A place for poems and pics
MTB — Variations on the Rubaiyat – Frank is tending bar at the Pub today
—
Breaking Up
The moment that you touch my lips
I feel more inches on my hips
More pounds the scale will indicate
If I but make one little slip
I’ve licked you from my fingertips
And savored you as warming sips
I’m sorry darling chocolate
I’m leaving you for crisp kale chips
—
Just kidding! 🤗 I would never break up with chocolate.
The Lion’s Tooth
Fierce and brave you
Prowl through my yard
Your yellow mane a happy
Harbinger of Spring
Your young toothed leaves harvested
By the old folks next door
And cooked for lunch
A peasant meal now embraced
By health enthusiasts
Have you, dear dandelion,
Long reviled by men
Pushing lawn mowers,
Become the new Kale
Showing up at Farmer’s Markets
And grocery stores?
My Almost Masterpiece
How do I know just when to stop
When one more stroke would be too much
Or do I need to shade and crop?
I turn the bottom to the top
A little trick – it’s not a crutch
How do I know just when to stop?
Add cobalt blue to make it pop
Titanium white – a tiny touch
Or do I need to shade and crop?
Paint out the extra still life prop
Then add another pear or such
How do I know just when to stop?
Put down the brush now, let it drop
Release it from my desperate clutch
Or do I need to shade and crop?
Walk away, my canvas swap
Before I change it overmuch
How do I know just when to stop?
Or do I need to shade and crop?
Poetic Asides -Wednesday Poetry Prompt – Spring
—
The Snowman
She built a snowman
On the first day of Spring
Festooned it with a garland
Of frozen daffodils
A line of limp crocus
Buttons marched
Down its rounded belly
A wreath of apple buds
Circled its snowy head
–
We got about 8” of wet snow – schools were cancelled, the art museum closed – perfect conditions for snowman building.
Poetic Asides – Wednesday Poetry Prompts: 430
Write an Annoyance poem
–
All Hail the Queen
It annoys me –
Just a little –
That my gripes are
Never as gripey as yours
My woes, not as
Woeful
My worries can’t compare
My annoyances not
Annoying enough
You win
You are the queen of whining
You get to wear the crown
Which you, no doubt,
Will complain about
—
Also posted at Imaginary Garden with Real Toads – Tuesday Platform
I’m making this poem work really hard and posting on d’Verse OLN too. Poor little poem.
Poetic Asides – Wednesday Poetry Prompt
‘Another ___________’
—
Another Cloudy Day in Western PA
I have learned to love the clouds
Light gray, dark gray
Wispy, ominous
Sometimes a wooly
Blanket covering the sky
I love them when they line up,
Like children waiting for
Recess, pushing and shoving
One another
One day they might rush by in a hurry to
Get to the next town or else they’ll
Just hang around for a while
Waiting for the wind to
Push them along
To soak up secrets from
Another admirer in a far off land
There is beauty in their forms
And shapes, their subtle shading,
The way they blush pink in the
Evening because they’ve hidden the
Sun all day
I have learned to love the clouds
Look up as they pass
And wish them well
–
Imaginary Garden With Real Toads – Tuesday Platform
A Simple Valentine’s Day
I pull on my valentine socks
The gray striped ones with
Shiny hearts all over them
I made you a pop-up card
That says ‘I *heart* you
You bought me six chocolate roses
And a chai latte
No lavish dinner
No giant heart shaped box
No wine and candlelight
No serenade
We know that love is in
The small things
Looks exchanged
The gentle touch of a hand
An old song remembered
The everyday gestures
That we do not take for
Granted
Poetic Asides – Wednesday Poetry Prompts: 424
Write a ‘sick’ poem
–
Remember Me
I get a funny feeling deep
In my tummy – or is it
My heart – not quite sick
More forlorn, whenever I
Click the box ‘remember me’
On an online form
It’s kind of like the feeling I
Get whenever I think about
Fun we had and how we laughed
Until tears ran down
Our cheeks – then someone
Snorted and we laughed
Even harder and how
I wish there had been a box
For me to check
On your heart that said
‘remember me’
2017 November PAD Chapbook Challenge: Day 28
It’s two-for-Tuesday once again
Write a love/ anti-love poem
——
Pop Up Tree
i bought it at a church rummage sale
it came in a square white box
that was a little torn
a little worn
a five foot pop-up tree
with short artificial branches
and shiny artificial discs for
decorations – just a spiral of glittering garland
it is a yellowy kind of green
that any self respecting tree
would be ashamed of
but it sparkles in the morning
sun shining through the window
and creates abstract reflections
on the wall and ceiling
it makes me smile and
i love it
but my husband –
well, that would be anti-love
2017 November PAD Chapbook Challenge: Day 26
Write a ‘shine’ poem
—-
Oh, Christmas Tree
we trudge through snowy fields
searching for that “perfect” tree
not too tall
not too wide
not too perfect
we untangle
strings of twinkling lights
and find ourselves tied
up in k(nots) –
we’re not doing this again
fancy glass bulbs hang
beside homemade reindeer
jingle bells tinkle
from branches – sticky
with pine sap
we sigh and even curse
just a little
wondering why we
bother, year after year
then she comes
bounding down the stairs
eyes shining brightly
and we know
rhymeswithbug 