Wishy-Washy
Simple pleasures lack that “Gosh!”
that goes with habits much more posh,
so I renounce such simple things
in favor of what richness brings.
If your response to what I choose
includes recital of what I’ll lose:
sunsets, laughter, hand-held walks,
peanut butter and midnight talks,
then perhaps I’ll change my mind
for pleasures of a simpler kind.
Prompt words today are simple pleasures, renounce, posh, recital and response.
Small Pleasures
That last sip of coffee when you thought that you were through.
A lazy sleep-in Saturday with nothing much to do.
A walk through fields with children or a late-night talk with friends.
When you know just where to look, the pleasure never ends.
That last square of chocolate. The popping of a blister.
Getting there to lick the icing spoon before your sister.
Summer nights with highway noises from a block away.
Knowing that you’ll take that road away from here one day.
Constant daily pleasures are a matter of the mind.
Some pleasures of the present, others of the future kind.
Like Chocolate? Here is a song by someone else who does. Me! Lyrics by Judy Dykstra-Brown, music and presentation by Christin Anfossie:
Today’sNaPoWriMo prompt is to write an ode to small pleasures.
photobyokcforgottenman
Life is More Wonderful
Concentrate on daily things—
the scent of toast perfectly browned,
new sheets gathered from the line,
this morning’s treasures spread on the ground:
a robin’s egg, inventing blue,
left on your doorstep, as though for you.
Seed of sycamore spinning down
to land with precision on your shoe.
Life is more wonderful with what
can come through serendipity;
and once we’re clothed and fed and sheltered,
what’s most valuable is free:
A child’s questing hopeful look
as he searches worlds within a book.
Heartfelt laughter dispelling pain
and friends who will return again.
Pity those for whom success
means piling gold in offshore banks;
whose quest for more will sacrifice
the health of children to buy more tanks.
They’ve gone too far to ever know
how much pain and how much woe
is occasioned by their status quo—
how much unhappiness they’ll sow.
Acceptance of their ignorant greed
will lead us down the path they’ve worn.
They’ll leave our world stripped and bereft,
her wondrous freedoms raped and shorn.
So as they pillage, ruin, and rape
an environment that can’t escape,
be glad that stubborn others insist
that we drive these bullies from our midst.
We know too much of the world’s ills
to ever fully feel at peace,
for that safe world that we have known
can not be lived without surcease.
Enjoy your happiness in each thing
that luck or your hard work might bring,
but share these things with everyone
lest all we stand for comes undone.
There is much in life that we
must learn to live with and accept;
but other things that we can change,
and leaders who are more adept
at giving us the basics for our health and happiness:
clean water, schools and health care. Never accept less.
If our quest for fool’s gold destroys what it can’t buy,
we’re simply fools caught building dream castles in the sky.
In times that are distressing,
millions of voices shout,
“To preserve simple pleasures,
drive these carpetbaggers out!”
The prompt today was acceptance. (Not.) The rather unusual use of two rhyme schemes in one poem came about naturally at first, as though some part of me rebelled against even the strictures of the poetic form. Then it seemed natural to vary the justification as well. Yes, we need justification, but it need not follow the rules we do not agree with. So, both center and left justification and next line and alternate line rhyme. Seemed right for this poem.
lifelessons - a blog by Judy Dykstra-Brown 