Gone, and somewhat forgotten

Back in the days when we had a lion TAMER,
when the circus had no strictures to APPLY,
the tamer told the lion his bum to SHUNT;
the lion responded with a shrug and a HUMPH.

1938 Cartoon by Jorge Délano Frederick that motivated the burning of issue No. 285 of Topaze, a Chilean satirical magazine. For the full details behind this very political cartoon, check out this page. Now that the political aspect has gone into the pages of history, the cartoon suits my DQP’s purpose well.

In the wee hours

TUTOR of mine, pardon my
BRAWL, I mean scrawl, which I wrote in a cloud of excess.
EXALT my marks to an A+ I beg,
PRIOR to my deadline. I’m in your thrall, and thee I will bless. 

Handwritten observations on patients – courtesy WellcomeImages

The death of silence

CLANG! the kids are home. Peace no longer reigns as now
ERUPTs the homework pain, the refusal to read the tome.
QUIET has gone like a stolen garden gnome. Vainly I
SAUTĖ my interrupted meal, my late lunch, midst a teenage velodrome.

Invidious position

Back in the day, the hooker in the SCRUM’s
middle, was liddle – as I was, and BESET
by the blokey blokes around me; SMALL,
with bleeding nose, I hung between the props, SADLY.      

In the 50s, the rugby scrum was a different kettle of fish; the hooker, the guy who was supposed to ‘hook’ the ball with his foot, was one of the smaller members of the team, and would literally hang between the two props. These days the hooker is as big and bulky as the rest of the men in the scrum.

Time out of Joint

GLOBE theater, the restless crowd was
BRACEd for camp and bawd, felt time stop, alter course. Hamlet in
FILET collar saw the ghost; on his sword Horatio and Marcellus
SWORE silence. Yet secrets force their telling–his time now runs toward dreaming in the undiscovered land.

Winter be not Proud

LEAFY spring full blooms soon, though winter’s farewells can yet TAUNT. Hellebores and phlox caution winter: “You reckon
BADLY, you overstay”. The sun brawls back, lengthening days, then
MAIZE will plant late spring and herald the sun kingdom, the bask of summer.

Fix it in Post

TENET of modern living: we’ll clean this up in the
MOVIE version with soaring soundtrack. What seems
CHORE, repetitive, graceless, dull, will seem
SMART, suffused with beauty, when the notes tug at hearts.

DIY Jungle

PLUMP for “Rainforest at Home”! Spare no
FRILL! Tame a tapir, perch a silly grinned
SLOTH—slowly, mind you—in a leafy
FICUS crown. Wear a pith helmet to bed!

Regulars

RASPY voices from the corner table: Joe and his
BUDDY Sal come every morning, for a
DONUT and black coffee. Joe’s dog Max,
DROOLs, waiting for crumbs, mostly patient on the cool tile under the table.