Tag Archives: the daily spur

Every Saturday Night

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Every Saturday Night

In those final years before television
and long before computers,
we’d fly in unison
to our small town’s
sole scintillating diversion—
following the usher
in
single
file
down
the
narrow
center
aisle,
to sink into that seat closest to the magic screen.

At its first ignition,
our minds automatically shifted
to an outside world
devoid of waving wheat fields,
gravel streets
and minds
consumed
by
cattle,
ballgames,
church
and
books—
diversions
less glamorous
than this view
out into the wide wide world.

Prompt word today are Saturday night, fly, unison, scintillating, automatic and follow. Image by Noom Peerapong on Unsplash.

Preparing for Summer

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Preparing for Summer

When your appetite starts knocking and you crave a light repast,
even though the time since your last meal seems too vast,
tie your cravings to a stanchion and curb their niggling prompt.
Do some calisthenics or take a forest romp.
Defenestrate those Oreos. Resist that peanut brittle.
It takes a lot of will power to make yourself more little.
Dieting’s not easy. Resolution is the pits,
but it will all be worth it when your favorite swimsuit fits!!!!

 

Prompts for today are: knocking, vast, defenestrate, stanchion, forest and peanut brittle.

Anima/Animus

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Click on photos to enlarge. Explanations of the sculpture are given below the poem.

Anima/Animus

The sword of guilt is something I continually hone,
and in this I feel that I am surely not alone.
Guile and temper are not exclusively my sin,
for animus is something that we all carry within.

 

In the early nineteenth century, animus was used to mean “temper” and was typically used in a hostile sense. In 1923, it began being used as a term in Jungian psychology to describe the masculine side of women. The anima as the unconscious feminine side of a man. (Excerpts from Wikipedia) 

The photos are of my mixed media sculpture entitled Anima/Animus.  The detail in the second photo symbolizes the shattering of the male side of the ego by a feminine consciousness. The metal object in the glass case is a small replica of the instrument used to sever heads from bodies in sacrificial preHispanic temple ceremonies. The hammer shattering the glass is meant to symbolize the gentling effect of the feminine on the masculine.

 

Prompt words today are animus, guilt, guile, exclusive and alone.

Rebus

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Prompt words today are excited, accord, glare, rebus, stitch .

Rebus: a puzzle in which words are represented by combinations of pictures and individual letters; for instance, apex might be represented by a picture of an ape followed by a letter X.

Night Terror

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Night Terror

The circuits were all overcharged the night that one livewire
crossed another, triggering an electrical fire.
It was approximately midnight when I brutally awoke,
avulsed from bed and blanket by the acrid plumes of smoke.
Reeling from my dreamworld, plunged into reality,
Suffering from vertigo, I attempted to flee.
Gathered in my father’s arms, comforted by his grasping,
I was rushed into the cool night air, coughing, choking, gasping.
Our neighbors gathered all around to comfort and to gape—
 to give thanks with our family for our safe escape.
Fire whistles shrilling their approaching welcome scream,
I was jerked awake once more from that childhood dream.
And even though I knew those terrors were all in my head,
I padded down the hallway into my parents’ bed. 

 

Prompts today are livewire, approximately, brutal, avulse, overcharge and vertigo.

Weekend Regression: Prompts, July 25, 2022

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Weekend Regression

On Friday night I imbibe ’till I’m jolly,
but such jubilation I’ve found is sheer folly.
Infatuated with letting off steam,
I raise up a glass with the rest of the team.

After Saturday night I have energy left,
but by Sunday night I’m worn out and bereft.
Weekends are fun-filled and rowdy and timeless,
but by their end we are blown-out and dimeless.

I realize this statement is rather reductive,
but weekends, I’ve found, are counterproductive.
Monday mornings I’m frowzy, Tuesday, not much better,
not ’till Wednesday or Thursday in finer fetter.

Ready to gear up for more Friday fun,
and a whole weekend in which to run
reckless and feckless and feeling the perks
of two whole days in which nobody works!!!!

 

Prompts today are.: left, infatuated, sheer, counterproductive, timeless, frowzy,

Reality Redefined

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Reality Redefined

(From Reality Shows to Reality Politicians, the meaning
of the word seems to have shifted to its opposite.)

Your underwhelming comments on my photographs should shame me,
but if they foster apathy, you really cannot blame me.
Timeless snapshots can’t be made of subjects that are boring,
and ordinary truth, it seems, leaves viewers merely snoring.

“What seems to be” has turned into the new truth that we seek—
reality  becoming something we can tweak.
A pantomimed emotion, sadly, I must confess,
if one is good enough at it, is good enough, I guess.

So bring on the kitschy actor, the reality show clown.
Their entertainment value will bring them wide renown.
They are what is called for in this modern cyber world.
“Reality’s” new meaning therein has been unfurled.

 

Prompt words are snapshot, underwhelming, timeless, kitschy, foster and pantomime.

Culinary Erotica

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Culinary Erotica

Her silken robes sway gently to the oscillating fan.
She is in her element when around any man.
They are what makes life savory, the salt to any dish.
The doorknob slowly turning denotes her fondest wish.
There’s not a single male faction that would not agree
that when it comes to men, she is the sugar in their tea.

Prompts for today are silk, element, oscillating, faction, sugar and doorknob.

Pollyanna’s Creed

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Pollyanna’s Creed

Why so wan and petulant, so sober and contrary?
Concede that negativity that you sometimes carry.

Concentrate on cheerful things. Begin a new beginning.
Convert all your losses from losing into winning.

Remove the somber funeral veil from your mournful head
and buy a vivid orange hat to wear on it instead.

Life’s too short for sadness that you carry like a weight.
Every time you smile, you’ll feel it dissipate.

That cloud above your head will lift and light will filter in
and you’ll feel a happier time of life  begin.

\

Prompt words today are orange, sober, concede,  petulant, beginning and concentrate.

Raucous Recipe #1

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Raucous Recipe #1

My flashback to a nifty dish of pears and peas and beans
is tastier if one can add olives and nectarines.
The problem is that when these five are ingested enmasse,
they cause indigestion and, I fear, a lot of gas.
So for the interim, until science solves the puzzle,
keep these five ingredients separate when you guzzle.

 

Prompt words today are flashback, gas, nifty, dish and pear.