National Limerick Day–May 12

Observed annually on May 12, National Limerick Day celebrates the birthday of English artist, illustrator, author and poet Edward Lear (May 12, 1812 – Jan. 29, 1888). Lear is known mostly for his literary nonsense in poetry, prose and limericks.

There once was a girl from Nantucket
Who carried her lunch in a bucket
Her biscuit’s so hard, it bounced more than a yard
And so she decided to chuck it.

Example of Edward Lear’s Limericks.  He is probably best known for the Owl and the Pussycat

There was an Old Man with a beard,

Who said, “It is just as I feared!—

Two Owls and a Hen, four Larks and a Wren,

Have all built their nests in my beard.

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Heart of Stone: Flint

If you want to be left alone,

They may say you have a heart of stone

But if that stone is made of flint?

If you strike sparks, then that’s a hint.

When flint is met with a will of steel

Your heart can light up like a Catherine wheel.

Spontaneous combustion with just a spark

Enough to lighten up the dark.

Mission Accomplished

It’s been thirty days since I wrote the first

Some were better, most were worse

It’s not always easy to write in verse.

 

Some had rhymes, some had thought

Some of them were badly wrought

But a daily poem is what you got.

 

Day 30, Poem  30.  Goal reached.

What Do I want in 2020?

What do I want in 2020?

Take a seat, ’cause I want plenty.

More inclusiveness all around

Less bite when making sound.

More humility and less conceit,

A bit of truth would be quite sweet.

Even making more frenemies

Is better than making more enemies.

Kinder, gentler, more points of light

Instead of perceiving every slight,

Especially when it’s  unintended.

Retaliation can’t be rescinded.

Reservations at Easter Brunch

She kept stroking his left arm
While he grasped her right thigh.
No words were exchanged,
It was done on the sly.

They were getting quite hungry
But not for the food.
I guess all this foreplay
Was setting the mood.

Was she a lovely new bride,
He an eager young groom?
Instead of brunch reservations
Just reserve a room.

Lines of Twitter

With apologies to those who like Sounds of Silence.

 

Hello Donald, my old Friend
I’ve come to ask you once again
Because you’ve been busy tweeting
When you really might be sleeping
And the anger that is roiling through your brain
Still remains
Within the lines of Twitter.

In restless tweets, you fan the hate
Of the oppressed and desperate
Using only your cellphone light
You vent your rage into the long dark night.
When your ego’s soothed by the hit of a thousand likes
Like lightning strikes
For those lines of Twitter.

I turned on Fox news then I saw
A dozen pundits, maybe more
Pundits talking without speaking
Pundits hearing without listening
People writing facts that no one ever shares
No one dares
Disturb the lines of Twitter.

“Fools, “said I, “You do not know,”
Alt facts like a cancer grow.”
Hear my words that I might explain
You shake your heads and just complain
My pleas like silent raindrops fell
Into the well
To vanish in the lines of Twitter

And his followers clapped and cheered
To his cheap shots and his jeers
While the Dems say they might impeach
No agreement can be reached
And the words of the Mueller report
Are free to read on Nook
If you look
Beyond the lines of twitter.

The Ballad of Ginger and Trapper

Trapper was a golden retriever

Ginger was a German wiimeraner.

Ginger and Trapper met in Seattle.

Immediate best buds, seldom a battle

Trapper was a dog, Ginger a gyp

Most of the time, they seemed joined at the hip

Until the day Ginger went into heat

Trapper soon learned that it was best to retreat

He didn’t seem interested, no sex on his mind

He didn’t even try to sniff Ginger’s behind.

Two weeks later, the gyp thought he’s the one

Demonstrating on Trapper how to get the job done.

He was the dog her dreams, she wanted his pups.

Trapper didn’t know to what she was up.

At end of her heat, she no longer cared.

When he laid down his best moves, he found her teeth bared.

His owner was pleased when Trapper finally found out

What being a boy dog should be all about.

Although, Trapper and  Ginger never got bred,

“You’re all male, Trapper,” his owner happily said.

Relief filled his owner, put a smile on his face

To find Trapper did things at his own pace.

 

Hoppy National Beer Day-April 7, 2019

Toward the end of Prohibition,

Many people had ambition

To make a legal beer and sell it too.

Though, no stronger than 4.0

T’was better than nothing don’t you know.

So celebrate and have yourself a brew.

 

From the National Beer Day webpage:   On April 7, 1933, President Franklin Roosevelt took the first step toward ending Prohibition and signed a law that allowed people to brew and sell beer, in the United States, as long as it remained below 4.0% alcohol by volume (ABV).  Beer drinkers celebrated and were happy to be able to purchase beer again for the first time in thirteen years.

April 7, 2019, Poem 7

 

Poetry Month Goal

It’s poetry month so I’m setting a goal

One poem a day until I reach the pole.

They won’t all be good, hope some will be fun

But they all must be written to get the job done.

Keep me on task,  is what I ask for your role.

Poem 1, 1 April 2019

 

Reblog: Gaelic Words on Loan

Happy St. Patrick’s Day.  Scream like a banshee.  Celebrate but don’t become a hooligan or talk gobshite.  Put on your brogues and dance a jib.

Mental Floss shared “10 Gaelic loanwords to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day.” Also, The Book of Kells, a medieval masterpiece and one of Ireland’s greatest treasures, is now digitized and available online.