Con Artist
In spite of his good looks and his air of bonhomie,
that he’s a jerk is evident. It’s plain for all to see.
His laughter is a hackly noise offensive to the ear,
and when he smiles the most that he can manage is a leer.
He thinks that we’re all fools, but it doesn’t take a seer
to see his only passion is advancing his career.
Prompt words today are hackly, noise, bonhomie, evident and fool. Image by Foto Garage on Unsplash.
Replaced
Myriads of new machines are going to take their toll.
As technology takes over, we lose more of our soul.
Prompts today are: technology, myriad, machine, toll. Image by Possessed Photography on Unsplash.
Here’s to Fate!!!
Surrendering
The conferral of my future to the errant whims of fate
has cleansed my mind and eased negative feelings as of late.
My checkered past spread out with joy and pain in rich array
as I lay me down no longer adds to my dismay.
What comes will come. The practicality of recognizing this
is, in short, what most contributes to my present bliss.
Prompt words for today are array, checkered, practicality, conferral and negative.
Scourge of the Universe
The blood of crushed magnolias stains the universe,
mankind ruining everything it chooses to traverse.
Leaving bloody footprints and the litter of our lives,
we exploit everything we see and kill all that survives.
Why can’t we learn to live in peace, preserving leafy bowers?
What single other species is as ornery as ours?
Seers
Psychics make their living by what’s written in the stars,
going by what’s written in Venus or in Mars.
They crumble tea leaves in a cup and set the water steaming,
then pour it in the cup so they can set about their dreaming.
Their supernatural talents are directed at whomever
crosses their palms with silver to discover what they’d never
see through their own vision, and so they pay a stranger
to guide them as they search for love and try to avoid danger.
What some see as inscrutable, the psychic sees most clearly,
constructing pretty platitudes for which we pay most dearly.
Prompts today are platitude, super, inscrutable,Venus, crumble. Image by Tungsten Rising on Unsplash.
A Guide to Good Service in a Snotty Restaurant
If you thought I was obsequious, have another think.
I was merely being cordial to get another drink.
The wait staff there was surly so I thought I would be nice,
although it seemed that in this joint, being cuddly was a vice.
There was some ambiguity in regards to being served.
It seems as though they gave the service they thought we deserved.
We couldn’t get attention with our arm-waving and hooting,
but luckily, before we came, we’d done some target shooting.
I put a bullet in the chamber and aimed it at the ceiling,
and when our waiter heard the blast, he changed his way of dealing
with the placid customer at table number five.
It seems the way to win respect was leaving him alive.
He brought my gin and tonic with nary a snide quip.
He brought my crudités and even brought an extra dip.
And he didn’t raise an eyebrow or even curl his lip
when I left the restaurant without leaving a tip!!
Prompts for today are: chamber, blast, cuddly, obsequious and ambiguity. Image by Lefteris Kallergis on Unsplash.
An Apologia for Gasconade*
This poem, per se, is not profound, in fact it’s rather frowsy.
As poems go, I fear that it is going to be lousy.
Pretentiousness in meter, a travesty in rhyme,
I really fear that reading it will be a waste of time.
Its sheets will become linen, its walk a promenade.
The entire verse will turn, I fear, into a gasconade.*
If you see more than this in it, you’re seeing pareidolia.*
If you don’t know what this is, kindly refer to the scholia!.*
Prompts today are frowzy, per se, pareidolia, gasconade and linen.
*A gasconade is extravagant boasting or bragging. *A pareidolia is a psychological phenomenon in which the mind perceives a specific image or pattern where it does not actually exist, such as seeing a face in the clouds.
*Sesquipedalian describes someone or something that overuses big words, as some of the prompt sites have lately.
*Scholia are grammatical, critical, or explanatory comments – original or copied from prior commentaries – which are inserted in the margin of the manuscript.
Blame the “Sesquipedalian” on me, as well as the “scholia ,” which was very handy as a rhyme for “pareidolia,” which I’m not responsible for.”
Nomenclatural Revenge
My repulsive nickname is an affront to my pride.
Whoever might have coined it most assuredly has lied.
When I queried who the rascal was, the usual rumor was
that nasty girl Rebecca, and the reason was because
I was dating Walter, the one she lusted for,
but who, because he prefers me, continues to ignore
the bodacious Rebecca, remaining in my arms
just because he prefers my considerable charms.
In spite, that bitch Rebecca says the name “Clock Face” should fit
because my face has passing time written all over it!
So I have coined a name for her. I’m going to call her “Lips”
for all the food passed through them that’s recorded on her hips!
Kiss-off, Rebecca!
Prompts today are clock face, bodacious, query, rumor.First image by Glen Hodson on Unsplash. Second photo by me.
Memory
The excavation of our memories can glue us to the past,
unearthing shards of former lives into which we’ve been cast.
Our mind a virtual theater that draws us through its curtain,
sometimes half-remembering and hardly ever certain
of what is fact and what is mind’s creative fabrication—
the truth eluding us a bit in time’s confabulation.
Its draw narcotic, we accede once more to its allure.
Is it history or fable? How can we know for sure?
Prompts for the day are theater, allure, elude, excavation.Second Image by Tsunami Green on Unsplash. All others by me.
A thoughtful, scientific man, he chose his words with care.
No ordinary words would do. Only ones most rare.
He first spied her in the springtime, finally met her in the fall—
a simply gorgeous maiden—comely, willowy and tall.
But months of choosing his first words seem to have done him in.
What should have been his saving grace turned out to be a sin.
Enthusiastic in his love, he just had to express
his much-gone-over feelings about her loveliness.
He’d formerly determined not to use just any word,
but his final declaration turned out to be absurd.
He should have called her beautiful and just left it at that,
for when he called her pulchritudinous, she thought that he meant fat!
*Note: New to the world of behavioral science, Behavioral Linguistics is the science-based use of language to persuade. It’s rooted in nudge theory combined with psychology, sociolinguistics, and principles of marketing. Language is a powerful way to change behavior.
Prompts today are behavioral, enthusiastic, pulchritude, fall. Images by Fabio Lucas and Mandy Zhang on Unsplash.
lifelessons - a blog by Judy Dykstra-Brown 