784 - Detachment

Three Word Wednesday requires participants

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

The words this week were: misery, privilege & stale.

A cheery bunch, but here goes:

Detachment

Dedicated to Smokin' Joe

Men of privilege laugh and joke

About their balance sheet,

Inflicting misery onto those

They hope to never meet.

Far below, in the poorer parts,

Life is far from merry:

They’re born, 

They work, 

They struggle on,

Until, finally, they bury.

They hear the laughter from the hill,

It adds to their despair.

While the stale smell of good cigars 

Hangs heavy in the air.

 .

---

© J Cosmo Newbery 2015

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783 - Vacant

I went back again.

They said it was a mistake.

I understand now.

 .

---

© J Cosmo Newbery 2015

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782 - You Never Know

Photo from Nepal by Samantha Chin.

You Never Know

You never know the prints you leave

Or even if the snows will grieve

When time and times erase

Your clear but superficial trace.

When we can no longer perceive

That certain presence you would weave

Only then will we believe

But hope still lives in that empty space—

You never know.

We harbor the hope that we can retrieve

That sense of life, that joie de vivre.

An enticing thought we can’t erase

And draw comfort from its warm embrace;

Maybe simple, maybe naïve.

You never know.

 .

---

© J Cosmo Newbery 2015

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"I may be gone a while..."

In the late '70s to mid '90s, I wrote to companies,

poking the finger of scorn at their advertisements

and published the letters and the answers here.

In the mid '90s until the early 2000s,

I wrote letters to Nigerian conmen

and published the letters and the answers here.

From 2006 until recently,

I wrote various poems.

You know where they are.

My muses are no longer what they were.

My recent writings here have been forced,

heavy and unsatisfying.

Time to move on,

Time to write something else.

Thank you, all of you,

It's been fun.

Cos.

781 - Hard Pressed

Three Word Wednesday requires participants

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

The words this week were: content, evolve & sober.

Hard Pressed

The media makes a great hullabaloo

About things they wish to pursue.

The content is skewed,

However it’s viewed,

And the truth is rarely on view.

◊◊◊

They assume that their readers are dead,

And are wanting a distraction instead,

So the page three depicts

Some extraordinary tits

Evolved for a double page spread.

◊◊◊

The truth is the promise, rehearsed,

In fact it’s just the reverse:

They create a great flap

That is one-sided crap,

And if watching it sober, it’s worse.

 .

---

© J Cosmo Newbery 2015

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780 - No Relation

Wordle 199: empty, held, memory, saintly, crack, track,

wrestle, pebbles, cue, act, science, angel

3WW : Devious, frown & venomous.

No Relation

Politics have no relation to morals. 

Niccolo Machiavelli

Act I

Promises made,

But not held,

Fall like pebbles

Into a black lake

To ripple briefly

And then vanish 

From sight

And memory.

“No more questions”

Says the minder.

The guy with the tie

Turns, on cue,

Walks in side

Protected.

People frown,

Wrestle with the 

Devious ambiguity

Of what they think 

They may have heard.

Ripples fade.

Act II

A pit of vipers,

Venomous, spiteful,

Spit empty words,

Across the chamber.

Sharp though.

Meant to hurt,

To wound.

But it’s all an act.

Acting out a battle

With no winners

And no end.

Act III

Two tribes

Core troops

Crack troops

Face off

Meanwhile,

In the middle ground,

Between the two,

The undecided 

Swither.

Which one

Is the lesser?

Act IV

Science is wrong.

The facts lie.

Trust me.

Act V

The lighting.

The make up.

Flags.  

Suit.  

Tie.

The saintly presentation.

I am an angel.

I will save you.
I promise.

Trust me.

Love me.

Vote for me.

Act VI

Behind the saintly façade,

Black dogs,

Attack dogs,

On the track dogs,

Bring down 

And maul

Their prey.

No prisoners.

[Repeat]

 .

---

© J Cosmo Newbery 2015

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One of the reasons people hate politics 

is that truth is rarely a politician's objective. 

Election and power are.

Cal Thomas

779 - Desire:Shiver:Wilt

Three Word Wednesday requires participants

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

The words this week were: desire, shiver & wilt.

To Desire. To Shiver. To Wilt.

Desire.

The wanting to have and to hold

That which is beyond you,

A fact you’ve yet to find,

A thing or a person who

Appeals

Irrationally steals

Your mind

Leaving fog in its place

Leaving you to run blindly, controlled

By the challenge of the chase.

Shiver.

There is that first moment of doubt

When what you think you saw

When viewed a bit obliquely

Displays a worrying flaw

A crack

It takes you aback

To see

What was perfect yesterday

Now has brought the shivers out

And you take a step away.

Wilt.

Everything living must die.

But love can linger on.

While it too is a living thing

The substance it feeds upon

Is care

And regular repair.

This brings 

Us to where most tears are spilt—

If nourishment is not oft applied

Love will quickly wilt.

 .

---

© J Cosmo Newbery 2015

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778 - The Captain

Sunday Whirl (Wordle #197) presents a list of words

that we must incorporate in a writing piece.  

The words this week are:

rescue, patron, day, measure, spread, race,

state, host, spend, ticking, cloud, humility

Ther might be just a little bit of Australian politics in this...

The Captain

“Who will rescue us?”, the people wailed

As their ship is tossed yet slowing,

“We don’t well like where we’ve been

And have no idea where we’re going”.

“The Captain’s lost his marbles

Since the day he came to power,

It’s not what ticks that makes us fret,

It’s the cuckoos, on the hour.”

“His guiding light is Saint Lizzardtongue,

From the land of Déjà vu;

The patron saint of those remorseful folk

Who should repent but never, ever do.

Humility is a foreign state

As he races around the deck,

On a bike, in Lycra shorts,

With a knighthood around his neck.

In fairness to this hapless dolt,

He hosts a motley crew,

All of them are a slimey lot,

Like pots of playschool glue.

The people fret in the cargo hold

While the crew ignore their howls

By any measure, they distort the truth 

And then spread it on with trowels.

So the days are spent on the cloudy seas

With a Captain, none too bright;

The compass points them straight ahead

But he steers them to the right.

“Who will rescue us?”, the people wailed

As their ship is tossed yet slowing,

“We don’t well like where we’ve been

And have no idea where we’re going”.

 .

---

© J Cosmo Newbery 2015

---

777 - Modest Ambitions

Three Word Wednesday requires participants

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

The words this week were: modest, distracted, and genuine.

Modest Ambitions

A modest little man 

In a modest little house

Had a modest little job

And a modest little spouse.

Early every morning

He would tumble from his bed

Shave his prickly face

And leave to earn his bread.

The little modest man

Had a genuine desire

To move to Moonee Ponds

And comfortably retire.

Moonee Ponds was fabled

As a land of milk and honey,

Gladioli grew there abouts

Though the water tasted funny.

The little modest man

Toiled throughout the day

Never distracted by the thought

That his dream was far away.

The little modest man

Shuffled off his mortal coil

They had his ashes scattered

Upon his longed for soil.

But the little modest spouse

Of the little modest geezer

Banked the insurance cheque

And moved to Indonesia.

 .

---

© J Cosmo Newbery 2015

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776 - Much haiku about something.

Illustration by gipi.

Sunday Whirl (Wordle #195) presents a list of words

that we must incorporate in a writing piece.  

The words this week are:

capitulate, ennui, sense, end, condemn, list,

single, inky, smell, render, generate, channel

Much haiku about something.

A true God is love,

Or so the story is told.

Actions disagree.

◊◊◊

When a single God

Needs to be channeled through man

He’s rendered useless.

◊◊◊

Fundamentalists

Use guns to push old ideas.

Inky responses.

◊◊◊

Capitulation

Is not on the agenda

No sense of an end.

◊◊◊

While quick to condemn

The press smells a good story

And generates fear.

◊◊◊

“They envy our life”

Say our leaders, piously.

How wrong can they be.

◊◊◊

Feelings are aroused,

Anger replaces ennui,

But impotence too.

◊◊◊

All religions kill

And kill, time and time again,

The list is endless.

 .

---

© J Cosmo Newbery 2015

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775 - A Savage Awakening

Three Word Wednesday requires participants

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

The words this week were: savage, electric, and passionate.

A Savage Awakening.

The object of his passionate favours

Was a household labour-saver.

But the electric supply

Brought a tear to his eye

And a scream that woke all the neighbours.

 .

---

© J Cosmo Newbery 2015

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- - -

774 - Fragments

Three Word Wednesday requires participants

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

The words this week were: jovial, promise, and resolute.

Fragments

I

A pizza without any anchovy’ll

Be scorned by the cognoscenti;

The Maffia, never particularly jovial,

Will demand anchovies a-plenty.

◊

II

Everything has promise.

◊

III

New Year’s a time of reflection,

Seldom sober, often in sorrow.

Resolute, we chart the ‘better us’’—

But can we hold off until tomorrow?

 .

---

© J Cosmo Newbery 2014

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773 - Early Morning

Early Morning

Early morning
Gloom hangs heavy
She's standing up
— I had to use the spray
That makes no sense
— My jaw hurt
xxxAnd my chest was tight
xxxI used the spray
xxxMy pulse was racing
xxxIt’s better now
She sits on the side of the bed
Bent over
Hugging a pillow
— What time is it?
xxxAbout five
xxxNo, what time is it exactly?
xxxFour fifty nine
The penny drops
— Use the spray they had said
xxxIf the pain doesn’t stop
xxxIn five minutes
xxxCall an ambulance
She’s waiting
— It’s easing now
She lies down
And sleeps
I lie beside her
Wide awake

 .

© J Cosmo Newbery 2014

Christmas 2014

772 - The Silly Season

Three Word Wednesday requires participants

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

The words this week were: alive, glaring, and misty.

The Silly Season

In a time of tinsel and of elves

The Press is pretty smitten.

Headlines shout, in glaring font,

Of folk with guns.  And kittens.

Perhaps, in their misty mental voids,

They dream to mesh the two—

Longing for gun tottin’ catty types,

Who (bonus points) are fond of vindaloo.

At a time when just being alive

Is a blessing we can use,

Should we really concern ourselves

With what passes for the news? 

 .

---

© J Cosmo Newbery 2014

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771 - The Dismissal

Three Word Wednesday requires participants

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

The words this week (well really last week,

there have been distractions) were: blunt, drunk, and lethargic.

The Dismissal

Is it the case, 

In this modern world,

That courtesy and attention

Are suspect and derided?

That simple respect is dismissed 

With a lethargic wave of the hand

And a bluntly delivered “Whatever”?

Where are our manners?

What are we thinking?

Are we so removed from the 

Niceties of a truly civil society 

That we are immune to politeness?

Or are we so embarrassed by it

As to enquire as to the sobriety 

Of the unfortunate person

As if they must be drunk

To be polite?

That to show

Consideration or concern 

Is not the act of a person

In control of their own actions?

 .

---

© J Cosmo Newbery 2014

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770 - Corrupting a Miner

Three Word Wednesday requires participants

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

The words this week were: compact, jubilant, and neglected.

Corrupting a Miner

Deathbed confessions of Mr Faust, Industrialist.

“There’s something I neglected to tell you;

It’s a trifling little thing,

But you probably need to know of it,

Before the death bells ring.

I made a compact with the Devil

And traded off my soul,

And in return he gave to me 

Vast reserves of coal.

I dug it up and shipped it out

As is an owner’s right.

The shareholders were all jubilant 

And danced into the night.

There were those who whinged about the smoke

And the supposed nasty fumes,

But they, like me, could have moved away

To a house of twenty rooms.

But now I’ve reach my twilight time

I feel a slight remorse:

If I’d dug it up twice as fast,

I’d die twice as rich, of course.

There’s a consequence of my actions,

Which gave the Devil mirth,

Having sold my soul for eternity,

I’ve bequeathed you Hell on Earth.

.

---

© J Cosmo Newbery 2014

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769 - Our Country

Three Word Wednesday requires participants

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

The words this week were: fiery, notorious and toxic.

Our Country

There’s the fear of snakes and spiders,

And all the nasty things,

Like Portuguese ‘Men of War’,

With their paralyzing stings.

And the fear of red-back spiders

Beneath the toilet seat

They make ablutions a fraught affair—

To dump and then retreat.

I shun the toxic mushrooms

And the notorious Great White shark,

Or the crocodiles that can be found

Within our national parks.

I dread to meet with bull-ants,

Or the wasps, whose sting is rotten,

And Sea Urchins who sound so sweet,

But once met are not forgotten.

There's drab and oil-filled eucalypts

All crispy in the sun,

Waiting for that wayward spark

To let the firestorm run.

But for all the noxious wildlife,

And the fiery dispositions,

The things that scare me most of all

Are our right-wing politicians.

.

---

© J Cosmo Newbery 2014

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768 - Old Flames

Old Flames

Where do flames go, after they die?

They, who glowed to brightened our day,

Just disappear with scant ‘good-bye’—

Where do they go when they go away?

Is there a divide they must traverse?

Lingering briefly as a wisp of white

To swirl and twist and then disperse,

Like ghosts that slip into the night.

Where do flames go when they go out?

They were so real, with warmth and grace,

It’s hard to think they are not about,

They must live on in some other place.

But our Heaven wont suit them well—

Perhaps old flames just collect in Hell.

.

---

© J Cosmo Newbery 2014

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767 - The Outlook

Sunday Whirl (Wordle #185) presents a list of words

that we must incorporate in a writing piece.  

The words this week are:

standing, satisfied, burn, jaded, spark, rain

way, sun, cold, grey, joy, slash

The Outlook

The boards

Of the old verandah,

The one his father built,

Are loose and curled.

He has been standing there

For some time,

Watching,

Watching the land,

Watching the sky,

Watching in a way

That only farmers do.

Some days are cold and grey

But the rains don’t fall

Others break records,

Either way

Both break hearts.

There is no joy

There is nothing 

To spark hope

For the next season.

The rains of yesteryear

No longer come.

He stands there,

Watching,

His dams are drying,

His flock are dying.

What light rains fall

Do more harm than good—

Sprouting seeds

Only to see 

The next day’s sun 

Burn them,

Turn them in to crisp,

Parodies of grass.

With nothing to hold them,

The soils blow away

In rolling,

Tumbling,

Dust clouds.

His family

Built this farm

They ploughed,

They slashed,

They tended to sheep,

And sunk posts 

Into rocky soil.

They cared for what they had.

Now, jaded, despairing,

He stands on the verandah

In the shade,

Watching,

As it all cracks

And dries,

And blows away.

Meanwhile,

Miles away,

In air-conditioned offices,

Coalminers

Are satisfied


With this year’s profits
And the short term outlook.

.

---

© J Cosmo Newbery 2014

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766 - Yes, I Remember.

Three Word Wednesday requires participants

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

The words this week were: blood, cripple and lurk.

Yes, I remember.

In Canberra, 

There is only one show,

A blood sport above all others, 

Where socially crippled MPs,

Spawned from unwed mothers,

Debate dull matters 

Like state decrees.

You can’t really call it work.

As soft and cushy jobs go,

It’s a pretty good lurk.

.

---

© J Cosmo Newbery 2014

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765 - The Psychic

Sunday Whirl (Wordle #183) presents a list of words

that we must incorporate in a writing piece.  

The words this week are:

shine, crazy, diamond, martyr, seer, secret,

laughter, prisoner, childhood, steel, stranger, shadow

The Psychic

She sat quietly, reflectively.

She could see what was coming.

Around her a small crowd had gathered.

A man, a farmer, speaks up: 

“Tell us", he asks, "of the seasons.”

The sun will shine but ever more so,

The earth will crack and dry;

Even shadows will be crisp and hot,

The crops will wilt and die.

The crowd murmured anxiously,

Unhappy with her words.

A woman asked 

“Will there be wealth?”

You will have enormous wealth,

Diamonds, gold and silken thread,

But none of this will feed you,

And you’ll die both rich and underfed.

The woman called her crazy 

And stormed away in pain,

While a nervous laughter 

Rippled through the crowd.

A soldier stepped forward.  

“And what of us, defenders of the realm?”

She was quiet a while before she spoke.

You are a martyr to another’s dream,

A pawn on a checkered board;

It’s no secret that you are used

For the benefit of our lords.

A small child then asked, nervously

“What of me?  What do you see for me?”

Your childhood is an illusion

Your future even more so;

You will forever be a prisoner 

To the will of the status quo.

Finally, a stranger to the village spoke up.

“Is there anything to give us hope?”

She looked at him blankly before saying:

Will the people steel themselves

To take control of their daily things?

Will they tackle the issues

And bear the pain this brings?

Probably not, 
she added, underneath her breath.

The crowd, unhappy with the message,

Regardless of its truth,

Then beat the seer to death.

.

---

© J Cosmo Newbery 2014

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764 - Post-Mortem

Three Word Wednesday requires participants

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

The words this week were: gifted, intense and rot.

Post-Mortem

When, at last, the veil is lifted

On the stewardship we’ve shown,

When the rot is all dissected,

When the true neglect is known,

The inquest 

Will attest:

“Connected but intensely unaware.

To them, a paradise was gifted,

But they didn’t seem to care."

.

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© J Cosmo Newbery 2014

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763 - On The Other Hand

Sunday Whirl (Wordle #182) presents a list of words

that we must incorporate in a writing piece.  

The words this week are:

machine, flesh, tease, lotion, gimmick, hypnotizing,

lust, chickens, torture, uniform, liquor, brains, trains

On The Other Hand

There are machines that take our jobs

But do ones that have been fatal to children in the past.

Whores sell their flesh

But some use the money to educate and feed their family.

Advertisers tease us

But commerce is what pays for our jobs.

The cosmetics industry sells fake lotions

But placebos have been shown to work.

Every week there is a new gimmick

But we crave variety and change.

We are hypnotized by affluence

But few can really achieve it.

We are expected to lust for more

But we live in a finite world.

We imprison people

But demand chickens be released from their cages.

We are promised uniform opportunity

But the promise is never kept.

We are told we over-consume liquor

But have seen the effects of prohibition.

Our brains are used to devise evil things

But they devise miraculous things as well.

The media trains us to be compliant

But we sometimes rebel when we see a wrong.

We take firm ‘moral’ stands on every issue

But refuse to consider the value of the other side.

.

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© J Cosmo Newbery 2014

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762 - A Class Act

Three Word Wednesday requires participants

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

The words this week were: arrogant, crude and supple.

A Class Act

There is a certain elegance, 

A certain je ne sais quoi 

In everything they do.

An aloofness 

That is not so much arrogant 

As disdainful;

A presentation to the world 

That is one of entitlement

A regal stance that oozes class 

And separates the social strata.

They walk with a fluidity, 

With a liquid motion 

That captivates, hypnotises.  

There is nothing crude about them, 

They are a quality act.

They display a suppleness 

In their actions and, indeed, 

In their personal hygiene that, 

If extended to teenage boys, 

No homework would ever be done.

.

---

© J Cosmo Newbery 2014

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761 - The Expedition

Sunday Whirl (Wordle #181) presents a list of words

that we must incorporate in a writing piece.  

The words this week are:

sense, speech, sheets, goblets, signs, vital,

name, broken, away, strips, connected, poem

The Expedition

The word had reached the Empire

Of riches far away;

Of spices, gold and willing girls,

Of reindeer and a sleigh,

The vital signs that are required

For a mercenary foray.

The expedition was assembled,

Five bankers had been found,

Endless speeches had been given,

The boat they had was sound,

They filled its hold with puddings,

Rejecting those not round.

The sails were sheets of onion skins

Cut  into even strips,

The ballast was unbroken plates

Though some of them had chips,

And a passing poet was shanghaied,

To record the epic trip.

The captain was a cantaloupe,

The crew, a herd of sheep,

The first mate was a three-toed sloth

And spent the day asleep;

The cook was known to drink a bit

And predisposed to weep.

The bosun was well connected,

His father was an earl,

Who’d sent his son off to the sea

To teach him of the world,

But couldn’t dampen his inner love

Of dressing like a girl.

They charged their goblets and raised a toast,

They named the ship ‘Ptomaine’,

The crew all sensed the moment too

And tried to break their chains,

They then sailed into the setting sun

And were never seen again.

.

---

© J Cosmo Newbery 2014

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760 - Left Luggage

Three Word Wednesday requires participants

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

The words this week were: barren, worry and intense.

Left Luggage

Waiting for God with a vacant stare

Your mind has wandered who knows where.

You have long lost your early bloom

And now test-drive an early tomb.

It’s not exactly intensive care—

They hose you down and comb your hair

And leave you strapped into a chair

In a sparsely furnished room,

Waiting for God.

“You’ll have no worries” they declare

But quietly hope that they wont go there

They leave you there to meet your doom

And never share the twilight gloom,

Life’s a pretty barren affair,

Waiting for God.

.

---

© J Cosmo Newbery 2014

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759 - The Schooling

A posey of flowers marks the spot where ashes

of drowned asylum seekers were scattered.

Sunday Whirl (Wordle #180) presents a list of words

that we must incorporate in a writing piece.  

The words this week are: 

posey, ashes, flames, sticks, lot, fear, 

love, discernment, polarize, identity, selfless, joy

The Schooling

Love comes naturally.

Everything fascinates babies,

Without discernment,

Without prejudice.

Every new experience is filled

With lots of joy and delight.

This is how we arrive:

Selfless.

◊◊◊

Fear is learned.

Fear is taught.

Sometimes through 

The blistering flames of experience

But all too often through the 

Whispering innuendos 

Of tribal groupings:

My people versus your people,

Age, race, colour, gender

All needless labels that send a

Message of stereotype and difference.

Vilification sticks.

Humanity is denied.

◊◊◊

Those who would control us

Know this all too well.

Politicians, advertisers,

Media owners of all types,

Tap into this contrived identity,

Polarize our groups

With the sticks and carrots 

Of fear and envy,

Orchestrated

For their own ends,

A discordant ensemble

Of dog whistles.

Obediently we react,

Stay in our compounds

And bark at strangers.

.

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© J Cosmo Newbery 2014

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