Tag Archives: FOWC

Five Little Words

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Today’s post is dedicated to all of you who labor every day to post your prompts and to read our responses. You and your predecessors have been my motivation for seven years now, every day, and I have probably rarely thanked you, so for Ragtag Daily Prompt, Fandango, Your Daily Word, Word of the day and The Daily Spur, this one is for you. And Ragtag, your prompt today wasn’t meant to be taken personally, right?

Prompt words today are windbag, (Hope this one isn’t personal,) begrudge, futile, inspire and ease.

Five Little Words

Lest you think I’m a windbag and lest you begrudge
my words meant for chuckles, to inspire or nudge
for social reform and for giving the boot
to public servants who pillage and loot
our public coffers and fill up their pockets
with money or spend it on guns, walls and rockets.

Better the money be spent on our own
in stead of a POTUS who sits on his throne
dreaming of golf games and bragging of pussies,
berating mask-wearers as alarmists and wussies.
OK see how I’m off on a whim or a breeze,
raving again with remarkable ease?

I can’t seem to stop, even though I’m retired.
I simply can’t shut off the words when inspired.
So long as the world is so stupid and brutal,
efforts to stifle my words would be futile.
Just five daily words will inspire the rest.
I write all the others at their behest.

Rescinded Offer

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Rescinded Offer

Her succinct requirements rush outward like a river.
What she expects from marriage. What she expects he’ll give her.

She tries to soften her demands with voice both soft and sweet—
habits he must abolish. Standards he should meet.

They stand before cerulean bay the color of her eyes.
Waves breaking gently on the shore first soothe, then hypnotize.

Then a clap of thunder disturbs the scenic spell.
He hears the content of her words and knows her very well.

There won’t be any marriage. She never will be his.
He’s decided to just find a girl who’ll take him as he is!

 

Word prompts for the day are cerulean bay, abolish, river, succinct and breaking.

Mrs. Blumenschein Matriculates at Sixty

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Mrs. Blumenschein Matriculates at Sixty

Enough with the babies. It’s time now for you.
Cease with the usual. Do something new.
For once be the player instead of the coach.
Let this school year start out with a brand new approach.
Before you’re a grandma, face your heart’s desire.
Matriculate college as others retire.
Sixty’s not too late to make use of your mind.
Create the life for which you have pined.
As your youngest departs to expand his knowledge,
pack up your own bags. It’s your own turn for college.

When I entered college in 1965, one of my fellow freshmen was Mrs. Blumenschein, age 60, mother of nine, who, when her youngest packed up for college, packed up and enrolled herself. She had long red tangled hair, the nicotine-stained fingers and cracked voice of a chain-smoker and a sharp mind. Graduating in four years with an A average, she became a graduate assistant in the English Department as she went on to get her masters. One form of discrimination rarely mentioned in this age of protest against racial, sexual and gender discrimination is ageism. Mrs. Blumeschein conquered that prejudice long before it ever became an issue elsewhere. So, here’s my tribute to Mrs. Blumenschein.

Prompts for the day are enough, baby, usual, matriculate and coach. Image thanks to Alonso Villa Ulloa on Unsplash, used with permission

Day’s End

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Day’s End

There’s a fire in the sky, but shadows to come.
Hummingbirds ceasing their prolix hum.
Unpredictable garage doors creak open on hinges
as fathers come home from their work or their binges.

Moms lean over fences, cranky from their labors,
putting off dinner to gossip with neighbors
as children stream home from playground or field
to see what computer or TV screens yield.

The strings of the day slow down to a strum
as day turns to night and the senses go numb.
Everything sinking, growing more deep.
Darkening, quieting, falling asleep.

Prompts today are “fire in the sky,” cranky, unpredictable, prolix and shadows.

Creative Calibration

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Image by Oren Atias on Unsplash, used with permission.

Creative Calibration

She was a paragon of beauty. Diminutive perfection.
The persona she constructed an incredible confection.
Each year observance of her birth a full-scale celebration.
Every year, a slight deduction in its calibration.
So I’m afraid it’s true that by the time she passed away
and met her final sunset at the ending of the day,
though sexy in her youth, in her dotage she was hotter,
and if you took her word for it, was younger than her daughter!

Word prompts today are paragon, diminutive, celebration, afraid and sunset.

Sent to Our Rooms

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Sent to Our Rooms

What if we compensated nature for all that we have ruined?
Restored to her what’s apropos to try to get attuned
to her natural cycles, her balances and rules?
What if we acquired wisdom and ceased to play the fools?
If we wrote a different story, her determining the themes,
shifted ourselves to her side instead of warring teams,
once she saw we were behaving, one future glowing day,
might she lift her restrictions and let us out to play?

Prompts for today are what if, apropos, theme, compensate and ruin.

Career Shift

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Career Shift

At the pinnacle of her success, she had a small eruption—
only a little pimple, but it caused a large disruption.
For a facial model, we can all make the connection
of why it was impossible–this fault in her complexion.
Before they could fire her, she staged a small defection
to a facial product intended for correction.
From Loreal to Clearasil—she said by her election,
but so does nature alter fate by natural selection.

Words of the day are pinnacle, disruption,  vacate and connection.

Alarm Clock Rejoinder

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Alarm Clock Rejoinder

My alarm clock’s rude awakening I eschew vis-á-vis
a gentler mode of wakeup that is buzzer-free.
Questions upon awakening I find somewhat aberrant.
Kindly save your queries until I am more coherent.
If I’m a pebble that must drop into my daily start,
I pray the ripples of my morning  come farther apart.

 

Prompt words today are vis-á-vis, awakening, coherent, save and ripples,

Coronavirus Reflections

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Coronavirus Reflections

Thus cloistered, I grow pensive. What shall I think of next?
Would thinking of the past or future render me less vexed?
My wild garden beckons. The dogs cavort and bicker.
Hummingbird wings vibrate. The swallowtails all flicker
here and there between the flowers each side of the path.
The small dog rolls and scratches. Perhaps he needs a bath.

As I inflict myself upon this wild abandoned scene,
will I disturb them here with my laptop and magazine?
If I lie very still they will barely know I’m here.
The dogs will settle all too soon and shift to lower gear.
Yesterday soon vanishes. Tomorrow goes unplanned.
Only the present holds me. Past and future go unmanned.

Word prompts today are cloistered, pensive, flicker, inflict and wild.

Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow

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Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow

I was almost mature, I was almost thin.
Now I must start all over again.
So please have compassion. Eat your own surprise.
Don’t bring me donuts or candy or pies.

I’m redoing my fridge and throwing out naughties
homemade by friends as well as my boughties.
Ice cream and truffles go straight in the bin,
for I must amend this shape I am in.

I’ll begin my diet as soon as I’m able,
pushing myself away from the table
as soon as banana bread I baked last night
has been depleted to nary a bite.

Then I’ll eat salads and green beans and stuff.
Doing without sugar will not be so tough
tomorrow. I’ll begin tomorrow, I vow.
Tomorrow works out so much better than now.

Prompt words today are almost, mature, ready, compassion and organization.