Monolingual
Your language is not plain enough.
I do not get this “jibbing” stuff.
It angers me to have to look
these sailing terms up in a book.
Perhaps you are too lofty for
a small town landlocked jungle girl?
Prompt words today are jib, plain, anger, lofty, jungle.
Just for the fun of it, I wrote this poem line-by-line as I looked up the new prompt word without knowing what the next one was. I sort of got led down the proverbial password path!
Words for a Formerly Rejected Would-be Lover
The prospects are quite iffy that you’ll shift my view,
but come equipped with custard and I’ll take a spin with you.
We’ll see if we have anything in common other than
a taste for boiled custard and a mania for flan.
Prompt words today are shift, spin, custard, iffy and equipped. Image by Artem Beliaikin on Unsplash.
Gleaning
His precipitous departure and subsequent defection
belied earlier avowals of his most sincere affection.
As usual, his action in doing so was heartless—
his cruel revelation of his apathy most artless.
The opposite of nuance, he was blatant to the bone
as he crassly left her weeping to hit the road alone.
Doing her a favor, for he left the door ajar
for another suitor who had loved her from afar
from the time that they were children, but who had never spoken
who now seized this opportunity by handing her a token
that all of his affection he hoped he might expose:
a declaration of his love— single long-stemmed rose.
Carefully, he’d trimmed each thorn, then ringed the single stem
with his mother’s engagement ring—a brilliant diamond gem.
And so her recent heartbreak of being the one left
gave way to an elation so she felt much less bereft.
For unbeknownst to him, she had always felt the same,
although she had not shown it, for she feared the shame
of unrequited love if she had revealed how she felt,
but when she saw his token, her heart began to melt.
And so they were soon married and the day their son was born,
her former love crested the hill, tattered and forlorn
to try to win the love back that he’d cast away so breezily,
only to find abandoned love was not won back so easily.
We learn from all life’s errors, both our own and those of others,
so I want to share this wisdom with my sisters and my brothers.
The moral of the story is be careful what you toss,
for a more farsighted lover may glean profit from your loss.
Prompt words today are nuance, subsequent, revealing, precipitous and heartless.
Glean: to gather leftover grain or other produce after a harvest.
“Spur”ned
Your boots are outlandish. They’re fancy and chic.
I bet they attract all the women you seek,
but your uncanny luck in attracting the ladies
won’t get you to Heaven—may take you to Hades,
for your looks are deceiving. Your spectacular start
won’t prevail when it comes to matters of heart.
Better cancel the wedding, unless, instead,
you learn when you wear your new boots to bed,
what you start you can’t finish. You’ll never be hers
If you don’t remember to take off the spurs!!!
Today’s prompt words are deceiving, finish, uncanny, prevail and cancel.
The Apology
Hello darling. Yes. It’s me,
rendering my apology
(granted, given grudgingly)
for seemingly curmudgeonly
things you might have heard I said
about your dress the day you wed.
It’s true the comment that you heard.
Yes, it’s verbatim word-for-word,
but you do not know my intent.
What you imagine, I never meant.
When I said you should be wearing red,
what was running through my head
was that you look divine in scarlet,
not that you have played the harlot!
The one who heard the words I said
knew that I had dated Ted
before you came upon the scene
but it was incorrect and mean
for her to just extrapolate
that my kind words were said with hate.
About the cake? Who told you that?
I’ve never said that you are fat.
Eat the whole thing? You never would.
I merely said I bet you could!!!
Because it simply looked delicious,
but my intentions were far from vicious.
Of course I wish you both the best
as you feather your nuptial nest.
The feather pillows, I gave you, dear?
I’m glad you didn’t find them queer.
I thought down pillows would be nice.
I surely hope that they suffice
to drown out Teddie’s awful snoring.
I remember just abhorring
all night long, that awful din
when I was in the bed you’re in.
If you don’t want to swathe your head,
the earplugs should help out instead.
I know they always worked for me
back when Ted and I were “we.”
And now that all is said and done,
I’m glad that you’re the one who won.
If it sounds like sour grapes to you,
must be because you’ve served a few!
lifelessons - a blog by Judy Dykstra-Brown 