Black-eyed Susan
Nothin’s as amusin’
as my darling black-eyed Susan.
Arms spread in the sun
to welcome anyone.
But when the sun goes down,
and she dons her evening gown,
the only one allowed to see
my black-eyed girl is lucky me.
For dVerse Poets Pub #147: Quadrille “Eye”. For more responses to the prompt, go HERE.
Miss Effie’s Tinder Bio
I am far too wholesome to do anything shady.
I am an upright, straight-laced and morally pure lady.
I’m a domestic goddess, occasionally girlish,
who does not appreciate behavior that is churlish.
A knight in shining armor is what I hold out for,
I do not want just any man. I’m holding out for more.
If he would come along real soon, I think it would be nifty,
for I’d prefer my nuptials to occur before I’m fifty.
Prompt words today are wholesome, shady, occasion, churl, domestic. Image and retablo by jdb.
Adolescence and Anorexia
When I was a teenager, I thought that I was fat.
I felt that I must be obese if I wasn’t flat.
To look like Twiggy was our goal, but we never achieved it.
The media said curves were bad, and dumb us, we believed it!
Normal flesh felt flabby and we feared cellulite pebbles.
and though in other matters, we felt like we were rebels,
when it came to body image, news and fashion led us.
Thankfully, in retrospect, they weren’t the ones who fed us!
Mr. Wordy
If you have any questions, he’s there for you to query.
It’s rumored he’s a veritable walking dictionary.
Phrases pile up around him, Paragraphs drift like snow.
He simply has to put in words all that he claims to know.
If you’re breaking the rules of grammar, he’ll put you in your place,
and if you mispronounce a word, he’ll tell you to your face.
He’s a pain to talk to, a vain and tiresome man.
So if it’s possible, I’d say avoid him if you can.
He leaves his words behind him, tracking nouns right down the hall.
Adjectives and participles fall where they may fall.
As rotund in his rhetoric as in his derriere,
if words were spoor, I’m sure that we could track him anywhere!
Prompt words are rhetoric, rotund, breaking, spoor and dictionary.
Turning the Tables
The turtle stuck his neck out to see where he was going,
but might have hidden in his shell if he had means of knowing
that the chef had plans for turtle soup, so caught him at the threshold
and put his hands around his neck so he could gain a flesh hold.
But such plans “gang aft astray.” The turtle put a spin on
and designed a different course from one that he had been on.
He dragged that gourmet chef along and headed for the sea.
Their noise of battle was the thing that awakened you and me.
We put our vinyl raincoats on and fiddled with the locks,
scooting feet into our shoes, devoid of any socks.
No moonlight eased our journey, for rainclouds obscured all,
and amidst the raindrops, we commenced to slip and fall.
Around us, many turtles were streaming towards the sea,
intent upon their journey. Ignoring you and me.
So we turned back homeward, to sit upon our stoop
imagining those turtles enjoying human soup.
Prompt words for The Sunday Whirl are: turtle neck shell hidden
but design no spin fiddle amidst noise vinyl
For Wordle 542 Image by Dusan Veverkolog on Unsplash.
If Nothing but the Truth Was Possible
Your child is not as charming as you think he is.
Perhaps if you just said, “No!” to him now and then?
I’m allergic to dogs. Could you get your St. Bernard off my lap, please,
and lock him out of the room where we’re sitting?
As much as I enjoyed the first hundred of your family photos,
could we perhaps move on to conversation of a less familial theme?
My husband has seen enough of your cleavage for one evening. Could you cage them?
Your poem’s triteness is only equaled by its misspellings.
I can see why you would want to be a swinger. Someone as gross as you are
should not expect his wife to shoulder all the responsibility.
Walmart art does not really count as a collection.
Whether your rocks are cubic zirconium or diamonds, they are still ugly!!!
When people back away from you, there’s a good chance
they don’t want you to advance on them again.
A good way to check for bad breath is to lick your wrist.
Have you ever wondered why only beautiful women want you to ask them to dance?
If you expect things in Mexico to be just like they were in the U.S., please remember
that there is a country just north of the border that is the U.S.!! Why don’t you go there?
No I am not ill. I’ve just spent two years starving myself and spent a fortune
on appetite suppressants. Couldn’t you just tell me I look fabulous?
Be honest now. Would you ever have thought to eat raw fish if it weren’t all the rage?
Your life depends on telling the truth. Do you you really, truly enjoy opera?
Just what is it you find enchanting about Paris? Oh, right. It must be the friendly people!
The adage I chose as inspiration for my poem was, “The truth shall set you free.” John 8:32
Image by Brett Jordan on Unsplash. To see more poems based on adages, go HERE.
And HERE is a link to the prompt itself.
No Chip Off His Block
He cannot get a rise out of his insouciant daughter.
A woman on a tightrope, he cannot make her totter.
Cool as a cucumber, a lamb chop with no gristle,
teasing does not faze her. No insult makes her bristle.
He sees her as a puzzle he’s determined he will solve.
Where did she get her backbone and her strong resolve?
He’s had too many beers, but when he goes to get another,
it’s clear to everybody else she takes after her mother!
Prompt words today are gristle, mimic, insouciant, totter and tease.
Fatal Obsession
My father is an ogre and rather hard-of-hearing,
but I had the silly idea I could rise above my rearing.
All my friends were human and I had a strange obsession
for screening them from tendencies I had in my possession.
The result was that I scored a beau inimitably grand—
the sort of perfect boyfriend I thought I’d never land.
Vibrant, handsome, wealthy and inordinately smart,
he was the sort of catch that would melt any ogress heart.
In short, I could barely believe that Avery was mine,
but when I brought him pridefully home with me to dine,
after the aperitifs, the soup and the tossed salad,
I noticed that my father was looking somewhat pallid.
I stepped into the kitchen to find him food more savory,
only to return to find that dad had eaten Avery!!
I cried, “How could you do this to one who’s so indelible?
“I tried to prove you wrong,” he said. “I thought you said inedible!”
Note: An ogre (feminine: ogress) is a legendary monster usually depicted as a large, hideous, man-like being that eats ordinary human beings, Ogres are closely linked with giants and with human cannibals in mythology.
Prompt words for today are vibrant, indelible, inimitable, possess and pride.
Bedtime Stories
When I hear scuffling in the ceiling and scratching in the wall,
fluttering at the windows and steps out in the hall,
Mommy says it’s mice and birds to calm my excitation,
but Daddy tells me other things that swell imagination.
There are ghost doors in the attic and temples in the sky
that creatures will spring out of to join me by and by.
My dad will weave their stories and spread them out for me.
He’ll just open up his mouth and that will set them free.
When I think of all the stories, there’s such anticipation
that I can feel my heart boom and hear its palpitation.
Nighttime is less scary with Mommy or with Nurse,
but bedtime without stories is definitely worse.
The prompt words are: temples fluttered ghost door spring mouth weaving stories step boom sky scuffling for Sunday Stills Wordle 541 Illustration by Marloes Hilckman on Unsplash.
Payback
When Hal at the feed store hired a new clerk,
he was friendly enough, but a bit of a jerk.
He quickly filled orders for packets of seed
of a kilo or so, but he didn’t accede
to requests for help out with a heavier sack.
He had an excuse as he claimed a bad back.
Then later that rascal would go to the gym
and work out with weights far heavier than him.
Of course word got around and was cause for his layoff.
Good news for his back which now has every day off!
Prompts today are layoff, rascal, friendly, accede and clerk. Image by julian-andres-carmona-serrato on Unsplash.
