Category: contributors

Too few

GRASP my left hand when you shake and say
HOWDY; my right hand’s holding a parcel, or in your
LINGO, a package. Sometimes I wish I had a
THIRD hand, just for shaking; especially when tough hands crush!           

Leaden Skies

ENNUI, dull note droning all this season,
SPRIGs of hope withering before they green.
LATER days? Is this winter? Or a year of cooling, ash-cloud circulating planet?
SLUNK from me animal spirits, esprit, expectancy.
ARBOReal metaphor to ponder, the dropping of leaves followed by spring
MEDALLing in joy’s event. Or a tree, at whose root the axe is laid, for, say,
TRIBAL longhouse’s lodgepole, thus treasured, yet not standing, or–
WOOZY thought–tree engulfed in wildfire, among tens of thousands, gone.
LINGO might be found to name these story branches, but what word for the not knowing?
HOWDY to all the doubts, the unseen future, to the leaden skies that seem here to stay.
GRASP a slender thread–or sturdy anchor cable?–I am not my own.
THIRD of life left, perhaps. A third of a gift, followed by greater gifts.

Note: I borrowed from Mike and did three days at once.

Bravo for Grace

SKIMP stones across the pond and bridge will fall,
GLEAN skulls from graveyard and heads will grin,
PAYEE on life’s checks will be forgotten, checks will moulder,
BRAVO for any grace that counters entropy.

Ruth’s DQP

BRAVO! says the field owner as I
GLEAN the wheat near the fence. As
PAYEE of his gift I don’t want to
SKIMP on picking up every last grain.

Boaz meets Ruth at the barley harvest – Hollstein

Battered

The
COLONoscopy had left battered young
HARRY in a perfectly precarious state, like a
LARVA who’d bumpily broken out of his cocoon by
SHEAR will and determination, and a misspelling of his process.   

Oy, Such Words

HARRY me with words for DQP such as
COLON? Tis like Delilah’s
SHEARs: My imagination’s strength fails me, not even
LARVAL now, no longer dreaming of a future of flight.

Sleepless, but not in Seattle

APNEA, of the sleeping kind (naturally), is something my
ADULT little brother has. Many inducements to sleep (not of the
CANDY kind) have been offered, but nothing works. If he had an ULCER I’d hardly be surprised. But of ulcers I’ve heard not a peep.          

Adult Life

ULCER, from too much stress.
APNEA, from pounds put on by too much
CANDY, from too much craving.
ADULT life is not simple–the weight of all our choices drags us down.