Mostly Covered
Sheep keep snug because they’re fully
covered by a coat that’s wooly
rising right up from their thighs
to the heads above their eyes.
(Though why their legs and feet aren’t covered,
not one of us has yet discovered,)
The two remaining prompt words today are wooly and rise.
Neither of these prompts had been published yet when I wrote my earlier poem, so here they are with one of their very own. Image by Judith Prins on Unsplash.
Paragon
I’m a paragon of virtue. I don’t eat me any carbs.
My comebacks are not prickly. My rejoinders bear no barbs.
I never take shortcuts. My work habits are precise.
I’m sure you can foresee that I won’t practice any vice.
I have huge moral fiber. My ethics can’t be beat.
I do not gossip, lie or steal. I do not fight or cheat.
I’m studious and ethical. My boss says I’m a smartie,
but as you might have guessed by now, not much fun at a party!!!
Prompt words today are paragon, foresee, huge and shortcut.
I took this photo of a friend’s dinner when we went out to listen to music last Friday night. Decided that come what may, I’d use it as an illustration for today’s prompt words, only four of which had been posted by the time I decided to write this. As you can see, it is a bit of a stretch, but a resolution is a resolution!
Duelling Chefs
I try to think up a riposte
to my neighbor’s blatant boast
his guacamole is the best,
well-noted for its creamy zest.
He made it for my solstice party,
cilantro sprigs to make it arty.
And, concerned that we’d run out,
he brought an extra carton out.
Superfluous, for, undiminished,
even his first bowl went unfinished,
for I made guacamole, too,
and it was mine that counted coup.
The two were polar opposites.
Mine was the best. His was the pits.
For though his pot of guac was fine,
I put the pot inside of mine!
Prompt words today are solstice, superfluous, riposte,
polar, concern and carton. Image by Yakshi Virmani on Unsplash.
(Click on Photos to enlarge.)
Egg Carton Flowers: Art Day at Judy’s House
Fairy breath and greedy flush, scissors, paper glue—
they go about the mutual task of everything they do.
Twin sisters, they spill out in life, perpetually torn
apart since that rude splitting the day that they were born.
One demands the pink paint, the other requests blue—
their lips stained orange by Cheetos, fingers covered by goo.
Voices raspy with excitement, they call each other’s bluff
as their grandma hisses fondly, “Girls, that is enough!”
The yellowing sun descends to orange as they end their day
out on the back terrace where they have gone to play.
Safe now that frisky littler dogs are locked behind the screen,
they pet the Scottie’s matted hair, soothed by his gentler mien.
Inside, their older sister helps us clear away their messes.
Not the first time, right? I ask, “No, not quite,” she confesses.
She fondly rinses paint brushes and points out the incredible—
blue fingerprints on cookies that someone had turned inedible.
The prompt words are bluff torn spill yellowing fairy breath greedy flush soothed safe hiss raspy for Wordle 583 on The Sunday Whirl
Last photo by Harriet Hart. Others by me.
When my good friend Harriet asked if I’d think up a project for her visiting grandaughters, I was pleased to have an excuse to get to know these lovely young ladies. Egg carton flowers it was!!!!
A Lemonade Stand!!!!
Teetotalers do not mind
refreshments of the softer kind.
A lemon sliced, plump and terete
once squeezed, they feel, cannot be beat.
A lemonade is sure to please,
their thirst to quench and thus appease.
On the other hand, some folks
consider drinks like this as jokes.
They prefer their lemons sliced this way
along with mint served in a spray
that serves as garnish or a kicker
for a drink that’s laced with liquor.
Liquids served with temperance
will rarely warrant a defense.
In short order, they will rate
demands at once for a rebate!!!
If you serve lemonade, please thin it
with hefty slugs of gin within it!!!!
Prompt words today are terete, rebate, lemonade, appease, spray and mind.
Mismatched
By what draconian measures might you cure your spouse of snoring?
No amount of pushing, shoving, poking, shouting, roaring
will rouse him from his sleep, and it does no good to smudge him.
No pungent fumes from spruce or sage can do a thing to budge him.
As maddening as a girl might find a husband who is boring,
there is no match more irritating than one prone to snoring.
Prompt words today are it, spouse, draconian, spruce, push and pungent.
We’ll Be Having S’mores!
He’ll rid the cupboards of food he abhors
and refurbish them with the makings for s’mores:
marshmallows, Hershey bars and then for backers,
he’ll purchase a surplus of packs of graham crackers.
A triple pleasure, this snack is the star
of any snack found in packet or jar.
Let the unimaginative shop in stores
for pre-made snacks. He’ll be serving us s’mores!
Prompt words today are triple, unimaginative, marshmallow, refurbish, star, surplus. Photos by Autumn Mott and Jessica Rusce on Unsplash.
Cantankerous
Grandpa is displaying his usual disposition,
expressing all his anger with excessive exposition.
He’s feeling most litigious and says that all the dang
liberals and Democrats should be sentenced to hang!
To Hell with all the secrecy. Sound the fire sirens
and lynch all left wing voters found in our environs.
If it were up to him they’d draw and quarter, limb-from-limb
every gol-durn voter who does not vote like him!
Prompt words today are hang, litigious, secrecy, disposition, sound. Image by Charles Buchler on Unsplash.
Fiction, Dolly!!!!
Parting Manifesto
All the reasons you have vetted
(reasons I should feel indebted)
are reasons that I question, so,
I can’t accept your tales of woe.
Those monstrous acts you say I’ve done?
It is a fact that I’ve done none.
And all the things you say you’ve bought?
The fact is that I bought the lot!
Your bags are packed and by the door.
Load up that sports car you adore
and take yourself right down the road.
I’m closing up the mother lode!
For, though I’ll miss our hugs and smooching,
I won’t miss your constant mooching.
It’s time you joined the teeming mob,
got off your keister and got a job!!!!
Prompt words today are question, indebted, monstrous, like.
Christmas: A New Rendition
That the papers had a field day is totally explicable,
“Santa Stuck in the Chimney and for Hours Inextricable!”
So now he’s on a diet. No more cookies, no more milk.
He’s restricted to mere salads and others of their ilk.
He’s feeling way less boisterous. No more “Ho ho ho’s!”
So there’ll be fewer miracles in our stockings’ toes.
That year the Grinch stole Christmas just might be repeated
and socks hung on the mantel might have to be re-feeted.
Prompt words today are field day, inextricable, fireplace, boisterous, miracle and rendition.
lifelessons - a blog by Judy Dykstra-Brown 