Tag Archives: RDP

Menagerie

8 Replies

189319_1592985871267_2824733_n-1

Menagerie

When she asked us to sleep over, we had no trepidation,
but this one-night segment of our motoring vacation
was a lapse in judgment we will not soon forget,
for though we are assuredly most deeply in her debt,

we didn’t know the bed she offered came complete with pets
not to mention wild creatures struggling overhead in nets!
We can forgive her for the kitten who just curled up on our bed,
sometimes on the foot of it and sometimes at the head.

The puppy, though mischievous, we grew accustomed to,
only suffering damage to a purse strap and one shoe.
Successful in their recovery, we sealed our luggage up,
opened up our bedroom door and exorcised the pup.

Flipping off the  light, we offered gratitude for rest,
closed our weary eyes and did our very best
to try to get a full night’s sleep, but it was late in coming,
for our next visitation came complete with constant drumming

as various creatures of the night knocked against the netting
hanging down around our bed, we commenced regretting
accepting her generous offer of a free night’s lodging.
We didn’t know the various creatures we’d be dodging.

The monkey we grew used to, but not the kangaroo
who boxed my husband’s earlobes and trod upon my shoe.
The cockatoos and lorikeets slept peaceful through the night,
but in the morning wakened us at the dawn’s first light

with such a loud cacophony that jolted us awake
and luckily allowed us to leave before the snake
slithered  from where it rested, coiled beneath the sheet.
And that was it! That final guest signaled our defeat.

For though we have great gratitude for the invitation,
I cannot overemphasize the complete jubilation
we felt upon exiting that jungle she calls home.
And need we tell you that the next time we choose to roam,

we’ll gladly pay the room rates for a first-class lodgings?
We’re finished with the hassles and the terrors and the dodgings
that come with staying with relatives such as sister Sue
who forgot to warn us we’d be staying in a zoo!!

 

The prompt words today were hospitality, forgive, recovery and gratitude.

https://ragtagcommunity.wordpress.com/2019/01/04/rdp-friday-hospitality/
https://fivedotoh.com/2019/01/04/fowc-with-fandango-forgive/
https://onedailyprompt.wordpress.com/2019/01/04/your-daily-word-prompt-recovery-January-4-2019/
https://wordofthedaychallenge.wordpress.com/2019/01/04/gratitude/

Surprise Seduction

15 Replies

Surprise Seduction

My hair is thin and spiky and I snore when in repose.
There’s madness in my family and hair grows from my nose.
I don’t ignite great passion in every man who sees me.
Men from nine to ninety have no great urge to squeeze me.
And yet there’s one attraction that has aided me in life.
You may think I’m no one’s sweetheart and surely no man’s wife,
but I bake a wicked pie. My flan is so divine
that when I ask the suavest man to visit me and dine,
by the end of dinner, he lies prostrate at my feet,
and the frailest grandpa has been known to go in heat.
It is the oldest adage that the plainest girl can flummox
even the studdliest of men by seducing their stomachs!

https://ragtagcommunity.wordpress.com/2019/01/03/rdp-thursday-spiky/
https://fivedotoh.com/2019/01/03/fowc-with-fandango-madness/
https://wordofthedaychallenge.wordpress.com/2019/01/03/ignite/

Mystery Play

3 Replies

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

5 Replies

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

2 Replies

 

 

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

11 Replies
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

7 Replies
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

19 Replies

IMG_6687

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

8 Replies

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

9 Replies

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/