Tag Archives: RDP

Mystery Play

Mystery Play

A mystery is hopeful, but it isn’t a sure thing.
Who knows what good or evil a mystery might bring?
It might deliver packages tied up in pretty string—
or it might deliver pain instead. Some mysteries have sting.

Life likes to dish out both and we often have no choice.
One door might cause us to regret, another to rejoice.
One without the other is just not nature’s way.
We take rewards with one hand. With the other, we must pay.

Taking off for the beach today.  The three prompts that were ready are deliver, hopeful and mystery.

https://ragtagcommunity.wordpress.com/2019/01/02/rdp-wednesday-mystery/
https://fivedotoh.com/2019/01/02/fowc-with-fandango-deliver/
https://wordofthedaychallenge.wordpress.com/2019/01/02/hopeful/

Breaking Tradition

Breaking Tradition

A tradition is a habit that we’re loath to break,
a memory that our hearts continue stubbornly to make.
It is our continuity, our chain link to the past.
We make a resolution that it’s always going to last.

And yet our lives must segue to what future we might grow.
We cannot drag the past with us wherever we may go
lest it become a ball and chain that keeps us from what may 
be an opportunity that may come our way.

Traditions are so comforting. They deal with what has been.
They make tiny departures seem a sort of sin,
but sometimes they just hold us back, keep us from being free,
and we must let loose of tradition to see what we can be.

Revenge can be tradition and one that’s hard to break,
causing backward facing hearts to fester and to ache.
As hard as it may be for us to turn around and heal,
it’s the only course that may enable us to feel.

When we peel away tradition, it gives hearts room to grow.
We plant seeds of new memories and tend them row on row.
The garden of our consciousness so fertile and so vast
that there is room for new traditions as alluring as the past.

 

The words of the day are segue, revenge, resolution and traditions.
https://ragtagcommunity.wordpress.com/2018/12/31/rdp-monday-segue/
https://fivedotoh.com/2018/12/31/fowc-with-fandango-revenge/
https://onedailyprompt.wordpress.com/2018/12/31/your-daily-word-prompt-resolution-December-31-2018/
https://wordofthedaychallenge.wordpress.com/2018/12/31/traditions/

The Real Dirt

 

 

P4160185

 

The Real Dirt

Dirt has had, since its inception,
an unfair place in our conception—
a thing for us to rail against
and throw the laundry pail against.

Dirty thoughts are seen as rude,
and yet dirt grows our daily food.
Without it, we would flail and totter.
Impossible to walk on water!

The prompt words today are dirt and inception.
https://ragtagcommunity.wordpress.com/2018/12/30/rdp-sunday-dirt/
https://wordofthedaychallenge.wordpress.com/2018/12/30/inception/

Born-again Dieter

IMG_0575

My vegan concoction

Born-Again Dieter

My corpulent life style I now declare over.
I’ve taken an oath to only eat clover,
apples and carrots and barley and beans.
There will be less of me filling my jeans!
Instead of gorging, I’m going to be grazing.

I know the results will be just amazing.
So if you are willing and if you are able,
be careful, please, what you bring by my table.
Don’t pass near with ice cream or tiramisu

or I’m liable to accidentally waylay you
to survey your provender —those fruits of the cow—
just to “tsk tsk” your choices  with holier than thou
dieting lingo in loud fierce bravado,
eschewing your pancakes or your gado gado.
The world should bow down to my menu of choice

and if it doesn’t, in my loudest voice
I’ll be sure that you know what you could have chosen
that’s macrobiotic. That’s never been frozen.
That’s full of good fiber, sans sugar and gluten.

My mouth will be flappin’, my horns will be tootin’.
For now I’ve decided to be dairy-free,
I’ve decided the whole world should diet with me!!!

https://ragtagcommunity.wordpress.com/2018/12/27/rdp-thursday-corpulent/
https://wordofthedaychallenge.wordpress.com/2018/12/27/oath/

The Leech

IMG_2991

proclaimed to be fine,

The Leech

They’ve plugged up their ears to muffle his mutterings.
They’re tired of his self-serving utterings.

He’s an indulgence they’d like to be shed of,

expunge from their sofa and free their spare bed of.

He thinks it’s tradition that they should take care of him,
yet they’d prefer that their house just be bare of him.

He’s a caricature of self-indulgence,
wallowing in familial abundance.

They need to be boxing his ears or possessions
and signing up for codependency sessions.

They’ve supported him well and sent him to college,
imbued him with clothes, with playthings and knowledge.

Now he needs to be kicked out to find his own life—
to be taught by experience, seasoned by strife.

Lest they make a mongrel of a fine pup,
it’s time they encourage their boy to grow up!

 

 

The prompt words today are tradition, caricature, indulgence and boxing.

https://ragtagcommunity.wordpress.com/2018/12/26/rdp-wednesday-tradition/

FOWC with Fandango — Caricature


https://onedailyprompt.wordpress.com/2018/12/26/your-daily-word-prompt-indulgence-December-26-2018/
https://wordofthedaychallenge.wordpress.com/2018/12/26/boxing/

Holiday Visitors

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Holiday Visitors

I’m playing host this holiday. Prospects are in the air.
Christine is at the table and Fred is up the stair.
She’s making lovely art and he’s sawing rhythmic dreams.
Everybody’s active on this Christmas morn, it seems.

The dogs are pacing jauntily. The air is crisp and still.

They’re hoping I’ll give them a treat. There’s a good chance I will.
The carcass of a chicken and the scraps from last night’s feast
would make a lovely picnic for a canine beast.

I’m putting words together when I should be giving pats.
They knock against the doorframe. They fidget on their mats.
I can hear the scraping of Fred’s key in the door.
It’s a human intervention. He’s advancing ‘cross the floor.

The dogs are his companions. They’re demanding my attention.
Christine joins in with their demands. I give in to the tension.
I’m going to have to socialize with people I can touch,
and I admit it’s company I enjoy very much,

But still I had to come here to spend some time with you
bloggers and Facebookers and you Tweeters, too,
for daily keeping company and keeping me on track.
I’m going to the real world now. Tomorrow? I’ll be back.

IMG_6684Fred woke up and is writing his poem, Christine got her picture colored. 

IMG_6694Diego got his treat and Morrie got his ball thrown.  All is right with the world.

Merry Xmas!!! Happy Hanukkah!  Joyful Kwanzaa.
xoxooxooxox

 

 

The prompts on this Christmas day are host, discovery, love and holiday.
https://ragtagcommunity.wordpress.com/2018/12/25/rdp-tuesday-host/
https://fivedotoh.com/2018/12/25/fowc-with-fandango-discovery/
https://onedailyprompt.wordpress.com/2018/12/25/your-daily-word-prompt-love-December-25-2018/
https://wordofthedaychallenge.wordpress.com/2018/12/25/holiday/

Balance

Balance

It is so very easy to trap wonder in a box
and to view the world around you as a sort of pox
festering and viral like a plague about to burst,
to only see the suffering, to just take in the worst.
Our news is geared to tell us the most spectacular ills.
They profit from the awfulness. It’s we who pay the bills.
It’s true we need to know about the evil that men do,
but once the right shoe drops, we need to see the left foot, too.

What beauties lie within our world like pods about to flower?
What are the kindnesses performed hour after hour?
Christmas will have Scrooges and each glory its detractor,
but as we view the acts of man, grace is also a factor.
We need to stem the violence, the cruelty and greed,
but to view the selfless acts of man is just as strong a need.
Listen to wind’s harmonies. Note tall grass’s swaying.
Find the things in life that make living worth the staying.

Civilization is a stream with banks. The stream is sometimes filled with blood from people killing, stealing, shouting and doing things historians usually record; while on the banks, unnoticed, people build homes, make love, raise children, sing songs, write poetry and even whittle statues. The story of civilization is the story of what happened on the banks. Historians are pessimists because they ignore the banks of the river.”      ― Will And Ariel Durant

The prompt words today are pod, easy, wonder and Scrooge. Here are the links:
https://ragtagcommunity.wordpress.com/2018/12/20/rdp-thursday-pod/
https://fivedotoh.com/2018/12/20/fowc-with-fandango-easy/
https://wordofthedaychallenge.wordpress.com/2018/12/20/wonder/
https://onedailyprompt.wordpress.com/2018/12/20/your-daily-word-prompt-scrooge-December-20-2018/

Teenage Angst

Teenage Angst

If you tend to be secretive and crave a private zone,
yearn to denounce your family and set out on your own,
at first they’ll cling like mistletoe, refuse to set you free.
You’ll think they’re never going to simply let you be.
But time will set you free. You’ll see your family disappear,
and that is when I’m fairly sure, you’ll wish that they were here.

 

Prompt words today are family, denounce, secretive and mistletoe.
https://ragtagcommunity.wordpress.com/2018/12/19/rdp-wednesday-family/
https://fivedotoh.com/2018/12/19/fowc-with-fandango-denounce/
https://wordofthedaychallenge.wordpress.com/2018/12/19/secretive/
https://onedailyprompt.wordpress.com/2018/12/19/your-daily-word-prompt-mistletoe-December-19-2018/

Collapsed Bridge

 

Collapsed Bridge

The bridge between us is a shambles. Water cascades between us.
John Gray would say that you’re from Mars whereas I am from Venus.
Most of what I treasure you consider superficial.
We are so far apart that we should now make it official.
You go your way, I’ll go mine, with no one to convene us.
It should not be traumatic so let’s just try to wean us
from all those little petty things that once brought us together,
like quince preserves, Scrabble and a fear of stormy weather.

We’d snuggle up and toast some toast and slather on the jelly,
bring out the quilts and Scrabble board and just ignore the telly.
Pepperoni pizza and rum and Cokes and cards
once kept our crystalline affair from shattering to shards.
But since we’re both on diets from pizza and each other,
the blanket that once comforted now only serves to smother.
I’ll go my way, you go yours, as though we never met,
and if I’m craving Scrabble, I’ll use the Internet!

Prompt words today are bridge, treasure, shambles and cascade.
https://ragtagcommunity.wordpress.com/2018/12/18/rdp-tuesday-bridge/
https://fivedotoh.com/2018/12/18/fowc-with-fandango-treasure/
https://wordofthedaychallenge.wordpress.com/2018/12/18/shambles-2/https://onedailyprompt.wordpress.com/2018/12/18/your-daily-word-prompt-cascade-December-18-2018/

Reality Show

Reality Show

In so-called halcyon days of yore,
I fear that label was merely lore.
For some it may have been a joy,
but not so for the hoi polloi.
They stood and watched the royal parade
and knew it for the grand charade
it was, and as the nobles dined—
stuffed and feasted, gorged and wined
on sweet elixirs and joints of beast,
it was famine for the least
of all the people in the land.

The rich, at least, the merry band

depicted in cartoon and book,
but instead by hook or crook,
the rich cavorted as they carved
their empires from the hordes who starved.
They kept unschooled masses naive
hoping they would then believe
God meant for some to eat their fill
while others toiled and paid the bill.

And now it seems it hasn’t changed.
The masses once more are deranged,
and educated fools have been
the ones who vote exploiters in.
They say it’s better for the masses—
all those toiling lads and lasses.
Yet,
when rich men go unregulated,
and untaxed, the poor seem fated
not to get the trickle-down.
Instead the powers grouse and frown
and tax them more. Their minds are fraught
with thoughts of payments on their yacht.

Beware rich men who say they’ll share
and pass their laws because they care.
If they profit by those laws,
the poor will simply not, because
the rich get richer out of greed
to have more and they do not heed
those for whom the laws were meant.
Sharing  they call entitlement.
The reality you think you see
on TV shows is meant to be
mere entertainment. In fact it’s truthless
engineered by those most ruthless
who seek to turn our thought and mind
into an audience for their kind.

They seize our brains, then seize our nation

all the while in sure elation
that they do it for our good.
Oh that they did.  Oh that they would.
But it’s a ruse
we can’t excuse.
The rich man tends to his own riches
while the poor men dig the ditches
for the one who rants and raves.
I fear instead they dig their graves.

 

Today’s prompts are halcyon, cartoon, royal and parade. Here are the links:

https://ragtagcommunity.wordpress.com/2018/12/17/rdp-monday-halcyon/
https://fivedotoh.com/2018/12/17/fowc-with-fandango-cartoon/
https://wordofthedaychallenge.wordpress.com/2018/12/17/royal/
https://onedailyprompt.wordpress.com/2018/12/17/your-daily-word-prompt-parade-December-17-2018/