Category Archives: Poetry

Trouble Crossing

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Trouble Crossing

Fjords, ravines and crevasses are hard enough to cross,
but when it comes to intersections, I am at a loss.
I excel at parallel parking and my merging is just fine,
but when negotiating stop lights, I simply do not shine.

Perhaps it is the colors that I find distracting.
There’s something about yellow that I find too exacting.
Red is most definitive. I know I shouldn’t go.
And green is also clearly meant as a sign to go.

But yellow’s indecisive. Should I go or should I stay?
Should I linger or should I be upon my way?
This solitary factor is what makes me balk.
As a means of transportation, it is true I’d rather walk!!!! 

The prompt words are color, parking, fjord and solitary. Here are the links:

https://ragtagcommunity.wordpress.com/2018/10/10/rdp-wednesday-color/
https://fivedotoh.com/2018/10/10/fowc-with-fandango-parking/
https://wordofthedaychallenge.wordpress.com/2018/10/10/fjord/
https://dailyaddictions542855004.wordpress.com/2018/10/06/daily-addictions-2018-week-40/solitary

A Sedative Soliloquy

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A Sedative Soliloquy

He was a jovial companion, but his constant burbling ways
inevitably put folks in a protective daze.
So although I’m sure his ego assured him they were rapt,
in fact it was illusion. All too frequently, they napped.

 

Prompt words today (actually, yesterday’s as I’m running late) are burble, illusion, jovial and inevitable. Here are the links:
https://ragtagcommunity.wordpress.com/2018/10/06/rdp-saturday-burble/
https://fivedotoh.com/2018/10/06/fowc-with-fandango-illusion/
https://wordofthedaychallenge.wordpress.com/2018/10/06/jovial/
https://dailyaddictions542855004.wordpress.com/inevitable

Futile Advice

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Futile Advice

Truck trials are enigmatic. I just can’t see their appeal.
Big boys ruining their toys? I want to say, “Get real!”
If one of your life pleasures is to buy things and deplete them,
just buy some triple-decker cones and take them out and eat them!
It’s bound to be much cheaper and it makes a lot less noise,
but I know that you won’t listen. After all, boys will be boys.

 

The prompt words today are truck, trial, enigmatic and deplete. Here are the links:
https://ragtagcommunity.wordpress.com/2018/10/05/rdp-friday-truck/
https://fivedotoh.com/2018/10/05/fowc-with-fandango-trial/
https://wordofthedaychallenge.wordpress.com/2018/10/05/enigmatic/
https://dailyaddictions542855004.wordpress.com/2018/06/06/welcome-to-daily-addictions/deplete

Driving Lesson

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Driving Lesson

Brace yourself for lamp posts. Do not vacillate changing lanes.
That panic you feel turning corners very quickly wanes.
For each 10 miles of your speed, stay a car length back
to make it much less likely a bumper you will crack
when the car in front of you makes a sudden stop.
Anticipate fast braking, and avoid the traffic cop!

These rules aren’t too difficult, in fact they’re common sense.
When you see your instructor growing rather tense,
decrease your speed and check that you are driving center lane.
Checking your makeup in the rear vision mirror is inane!
Indicate your turning and brake for traffic lights.
Minding all the rules just makes for fewer fights.

I’m sure that if you follow them you’ll soon be driving regally.
It’s so much easier to drive when you’re driving legally!

The word prompts today are brace, lamppost, vacillate and anticipate.  Here are the links:

https://ragtagcommunity.wordpress.com/2018/10/04/rdp-thursday-brace/
https://fivedotoh.com/2018/10/04/fowc-with-fandango-lamppost/
https://wordofthedaychallenge.wordpress.com/2018/10/04/vacillate/
https://dailyaddictions542855004.wordpress.com/2018/09/29/daily-addictions-2018-week-39/anticipate

Anniversary Blunder

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Anniversary Blunder

It was an anniversary present for which he must atone
unless he wants to spend next anniversary alone.
When she opened up her gift, the lone words she could muster
were a string of sputterings, followed up by, “Buster!
is this the best  that you could do—a sander, saw and drill?
Shopping at a hardware store’s not anyway to thrill
a wife lusting for jewelry or even an appliance
more within the likelihood of strengthening our alliance!”
He said, “I thought a contrast might bring a little zing
to our romance much more unique than a diamond ring.
Then he led her to the closet and opened up the door
to see her brand new shoe rack built from ceiling to the floor.
New shelves and custom cabinet with jewelry racks and chest,
and then he opened up a drawer to reveal the best
surprise of all the others—left there for her to see—
a note that said, “Another gift. The tools were for me
to build this brand new closet that you’ve hinted at for years.
Here it is, with all my love, admittedly in arrears!
Look in the bottom jewelry drawer if this is not enough.
You’ll find a box there nestled next to your other stuff.”
And there she found the ring she’d wanted, nestled in among
all the gifts he’d bought her since the years when they were young.
Then she had a revelation, embarrassed for her huff,
and said, “Oh dear, you shouldn’t have. The tools were enough!”

The prompt words for today are contrast, hardware, atone and muster.  Here are the links:
https://ragtagcommunity.wordpress.com/2018/10/02/rdp-tuesday-contrast/
https://fivedotoh.com/2018/10/02/fowc-with-fandango-hardware/
https://wordofthedaychallenge.wordpress.com/2018/10/02/atone/
https://dailyaddictions542855004.wordpress.com/muster

‘Ssss True

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‘Sss True

Ssspartan to the nth degree,
he may be lurking in a tree.
In shape he must exemplify
nature’s attempt to ssssimplify.

(No arms or legs to complicate
his lithe movement through glade or gate.)
Not limited by all those parts
that curtail our stops and starts,

his every motion unimpeded,
his conquestsss easily completed.
Under a rock, he may lie coiled.
In sssswiftness, he cannot be foiled.

Hands and feet may have their uses,
but they may lead to abuses.
Toes can stub and feet may catch
on bumps or stones. They are no match

for a ssssnake’s swift glide and ssssssting.
Limbs are not good for everything!
It’s true, a sssnake would be more harmlesss
if he had not been born armlessss!

 

My cats had this snake cornered near the kitchen door, proving me wrong  by demonstrating that some footed creatures are a good match for a snake.  Yolanda’s keen eyes brought it to my attention, and between us, we proved to be its friends. KItties were curtailed.  The serpent glided on to sssafety.

The prompt words today are Spartan, limit, glade and exemplify.  Here are the links:
https://ragtagcommunity.wordpress.com/2018/10/01/rdp-monday-spartan/
https://fivedotoh.com/2018/10/01/fowc-with-fandango-limit/
https://wordofthedaychallenge.wordpress.com/2018/10/01/glade/
https://dailyaddictions542855004.wordpress.com/2018/06/06/welcome-to-daily-addictions/exemplify

3:00 A.M.

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3:00 A.M.

I think I’ve reached my limit. Not one inch left to pack,
and since I leave in just six hours, it’s time to hit the sack.
Ta ta to all my blogging friends, I’ll soon be on the wing.
All I have to do is edit, correct, “save” and ping!!!!

Hasta La Vista.  Tomorrow I’ll be writing to you from a different country.

https://fivedotoh.com/2018/10/01/fowc-with-fandango-limit/

Travel Light

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Travel Light

After packing all my things, my check-in bag’s so spacious,
I wonder if it’s possible to use one less capacious.
For me, my act is radical. I decide to take one
suitcase I can carry on, so packing was no fun!
I’m carrying no liquids so there’s nothing to secrete
and ooze out of the overhead onto my head and seat.
My actions here are radical—I’ll be gone sixty days.
(After this trip I may find this decision is a phase.)
The quintessence of the matter is I’m not taking a lot—
a departure from the usual of taking all I’ve got.
No toothpaste, shampoo, makeup, hairspray, shaver, hair dryer, pills.
No medicines for indigestion or my other ills.
Only one light jacket  and layers for the cold.
I’ll wear my single pair of shoes, for more my case won’t hold.
My personal item will contain computer, hub and backup,
my purse and jewelry and snacks. I hope that I don’t crack up.
Lugging all this stuff today through four airports  I’ll visit
is perhaps a bad decision. It isn’t sane. Or is it?
United changed its policy, so it makes sense to me.
For this and all my later flights, I’d pay a baggage fee.
Guadalajara to Montana, later Saint Paul and then St. Loo,
Then back again to Mexico. I’d pay more than a few.
I’m really not a cheapskate. It’s the principle of the thing.
I’d rather use that money on a bracelet or a ring—
some tiny thing that I can pack in a space that’s tight.
I’m committed for this single trip to simply traveling light!

 

To be clear, tomorrow alone, I’ll be visiting four airports: Guadalajara, Houston, Denver and Billings, Montana. Then in three weeks to a month, I’ll be flying to St Louis, possibly St. Paul, St. Louis and then eventually back to Mexico.  That’s a lot of checked baggage charges!! In addition, I’ve ordered material to bring back from the States so will have to check at least one bag from St. Louis to Mexico. Thus, the decision. Let’s hear a round of applause for tight packing! Thanks to Yolanda for her assistance.

 

The prompts today are radical, quintessence, secrete and capacious. Here are the links:
https://fivedotoh.com/2018/09/30/fowc-with-fandango-radical/
https://wordofthedaychallenge.wordpress.com/2018/09/30/quintessence/
https://ragtagcommunity.wordpress.com/2018/09/30/rdp-sunday-secrete
https://dailyaddictions542855004.wordpress.com/2018/09/29/daily-addictions-2018-week-39/capacious

Marrying Up

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Marrying Up

The hippie that she married was excessively hirsute,
which was her final reason for giving him the boot.
But since her alimony was embarrassingly meager,
perhaps we can forgive her for being oh so eager

to try to find a richer man—a man of good repute
exceedingly well-barbered, who wore a business suit.
She knew that she could find him if she hung out at the Ritz,
so she dug out her old three-inch-heels and donned a bit of glitz.

Adopting her most snobbish air, she hung out at the bar
to try to find this different man who was more up to par.
She knew him when she saw him.  He’d a Rolex on his arm
and she was sure if she exuded her usual class and charm,

she could attract his notice and flirt and joke and tease
until within an hour she had brought him to his knees.
It’s true he came right over and was smitten from the start.
and within an hour or two, she knew they’d never part.

He dined her and he wined her and he smothered her in flowers.
She gloried in her craftiness and her seductive powers.
It was a whirlwind courtship. When they honeymooned in Prague,
she knew her social standing had gone up a cog.

The hotel that they stayed at was the very best.
Anything she wanted appeared at his behest.
Fresh pastries from the kitchen, whisked to them piping hot.
Shops with furs and diamonds. She had to have the lot.

She said, “Dear, never leave me.” He said, “I never will,”
yet the final day at check out, when they handed her the bill,
surprised, she held it out to him, and then she murmured, “Honey?”
as he sprinted for the door, saying, “I thought you had the money!”

 

(Illustration from Pinterest.) The prompt words today were hirsute, eager, alliance and adopt.
https://ragtagcommunity.wordpress.com/2018/09/27/rdp-thursday-hirsute/
https://fivedotoh.com/2018/09/27/fowc-with-fandango-eager/
https://wordofthedaychallenge.wordpress.com/2018/09/27/alliance/
https://dailyaddictions542855004.wordpress.com/2018/09/23/daily-addictions-2018-week-38/adopt

 

Should I or Shouldn’t I ?!

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The word prompts today are inspire, surmount, enthralling, mistrust and today I’m adding Matt’s new prompt site to my inspiration list.  His command is that we invent a new punctuation mark and write a post inspired by it. What would you do if you were given four words and a situation and told to use them in a poem or story? You’d probably wind up with a poem as ridiculous as this one is!!

Should I or Shouldn’t I?!

I am plagued by indecision.
Should I choose that vain incision
leading to the skin division
that might lead to the derision
of those who might choose nature’s pace
written on their neck and face?

I must admit I do mistrust
those who deal with jowls and bust
by removing parts of them,
and so I hem and haw and hem.
As enthralling as it would be
to be confronted with less of me,

I can’t surmount the fear that I
would be the first face lift to die!
Or,  lovely as other ladies look,
I fear I’d end up in a book
of great disasters and that mine
would be a face most leonine!

Or if I had a chest reduction,
all the cutting and the suction
would lead to results most distressing.
What would happen, I am guessing,
is that the surgeon would have the gall
to leave me with no breasts at all!

If I had need to punctuate
a sentence that concerns my fate,
I think that it would culminate
with a mark that had a mate.
Although I am inspired to do it,
another part seems to eschew it,

?! would be the punctuation
designating consternation.
It’s what  I’d have to use until
I decide if I won’t or will.
Half of it anticipation,
the other half, my hesitation!

https://ragtagcommunity.wordpress.com/2018/09/26/wednesday-rdp-inspire/
https://fivedotoh.com/2018/09/26/fowc-with-fandango-surmount/
https://wordofthedaychallenge.wordpress.com/2018/09/26/enthralling/
https://dailyaddictions542855004.wordpress.com/2018/09/23/daily-addictions-2018-week-38/mistrust
https://normalhappenings.com/2018/09/26/leaving-your-mark-daily-inkling/ (Matt’s first prompt is to invent a new punctuation mark and write a post inspired by it.)