Category Archives: Poetry

Poems in many categories: Loss, NaPoWriMo

“Identification,” for Classic Material

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The “Classic Material “prompt was to share a post made on Oct 25 in a past year.  My post below was made in 2017

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Identification

When Freud talked about the ego, super-ego and the id—
all the different parts of us within which humans hid,
(all the things that made you “you” and things that made me “me”)
he thought that he’d identified all that there could be.

But if he were living, he would add a chapter or two
to say that ego, id and super-ego wouldn’t do.
There’s a punctuation omission I fear he failed to see.
It is that vital part of us that’s labeled the i.d.!

It used to be that I possessed my own identity
and showing up was proof enough that I was really me,
but now “me” is not me enough, and I find it hard
to face that I am only me when carrying a card.

“Dem Bones.” Today’s Throwback Edition, Oct 12

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It’s October. Time to start thinking about…..


Dem Bones

The skeletons are all tucked in, safely in their beds
with naughty vitriolic dreams swirling through their heads.
Their atrocious behavior saved for another day,
they will not raise a ruckus. They’re holding it at bay.
They’re resting up for Halloween which is the night that they
will throw aside their covers and come out to play!

For Throwback Edition Oct 12, 2020

For Cracking Open the Content Time Capsule

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Approaching Seventy

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Approaching Seventy

Careful near the pool edge, careful down the stair.
“Hurry” is disaster’s brand new nom de guerre.
All the things that in the past you might easily dare
are potential dangers hanging in the air;
so don’t stand on a ladder, or even worse, a chair.
It’s different being single than when you were a pair,
for there is no one  with you to see how you might fare.
When coming from the pool, be sure the shoes you wear
do not slip upon the tile–this is your worst nightmare.
If your feet are wet and if they’re also bare,
when you plug in your curling rod, I hope that you take care.
Although I know you’ve always been nimble as a hare,
things all change with age. I say this ’cause I care.
Bones become more breakable and muscles tend to tear,
so please take proper care, dear, in your single lair.
At seventy those second chances tend to be more rare.

(We were asked to reprint a post made on Oct. 9 of an earlier year.  Mine is from 2016.)

CHUY

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Bedtime Story

Here’s the new one curled up tight
ready for another night
in the one place on my bed
where I like to put my head.
Lucky I know what to do
to maneuver room for two.
I push him over, snuggle in
so our slumbers may begin.
And this is how my canine smartie
engineers our slumber party.

This is Chuy, who sneaked into the hotel garden where I was about to read to a twice-monthly reading group.  He made the rounds of the tables, then came home with me after devouring a packet of dog food I always keep in my car for starving doggies I chance upon  and then a trip to the vet for a checkup, shots, deworming and de-fleaing. After a very necessary bath to remove whatever was matting and crusting his coat and skin, he fit very quickly into the hustle and bustle of our house. He’s put on a needed pound or two and his coat is looking shinier and curlier every day. He gets along well with both cats and other dogs who reside in my house and is the favorite at the local dog park where they all go every day with my houseguest Julie and recently myself as well.

Present animal tally at my house: 4 dogs, 2 cats, 2 humans.

“First Dance” Wordle 776 for The Sunday Whirl

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First Dance

Delerium o’er music swelling, 
trumpet blaring, cymbals belling,
audience with senses throbbing,
swallow tears, and suspend sobbing.
In a spell, just listening to
first one song, and then a few.
Faces pale with knowing glances
tag secret crushes for first dances.
Find the nerve and are rewarded
when the wishes they once hoarded
are now shared with people who
they enjoy a spin or two
and finally begin to woo.

Prompt words for The Sunday Whirl’s Wordle 776 are: swallow tag find music swelling bell 
delirium spell pales knowing just senses

This is a prompt I just can’t resist most weeks. Here is my solution to the word challenge.

 

 

 

Burning Your Journals, Cracking Open the Content Time Capsule

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Burning Your Journals

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Burning your Journals

Who knew fidelity’s even stance
could be mitigated by circumstance?
That a subtle smile, perchance,
exchanged between you at her advance
would wind up in a swift romance
that flourished in that small expanse
between us and her winsome glance.

Who knew that you would go freelance
when love became our ritual dance?
And that I, still in loving’s trance,
would only learn it later, by chance.
Reading your words, caught twice askance.
First by your death, then grief enhanced
as I suffered loss anew
with this further death of you.

 

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Cracking Open the Content Time Capsule

“Damsels in Distress” for Word of the Day Challenge

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Damsels in Distress

Each myth, legend or fairytale
from “once upon” to “fare thee well”
shares some elements of story
be they sad, uplifting, gory.

Always a damsel in distress—
Rumplestiltskin’s name to guess,
straw to spin out into gold,
or another story to be told.

Too much sleep may be her curse,
ugly stepsisters, or worse:
murder, treason, sloth and pox
emptied from Pandora’s box.

These troubles spread from near to far––
one solved by wishing on a star,
then Zeus forgave Pandora’s shame
and the imp revealed his own strange name.

But the other women described above
were saved by cleverness or love.
Scheherazade escaped the hearse
with stories, legends, tales and verse.

Cinderella rose from hearth and ashes
and Sleeping Beauty opened lashes­­––
both maids saved by daring-do:
one by a kiss, one by a shoe.

So whatever might have been their fate:
loss of child or murderous mate,
wipe tears and fears away with laughter.
They all lived happily ever after.

 

The Word of the Day Challenge prompt word is Stress. Image generated with the use of AI.

Birthday Debacle for Stream of Consciousness

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Birthday Debacle

The rumors are untrue. He is a scurrilous liar.
I did not eat the birthday cake. I did not start the fire.

My serenity is not a ruse. I’m innocent of error.
I swear I had no hand in your recent birthday terror.

The dog has done his utmost to brand me as the thief,
but the fool is barely lucid. Could you not see his relief

when you started to upbraid me as he chased me, headed south,
crumbs falling from his chest hair, frosting around his mouth?

Oh that I knew your language and I could tell you that,
but instead, for ever after, you’ll be blaming “that damn cat!!”

The Stream of Consciousness prompt is “Crumb.” Yes, guilty. I had AI make the photos.

“Seer” for the Weekend Writing Prompt #443

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Seer

Her statement that she’d had a vision
was met by general derision.
They went west though she’d said, “Go east,”
and thus were eaten by the beast
or, overtaken by the flood.
died soaked in water or in blood.
So, the moral of this little tale
is heed your mystics or learn to bail
or run faster than the beast
lest you become his morning’s feast.

For Weekend Writing Prompt #443, the task was to write a 66 word story or poem on the subject of “Vision.”

Reblog: No Longer in the Present

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I’m rerunning this blog from two years  ago for Lisa, who liked this photo I used on my Numbers Game blog and wanted to know the story behind it.  This is the poem I ran with it in June of 2023.

 

No Longer in the Present

Seated around the table in our favorite cafe,
attention to each other has come to be passé
We are not present here and now. We’re all in other places
as we stare at tiny screens, intent on other faces.

The friends we have around us will simply have to wait
for our interest in the world-at-large to finally abate.
The news that’s happening elsewhere is simply more amusing
than what might be happening in this space our body’s using.

Other friends are funnier in their “selfie” poses—
pooching out their lips at us and scrunching up their noses.
It won’t do to look natural, we have to look unique
in the selfsame pose that all selfie-flashers seek.

So if your friends are boring, not half so chic as you,
you always have the option to make a Tweet or two.
Check out the latest fashions available from China.
They’ll only take three months to reach you here in Carolina.

Check out the weather in Tibet and give YouTube a glance.
Companions won’t distract you if you don’t give them a chance.
Living one life at a time no longer has to do
so long as you remember to have your phone with you!

So if you’ve dropped a French fry and spilled ketchup down your dress,
you needn’t be embarrassed. It couldn’t matter less.
Intent on Twitter, Instagram, Facetiming and Facebooking,
the friends with you won’t notice, for nobody is looking.