REALLY?

WEEKLY SCRIBBLINGS #89  Rosemary asks us to consider realism.  I offer a series of vignettes that might be called maverick limericks in that they are a line short and have a different rhyming scheme.  The first indulges in realism, the next three consider the realist.  Submitted to Poets and Storytellers United, September 29, 2021

There once was a dog named Sport

Daily he walked with Sam

When asked who’s in charge

The dog would answer “I am!”

        ***

There once was a girl named Rosie

A pragmatic realist, cute and hip

“Nay, I’m a realistic pragmatist“, said Rosie

“I practice shooting from the lip.”

***

There once was a fellow named Nate

Who practiced the art of realism

Nate always had just one answer

With no possibility of schism.

***

There once was a fellow named Arthur

Practicing realism with a rowdy shout

His answer was sure to be loud and blunt

With him there was never a doubt.

LADY MOONGLOW

 It's Tuesday Poetics, and Lillian has given us a site that lists the #1 hits in the year of our birth, and challenges us to use that title in our poem.  I'm not sure whether to be insulted, to weep or laugh.  I am apparently so old the calendar at the site begins in l940 when I was 6 years old!  I had to look elsewhere to discover #1 in my birth year was "Moon Glow" by.Benny Goodman.  But along the way I wondered why we consider the moon to be masculine.  Submitted to dVerse, 9/20/21

**************

Why do we say man in the moon

Why not lady of midnight

Could the moon cast her moonglow

On objects below 

Could she send her magic moonlight

Moonbeaming lovers in the dark

Who says that's not right

Being the queen of romance

and star-studded dance

Could we just for once say

The lady shines tonight? 

GROCERY MIGRAINE

Haibun/Haiku and Frank asks us to overcome writers' block for our haibun this early autumn day.  Having made a quick (?) stop at the grocery, I had no trouble with block at all!  Submitted to dVerse 9/27/21

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                                      GROCER MIGRAINE

In the Stone Age, when I was a child, the grocer in our little town had shelves stocked with everything from crackers to bag balm.  It was a folksy little place where the local farmers gathered to visit a bit before going home to do the chores, and kids could get a towering ice cream cone for a dime.  I was thinking of it this week while bumbling about my ex-favorite grocery trying to find the items on my list.  The store is being converted to one of those mega-nightmares where I need a golf cart to get from produce to paper products.  Nothing is where it used to be, and the layout, I’m sure, was created by a demented chimp on speed.  A pound of coffee used to be 16 ounces, and picking up a box of crackers used to be a simple thing once upon a long ago.  Now crackers gives me a headache.  Low fat or no fat?  Extra thin and crispy?  Do I want regular, salt-free or low salt, cheddar flavor, ranch or barbeque, baked or traditional?  It’s enough to leave hapless shoppers in a corner in the fetal position.   My friends and I are in our senior years.  We wear out quickly.  We have decided to lobby for a first-aid station somewhre mid--store!

Grocer marathon

Requires time and stamina

No more quick pick-ups

WHAT'S UP?

 Writer's Pantrv #89, and I've indulged in a bit of word play.  Heaven knows the English language provides enough fodder for the mill when it comes to word play.  Submitted to Poets & Storytellers United,  September 26, 2021.

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                WHAT'S UP?

The English language has lots of idiosyncrasies,

 not the least of which is  the little word up.  

Attempting to explain it to someone learning 

English is a lesson in frustration.  Give up, 

for example, is to concede, hold up is to rob;

and a tossup is equally divided.  While makeup 

 means cosmetics applied to one’s face, to make up 

is to mend a  fractured relationship.  Put up 

implies to restore to proper place; but undesired 

people are someone you won’t put up with.  

To begin is to start up, but an impertinent 

person is an upstart.  A person over-impressed 

with themselves is said to be stuck up (or uppity), but to 

rob at gunpoint is a stickup. There are numerous

more uses,  but it’s best to simply avoid  the word 

up when helping someone learn English,  It just 

leaves them...you guessed it...all mixed up.  It’s no 

surprise a common greeting is WHAT’S UP?

DAYS GONE BY

MUSE #179

 

AUTUMN DAYS

 WEEKLY SCRIBBLINGS   Autumnal Equinox, and Magaly has given us a choice of phrases to include in our poem.  I've chosen "I see you". Submitted to Poets & Storytellers United, 9/22/21

Autumn enters on sodden feet--

the kind of rain that leaves us

searching for a fleece jacket

and thinking of bonfires

The last roses of summer bloom

bright and stubborn,

rebuffing the chill distraction, 

the burning bushes have yet

to don their coats of scarlet 

and the hills are still green.

 

refusing to bow to the

first days of autumn.  Here 

in my world we anticipate

those golden days we call

Indian summer, when the

scarecrows say “I see you”, and

gorgeous fall displays appear 

everywhere--pumpkins, gourds, 

chrysanthemums, straw bales

and joy---and  we know at last

autumn has truly arrived.

APPLE ORCHARD DAY

 POETICS TUESDAY.  Mish's challenge has us considering the marvelous fruits of autumn.  Autumn trips to the apple orchard were part of my childhood.  Submited to dVerse 9/21/2021.

                                                It was autumn tradition -- apple orchard day!

                                                A country drive down sun kissed roads,

                                                painted leaves skittering across the road,

                                                the sky a clear and cloudless cobalt blue.

                                                At last, the familiar apple barn!

                                                Savoring its heady. sweet smell

                                                we’re offered cups of spiced cider

                                                while mother chooses her familiar

                                                --red delicious, jonathans, 

                                                  Grimes goldens--every year exactly

                                                 4 1/2 bushels--we eye the caramel

                                                 apples that will be take-home treats..

                                                 With a trunk full of apples, off we go.

                                                munching our crisp, juicy apples.

                                                 Within two weeks, the shelves in

                                                Mother’s larder are lined with

                                                sparkling jars of apple butter, apple sauce,

                                                apple jelly, and sliced apples for pies; 

                                                the rest in cool storage bins for school day

                                                snacks and the winter traditional Sunday 

                                                supper of popcorn and crisp apples.

                                                Another year, another apple orchard day.

                                                Ah, bliss!.