On Eating Dogs and Cats (Excerpts from Heather Cox Richardson), Sept 19, 2024

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Today, at a White House reception in celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month, President Joe Biden said: “We don’t demonize immigrants. We don’t single them out for attacks. We don’t believe they’re poisoning the blood of the country. We’re a nation of immigrants, and that’s why we’re so damn strong.”. . . .

. . . .(The)impulse to focus on regaining power rather than serving the country was at least part of what was behind Republican vice presidential candidate J.D. Vance’s lie about Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio. That story has gotten even darker as it turns out Vance and Trump received definitive assurances on September 9 that the rumor was false, but Trump ran with it in the presidential debate of September 10 anyway. Now, although it has been made very clear—including by Republican Ohio governor Mike DeWine—that the Haitian immigrants in Springfield are there legally,  Vance told a reporter today that he personally considers the programs under which they came illegal, so he is still “going to call [a Haitian migrant] an illegal alien.”

“Fallen Angel” for FOTD Sept. 19, 2024

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For Cee’s FOTD

Back to the Beginning

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Click on photos to enlarge.

Back to the Beginning

When I began my journey, I was jocular and young—
no hardness in my heart and no burrs upon my tongue.
I hadn’t joined the fracas and the chilling of the years.
I had none of life’s baggage—no heartaches and no fears.

Life had not disseminated all her tawdry facts
and I had not encountered them by gossip or by acts.
No tricksters had deceived me. My heart remained intact.
I knew not what I’d missed. I was naïve of what I lacked.

And now that I am older, I’ve returned to what I had
before I had decided I must follow every fad.
The things that I’ve acquired? I am loosening my hold.
I’ve found that satisfaction is not something that is sold.

I have simplified agendas, taking time to see and do
all the things I overlooked while in the human zoo.
The progress of a caterpillar on a hanging vine
as effective as a church in reaching the divine.

The flutter of a wing, the morning calls of birds
reveal as much about the world as news reports or words.
Drawing back into what’s basic and screening the uncouth
has helped me in regaining the lighter heart of youth.

 

https://www.writersdigest.com/write-better-poetry/wednesday-poetry-prompts-713

Cicatrix, For dVerse Poets: Endings

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Cicatrix

I know better than you
what lies buried under
my healed-over self.

The raised part of me
grown to protect the wound
creates this distance
that I once warned you of.

I need to thicken that part of me
where part of you remains,
and if for this time you gasp for air,
it is my thick skin growing over you,
like an orb spider winding you in my web

until you become
the one in me hidden so deep
that even you
believe you’ve disappeared.

For dVerse Poets  I have used the “image” ending.
To see how others responded to the prompt go HERE.

Furled, For FOTD, Sept 18, 2024

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For FOTD

Ode to a Rotund Robin for 3 Things Challenge

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Ode to a Rotund Robin

You alight, to peck and swallow.
In my bird feeder, you wallow—
driving other birds away
to gorge yourself both night and day.
Now as you struggle to arise,
spreading your wings up to the skies,
watching your labored ascent,
I raise the question of your descent.
Have you reckoned on your girth
in planning for your fall to earth?

 

For the Three Things Challenge the prompt words are : Alight, descent, raise. Image thanks to Unsplash.

for RDP, Sept 17, 2024

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“Why Don’t You Let Me Iron That for You?”

When there is a wrinkle, she works fast to smooth it out.
She loves to plug the iron in and move it all about.
Steam wafting all around her, she executes arm action.
She finds it scintillating dealing with each new infraction
of the rule that each garment should hang seamless and true,
without a single furrow dividing it from you.
She feels no reluctance in relieving clothes of wrinkles—
no puckers and no creases. No scrunches and no crinkles.
Because of her I’m faultless. My wardrobe is sublime,
for in Yolanda’s view, a wrinkled garment is a crime!

Yolanda has been my housekeeper, accomplice and friend for twenty years now. She rearranges my belongings, leaving little jokes, removes dust and fingerprints and generally rules the roost when it comes to the state of my house. In addition, neither I nor any houseguest can leave the house without meeting with her discerning eye. and if she spots a wrinkle, you can be sure she’ll whip the iron out and insist that it be dealt with. I’ve never yet won an argument to the contrary.

The Ragtag Daily Prompt today is Iron

“Nightfall” For the Cosmic Photo Challenge

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Bucerias Beach Sunset

Click on photos to enlarge.

For the Cosmic Photo Challenge: The Nights are Drawing In

“Novice” For dVerse Poets Quadrille Challenge: Vampire

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Novice

The world’s most darling  vampire needs some practice with his biting,
for he is not schooled in pursuing or in fighting.
His fangs have gone unpracticed in neck piercing and in ripping,
so his mouth is only being used for food chewing and sipping!

For The dVerse Poets 
To see other poems written for this prompt, go HERE.

For Cee’s FOTD