Notes on a Serviette

Sunday, April 18, 2021

1572 - Sign in, Clock off.

The Sunday Whirl has a set of words, for a Wordle;

sign, lame, chime, tethered shine, game, erotic, card, tame, soft, found.

Sign in, Clock off.

Pick a card! Go on, any card!
Did you win? Of course not.
The game is fixed.
What starts as a sweaty coupling,
Erotic or cold, functional,
Has its own rules, I’ve found.
Nothing you can anticipate,
Nothing tethered to logic.
It’s a racket. It’s a con.
It’s barely here before it’s gone.
The fates roll the dice, it’s loaded,
Spin the wheel, it’s rigged,
Shuffle the deck and stack it.
Nothing matches, nothing rhymes.
Sitting, lordly, the Gods, watching, amused.
Visiting their whim upon the fit and lame,
The wild and tame,
The timid and game.
Soft option, or hard, it’s all the same.
Daily, the rise, the shine and set.
People live and die, eat and work, beget.
Time marches, relentlessly forward,
Until it strikes the hour. Your hour.
Can you hear the chimes?
.
---
 © 2021 J Cosmo Newbery
---

Sunday, February 07, 2021

1571 - Through a Glass, Darkly.

Sunday Wordle prompt:
Fiery, color, hand, catwalk, casualty, glass
rhythm, flow, blow, three, unity, furnace.

Through a glass, darkly.

The response is immediate:
The clenched hands,
The face’s fiery colour too,
The temple’s rhythmic flow
That beats out the base tattoo
Of raw intent.

A red veil descends,
The unity of reason and passion ends
In a furnace of anger and pride.
Intent to return pain for pain,
Hurt for hurt (if the past is any guide).

They strut, as on a catwalk,
Openly displaying their mission,
Unwilling to concede or even talk.
Base emotions drive them to strike a blow,
A three-pronged spear of retribution:
Revenge, vengeance, hurt, willing slaves.

In these heated moments
Reason is the first casualty.
Consequences, the second.

Best dig two graves.
.
---
 © 2021 J Cosmo Newbery
---

Wednesday, February 03, 2021

1570 - A Sailor from Spain

Mad Kane's limerick prompt: main.

A Sailor from Spain

Pedro was a sailor from Spain
And, while quite discrete on the main,
An indecent passion
For bondage and lashin'
Got him keelhauled again and again.
.
---
 © 2021 J Cosmo Newbery
---

Sunday, January 31, 2021

1569 - Or Not

Or not.

Life is a series of turns
where we choose a direction
Often unconscious of the eddies
and turmoil that follow.
Chaos theory. Butterflies.
The slightly delayed trip that resulted in a chance meeting.
Or not.
The battle valiantly fought.
Or not.
The offense taken.
Or not.
Where would the alternative path have gone?
Or not.
Sitting on the fence.
Or not.
We make a choice and can never know
What we miss.
Or not.
Ignorance is bliss.
Or not.
.
---
 © 2021 J Cosmo Newbery
---

Tuesday, January 26, 2021

1568 - Terra Nullius

A wordle, using

world, play, plan, divided, untethered, clothes, hurt, travellers, fresh, future, speak, text.

Terra Nullius

Can the world, will the world, survive untethered greed?
How will constant growth play out
If we don’t heed the warnings plainly given?
How much can we hurt the planet and still be forgiven?
How do you plan a survival package if the people are divided
Into rival tribes on just about everything?

Freshly scented politicians in their smart new clothes
Tell us it will be just fine, that our future is rosy.
But here is the subtext:
Re-elect us, we don’t care,
We won’t be there.

What if time travellers were really possible?
But no-one has come back to speak to us
Because there is no-one there in the future to return?
.
---
 © 2021 J Cosmo Newbery
---

Monday, January 25, 2021

1567 - Of Distant Lands

My first Wordle for a long time; the words provided are
Vicious, justice, cheers, settle, sway, shelf, chain, tell, call, web, send, month.

Of Distant Lands.

She is a fluid,
A liquid expression of power and grace
Contained in a vessel, not with chains
But with walls, and ditches and shelves.
There are cheers when she moves
Pacing the enclosure, watching and yet not really there.
Unformed, phantom images fill her mind:
Grasslands on a sweeping Savannah.
Gazelles.
The hot west wind.
The cooling wells.
The images send a shiver and yet she knows not what they are.
Or why.
She stands, looking at the jeering faces, puzzled.
They too watch and wait,
Posting never to be viewed photos to the web,
Hoping for a snarl or a growl.
The sign, after all, says ‘vicious’
And so they express their wishes, a primal need for fear,
And yet her heart aches for a primal justice, unclear and undelivered.
She watches, swaying. They watch, praying. God knows why.
By and by she settles in the shade and the crowd murmurs its disappointment.
Some call out to get her to move about.
Months pass. She paces, lies, dreams of places she can’t quite understand,
Cannot tell why or what are these troubling images
Of distant lands.
.
---
 © 2021 J Cosmo Newbery
---

Saturday, December 26, 2020

1566 The Red and the Yellow

The Red & the Yellow

They are more than just supporters,
They cheer the circus on;
Cowards or just stupid? They crow
The madness of King Don.
He tweets—
They leap up from their seats.
They know
The carnage he can bring
To the democratic quarters
But, yellow, they just stand and sing.
.
---
 © 2012 J Cosmo Newbery
---

Saturday, October 31, 2020

1565 - Lack of proficiency

Tossed a job to do.
Not given any support—
An awkward meeting.
.
---
 © 2012 J Cosmo Newbery
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1564 - Not my job

Push back on Spanky.
Why should I write the letter?
Not doing her job.
.
---
 © 2012 J Cosmo Newbery
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1563 - Follow the Crowds

Against the odds
I won the football tipping.
With the odds, perhaps.
.
---
 © 2012 J Cosmo Newbery
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1562 - Size does matter?

The Tigers and Cats—
Two football adversaries.
The Tigers prevailed.
.
---
 © 2012 J Cosmo Newbery
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Friday, October 23, 2020

1561 - A little rain must fall

It's going to rain.
You can smell it in the air.
No tea leaves needed.
.
---
 © 2012 J Cosmo Newbery
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1560 - Bring out the bread and cheese

My Granny's pickle.
Making the house smell lovely.
A simple pleasure.
.
---
 © 2012 J Cosmo Newbery
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1559 - A visit from the Wongs

Mr Wong and son.
Or Mrs Wong and daughter.
Cannot really tell.
.
---
 © 2012 J Cosmo Newbery
---

1558 - Football Gand Final

A longer weekend.
Happy with the extra day—
Not going to watch.
.
---
 © 2012 J Cosmo Newbery
---

1557 - Little Miss Precious

Petulant princess.
Doesn't acknowledge a gift—
Passive aggressive.
.
---
 © 2012 J Cosmo Newbery
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Wednesday, October 14, 2020

1556 - Bonus!

1555 - Knit one, Purl one, Drop one.

1554 - Solar Keratosis

1553 - Unskilled Labour

Leading the ladder—
Winning the footy tipping!
Just three games to go...
.
--- 

Sunday, October 11, 2020

1552 - Comensal

Repost - The Blackbird of Remorse

You've heard of The Bluebird of Happiness.

You've heard of the Pigeon of Discontent.
You've heard of the White Dove of Peace.

A Rondeau

With the recent visits by Mr Wong

a repost seemed fitting:

The Blackbird of Remorse

With steely eyes, it watches you
Despair mistakes and endlessly rue
The choices made, now viewed aghast;
Right at the time but time has passed.
The bird is harsh and oft untrue
In the scorn it piles on you
For things you cannot now undo.
It cares not and attaches fast,
With steely eyes.

What’s done is done, the options few
To retrace our steps and start anew.
You can but endure the questions asked
By the watching, critical cast:
These birds don’t leave, they just accrue.
With steely eyes.

---  

Sunday, September 20, 2020

1538 - The Three Egg Omelette

I wrote a villanelle on this here.