Friday, December 30, 2016

965 - Thinking Makes It So


Haiku Horizon’s prompt: Joy

Thinking makes it so.

One man’s meat, they say,
Is another man’s poison.
Joy is subjective.

We are as happy
As we determine to be.
It’s an easy choice.
.
---
© J Cosmo Newbery 2016
---

Saturday, December 24, 2016

964 - Dear Santa



Dear Santa,

I know you’ve come through so oft’ before
But the time has come to ask for more.
So, let me be firm and let me be clear
World peace tops my list this year.
And the climate seems to be a mess,
Perhaps you could teach us to use less.
Remove animals out of cosmetics
And take religion out of politics.
And why not knock off the odd disease
And remove the pirates from the seas.
And stop folk cutting down our trees
And improve the quality of what's on our TVs.
And rid the streets of hoons and louts
And ban the sale of Brussels Sprouts.
But if all this is just a wish too far
I’ll happily settle for a good Pinot Noir.
Now reader, visit the comments section
To nominate your gift selection.

.
---
© J Cosmo Newbery 2016
---

Monday, December 12, 2016

963 - A Rushed Life


Haiku horizons prompt: rush

A rushed life.

Small. Feathered. Anxious.
Quiet.  Still. Sensing danger.
Hides in the rushes.


If it’s important—
Surely they will wait for you.
So what is the rush?
.
---
© J Cosmo Newbery 2016
---

Friday, December 09, 2016

962 - Stuffed and can't be stuffed.






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

tempting, specific and snuff.


Stuffed.  
And can't be stuffed.

That flame,
That light,
Is quickly snuffed,
For no specific reason.
Just lots of things 
Conspire to quell
The heart
This festive season.

I see.

But why just me?

You?  Well—

It’s tempting to try 
To make you see
But in the end 
I can’t be stuffed;
The fight is just too big for me.
.
---
© J Cosmo Newbery 2016
---

Monday, December 05, 2016

961 - Safe and Secure


Haiku Horizons has the prompt “Safe”.


Safe and Secure.

We worry too much—
Safety is an illusion
That’s quickly shattered.


There is no such thing
As a life lived in safety:
The gods laugh at you.


And what price safety?
You can be well protected
But are you alive?
.
---
© J Cosmo Newbery 2016
---

Sunday, December 04, 2016

960 - Don't Make Me Cross!


Mad Kane poses a regular limerick challenge.
The key word this week is ‘ice’.

Don't Make Me Cross!

A fellow with nerves of pure ice,
Was asked by his wife for advice.
His reply was that
“Of course it looks fat”;
His death, while quick, was not nice.
.
---
© J Cosmo Newbery 2016
---

Sunday, November 27, 2016

959 - Travellers


Sunday Scribblings 2 has the prompt ‘Traveller’.


Travellers

We are all travellers,
Whether we like it or not.
Souvenirs differ.
.
---
© J Cosmo Newbery 2016
---

Wednesday, November 23, 2016

958 - In Vino, Malum


Haiku horizons prompt: drink

When the world just sucks
All the juices out of you
It’s unwise to drink.
.
---
© J Cosmo Newbery 2016
---



Thursday, November 17, 2016

957 - Keeping Time


She sleeps beside me.
The breathing is more steady
But the fear remains.
.
---
© J Cosmo Newbery 2016
---

Monday, November 14, 2016

956 - Creating a row.


Haiku Horizons prompt “row”.
An ambiguous sort of word.


Creating a row.

Corn grows in a row;
A house sits on the prairie.
It’s outwardly calm.


It is not easy—
Being sick, lonely, dying…
A hard row to hoe.


The desire to scream.
A primal sort of response—
To row with the gods.


“Don’t create a row,
It will alarm the neighbours!”
Tears fall quietly.
.
---
© J Cosmo Newbery 2016
---

Friday, November 11, 2016

955 - Breaking the Cycle


Armistice Day, 2016.


Breaking the Cycle

Lest we forget, 
Our minds blinded
To what those on the front line did
By the comforting haze of time
War is not pretty, 
Not some bedtime
Soothing story 
Of how the high-minded troops fought, 
Struggled and grinded out 
A path to victory 
(as we defined it)
They fought and died in the grime:
Lest we forget.

Remember what those at Lone Pine did
And other battles that come to mind.  
Did we understand this very human crime?
We must reject war for peacetime
And be constantly reminded—
Lest we forget.
.
---
© J Cosmo Newbery 2016
---

954 - Sophie's Vote


Sunday Scribblings 2 prompt: Blues

Sophie’s Vote.

A voter who suffered the ‘blues’,
Anguished over who he should choose.
After much wringing of hands 
He now understands
That whatever he decides, he’ll lose.
.
---
© J Cosmo Newbery 2016
---

Thursday, November 10, 2016

953 - Not Just Denmark.


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

halting, far-fetched, and gamy.


Not Just Denmark.

Is the Armageddon ahead?
A bit far-fetched, perhaps,
But is there a way of halting
The successive mishaps
That seem,
As if a dream,
Salting
A wound we can’t ignore:
The gamy smell of something dead
Pervades the corrider.
.
---
© J Cosmo Newbery 2016
---

Tuesday, November 08, 2016

952 - Hobson's Choice


Haiku Horizons prompt “choose”


Hobson’s Choice

The horse near the wall—
The choice Hobson would offer.
Take it or leave it.


You select some things.
You are lumbered with others.
You choose your response.
.
---
© J Cosmo Newbery 2016
---

Saturday, November 05, 2016

951 - Scoring in the Park


Sunday Scribblings 2 prompt: compose


Scoring in the Park

A fellow who liked to compose,
In a park, while wearing no clothes,
Found what he wrote
Was of little note
But the audiences turned out in droves.
.
---
© J Cosmo Newbery 2016
---

Friday, November 04, 2016

950 - Exit, stage right.


Mad Kane poses a regular limerick challenge.
The key word this week is ‘call’.

As an actor, his skills would fall
Somewhere below Neanderthal.
But the agent was kind
And said “If you don’t mind,
In the off-chance I need you, I’ll call.
.
---
© J Cosmo Newbery 2016
---

Thursday, November 03, 2016

Repost - The Dream



Poets United Midweek Motif - The Day of the Dead
This is a repost of something I wrote a long time ago.


A Dream
In memory of Joan Heys.

I dreamt about a distant place,
All white, yet strangely warm;
Where all was elegance and grace:
There was presence but no form.

Into this quiet and peaceful scene
A man stepped into view;
He was both strong and cut quite clean.
A woman stood there, too.

He looked at her, and with a smile,
Remembered when they’d wed;
“I’m glad you’ve come. It’s been a while.”
“A friend sent me” she said.

Happy with the eons spanned
They embraced and gently kissed;
Then they turned, and hand in hand,
Slipped off into the mist.
.
---
© J Cosmo Newbery 2016
---

Monday, October 31, 2016

949 - Trick


Haiku Horizon prompt:  Trick

It is trick or treat;
Something that’s been lost with time.
But dare I say ‘trick’?
.
---
© J Cosmo Newbery 2016
---

Sunday, October 30, 2016

948 - Divide and Conquer


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

vapid, adjoining and bouncy.


Divide and Conquer.

The world comes to us through TV:
Talking heads give vapid chatter
And cover up the things that matter
With bouncy echoes of page three.

We accept what others want to give;
Fed warm pap, served with distain.
Discounted as they know we will remain—
Expected to exist but not to live.

I hurts to accept the bleeding truth:
We have permitted idiots to rule us.
So they, in turn, feel free to fool us:
Did we not choose them in the booth?

As, on all horizons, disaster looms,
We watch TV in adjoining rooms.
.
---
© J Cosmo Newbery 2016
---

Wednesday, October 26, 2016

947 - Fence Sitting


Poet’s United Mid-Week Motif: Neutrality/Objectivity.


Fence Sitting

For those on the fence:
Objectivity is claimed
But is not displayed.

No-one is neutral—
Saying nothing speaks volumes:
Tacit approval.
.
---
© J Cosmo Newbery 2016
---

Monday, October 24, 2016

946 - Hell


Haiku Horizons has the prompt: shift.

Opinions can shift,
It’s not an unheard of thing—
But Hell will freeze first.
.
---
© J Cosmo Newbery 2016
---

Saturday, October 22, 2016

945 - Birthing Day



Birthing Day

It is your birthday.
But there were others present;
Remember them too.
.
---
© J Cosmo Newbery 2016
---

944 - P is for Perverse.



P is for Perverse

Is it civilized
To use phosphorus weapons
On civilians?


Victim turns bully,
Abandons moral high ground.
How soon they forget.
.
---
© J Cosmo Newbery 2016
---

Friday, October 21, 2016

943 - Talking Point


Poet’s United Mid-Week Motif: Conversation.


Talking Point

“Conversation, like certain portions of the anatomy, 
always runs more smoothly when lubricated.” 
― Marquis de Sade

While the Marquis raised a wry snicker,
Conversation increases with liquor.
And as the Romans opine
There’s truth in that wine
So you get to the climax much quicker.
.
---
© J Cosmo Newbery 2016
---

942 - The Gamble


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

symbolic, tendency, unhinged


The Gamble

The Oval office
Symbolic of the Power
Invested in One.


The tendency, wrong,
Is to assume sanity
Is also present.


We hope for the best.
But what if they are unhinged?
What do we do then?
.
---
© J Cosmo Newbery 2016
---

941 - Gone Cuckoo


Sunday Scribblings 2 prompt: forbidding


Gone Cuckoo

Convicted porridge thief, Miss Goldilocks,
Wore flannel nightgowns and thick socks.
Her forbidding stare
Could curl your hair
And scare the cuckoos out of their clocks.
.
---
© J Cosmo Newbery 2016
---

Tuesday, October 18, 2016

940 - Mentor



Mentor

You worked on me,
Taught me things
That now seem so obvious.
Taught me that starting 
Was the only way to finish,
That a good book
Contains all you need to know
If you are willing to learn from it.
Showed me how to create,
To paint, 
To cook,
To pause,
And to look around at the world
And marvel.

At night, 
In the fading
I can see you:
Uniformed, 
Overalled, 
Frocked and smocked,
Wielding equally a hammer or a paint brush,
A rolling pin or a pen.
These were your tools of trade.
I can see your kitchen,
Your easels
And your workshed.
I can hear your music
And your words,
I can smell the linseed oil 
And the lavender.
You are now me
And I thank you for it.
.
---
© J Cosmo Newbery 2016
---

Monday, October 17, 2016

939 - Shape


Haiku Horizons has the prompt: shape.

It is a cruel truth,
Unexplored by science-
Bathroom mirrors lie.
.
---
© J Cosmo Newbery 2016
---

Sunday, October 16, 2016

938 - Cab


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


A politician with the gift of the gab,
Too rich to have ever travelled by cab,
Got tired of his tower—
So had a shot at real power
And anything else he could grab.
.
---
© J Cosmo Newbery 2016
---

937 - No Tulips.


Sunday Whirl (Wordle #270) presents a list of words
that we must incorporate in a writing piece.  

The words this week are:

spin, limit, flash, state, park, line,
flip, insulate, mimic, fade, rim, kick


No Tulips.

Have I parked in the right place?
Can I mention the war?
Did that player deserve the free kick?
I mean, will mentioning it cause me grief?
Will you turn on me?
And what if I state my preference
For the coming elections?
Will it flip the switch from docile
To hostile?
To a spitting monster of ridicule,
You with your flashing eyes and cutting words?
Can I live with my timidity?
Can I live without it?
Religion, of course, has even tighter limits,
Everything is spun  and recited
In a domestic mimic of a street
Purveyor of fine apocalypses.
Doomed.  We are all doomed.  Repent.
Lines, well rehearsed, are fired back
With the fine precision born of repetition.
Memories of past encounters,
Past eruptions of disapproval
Do. Not. Fade. 
Reborn with each remembrance
They resist attempts to insulate,
To forget.
But survival can depend on remembering
Where the rim of the precipice is,
Or the path around the minefield.
Tiptoeing helps
But is no guarantee.
It is curious that the phrase
Is ‘walking on eggshells’—
If the eggs are already broken,
Does it matter any more? 
.
---
© J Cosmo Newbery 2016
---


Friday, October 14, 2016

936 - Moonlight


Sunday Scribblings has the prompt "Overnight".

“Come up for coffee” was the invite,
Then the suggestion she stay overnight—
But the the moonlight revealed,
The fangs, once concealed,
And she quickly disappeared, in fright!
.
---
© J Cosmo Newbery 2016
---

Thursday, October 13, 2016

935 - Rich People Die


Three Word Wednesday requires participants
to use the three words of the week in a composition.
The words this week are: 
radiance, rasp and rhythm.

Poet’s United has the prompt ‘Wealth’.


Rich People Die

Rich people die.
Wealth is no buffer,
As they lie there—
The linen may be crisper,
That’s all.

At the closing of the day,
As the radiance of what was
Slowly slips away,
It is worth remembering
That whatever wealth you possess
Buys little of value.

Life has a rhythm,
An ebb and flow
That we sense
But never fully know.
Only as the last
Throaty rasp
Exits weakly
Do we finally
Understand.
.
---
© J Cosmo Newbery 2016
---

Tuesday, October 11, 2016

934 - The Melbourne Cup


Sunday Scribblings 2 : Cups.

Once: The Melbourne Cup,
Then Emirates hopped on board
Now: A logo-ed mug.
.
---
© J Cosmo Newbery 2016
---

Monday, October 10, 2016

933 - The Mask



Haiku Horizons has the prompt: mask.


The Mask

We all wear a mask.
Few see who we really are—
It is protection


We all wear a mask.
We wear many masks, in fact.
Playing many roles.


We all wear a mask.
Clowns have known the truth for years.
Survival tactic.
.
---
© J Cosmo Newbery 2016
---

Sunday, October 09, 2016

932 - The Game


Sunday Whirl (Wordle #269) presents a list of words
that we must incorporate in a writing piece.  

The words this week are:

view, needles, breeze, sky, mist, spill,
bridge, still, trail, trip, trim, fill


The Game

It is a game.
Played with needles.
Played with a view 
To getting a response,
To rattle a cage,
To bypass reason
Into the uncontrolled
Realms of red mist,
Panic and confusion.
Hunting season.

It is a game.
And you play it well.
Correction—
You play it often. 
Have for years, probably,
But familiarity lessens
Its effects.
But still, you play.
Maybe it is all you know—
Follow the past trails
Of successful sorties,
Successful campaigns.
Following the rules,
Your rules,
Trimming them
As needs must.

It is a game.
It has expectations.
Actions that beget 
Reactions,
Beget emotions,
Get emotions
To rise and spill,
To take control,
To make me trip,
To fill my mind
With nothing—
But the game.

It is a game.
But it is your game,
Not mine.
I can choose not to play.

Outside, as the bridge 
Between our worlds
Decays,
The sky is clear,
The breeze is cool,
And the sun is shining.
I can smell freesias.
.
---
© J Cosmo Newbery 2016
---

Friday, October 07, 2016

931 - Normality


Three Word Wednesday requires participants
to use the three words of the week in a composition.
The words this week are: 
notable, oddball, and perky.


Normality

It is notable
But quite unremarkable—
Oddballs are outcast.


Why are folk so glum?
If they meet someone perky
They suspect the worst.


He’s odd, they whisper.
He’s not normal, like we are.
Drugs.  I bet he’s on drugs.


You can’t be happy.
They feel the need to pull you down
Then they feel better.


I’m not an oddball.
If everyone was like me
I would be normal.
.
---
© J Cosmo Newbery 2016
---

Thursday, October 06, 2016

930 - Show Class


Poet’s United Midweek Motif : Teaching.


Show Class.

Small eyes.
Friendly eyes.
Curious eyes.
Jealous eyes.
Government eyes.
Electronic eyes.
Neighbours.
Friends.
Colleagues.
Strangers.
All making 
Mental notes
As they watch you.
Every moment
Of your life
Someone
Somewhere
Is watching you.
And what you do,
What you say,
How you live your life
Is teaching them
A little bit more
About you.
.
---
© J Cosmo Newbery 2016
---

Wednesday, October 05, 2016

929 - Dining in a Swamp


A neighbour has not learnt to
eat with his mouth closed.


While the meal was unwrapped with much pomp,
He annoyed when he started to chomp—
As his lunch headed south,
He left open his mouth,
And it sounded like gumboots crossing a swamp.
.
---
© J Cosmo Newbery 2016
---

Tuesday, October 04, 2016

928 - A Fine Grind



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


A Fine Grind.

Coffee is a wicked and sensuous find,
It feeds all of your fantasies, combined.
In coffee, you'll discover
Your perfect dark lover:
And a good coffee rewards a fine grind.
.
---
© J Cosmo Newbery 2016
---

Monday, October 03, 2016

927 - Ideas


Haiku Horizons has the prompt: Birth

Ideas are born—
But, if they’re not acted on,
They just stay ideas.
.
---
© J Cosmo Newbery 2016
---

Sunday, October 02, 2016

926 - A kindly, light-hearted melodrama.


Three Word Wednesday requires participants
to use the three words of the week in a composition.
The words this week are: 
kindly, light-hearted, and melodramatic.



All the world’s a stage:
Play an interesting role—
Melodramatic!


Light hearted banter.
Don’t take it seriously.
Or perhaps you should…

As Freud would tell you
Those things that are said in jest
Reveal inner thoughts.


What does it hurt you
To say a few kindly words?
Base civility.
.
---
© J Cosmo Newbery 2016
---



925 - The Ant-y Hero


Theme Thursday has the prompt “Ants”.


The Ant-y Hero

Once upon a time
In a little ant-y nest
Was a little ant-y fellow—
A little ant-y pest.

This little ant-y rebel
Pushed back against the law
Of working through the summer
To fill the winter store.

But as so oft the case
He met a kindred soul—
The one that everybody needs:
The half that makes the whole.

While the passion inside his heart
Warmed his whole inside,
The passion in his belly
Flickered out and died.

Plans were then proposed
To become a family ant
Our little rebel hero
Had now become obedient. 

And that my gentle reader
Is how this story ends:
A simple little wedding,
With a million closest friends.

They danced away the evening,
They toasted with a smirk,
They put away the dishes
And all went back to work.
.
---
© J Cosmo Newbery 2016
---

Saturday, October 01, 2016

924 - A Clean Limerick



A lady, demure and well bred,
Had a bath before going to bed.
“I know that I oughta
Be more frugal with water
But the bubbles just went to my head”.
.
---
© J Cosmo Newbery 2016
---

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
---