Category Archives: Uncategorized

Lucky Thirteen

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Today, on October 13, i just posted by 13,303rd blog.. which I started in 2013, 13 years ago. That’s a lot of 13s! 

The clinical phobia of the number 13 is known as triskaidekaphobia, but  the number 13 carries a dual meaning across different cultures, symbolizing bad luck and superstition in the West, as well as transformation, renewal and sacred unity in numerology, ancient traditions and other regions.

I’m choosing to take the second meaning and so look forward to transformation, renewal and sacred unity in the remainder of my life!!!

Blast from the Blog for Oct 13

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Morning Protein

Each morning when I waken, I take a little pill;
but though it is to boost my health, today it made me ill.
Before I went to slumber, I poured a glass of Coke
so it would be there in the night if I began to choke.
I know it isn’t usual, but it works for me.
Somehow it works to clear my throat and leaves the passage free.

So when I took my pill this morning, feeling sort of hazy,
I didn’t go for water, but instead I was just lazy.
I lifted up the Coke cup, filled almost to the brim,
and only had a little sip before up to the rim
something solid floated that shouldn’t have been there.
I felt something that tickled––like very coarse stiff hair.

Later, I was glad I hadn’t taken bigger sips,
for as it was, just part of it made it past my lips.
I hurried to the bathroom and spit and spit and spit,
then emptied out the cup and didn’t look at it
as a big dead cockroach went swirling down the drain.
Will I drink without looking? No. Never again.

Blast from the Blog, Oct 13, 2016

“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

Fibbing Friday for Oct9, 2026

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Here is today’s Fibbing Fodder: from Fibbing FridaY:

1. What is frutti di mare? An apple fed to a female horse.
2. What is a rum truffle?  A bar fight staged over the disputed owner of  a Cuba Libre.
3. What is a spicy wedge? A piece of jalapeno pizza.
4. What is cock-a-leekie? An incontinent rooster.
5. What is baked Alaska? Our northernmost state, during a heatwave.
6. What is a battenburg? A sandwich sold at a baseball game.(See illustration.)
7. What is pease pudding? A three-year-old’s request for dessert.
8. What is laverbread? Bread made from edible seaweed.
9. What is a Welsh oggie? A breed of dog.
10. What is crempog? A creamy eggnog made from splitpeas. (I don’t recomment it.)

LOVESICK, for “Throwback Edition”

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  Lovesick

Memories of her
stretch out like a voluptuous lover
over the couch of his mind.
He takes refuge in them in his loneliness,
gathering
the aftereffects of her loss
around him
like a scratchy woolen blanket
drawn by habit,
offering little comfort.

 

FROM OCT 6, 2018

For Cracking Open the Content Time Capsule––Oct. 4, 2016

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Daring-do

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Daring-do

Once from our comfort we are torn—
from the first moment we are born—
we’re put into this world to do,
to suckle, gurgle, bill and coo,
then to stand and tie a shoe.
To participate, and not just view.

From a broomstick with horse’s head,
we go on to bust a bronc instead.
Playing drums or clarinets,
clicking heels or castinets,
from paper airplanes to flying jets,
doing’s as good as living gets.

We start out small and then get bigger.
Vine pod boats grow sails and rigger
to sail the world and tell the tales
of seas like glass, whirlpools and gales.
Each time you try out something new,
it brings more world inside of you.

Some things work out, others we rue,
but still it’s better to try and do
than put ourselves up on our shelves
and simply analyze ourselves.
Daring-do beats daring-don’t,
for life consists of “will,” not “won’t.”

For Cracking Open the Content Time Capsule, Oct. 4, 2016

9 thoughts on “Daring-do”

For Fibbing Friday, Oct 2, 2026

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For Fibbing Friday, Oct 2, 2026, the assignment is:

1. What is a calibre? A bachelor who lives in the longest state situated on the West Coast of the U.S. 
2. What is citrus?  The muscle that holds an eye in its socket.
3. What is phlebotomy? The removal of biting insects from a dog or cat.
4. What is pumpernickel? What you do when your coin gets caught in the gumball machine.
5. What is meant by nimbus? What an Irishman says to the bus driver when the wrong bus pulls up and opens its door.
6. What is a sea monkey? What you use to get into the men’s restroom.
7. What is an ambassador? A fisherman who gets up early in the morning to cast his rod.
8. What is a flywheel? One of those spinning devices put in the center of the table at restaurants that shoo flies away. (See illustration above.)
9. What is a catacomb? A feline grooming implement.
10. What is flamboyant? An oil slick aflame.

 

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.

For Let’s Hit Rewind, Oct. 1

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Beholding Beauty (Oct. 1, 2021)

Beholding Beauty

You are the Burmese cat, stepping high
over the small sculptures
on the wall where he is fed,
his tail curving into a delicate hook.

You are vibrating leaves on the hibiscus tree
adding the contrast of green
to the one exquisite yellow bloom
with its fuchsia sunset middle.

You are a child whose violet eyes
open wider to each wonder––innocent,
never knowing yourself to be more beautiful
than what you observe.

You are music, harmonious, played
on the spur-of-the-moment with no rehearsal,
fingerpaints on the wall in an incredibly wild pattern
that could not have been planned.

You are the gourmet meal
made of leftovers from the fridge,
the wonderful costume gathered
from hangers at the thrift store.

You have a beauty
you were not born to––
one that is an amalgam
of every choice you make in life.

Beauty is in the eye
of the beholder, many say,
but it is impossible to imagine
a beholder who couldn’t see it in you.

Lacking Vision, for dVerse Poets

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(Lacking) Vision

Whereas in leaders, we seek vision,
alas, in ours, we got division!
His rich cronies buy support
for policies that they purport
are for us, because he cares..
but profit only billionaires!!!!

The wall, the pool, the usurpation
of earlier tributes that our nation
made to presidents we revered
are proof our ship of state he’s steered
into waters perilous,
good for himself, but bad for us.

Healthcare and social security?
Safety in our maturity?
Clearly, things not necessary!
His policy of cash and carry
meant only for his personal coffers
to pay for new investment offers.

Our ship of state, mentioned before
has become a ship of war
whereas our president of late
has a new conveyance of state––
a plane much more luxurious
furnished by China, not by us!.

So we’ll be seeing by and by
where his allegiances will lie.
His vision firmly fixed upon
his fortunes and the art of con.
Too many citizens, I’m afraid,
still thirsty for the Kool-Aid!

Ooops. I got carried away and forgot this was supposed to be a haibun. Mea culpa. Please forgive….

.For dVerse Poets, the prompt is “Vision.”