1597 - Will Stars Still Twinkle

 

The Sunday Whirl posted a list of words to use.  

I got stuck on just one: Twinkle.

Will stars still twinkle?

Will stars still twinkle when you’re gone?

Will sunsets entrance me once again?

Will birds add a chorus to the dawn?

Will any pleasures still remain?

I lie and listen to the nearby breathing

Knowing what is soon in store.

The beast is not of a mind for leaving

It too once slept but now no more.

So as I lie there, sadly resigned

To the future as it currently seems,

Stray thoughts wander through my mind

And rob me of my sleep.  And dreams.

Will stars still twinkle when you’re gone?

Will I enjoy listening to the rain?

Will I lie in the sun upon the lawn?

Will any pleasures still remain?

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1596 - Post Your Own Bail

 

Post Your Own Bail

You had a troubled childhood?

Your parents weren’t supportive?

You only had dogs for company?  

Well, at least you had company.

You had a troubled childhood? 

Your brother and sister still treat you as the little sister?

Their partners annoy you?  Some extremely? 

That’s life.  Suck it up, darling.

You had a troubled childhood?

You feel that you cannot trust people.

You feel unsupported and isolated

But are spiky and cold—your choice.

You had a troubled childhood?

You feel that this is a ‘get out of jail free’ card?

A licence to be passive aggressive?

To be openly hurtful?  You are wrong.

You had a troubled childhood?

Is that a reason to not grow up?

1595 - Two Handles

 

Two Handles

There are two handles.

We can choose which one we grasp.

One rough and one smooth.

◊

Some people choose rough.

They are itching for a fight:

Fractious and feisty.

◊

The wise will choose smooth.

Life's a battle already,

Why make it harder?

.

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© 2023  J Cosmo Newbery

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1594 - Together

 

A log-fire burning.

Two people are sitting there.

Reading, side by side.

.

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© 2023  J Cosmo Newbery

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1593 - Trim Thoughts

 

The Sunday Whirl presents the following words for us to use:

pain stay trapped brave cry shine crafty stray drain run settle trim

Trim Thoughts

I

In a world of pain

You bring kindness—

A priceless gift.

II

We are all trapped.

Most stay.

Some stray.

The truly brave run.

III

The sun shines.

The sky, clear and blue.

The air is crisp.

I want to cry.

IV

Crafty hobbies

Distract the mind,

Drain the cares.

Settle.

Relax.

.

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© 2023  J Cosmo Newbery

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1592 - Through a Glass Darkly

 

The Sunday Whirl presents the following words for us to use: (I didn't use them all)

 

mingled dim damp shallow spell gaze drifts shattered call twitch words split

 

Through a glass darkly

Emotions tumble through my mind,

Mingled love and fear and hope

What does the future hold?

And will I really cope?

“Write it down”, I’m told:

“Dump your shattered heart

Onto the private pages 

Of a journal, if you’re smart.”

But in the dim light of the morning

I struggle with the words;

Whichever way in which I gaze,

The view is bleak and blurred.

That the beast is in abeyance,

Gives relief but not elation.

It’s been halted for the moment:

Suspended animation.

When will it spring back to life?

When will my wife be dead?

The pointed sword of Damocles

Suspended by a thread.

And so I write as best I can

Of the now and present past

Embracing love where I can;

Only memories will last.

The reality is quite brutal,

To end then then begin.

A solitary life awaits me.

Damp tissues in the bin.

.

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© 2023  J Cosmo Newbery

    ---   

1591 - Drink

Mad Kane poses a regular limerick challenge.

The key word this week is ‘drink’.

The neighbours all love to assess

How proper your grief and distress

But forget what they think

And have a good drink,

They're not there for you to impress.

---

I'm fond of a red, I confess,

Favouring more rather than less.

And I do love the chink 

Of a celebratory drink

Knowing nothing exceeds like excess.

.

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© 2023  J Cosmo Newbery

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Please note: This is a writing exercise: the neighbours are really lovely.

1590 - The Playlist

 

 The Sunday Whirl presents the following words for us to use:

ascending morning head dreams between hand road storytellers poem potion feather three

The Playlist

A common theme displayed,

Poems of love and longing;

Laments of unrequited dreams,

Prayers for warm belonging.

The storytellers bare their hearts,

Asking for compassion;

Can we head down that road

In a truly honest fashion?

Emotions ascend to dizzy heights

To rescue from the rubble,

These singers of the sad laments:

But morning bursts the bubble.

The recipient of this playlist

Few can understand

The dark, foreboding shadow

Of its cold malignant hand.

We are, as they say, caught between,

With no answers so to speak.

We close our eyes and bow our heads

And tears run down our cheek.

.

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© 2023  J Cosmo Newbery

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1589 - The Flight of the Cuckoo

 The Sunday Whirl presents the following words for us to use:

hope feathers flight sight guise desire chime beyond spinning open springs drive

The Flight of the Cuckoo

The chimes punctuate the passage,

Of time and life and flock.

Only death knows what lies beyond

And each day tends the clock.

We think we are important,

That we’re all made of steel,

But the world will keep on spinning 

With no-one at the wheel.

The question is an open one, 

That humans will survive?

Are we cuckoos in the earthly nest,

Consuming to deprive?

So what drives us on?  Desire, I guess,

Just some immortal twist:

To know we made a difference,

To know we will be missed.

Ego in the guise of caring

Will reluctantly admit:

It no-one’s there to miss us,

What is the point of it?

The chimes punctuate the passage,

Of time and life and flock.

Only death knows what lies beyond

And each day tends the clock.

.

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© 2023  J Cosmo Newbery

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1588 - Finding Roses

 

The Sunday Whirl presents the following words for us to use:

mist creek belt shadows forest summer still rising crow filters time sentinel*

Finding Roses

“I am a forest, and a night of dark trees: 
but he who is not afraid of my darkness, 
will find banks full of roses under my cypresses.”  
-– Nietzche

The forest is quite still and dark,

Or so at first it seems.

But wait. And hear the rustling trees,

And burbling mountain steams.

Cypresses watch upon the woods,

Sentinels in the midst.

While shadows from what light there is

Play games upon the mist.

There is a clearing in this forest,

Where cypresses ease their grip;

You’ll discover banks of roses there,

That well reward the trip.

.

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© 2023  J Cosmo Newbery

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*I confess that I didn't use them all.

1587 - Running out

 

Running Out

They said that it would—

The system is shutting down.

No miracles here.

 .

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© 2023  J Cosmo Newbery

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1586 - That much

 

That much.

Does your mother drink?
Just half a glass when I do.
Oh.  Really?  That much.
 .
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© 2023  J Cosmo Newbery
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1585 - Relative appointment

 

Relative appointment

Doctor's waiting rooms.

Time is different there.

Einstein understood.

 .

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© 2023  J Cosmo Newbery

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1584 - Demons

 

Those recurring thoughts,

The demons of the darkness,

Rob me of my sleep.

 .

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© 2023  J Cosmo Newbery

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1583 - Check the Feet

 

Check the Feet

How am I doing?

There are no easy answers—

I really don't know.

 .

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© 2023  J Cosmo Newbery

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1581 - A young fellow called Shawn

 

Poets & Storytellers United invite us to create poetry or

prose inspired by the words Reclaim, Rekindle, Rebirth.

There once was a young fellow called Shawn,

Who claimed to be Jesus, reborn.

When decried as a fake

He strode to the lake

Stepped in, gave a scream and was gorn.

 .

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© 2023  J Cosmo Newbery

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1580 - Didn't skip a beat

 

Before & After

The normal treatment,

Chemo and radiation—

Didn't skip a beat.

 .

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© 2023  J Cosmo Newbery

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1579 - Cheese

 

Mad Kane had a limerick challenge using the word 'blue'.

Cheeses

They can be soft, hard or quite blue.

They can be smelly or oozing white goo.

They are often a winner

And the end of the dinner,

And cheese can be like that, too.

 .

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© 2023  J Cosmo Newbery

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1578 - The Matter is Serious

 

The Sunday Whirl presents the following words for us to use:

boat preserve speak resist oil fire drive fly shoot matter close right

The Matter is Serious.

Why are people afraid to speak up?

The right believe they are indeed right,

A god-given, there’s a quote somewhere in the bible, right

(No, not the one about the meek.  Another one.)

Something about oil. About the right to money too.

And something about shooting.  Guns, yes, guns, it says you can shoot people.

Ok, the quotes may be a bit obscure and need a careful interpretation

But I am assured that they are there.  

I’ll check with the church’s Chief Financial Officer, he’ll know, I’m sure.

It might not be exact but I pretty sure it is close to the meaning.

I mean it sounds right.  Don't read it myself.

And so they go on these entitled few,

Resisting the obvious, proud of their electric cars

Powered by coal-fired electricity.

I can’t see it ending well.

It’s said that we are all in the same boat.

No, we are all in the same storm.

Vastly different boats.

The ending will not be pretty.

Oh, to be a fly on the wall..

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© 2023  J Cosmo Newbery
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