Early Release
He barely saw the morning view, he was in such a pother.
He skipped his juice and pancakes. He simply couldn’t bother.
Today no one could find a way to dispel his grief.
His nervousness was clear to all. He couldn’t find relief.
His summer bliss was over. The truth blatantly cruel
as his worst fears came true at last with the first day of school!
He dragged his book bag in the dust and lagged behind the others.
He’d be out at the fishing hole if he had had his druthers.
Pencils his ma had sharpened, he broke against the wall,
so when he had to write things down, he’d have no way at all.
He used his brand new ruler to pry up stones and rocks
to catch red ants and spiders to tie up in his socks.
He caught a lizard just before it zipped under a log,
and put it in his pocket with a field mouse and a frog.
So when he got to school he’d have ample ammunition
to bring the brand new school marm to a sure state of contrition
for imprisoning them all inside on such a nice fall day,
and school would get out early if he had his way!
Prompt words for today are grief, nervous, pother and morning view.
Dim Sum are little love poems. I challenge every reader to write one and send it to me! For the fun of it, I made mine into a chain of hearts.
Dim Sum
When you rise hours early
to stand in front of the window
and watch for the UPS truck,
I shift my dreaming over
to your warm pillow.
If you are a child,
I am a
cat.
The Computer
has become the new hearth
and heart of our home, now
glowing out in the darkness
long after we have moved
to the room next door
to try to sleep
in vain.
A Clock
on the wall of every room
speaks its midnight language
and intrudes into my dreams,
each one telling me I am
another hour closer
to leaving
you.
For Day 10 of NaNoWriMo 2022 we have been asked to write a love poem. Here are three for someone who is never forgotten..
Night and Day
I memorize your face, your hair,
your breath white light upon cold air.
Hours pass like minutes while
I chart the borders of your smile.
A wisp of cloud, sliver of moon
slip behind the highest dune.
The stars have plans that drive the night
to plots that I will later write.
Fictions Imagined by me,
no match for their reality.
Then, sun rays sent to ban the night
obscure the moon and stars from sight.
A chiming bell is morning’s crime
dispelling pleasures most sublime,
but if I linger long, I might
survive the day to earn the night.
Prompts are: sliver breath sent plans hours minutes chime drive write light crime match for the Sunday Whirl Wordle 548
Wherever we go, Zoe attracts admirers. Here are some of her selfies from last week.These little boys followed us for a long time, playing with her as they walked, eventually picking her up for more prolonged play. They were adorable. Her aunties took turns carrying her or walking her on the leash.
Okay, I got it wrong the first time by counting words instead of syllables. Here is a Nonet, done correctly:
Shards
Plates crash—mneumonic contradictions
of last year’s “I plight thee my troth.”
Pushed to the brink, you speak back
in your own special Braille.
Shattered wedding cups—
your broken heart—
shards of my
broken
vows.
For NaPoWriMo 2022, Day 9
Shards
Plates crashing against the wall: mneumonic reminders of you.
Nobody does better this contradiction of wedding vows.
Pushed to the brink, you speak back
in this, your own special Braille.
Our wedding cup—my heart
shattered against the wall—
a ragged souvenir
of broken
vows.
For NaPoWriMo 2022, Day 9 the prompt is to write a Nonet. But, after writing this, I realized I did it wrong, counting words instead of syllables. See my rewrite HERE.
Other prompts used in this post are plate, nobody, brink, mnemonic and contradiction.
How to Mend a Broken Heart
Pop a really big bowl of popcorn.
Don’t think of calories.
Just ignore the old maids in the bottom––
this is not a fortune-telling experience.
Lots of butter.
Locate chocolate.
If none is to be found,
there is likely a 7-11 within driving distance
no matter where you happen to be.
Get the biggest bar.
A bite of popcorn, then a bite of chocolate.
Locate an old Ma and Pa Kettle movie somewhere online and watch it.
Ma Kettle is you in ten years if your love affair had worked out.
Pa Kettle is who your lover would have turned into.
Find an old Sophia Loren movie online and watch it.
Sophia Loren is who you are now.
Don’t worry about the popcorn.
Sophia Loren wouldn’t.
Imagine Paul Newman eating popcorn
off your bare back.
Flip over.
Flash on making love to Pa Kettle.
Quickly flash back to Paul Newman
now eating popcorn off your bare shoulder blade.
Imagine your ex in a movie theater
watching Paul Newman make love to you
up there on the big screen.
Don’t worry about who your ex is with.
Well, maybe just one little peek.
Your ex is with Ma Kettle!
(If you don’t know who Ma and Pa Kettle are, go HERE.)
The prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “How?”
My neighbor David Bershad called me this morning and asked if I was keeping chickens now. I said no, puzzled that he would ask and he said he could swear he heard a rooster crowing in my yard. I told him it must be the people across the street as they had them in the past. I left and when I got back home, this was in my email.
Sure enough, that is a rooster strutting by on my terrace. The rather sinister looking iguana in front is actually the Quetzalcoatl sculpture that surrounds the water pipe that empties hot water into the pool. Its lower jaw is obscured by the tree so it looks like an iguana!!! I’ll never doubt anything that David says again and I’m amazed that the dogs didn’t kill it. No feathers in view so I take it it went back home. Note that there is a very tall wall around my entire house. I didn’t know roosters could fly that high.
lifelessons - a blog by Judy Dykstra-Brown 