Poem 3–Today is Tweed Day

 

Why is it Tweed Day?

I’m still at a loss.

Was it a fabric

Or merely a boss?

The British wear  Tweed

Professors do too

With suede elbow patches

So their arms don’t poke through.

Poem 2–Someone Didn’t Get the Word

There is always that someone

It seems quite absurd

That just can not manage

To get the word

Why doe he linger

And act so slow

Didn’t  he realize

It’s past time to go.

So why did he linger so long and tarry

The last hanger-on,  the red holly berry?

 

 

Tomorrow is the Start of National Poetry Month

National Poetry Month was inaugurated by the Academy of American Poets in April 1996.

Things you can do to celebrate National Poetry Month (suggestions from the Academy of American Poets)

• List  your virtual poetry reading and events
• sign and display a National Poetry poster
• participating in Poem in Your Pocket Day on April 30, 2020 recommending the Dear Poet project to a young person,
• signing up to read a Poem-a-Day,

My recommendation (and one I will once again try to accomplish), write a poem a day.

Some will be better

Some will be worse

But no one will know

‘Til you write the danged verse

 

PAULINE

The brighter, lighter side of social distancing….

The rebel fish

Went for a short walk yesterday during the lockdown.
We’re allowed a walk.
Heard this shouting from a couple of streets over.
People are even more annoying than usual, I find…
Theres a six feet exclusion zone now.
Great. Now I have to let people get closer to me than ever.
It’s usually 15 or 20 feet.’Pauline’ he shouted. Again. Again.
Is it his dogs name? Who calls their dog Pauline?. 
Paulie?  Mollie?
Has he lost his young daughter?
The noise seemed to be getting further away, says my wife.
That’s because we’re walking, I said.
He didn’t stop.
We took a turn,up a hill. Suddenly out of an alley a young man sprang out.
Looked like he climbed out of a chimney 100 years ago.
‘PAULINE’
We stopped walking,feeling threatened, our exclusion zone was down to 20 feet..
He stopped and stared straight at us.
‘Have you seen a…

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Today is World Poetry Day–March 21

World Poetry Day was declared by UNESCO in 1999. Each year, UNESCO meets and focuses on some particular poet and his or her works. Often, the spotlight is cast on poetry written in a minority or even rare and endangered language. Poetry recitals and similar events may also be held in various countries in recognition of the day.

 

Have you read a poem that touched your heart

Or almost tore your soul apart?

Moved you to tears or made you think

Raised your courage or had it shrink?

Brightened you day or darkened your night

Leaving you shivering in abject fright.

If it made an impact, and you know it

Please remember to thank the poet.

It’s a great precursor for April which is Poetry Month.

Did you know that there was an  American Poetry Museum in Washington, DC?

• It’s at 716 Monroe St NE #25th, Washington, DC 20017
• Hours are Tuesday and Thursday, 5-8 PM and Saturday and Sunday, 10-4.

The American Poetry Museum (APM) is dedicated to celebrating poetry, promoting literacy, fostering meaningful dialogue, encouraging an appreciation for the diversity of the American experience, and educating local, national, and international audiences through the presentation, preservation and interpretation of American poetry.

Founded in 2004, APM is one of the first museums in the world dedicated to collecting, interpreting and presenting American poetry. We are committed to the continuation of poetry as a literary and performance art and the use of poetry as an active tool for education.

The Essence of Sunset

Sunset from the front balcony of Septenary Winery

Sunset distills the
Essence of things leaving us
Just color and shape

Unexpected Moonshine at Septenary Winery

The barrel room at Septenary Winery in Greenwood, Virginia.

We went to the winery for a 3-pack of wine
And found something else, a sky of moonshine.

The Old Gray Mare Ain’t What She Used to Be

Is she  no longer the old gray mare

Because she’s begun to color her hair?

Is she not  what she used to be

Because she’s decided she wants to be free?

Are the many long years’ signs of the past

That she decided to outgrow at last?

She’s kicked up her heels and decided to live

 To enjoy the pleasures that life has to give.

 

Action-Distraction-Inaction-Reaction

 

 

 

The attraction
Of distraction
Is the contraction
In the reaction
To getting things done.

The January Flirt

A flirt, a jade, a taunt
Here one day and vanished the next
Spring jerks Winter’s frosty beard
Only to swirl away on a zephyr
This January, more mercurial than usual
Only reaching the mean by
Averaging the extremes
Of temperature highs and lows

 

Pictures of unusual January flower sightings.

A Quadrille Glow

I originally saw this challenge on Parralax maintained by PVCann.

Lilian at dVerse has invited Paul to write a quadrille (44 words) using the word glow (or a form of that word).  Paul challenged us to use Glow in a Quadrille poem of our own.

This was my response to Paul’s challenge.

A candle’s glow
Streetlights through snow
Hitting our faces
As we wander slow
Smelling the scent
Of fir and pine
On windows, doors
And one street sign
Ringing bells
Sound in our ears
Accompanying the carolers
As they draw near
Christmas shortly to arrive
Hope’s glow will surive.

Library Carrels 2019-1 God Rest Ye Weary Librarians

God rest ye weary librarians

Let nothing you dismay

Remember that the Library

Is closed on Christmas Day

To save you all from whiny patrons

Whose books have gone astray

Oh tidings of sadness and woe

sadness and woe

Oh tidings of sadness and woe.

 

In the book drop, near the door

Somebody left a book

It’s not checked-out, it is not ours

Was it taken by a crook?

I cannot find its library

So I’ll take another look

Oh tidings of searching for the source

for the source

Oh tidings of searching for the source

Bedtime Felon

 

Bedtime felon flees

Monitoring device went

Bye, CPAP Machine.

Mother Goose Then and Now

Then:

Little Miss Muffet she sat on her tuffet,

Eating her curds eating and whey
Along came a spider who sat down beside her
And frightened Miss Muffet away

 

Now:

One day the the Pres, at home in his rez

Made a call to Turkey to say

For the price of a tower I’ll give you the power

To throw My Kurds away.

Repost of Devil Wind

Dedicated to the citizens of California, whether the victim of the weather, arson or PG&E

 

The devil wind slumbered in its rocky keep

Dreaming of Paradise lost.

Unseen disturbance

From somewhere at sea

Invaded its dreams.

Yawning and stretching like a great kat-

abatic wind it had yet to become,

The devil wind stirred briefly.

Cool ocean air streamed inward

Across deserts

Up western slopes

Jostling the devil wind awake.

It roared into life,

Leaping up from its Great Basin lair

To rage down mountains

Rampage through passes

Gaining strength and fury

Its power constricted

But not contained.

Nearer the coast,

Hellish powers unleashed

Furious winds

Mercilous heat

Bankrupt humidity

A spark became a flame became a malstrom.

Equal opportunity destroyer

Rich or poor

Urban or rural

Pets or wild animals

Accident or on purpose.

Nothing mattered

Santa Ana raged supreme until

the weather changed again.

I Write Her Weekly Haiku/Senryu Challenge #37

A splitting headache
Eyes no longer focusing
My skin feels like sand.

My lips, rough and cracked
World’s largest chapstick required
Apply as needed.

Now that was a kiss
Rocking my world off balance
Foundation is gone.

Today is Bad Poetry Day

I never knew this until day when I saw it on a blog.

I’m guessing that bad poetry may be as subjective as good poetry, but verse?

Teenage angst has produced some phenomenally bad poetry.  So has too much alcohol and drugs.

I sit here in a drunken daze

Seeing double through a wine fueled haze

Is this my bed in which I hurl

Or does it belong to some guy or girl?

Example of bad poetry (and I have had nothing to drink for several days.)

What are your most heinous examples of bad poetry?  Who is your least favorite poet?

I Write Her Weekly Haiku/Senryu Challenge #32

via I Write Her Weekly Haiku/Senryu Challenge #32

Wooden men, dummies

Well-dressed but saying nothing

Lessons to be learned.

 

Eloquently still

Ideal beau for a diva

Eye candy only

I Write Her Weekly Haiku/Senryu Challenge #30

via I Write Her Weekly Haiku/Senryu Challenge #30

These three Haku Senryu were in response to the challenged posted on this blog.  This picture is the blog challenge.

 

Confusing image

Trees or hair?  Unkempt, untamed

Lip service outlined

 

Bow shaped forest trees

Sending roots down deep into

Bottom lip below,

 

Dubious picture

Repugnantly lip-shaped. Not

Enticing to kiss

Reflections-Refractions

This picture was taking during a field trip to the Calvert Marine Museum in Solomon’s Island, Maryland in the 1990s.

Bits of imagery

Captured by a camera

Reflected

Refracted

Rearranged

As the window distorted

What was actually there.