should review,
because truth may vitiate the strength of what you choose to spew.
Your toxic comments are perhaps ones that you may rue,
for like a brick thrown in a whirlwind, they may come back at you.

 

Prompt words today are whirlwind, brick, disposal, vitiate and toxic. Image from Unsplash.

Drop-ins Not Advised

6 Replies

https://vinnews.com/2019/07/12/new-york-hey-brooklyn-wanna-live-longer-move-to-borough-park-a-new-report-says/

Drop-ins Not Advised

“Don’t be a stranger” said the pair
when I met them at an affair.
Nobody knew this introduction
would give rise to such a ruction.
When I strolled into their borough,
inquiries were swift and thorough.
Was I peddling pot or meth?
How did I say shibboleth?
I passed the pat-down, said the word,
then joined the swirling passing herd.
Clearly, it is not a lark
to try to enter Borough Park!

Prompt words today are Shibboleth, thorough, nobody, ruction and introduction.

Two of the prompt words today were a bit tricky, giving rise to this strange little poem.
If you, don’t know what “Shibboleth” means (as I didn’t)  HERE is a link to its explanation.
Borough Park is a largely Orthodox Jewish section of New York City and a ruction is a disturbance, quarrel, or row.

 

 

Playing with Fire

6 Replies

Playing with Fire

In the circles she lives in, she’s queen of the realm.
Wherever she goes, she must be at the helm.
They call her the Admiral, head of the fleet.
She’ll hear no debate and she’ll bear no defeat.

When she is challenged, she’s ready to fight.
Incadescent with anger, she’ll insist that she’s right.
Once her rage is incited, she could drive you to drink.
Your role is to follow. Her role is to think.

When you rub her together with one of her kind,
they’re bound to express a difference of mind,
and since neither can bear an opposing notion,
it’s bound to lead to explosive emotion.

Rub them together and they’re sure to fight.
Like sulphur on sandpaper, they will ignite.
So keep them apart, these glorious dames,
or one or the other will go up in flames.

 

 

Prompts today are in the circle, realm, incadescent, fleet and drink.
Image by Olga Bast on Unsplash.

A Day at the Beach: The Sunday Whirl, 509

5 Replies

A Day at the Beach

My hairdo is unraveling in the ocean’s spray,
and the men are talking fishing so I haven’t much to say.
I do not know their language and the sea breeze makes me cough.
My skin’s at risk in sunlight, but a stone-throw’s distance off,
in the shelter of a palm tree, I find shade, at least,
open up my backpack and partake in a small feast.

Then after I have eaten, when the sun has reached the rim
of the far horizon, I finally have a swim.
For once the sun’s not flaming, it creates a lovely glow,
sinking toward the ocean and vanishing below.
The sea has pleased the fishermen all day, cast after cast,
but as the sun sinks into it, it’s pleasing me, at last.

 

This week’s Wordle words are language, eat, feast, fish, unraveling, spray, shadow, flame, stone, risk and off.

 

 

 

 

Difference of Opinion

5 Replies

Difference of Opinion

If I were being altruistic, I’d meet you halfway there,
but your overbearing manner is more than I can bear.
You have me in a dither and so it’s true, I fear,
that it’s the end of our discussion, because I am out of here!

 

Prompts today are halfway, altruistic, dither and fear.

Good Dog

30 Replies


Good Dog

Before they strapped a chain link trinket around his coal black throat,
a hundred loving strokes a day smoothed his black fur coat.
He had a special diet stacked neatly on a shelf,
and though it was placed low enough for him to reach himself,
he never helped himself to it, and right up to this writing,
I never heard one word of his barking or his biting.
A paragon of virtue, he expelled no doggie farts,
and though his nose was yearning to explore some private parts,
he kept it strictly to himself, polite without a lapse,
and came running with his flouncy gait to whistles or to claps.
In short, he was the perfect dog—sleek and trim and dark,
so when his master took him running in the park,
he always got a special treat in his own private cup,
and to reward his human, he lapped the whole thing up!


I photographed this good boy in the park in Sheridan, Wyoming, where I went with my friend Marti, and since I am a good girl, I lapped up a cup of chocolate and salted caramel ice cream myself as well!

Prompt words today are expel, trinket, self, flounce and writing.

Ephemera

15 Replies

Ephemera

Time drips off its pendulum from three to four to five,
trickling off the minutes that we’ve been alive.
Vapid little seconds are flung off with each tick,
hardly ever noticed as  their passing is so quick.

The richest man on earth cannot buy more than he’s accorded.
Hours can’t be put in storage and so they can’t be hoarded.
Days can’t be the building blocks of a fine estate,
for they are just chalk marks wiped daily off our slate.

 

Prompt words today are trickle, pendulum, storage, vapid and estate. Illustration: The Persistence of Memory by Salvador Dali.