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.

.

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© J Cosmo Newbery 2016

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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.

.

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© J Cosmo Newbery 2016

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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.

.

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© J Cosmo Newbery 2016

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920 - Baggage

Haiku Horizons prompt: Carry

Baggage

We all carry stuff—

Stuff that we should have long dropped,

But, strangely, we don't.

.

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© J Cosmo Newbery 2016

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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.

.

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© J Cosmo Newbery 2016

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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.

.

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© J Cosmo Newbery 2016

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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.

.

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© J Cosmo Newbery 2016

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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.

.

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© J Cosmo Newbery 2016

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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.

.

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© J Cosmo Newbery 2016

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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.

.

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© J Cosmo Newbery 2016

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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.

.

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© J Cosmo Newbery 2016

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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.

.

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© J Cosmo Newbery 2016

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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.

.

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© J Cosmo Newbery 2016

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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.

.

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© J Cosmo Newbery 2016

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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.

.

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© J Cosmo Newbery 2016

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908 - I am.

I am.

Today,

For the first time

In nearly five years

I was not invisible.

It felt good.

.

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© J Cosmo Newbery 2016

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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.

.

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© J Cosmo Newbery 2016

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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.

.

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© J Cosmo Newbery 2016

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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.

.

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© J Cosmo Newbery 2016

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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.”

.

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© J Cosmo Newbery 2016

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903 - Vein Artistry

Haiku Horizons prompt: Mend

Vein Artistry

Japanese craftsmen

Mend the broken cracks with gold.

Reward carelessness.

.

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© J Cosmo Newbery 2016

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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.

.

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© J Cosmo Newbery 2016

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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.

.

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© J Cosmo Newbery 2016

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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.

.

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© J Cosmo Newbery 2016

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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.

.

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© J Cosmo Newbery 2016

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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.

.

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© J Cosmo Newbery 2016

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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)

.

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© J Cosmo Newbery 2016

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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.

.

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© J Cosmo Newbery 2016

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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.

.

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© J Cosmo Newbery 2016

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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”

.

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© J Cosmo Newbery 2016

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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?

.

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© J Cosmo Newbery 2016

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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.

.

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© J Cosmo Newbery 2016

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