Tag Archives: #FOWC

Qualms

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Qualms

He’s preoccupied with thoughts of flight with no intent to stay.
Amid the fuss, his only thought? He has to run away.
What creates the tension? His need to keep at bay
the awareness that his nuptials are scheduled for today.

Does the groom have any doubts? I think, perhaps, he may.
His wedding vows have slipped his mind and stolen clean away.
When he’s asked the pertinent question, dare he utter, “Nay?”
The music starts and he walks down the aisle on feet of clay.

 

 

 

Prompts today are  run, preoccupation,  create, tense, nuptials, amid.
Image by Hermes Rivera on Unsplash.

Uphill Climb

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Uphill Climb

Wind decries my progress on this uphill trail—
any ingress I might make impeded by the gale.
Moths whip against my shoulders. Birds soar far over head.
On days like this I feel as though I’d rather stay in bed.

But blessings spiral downward once the sun begins to rise
and another glorious day appears before my eyes.
Dull thoughts dry up in morning light and inspiration dawns—
all struggles of this waking up dispensed of with my yawns.

 

 

Prompt words today are decry, dull, wind, ingress, downward and moths.

Cycles

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Cycles

Gulches carved by raindrops, sandcastles swamped by waves.
Drip by drip, stalactites transgressing into caves.
The way of nature, changing things, sometimes recklessly.
Tearing down what man has built, always impartially.

The ennui of summer days give way to winter’s shout––
dumping drifts of snow and then blowing it about.
A fairy ring of mushrooms gives birth to what was fallen.
A single bumblebee extracting nectar, spreading pollen.

Prompt words today are gulch, ring, impartial, ennui, reckless and sandcastles. All images by me except for the photo of stalagmites and stalactites by Jakub Micuch on Unsplash.

“To Do”

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My real “To Do” pile!!!
See this ‘to do” list? Does it happen to have feeding time on it?

Click on photos to enlarge and read commentary.

“To Do”

My networking agenda is getting rather full,
and I feel much-encumbered by its towering pull.
File after file lined up row on row,
I encounter my “to do” pile everywhere I go.

If I were more resourceful, I would have got them done,
Instead I follow other paths and thus accomplish none.
My list grows longer by the day, yet I ignore its flow
streaming off my desktop onto the floor below.

If I allow defection and follow unplanned whims,
wasting time in tidepools and swinging off of limbs,
what do I care if niftier friends do as their lists insist.
There’s more to life than what I’ve written up on any list.

 

Prompt words for today are : nifty, resourceful, network, list, encumbered, flow.

Cattails

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Click on photos to enlarge.


Dogs and Cats

My dogs are fun and gnarly and love to leap and play.
Often their wild antics are the climax of my day.
They love to solve dilemmas such as who is passing by
by raising choruses of barks and howls up to the sky.
But when it comes to relaxation, my kitties take the cake.
Their main activity, the patterns that their cattails make.

For Zoe’s response to this subject, go here: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/illgm2yxMfg

Prompts today are cattail, climax, dilemma, cake, gnarly .

Family Heirlooms

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Family Heirlooms

It’s apparent I’m replaceable. At least it is the shout
that you moved in my replacement as soon as I moved out.
I hope that you remember as you stroll down your new path
that your former roadway contains an aftermath.

The heirlooms of our marriage include three children who
don’t share my intention of divorcing you.
They need a proper father and you’re the only one
licensed to address them as daughter and as son.

On the heirloom ring you gave me on our wedding night,
the chimera of your family crest really wasn’t quite
appropriate, though made of gold polished shiny bright,
An ass head on a serpent’s body would have got it right!

 

Prompt words today are apparent, replaceable, aftermath, chimera, proper and heirloom.

Mr. Universe in the Old Age Home

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Mr. Universe in the Old Age Home

His life was lovely and bucolic
prior to his anabolic
stage wherein he played the game
of dosing up to gain a name

and a media barrage
descended on the small garage
where he went to lift more weight
than once he could anticipate.

His life became a mad mirage
of barbells, steroids —a barrage
of contests wherein he competed,
going largely undefeated—

a staircase leading to that time
when he, unchallenged and sublime,
ruled without apology,
a miracle of morphology.

Everybody knew his name.
A survivor, fit, top of his game,
in time his will began to flag
and everything began to sag.

His muscles gone to atrophy,
he is not what he used to be.
His bod of steel reduced to puddle,
he is more comfy now to cuddle,

and so he finds at an old age
that happily, he’s still the rage,
for the old ladies that he hustles
still want to feel his former muscles.

 

Prompts today are game, apology, survivor, bucolic, staircase and mirage.

Evening Rush Hour Bus Ride

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Evening Rush Hour Bus Ride

Only one seat left, so I thrust myself within it,
beating out another boarding passenger to win it.
Adjusting all my packages, I didn’t chance to look
at my seat mate, for her face was buried in a book.

I used a lull in traffic to begin a conversation,
but was cut off by the bite of her brutal tongue’s serration.
She sputtered without compromise or mercy or a pause
about what she surmised were my weaknesses and flaws.

Her words sprayed out in spittle, unceasing in their venom.
She criticized my hairdo and my shoe size and my denim.
Not a thing about me pleased her. She was brutal in her spiel.
Had I considered a diet? Was my hair color for real?

At the very next bus stop, I finally took flight.
Miles from where I sought to go, I fled into the night.
It must have been a curse or bad Karma or a hex
that I would end up in a seat next to my boyfriend’s ex!!!

 

Prompts for today are traffic, compromise, flight, serration, spray and please. Image by Annie Spratt on Unsplash.

Time Holds the Key

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Time Holds the Key

The detergent of time washes away
the travail we feel so keenly today,
constantly munching away at our pain,
over and over and over again.

The hemp that was used manufacturing rope
to bind up our hands and tie up our hope
once placed in a pipe, might free up our minds
to journey down roads of alternative kinds.

Life’s journey is kooky. Thus, each generation
achieves some sort of new fenestration
to escape from the bondage of years that are past.
Thus proving that no form of bondage can last.

Freedom and justice must be more than talk,
for though time holds the means to unlock the lock,
there must be a hand turning the key
to open the door that sets justice free.

 

Prompts today are kooky, thrifty, hemp, munch, constant and detergent.

Implausible Proposal

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Implausible Proposal

You know, that ring that you were hurling
that landed in the sink,

set the water swirling
 as it landed with a clink,

then elected to go curling
into inky depths below,

its extemporaneous whirling
too fast to see it go?

I admit it was just sterling,
and yes, the diamond fake.

It’s zirconium or pearling
for the money that I make,

because more expensive girling
is not a piece of cake.

So, if you want me for my money,
better find another guy.

What I offer to my honey
is not something I can buy!

Prompts for today are ink, extemporaneous, sterling, nigh, elect and yes.