959 - Travellers

Sunday Scribblings 2 has the prompt ‘Traveller’.

Travellers

We are all travellers,

Whether we like it or not.

Souvenirs differ.

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© J Cosmo Newbery 2016

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958 - In Vino, Malum

Haiku horizons prompt: drink

When the world just sucks

All the juices out of you

It’s unwise to drink.

.

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© J Cosmo Newbery 2016

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957 - Keeping Time

She sleeps beside me.

The breathing is more steady

But the fear remains.

.

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© J Cosmo Newbery 2016

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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.

.

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© J Cosmo Newbery 2016

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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.

.

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© J Cosmo Newbery 2016

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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.

.

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© J Cosmo Newbery 2016

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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.

.

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© J Cosmo Newbery 2016

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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.

.

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© J Cosmo Newbery 2016

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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.

.

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© J Cosmo Newbery 2016

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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.

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© J Cosmo Newbery 2016

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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.

.

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© J Cosmo Newbery 2016

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