Thursday, September 29, 2016

923 - The Caged


Poet’s United Midweek Motif : Caged


The Caged

Caged
And displayed—
Trophies
Of the strong
Over the weak,
Of those who seek
To demonstrate
Their power
To dominate
Their captives.

The caged,
Powerless,
Acquiesce.
At weekends
They take their children
To the zoo
But miss
The irony.
.
---
© J Cosmo Newbery 2016
---

Tuesday, September 27, 2016

922 - Some of a Beach


PTM’s prompt is ‘Sinking’.

Some of a Beach.

A survival skill few courses teach
Is escaping from quicksand’s deep reach.
By my way of thinking,
If you want to avoid sinking
You should stay away from the beach.
.
---
© J Cosmo Newbery 2016
---

921 - Impressions



dVerse Quadrille #17 - Shadows.


Impressions.

Shadows
Of a life lived.
And of a life
Wished to be lived.
Inner desires,
Inner dreams,
Warm 
And cold 
Memories 
Of what was
And of what may have been.
Thrown achingly,
Wistfully,
Hopefully,
Regretfully,
But distorted,
Into the world.
Behind—an inner light.
.
---
© J Cosmo Newbery 2016
---

Monday, September 26, 2016

920 - Baggage


Haiku Horizons prompt: Carry


Baggage

We all carry stuff—
Stuff that we should have long dropped,
But, strangely, we don't.
.
---
© J Cosmo Newbery 2016
---

Sunday, September 25, 2016

919 - Marking Time



Marking Time

It’s early.
The dull glow
Of square numbers,
Greenish,
Wash over the room.
It is primed and set.

Periodically
The deep chimes
Of the serious
Square, plain mantle clock.

The lighter,
More tuneful
Chimes
Of the overly ornate
French clock,
(Turned sideways,
because it wont run
facing forward.)
Follow.

Outside,
In the dim light,
A magpie
Runs though its chords.
Over and over.

I listen to the magpie,
I count the chimes,
But I obey the 
Alarm.
.
---
© J Cosmo Newbery 2016
---

918 - Trickle Down


Three Word Wednesday requires participants
to use the three words of the week in a composition.
The words this week are: infected, irritable and jarring.


Trickle Down

The world seems so irritable,
So fraught with social woes,
The paradise promised
Unevenly disposed.

The fear,
(Of those who hear)
Dismissed—
But it can’t continue
Without an equitable result, 
Attended to.

We bought 
The ‘trickle down’ effects:
The rich would care for us.

But they hoarded all the warm bread
And also kept the crusts.

And so,
As these things go,
Instead, infected disillusion
Brings a jarring of the parapets,
Come the revolution.
.
---
© J Cosmo Newbery 2016
---



Saturday, September 24, 2016

917 - Dislocation


Theme Thursday’s prompt is ‘Together’.


Dislocation

Together—
But apart.
The hearts reach out,
But do not touch.
Apart—
But together.
Life is shared
But not much
Is common.
Loneliness
Is subjective.
.
---
© J Cosmo Newbery 2016
---

Thursday, September 22, 2016

916 - Future Imperfect



Future Imperfect

Words.
Utilitarian mercenaries
Of deceit.

Actions
The loud exclamations
Of awareness.

The active and passive
Construction
Of a life sentence
Past and present.

Ah, but patterns—
Words upon words,
Actions upon actions,
With patterns
I can see
The future.
.
---
© J Cosmo Newbery 2016
---

915 - Fancy a truck?


Sunday Scribblings 2 has the prompt “quaking’.


Fancy a truck?

The was a young fellow called Ted
Who invited a sweet thing to his bed
But instead of love making
He fled the room quaking
As, undressed, she was a truckie named Fred.
.
---
© J Cosmo Newbery 2016
---

Wednesday, September 21, 2016

914 - Cross Over



Cross Over

There is a point,
An equinox
Of emotions,
Where the winter—
The dark, dark winter—
First feels the warmth
Of the coming spring.
Hope buds, swells
And bursts
In a life giving
Display of renewal.  
Again.
.
---
© J Cosmo Newbery 2016
---

913 - Re-Leased



Re-Leased.

It is odd
Sitting in your office,
Your former office,
Where you sat
Aloof—alone—
It seems so much lighter,
So much brighter,
Just a hint,
Just a faint waft
Of brimstone
Lingers.
.
---
© J Cosmo Newbery 2016
---

Monday, September 19, 2016

912 - Hold the pickle!


Haiku Horizons prompt: frog.
Dedicated to Shu.  And pickle.


Hold the pickle!

Dill pickles and cheese,
A classic sort of sandwich.
But not today, thanks.
.
---
© J Cosmo Newbery 2016
---

911 - Lightly Framed


Mad Kane has a regular limerick challenge.
She provides the rhyme word, the rest is up to us.
This week the word is ‘frame’.

Lightly Framed

The lads all thought it a game
To bully the kid with a light frame.
But when he worked out with weights
And got plenty of dates
They…

…nah, they were bullies just the same.
.
---
© J Cosmo Newbery 2016
---

Friday, September 16, 2016

910 - Comparative Smoothness


Theme Thursday has the prompt: smooth.


Comparative Smoothness

Smooth is an odd thing,
Subjectively interpreted;
No hard and fast rule.

Some say whisky’s smooth
Others praise a young baby’s bum—
Two total extremes.

But if I could choose
A good measure for smoothness,
A lady’s breast wins.

Breasts, bums or whiskey—
With just limited samples,
No chance to research.
.
---
© J Cosmo Newbery 2016
---

909 - An Unheated Life


Three Word Wednesday requires participants
to use the three words of the week in a composition.
The words this week are: grave, firm and heated.


An Unheated Life

Before the grave there’s not much time
To make sense of this pantomime,
This charade where we all must play
Roles, some given, often cliché,
Roles where we seek some sort of rhyme
Or reason, to explain wartime
When we deserve a life sublime
But must battle through every day
Before the grave.

The firm promise of a lifetime
Is absent, is just a ‘sometime’
Promise, given in an off-hand way
By authorities of the day
Who ask no more but overtime
Before the grave.
.
---
© J Cosmo Newbery 2016
---

908 - I am.


I am.

Today,
For the first time
In nearly five years
I was not invisible.

It felt good.
.
---
© J Cosmo Newbery 2016
---

907 - Steve


Steve

I don’t mind
Having things to do.
There is a certain
Pride
In meeting
Challenges set,
In a knowledge
Applied.

Normal
I seek formal
Respect.
The strong
Are well aware
It doesn’t hurt
To say
Thank you,
To show they really
Care.
.
---
© J Cosmo Newbery 2016
---

Thursday, September 15, 2016

906 - Appreciation


Poet’s United Mid-Week Motif : Appreciation


Appreciation
Knowing someone likes your work
Makes it all worthwhile.


Appreciation
Wine, cheese, chips and a good steak,
But mostly the wine.


Appreciation
Coveting your neighbour’s wife—
You can look, not touch.


Appreciation
A detached view of the world,
Loving what you see.


Appreciation
Loving the things that you have
Leads to contentment.
.
---
© J Cosmo Newbery 2016
---




Wednesday, September 14, 2016

905 - Eternal


Sunday Scribblings 2 has the prompt “Sludge”.


Eternal

My porridge is a stolid affair,
A sludge that rivals stoneware.
When the planet turns brown,
And the last star shuts down,
My porridge will still linger there.
.
---
© J Cosmo Newbery 2016
---

Tuesday, September 13, 2016

904 - Overexposed




D’Verse had a prompt requiring a 44 word piece with the prompt word ‘open’.
This was a limerick before it went horribly wrong chasing the 44 word rabbit.


Over Exposed

A lady lay back in a bath,
With the bubbles covering her stuff
While posing for a discrete photograph,
“Well, I’m open to the thought
Of the more raunchy sort
But you’ll have to pay me enough,
Enough,
You’ll have to pay me enough.”
.
---
© J Cosmo Newbery 2016
---

Monday, September 12, 2016

903 - Vein Artistry


Haiku Horizons prompt: Mend


Vein Artistry

Japanese craftsmen
Mend the broken cracks with gold.
Reward carelessness.
.
---
© J Cosmo Newbery 2016
---

Sunday, September 11, 2016

902 - An (In)complete Balls Up


Three Word Wednesday requires participants
to use the three words of the week in a composition.
The words this week are: cinch, dank and enable.


An (In)complete Balls Up

It should be a cinch,
But it’s not so with juggling.
Some skills aren’t easy.

Lost under the bed.
Rolls to a dark, dank place—
Juggling ball’s retreat.

Enable this skill?
No, best to accept that fact.
Self-acceptance helps.
.
---
© J Cosmo Newbery 2016
---

901 - Bends



Haiku Horizons had a prompt “Bend”


Bends

Gymnasts—so supple.
But with age comes a stiffness,
Things no longer bend.

While some things stiffen,
Other things become bendy.
It doesn’t seem fair.


The daily newscast:
Full of doom, gloom and nonsense.
Sends you ‘round the bend.
.
---
© J Cosmo Newbery 2016
---


900 - The Authenticity Trap


Sunday Whirl (Wordle #265) presents a list of words
that we must incorporate in a writing piece.  

The words this week are:

authenticity, talk, love, doubt, pain, tilt,
break, gossip, meet, wild, listen, lean


The Authenticity Trap

Authenticity.
Do we want it?  
Really?  
I mean really want it?
Consider when you meet someone 
In the passageway at work
And ask “How are you?”
Do you really want to know?
Do you want to listen to them talk 
For ages, 
Long, long mind numbing ages,
As they describe in infinite detail
Their love life,
Their doubts,
Their pains,
Mostly their pains,
But sometimes 
They just want 
To gossip
About, say, the depressingly 
Lean typist at reception.  
“It’s not natural. She must be sick, don’t you think?”
And there you are trapped in the dullness
Of this person’s authenticity.
Because that’s the bind with authenticity:
You have to accept that that is who that person is.
The real, dull, authentic them.  
And while your mind turns to porridge
And your wildly misfiring synapses scream ‘tilt-tilt-tilt’,
Like a pinball on speed,
And implore you to break away,
Social protocol says you shouldn’t.
But somehow you do.
Desperately, you remember something important.
It’s called self-preservation.
So, when you ask “How are you?”
And they reply “Not bad”.
Be grateful.
It’s not authentic
But it's good.
.
---
© J Cosmo Newbery 2016
---

Saturday, September 10, 2016

899 - Limerick Bunk


Mad Kane has a regular limerick challenge.
She provides the rhyme word, the rest is up to us.
This week the word is ‘bunk’.


There once was a guy with a skunk
In a box, at the end of his bunk.
The relationship was odd—
The skunk thought him a god
And worshipped at his feet, which stunk.
.
---
© J Cosmo Newbery 2016
---

Friday, September 09, 2016

898 - Going, going...


Mad Kane has a regular limerick challenge.
She provides the rhyme word, the rest is up to us.
This week the word is ‘bunk’.

Going, going…

A guy who considered himself quite a spunk
Had lured a young lass to his bunk.
But when he presented his staff
She just pointed and laughed,
And, like his ego, it deflated and shrunk.
.
---
© J Cosmo Newbery 2016
---

897 - Let Me Be Frank With You!



Let me be frank with you!
(To the tune of Edelweiss)

Weasel words, weasel words,
Used each day to deceive you.
Small white lies hide your trail
And make folk loath to believe you.
A surplus of words
Obscures what’s occurred
The truth has left the station.
Weasel words, weasel words,
Haunt your reputation.

(repeat)
.
---
© J Cosmo Newbery 2016
---


Thursday, September 08, 2016

896 - The Vows


Sunday Whirl (Wordle #264) presents a list of words
that we must incorporate in a writing piece.  

The words this week are a challenging lot:

lightness, bee, cuttlefish, flake, sparkle, shine,
mutable, veiled, precise, ignorant, tapestry, threat


The Vows

The table was set up so neatly,
The cakes on crystal stands,
The tableware all sparkled
And displayed the best of brands.
They sat together and sipped nice tea
Though neither one had hands.

The cuttlefish had set the table
And also made the cake
The bee admired its lightness
And the skill it took to bake,
She compared it most precisely
To a delicate snowflake.

“Little bee, I do love thee so,
May I take your hand, um leg?
I want you to be my wife,
Agree to this, I beg!
The little bee was so greatly taken
She blushed a deep deep red.

Life they say is mutable,
It changes day by day.
While the ignorant may laugh and point
In a threatening sort of way,
The little bee and her cuttlefish
Were married on a sleigh.

The minister was a reindeer,
With a nose of oddish red,
The little bee wore a tu-tu
And a veil upon her head.
The cuttlefish wore a waistcoat
But refused to leave his bed.

The sun shone upon the group
And upon those who were not there,
The happy couple swapped their vows
And read poems by Voltaire
While a beaver wove a tapestry
To catch the whole affair.
.
---
© J Cosmo Newbery 2016
---

Monday, September 05, 2016

895 - The Sunday Christian Two Step



Recently a ‘Christian’ proudly told me how they had ordered something on-line
but were accidentally sent two items.  Did they return one?  No.  

Another ‘Christian’ recently argued the case that,
in the recent emissions scandal in the US,
Volkswagen’s only crime was in being found out.
Gaming the system wasn’t wrong as long as everyone did it.
But I’m only an atheist, so what would I know?

I felt it deserved a dance so, please, take your partners in one hand,
your hymn book in the other and join me for


The Sunday Christian Two Step

Give your morals a virtuous glow
Toe heel toe,
Swing them around and then away they go
We only bring them out for show
We just want you to know
We’re the Sunday Christians.

Lying, of the business sort,
Toe heel toe,
Is an acceptable kind of sport,
Only an issue if you’re caught,
We just want you to know
We’re the Sunday Christians.

War's a good thing,
Toe heel toe,
Think of all the trade it will bring
And God’s on our side, so we sing,
We just want you to know
We’re the Sunday Christians.

Theft is really rather good,
Toe heel toe,
Don’t return the things you should,
They make good gifts in the neighbourhood,
We just want you to know
We’re the Sunday Christians.

Forget about the blessed meek,
Toe heel toe,
The church gives us the front we seek,
We take our suit out once a week,
We just want you to know
We’re the Sunday Christians.
.
---
© J Cosmo Newbery 2016
---

Sunday, September 04, 2016

894 - Fired Up


Mad Kane has a regular limerick challenge.
She provides the rhyme word, the rest is up to us.
This week the word is ‘sack’.


Fired up

There was a young harlot named Zack
Who worked 9 to 5 on her back.
“It’s a curious quirk 
Of my line of work
That I look forward to getting the sack”
.
---
© J Cosmo Newbery 2016
---

Friday, September 02, 2016

893 - Terror Australis


Three Word Wednesday requires participants
to use the three words of the week in a composition.
The words this week are: Tart, Underhand & Vindictive.


Terror Australis

Prologue

The poor, the weak, the dispossessed,
The unprepared to die.
“Please help us!” was the plea expressed,
“Sit and rot!” the tart reply.


My country, what has become of you?
Your compass has no bearing;
The light that once your beacon threw
Is now totally uncaring.

Underhand and so unfair,
A plan devoid of feeling;
We hurry on as if unaware
Of the life, and lives, we’re stealing.

Vindictive is too soft a word
To convey the depth of hurting
That on our watch has now occurred
But collectively we’re skirting.

We cannot say we did not know,
A lie we are now spreading.
How have we come to sink so low?
Where is it that we’re heading?
.
---
© J Cosmo Newbery 2016
---

892 - Harvest


Three Word Wednesday requires participants
to use the three words of the week in a composition.
The words this week are:winnow, abashed, and blind.


Harvest

Life is a harvest:
Keep the valuable crops,
Winnow out the chaff.


We can be so blind—
Blind to the manipulations,
Blind to what matters.


Don’t be abashed:
Stand in guard of your farmland,
Nobody else will.


You reap what you sow,
Folk treat you as you let them.
Plant your crops wisely.
.
---
© J Cosmo Newbery 2016
---