Tag Archives: #RDP

Infestation

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Infestation

When she screams like a banshee, running through the house,
just because she saw a tiny little mouse,
the mouse bilks all her efforts to thus scare it away
by slipping in the closet where in time it may
produce many other creatures of its ilk
in a tiny nest it has established in the silk
contents of her drawer of sexy lingerie—
picking for its bed her favorite negligee.

So, if she’s so lucky as to score a kiss
and, planning for a night of amatory bliss,
she reaches in her drawer, completely unaware
of the little visitors housed in her underwear,
no doubt she’ll find reminders of that earlier day
and the previous companion she thought she’d chased away.
Then her latest conquest will beat a fast retreat
as her former screams she ventures to repeat.

 

 

Word prompts today are banshee, reminder, bliss, bilk and house. Illustration thanks to Frenjamin Benklin on Unsplash.

 

Admonitions from the Editor of the Southern Christian Monitor

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Admonitions from the Editor of The Southern Christian Monitor

Good gracious, sir can you not mend your pertinent demeanor?
Clean up your language, cease your slurs. Find language that is cleaner!
When you speak, why must you be such a surly gent?
For once why don’t you try to say something we can print?
Your thoughts are fine. It’s just the words with which you choose to state them.
It simply is your word choice that makes us excoriate them.
As my southern mama used to say, “For goodness sakes, y’all,
if you can’t say it politely, don’t say anything at all!”

 

Disclaimer: There is to my knowledge no such publication as The Southern Christian Monitor. This poem is pure fiction, prompted by the prompt words!!!

Prompt words today are gracious, slur, pertinent, mend and print. Image by Roman Kraft on Unsplash.

New Neighbor

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New Neighbor

We exercise due diligence, but still we find we can’t
avoid the proclamations and the daily rant
that we’ve had to put up with, lately, ever since
our new caustic neighbor started peering o’er the fence,
raising his head above it by standing on a stump
to spread the raving tirade that he loves to dump

on anybody present who’s so unfortunate
as to visit our back yard and encounter this nut.
Every time I go outside, I must absorb  his spewing.
He seems to have some radar that tracks all that we’re doing,
so when I take the garbage out, he’s always out there, too,
spreading verbal garbage that he’s amassed anew.

I guess there’s only one way to get out of this groove.
It may seem excessive, but I think we’ll have to move.
We’ll find a brand new house that has a tall back wall
and rebuff any neighbors who should try to call.
We’ll be the sort of neighbors that no one seems to know,
but we’ll have blessed privacy when we go out to mow !

Prompt words today are stump, anybody, caustic, diligent and absorb. Image by Waldemar Brandt on Unsplash.

7 A.M.

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Waking up Mom

 

7 A.M.

Their rebuke is most benign.
Cats yowl protest. The dogs all whine.

As outside dogs slip into gear,
Zoe wakes up and bites my ear.

Their stomachs are a timetable
that I will meet if I am able.

I drag myself out of my bed.
If only I could sleep instead!

The hour that I hit the hay
I fear was not so far away.

Three hours of sleep or perhaps four
were all I had. Surely, not more.

Just as I thought to jump sleep’s hurdle
I remembered, “Daily Wordle!”

Grabbed computer, filled every square,
weeding out vowels my only care.

Wordle in five or four or three?
I cannot sleep until I see.

But later, morning comes too soon
as animals begin their croon.

I move to kitchen to feed cats,
open the door, put bowls on mats,

fill with kibble and with wet 
catfood, and they still their fret.

Move to back door, feed each dog
different portions, mind in fog.

Zoe inside, big dogs out,
fends off pilfering and pout.

What I gain in remuneration
is their ceasing excitation.

Whines replaced by scraping beat
of metal dishes on concrete,

clicking jaw and lapping tongue
as cats and dogs both old and young

enjoy results of their design.
Then, back to bed as they all dine!

Prompt words today are concrete, remuneration, design, rebuke and timetable.

,

Misnamed

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Misnamed

I admit my name seems to lack a certain beauty.
I’ll never be an eponym. Who wants a town named Judy?

It’s clear that my name never makes it into poet talk.
No unfortunate child will be the chip off my old block.

Interlaced with second names —Agatha or Jeanette,
still that silly first name is as basic as you get.

The reception that it gets in lists is surely less than fine.
Somehow I always end up being sent to last in line.

It’s not correct to grumble over names, but all the same,
why give a perfect child such a clearly imperfect name?

 

 

Prompts today are interlace, correct, reception, eponym and chip.

Clown of Renown

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Clown of Renown

With his roisterous manner and carbuncle nose,
he attracts children wherever he goes.
Talented clown that he’s been from his birth,
his floppy big feet and his startling girth
along with a certain elegant ease
makes him the perfect comic and tease.
Whether melodramatic or over the top,
playing Buster Keaton or a Keystone cop,
he captures the fancy of everyone there:
the perennial favorite of every town fair.

 

Word prompts today are melodramatic, elegant, carbuncle, roister and talented. Image by Ehimetalor Akhere on Unsplash.

Splitting Hairs with My Shrink

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Splitting Hairs with My Shrink

Mustard on my hot dogs, ketchup on my fries,
a paper napkin handy to ward off all the flies
trying to disport themselves by crouching on my food,
sharing all the germs they’re rumored to exude.

If I had some shrink wrap, before they alight,
I’d cover up my dinner between every bite.
Would this be outrageous? Would it be overkill?
Should I uncover it for them when I’ve had my fill?

I’m feeling quite outrageous here chatting with my shrink
sharing what I eat and do and say and think.
Will I be a protagonist or will she despise
a person who refuses to share leftovers with flies?

 

Prompts today are mustard, outrageous, protagonist, disport and shrink.

Wooing Season

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Wooing Season

When they spread the Welcome doormat out and put the drawbridge down,
a dozen different wooers came visiting from town.
Her father set her brideprice at a princely sum,
then settled back to watch her suitors go and come.
He gaged their skill at horsemanship by how they wound their courses,
weaving through the mazes he’d set up for their horses.

He set up jousting matches, thinking he could tell
by which retained their mounts and by which suitors fell,
who might be best suited for his daughter’s hand,
but time spent in combat instead of tilling land
signified an emphasis that although most impressive,
for the landed gentry might turn out to be excessive.

And in the end he chose the one he determined from the start
was the one most likely to win his daughter’s heart.
Watching from the battlements, he saw his daughter’s smile
as he rode ever closer, mile after mile.
He wore no shining armor and his steed was not the best,
but he seemed, somehow, to stand out from the rest.

He rode with calm assurance and when the gates spread wide,
he asked for water for his horse before he came inside.
He shook the dust off of his cloak, then strode into the hall
as though he was a friend already, making his usual call.
And as his eyes fell on their daughter, and hers fell on him,
the lights of other courters seemed to fade and dim.

Daughter, father, suitor strolled out on the land,
and by the time the sun had set, he’d requested her hand.
Soon this last contender had joined his family
And he had a grandchild balanced on each knee.
Thus did a wise father make the best decision, 
exercising thoughtfulness and his keenest vision.

Prompt words today are doormat, spent, princely, gage and emphasis. Image by Cederic Vandenberghe on Unsplash.

The Workaholic Calls in Sick

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The Workaholic Calls in Sick

I feel so sorry for myself that in my pain I wallow.
I cannot eat a single thing. It hurts too much to swallow.
I don’t respond to illness well. My vision’s so distorted
that all my work plans for the day will have to be aborted.

However much I writhe in pain, I cannot ease my torment.
I’m waiting for my voicelessness to ease up and go dormant
so I can resume life again in all my past perfection,
putting well behind me my ideal health’s defection.

 

Prompt words for today are voiceless, distorted, swallow, however and illness. Image by Anh Nguyen on Unsplash.

Ever After

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Ever After

A pair of decent buttocks could bring him to a halt.
Distorted or unusual to him was not a fault.
High or low or sagging part way to the floor,
he cared not how big they were. He cared not what they wore.
Clad in silk or denim, chambray or flour sacks,
he simply loved what bodies carried on their backs.
You would find him tongue-tied if you met him on your way,
but as he turned to watch you as you walked away,
he could pen a sonnet on what went through his mind
as he reconnoitered you purely from behind.

Prompt words today are unusual, halt, buttocks, distorted, decent.