Tag Archives: #RDP

SANDERSON’S STORE

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What we braved to reach Sanderson’s Store.
M&Ms
Jelly Beans
Chicken Bones

Sanderson’s Store

Allowance day on Saturday dispelled the winter’s gloom
of trudging through the snow to school or sealed up in my room.
Too cold and blizzardy outside, my mother had the gall
to ban me to a play space of room and stairs and hall.

No Fox Fox Goose, no snow forts. No sliding on the ice
of sidewalks frozen over.  Just games of cards and dice,
dolls and dressing up in my older sister’s clothes.
No snow boots shedding ice and sludge. No chilblains on my nose.

Oh but on certain Saturdays, with weather calming down,
armed with dough, we kids would form a caravan to town
six blocks away, ploughing the snow with boots sliding in front of us,
a column of five kids or more made snowdrifts feel the brunt of us.

Flashing our allowances, we plundered penny sweets
in the big assorted box of Tootsie Rolls and treats
like Double Bubble, Chicken Bones, Fireballs and Nik-L-Nips.
Now and Laters, Jelly Beans and chewable Wax Lips.

Tootsie Rolls and Red Hots, M&Ms and Jaw Breakers.
Malt balls, Sugar Babies, Lemon Heads and Necco Wafers.
As we counted out our pennies, Tet would add one candy more
every Saturday that we could get to Sanderson’s Store. 

Prompt words today are caravan, gall, gloom and candy. (Jelly beans, M& Ms and candy heart photos thanks to Unsplash. Used with permission.)

 

Here is a note I got from Mary, She is the grandniece of Tet (of Sanderson’s Store.) 

“This certainly brings back warm memories. I remember getting my brown bag of candy at Sanderson’s to take to the show with me on Saturday night. Aunt Tet loved all the kids and wouldn’t take her lunch break until after all the kids had stopped to buy their treats on their way back to school. I had forgotten some of the candies you mentioned. Thanks for sharing this with me. I loved it!  Mary.”

Below is a photo of Tet, standing between her sister Melitha and her brother, M.E., who was a recruiter for Cornell College in Iowa and who recruited my older sister Betty Jo to go to college there. My middle sister, Patti, also went there for one year. Lots of connections in a small town.

Substitutions

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Substitutions

An open window, an open door
from a block away or more,
may leak a song whose melody
brings forth a long-lost memory.

Its strains may bring a prompt detection
of an overlooked reflection—
that abrupt awareness of
those substitutes for human love.

A cat, a dog, a garden full
of beauty that exerts its pull—
diversions that can take the place
of a well-loved absent face.

So we fill in each empty spot
where each loved-one, alas, is not,
making do with what what’s around—
those near-distractions that we’ve found.

Prompts for today are substitute, abrupt, reflect and music.

I spent all day trying to fight off a migraine. Soon after I woke up I lost half my vision—could only seen the right side of my head by turning my head sideways.  I took a couple of caffeine pills, hoping that it was the beginning of a migraine—fearing the alternative more. My vision eventually came back but a nagging little headache persisted so I took more caffeine, tried to eat around 3 but had terrible indigestion and more of a headache. Finally, I took an Extra-Strength Tylenol along with a Coke, which I knew would give me arm and/or leg cramps, but it was preferable to a full-strength migraine. Went down to the hammock with an audible book so I could close my eyes, Morrie jumped up on my lap and Diego hung his head over the side of the hammock seeking my other hand. I pulled my cowl neck over my head to avoid their stinky bodies and breaths (bath-time is in order) and finally, blessedly, fell asleep. Aroused by a phone call from a good friend, after hanging up, I was seized by a massive foot cramp, got up and stamped it out and came up to the house where the pups and kitties were glad to finally have their meal a few hours late. Not the best day in the world but it brings me to the reason for telling you my woes, other than your sympathy—that being the reason why I haven’t yet written and published my poem for the day. So, finally, at 8 in the evening, here it is.

 

6 A.M., Dec. 24, 2020

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6 A.M., December 24, 2020

All around my room and all around the house,
everything is still and quiet as a mouse.
All the sounds of living are muffled by the night,
as if a large hand censors both my hearing and my sight.

Then the greater world is thrust into my ear—
a single church bell tolling is all that I can hear
signaling the hour—6 A.M. again—
a barrage of fireworks setting up its din

to welcome us to Christmas Eve though it is merely morn.
It is our second  notice that a child will be born.
First the star low in the west—a bauble in the sky
tells the whole world of the day that is coming nigh.

Odors of the pine tree, presentiment of myrrh,
the stirring of the dogs, the cat’s insistent purr,
the roasting of the turkey—the onions in the dressing
bring another sense to transmit the Christmas blessing.

A touch of lips ‘neath mistletoe can’t be far away,
bringing that last sense of touch to calm the worldly fray.
May all the troubles of the world thereby find surcease
and for this brief holiday, may all the world find peace.

Prompt words today are mouse, great, bauble and living. Image by Peter Bucks on Unsplash, used with permission.

Dear Santa

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Dear Santa

Make the sleigh bells jingle, put leather to the back
of every lazy reindeer. You’ve an extra-heavy pack
to deliver in this year when folks can’t get out shopping
so there’ll be way more presents that you’ll need to be dropping. 

You’ve always been a busy guy every Christmas Eve,
but this year with the extra presents that you’ll have to leave,
you’ll need some extra energy and upon great reflection,
we’ve come up with some special means to show our great affection.

Milk and cookies will not be enough for you this year,
so we’ll leave you a Wassail cup, a porter or a beer
along with a sub sandwich, some cookies and some chips
and some vaseline with glitter to protect your chilblained lips.

May you have sufficient energy. May reindeer find a way
to keep up with the pressure of this extra special day.
And may you be assured while you’re delivering your plenty
that no year in the future will rival 2020!!!

 

 

Prompt words today are glitter, leather, wassail and jingle.

 

Hopeful Holidays

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Hopeful Holidays

In almost every culture, at least once every year,
there is some celebration that brings on belly-cheer.
So bring out the turkey, the cranberries and beer.
Commence that over-eating that we all hold dear.

Over-feeding is a statement, a type of family caring,
as are the ugly Christmas sweaters you seem to be wearing.
After all the wrapping up comes all the paper tearing,
all the boxes opening and all the surprise-baring.
Then we dedicate ourselves to other acts of daring,
be it ham or goose or turkey, lutefisk or herring.
Lucky, lucky people to have family for bearing:
Aunt Stella’s time-worn stories and Uncle Herman’s swearing.
Each of us just wondering how far-flung friends are faring.
Here’s hoping you have friends and family with whom you are sharing.

Even though we may have  masks spread out from ear-to-ear,
let’s end the year departing from these months of constant fear
to shift our expectations into a higher gear,
hoping 2021 turns out to be less queer!!!

 

Prompt words today were caring, lucky, dedicated and belly-cheer.

Merry Christmas everyone. Treasure your families, even in their absence.
This, too, shall pass.  xooxox

For Jay, April 23, 1947––December 14, 2020

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For Jay, April 23, 1947—December 14, 2020

The billow of the curtains, the deep tolling of a bell
below me in the village, what stories they might tell
if I only knew their language. The voice of bronze and wind
may just be a passing zephyr, or the tale told of a friend
seven days departed, now reduced to ash and bone.
Words scattered by a priest, to bless and to atone
for some small ineptitudes, hardly sin at all,
now he sits upon a shelf in my entrance hall.
Does he sense our daily passing? Does he know we know his worth?
Does he long for his reunion with water and with earth?
Soon, my friend, you’ll be released for a final time—
freed from the ineptitude of flames and bells and rhyme
to record your passing in sermon or in verse
as you rise again once more to join the universe.

R.I.P. Jay—friend, father, brother, lover. Fellow expat, now a citizen of the Universe.

We spread Jay’s ashes in Lake Chapala on December 29, 2020. If you’d like to read about the ceremony and see photos, go HERE.

Prompt words today are billow, inept, admire and bells.

Turn About

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Turn About

Your claims that you are virtuous are hard to reconcile
with the lurid stories told by victims of your guile.
Each one, in the beginning, considered you sublime,
an assessment always altered when they’d known you for a time.
All your avowed compacts of fidelity and marriage
voiced in times of passion in the backseat of your carriage
never were remembered in the glare of a new day.
Your women were like handkerchiefs—used, then thrown away.
All hope you’ll get your just deserts, with someone doing to you
what you have done to others—to first woo and then eschew you.

 

Prompt words are virtuous, compact, sublime and reconcile.

Sneaky Peeky

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Sneaky-Peeky

I’ll admit I’m not exempt
from feelings that are quite verklempt,
for I find it over-pleasant
when opening a Christmas present
to find that object wrapped inside
(the very one you tried to hide,
but in fact, through search and guile
I’ve known about for quite awhile.)

I discovered it a week ago
as I was searching high and low
to see what you had bought for me.
I simply couldn’t wait to see.
Yet see me ahh and oh and ooh,
putting on a show for you?
What you see as over-reacting
is in fact just over-acting.

Prompt words today are joy, guile, present and verklempt.

 

 

One Time Guest

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One Time Guest

Adroit in her procrastination, glorious in her folly,
she bombed at being punctual, was great at being jolly.
The life of every party, she was a lively guest.
At entertaining festive folks she was the very best.
And though she ate her mashed potatoes and gobbled up her fishes,
she balked at setting tables and refused to do the dishes.
So, though at entertaining, she surely had the knack,
it’s not at all surprising she was not invited back.

 

Prompt words for today are procrastinate, adroit, bomb and glorious.

Man Child

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Man Child

He’s a bomb at being serious. He’s jolly, rash and wild.
In essence, he’s never grown up. He’s a perpetual child.
His rustic simplicity is anything but charming,
for he’s redolent of fishing smells and horse riding and farming.

His impetuosity has often brought on trouble,
leading to some barroom brawls and the resulting rubble.
For all these things, he’s won a sort of infamous renown,
and he’s banned from almost all the pubs in his little town.

The local folks have made excuses for him all his life,
but such crass indulgences won’t garner him a wife.
He’d like to have some kids himself–a most unlikely bid
so long as he himself insists on acting like a kid.

Word prompts for today are bomb, jolly,  rustic simplicity, impetuous.