Category Archives: Poem

Life in the Abstract

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Life in the Abstract

. . .  has more temptations,
fewer rules and more vacations.
Responsibility’s not a goal.
It has more texture, has more soul.
Life, as imagined, has more shiver.
More tiramisu and less liver.
More giggling and foolishness.
Less lecturing and mulishness.
Oh, that life could be less literal.
More exciting and more clitoral!

The prompt words today are abstract, responsibility, goal and temptation.

https://ragtagcommunity.wordpress.com/2018/12/29/rdp-saturday-abstract/
https://onedailyprompt.wordpress.com/2018/12/29/your-daily-word-prompt-responsibility-December-29-2018/
https://wordofthedaychallenge.wordpress.com/2018/12/28/goal/
https://fivedotoh.com/2018/12/29/fowc-with-fandango-temptation/

Born-again Dieter

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My vegan concoction

Born-Again Dieter

My corpulent life style I now declare over.
I’ve taken an oath to only eat clover,
apples and carrots and barley and beans.
There will be less of me filling my jeans!
Instead of gorging, I’m going to be grazing.
I know the results will be just amazing.
So if you are willing and if you are able,
be careful, please, what you bring by my table.
Don’t pass near with ice cream or tiramisu
or I’m liable to accidentally waylay you
to survey your provender —those fruits of the cow—
just to “tsk tsk” your choices  with holier than thou
dieting lingo in loud fierce bravado,
eschewing your pancakes or your gado gado.
The world should bow down to my menu of choice
and if it doesn’t, in my loudest voice
I’ll be sure that you know what you could have chosen
that’s macrobiotic. That’s never been frozen.
That’s full of good fiber, sans sugar and gluten.
My mouth will be flappin’, my horns will be tootin’.
For now I’ve decided to be dairy-free,
I’ve decided the whole world should diet with me!!!

https://ragtagcommunity.wordpress.com/2018/12/27/rdp-thursday-corpulent/
https://wordofthedaychallenge.wordpress.com/2018/12/27/oath/

April Showers

7 Replies

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April Showers

Every April I find that the process of taxation
inhibits my ability to practice relaxation.
Detrimental to my leisure, it plagues my meditation.
The only way I get to sleep is helped by medication.

As scraps of paper flutter down from where they’re stacked in piles,
my friends all note I’m lacking in my usual jokes and smiles.
I’m sorting, adding, searching, piling, muttering and raving,
trying to discover all the receipts I’ve been saving.

It is my c.p.a. who has the easiest task of all
fitting figures into slots, and then he has the gall
to charge at least two hundred bucks for plugging in my numbers,
adding one more bill to disrupt my former slumbers.

It’s true that April floods the world with gentle springtime showers
that mark the end of winter and enable our May flowers.
Thus, others wax poetic dreaming of the April rain,
while I find it too quickly comes around again.

 

I was ill last night and went to bed early, thus I’m up about 5 hours early as well and the only two prompt words posted are “detrimental” and “relaxation.” Don’t know why this poem floated to the surface four months early, but it was the poem that wanted to be written between the hours of 3:30 and 4:20 a.m.  And so, back to sleep, I hope.

https://fivedotoh.com/2018/12/27/fowc-with-fandango-detrimental/
https://onedailyprompt.wordpress.com/2018/12/27/your-daily-word-prompt-relaxation-December-27-2018/

The Leech

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proclaimed to be fine,

The Leech

They’ve plugged up their ears to muffle his mutterings.
They’re tired of his self-serving utterings.

He’s an indulgence they’d like to be shed of,
expunge from their sofa and free their spare bed of.

He thinks it’s tradition that they should take care of him,
yet they’d prefer that their house just be bare of him.

He’s a caricature of self-indulgence,
wallowing in familial abundance.

They need to be boxing his ears or possessions
and signing up for codependency sessions.

They’ve supported him well and sent him to college,
imbued him with clothes, with playthings and knowledge.

Now he needs to be kicked out to find his own life—
to be taught by experience, seasoned by strife.

Lest they make a mongrel of a fine pup,
it’s time they encourage their boy to grow up!

 

 

The prompt words today are tradition, caricature, indulgence and boxing.

https://ragtagcommunity.wordpress.com/2018/12/26/rdp-wednesday-tradition/

FOWC with Fandango — Caricature


https://onedailyprompt.wordpress.com/2018/12/26/your-daily-word-prompt-indulgence-December-26-2018/
https://wordofthedaychallenge.wordpress.com/2018/12/26/boxing/

Holiday Visitors

19 Replies

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Holiday Visitors

I’m playing host this holiday. Prospects are in the air.
Christine is at the table and Fred is up the stair.
She’s making lovely art and he’s sawing rhythmic dreams.
Everybody’s active on this Christmas morn, it seems.

The dogs are pacing jauntily. The air is crisp and still.
They’re hoping I’ll give them a treat. There’s a good chance I will.
The carcass of a chicken and the scraps from last night’s feast
would make a lovely picnic for a canine beast.

I’m putting words together when I should be giving pats.
They knock against the doorframe. They fidget on their mats.
I can hear the scraping of Fred’s key in the door.
It’s a human intervention. He’s advancing ‘cross the floor.

The dogs are his companions. They’re demanding my attention.
Christine joins in with their demands. I give in to the tension.
I’m going to have to socialize with people I can touch,
and I admit it’s company I enjoy very much,

But still I had to come here to spend some time with you
bloggers and Facebookers and you Tweeters, too,
for daily keeping company and keeping me on track.
I’m going to the real world now. Tomorrow? I’ll be back.

IMG_6684Fred woke up and is writing his poem, Christine got her picture colored. 

IMG_6694Diego got his treat and Morrie got his ball thrown.  All is right with the world.

Merry Xmas!!! Happy Hanukkah!  Joyful Kwanzaa.
xoxooxooxox

 

 

The prompts on this Christmas day are host, discovery, love and holiday.
https://ragtagcommunity.wordpress.com/2018/12/25/rdp-tuesday-host/
https://fivedotoh.com/2018/12/25/fowc-with-fandango-discovery/
https://onedailyprompt.wordpress.com/2018/12/25/your-daily-word-prompt-love-December-25-2018/
https://wordofthedaychallenge.wordpress.com/2018/12/25/holiday/

No Peaceful Kingdom

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No Peaceful Kingdom

The dogs are in the backyard where they don’t molest the cats.
The cats are in the front yard where they monitor the bats
but do not dine on birds because the birds have given up
and all moved to the back yard where the young cats never sup.

The younger cats stay outside and the old cat lives within
and should the outside cats ever escape from where they’ve been,
when they’re inside, they’re  bullies and steal her food and tease her.
Although, since I can’t find a type of cat food that will please her,

it’s no problem for the old cat, yet those cats are getting fat
while every day there seems to be less of the older cat.
True, the older cat is crabby and swats the young cats first,
so it’s hard for me determining which cat is the worst.

I’m tired of these war zones. I wish they’d coexist,
and I wish that I could simply tell them to desist.
Yet with man and other animals, more often you will find 
they can’t exist in harmony with those who aren’t their kind.

 

Annie the crabby cat woke me up before Ragtag was online today, so they get their own individually prompted poem.  Their prompt was “harmony.” Here’ their link if you want to play along:  https://ragtagcommunity.wordpress.com/2018/12/23/rdp-sundayharmony/

I’m Not Dreaming of a White Christmas

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I’m Not Dreaming of a White Christmas

I’m not dreaming
of a white Christmas
bedecked with tinsel
and mistletoe.

That bougainvillea spilling down the wall
is festive enough.
Who said a Christmas had to be 
composed of personal memories decades old?

I like a little sand in my Christmas,
good friends and not a holly sprig in sight—
our memories being made,
not dwelled upon.

Where was the snow in Bethlehem?
On what day did Santa finally arrive,
bag laden with gifts more frivolous
than gold, frankincense and myrrh?*

What we celebrate at Christmas
is more than anything
Bing Crosby
might have devised.

The warmth of friendship.
Finding those things,
in spite of our many differences,
that are the same.

That first Christmas
celebrated in the desert,
there was a star.
The animals were its first celebrants.

Only afterwards
came those wise men
who in their gifts
predicted its ending.

*The three gifts had a spiritual meaning: gold as a symbol of kingship on earth, frankincense (an incense) as a symbol of deity, and myrrh (an embalming oil) as a symbol of death. This dates back to Origen in Contra Celsum: “gold, as to a king; myrrh, as to one who was mortal; and incense, as to a God.”

The word prompts today were white, compose, bedeck and festive.
https://ragtagcommunity.wordpress.com/2018/12/22/rdp-saturday-white/
https://fivedotoh.com/2018/12/22/fowc-with-fandango-compose/
https://wordofthedaychallenge.wordpress.com/2018/12/22/bedeck/
https://onedailyprompt.wordpress.com/2018/12/22/your-daily-word-prompt-festive-December-22-2018/
https://lindaghill.com/2018/12/21/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-dec-22-18/

Teenage Angst

9 Replies

Teenage Angst

If you tend to be secretive and crave a private zone,
yearn to denounce your family and set out on your own,
at first they’ll cling like mistletoe, refuse to set you free.
You’ll think they’re never going to simply let you be.
But time will set you free. You’ll see your family disappear,
and that is when I’m fairly sure, you’ll wish that they were here.

 

Prompt words today are family, denounce, secretive and mistletoe.
https://ragtagcommunity.wordpress.com/2018/12/19/rdp-wednesday-family/
https://fivedotoh.com/2018/12/19/fowc-with-fandango-denounce/
https://wordofthedaychallenge.wordpress.com/2018/12/19/secretive/
https://onedailyprompt.wordpress.com/2018/12/19/your-daily-word-prompt-mistletoe-December-19-2018/

Collapsed Bridge

5 Replies

 

Collapsed Bridge

The bridge between us is a shambles. Water cascades between us.
John Gray would say that you’re from Mars whereas I am from Venus.
Most of what I treasure you consider superficial.
We are so far apart that we should now make it official.
You go your way, I’ll go mine, with no one to convene us.
It should not be traumatic so let’s just try to wean us
from all those little petty things that once brought us together,
like quince preserves, Scrabble and a fear of stormy weather.

We’d snuggle up and toast some toast and slather on the jelly,
bring out the quilts and Scrabble board and just ignore the telly.
Pepperoni pizza and rum and Cokes and cards
once kept our crystalline affair from shattering to shards.
But since we’re both on diets from pizza and each other,
the blanket that once comforted now only serves to smother.
I’ll go my way, you go yours, as though we never met,
and if I’m craving Scrabble, I’ll use the Internet!

Prompt words today are bridge, treasure, shambles and cascade.
https://ragtagcommunity.wordpress.com/2018/12/18/rdp-tuesday-bridge/
https://fivedotoh.com/2018/12/18/fowc-with-fandango-treasure/
https://wordofthedaychallenge.wordpress.com/2018/12/18/shambles-2/https://onedailyprompt.wordpress.com/2018/12/18/your-daily-word-prompt-cascade-December-18-2018/

Reality Show

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Reality Show

In so-called halcyon days of yore,
I fear that label was merely lore.
For some it may have been a joy,
but not so for the hoi polloi.
They stood and watched the royal parade
and knew it for the grand charade
it was, and as the nobles dined—
stuffed and feasted, gorged and wined
on sweet elixirs and joints of beast,
it was famine for the least
of all the people in the land.

The rich, at least, the merry band
depicted in cartoon and book,
but instead by hook or crook,
the rich cavorted as they carved
their empires from the hordes who starved.
They kept unschooled masses naive
hoping they would then believe
God meant for some to eat their fill
while others toiled and paid the bill.

And now it seems it hasn’t changed.
The masses once more are deranged,
and educated fools have been
the ones who vote exploiters in.
They say it’s better for the masses—
all those toiling lads and lasses.
Yet,
when rich men go unregulated,
and untaxed, the poor seem fated
not to get the trickle-down.
Instead the powers grouse and frown
and tax them more. Their minds are fraught
with thoughts of payments on their yacht.

Beware rich men who say they’ll share
and pass their laws because they care.
If they profit by those laws,
the poor will simply not, because
the rich get richer out of greed
to have more and they do not heed
those for whom the laws were meant.
Sharing  they call entitlement.
The reality you think you see
on TV shows is meant to be
mere entertainment. In fact it’s truthless
engineered by those most ruthless
who seek to turn our thought and mind
into an audience for their kind.

They seize our brains, then seize our nation
all the while in sure elation
that they do it for our good.
Oh that they did.  Oh that they would.
But it’s a ruse
we can’t excuse.
The rich man tends to his own riches
while the poor men dig the ditches
for the one who rants and raves.
I fear instead they dig their graves.

 

Today’s prompts are halcyon, cartoon, royal and parade. Here are the links:

https://ragtagcommunity.wordpress.com/2018/12/17/rdp-monday-halcyon/
https://fivedotoh.com/2018/12/17/fowc-with-fandango-cartoon/
https://wordofthedaychallenge.wordpress.com/2018/12/17/royal/
https://onedailyprompt.wordpress.com/2018/12/17/your-daily-word-prompt-parade-December-17-2018/