Walking Wounded
I have a giant blister growing on my foot,
and I’ve had a breakthrough about what’s at its root.
Its cause is not a secret, no mystery at all.
The truth is that I buy my shoes at least a size too small.
Blame it on my vanity that’s making me a gimp.
My need to wear a daintier size is why I have a limp.
Today’s prompt words are breakthrough, giant, blister, root.
The Fruits of My Labors
I drink smoothies for stamina. Somehow, they maker me brighter.
If I skip one for one day, I’m a more mundane writer.
I grow the fruit right in my yard: papaya plump and round,
and the freshest bananas—as delicious as they sound.
Together, they form food for thought and make me much less grouchy.
My skin acquires a healthy glow. My eyelids are less pouchy.
When I mix these fruits together with oat milk and some berries
and drink them down, all editors respond to my queries.
What we put into our mouths comes out in our thoughts.
Mixed up in our blender or boiled in our pots,
they form a magic elixir, a wild creative brew
that when you imbibe in it, will inspire you!
Today’s prompt words are stamina, drink, mundane, grouch, mix and writer.
His Hopes: Love Messages
Long after sleep is over and you’ve made your morn’s retreat,
I find an image of your kiss pressed into my sheet.
It summarizes passion and the pounding beat
of two dazzled lovers united in their heat.
I gently kiss your absent lips and smooth the cover neat,
hoping that tonight you will return for a repeat.
Prompt words today are sleep, summarize, dazzle, beat, lipstick.
Dearly Missing Diego
No amount of paranormal could make this holiday worse.
It carries with it sadness I don’t have to rehearse.
I do not fear the skeletons who wander far and near
Has-been-dearly-departeds are not the ones I fear.
Made-up horrors all take flight and vanish o’er the hill
as I recall his silent passage over the kitchen sill
to steal three dozen cookies that no doubt he found yummy
since when he next passed over it, they were in his tummy.
Whole chickens and entire plates of Christmas eats
vanished as he made them his own personal treats.
For eleven years, he upgraded my life
with gentle affection that mitigated strife.
Life oscillates between the pleasure and the pain
as I have to lose a much-loved one again.
Dear Diego passed from us this morning suddenly,
with a brutal speed that I did not foresee.
R.I.P. my lovely friend. Milk Bones are piled up
under your altar picture, just there for you to sup.
My neighbors say when I drive up after it is dark,
they will not know I’m safe at home without your greeting bark.
You won’t be there to moderate Zoe and Morrie’s spats.
And there will be one fewer to bark at owls and bats.
No one will nudge my hand for pats quite the way you do,
and you’ll be missed forever in the family queue.
R.I.P. Diego, Oct 29, 2022
Sobriquet
He is an aficionado of all things fine and rare.
He judges friends on what they eat as well as what they wear.
His taste is never arbitrary. He knows what is right,
and contrary preferences are sure to cause a fight.
Intricate directions are issued to his staff
and any omission is a fireable gaffe.
So, though he showers every day and his name is Jack,
Everybody calls him “Old Sour Balls” to his back.
Prompt words today are aficionado, intricate, , arbitrary, contrary, bathroom and sour balls. Image by Yerling Villalobos on Unsplash.
Idara
Her very name meant organization. She exceeded all the rules
for unity and order. She didn’t allow curls
to pop up on her hair ends. Her locks hung lank and straight .
It was with trepidation that she allowed a date
to disturb their perfect order when venturing a kiss.
She could not help but worry something would go amiss.
Daily she checked her batteries, fearing one would fail.
She doubled her insurance for avalanche and hail
and taking due precautions, she exceeded sound and reason,
preparing many months ahead for every change of season.
She flinched at lights and shadows, expecting the worst—
some tragedy or danger for which she’d not rehearsed.
Her parents thought it their fault for giving her the name,
wondering if they’d named her Hope if she’d turn out the same.
Prompts today are lights and shadows, trepidation, battery, exceed, organization and name. The name “Idara” really does mean organized. Stock Photo.
(Click on photos to enlarge.)
Fishermen
On platforms built over the bay,
the fishermen begin their day.
In spite of last-night’s sordid fun,
they’re up before the day’s begun,
ready to join their fishing fleet
so later we can leave replete
with fish from platters piled high
with clams and shrimp and codfish pie.
Wild fishermen of bar or tavern,
in days of old in inn or cavern
drank their wine and emerged bleary
to their boats, hungover, weary.
Simon and Andrew were the first
to leave their fishing nets and thirst
for cups of wine filled to the brim
to change their lives and follow him.
Joined after by the other ten,
they all became fishers of men.
And even though eons ago
they, too, had their wild oats to sow,
these fishermen would be surprised
that since then they’ve been canonized,
thus feeding souls with other than
can be dished out in dish or pan.
Prompt words are platform, sordid, bash, canonize, fleet and platter.
Truculent Twos and the Fourth of July
A starburst of fireworks up in the sky
caught the truculent child’s wandering eye.
Took his mind off his troubles and saved the vacation
which had formerly suffered from his tribulation.
His folks’ cogent reasonings wondering why
could not hold a candle to things in the sky
that vanquished his agony, lifting him higher
toward massive explosions of glorious fire.
Prompts today are starburst, cogent, truculent, intrusive, trouble and vacation.
Broken Resolutions
I admire your resolution as you once more launch a new one.
Eying the lovely ladies, saying you’re not going to woo one,
but I fear your resolution is due to soon elapse
as you inevitably launch into your annual relapse.
The Miss America pageant should commence with a dire warning
lest an evening’s entertainment turn obsessional by morning.
Men such as yourself who are merely Cupid’s dupe
might find themselves trapped helpless like a fly drowned in the soup.
As you dream of Miss Missouri or fixate on Illinois,
you might find yourself transforming into just a boy
and imagine it’s your privilege, perhaps, to have a date
with the prettiest maiden in the next adjoining state.
But, alas, it’s only dreaming—the result of your illusions
that you can live out your most impossible delusions.
All those lovely ladies that you most desire to woo you
are the ones most likely to reject and eschew you
Prompt words today are admire, warning, elapse, launch, soup, privilege .
