Tag Archives: #RDP

United States

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United States

As I peruse the system, I cannot help but balk.
Instead of fixing fissures, they just bring out the caulk
and stuff it in the spaces, obscuring every crack,
not finding it expedient to deal with what we lack.

If we could come together in more than just our name,
looking for a way to fix instead of just to blame,
we could start on the road  to our founding fathers’ aim
and prove for once that politics is more than just a game.

It’s become unexpected for our government to work.
Various private agendas cause senators to shirk
the purpose of their being there—to work the problems out.
Instead, each chance to work together turns into a bout.

Republican or Democrat, their whole agenda should
be to make our country fair and safe and good.
Bring mercy out of hiding. Make lady justice proud.
Surrender guns. Thereby decree,”No violence allowed.”

Take back the halls of governance from the N.R.A.
Accept that we’re all brothers, be we black or white or gay,
transgendered, brown or red, no matter how we look or talk.
If our true aim is democracy, we’ve got to walk the walk.

Prompt words are unexpected, peruse, system, balk and game.

Bella Shuns the Tube

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Bella Shuns the Tube

Bella never takes mass transit. She walks another path.
She hitchhikes every day to work from Chippenham to Bath.
For years, it’s true that she has harbored quite a misconception.
I know because I happened to be there at its inception.

She was just a little girl when her father Rube
drove her by the underground and labeled it “the tube,”
She had visions of sink drains, sucking people down
from somewhere in the country to disgorge them in the town.

As a father teaches, so a daughter will be taught.
A plethora of worries overcame her at the thought.
So, as to travelling in the tube? Unlikely that our Bella might.
for when it comes to subways, I fear she is a thelemite!

 

Prompt words today are misconception, plethora, thelemite (one who does as he or she pleases,) transit and path. Photo by Humphrey Muleba on Unsplash. Used with permission.

Gross Yield

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Gross Yield

Hardly a paradisiac setting, he met her at the dumpster.
She was a free spirit and, alas, he was a Trumpster.
He thought that she looked nifty in spite of her dreadlocks.
She thought he was her nemesis. Just look! Argyle socks!!!!
He lifted up the lid so she could throw in all her junk.
She didn’t pay attention. She liked her lovers punk.

But he wooed her every garbage day. A regular Lochinvar,
he insisted she not lift the bags, declaring it too far
from her doorway to the dumpster and offered his assist.
In the end, she always let him, though she did try to resist!
I could draw out this long story. There were dates, flowers and candy.
They wed, and though he bored her, his gross income came in handy!

Prompts for today are junk, nemesis, paradisiac, nifty and income. Photo by Yannes Kiefer on Unsplash. Used with permission.

Cold Shoulder

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Cold Shoulder

He parcels out emotions as though he has to pay for them.
If you expect affections, you’ll be waiting night and day for them.
He thinks those who show emotion to be members of a cult,
so he does not appreciate nor covet nor exult.

He gets antagonistic when a lady holds his hand.
He believes that blatant signal to deserve a reprimand.
Communication? Dangerous when it goes too far.
If joie de vivre is what you seek, for sure, he’s under par.

 

Prompt words today are covet, dangerous, parcel, antagonistic and  emotions.

Photo

Loam

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Loam

My roots are in the soil of the place I once called home
and still I feel a part of that South Dakota loam.
It had rich humus that gave life to all that seeded me,
clay to hold my memories and sand to set me free.

Lest I give the impression that they’re gone without a trace,
a myriad of memories lie rooted in that place.
They flit like prairie moths through everything I do,
then sink back down into my heart like rich Dakota goo.

 

Prompts for today are impression, myriad, flit and home. (Loam is a fertile soil of clay and sand containing humus.) Photo by Nikola Jovanovic on Unsplash. Used with permission.

Old Friends

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Old Friends

Like a well-worn garment rubbed thin by life,
I’m becoming translucent,
my secrets still partially obscured,
lest you be inundated with the whole of me.

Friends of long duration, 
we see each other 
as through a light fog,
that scathing inflexibility of youth
loosened in us,
as I grant you the foibles
I hope you grant in me.

Prompt words today are translucent, inundate, flexibility, scathe.

Pawn

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Pawn

Like a lamb led to the slaughter in this burgeoning situation,
I’ll load me up into my car and head out toward the station
of a drive-up clinic to allow a medic guy
to stick a Q-tip up my nose to see if I can fly.

Just another fun-filled day in a year of situations
that have not included gatherings or tropical vacations.
But now I find I’m breaking this year of solitary
to fly up to the states for shots, and am I worried? Very.

Nonetheless, my lot is cast, my sis purchased my ticket
and though I have a hunch it is the proverbial sticky wicket,
I’m flying off to Phoenix to spend a month or so,
even though a part of me says I shouldn’t go.

Yet another part of me says it will be fun
to see my sister once again. When all is said and done,
One choice or the other, they both have pros and cons,
and once again I feel that we’re fate’s complicit pawns.

 

Prompt words today are lamb, solitary, statue, burgeon and situation.

Cruel Words

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Cruel Words

True love may grow petulant and jagged at the edges,
so beware emotion’s vertigo while navigating ledges.
Too-blunt words and thoughtlessness certainly may wreak
a petulance forbidding us to turn the other cheek.

Cupid should inculcate us with presence of mind
to remember that above all else, a lover should be kind.
What love has joined together may be split by just one quip.
Lips that desire kissing should detect just when to zip!!!

Prompt words today are jagged, petulant, cheek, inculcate and join.

Ode to My Doctor, Who Has Done Little to Curry My Favor

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Ode to My Doctor, Who Has Done Little to Curry My Favor

Each of these foods you suggest for my diet
has not one feature to urge me to try it.
The chard is too leafy, the kale makes me gag.
I will be affianced to naught in this bag.

This fluffy green spinach would be best in a dip
with sour cream and onions and served on a chip.
I have not one vestige of an urge to consume it
raw in a salad, so do not assume it

will ever pass lips as selective as mine.
I need carbohydrates and meat when I dine.
Do you get the message that I’m on the outs
with arugula, collard greens, beet greens and sprouts?

My palate’s impavid when it comes to spice.
A molé is lovely and a curry is nice,
but please put some meat in it. I’m a contrarian
when you attempt to turn me vegetarian.

Prompt words for today are sprout, vestige, impavid, affiance and chip.

 

Infinite Variety

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Click on photos to enlarge.

Ladies on the Street in Chiapas.
I guess I’ll figure it out when I get older.

 

Infinite Variety

Some cling to what’s affordable, others to what is queer.
What one finds most deplorable, another might find dear.
No matter what opinion you may choose to hold,
one friend will think you’re crazy, another find you bold.

There’s an incredible range of palates in this human bunch.
What one regards as garbage, another eats for lunch.
What touches one by someone else may seem sentimentality.
And what another finds profound to others is banality.

From rap to opera to rock, we sing our various tunes,
from the crudest of rap lyrics to moons and croons and Junes.
Infinite variety might be the perfect label
for the various personalities humans bring to the table.

Prompt words are cling, affordable, queer, opinion and touch.