CDXXV - She Murmured Thanks

Three Word Wednesday requires participants

to use the three words of the week in a composition.

The words this week were echo, soft and hardship.

She Murmured Thanks

Like the echo 

Of a satisfied cat

She murmured her thanks

As he caressed her, 

Softly, tenderly,

Neck, 

Back, 

Down her flanks…

It was no great hardship.

But it was just a prelude 

To the spanks.

.

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© J Cosmo Newbery 2012

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CDXXIV - The Bread Van

Sunday Whirl (Wordle #87) presents a list of words

that we must incorporate in a writing piece.  

The words this week are: 

top, milky, glassy, unfolded, itch, blast, rushes, slicks, listen, sigh, lighten, tragic, visibility.

Magpie Tales had a photo by Andy Magee as a prompt. 

The two seemed made for each other. 

I have made the photo look a bit wetter than it did originally.

◊◊◊

Visibility was poor that morning.  

Behind the misty, milky haze of rain, the wind shivered the valley with an icy blast, a promise of the harsh winter to come.  Sheep huddled together for warmth, jostling for the middle position.  One, responding to an itch, rubbed against the gate post and unexpectedly found itself released onto the hedge-lined road.

Oil slicks and ice made the driving treacherous but the van rushes along the country road. Time is short and there was bread to deliver.

The van crested the top of the hill, saw the wayward sheep at the last moment, swerved, crashed through a hedge, rolled three times and ended on its roof.  The engine gave a last long sigh of resignation and stopped.  Some time passed.  The weather lifted and the day lightened but there was no movement from the van.

It was sometime before the facts of what unfolded were established.  

When the villagers turned on their television to listen to the evening news,

the lead story was ‘Bread van rolls’.

Tragic really.

.

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© J Cosmo Newbery 2012

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CDXXIII - The Open Window

The Open Window

There is a sense of disbelief:

The window is wide open,

Your things are in disarray;

Drawers are open, 

Turned out on the floor.

Intimate items scattered.

Someone has been here, in your room, 

Past your defences.

And valuables are missing.

Money, money is nothing.  

Memories, how do you replace memories?

Pawned for $20 in a bar somewhere.

Days weeks months later you go looking for something —

And can’t find it.  Is it just lost?  Or was it stolen?

You will never fully realise everything that you have lost.

Death is like that, 

Like being burgled.

You never fully realise everything that you have lost.

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© J Cosmo Newbery 2012

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CDXXII - Insecure

One Single Impression has the prompt 'insecure'.

A fellow who felt insecure

When out with a lady, demure,

Took a glass of red wine

To strengthen his spine

And maybe one more, to be sure.

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© J Cosmo Newbery 2012

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Reflection 5 : Bananas

I had a conversation once.

One of those acrimonious  comment jousts

You find on  libertarian websites.

“Why”, I asked, “do you need a gun?”

“In case the Mexican drug lords invade the US”, I was told.

Well, the gentleman in question lived in Ohio.

This was no place for logic and reason.

◊◊◊

If you give people cars, some will misuse them.

If you give people alcohol, some will misuse it.

If you give people guns, some will misuse them.

The unasked question is:

How much misuse can you tolerate?

.

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© J Cosmo Newbery 2012

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CDXXI - The Party

Three Word Wednesday requires participants

to use the three words of the week in a composition.

The words this week were abnormal, dangle and lavish.

This is my second attempt at this challenge.

The Party

It was a most lavish affair,

All the cream were there,

With their well tended hair,

And dress was strictly formal.

Their wealth was displayed

In the games that they played

In this most social charade:

A world both strange and abnormal.

They sipped the champagnes

Dangled jewellery and chains 

Boasted capital gains

And generally hated each other.

The waiters shimmied past

And refilled their glass

Without ever being asked

They knew they needed another.

They talked posh and polite

And then danced all the night

And if their shoes were too tight

They were far too proud to say so.

When they can drink no more

And are hugging the floor

The host shows them the door

And counts the spoons, once they go. 

.

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© J Cosmo Newbery 2012

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CDXX - The Treasure Map

Magpie Tales has the above photo as a prompt.

The Treasure Map

A pirate who flew the cross bones,

Tattooed his wife with sepia tones,

And “X”s marked the ground 

Where treasure was found;

By coincidence, her erogenous zones.

.

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© J Cosmo Newbery 2012

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CDXIX - Low Water Allotment

Three Word Wednesday requires participants

to use the three words of the week in a composition.

The words this week were abnormal, dangle and lavish.

Low Water Allotment

The hair is slicked and oozes Brylcream, 

The smile is fixed and set on 'high-beam';

Cowboy boots, rubbed down with grease,

Designer jeans, ironed with a crease.

A gold chain dangling around his neck

And a mouth that can’t be kept in check.

A breath that scented with a musky spray

And the sense of a lion stalking its prey.

The brochure’s lavish, in weight and ink.

The photos designed to make you think

That the property that is his to show;

Is the best around and will quickly go;

That an abnormal bargain is close at hand

Should you purchase the offered land.

But you will learn, to your chagrin,

That it disappears when the tide is in.

.

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© J Cosmo Newbery 2012

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20 Questions (more or less)

Poets United have done an interview with me.

Only the facts have been changed 

To protect the innocent.

◊◊◊

CDXVIII - A Fellow Who Needed a Doc

Mad Kane has a regular limerick challenge.

She provides the first line,

the rest is up to us.

A fellow who needed a doc

When hit in the head with a rock

Found his character changed,

And his life rearranged,

And favoured high heels and a frock.

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© J Cosmo Newbery 2012

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Reflection 4 : Sowing for the Next Crop

Newbery's Second Law of Gardening:  You get back more than you sow.

Sowing for the Next Crop.

I.

In Nebraska

In front of a screen

Chewing gum

Wearing a cowboy hat

And listening to country music

A soldier plays a game.

The images move slowly

Buildings are like blocks

Grey.  Dusty. Remote.

Like old footage

From the moon.

Cross-hairs guide him

He pushes a button

And the block disappears.

He thinks nothing of it.

II.

In Peshawar

In a family’s front room

Eating a wedding breakfast

And dressed formally

A family celebrates

The building of new ties

As they have done

For generations.

There is singing

And dancing

And laughter

And noise.

A terrible explosive noise.

But they hear nothing of it.

III.

In Washington

In front of the press

Wearing all his medals

A general explains

That they have

Destroyed

A terrorist cell.

That they had reason to believe

The meeting was destined

To initiate future terrorist acts.

The irony is

That he is right.

But he’ll have nothing of it.

 .

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© J Cosmo Newbery 2012

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CDXVII - What Might Have Been

dVerse challenges us to write a quatern.

Well, not one to duck a challenge, here is one.

What Might Have Been

We will wonder what might have been

If things had been some other way;

If the chance presented had been seen

And grasped, then embraced and tucked away.

Despite knowing it’s a waste of time

We will wonder what might have been.

Life’s a charade to which we mime:

The world’s a stage, the script’s unseen.

We live, as shielded by a screen,

From the actions on other courts.

We will wonder what might have been

But only as an afterthought.

It’s our want to lament the fall

Of the dice, thrown by fate’s machine.

Though it wont change anything at all,

We will wonder what might have been.

.

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© J Cosmo Newbery 2012

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Reflection 3 - Hard Bread

Real Toads asks us to write to Santa. 

I have done this before so I did something a little different.

And I did make Siena Panforte today.

Hand made.

Sweet.

Spicy.

Fruit and nuts.

Strong bread.

A sensual treat,

Something to long for,

To savour.

For years 

I put it on my list,

The hints and tips 

For Santa’s little helpers.

It never came.

Gloves.  Socks.  Cheeses.

So I made my own.

By hand.

You can’t always rely on others.

Sometimes 

You have to 

Please yourself.

.

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© J Cosmo Newbery 2012

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CDXVI - A Fluid Affair

'1914" - Pen Drawing by Norman Lindsay

Three Word Wednesday requires participants

to use the three words of the week in a composition.

The words this week were battle, fluid and harvest.

A Fluid Affair

War is a fluid affair,

Where battles ebb and flow,

Where warm blood is spilt,

And death is hard and slow.

War is like an ocean,

Where heroes rise and fall,

Where no-one stops to ask

Why they are there at all.

War is like a tempest,

Where mud is mixed with sweat,

Where lovers pen sweet letters

To remember and forget.

War is relentless weeping

Where tears well up and fall,

Where our young are harvested

And returned to grace the soil.

.

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© J Cosmo Newbery 2012

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CDXV - The Beach

Sunday Whirl (Wordle #85) presents a list of words that we must incorporate in a writing piece.  

Amateur psychologists please note that this is complete fiction.

The words this week are: 

affair, wax, forlorn, manic, clash, hewn, find, desire, sand, fuse, drive, fork.

◊◊◊

It had been a brief, manic and yet ultimately forlorn affair.  A merging of desire, opportunity and sand, of base animal drives on a sultry night beneath a waxing moon; only to find it end in an awkward farewell, full of promises, lightly given and loosely held.

It had started with so much promise earlier that evening.  She had seen him standing, talking to a group of men by the buffet table; tall handsome, with classic rough-hewn good looks.  She approached the table and picked up a plate from the warmer.

“Can I give you a fork?” he asked?

“Yes, but let’s eat first” she replied with a mischievous look.

“No, what I meant was…”

Too late.  The fuse had been lit.  In the battle of the sexes, men are hopelessly unprepared for the resulting clash of wills.

Neither tasted their meal.

“Come, let’s go for a walk.  I can hear the waves”.

.

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© J Cosmo Newbery 2012

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CDXIV - Urbane

Mad Kane has a regular limerick challenge.

She provides the first line,

the rest is up to us.

A man who was rather urbane

Wooed women with charm and champagne

They were all so impressed

That they quickly undressed

And none was heard to complain.

.

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© J Cosmo Newbery 2012

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CDXIII - Missing You

dVerse has the prompt ‘Missing You’.

Missing You

I’m missing you.

Your loving eyes

Your hair, 

Your smell. 

My pleasure lies

In that you are not far away

And, in your absence, 

Will loyally stay,

Biding my time 

And improvise.

To follow you 

Would be unwise,

Your return 

Will be my sole reprise

All that goes to explain 

The way I’m missing you.

In your absence 

A small part dies 

And black clouds 

Cover up the skies

The world becomes 

A sodden grey

Which only adds to my dismay

That false bravado can’t disguise

I'm missing you.

.

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© J Cosmo Newbery 2012

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Reflection 2 - The Pie Maker

The Pie Maker.

Bright-eyed,

Round-faced,

Cute as pie.

A genius, we are told.

She can recite 

The first one hundred digits

Of the number Pi.

An irrational response

To an irrational number.

There are far better things

To be making.

With mud.  

And joy.

.

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© J Cosmo Newbery 2012

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Should you wish, the first one million digits of Pi

can be read and memorised here

CDXII - The Climber

Imaginary Garden with Real Toads had the prompt ‘Connections’.

The Climber

Tendrils

Wave in the breeze

Searching

Gently, casually, 

They brush against

The surrounding world.

Looking 

Reaching out

For support.

Often, the world pushes back 

But, with time and persistence, 

A relationship forms and 

Entwined and encouraged, 

The tendril can reach heights 

That it could never 

Dream of reaching alone.

.

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© J Cosmo Newbery 2012

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CDXI - The Arrangement

Sunday Scribblings has the topic “Between you and me”.

The Arrangement

In the madness of daily life,

In both the quiet and the strife,

In a world where doubt is rife,

We have an arrangement, you and me.

We both have roles that we fulfill

Know what helps, what hurts, what thrills,

What things we wont and what we will;

We have an arrangement, you and me.

We know each other very well

And live some ways in parallel

But reconvene to show and tell

We have an arrangement, you and me.

We deal with things that fate has sent

Changing them, to some extent

And with the rest, remain content.

We have an arrangement, you and me.

.

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© J Cosmo Newbery 2012

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