CCCLXXXIV - Tiramisu

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A lot of things came together for this post.

1. A friend made a delicious Tiramisu and suggested the recipe sounded erotic.

2. A 'Baby Shower' for my daughter-in-law turned thoughts to Dr Seuss.

3. Theme Thursday had a food prompt.

So two Tiramisu offerings:

Dr TiramiSeuss

A wonderful beast

is the Tiramisu

Not to be found 

in the average zoo.

It has sponge fingers 

But nobody knows

If this magical beast

has any toes.

◊◊◊

Tiramisu, for Two

Organic ingredients

Softly, oh so 

Lightly whipped

Smooth and creamy,

Fingers then, 

Sweetly dipped

Continue then, 

Layer upon layer

Until complete.

Lay, to rest, 

To refresh

Lightly dusted, 

Bitter-sweet.

.

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© 2012   J Cosmo Newbery

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CCCLXXXIII - What Comes By Chance

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Three Word Wednesday asks us to write a piece using three nominated words. 
This week they are 'entice', 'chance' and 'savour'.
I chose to do a rondeau.  Again.

What comes by chance

What comes by chance should not displace
But add to what is first in place.
Our life cannot be ‘either-or’,
Nor should we be keeping score,
But enticing the new onto our shore
To savour and to soft encase
And, with an absence of disgrace,
Be willing to oft explore
What comes by chance.

There is an element of grace
In taking the new into our space,
In being willing to ignore
The risks of opening up some more
And with a joyous heart embrace
What comes by chance.

.

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© 2012   J Cosmo Newbery

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CCCLXXXII - A Whining Fellow

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Mad Kane has a regular limerick challenge.

She provides the first line, the rest is up to us.

A Whining Fellow

A fellow who tended to whine
Went into a terminal decline.
His wife seemed distraught
‘Til she was taken to court
For the arsenic she put in his wine.

A fellow who tended to whine
Would daily worship the divine.
But his god couldn’t brook
The whinging little sook
And consigned him to Hell, the swine.

.

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© 2012   J Cosmo Newbery

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CCCLXXXI - The Open Gate

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I don't normally do composite prompts but this one fell into place.

Imaginary Garden with Real Toads had the prompt: 'Fences'.

dVerse had the prompt: 'The Unexpected'.

The Open Gate

There is comfort in a fence
That keeps the world at bay;
Your inner realm is well corralled
In a safe, unchanging way.

We all create our fences
Both the mental and the physical,
To protect our mind and matter
From intruders and the quizzical.

But are we just like those dogs
Who yap in territorial defense –
Only to stop dead in their tracks
When there’s an opening in the fence?

What would you do if you found
An opening in your wall?
What if what was out there
Was not so bad at all?

.
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© 2012   J Cosmo Newbery
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CCCLXXX - Absolute Acceptance

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Two thirds of  a Three Word Wednesday. 

I found this photo when searching for an illustration for the previous poem,

submitted for this weeks Three Word Wednesday challenge. 

I was taken by the photo and attempted a second entry. 

The words I had to work with were 'nestle', 'fall' and 'absolute'

but when I had finished the work, a pantoum, there was nowhere

for 'absolute' to go but in the title.

Absolute Acceptance

When the hot ash begins to fall,
Spread like a blanket upon the town,
Into loving arms they crawl
And so embraced, they calmly drown.

Spread like a blanket upon the town
It smothers couples nestled below
And so embraced, they calmly drown,
Accepting what the fates bestow.

It smothers couples nestled below,
Hoping that they will come through,
Accepting what the fates bestow.
There’s little else that they can do.

Hoping that they will come through,
Into loving arms they crawl.
There’s little else that they can do
When the hot ash begins to fall.

.
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© 2012   J Cosmo Newbery
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CCCLXXIX - The Nestling

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Three Word Wednesday asks us to write a piece using three nominated words.  

This week they are 'absolute', 'fall' and 'nestle'.
I chose to do a rondeau.

The Nestling
Dedicated to a most lovely lady.

I do so love to nestle in,
To feel the touch of skin on skin.
Few pleasures are so absolute,
So in touch with my primal root,
So full of love, devoid of sin,
So touching of the needs within,
As melding with my matching twin.
It is a base need, felt acute,
I do so love.

To fall in to their arms’ akin
To both submit and then begin.
It is a delight, sweet and cute,
The entwined result of a pursuit,
Embracing the love found therein,
I do so love.

.
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© 2012   J Cosmo Newbery
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CCCLXXVIII - Cosmology

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Mad Kane has a regular limerick challenge.

She provides the first line,

The rest is up to us.

Cosmology

A fellow was trying his hand
At a science that few understand.
While the pain of the thinking
Caused cerebral shrinking
The Universe continued to expand.

.
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© 2012   J Cosmo Newbery
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CCCLXXVII - Seconds

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dVerse has a prompt about 'first times'.

I took a slightly obtuse slant to it:

The Second Time

I’m told you remember your first time,
Though some memories are easier to store,
But the test of the first time experience
Is whether you returned for more.

Many experiences are spontaneous,
Where opportunity seductively beckoned.
Everything can be engaged for a first time
But it’s the nice ones that are given a second.
.
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© 2012   J Cosmo Newbery
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CCCLXXVI - Dissenting Views

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Dissenting Views

Would you, could you, kill someone
Because they like peas and you don’t?
Should a vegetarian be put to death
As they eat tofu and yet you wont?

Should other football teams’ supporters
Be dispatched from these earthly shores?
And would your opinion change
If their taste in music was the same as yours?

Should someone of a sceptical stance
Be sent to the gallows and the noose
For not believing in fairy tales
And poking fun at Mother Goose?

For those of you, with a religious twist,
Who kill because you’ve received the ‘news’:
Is your God, or Allah, or Ra, or Zeus
Too small to accept dissenting views?
.
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© 2012   J Cosmo Newbery
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CCCLXXV - Odd Bird Out

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 A Villanelle.

Odd Bird Out

You are different, with all that that implies:
You fly independently from the rest
And you always manage to surprise.

You command your own space in the skies
And, as those who care for you can attest,
You are different, with all that that implies.

We all have some facets that we disguise
But there are sides to you few would have guessed
And you always manage to surprise.

To underestimate you would be unwise:
You have a toughness, with which few are blessed,
You are different, with all that that implies.

Beneath a composed exterior lies
A passionate heart that beats with zest
And you always manage to surprise.

Who you really are, I can but surmise
But the truth of it is simply expressed:
You are different, with all that that implies,
And you always manage to surprise.
.
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© 2012   J Cosmo Newbery
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CCCLXXIV - Life's Hinges

. .

Three Word Wednesday has the prompt that required us to use

'hinge', 'lethal, and 'need' in a work.

Here is one:

Life's Hinges.

Like one of those flip-flop, click-clack, toys
That you used to get on show days,

Life is hinged at multiple points and it cunningly
Will offer alternate choices, alternate ways

To proceed through life.  These  choices
Can vary from the mundane to the truly

Lethal, from the insignificant to the cusp
of disaster and even beyond; do not unduly

Worry about the consequences that flow
From these decisions, they are built on a need

That you may only vaguely be aware of

 And you may be enslaved or you may be freed. 

Your only role is to cope with where they lead.

.

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© 2012   J Cosmo Newbery

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CCCLXXIII - Angst

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Acrostic Only has the prompt to write a limerick where

the lines start with the letters of the word ANGST.

A fellow who feared being spurned,
Not meeting expectations that burned,
Got comfort when the lady
Said ‘Let’s cuddle somewhere shady’
Then relieved him, when they adjourned.

.

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© 2012   J Cosmo Newbery

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CCCLXXII - Planning a Spread

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The first line comes from Mad Kane's limerick challenge.

A fellow was planning a spread
To be eaten off a lady in bed.
Then, after the cuisine,
He’d lick the plate clean
And did a fine job, it is said.

.

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© 2012   J Cosmo Newbery

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CCCLXXI - The Blackbird of Remorse

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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 

 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.

.

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© 2012   J Cosmo Newbery

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CCCLXX - A Menage Afar

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The prompt given related to a "virtual menage a trois".

I opted for a rondeau.  It seemed appropriate.

A Menage Afar

If both were here then we would be

Entwined as one, comprised of three.

But distance plays a spoiling part

And blocks our meeting from the start.

Across the world, across the sea,

Prisoners of reality;

Just fond thoughts of sweet esprit

That such a union would impart,

If you were here.

Dispersed, remote and absentee,

We are a trio by decree

And even though so far apart

I feel the beating of your hearts

And ponder how the world would be -

If you were here.

.

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© 2012   J Cosmo Newbery

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CCCLXIX - Infinitely Diluted Nonsense

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I was horrified to learn that the new Secretary of Health

 in the UK believes in homeopathy.

It's like having a Treasurer who believes in the Tooth Fairy.

Infinitely Diluted Nonsense

Nonsense appears in many forms
Ranging from the silly to the weird.
But few come close to the stupidity
With which homeopathy is revered.

Chorus
Just one fact is for sure
One that annoys,
One that irks:
Homeopathy is a magic cure!
The less you use it, 
The more it works.

First you decide what caused your ills
And then dilute it, using all due care:
Ten-fold, ten-fold and ten-fold again:
Until statistically it’s not even there.

Chorus

Coffee keeps you awake at night
So a little will have you snoozing;
And if you’re mugged in the street
A gentle tap will cure the bruising.

Chorus

Ipecac Syrup makes you chuck
So, diluted, calms your stomach down;
And if you are feeling a bit depressed
They’ll administer a little frown.

Chorus

But homeopaths are canny folk
And would not think it funny
If you were to pay your bill
With infinitely diluted money.
.

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© 2012   J Cosmo Newbery

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Repost - The Letter

Poetry Jam has a prompt "Letters".

Here's one I wrote earlier.

The Letter

I got a letter yesterday
Handwritten by a friend;
On crisp and starchy paper,
A signature at the end.

No, not a love letter
But lovely, none the less,
For the surprise of its arrival
And the thoughts expressed.

I can see her in my mind -
Sitting at an escritoire;
A coffee at her elbow,
Some flowers in a jar.

Caring, tangible thoughts
From someone, far away.
I put it carefully in a drawer,
To reread another day.

---
© J Cosmo Newbery 2012
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CCCLXVIII - The T-Rex & The Lamp

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Trifecta had the prompt to use the word dinosaur and the third dictionary

definition of dinosaur ('one that is impracticably large') in a work of between 33 and 333 words.

The T-Rex & The Lamp

The dinosaur known as T Rex
Pined for arms with bulging biceps.
The original pair
Just hung in mid-air
And were useless for eating or sex.

Though he went to the gym and the staff
Worked at building his arms by a half,
The results just annoyed
And he became paranoid,
As little mammals would see him and laugh.

But three wishes there to be hadin’.
When he chanced on the lamp of Aladdin
But his arms were too teeny
To awaken the genie,
A tale most certain to sadden.

.

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© 2012   J Cosmo Newbery

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CCCLXVII - Peeved

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Mad Kane has a regular limerick challenge.

She provides the first line, the rest is up to us.

A fellow was peeved at his mate

When she said that he wasn’t so great.

While the harsh truth annoyed,

It was the method employed:

He found out in a Facebook update.

A woman was peeved at her mate

Who thought that foreplay negates

The masculine control

Of the ultimate goal,

And went at it like a bull at a gate.

.

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© 2012   J Cosmo Newbery

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CCCLXVI - The High Country

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Sunday Scribblings has the prompt 'Explore'.

I thought I would try something a little different to my usual:

The High Country.

Grazing lazily on the silky pastures,
with lips, gently pulling at the growth.

Moving, untended, along the ridges and glens,
Up to the tree line and down again,
To the shoulders of the savannahs, extended. 

Working the meadow.  Rhythmically. 

Nibbling.

Slowly.

Somewhere, a flank trembles.

.

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© 2012   J Cosmo Newbery

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CCCLXV - An Obsession

  Mad Kane has a regular limerick challenge.

She provides the first line, the rest is up to us.

A fellow was very obsessed,
With women, and how they got dressed.
They handed him in, though,
When caught at their window;
Charges, I’m told, will be pressed.

.

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© 2012   J Cosmo Newbery

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CCCLXIV - Sonnet to a Young Niece

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Caz, aged about 25 in 2002, with Colin the Camel.
She had the degenerative disease, MELAS and died in 2006.
Don’t talk to me about ‘intelligent design’.

dVerse  had the prompt 'beautiful sadness'.

Sonnet to a young Niece.

She was a sweet and chirpy young kid,
As normal as any you’d find.
She found delight in all she did
She was happy and bouncy and kind.

Once the hormonal tides started flowing
They triggered a relentless decay;
At the time we weren’t to be knowing
Of the calamity coming her way.

She endured her lot, with good heart,
As her systems fell to the fault;
She knew pretty much from the start
There could be no other result.

She smiled as the malaise dragged on
And then, one sad day, she was gone.

.

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© 2012   J Cosmo Newbery

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CCCLXIII - These are a few of my favorite things.

.

Carry On Tuesday has provided the line "These are a few of my favorite things"

from The Sound of Music and asked us to run with it, in our own way.  Well, here goes:

The Politician

Party-room deals and passing new laws,
Kissing small babies and knocking on doors,
Marginal seats with positive swings
These are a few of my favorite things

When the shit hits
When the poll swings
When I'm feeling sad
I simply remember my favorite things
And then I don't feel so bad

◊◊◊

The Media

Gathering gossip and crafting a tale
Hacking a phone and rifling the mail
Misleading stories that pull on heart-strings
These are a few of my favorite things

When the sales fall
When the boss rings
When I'm feeling sad
I simply remember my favorite things
And then I don't feel so bad

◊◊◊

The Average Bloke

An afternoon barbie and a woman half bare
Footie on the telly and asleep in a chair
Long weekends where I don’t do a thing
These are a few of my favorite things

When the rain comes
When the boss rings
When I'm feeling sad
I simply remember my favorite things
And then I don't feel so bad

◊◊◊

The Minister

Promising them heaven or eternal hellfire
Dressing in gowns and small boys from the choir
Low genuflecting and the kissing of rings
These are a few of my favorite things

When the flock leave
When the cops ring
When I'm feeling sad
I simply remember my favorite things
And then I don't feel so bad

.

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© 2012   J Cosmo Newbery

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CCCLXII - The Lady in the Green Chair

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dVerse invited us to write an 'impressionist' poem.

Using a photo from The Box of Erotic I attempted to capture

the spirit, an impression, of the photo without actually describing it.

The Lady in the Green Chair

Green leather, lightly marked,
Part a barrier and part a chair.

Floral fabric, green and sleeveless,
A creamy thigh, purposely bare.

A stocking suggests a sensuality
A hand invites you to compare.

Half hidden and yet with intent,
She watches, teasing and aware.

.

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© 2012   J Cosmo Newbery

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CCCLXI - The First Coffee

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Poetry Jam had the prompt "What do you value?"

Now, I pushed a few ideas around - love, trust, humour, frienship, logic...

All valuable, to be sure, but one thing stood out:

The First Coffee.

There are things that will display
An intrinsic value, in their way.
But none of this batch
Can hope to match
The first sweet coffee of the day.

.

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© 2012   J Cosmo Newbery

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CCCLX - The Mouse

Three Word Wednesday posed the challenge:

write something using the three words "crumble", "drawn" and "uneasy".

The words suggested something vulnerable, like a mouse facing a cobra.

I have used the limerick form but it has a haiku staccato to it.

The Mouse

As the prey feels the pressure begin,
Uneasy voices warn from within,
But resistance falls away,
Crumbles, in disarray,
And he’s drawn relentlessly in.

.

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© 2012   J Cosmo Newbery

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CCCLIX - The Dinner

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Magpie Tales has the above photo as a prompt.

The Dinner

The table was set in a formal array

They sat together in a remote sort of way.

“Nice forks” she said “I do like a nice fork”.

But if he heard her he didn’t show it.

Chorus
Poor, poor lady, what’s she going to do?
She burns with a fire
Of passionate desire
But the message is not getting through,
Getting through,
The message is not getting through.

Protocol said she could not speak her mind

This left her tied in an emotional bind.

“Nice roll” she said “I do like a nice roll”.

But if he heard her he didn’t show it.

Chorus

Asparagus was served in a sauce Hollandaise

It did little to help relieve her malaise.

“Nice stalks” she said “I do like a nice stalk”.

But if he heard her he didn’t show it.

Chorus

Then came a roast with gravy and crackling

It failed to easy the emotions she was tackling.

“Nice pork” she said “I do like a nice pork”.

But if he heard her he didn’t show it.

Chorus

The butler place the dessert on the table

And passed her a note, to meet in the stable.

“Nice trifle” she said “I do like a nice trifle”.

But if he heard her he didn’t show it.

Chorus

Her cheeks had developed a rosy bloom

She said goodnight and slipped from the room.

“Nice butler” she said “I do like a nice butler”.

But if he heard her he didn’t show it.

.

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© 2012   J Cosmo Newbery

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CCCLVIII - A Mistake

Mad Kane has a regular limerick challenge.

She provides the first line, the rest is up to us.

A fellow had made a mistake

And wed a young girl on the ‘make’

Though she left him quite poor

What annoyed him much more

Was that even her breasts had been fake.

.

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© 2012   J Cosmo Newbery

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CCCLVII - Strings

Carry On Tuesday asked us to start with Shakespeare's line

"All the world's a stage" and take it where we will.

Strings

All the world’s a stage

For an odd performing art;

There is a cast of millions

But few real leading parts.

Who runs this global playhouse?

Who drives the show?  And how?

If we were to shout out ‘Author!”

Who would rise to take a bow?

Who manipulates the scenery?

Who provides the props and things?

Who drives the major storyline,

As we improvise in the wings?

“All the world’s a stage”

The Bard most famously said;

But are we really actors?

Or have we been misled?

.

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© 2012   J Cosmo Newbery

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CCCLVI - Homeopathic Farming

Bought some yoghurt today.  Organic.  Broke my heart but

it was the only one that was full fat and pot set.

The label, amongst other things, declared:

"Cows requiring treatment receive vitamins, herbs and homeopathic remedies."

Oh wow!  Hunger is a medical condition, so...

 

Homeopathic Farming

The global food shortage is past!
Homeopathy has saved us, at last!
Pass ‘round the word:
We can feed the entire herd
On a drop of infinitely diluted grass.

.

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© 2012   J Cosmo Newbery

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CCCLV - The Wren

dVerse had the prompt to write a Pantoum, a cascading verse.

Separately a friend posed the prompt 'territory'.

This is what the combination produced:

The Wren.

What she surveys is her own.

The range of her realm extends

To the trees and fields she has flown

And embraces her family and friends.

The range of her realm extends

To both inner and outer extremes

And embraces her family and friends

As part of the world of her dreams.

To both inner and outer extremes

She is honest, and lovingly so.

As part of the world of her dreams

The privileged are welcomed also.

She is honest, and lovingly so.

To the trees and fields she has flown

The privileged are welcomed also

But what she surveys is her own.

.

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© 2012   J Cosmo Newbery

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CCCLIV - Gum

The first commercial chewing gum appeared in 1871,

after Thomas Adams (1818-1905) had previously failed

to make car tyres from the same ingredients.

Gum

The fellow invented the mastic
That’s neither a food nor a plastic.
It's now sold as a gum
But considered by some
To be rebranded Goodyear elastic. 

.

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© 2012   J Cosmo Newbery

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CCCLIII - The Compass Metaphor

Poets United has the prompt 'Compass', moral or otherwise.

And yes, I know penguins are at the south pole, not the north.

It's a simile, OK?

The Compass Metaphor

Honestly, the needle swings

And shows the way to head;

Through bad lands or the oceans,

To bring you home to bed.

But unbeknownst to the traveller

There is a shocking inner plot:

The needle doesn’t point to north

But to a more attractive spot.

And there’s worse to come

With this little swinging guide:

We almost never go where it says

But go, tangentially, to the side.

If we always followed the needle

We’d have just one place to go

And see little groups of sailors,

Clumped like penguins in the snow.

This is where that much loved metaphor

Begins to get in strife;

When they talk of a ‘moral compass’

To lead you through your life.

We each develop our values

From the soil in which we’re grown.

True morality’s a pure fiction

And the magnetic pole’s our own.

By looking at our needle

We can sense where danger flowers;

The compass gives us bearings

But the course we plot is ours.

.

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© 2012   J Cosmo Newbery

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CCCLII - Distance

Sunday Scribblings had the prompt "Distance".

I feel sad for the athletes who have spent years training but don't win.

Actually, I also feel sad for the ones that win; but for different reasons.

Distance

Olympic gold shined and beckoned,

“Certain winners” the media reckoned.

Even though the best’s produced,

Self-worth is now reduced

To mere fractions of a second.

.

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© 2012   J Cosmo Newbery

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CCCLI - The Threshold

Illustration: Leah Pearlman

Three Word Wednesday posed the challenge:

write something using the three words "emotion", "falter" and "touch".

The Threshold.

We are emotional beings,

And certain joys are clutched:

To give and to receive,

To share and to be touched,

To engage at a deeper level

Than that of social needs

Is one of life’s rare treasures,

A flower amongst life’s weeds.

Many, though, will falter,

Not knowing how to start;

That for things for them to alter

They must open up their heart.

.

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© 2012   J Cosmo Newbery

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CCCL - The Muses

The Muses

To the lovely ladies of my life

Who give me reason to be writing,

As a stone can edge a knife,

I find your influence delighting.

Some of you know who you are

Others may but guess;

Some are near and some quite far

But each of you impress.

You are the focus of my thoughts,

In the topic or the refinement.

You are the buttress and supports

Of my creative self-alignment.

Approval warms me like the sun

And can temper indiscretion.

“Will you like what I have done?”

Is the ever present question.

O, lovely ladies, hear my praise,

As in my heart, I hold your hand.

I love you all, in different ways;

I know that you will understand.

..

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© 2012   J Cosmo Newbery

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