Tag Archives: The Sunday Whirl

The Arts: Wordle 531

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The Arts

Do stories flutter round your head and brush your ears with wings?
Do words sift down like embers and ignite sparks in things?
Do crystal visions in your eyelids scare away the blues?
Do new rhythms lift your spirits and install taps on your shoes?
Do staffs of music fall like rain to shift your mode of thinking?
Fall like water from the sky until you feel you’re sinking
into overtures of gratitude for what life has been giving:
words  and music, art and dance  that make your life worth living.

 

flutter stories haunt spark lift words wing staff shift water gratitude crystal

 

For  Sunday Whirl Wordle 531

Summer Block Party: The Sunday Whirl Wordle 530

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Summer Block Party

So many trillion burning stars form the signs of night.
Most of them so secret that they are out of sight.

Others are so numerous, they form a sort of haze,
spreading out a Milky Way at which we like to gaze,

lying spread-eagled in the grass, during summer nights,
cockleburrs’ sharp edges and mosquito bites.

The chattering of mothers on our screened front porch,
feline yowls and dog barks, Father’s questing torch,

seeking out the faucet to turn the water off.
A roar of laughter from the men, a smoker’s raucous cough.

All the familiar voices of our little hive—
the neighborhood we live in, cozy and alive.

All the roles we choose to fill united for this night
when the stars have chosen to bless us with their light.

For The Sunday Whirl Wordle 530  The prompt words are: edge, stars, roar, burn, role, chatter, hive, sign, feline, curse, haze, secret. Image by Andy Holmes on Unsplash.

School Discipline in Transylvania: The Sunday Whirl, Nov 30, 2021

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School Discipline in Transylvania

The screen door bangs. I’m off to school
where the teachers think they rule,
but I think I see signs of worry
on my teacher as I hurry
into class and take my seat.
Already, he displays defeat

before the spit wads take their toll,
betraying who is in control.
A first and then a second wad
sails through the air and towards his bod.
He lifts his face to the attack,
then calmly turns to show his back.

He writes his name and then the date,
then waits for missiles to abate.
Sucks in his breath and turns around
to silence. There is not a sound
as shooters wilt and drop their ammo,
reacting to our teacher’s whammo.

It’s like a screen lifts from his face,
his old self gone without a trace,
a second visage in its place.
His eyes are bulging out in space,
his forehead furled beneath his bangs,
his teeth protruding out like fangs,

like a vampire’s wont to do,
his face a sickly pallid hue.
His fingers curl into long claws,
occasioning a longer pause.
Hushed silence reigns. Lectures begin.
This teacher has great discipline!!!!

For The Sunday Whirl Wordle, the words are : control, worry, school, see, face, date, screen, shooter, attack, sucks and second. Image by Tra Nguyen on Unsplash.

Extra! Extra! Forget All About it!!! (Sunday Whirl Wordle 529)

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Extra! Extra! Forget All About it!!!

Once daily papers split the air, landing with a “plop”
on each house’s stairway, two steps from the top.
Truth was dispensed each morning for a price tag nearly free—
a neatly packaged bundle wherein we all could see
how the engine of the world moved forward bit by bit,
and the shiny torch of journalism helped us witness it.

But while we strove for justice and fairness and the truth,
other forces in the world were fighting nail and tooth,
trying to pollute the facts, and we all know why.
They were simply greedy for their share of the pie.
Did fair reporting save the day? Blind justice serve us all?
Or is it now too late to try to save us from our fall?

Rhetoric now flies freely at us through the air.
No more is it delivered daily to our stair.
Any mother’s son expounds with words twisted and ruthless,
all too often based on hate with logic cruel and truthless.
Words winging through the internet too easily meet our eyes
without the screen of logic to filter out the lies.

Reality is now for sale, scripted and rewritten,
that phony glamorous almost-world with which we all are smitten.
Our politicians, movie stars and buffoons playing roles
all have ulterior motives and short-sighted goals
wherein they build their egos, getting richer year by year,
and news of it just fades away into the atmosphere.

 

 

Prompt words for The Sunday Whirl Wordle 529 are free, papers, morning, price, wings, split, truth, shiny, engine, witness, why and strive. Top illustration by Melpo Tsiliaki, bottom illustration by Logan Weaver, both on Unsplash.

Family Legend: Wordle 527

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Family Legend

Frozen solid as a bone,
His icy breath drew sparks from stone.
The only man to walk alone
through that icy Arctic zone,
his legend spread from door to door,
window to window, shore to shore.

Few there were who did not know
how he enchanted friend and foe
with tales of how he wandered, clueless,
through the snow, coatless and shoeless.,
sparking fire with his breath
that saved him from a frigid death.

Scraping the moss beneath the snow
to build a fire, in its glow,
he brewed a soup of ptarmigan
devoured it, and when he was done,
 took the feathers of the fowl
to weave a cape with shirt and cowl

that protected him from wind and snow
for that short distance he had to go
until the wintry blast relented
and he reached that valley scented
with aromas of spring flowers,
waving grass and leafy bowers,

found the  spring with steaming spout
that warmed him up and thawed him out.
Relieved his feet that had gone shoeless
until they were warm and blueless.
Thus reads the legend of the man.
Try to believe it if you can.

This is the tale that I have heard,
fantastic and wholly absurd.
It’s up to you  to wonder why
any shoeless naked guy
could survive this ordeal without dying.
Could it be my Gramps was lying?

Today’s Wordle prompt words are: stone, few, sparks, icy, spread, breath, clue, legend, enchanted, feather and scented.

 

For the Sunday Whirl  Wordle #527

Word Witch: Sunday Whirl Wordle 526, Nov 7, 2021

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Word Witch

Secrets I have kept for years,
known only by my closest peers,
have been exposed again, it seems,
recovered from my deepest dreams.

I blink my eyes. Words come to light.
I tap my toes and they take flight,
perch on the page to paint a scene,
attract more words to go between.

Words meeting words, no more alone,
flesh to flesh and bone to bone,
in a sort of minuet,
mesh with words that they’ve just met.

They are the stuff of darkest night,
a glass that shatters in the light
filled with words that I drink in.
These words reveal where I have been,

and maybe where I’m going to—
word by word and clue by clue,
a sample of what I have hidden
that comes alive when it is bidden.

I quaff some more, this lust for word
and word and word grown most absurd.
A’s and M’s and L’s and Z’s
flow from my lips onto the keys.

Too soon I know that I will wake.
Exposed to light, the glass will break,
the words it holds evaporating,
ones that might have come abating.

Is it witchcraft or illusion?
My soul alone or in collusion?
We cannot know if words it gave us
are what damn us or what save us.

The prompt words are glass, blink, words, alone, paint, eyes, tap, secret, light, years, meeting and sample.

For the Sunday Whirl Wordle 526

 

Weekend Warriors: Wordle 524

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Weekend Warriors

As they mark off  the no man’s land with flags and chalk,
they warn their young brother he’d better not balk.
Then, battle lines drawn, my young monsters are off.
They huzzah and bellow and threaten and scoff.

As side one counts the time off,  twos drop to their knees
behind bushes and tables and boulders and trees.
Then, a hundred count reached, the enemy searches
the ditches and culverts and elm tees and birches.

Crows rise from the trees to caw and to hover,
betraying  those hidden and blowing their cover.
They rise then from where they’ve been crouching or sitting,
to begin their maneuvers of feinting and flitting.

Hiders still in hiding feel a hand on the nape
of their necks, that touch foiling their hope of escape.
Prisoners are taken and armies change places.
Hunted become hunters, continuing chases.

Over and over, this course is repeated.
Loser becomes winner but then is defeated.
Until one-by-one, they all are called home,
and the battleground’s empty below the night dome.

Star after star replaces the ranks
of small weekend soldiers and make-believe tanks.
They fall under covers, their moms tuck them in,
the dreams of their conquests now set to begin.

Prompt words today are battle, drop, sit, young, cover, monster, chase, table, count, times, zone and flags.

For the Sunday Whirl Wordle 524.
Image by Annie Spratt on Unsplash

The Astronauts are Called In From Vacation: Wordle 523

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The Astronauts are Called In From Vacation

The time’s drawing near for our next big space mission,
so there’s no more time for beaches or fishin’,
Be speedy in putting your sail boats away
and wrap them up tightly so they won’t decay
in the salty sea air while you are in space,
murdering miles at a furious pace.

There’s much to be found as you leave Earth behind.
for far beyond the usual grind,
no weapons are needed and there’s less debris.
No tickets or tollroads, for passage is free
except for the millions to set off our rockets,
but the rich can be sure it comes out of the pockets

of everyday men like the plumbers and teachers
and waitresses, cowboys, bus drivers and preachers.
And when you get home, your boats will be waiting.
There’ll be no delay and there’ll be no debating.
Whether fishing for stars or starfish or krill,
Joe Public will be there to pick up the bill.

 

Here are the Wordle prompts for Oct 17, 2021:  mission, murder, beaches, time, tight, boat, speedy, weapon, space, found, air, drawing. Image by Spacex on Unsplash.

For the Sunday Whirl Wordle Prompt

Bad Timing: Wordle 522

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Bad Timing

It’s not until I hear the thunder
that I recognize my blunder.
All alone. (I ditched my fella).
In the forest, no umbrella.

As I walk, my shoes are gooing.
Up above, the doves are cooing,
but they’re up there under covers
with their nestlings and their lovers.

I’m down here shivering in the rain
with seven miles of rough terrain
in front of me from here to home.
I need a fairy, elf or gnome

to come and work their magic spell
to save me from this drippy Hell.
The rain beats its loud tattoos
upon my head and neck and shoes.

I start to shiver, drip and ooze.
I covet shelter, dryness, booze—
all things that I had of late
before I deigned to ditch my date!

My  leather shoes, high-heeled and small,
are not helping things at all.
I take them off and walk bare-toed
down the rain-slicked country road.

I wish that I had asked how far
home was before I left the car!

Prompt words are doves, elves, walk, tattoo, covet, umbrella, seven, blunder, forest, thunder, leathery, small. Image by Merri on Unsplash.

For: The Sunday Whirl Wordle 522

Obituary of a Jerk: Wordle 521, Oct 3, 2021

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The Obituary of a Jerk

We are loath to depict his despicable face,
for when it came to living, he just used up space.
He first saw to his own comfort all of his life,
never thinking of kids or parents or wife.
No slur to his family was ever avenged.
He had little time as he gorged and he binged.

One never knew if he could or he couldn’t.
Maybe he would or maybe he wouldn’t
get places on time, even given a ticket—
advance plans “a bit of the old sticky wicket.”
A fact all his family found a bit lame,
for he wasn’t British—in lineage or name.

And no matter how crammed the sofa might get,
he’d never stand when he found he could sit.
He’d say “Pull up a chair,” and when you had done it,
he’d use it himself–just plop his buns on it!
And although you may think that’s as bad as it gets,
don’t make any wagers. Don’t take any bets.

I’ve got so many stories depicting his greed
that you’d have to stay here for hours to read
the tales of his excesses, selfishness, binging.
They’re unbelievable–really unhinging.
He frittered away his kids’ college savings
on fishing trips, camping and personal cravings.

Their summer earnings bought his new car,
then he spent all the rest for rounds at the bar.
So  when it comes to expressing our grief,
you’ll find all his eulogies startlingly brief.
He was born and he prospered, then sickened and perished
unmourned and ungrieved-for, unloved and uncherished.

 

For the Sunday Whirl Wordle 521 the prompt words were avenge, lame, sit, ticket, cram, here, gets, pulls, maybe, used, space, comfort