Tag Archives: your daily word

Pawn

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Pawn

Like a lamb led to the slaughter in this burgeoning situation,
I’ll load me up into my car and head out toward the station
of a drive-up clinic to allow a medic guy
to stick a Q-tip up my nose to see if I can fly.

Just another fun-filled day in a year of situations
that have not included gatherings or tropical vacations.
But now I find I’m breaking this year of solitary
to fly up to the states for shots, and am I worried? Very.

Nonetheless, my lot is cast, my sis purchased my ticket
and though I have a hunch it is the proverbial sticky wicket,
I’m flying off to Phoenix to spend a month or so,
even though a part of me says I shouldn’t go.

Yet another part of me says it will be fun
to see my sister once again. When all is said and done,
One choice or the other, they both have pros and cons,
and once again I feel that we’re fate’s complicit pawns.

 

Prompt words today are lamb, solitary, statue, burgeon and situation.

Cruel Words

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Cruel Words

True love may grow petulant and jagged at the edges,
so beware emotion’s vertigo while navigating ledges.
Too-blunt words and thoughtlessness certainly may wreak
a petulance forbidding us to turn the other cheek.

Cupid should inculcate us with presence of mind
to remember that above all else, a lover should be kind.
What love has joined together may be split by just one quip.
Lips that desire kissing should detect just when to zip!!!

Prompt words today are jagged, petulant, cheek, inculcate and join.

Ode to My Doctor, Who Has Done Little to Curry My Favor

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Ode to My Doctor, Who Has Done Little to Curry My Favor

Each of these foods you suggest for my diet
has not one feature to urge me to try it.
The chard is too leafy, the kale makes me gag.
I will be affianced to naught in this bag.

This fluffy green spinach would be best in a dip
with sour cream and onions and served on a chip.
I have not one vestige of an urge to consume it
raw in a salad, so do not assume it

will ever pass lips as selective as mine.
I need carbohydrates and meat when I dine.
Do you get the message that I’m on the outs
with arugula, collard greens, beet greens and sprouts?

My palate’s impavid when it comes to spice.
A molé is lovely and a curry is nice,
but please put some meat in it. I’m a contrarian
when you attempt to turn me vegetarian.

Prompt words for today are sprout, vestige, impavid, affiance and chip.

 

Infinite Variety

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Click on photos to enlarge.

Ladies on the Street in Chiapas.
I guess I’ll figure it out when I get older.

 

Infinite Variety

Some cling to what’s affordable, others to what is queer.
What one finds most deplorable, another might find dear.
No matter what opinion you may choose to hold,
one friend will think you’re crazy, another find you bold.

There’s an incredible range of palates in this human bunch.
What one regards as garbage, another eats for lunch.
What touches one by someone else may seem sentimentality.
And what another finds profound to others is banality.

From rap to opera to rock, we sing our various tunes,
from the crudest of rap lyrics to moons and croons and Junes.
Infinite variety might be the perfect label
for the various personalities humans bring to the table.

Prompt words are cling, affordable, queer, opinion and touch.

In His Dreams

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In His Dreams

I listen to his sad refrain.
Won’t I please throw the ball again?
The fright that I will not comply
is reflected in each eye.
They vilify and then they plead.
Throwing’s a must, not just a need.

As I accept the ball and throw,
long and hard and sure and low,
his retrieval skills are so efficient,
a dozen lofts are not sufficient.
He gives a snort, is here, then there
to catch the ball while in the air.

This small tangled ball of hair
curled up on the bottom stair—
I know he’s dreaming when I hear his yip,
see running legs, a sudden dip
of jaw that signals his success.
He’s caught the ball I threw, I guess.

His need to fetch so strong and deep,
I’m sure he does it in his sleep.
I wonder if I fully stand
within his dream, or is a hand
the only evidence at all
of one who throws the yearned-for ball?

 

Prompts for today are fright, vilify, snort, refrain and sleep.

Preaching to the Preacher

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Preaching to the Preacher

When your downside is upside and all’s in arrears,
there’s a secret I know that will dry up your tears.
It’s much easier, really, than you might suppose.
Just find a good spot and enact your repose.

A hammock will do if you can’t find a field
of wildflowers, grass or sand dunes that yield
to the shape of your body to comfort what ails you.
Take whatever place to lie down that avails you.

Then when your nestling-in is all done,
let the storm of your worries dissolve in the sun.
Swing in your hammock or roll in tall grass.
Let what happens happen. Just let it all pass.

Refuse to let problems consume and astound you.
Take heed of the beauty that is all around you.
Every moment of every day,
choose what holds on and what slips away.

Life deals you the hand and sometimes it’s unlucky,
but yet if you’re hopeful and cheerful and plucky,
You can determine what you do with your hand.
 The end of your story has not been preplanned.

You may draw, you may hold, you may just walk away
in search of a better end to this day.
Bad fortune is but a rough interlude
What remains with you is your attitude.

 

Irony is us. The minute I finished writing this poem, my doorbell rang. It was Raquet Club security with a letter that I have to tear down the small storeroom I built on the wall between my upper and lower lots because it violates the easement!  I can’t believe it that I’ve spent thousands of dollars to create a beautiful space in lieu of the neighborhood dumping ground and they nitpick over my attaching a tiny storage building to my own wall between two properties that I own! 

“Tranquila, tranquila,” Yolanda directed, as I raged––and then I suddenly remembered the words I’d just written and not even posted yet.  I was going to entitle this poem “Preaching from the Choir,” but I think I need to change the title to “Preaching to the Preacher.”  I’m going to post it and go lie in the hammock for awhile.

 

Prompts today are storm, upside, repose, comfort and tears.

2021

9 Replies

2021

This is a pretty kettle of fish,
a quagmire that we’re caught in.
You only need to take one sniff
to know that something’s rotten.

We thought we’d amble on through life
as lively as we pleased,
but then someone got a fever
and another someone sneezed.

Suddenly, we all slowed down,
imprisoned in our houses,
devoid of underwear
and wearing nightgowns for our blouses.

Watching TV all night long,
avoiding lowlife dives,
reduced to just our families,
we floundered in our lives.

That’s how we came to beg for it,
to scheme and plot and wheedle.
Who thought we’d be so grateful
for the nose swab and the needle?

Prompt words are kettle, quagmire, sniff, amble and lively.

Marital Disagreement

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Marital Disagreement

When anguish becomes volatile and without your prior detection,
things are lofted toward you–lamps thrown in your direction.
As frying pans and glasses come at you through the air,
take my advice, it would be best if you were still not there.
You’d better listen to my words, for I’ll not tell you twice.
With such items sailing toward you to “Duck!!!” is good advice.
It’s best to listen to our friends for help when times get tough.
You need not express gratitude. Your friendship is enough.

Prompt words today are duck, direction, anguish, volatile and gratitude.

Secondary Research

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Secondary Research

She found tales of chivalry wholly outlandish.
Her dates wore suspenders. No swords did they brandish.
She, in return, was no sexy lithe lynx,
her love-life devoid of any hijinks.

In short, she was prim and her suitors the same,
her romance as mainstream as romances came—
dates for the movies or dinner or trips
to the local tea room for crumpets and sips.

No passionate kisses. No secret elation.
Visual thrills were her sole titillation,
for secretly, she was addicted to porn.
She viewed it at midnight. Sometimes in the morn.

Although she’d never do the things that they did,
it was the single thing that she hid.
Everything else was there to be seen:
decent and wholesome and saintly and clean.

It was her belief that a life meant for viewing
should consist more of thinking of things than of doing,
and so she kept private her secret adventures,
safe from derision and gossip and censures.

As the town’s sole librarian, she was aware
that this was a side of her she’d never dare
to reveal to the world, and yet she pursued it,
knowing that no one else knew that she viewed it.

Like high adventure, such sexual fun
was best viewed from afar, but never done.
When it came to things sensual, sticky and hairy,
she preferred that her research remain secondary.

 

Prompts today are jinx, visual, prim, outlandish and mainstream. Image by Damla Azkan on Unsplash. Used with permission.

Note: While primary research involves active participation from the researcher themselves, secondary research involves the summary or synthesis of data and literature that has been organized and published by others.

A Speedy Release

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A Speedy Release

A fellow by the name of Kurtz
never sipped when he could Xertz.
No matter what the size or name
of liquid, it was just the same.
Milk or water, Coke or beer
took just seconds to disappear.

When asked to give an interview,
He said, “Please meet me in the loo,”
and when he rose, most resolutely,
the news reporter said, “Absolutely,”
hustling after as Kurtz sped
out of the barroom to the head,

whereupon he caused to pass
that liquid lately in his glass.
Thus did the newsman get his lead.
To simplify, he said, “Kurtz peed,
beating his record for fast sipping,
by three seconds, stream to dripping!

 

Prompt words today are interview, simplify, resolute, xertz (to gulp down quickly and greeditly) and size.