Category Archives: Poem

A Bah Humbug Primer: For the Sunday Whirl Wordle #634

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A Bah Humbug Primer

If a White Christmas isn’t your “thing,”
If popcorn is something you eat but don’t string
into chains for the tree, and if twinkling lights
and tinsel and candy canes are dreaded sights,
if you are weary of seasonal cheer,
lest a stray chorus should fall on your ear
of “White Christmas” or “Jingle Bells,” close tight your door,
seal up your window, or you’ll hear more
joyous renditions you feel you’ve heard
over and over until they’re absurd.

If you grow feverish thinking of shopping,
then break out in chills—back and forth, without stopping,
then put on the skids or else you might pop.
Don’t make me send over the Bah Humbug Cop!
With unwavering calm, put dreams into action,
lest you commit  a Yuletide infraction.

There’s no law that says that you have to do
holidays that you happen to rue.
Hop a bus, then a plane. Find a tropical isle.
Take off to Arabia. Sail up the Nile.
There are plenty of spots without holly and snow—
places where Santa Claus dares not to go.

Just because some of us love our tradition,
doesn’t mean you will be tried for sedition
if you neglect to put up a tree.
So perk up your ears and listen to me.
There is a truth that everyone knows.
The best gifts of all don’t come tied up in bows.
Friends we can trust and friends we hold dear
We celebrate every day of the year!!!

The Sundaywhirl prompt words today are: dream white joyous twinkle waver chains stray chorus might chill feverish sight

Sealed Windows: Weekend Writing Prompt #343

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Sealed Windows

These windows do not open, but keep me trapped inside
with no hope of escaping, so in full view, I hide.
Seen by every passerby but never touched by one.
For all the beauty trapped inside, there’s not a gram of fun.

Sterile empty paintings. An airless motionless room.
No other person enters to chase away the gloom.
As I look out, observing the drama of the world,
I hold my drama in my mind, where it’s securely curled.

 

 

For the Weekend Writing prompt #343 : Window (exactly 79 words)

Judy’s Addictive Sangria Brew

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Judy’s Addictive Sangria Brew

Frozen strawberries, eight or ten––
find a pitcher, toss them in.
Pour Tequila, just to cover.
(Not too much, Tequila-lover!)
Next, Sangria, Kirkland brand.
a third way up the pitcher is grand.

Then orange juice in equal measure,
and then to guarantee your pleasure,
7-Up to fill the place
that formerly was only space.
Let it sit, then stir it up
and pour it in a pre-iced cup.

Guaranteed to please each guest,
but the way I like to serve it best?
Frozen strawberries in lieu of ice.
And the presentation’s especially nice
with bamboo skewer to stab the berry.
Is this drink addictive? Very!!!!

I learned how to make this sangria at a friend’s house in Wyoming and carried it back to Mexico with me where it has become an addiction among my friends, with only one or two hard-core white wine-drinkers abstaining,

Looks like I missed the cutoff date, but this was written for the  dVerse Poets: Recipes in Rhyme

Dreamscape: For The Sunday Whirl Wordle 633

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Me, at age 2, journeying into inner spaces.

Dreamscape

Unravel realms of slumber and try to bring on home
A beacon cast by memory. That fresh-turned scent of loam.
The dazzling icy glitter of icicles that drip
with hypnotic regularity as warm air takes its sip.
Memories of a lifetime, bittersweet at best,
yearning over losses and missing childhood’s zest.
We move our eyes in slumber over a different view
on the screen of nostalgia, which we seek to imbue
with not only reality but also with our hope
that we can remember with a wider scope
creating a new story, satisfyingly surreal
where a lifetime of memories can gather and congeal
to form another story in which we hope to  heal.

 

 

For The Sunday Whirl Wordle 633 the prompt words are: dazzling icy home realm slumber yearning bittersweet beacon cast unravel eyes try
Image of tractor and plowed field by Roberto Bernard. Other photos by me.

Under the Snow Moon: For dVerse Poets

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Under the Snow Moon

Moon of Snow. Moon of Sand.
Under a bleached white moon I stand.
Starless night, all alone.
Cold as ice. Cold as bone.

Here the sandcrabs burrow deep,
where no predators can creep.
All these memories I keep.
Turn out lights. Go to sleep.

The dVerse Poets quadrille prompt is snow. My favorite way to create a quadrille is to find a longer poem I have written and to trim it down. Go HERE to see how others responded.

Evolution or Devolution? For the Sunday Whirl Wordle 632

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I moved the ammonite fossil from the wall ledge to the ground, where it was safer from nudgings by cats,

Evolution or Devolution?

Their footsteps  form a timepiece pressed into the rock:
portraits of a planet learning how to walk.
Bent on following a plan well out of their control,
instincts prodding them to race to fulfill their role.

Each tiny part of nature bound to do its part,
facing threats against the evolution of the heart.
What part of mankind’s journey waits around the bend?
Will our progress finally bring about our end?

 

For Sunday Whirl Wordle 632 the prompt words are: control rock portrait timepiece bent plan threats instinct race part footsteps planet

Payback Rhythms: For Weekend Writing Prompt

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Payback Rhythms

The rhythm of the world as it tears us all asunder:

 hurricane and fire, rain and wind and thunder.

Landslides, ashes, ruins waterlogged and crumbled—

all advances of mankind finally have tumbled.

Listen to the beating of the fist of fate.
Agamemnon’s coming. We haven’t long to wait.
Everything we do is done right back to us.

This scientific fact is not so nebulous.

This is an Extract from an earlier poem, rewritten to meet the rules of:  Weekend Writing Prompt: Rhythm

“Misanthrope” For MLMM Wordle 350

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Misanthrope

With no pretense of happiness, I trudge the trail of life,
trying to avoid the echo of its strife.
Why am I so tired, why happiness so short?
Why this endless trial in an unsympathetic court?
Although it takes a village to raise a happy child,
it takes just one cruel parent to create one who is wild.
When others share tales of success, I make no reply.
The sound of others’ laughter prompts in me a sigh.
For me no loving warm embrace. Never have I been kissed,
for the world’s camaraderie is something that I’ve missed.

 

For Di’s Wordle 350 the prompt words are: tale, echo, tire, trial, court, short, why, reply, village, success, pretense, happiness.

Rash Acts, For Wordle 630

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Rash Acts
Ashes from the burning house go swirling ’round the fire,
casting their debris and licking ever higher.
Corridors of smoke sent upwards in the air
starting in the living room and swirling up the stair.
The cat jumps from the window, dogs barrel out the door.
The man runs out with boxes in his arms. Goes in for more.
His wife pleads with him not to go, fashions a refrain
that she repeats in hopes she’ll be able to restrain
his further trips into the house, facing smoke and flame
knowing not the secret gift that he’s gone to reclaim.
His final trip completed, he’s safe from further harms,
as he rushes out to place their wedding photos in her arms.

This one is sorta corny, but the prompt words made me do it!!

For the Sunday Whirl Wordle 630  the prompt words are: fire arm fashion cat corridor debris gift secrets box flame ashes refrain.  Image by Jen Theodore on Unsplash.

Night and Day, For Wordle 629

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Night and Day

What sleights of hand our bored gods play,
meandering at end of day,
tricking out our daylight world
with creeping shadows  they’ve unfurled,
plunging us in darkness that
sends in the dog but draws the cat
out to wander hill and hollow
where no human dares to follow.
The timorous mouse must then give pause
lest it fall victim to its claws.

Beam of moon that lights the way
poor substitute for light of day.
The ship of night must trim its sail
lest it lists within the gale
that joins the dark to forge the din
that further serves to box us in.
Odd nature, thus, a puzzle makes.
With one hand gives, the other takes.
Mere mortal quakes within his bed,
prays for calm daylight in its stead.

plunge meandering shadow odd trim box gods tricks plunge beam lists hollow are the words for the Sunday Whirl Wordle 629