Tag Archives: Word of the Day Challenge

Karaoke Detour

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Karaoke Detour

When our Karaoke Adventure Tour took off to fly to Glasgow
we had not an inkling it would be such a fiasco.
It started with complaints when we tried to rehearse
and before we even managed to reach the second verse,
an angry man behind me began to scream and curse,
causing his long-suffering wife to  hit him with her purse!

The distress of other passengers ignited accusations
that they sought placation for with further free libations.
But an uncanny silence brought the fracas to an end
as four hours early, we started to descend.
The stewardess ran forward to grab a parachute
with a dozen passengers following in pursuit.

The singers ceased their singing and the angry man his cussing.
Passengers still in their seats so busy with their fussing
to fasten tight their seatbelts that their drinks were overturned for
they’d forgotten all those further drinks that they had yearned for.
Then the pilot’s voice came booming through the awful din,
to finally advise us of what trouble we were in.

So many violent storms between California and Taipan
that he was going to have to land our carrier in Japan!
Then terror turned to anger as folks began complaining
with little indication  of when protests might be waning,
while I and my companions started up another chorus,
sure that this disaster had been planned completely for us.

What better place than Tokyo for karaoke fun?
(A better place than Glasgow for our singing to be done!)
With no machines to guide us, nonetheless we lifted voices,
song requests from passengers reflected in our choices.
I guess the man behind me must have settled down to nap,
for his wife joined in our chorus with her purse safe in her lap!

 

Prompt words are karaoke, canny, accusation, complaint, pursuit and fiasco.

A Valediction Forbidding Morning

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Disclaimer: John Donne wrote “A Valediction Forbidding Mourning.”  This is not that poem!!!

A Valediction Forbidding Morning

When the moon is at its peak
It is the nighttime’s time to speak
words worthy of our full attention
yet this is a mere audition.
Another speaker’s  coming soon
who has hopes to debate the moon.

The sun will soon commence to snivel
that moon’s sentiments are drivel.
Thus day and night both ebb and flow
informing us by what they show
of light and dark and sun and moon,
all of their phases gone too soon.

Each noonday sun flashing its warning,
every moon forbidding morning
while warning the ladybug
to check her babies are all snug,
for as the sun climbs ever higher,
it might set her house on fire.

 

Prompts for the day are valediction, drivel, audition, worthy, peak and ladybug.

The Professor Joins E Harmony

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The Professor Joins E Harmony

On his first round of internet daming,
sure he was intent on shaming,

his blind date stirred up such a fuss
when he called her pulchritudinous,

that it proved a barrier to fun
as she announced their date was done!

His mistake was simply ’cause he
didn’t know her brain was fuzzy

and unaccustomed to such words
that more literary birds

might realize were a compliment
in fact, a word meant to augment

the chance that he might marry her
instead became a barrier

of misunderstanding that
made her think he’d called her fat!!!!

The lesson learned from this brief story
is that blind dating can be gory.

What a guy has got to do
before he makes a swipe anew

is to ascertain his date’s I.Q.
before he chooses words to woo!

Prompt words for today are rambunctious, augment, fuzzy, pulchritudinous, shaming and barrier. Illusration from the Nutty Professor Site. No attribution.

Influencer

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Influencer

By what are you influenced? What triggers you?
Do you stand at attention for the red, white and blue?
Are you of the first nation or Apache or Sioux?

Do you bask in the limelight, awash in your fame.
Hoping that everyone’s seeing your name?,
aware of the problems, but you’re not to blame!

Or are you sedulous, loving and caring,
more concerned with your heart than what you are wearing?
Wanting justice for all, intent on the sharing 

of all the riches of the land of your birth,
looking for solutions for the ills of the Earth,
considering everyone of equal worth?

 

Prompt words for the day are influencer, bask, first nation, sedulous, wash and triggers. Image by Laura Chouette.

 

Romantically Retired

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Romantically Retired

I think I’ve formerly related
that I’m neither wooed nor dated.
Zero heroes, zero traces
of besotted hearts or faces.

Gamblers better put their money
on the fact I’ll have no honey.
Chances more likely for a win
on the roulette wheel’s random spin.

Fortune tellers’ only visions
are of partings and divisions.
No new meetings, no reunion
that might prompt a future union.

So I guess I’ll go on missing
bouts of geriatric kissing.
And instead of passions new,
fond memories will have to do.

Prompt words today are spin, related, traces, vision, money and zero.

Lifelessons

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Lifelessons

My perception see-saws between wonderment and worry,
all our lovely world devoted to such hurry
that in the furious ruckus, much is overlooked,
as if every second has been overbooked.

Take time to watch the sunrise and to hear the finch’s song.
Pick these things like flowers and carry them along.
Everything’s a lesson. All of nature is a book,
so between your rushing-offs, be sure to have a look.

(Be sure to click on the blue links in the poem to see the rest of the story.)

Prompt words today are wonderment, ruckus, see-saw, perception, lesson and sing.

Teen Wisdom

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Teen Wisdom

The children are all burgeoning into adolescence,
though like shaken sodas, they emerge with effervescence.

Not thinking of the consequences, behavior audacious,
argumentative and therefore maddeningly pugnacious.

Parents’ beliefs are fallacies. Teens think that only they
have the means and knowledge to clearly know the way

to surge into the future, the internet their guide—
believing all its stated truths are bonafide.

They don’t listen to their parents because, for sure, they’re wrong.
They’d rather get their wisdom from TikTok or a song.

For this generation, electronic media rules,
dispensing equal wisdom from sages and from fools.

Is it truth or fiction? Is it wack or cool?
How can they know the difference? Clearly, hormones rule.

 

Prompts today are consequences, fallacy, pugnacious, burgeon, mean and soda.

(The non-teen who wrote this poem was so wack that she misspelled TikTok as TikToc. Some teenager just clued her in.) And to be fair, there are probably just as many adults misguided by the internet as there are teens who are.

Fractal Life

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Fractal Life

Life has turned into a fractal with continual repeats.
She never changes what she wears or watches, does or eats.
Life for her is poignant in its regularity.
She has a time to go to bed, to exercise and pee.

Now that she has forged a life, she finds it easier
to repeat the patterns. Change makes her queasier.
Instead of heaps of whipped cream, she simply has small dollops.
Life is so much easier protected from its wallops.

She sticks to even pavement on her daily walk.
When it comes to beaches, she is known to simply balk.
No pebbles touch her insteps. No sand between her toes.
Her shoes and socks stay on her feet everywhere she goes.

Her established patterns determine where she’ll be.
She simply does not countenance irregularity.
So if you’ve never met her, I fear you won’t be missed
unless you are already included on her list!!!!

Prompt words are fractal, poignant, forge, wallop, pavement. Image by Cathryn Lavery on Unsplash

Sangria Mania

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Sangria Mania

My walks to the refrigerator are, I fear, redundant
in search of liquid succulent and winey and abundant,
for I cannot quell my thirst for what is in the pitcher
I keep upon the bottom shelf—sangria all the richer

for strawberries and orange juice, wine and Seven-Up.
I drink it by the crystal glass and sip it by the cup.
I fear that for eight months or so, this liquid’s been a stable
addition to my fridge, not to mention on my table.

Now I’ve addicted all my friends, for few have ever balked
at helping me to quaff this liquid that I can’t keep stocked.
I find that now I have to buy the wine on which it’s based
not only by the bottle, but now I buy it cased!!!

It goes so well with Cheetos that I buy them by the bag,
and I must admit that we’re also on a jag
of scarfing down these cheesy bits so succulent and crunchy,
for as we quench our thirsts we feel the need for something munchy

 

My recipe for Sangria:

Put a handful of whole frozen strawberries in the bottom of a glass pitcher.

Cover with tequila and put overnight in the fridge.

The next morning, fill pitcher 1/3 with Kirkland Sangria, 1/3 with orange juice (I use Jumex) and 1/3 with 7-Up. Stir and return to fridge.

Serve  over cracked ice in clear glasses with a stir-stick stabbed into one or more of the strawberries retrieved from the pitcher.

If you are in Mexico, serve with Cheetos Torciditos. In the States or elsewhere where they are not available, choose the crispy Cheetos.  Share with friends.   Ahhhhhhhhh.

 

 

 

Prompt words today are stable, succulent, quell, walk and redundant.

 

Saving Skins

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Saving Skins

Inherent in the human race are needs to swathe the body
in skins of other creatures more furry or more gaudy—
leather pants to cover up their lower naked form,
with a furry  jacket to keep the top half warm.

The entrance to a muskrat’s den is always underwater,
which furnishes protection for his mate and son and daughter.
Adopting such safe measures is prevalent in those
whose shiny coats are popular in making human clothes.

 

Prompt words are muskrat, prevalent, shiny, inherent, adoption and style. Image by Joshua Cotten on Unsplash.