Gossip Girl
She always shilly-shallies, so
is extraordinarily slow.
Shopping takes her for forever
for she never ever ever
just does what she has come to do
without a bit of gossip, too.
In other words, it’s cash and tarry
for her instead of cash and carry.
Prompt words are shilly-shally, slow, ordinarily, gossip and forever.
Click on photos to enlarge.
Morning Matins
Birds of diverse attitudes
join voice to sing beatitudes.
The stodgiest cannot refrain
from joining every day again—
unrepentant in their choices,
upon awakening, to join voices.
This reunion stirs the world.
Squirrels in their burrows tightly curled,
unwind to greet the light of day
as inch by inch it lifts its ray.
The donkey lifts its voice to bray
and chickens, as they strain to lay,
raise their clucks to join the chorus,
the world’s alarm clock sounding for us.
The whole world wakening, bit by bit,
prompting us all to wake with it.
Prompts today are: stodgy, beatitude, inch and reunion. And yes, I know that’s a rooster, not a chicken, but although they didn’t make the poem, roosters are the best alarm of all.
Fashion Reveal
Though once judged diabolical , with no rhyme nor reason,
my acts once labeled as commitments of the highest treason,
I have at last been vindicated, judgements now reversed
and I can hold my head up high—an action I’ve rehearsed.
Though once I cowered in my room, at the limits of my sanity,
waiting for the world’s conversion from its rude inanity,
I’m ready to come out again now all the world agrees
that it is cool to wear your jeans when ripped out at the knees.
Shredded around the ankles, slashed along the thighs,
butt cheeks half revealed to any passing viewer’s eyes.
What once I was reviled for, when down on my luck,
is the coolest fashion now that intact Levis suck.
Prompt words for the day are limit, vindicated, room, diabolic, ready and high. Image by Tyler Nix on Unsplash.
Bad Actor
Why are you now limping? Dish me out the dirt.
Are you a malingerer or are you really hurt?
It seems as though you are in pain, especially since
each step you take is punctuated by a little wince.
Feigning discomfort’s sinful—neither savvy nor a notion,
and this you should consider if you’re seeking a promotion.
You must ban such actions and revise your plans anew
to remain a member of my retinue.
Prompt words today are punctuate, malinger, sinful, savvy, ban and promotion.
Tough Girl
She’s a diamond in the rough,
shiny, beautiful and tough.
Not one to be steered by force,
she’ll decide her lifetime’s course.
Not likely to be shamed or battered,
no way will her dreams be shattered.
She will boggle macho men,
for she won’t play the cackling hen.
Won’t be distracted from her goal
of what she feels to be her role.
Be just what she wants to be,
undeflected by any “he.”
Prompts today are boggle, shattered, distracted, cackle, decide and diamond. Image by Kiana Bosman on Unsplash.
Prompt words today are sock, premonition, scud, trendy, trance and vinyl.
Self-Portrait by Judy Dykstra-Brown, Mixed Media Assemblage8″X12″
Tittynope
A small bit of time left over on the windowsill of life,
I am no longer daughter, student, siren, wife.
My new definition is to simply be—
one last leaf that’s clinging to the family tree.
Not merely a copy of those who came before,
I tried to build on what they were and add a small bit more.
First coddled but then soon set free to follow my own course,
the path I took led me away from my original source.
Paper, brush and pencil—all things to amuse
led to many pastimes where life was not a ruse.
Soldering irons, glue pots and thing after thing
that wandering through market stalls and flea markets could bring.
Putting them together became a way to be,
journeying out to find them but ending up at me.
And now that I’m together, gathered into one,
I am still collecting, not sure that I am done.
Prompts today are coddle, copy, tittynope (A small quantity of anything left over) ruse, course and windowsill.
Trump Card
Spin your web. Enact your plan.
Insist you’re of the common man.
Hang a pendant on a chain
Sway it forth and back again
just a dozen times or so,
mesmerizing in its flow.
If you mollify their fears
with promises placed in their ears,
you need give them little proof.
Just call the liberals aloof
and assure them that you’re not.
They’ll overlook your sins and yacht.
Call black white and call white black.
Blame others for what they lack.
Forbid care for the halt and lame.
Point a finger, blame the blame.
Soon they’ll have you in their head.
Certain folks like to be led.
Monkey see and monkey do.
The gullible will follow you
Prompt words today are follow, mollify, monkey, dozen and gullible.
Vacation Plans
Since my store of giddy-up is no longer stellar,
I’m limiting vacation plans to rooftop room and cellar.
My travel guru’s dubious. She says I’ll change my mind.
She thinks I’m merely ground down by the daily grind.
Though I rehearse refusals, the practice doesn’t work.
She merely puts them down as a momentary quirk.
In fact she has been needling me to book a new vacation
and poo-poos my refusals to my great perturbation.
My stubborn change of attitude regarding foreign travel,
she’s sure that she can pick at till it starts to unravel;
but these are the travel plans for which I’d like to vouch.
The scenery is gorgeous between my bed and couch!
Prompt words today are travel, roof, guru, dubious, needle and rehearsal.
Inflated Hopes
What was once a halfpence now may be a dollar.
A whisper given time may turn out to be a holler.
Idealistic bloggers swept away with their next word
may pound away at keyboards not knowing they’re absurd.
Their statements may be loaded with inanities or tears
that may gain profundity through the fog of years.
So if you cannot see the wisdom of this rhyme,
I’m sure you finally will. You need to give it time.
Prompt words today are keyboard, swept, halfpence, tears, load and idealistic.
lifelessons - a blog by Judy Dykstra-Brown 