522 : A Brief Blooming

Sunday Whirl (Wordle #111) presents a list of words

that we must incorporate in a writing piece.  

The words this week are:  

vault, halls, swirl, crave, throat, wind, 

limbs, nimble, prairie, rapture, train, each

A Brief Blooming

The wind swirls across the prairies,

The land is strangely still.

A wolf clears its throat and howls,

It echoes through the hills.

Hunter gatherers, the nomadic tribes,

Travel for feeding’s sake,

They are necessarily nimble

As survival is at stake.

Cities appear, with their streets and halls,

Their limbs are clothed and warm;

Food is farmed and plentiful,

There is shelter from the storm.

They keep the wealth they cannot eat

In vaults beneath the floor,

Each sold on the rapture of novelty

And taught to crave for more.

Growth is the mantra of this world,

But we’re stealing from the larder,

Come the day when it all runs out,

Our life will get much harder.

Hunter gatherers, the nomadic tribes,

Travel for feeding’s sake,

Necessarily they are nimble

As survival is at stake.

The wind swirls across the prairies,

The land is strangely still.

A wolf clears its throat and howls,

It echoes through the hills.

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© J Cosmo Newbery 2013

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521 : Seen and Unseen

dVerse Poets has the prompt 'Bathroom'.

Seen and unseen

In the steam and falling water,

There’s a body standing bare;

There’s a reflection that displeases—

He ignores the image there.

Showing a vision most unwanted,

He views the mirror as unkind.

It doesn’t match the hero, reflected

In the steam room of his mind.

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© J Cosmo Newbery 2013

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520 : That Wretched Cloth.

Three Word Wednesday requires participants

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

The words this week were badge, liability and darken.

That Wretched Cloth

The drive to bear the nation’s flag

On car and towel and lawn

Displays the type of ignorance

From which distrust is born.

It is a liability

To wave that wretched cloth;

Where rational thought’s concerned

It leads to mental sloth.

It darkens the national heart

To a shadow of deep fear,

A shallow tribal barrier

To hide behind and jeer.

But emblems are all external,

And foolishly applied:

We share a common humanity—

A badge that’s worn inside.

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© J Cosmo Newbery 2013

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519 : The Prisoners of the Wind

Sunday Whirl (Wordle #110) presents a list of words

that we must incorporate in a writing piece.  

The words this week are:  

beam, anchor, shift, close, heart, phrase,

range, connect, current, fertile, layers, yield

The Prisoners of the Wind

Travellers

Why stay ye mariners?  Come, hoist the sails!

Our hearts long to leave these shores

And travel to where the trade winds prevail,

Come now! Lift the anchor and set our course!

The Master

Patience travellers! The current runs against us;

The wind from the wrong quarter, and weak.

But tomorrow it may not be thus

And you’ll have the travels that you seek.

Sailors

What enthusiasm!  It will move to another phase

Once there is only rolling sea about.

If there is any good in them, so goes the phrase,

A storm at sea will bring it out.

Travellers

Make haste O Captain!  We are aching to commence.

There are fertile lands and wond’rous things

There are wines and rugs, perfumes and incense!

The Master

We must wait and see what morning brings.

Sailors

We can feel the wind from the starboard beam

It must move for us to leave the port

It is not as easy as it may seem

There are layers of difficulty that can thwart.

Travellers

But we are so close to our journey’s start,

We beg you yield to our wish to leave!

The Master

Travellers, there is no way that we can depart

We are prisoners of the wind and await reprieve.

Sailors

They cannot connect with what is required

Their seafaring nous is less than nought.

It’s late, it’s best that they be retired

To prepare for an early passage from the port.

Travellers

Time drags on and the hours seem increased.

To sail forth is that for which we hanker!

Sailors

Look, the morning light!  A smudge upon the east!

The Master

Tis dawn.  The wind has turned. 

Bosun, weigh the anchor.

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© J Cosmo Newbery 2013

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518 : Presenting...

The Little Wet Hen

In times way back when

There was a little wet hen

Who panicked over matters quite small.

For the littlest of things

She’d flap her wet wings

And cry that the sky would soon fall.

At first folk took heed 

Of the doom she decreed

But nothing was as bad as she said.

So, as time showed her liable

To be quite unreliable,

Few cared for the squawkings she spread.

This did nothing to reduce

The dire warnings she’d produce—

To stop now would mean losing of face.

So she continued her addiction

To calamitous predictions

But, for the record, the sky stayed in place.

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© J Cosmo Newbery 2013

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Some of you may recognise this chook,

The rest of you can consider yourself lucky.

517 : Alone inside a crowd.

Three Word Wednesday requires participants

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

The words this week were clever, silky and finish.

Alone.

It matters not how clever you are,

Nor how silky your tongue;

You can have the most wondrous brain

Or be completely dumb.

And yet,

A sense we cannot forget

Restrains,

Beneath a leaden cloud,

Where we finish, in some ways bizarre,

Alone, inside a crowd.

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© J Cosmo Newbery 2013

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516 : The Writing on the Wall

Sunday Whirl (Wordle #109) presents a list of words

that we must incorporate in a writing piece.  

The words this week are:  

nebulous, cut, vision, hover, opaque, blazing, torch, slab, 

bleak, crush, timing, touch, breath

The Writing on the Wall

“Growth for the sake of growth

is the ideology of the cancer cell”

–Edward Abbey.

The future’s nebulous, at best,

And rarely well predicted.

When we are looking beyond today

Our vision’s quite restricted.

But still, there are hints of what’s to come

Seen dimly through the opaque haze;

Like Indiana’s blazing torch,

Showing drawings in a cave.

And hovering in the smoky light, 

a slab

With inscriptions cut in stone:

“Here lies the remnants of sapient man

Who breathed his last, alone.

He permitted social policies

Where the powerful crushed the weak,

But once they trashed the sky and land,

Their survival hopes were bleak.

The timing of the tribe’s demise

Was driven on by greed:

The leaders were both out of touch

And committed to their speed.

They could not see the obvious fate

Of growing, unencumbered:

Once the host's resources end

A parasite’s days are numbered.”

Is this what the future holds?

Or can we change our track?

Can we live on this lump of rock

Or will the insects take it back?

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© J Cosmo Newbery 2013

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515 : Muzzled

Muzzled

Complacency makes the risk increased,

We allow our guard to slip.

We ignore the dangers resting there

And trust the lying lips.

We feel
That the risk is no longer real.

Beware the wild animal inflamed,

Beware the mean and vengeful beast

That’s muzzled but not yet tamed.

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© J Cosmo Newbery 2013

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514 : The Small Blue Dot

The Earth, circled, as seen from the edge of the solar system.

Poets United has the prompt "A place in the universe"

The Small Blue Dot

The universe is, at first glance,

A rather spacious place;

With no apparent boundaries

And lots of empty space.

There are

Some hundred billion stars,

If you please,

And it was forever thus—

It is the height of arrogance

To think it’s just for us.

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© J Cosmo Newbery 2013

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513 : The Last Journey

Sunday Whirl (Wordle #108) presents a list of words

that we must incorporate in a writing piece.  

The words this week are:  

mouth, vow, drone, space, chants, sun, 

binding, crook, circling, broken, cave, fist

The Last Journey

The priests chant in the setting sun,

Their drone reflects their pain.

Their pleading are to no avail,

Mouthed in faith but said in vain.

The Boy-King’s earthly days are done,

Embalmed, he shows distain,

While in his fists, a crook and flail,

The symbols of his reign.

Protocol drives all actions now,

Unbroken from the past.

The priests involved all understand

The binding rules of caste.

Circling, they then fulfilled their vow

And placed the Son of Ra

Into a cave, in the desert sands,

His entrails in a jar.

Such is the lot of those alive

Within this earthly space;

Dignity is not guaranteed

When given Death’s embrace.

Despite what even kings contrive

Death presents an equal face,

But it is a dismal one indeed,

And quite devoid of grace.

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© J Cosmo Newbery 2013

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512 : Fit for Purpose

Poets United has a Mother's Day prompt.  No surprises there.

Fit for Purpose

There was an old woman who lived in a shoe,

She had so many children she didn’t know what to do.

- Nursery Rhyme.

Part I

Where a social parasite accuses 

a mother of being a social parasite.

[Knock, knock]

Good morning, m’am, I’m from The Daily Bleating

We’d like to talk about welfare cheating;

We’ve come to give you our biased views

So we can report them on the evening news.

Now, kindly tell us which is worse—

Baby kittens or milking of the public purse?

It’s said that you didn’t know what to do

But with so many kids, and you have a few,

You must have known what would occur.

Do you have any idea who the fathers were?

No, wait, wait, don’t shut the door!

Come on, tell our viewers—are you planning more?

[Door closes]

There you go, viewers, it’s a welfare rort,

Now, across to Chuck for the weather report.

Part II

Where the children talk

to their mother on Mother’s Day.

Mother, we’ve not ever said this before

But you’ll never model for Dior;

You are getting old and have grey hair,

And you wear the daggiest underwear.

Your hands are rough and worn and stained

Your face is wrinkled and fine veined,

You repeat yourself when you are talking

And you stoop a bit when you are walking.

But having said that, let us say this:

Nothing beats your hugs and kiss!

You worked all day to see us fed

And tucked us nightly into bed.

There we lay like warm sardines

Knowing that we’d had our greens.

You helped us with mathematical divisors

And taught us not to run with scissors.

You dressed and kissed our cuts and scratches,

You taught us not to play with matches.

You hugged us all, runner-up and winner,

But forbid us swimming after dinner.

You stored away every thing we’d paint,

And still have them, though somewhat faint.

At school events, you’d jump and holler

And made us feel a million dollars.

You taught us all to shun deception

And loved us all, without exception.

In a world that’s part false and part fickle

Mother, dear, you’re the genuine article.

We should tell you this much more than yearly,

Our darling mother, we love you dearly.

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© J Cosmo Newbery 2013

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511 : Quiet Love

One Minute Writer has a daily prompt that we are supposed to complete in a minute. 

Never going to make the time limit with a long poem but welcome the prompt.

Quiet Love

I loved you 

From the beginning,

Your eyes,

Your heart, 

Your mind,

Entranced me

Beyond all reason

Left me dazzled

More than blind.

Sure you’re flawed.

But aren’t we all

So lowly scored?

It’s been a while 

Since I met you—

When you sent

My world a’spinning.

I loved you then—

Still do.

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© J Cosmo Newbery 2013

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510 : Off the Table

After reading DIX – Off the Table, Rob Bear wondered

what would happen when the couple went home.

Here is the answer:

A man found his wife on the make

And was thrilled with the cash she’d take

But his happiness fled

When she complained in bed

Of having a splitting headache.

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© J Cosmo Newbery 2013

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509 : Stand Your Ground

Poetic device alert: 
The knife below is figurative, not literal.

Stand Your Ground

We should never apologise

For doing what is right;

Nor think the time is lost

Spent sleepless in the night.

While some would counsel otherwise,

To step back from a fight,

A line that’s drawn, not to be crossed

Can be firm but still polite.

The bully loves to hold the knife,

To torment and to hound,

But when challenged to an affray

Will blink and then back down.

In the upheavals of daily life,

A truth that I have found

Is the cruel will often step away

Should you choose to stand your ground.

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© J Cosmo Newbery 2013

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508 : Off the Table

Mad Kane has a regular limerick challenge.

She provides the first line,

the rest is up to us.

Off the Table

"Off the table Mable,

the money's for the beer..."

A fellow, who took many trips

To clubs where a young lady strips,

Got the fright of his life

Recognising his wife

Both dancing and pulling large tips.

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© J Cosmo Newbery 2013

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507 : A Penitent Limerick

Three Word Wednesday requires participants

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

The words this week were believe, penitent, tribute.

Now I confess I have only used one.

This limerick evolved while pondering the three words

And I saw no reason to discard it.

Simultaneously Red Dirt Girl had posted

about women doing housework naked.

The two things sort of fitted together, with the following result:

While professing to be penitent,

The remorse was after the event.

When he saw his wife nude

He said “I hate to intrude”

But, quick as a flash, in it went.

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© J Cosmo Newbery 2013

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506 : Disappointment

Disappointment

The first impression stuns the eyes:

You glisten as of gold,

Around you people fashion dreams

That comfort and enfold.

But no,

The truth has no such glow.

It seems
The promises were inflated

And the gilding cannot disguise

Base metal, that has been plated.

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© J Cosmo Newbery 2013

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505 : A fellow would frequently hum...

Mad Kane has a regular limerick challenge.

She provides the first line,

the rest is up to us.

The "Te Deum" I was thinking of was Charpentier's.

A fellow would frequently hum

A few bars of the “Te Deum”

To settle his nerves

As he fondled the curves

Of his (or another's!) wife’s bum.

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© J Cosmo Newbery 2013

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504 : When The Anzac’s Went To War.

April 25th is the anniversary of the landing of the joint

Australian and New Zealand forces (ANZACs) in the Dardanelles, at

Gallipoli, Turkey, in 1915.  It was a disaster.  No fault of the troops.

When The Anzac’s Went To War

In cities and towns, the booths appeared,

Recruiting young men, as the war clouds neared.

Pretty girls smiled and whole towns cheered

When the Anzac’s went to war.

The men were keen to play their part.

Each carried a photo next to his heart,

But the campaign was flawed from the very start,

When the Anzac’s went to war.

They were off-loaded in the wrong place

Unaware of the resistance they would face.

The whole affair was a bloody disgrace,

When the Anzac’s went to war.

Their arrival was expected by the other side.

Scores of bodies bobbed on the tide.

In the end, many thousands died,

When the Anzac’s went to war.

When the magnitude of the folly dawned

One wonders why they were never warned

Pretty girls cried and whole towns mourned

When the Anzac’s went to war.

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© J Cosmo Newbery 2013

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503 : A woman would often make scenes

Mad Kane has a regular limerick challenge.

She provides the first line,

the rest is up to us.

A woman would often make scenes,

Promenading without any jeans.

But when she went too far,

Shedding panties and bra,

The Governor called the marines.

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© J Cosmo Newbery 2013

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502 : The Time of his Life

One Minute Writer has a daily prompt

that we are supposed to complete in a minute.  

Never going to make the time limit with a long poem

but a limerick is in with a fighting chance.

Today's prompt was 'Time Machine'.

The Time of his Life. 

A fellow returned to the past,

To visit his ancestral cast.

When he took his own mother

To be his young lover,

The ramifications were vast.

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© J Cosmo Newbery 2013

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501 : Trust

Three Word Wednesday requires participants

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

The words this week were destruction, trust and endure.

More of an epigram than a poem.

It’s a fact of life but not reassuring:

The destruction of trust is as quick

As it is enduring.

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© J Cosmo Newbery 2013

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D - Will Today Be Different?

Will today be different?

Morning.

The alarm nags, the mind drags itself from the bed.

Will today be different?

Scan the headlines, check email.

Shower.  Shave.  Cereal.  Milk.

Feed the birds and take the sleeper a mug of tea.

Is the shirt different to yesterdays?

Lunch.  Bread, meat, condiments, cut and boxed.

Fruit.  A carrot maybe.

Floss. Brush. Rinse. Spit.

Time to go. 

Will today be different?

A farewell kiss and creep into the traffic.

The regulars, numberplates I recognise.

The boom gates.  Will I miss them?  No.

A well-travelled route.  Smooth through repetition.

Neck and neck with serious cyclists.  Lycra-clad.

I pass them, they pass me.  They are smug and righteous.

I am warm.  And dry.

Closer to the city, the trendy cyclists.  Upright.  Prim.

Car spot 22.  Am I square?  Readjust.

Engine off.  Lights off.  Deep breath.

The briefcase, the short walk to the front door.

Yesterday hurt.  The day before did too.

Will today be different?

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© J Cosmo Newbery 2013

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CDXCIX - I wish I was a Bonobo

I love the expression on the female.

I wish I was a Bonobo.

Gorillas, I’m told,

Are sexually cold,

And only engage for the off-spring.

Chimpanzees

Run tyrannies

Where rape and crime are oft king.

Bonobos however

Are locked together

In all manner of sexual flings.

Chorus

Oh, I wish I was a Bonobo,

The happiest of the apes;

Every day, in every way,

They have sex of any shape.

Some may say it’s pagan,

The way that they employ it,

But I think the Bonobo’s got it right,

Life’s too short, enjoy it.

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© J Cosmo Newbery 2013

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CDXCVIII - A fellow who frequently stews

Mad Kane has a regular limerick challenge.

She provides the first line,

the rest is up to us.

A fellow who frequently stews

Over which style condom to use.

He can’t make a selection

To adorn his erection

So his wife fills the time with a snooze.

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© J Cosmo Newbery 2013

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