Tag Archives: the daily spur

August Buffet

2 Replies

August Buffet

Although we came for the buffet,
what harm is there if we delay?
That pile of leaves looks so inviting.
The kid in me it is inciting.

Piled up so deep and dense and crunchy,
even though I’m feeling lunchy,
still I have a need more urgent,
childish thoughts now more resurgent.

All of spring’s precipitation
prompted lush leaves and the inception
of my hopes for autumn joys
shared by kids—both girls and boys

in festering imaginations
for these countless generations.
And so, we take a giant leap
to dive into the glorious heap,

Rolling in their crisp and crunch,
forestalling  our urgency to munch.
Then, brushing off our fronts and backs,
we go inside for drinks and snacks.

2015

 

 


Prompts today are crunchy, look, buffet, August, spring and precipitation. Image of  leaves by Patrick Connor and buffet by Markus Winkler, both @Unsplash and image of me by Forgottenman. Other images by me.

That Last Infernal Prompt

20 Replies

She said: Feeling sad.

That Last Infernal Prompt

She was the only casualty of the delphic clue
so obscure no other blogger knew quite what to do
with a word like “xiphisternal.” What other site was rude
enough to pose a prompt word so juvenile and crude?

She tried to write a ballad that would win her wide renown.
Instead, the stress of writing it was what brought her down.
That heart attack (her cause of death) was ironically infernal,
for the last pain that she felt on earth was sadly xiphisternal

 

Prompt words today are juvenile, casualty, ballad, delphic, xiphisternal and down.
To save your looking it up as I was forced to do,  the xiphisternal joint (or xiphisternal symphysis) is a location near the bottom of the sternum, where the body of the sternum and the xiphoid process meet.

\

2022 Fashion

7 Replies

 

2022 Fashion

There is a dearth of luxury in fashions of today.
All the garments made of fur have been tucked away.
Zibelline and beaver, chinchilla, mink and fox
hide in the back of closets or in the remnants box.

The most ardent fashionista wears clothes shapeless as kelp.
Shoulder pads and belts and pads do not seem to help.
They walk runways like branches stripped down to their bark:
minimal and twiggy, sparse and wan and stark.

Lace and ruffles banished, hot Goth is all the rage.
Tractor Trek-Sole boots and chunky loafers stalk the stage.
Sweater vests and crop-tops, shabby chic and Y2K
have replaced silks and satins, mohair and chambray.

Power Bohemian florals compete with color clashing
For what the trend-setters of the day find most chic and dashing.
The only good that I can see in these current fashion rages
is that fewer animals are being kept in cages!

Prompt words for today are kelp, ardent, branch, dearth, zibelline, shapeless.

 

Love’s Highway

7 Replies

Love’s Highway

A pilgrim on this long highway of love, he quickly learned how to forsake what was lucrative in favor of what was genuine. He learned how to first cover-up his pain from love’s last skirmish and finally, how to heal.

“Faint heart never won fair lady” and “Hope springs eternal!” became his slogans and in the end, persistence won out. He celebrated his fiftieth wedding anniversary  today, and their celebratory cake read, “Still Companions on Love’s Highway.”

Prompts today are heal, lucrative, pilgrim, genuine, springs and cover-up.

The Embarkation of Miss Emily

5 Replies

The Embarkation of Miss Emily

He strolled into her module acting all hale and hearty,
issuing an invitation to his birthday party.
He was throwing a big shindig like those raves of yore—
the kind where she was sure she’d be perceived as quite a bore.

They’d sail out to an island on a rented yacht.
A bikini would be clothes enough. The weather would be hot!
She’d have to take a day off work. There’d be no compensation,
but this was not the reason for her main hesitation.

She did not feel affronted. She felt no perturbation.
Rather, she debated her own qualification.
She was no party animal, nor had she ever been.
Her parents both regarded such revelry as sin.

She had no experience with pot, cocaine or gin
and even less experience when it came to men!
So her positive response, though wary, was wholehearted.
if she was going to be wild, ’twas high time she got started!

 

Prompt words are hale, affront, qualification, module, yore and compensation.

Ode to the Las Vegas Buffet

8 Replies

Ode to the Las Vegas Buffet

After some poker and roulette and craps,
we return to our rooms for some well-deserved naps.
The gambler in me has been curbed at a cost.
One poker chip memento, and the rest has been lost.

As I sink into bed, worries float away,
heavenward-bound as I doze in the hay.
Tomorrow’s buffet—that iconic repast
will insure our regrets over losses won’t last.

We’ll pile our plates, then come back for more
until we pop out of the clothes that we wore.
We’ll recoup our losses, for the assets we left
we’ll take home again in our bodily heft!

 

Prompt words today are float, gambler, memento, repast, heavenward and iconic. Images by Aidan Howe and Kenny Eliason

Druthers

5 Replies
\

Druthers

Exemplarily patient when dealing with cats
and rabbits and dogs and hamsters and rats,
trivial matters dealing with mankind
more often than not unsettled her mind.

People toyed with emotions and also, I fear,
were petty and often grossly insincere.
They closed off emotions or tried to be clever—
duplicitous acts that a cat or dog never

would dream to display, for they were what they were,
be it kitten or tiger or show dog or cur.
When out in public or behind  a closed door,
pets are what they are and they are nothing more.

Be they lazy or edgy or tame or unruly,
it will be their true selves on view to yours truly.
People can be puzzling, but not so a pet,
What you see with an animal is what you get!

 

 

 

Prompt word today are toy, closed,  trivial, exemplarily. Image of parakeet by Den Trushtin. All others by me.

Purple Passions

5 Replies

 

Purple Passions

These purple flowers, blooming in profusion,
create a sharp tang, and at first some confusion
until I remember that purple on lips
painted by numerous slurpings and sips
of grape-flavored Popcicles, iced Koolaid,
andgrape jelly sandwiches that my mom made.

Then they rekindle other metaphors
for long-ago youth: those much-slammed screen doors,
watermelon pickles and lemon ices,
as substitutions, nothing suffices.
Withdrawal from these childhood passions
created lusts for other things— fashions,

Jewelry, shoes and purses and joys
even more luscious, resulting in boys,
contradicting beliefs that naught else would suffice
for grape jelly sandwiches and lemon ice!!!
Thus may a color rekindle fond thoughts
and return us to passions we had as mere tots.

Prompt words today are purple, rekindle, metaphor, contradict, withdrawal, lemon ices.

Kiddie Lit

12 Replies

Kiddie Lit

Kids’ writers should not share advice or issue proclamations,
give retorts to news reports or deal with exclamations.
Pervasive thoughts that they promote should be more of the soul.
Promoting  thoughts of mermaids should rather be their goal.

Reality will find us no matter where we look,
in news stands or on Twitter or in every printed book.
It’s fantasy that needs support in this day and age
when bad news is what we get on every written page.

Early on, a kid is taught to exercise and hustle,
but it’s equally important to develop other muscle.
A brain needs exercising, too, and after its gestation
is best served by means of an active imagination.

 

 

 

 

Prompts today are mermaid, writer, pervasive, retort, advice and proclamation.

In A Society of Women

17 Replies
2007

In A Society of Women

No patriarchal dominance rears its violent head.
Birth fluids and menses are the only lifeblood shed.
No lifted guns or measured gait. No uniform or boot
disturbs the regal silence of the calmness at our root.

Spontaneity rules the day. We follow no set path.
Not guided by testosterone, we do not extoll wrath.
The crack of no whip guides us. We can’t be led like sheep.
You cannot boss or bully us. We live by what we reap.

Your rules buzz around us like mosquitos in the brain,
centered around principals that we hold in disdain.
Dominance and power and unlimited riches
would not be an option in a world that’s run by bitches!

Prompt words today are crack, mosquito, spontaneity, patriarchal, root and moonlight.