729 - The Old Soldier

The above photo (or something a bit like it)

was the prompt at The Mag.

The stairs, and their wear, made me think

of old things and repetition.

Sounds like a cue for a villanelle.

The Old Soldier

Fearful of all that lay ahead

And bearing the scars of pointless war,

He climbed the staircase to his bed.

He’d walked amongst the living dead

On a Stygian sea he’d washed ashore,

Fearful of all that lay ahead.

Many had died and many had fled,

Remembering all in this broken corps 

He climbed the staircase to his bed.

But he seldom slept, for the dread

That would drench him to the core,

Fearful of all that lay ahead.

With heavy heart and weary head,

As he had so oft before,

He climbed the staircase to his bed.

He could see the future, so it’s said,

Visions he could not ignore,

Fearful of all that lay ahead

He climbed the staircase to his bed.

.

---

© J Cosmo Newbery 2014

---

728 - Milk, with cream on top.

Mad Kane has a weekly limerick challenge.

She provides the first line,

The rest is up to us.

A woman was lying on the floor

When her husband walked through the door.

He ruefully assessed,

As the milkman got dressed,

That his milk would be costing much more.

.

---

© J Cosmo Newbery 2014

---

727 - The Insatiable Boredom of Being.

Sunday Whirl (Wordle #169) presents a list of words

that we must incorporate in a writing piece.  

The words this week are: 

eclipse, piece, throat, shot, honors, lackluster,

side, cheeky, manufactured, millions, hike, room

The Insatiable Boredom of Being.

The fireworks shot high

Into the sky,

Exploded into millions

Of tiny stars

That twinkled briefly

And then, falling,

Faded to oblivion.

Only to be replaced, 

Eclipsed,

By the next one;

Bigger, brighter, 

More sparkly.

The insatiable desire

For manufactured

Entertainment,

Where each new act

To enter the room

Will be shown to be

Tawdry and lacklustre,

Compared to the piece 

Which replaces it.

Each new thrill,

New show,

New sideshow,

New cheeky titillation,

New lover,

New popular hit—

Cerebral, gastronomic or chemical

Must be a hike 

In the previous,

Must draw a gasp 

From the throat of the viewer,

Must draw the crowd to its feet

Applauding, 

Shouting ‘More’.

More.

More.

.

---

© J Cosmo Newbery 2014

---

Dear Dorothy Dix...

A strange SMS series yesterday.

I have omitted the first line

to avoid identifying the sender, 

she had asked me how the trip was.
In seven comments, a relationship
spiralled into the poo.  Incroyable.

I believe it was also a full moon.

Note: the comments 
are part of the composition,
but no new comments
can be added.

Dear Dorothy

Dearest Dorothy Dix,

The house was not made of good bricks,

A flippant response 

From the top of my nonce

Displayed just straw and not sticks.

Let me say further Miss Dix,

The reply just knocked me for six,

With a minimum of words

A crude blow has incurred*,

Should I go or attempt at a fix?

Puzzled of Melbourne.

Dear Puzzled of Melbourne, you clot!

Why on earth do you need to ask? Dot.

.

---

© J Cosmo Newbery 2014

---

* “va te faire foutre” = “Go fuck yourself”.

726 - Devil's Spawn.

Three Word Wednesday requires participants

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

The words this week were: eerie, guarded, translucent.

Devil’s Spawn

The dark is filled 

With Devil’s spawn,

Eerie and provoking;

The nasty creatures 

Play on you,

Until drowning, 

Choking,

You fall—

Weak, 

To the words they call.

Hold true!

Guarded, 

If uncertain.

To the east, 

A translucent dawn

Rises like a curtain.

.

---

© J Cosmo Newbery 2014

---

725 - Thoughts from Paris.

Thoughts from Paris

The Moulin Rouge has plenty of girls,

With feathers and boas and pearls,

And sweet little tits

Of a size that permits

Dancing with high kicks and swirls.

◊◊◊

The country has so many cheeses

And foie gras, from well-fattened geeses,

And fresh crusty bread,

And wines, white and red—

A mix that constantly pleases.

◊◊◊

A Parisien girl on a bicyclette

Left me images, hard to forget.

Of a tall elegant kind,

Her coat billowed behind,

And long legs completed the effect.

◊◊◊

With so many sweet gateaux (and their kin),

It’s hard to know where to begin.

But what puzzles me more

Than the calories they store,

Is: how Parisiens keep so thin?

◊◊◊

The Metro induces strange habits,

To come and then go, as White Rabbits,

But as you board and alight,

Keep your wallet from sight,

As there are plenty there willing to nab it.

.

---

© J Cosmo Newbery 2014

---

724 - Meanwhile, in a park...

A lady with a lyre, for a lark,
Played by a lake in the park;
She then rode on a carp
While plucking the harp,
And the dress code was kind of stark.

◊◊◊

A mischievous fellow, for a lark,

Pissed on a lyre in a park.

Surprisingly he found

A vastly improved sound

‘Though the owner was, shall we say, dark.

.

---

© J Cosmo Newbery 2014

---

723 : A scientist goes exploring...

A scientist in the Southern Pacific

Was given a warning, specific:

“Those girls in grass skirts

Are all terrible flirts;

But touch, for a death most horrific.”

The temptation was too much to withstand
But things didn't go quite as he planned.
The girls trussed him and staked him
And then slowly baked him
Over hot rocks in the sand.

.

---

© J Cosmo Newbery 2014

---

722 : A fellow had bought a device...

Mad Kane has a weekly limerick challenge.

She provides the first line,

The rest is up to us.

A fellow had bought a device

Intended for husking brown rice.

But he altered the setting

Then added some netting

And found the sensation quite nice.

.

---

© J Cosmo Newbery 2014

---

721 : A woman who offered ‘a la carte’...

Sunday Scribblings had the prompt ‘pastry.

This is a bad prompt for me:

There are too many naughty connotations.

But I wasn’t about to let that stop me.

A woman who offered ‘a la carte’

Was viewed by the men as a tart.

While the term is not nice

They would still ‘have a slice’

Before the time came to depart.

.

---

© J Cosmo Newbery 2014

---

720 : The Meeting

Sunday Whirl (Wordle #166) presents a list of words

that we must incorporate in a writing piece.  

The words this week are: 

dark, praying, tarot, dancing, seduce, creature,

gun, plague, penny, blood, levitate, dreadful, kiss

The Meeting

It was a normal meeting:

Hats and coats hung up,

Tables and chairs arranged,

Drinks distributed,

A pentangle drawn in blood…

But today would be different

Very, very different.

◊◊◊

The room went dark

The odd red spark;

The creatures vile


Who dribbled bile;

The serpent’s hiss

The sulph’rous kiss;

The dreadful smell

Of pits from Hell;

The dancing souls,

The flaming poles;

The tarot cards,

The cutting shards;

The naked fawns

Seduced on lawns;

Levi-tated

Corpses mated;

Souls, if any,

For a penny;

Palms well greased,

Plagues released;

The faithful sing

A praying ring;

No guns repel

The team from Hell.

But lights disperse

This demon curse —

Once comes the sun

The party's done

And so they went,

To parliament.

◊◊◊

And so it was, 

Dear reader,

The quietest Liberal* 

Party room meeting

In many a year.

.

---

© J Cosmo Newbery 2014

---

*In the Australian sense,

Liberal = Conservative = Republican.

719 : I Awoke One Day

dVerse had the prompt ‘repetition’, 

with a villanelle as a possible form.  

Ok, here’s a villanelle.
Pity I missed the cut-off by four hours.

I awoke one day

I awoke one day and you were not there

The world, once warm, was now cold and bleak

You’d gone away and I knew not where.

The emptiness overwhelmed, hard to bear

I framed some words but couldn’t speak

When I awoke one day and you were not there

It was natural, I suppose, to feel despair

But it hung upon me, like a leaden sheet:

You’d gone away and I knew not where.

Without your laughter to fill the air

Life was dull, no longer sweet,

When I awoke one day and you were not there

The table now has an empty chair

And meals have lost their sweet mystique.

You’ve gone away and I know not where.

We instinctively feel life should be fair

But the evidence for that is rather weak.

I awoke one day and you were not there

You’d gone away and I knew not where.

.

---

© J Cosmo Newbery 2014

---

718 : Sharing the Cake

Three Word Wednesday requires participants

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

The words this week were: intrigue, connive, vehement.

And Imaginary Garden with Real Toads asks for a Herrick's Stanza.

So...

Sharing the Cake.

It never fails to intrigue me

How some folk will connive

To corner more than their fair share

And then thereby deprive

The meek,

The fair,

The slow,

The weak,

Of their

Portion of life’s posting

And to rashly ask why this should be

Will earn a vehement roasting.

.

---

© J Cosmo Newbery 2014

---

717 : A certain old harlot of Suva

ROTFL had the prompt "Domestic Appliances".

A certain old harlot of Suva

Thought she was some kind of a groover;

She entertained all the boys

With a selection of toys

That she ran with a secondhand Hoover.

She played out her role as a whore

Then rolled over and started to snore:

There, tattooed on her bum,

For those who’d just come

Was ‘Pay on your way out the door.”

.

---

© J Cosmo Newbery 2014

---

716 : The Absolute Pits

Sunday Whirl (Wordle #165) presents a list of words

that we must incorporate in a writing piece.  

The words this week are:

wish, porcelain, split, cliff, whistle, rip, chimney,

habits, drilled, six, fortunes, drink, pit

The Absolute Pits

Where have we come,

Where chimneys are viewed

As prettier than windmills?

Where we rip coal from

The bowels of the earth

To burn, to pollute

To increase the fortunes 

Of an arrogant few.

Where the ground is drilled,

The rock is split

To release gas to burn

But to make the water

Unfit to drink.

Where we think 

We can pollute 

With impunity

And just wish away

The consequences?

Where dog-whistle politics

Drives us relentlessly

Towards the edge of the cliff

Of survival.

Where we are encouraged 

To gaze at the horizon

And ignore the precipice

Before us.

Crystal decanters, 

Fine linen cloths,

And porcelain tea services,

Mean little

If you cannot 

Breathe the air

Or drink the water.

Of the seven deadly sins,

Six are nasty enough, 

Bad habits for the owner,

But greed, 

Greed has a wider impact—

Greed hurts everyone.

.

---

© J Cosmo Newbery 2014

---

715 : George and the Dragon, the remake.

Three Word Wednesday requires participants

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

The words this week were: crisis, gripe, stall.

Not sure why I went down the dragon line.

Perhaps it was due to the comments to the previous post.

With a guest appearance by Miss Osner's dachshunds.

George and the Dragon

An alternative account.

They left in a fanfare of enthusiasm

With laughter, cheers and snickers

Some people threw long paper streamers

Some women threw their knickers.

The group consisted of a gallant crew,

Each ready to do what they must,

They had tents and beds and socks and pans,

And a hose, to settle dust.

Their leader was a well known knight

On a beautiful snow white horse.

He thought he was God’s gift to man

And to the girls, of course.

The rest of this merry but motley band

Was a bunch of erstwhile rebels;

A banker, a dancer, several accountants

And two dachshunds called Oskar and Pebbles.

They soon encountered a serious glitch,

A crisis of the nastiest kind:

In the rush to mount the expedition

They’d left their cook behind.

So what to do?  They’d a dragon yet to find

But still they had to eat.

But none have ever entered a kitchen

So had no taste for heat.

“If I have one gripe”, the banker said,

“It’s the lack of decent cheese” 

“Who needs a cook to prepare your meals

If you have bread and ripened bries?”

“I smell burning”, an accountant claimed

“Is someone trying to grill?”

“Well, it’s me!” a large and scaly dragon said

Have you writ and filed your will?”

“Yikes!” the band exclaimed in deep dismay

“We never saw you sitting there!

Please don’t flame grill our wretched team

It would be terribly unfair!”

The dragon was loath to stall his feast

He fancied a nice barbecue;

The team were not so keen with this

And pondered what to do.

At last they talked to the dragon’s team

And a deal was finally forged;

A simple vote then settled the deal

And the dragon was well fed, 

By George.

.

---

© J Cosmo Newbery 2014

---

714 : The Observer

The above photo (or something a bit like it)

was the prompt at The Mag.

Made me think of spying.

The Observer

In the field of diplomacy

Things go on that we never see,

In back rooms and transit vans

Wires are tapped and photos scanned.

We watch them

And they watch us

The only time there’s any fuss

Is when they catch us doing it.

They hack into our lines 

And then try to find

Evidence of morality failure,

Useful for the creative blackmailer.

We watch them

And they watch us

The only time there’s any fuss

Is when they catch us doing it.

It’s not always a glamorous job

It’s enough to make a grown spy sob

Listening to the President’s wife

Rambling on about palace life.

We watch them

And they watch us

The only time there’s any fuss

Is when they catch us doing it.

.

---

© J Cosmo Newbery 2014

---

713 : Miss Quoted.

Mad Kane has a weekly limerick challenge.

She provides the first line rhyme word,

The rest is up to us.

Miss Quoted.

A fellow was trying to write

A poem, on a girl, at night.

While his notepad was raw,

He fell out with the law

As his poem wasn’t polite.

.

---

© J Cosmo Newbery 2014

---

712 : Hearts and Flowers

In response to but not entirely meeting an
 “Imaginary Garden with Real Toads” prompt.

Image provided by a friend.

While they are a gift,

The heart is in the sending,

Not just the flowers.

.

---

© J Cosmo Newbery 2014

---

711 : The Sum of a Beach

Sunday Whirl (Wordle #164) presents a list of words

that we must incorporate in a writing piece.  

The words this week are:

muffled, sizzle, back, language, numbers, single,

right, power, existence, stomping, hello, place

The Sum of a Beach.

At a time when existence is one of recurring waves of despair,

despair for our humanity, our planet, our future,

the beach is a place to put it all back in perspective.

You hear it before you see it,

Approaching it

Through the scrubby bush,

A gentle muffled noise,

Like cellophane scrunching,

Then silence.

Again the noise, 

Then silence.

Labouring through 

Loose dry sand

You trudge on, 

Until the scene 

Opens before you.

A broad expanse of sand,

With waves breaking along it.

Children, running to and fro,

Squealing with delight,

Racing in and out of the water,

Building sand castles

With tunnels 

And moats,

And stomping on them 

To the delight 

Or sometimes 

Dismay 

Of the budding architects.

Laughter, the common language.

Dogs, wet and excited,

Rush up to say “hello”

Then gallop off to chase

Flocks 

Of disdainful gulls,

Or balls,

Or children,

Or each other,

Running right into the waves

And galloping out again,

Dripping both salty water

And the foamy 

Slobber of excitement.

Seaweed in long strands,

Like strings of pearls,

Litter the high tide line.

Cuttlefish bones,

In numbers 

To numerous to count,

Litter the sand,

Like so many 

Abandoned surfboards.

The crazy kaleidoscope of beach life:

Hats, zinc cream, ice-cream, 

Parents in whatever shade they can find, 

The well tanned and the well cooked, 

The sizzle of the BBQs, 

The swimmers bobbing in the water, 

The surfers wobbling towards the shore, 

A single yacht, far out on the horizon, 

Appears frozen in time and space, 

But probably isn’t.

All the while

The waves,

With a understated power,

Break and retreat.

Break and retreat.

The rhythm of life.

.

---

© J Cosmo Newbery 2014

---

710 : Two Halves

Three Word Wednesday requires participants

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

The words this week were: bond, grumble, painless.

Two Halves.

What is it 

That creates a bond,

A bridge, 

A meeting of minds?

What permits 

An intersecting

Of Souls 

Of different kinds?

We agree

That it’s not easy.

Reflecting,

We grumble 

But accept 

It’s not painless 

But see beyond

To where 

Memories 

Are kept.

.

---

© J Cosmo Newbery 2014

---

709 : The New Day

Sunday Whirl (Wordle #163) presents a list of words

that we must incorporate in a writing piece.  

The words this week are:

sturdy, scent, propel, chase, terrain, fluid,

paving, launch, countless, field, lean, jovial

The New Day

Some people fall from bed.

Some people crawl from bed,

Reluctant to leave this padded field of dreams

For the, they say, cold terrain of reality;

They're happier to stay in their feathered bed

With sturdy little legs (on the bed)

And generous padding and woolly embrace

(Still talking about the bed)

Rather than propel themselves into a new day,

Rather than to launch themselves upon

A, quite frankly, uncaring world.

They remain snug, comatose and curled

Like so many sleeping slugs

Found beneath my paving stones.

Others, of course,

(And they are hated by the first)

Burst from their beds,

Bright-eyed and jovial,

Eager to venture forth,

Liking nothing better than

To lean reflectively against trees

In the early morning light,

Cupping their hands 

Around mugs of hot fluids

(Not always herbal teas

Despite the aspersions made by 

Their less energetic 

And horizontal opposites)

They stand there,

With the hot fluids of their choice,

Watching the world unfold,

As the sun breaks through the leaves,

As small birds flit from bush to bush,

Chasing equally flitty insects,

As webs boast their jewellery of evening dew,

Absorbing the smells, the sights, the sounds,

Heaven seen,

Heaven heard,

Heaven scent.

.

---

© J Cosmo Newbery 2014

---

708 : Friends

Poets United had the prompt ‘Best Friend’.

Friends

Friends are like condoms; 

they protect you when things get hard.

 – Anon.

I have never 

Understood

Why diamonds 

Are a girl’s

Best friend

Yet we are told

That a man’s 

Best friend 

Is a dog.

Curiously,

Hedging my bets,

I did once 

Have a dog

Called 

Gem.

.

---

© J Cosmo Newbery 2014

---

707 : Wonder Women

Three Word Wednesday requires participants

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

The words this week were: stab, meddlesome, and feisty.

Just a writing exercise .

Not all women are like this, thankfully.

Wonder Women

Meddlesome women 

Are the pits—

Interfering so and so’s;

With hands on hips

And feisty displays

They tell you

That they just know

The hows

The whys—

They tell you now

The ways

Your life fails

To meet their mark.

Could they be

Hormonal misfits?

(It’s just a stab in the dark.)

.

---

© J Cosmo Newbery 2014

---

706 : The Roulette Player

It is easier for the mare when a woman gets off the cart. 

– Russian Proverb.

The Roulette Player

The job is yours, you said.

Make it work!

And make it work I did,

An auditor was impressed,

Best he’d seen, he said.

Anywhere, he said.

That felt really good.

But then, 

When I was away,

Why did you have to play with it?

Why does it no longer work?

Do you realize how 

Your embarrassed smile

And obscuring excuses 

Irritate?

Click.  Click. Click.

Are you a gambler?

How many chambers 

Of my temper

Are empty?

.

---

© J Cosmo Newbery 2014

---

705 : No pillow here.

For a northern Wren

Jonquils—nice to watch.

While distance lends enchantment,

They are quite bitter.

.

---

© J Cosmo Newbery 2014

---

704 : A Massive Mistake

Three Word Wednesday requires participants

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

The words this week were: massive, ruin and strain.

A Massive Mistake

The television chefs of today

Struggle to reach the light,

The strain of producing something new

Ruins many a sleepless night.

Seeking new flavours

To win the favours

Of those who will judge their cake—

But sardines

Combined
With marmalade?

That was a massive mistake.

.

---

© J Cosmo Newbery 2014

---

703 : The Skin Mine

Sunday Whirl (Wordle #161) presents a list of words

that we must incorporate in a writing piece.  

The words this week are:

altitude, disaster, force, chaos, why, people,

plastic, alabaster, bread, mine, any, graphic.

The Skin Mine

What do people see in the porn

That fills the internet?

Watched from a discrete altitude,

To see but not to get?

Alabaster skin, with little worn,

Brazilians, t-shirts wet,

And plastic breasts that protrude

Unlike any natural set.

The actors do it for their bread,

Their willingness is sold.

But why do others interact 

With something they can’t hold?

They’re not forced to put this in their head,

No disasters will unfold,

Just graphic images of a chaotic act.

Or so I have been told. 

.

---

© J Cosmo Newbery 2014

---

702 : Cold Comfort

Cold Comfort

My eyes are sore,

I cannot taste,

My nose is full of mucoid waste,

I pop some pills

I sip some tea

A hammer beats where my brain should be

I pass the time,

And, on request,

Make dirty phone calls, as a jest.

.

---

© J Cosmo Newbery 2014

---

(I have a "Paul Robeson" sort of voice.  Pity I can't sing.)

...

701 : A Bleak Future

Three Word Wednesday requires participants

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

The words this week were: absurd, groan and weak.

A Bleak Future

It’s madness.

A policy absurd.

A fascist dream.

One pretty dumb;

To think the poor

Can live on less,

And less,

And less,

Infinitum.

Most bleak—

The old,

The poor,

The sick

The weak,

Transgress

The party purist’s view;

Are chastised 

If a groan is heard;

Knuckle down,

Just make do,

Get by,

Struggle,

And survive,

Or try,

While blessed

With leaders who are,

Inter alia,

Fools

And cruel

And lowly bred

Genitalia.

.

---

© J Cosmo Newbery 2014

---

700 : Quarantined

Three Word Wednesday requires participants

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

The words this week were: acrid, dramatic and quarantine.

A porn star, dramatic in the cot,

Was alarmed when he developed a rot.

It was so acrid and red

The medics all fled

And quarantined the dill on the spot.

.

---

© J Cosmo Newbery 2014

---

699 : The Black Bird

Sunday Whirl (Wordle #159) presents a list of words

that we must incorporate in a writing piece.  

The words this week are:

blackbird, night, broken, wings, life, moment, 


arise, eyes, free, light, see, dead

The Black Bird

Black,

Sombre,

Cadaverous;

The grim keeper

Of malice and bile

Sits

Silently,

Perched up high,

Watching in sullen grey tones

The moments

Of life

As they pass by her eyes,

Broken only by the light and dark

Of a flickering timeline.

Her cold black, gimlet eyes,

Sharp eyes,

Piercing eyes,

Dead and lifeless

Judging eyes,

All seeing hate-filled eyes,

Watch

As she sits

Wings folded behind her,

Like a mortician

Watching the mourners arrive.

Nights come and go

But the darkness remains

She sees all

But says nothing

Free to arise and go

Yet not to.

Black,

Sombre,

Cadaverous,

Watching.

.

---

© J Cosmo Newbery 2014

---

698 : A Drop in Time

Three Word Wednesday requires participants

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

The words this week were: Adept, Edible and Viscous.

The poem is based on one of the longest running scientific experiments.

You can read about it and see a 17sec clip of it dripping here.

A Drop in Time

A scientist took great delight

While, watching with his peers,

A coal-black glacial movement which

Dripped every thirteen years.

The pitch was in a funnel,

A thick and viscous goo,

It looked a bit like Vegemite

And was just as edible too.

The curator was a thorough man,

Adept and quite persistent,

But on his watch it dripped three times

And every time he missed it.

.

---

© J Cosmo Newbery 2014

---