Performance Anxiety: Nightmare
Bassoons are idly chuckling in the orchestra,
and in the aisle, popcorn crackles underfoot
as the last audience member hurries to find her seat.
I stand center stage
wondering what play this is
and how I came to be standing here.
The curtain opens.
I am naked.
And I have not even seen my lines!
For SOCs the prompt is “Crackle.”
The Offering
My cat surprised me with a gift
but I must say, I’m rather miffed
with the hairball that she left––
(those locks of which she’s now bereft.)
Was this donation made by chance,
or was it planned far in advance?
Did she commence her furry tearing
with the intent that she’d be sharing?
I wonder if she formed that ball
with any future plans at all
to heave it out upon the chest
of one I thought that she loved best?
Oh that she could communicate
whether it was love or hate
that prompted this hair artistry
produced and then coughed up on me!
The SOCS prompt is to close eyes, open book, point to word, open eyes and use the word as a prompt, so here goes. The prompt word that suppllied itself was “Surprised.”
In Person
I am the emptiness in you that glues the parts of you together.
I form those other worlds that are the universe inside of you.
I have a language all my own that speaks through your voice.
There is something holding us together, something keeping us apart.
You are that part of me that only I can search for.
You are the part I wrap myself around.
You are the mystery that forms the game of my life.
When I am alone, you create in me the opposite of loneliness.
They are the full cast of my life.
They come together when I am willing to let both of them go.
I let them take turns being my guide.
It is in getting lost in them that I let myself be found.
For SOCS the prompt is “in person.”
Five Bananas
I was on my way home from the weekly market today, going to my car to get a thermal bag to buy ice at the corner liquor store, when I passed a big truck selling fruit and vegetables. I asked if they had bananas that weren’t green. He got up in the truck, showed me some and I said “How much?” He gave me a price for 2 kilos (about 4 lbs) and I said, no, I didn’t need that many and thanked him. I realized then that he probably just sold in bulk to small grocery stores in the area. I got in my car and drove a block away to another small fruit market and just as I was going to open my car door, the truck pulled up beside me. The window next to me was rolled down and the man held out a bunch of five bananas. I asked how much and he smiled and said, “It is a gift” and they drove away. Later, I saw them in another store and asked if I could buy them something to drink from the cold case, but they both said no.
Some days are worth getting out of bed for!!!
The prompt for SOCS today is “bulk.”
Loving (More Than) Spoonfuls
It seemed a meager portion for such a pricey place––
three peas, a single escargot. Potatoes? not a trace.
They’d spilled some brown stuff on the plate and dabbed a bit of green.
No wonder other diners all looked so very lean.
Two bites and the first course was gone, the plates all whisked away,
replaced by a sparse salad little more than mounds of hay.
A tiny slivered mass of yellow with seeds sprinkled over,
a spray of oil, some flower petals and a sprig of clover.
I looked my first date in the eye to see what he might think.
As he lifted a forkful, he gave a little wink.
We consumed their tiny lamb chops, complete with ruffled cuff
and scarfed the spoonful of dessert that wasn’t near enough.
He paid the bill, retrieved our coats and walked me to his car.
“I have another treat for you,” he said. “It isn’t far.”
He pulled up to McDonalds and ordered two big macs,
large French fries and two sodas and handed me the sacks.
Afterwards, at Dairy Queen, we sealed this new romance
with Butterfinger Blizzards and then a smoldering glance.
I accepted the next course with lips and arms most eager.
And what he served me next, my dear, was anything but meager.
I do not like posh restaurants with their nouvelle cuisine.
I find their foam and slivers and seeds and piles obscene.
Their single little vegetables hung on tiny racks?
I prefer larger portions and calories served in sacks!
And that is how we bonded, your Uncle Joe and I,
over Colonel Sanders, Taco Bell and carryout Thai.
Others may impress their dates with pricey gourmet suppers,
but my true love seduced with feasts of fast food filler-uppers!
In response to Linda’s Stream of Consciousness Saturday prompt, “Spoonful”
“All Lined Up”
Lined up at the show
and everywhere we go,
it seems like we spend half our lives in lines that move too slow.
It seems that half the doing
consists of constant queueing––
a penance that we have to pay for eating, riding, viewing.
At cafes, traffic lanes,
post offices and trains,
museums, subways, cafeterias, we make small gains.
Standing more than walking,
muttering and gawking,
our progress is so slow that there’s less moving than there’s taking.
As we go two-by-twoing,
like milkcows softly mooing,
waiting here in lines, we find that we are all-too-often ruing
leaving our house at all
to line up at the mall
I think I’d rather be at home than waiting with y’all!
Here are a few “LIned Up” visuals: (Click on photos to enlarge.)
And, for more “lined up” photos go HERE.
The SOCS prompt is “In Line.”
“Pick”led
Pack a peck of pickle parts
in a silver jar.
If you feed them to a lover,
he will not stray too far.
Neither pocket book nor hockey puck
will sway his thoughts for long.
You’ll have him humming melodies,
then you’ll pick out your song
repeated in sweet harmony
as he sings along.
For SOCS the prompt is: “pack/peck/pick/“pock/puck.” Use one or use ’em all for bonus points—it’s up to you! https://wordpress.com/read/feeds/24840312/posts/5529707414
Sheridan, Wyoming–the only snow I have been able to walk through for the past 23 years.
Making Tracks
To be in front, you must not mind
that others will be left behind.
The more you gain, the more they lack
trudging along behind your back.
I hope, however, that you’ll be kind
to all of those you’ve left behind.
They’ll be rewarded for what each lacks,
for they can follow in your tracks.
So whether you go fast or slow,
please be careful where you go.
For no matter what you do,
no doubt someone will follow you.
The Prompt for SOCS is “In Front, and/or Behind.”
Wish Wagon
Hear the clanging pots, the squeaky wheels?
Over the rise comes the peddler’s cart––
horse with head down, pulling the load,
the jolly man just dangling the whip over her flanks.
Pitchers, fry pans, mops and brooms,
a doll for sis and kites for the boys
who run to greet this week’s happening,
hoping that Pa has spare bills in his wallet this time.
Now hear the “Whoa, Nell!” and see Zeke, the peddler,
swing his bent frame down from his high perch,
Ma drying her hands as she emerges from the kitchen door,
sis attached to her skirts, shy but drawn irresistibly from safety
to see the wonders that the peddler draws from his wagon:
penny candies by the jar and safety pins.
Needles, spoons and dime novels.
Cloth for Ma of calico and new boots for Pa.
Rag rugs made by Ma and traded for a bucket
and a wash pan his last trip here
that haven’t sold and so he won’t need more.
Jangly bracelets like the city women wear.
Her brief laugh scoffs at them.
The very idea. But one finger runs them round
before it draws away. And in her eyes
there is a wistfulness we will not see again
for thirty more years, until another wagon
crests the hill and drives away with her,
that look again frozen on her face
for eternity.
The SOCS prompt is “wish.” Image from Unsplash.
The prompt for SOCS is “Food.”
lifelessons - a blog by Judy Dykstra-Brown 