Category Archives: Uncategorized

Casting About for Fame and Recognition

 

Casting About for Fame and Recognition

I’ve never done a single thing of any magnitude.
I’m not in any centerfolds, posed there in the nude.
 I’d love to give a Ted talk, but I simply do not dare.
I’m nervous in the limelight, a stranger to the glare.

Peak climbing is too vigorous, so I avoid Mt. Everest.
I don’t compete in spelldowns for I’m simply not the cleverest.
Each autumn when the leaves turn, I swear I’ll turn one, too.
I’ll examine all my talents and find one that I’ll do.

I’ll write the next great epic tale. I’ll sail to Zanzibar.
But writing isn’t easy and that voyage is too far.
I’ll buy paints and a canvas and combine the two,
I’ll find out if great artistry is what I’m meant to do.

Or maybe I’l adopt ten kids and have a try at mothering.
See if I can show the correct interest without smothering.
If I approach this task with correct energy, less fear,
perhaps I can obtain my fame as mother of the year!

Prompt words today are strange, magnitude, nervous, vigorous, something you’ve always wanted to do and leaves.

Bougainvillea: FOTD, Sept 24, 2020

 

For Cee’s FOTD

“How Now, Ground Cow?”

 

To understand this story at all, you need to read this explanation of what the prompt was:
THE  “HOW NOW” CHALLENGE.

“How!”  “Now, Ground Cow.”

A UFO landed in a field in South Dakota and a little green creature hopped out of it and ran over to a herd of fine Hereford cattle. He was absolutely fascinated with these creatures and equally delighted that his attempts to communicate with them telepathically actually worked. One by one, they gathered closer to him, all interrupting each other in their efforts to answer his questions. Of what use were the appendages on either side of their heads?  Why were some  of these creatures so much smaller and why did some have a number of  fleshy appendages on their underside instead of the harder pointed ones on their heads?

Of course, the Bull had quite a few questions of his own, but the green creature just seemed intent on controlling the conversation and asking all the questions himself.

It was when he felt himself being nudged–albeit lightly, but with a very sharp horn–that the green being STOPPED TALKING for a few seconds, and the Bull seized the opportunity to ask if specimens of his own variety existed in the place where his interrogator  was from.

“Yes, sort of” said the green one. “We have creatures that provide us nourishment, but years ago they began taking up too much space, so we created another world of animals above.”

“Is this a polite way of saying that they all became extinct?” asked the Bull, with a worried look in one eye and a very dangerous one in the other.

“No,” chuckled the visitor. “We biologically altered them to enable them all to fly. Then we provided resting platforms above that are covered with nature, much as is your earth.”

“So, your cattle fly? ” asked the bull, and the alien shook his head “yes” telepathically. “As do pigs..”

At this particular moment, a native American pulled up in his pickup. He rolled down his window , held up his hand in the sign of universal peace, and to the little green being, he said, “How!”

The little green one, having neglected to learn telepathically any of the original languages of this planet, had no idea no idea  what this “How,” was meant to indicate, but he had business at hand and so he merely gave voice to a questioning “How?” before turning to complete his conversation with the earthling food source, that upon being invited to accompany them on their way back to their own planet, had asked how soon they would be leaving to view this sight of cattle unleashed to the heavens.

“Now, Ground Cow,” said the little green visitor, as he turned to go back to his space vehicle.

And when the farmer noticed a certain streak of green light zipping heavenward from the field where his cattle were kept, little did he know that it was his prize Bull Studley , formerly fated to remain on the ground for the rest of his life, that was now zooming off to earn his wings.  Never again would anyone call Studley a ground cow.

And so Studley lived happily ever after, living to a ripe old age during which, for the remainder of his time on the new home of his choice, not once did the thought of  becoming ground round ever enter his mind again.

 

 

After two brave souls answered my challenge, I was shamed into doing so myself. You can find the link here: https://judydykstrabrown.com/2020/10/24/how-now-ground-cow/ And yes, it is really dumb!

 

 

November 3

November 3

Since we first crept out of the primordial slime,
evolving from a past when our words were only mime,
since the time we clothed ourselves in dresses and in britches,
we took our world for granted–its beauties and its riches.

We’ve jeopardized our future by burning fossil fuels,
courted war and pestilence, led on by greedy fools.
How do we show our gratitude for all nature’s provision?
We frack and turn, pollute and burn to fuel the world’s division.

Blind to impending disaster, we rush foolishly on,
letting those we’re led by continue with their con.
Buoyantly, we bob along, soothed by drugs and boozing,
not realizing all the ills in life are of our choosing.

What will it take to stem the tide? Who will arrive to lead us?
Who will heal our ravaged Earth, restore our souls and feed us?
Will this be an election that brings us ’round the bend
or will it just propel us more quickly to our end?

 

Image by Ella Evanescu on Unsplash. Used with permission. Prompt words for the day are impending, jeopardize, creep, buoyant, gratitude and slime.

Hibiscus Bud, FOTD Oct 23, 2020

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

See Cee’s fabulous dahlia HERE.

Crazy Shirley Sounds Off

Crazy Shirley Writes with Her Teeth, Lips and Tongue

When? says Crazy Shirley,
    is the dreadlock on that bucolic
                      hot-giggle
                    Samson man
         gonna just fall off?

      He’s been dipping it in
beef stew and sugar
all day,
fahrenheit been hitting the top of the bulb!

He’s in a ubiquitous position,
’cause Bob Marley’s not in the general vocabulary
           of this fraternity.

He’s kinda mucous-tasting and fecund.
     His face? Chalk-white and he uses
         a kitten in the morning for a wash cloth.

          Hippopotamus?
Yeah
They’re heavy.
Sure.

               And a goldfish is gutteral
     while an owl
             sorta chortles and
                                    whooooooos.

I’m not that keen on bucolic,
                 but
          I got a Ticonderoga tintype
                            that’s got the most fantastic hue!

 

A “sound” poem for dVerse Poets

How Now. . . .?

 

After a fascinating Skype conversation about super-cooled water with Forgottenman, I settled down to watch an interview on Youtube that he’d recommended and evidently fell asleep, because my next Skype comment an hour later was :

                                   “I just woke up thinking, How now, ground round?”

I hadn’t been drinking or reading old cookbooks. I wonder by what twisted route my mind came to relay that message to me? Actually, a few hours after writing this, I decided to try to write a poem or short prose piece that made use of the line and suddenly realized that in the dream, the line was actually, “How now, ground cow?  My first thought upon awakening was, “Oh..that should be ‘How now, ground round?”  But actually, now that I think of it, I like the dream’s version better. And since no one has answered my challenge, I guess I’ll try to do it myself.  I understand your hesitation. Too weird, huh? (Since I wrote this, two people actually have answered the challenge. See their poems below in comments.)

At any rate, I challenge any witty writers out there to come up with a poem or short prose piece that begins or ends with one of those two lines.

 

Mandy Patinkin And His Wife Riff Over Doom and Gloom Campaign Video

Click on link below, not on arrow to play video

Mandy Patinkin & His Wife Riff Over “Doom & Gloom” Campaign Video

Patterns of Light

Click on photos to enlarge.

Patterns of Light

Time devours candles as twilight dines on day.
There is no way to change this, for it is nature’s way.
Vivid colors fade to night, alleviating need
to be about day’s business and to bring the rest we need.
But this change of light to dark another change is spawning.
Black turns to grey and grey to blue in a new day’s dawning.

 

 

 

Word prompts today are grey turns to blue,alleviate,vivid,, devour,  business and candles.

Sedum Trio, FOTD Oct 22, 2020

Click on photos to enlarge.

For Cee’s FOTD