Birthdays

Birthdays

Birthdays mean nothing
or mean everything
18 or 21 or 50 or 65
what will you celebrate
as you light candles
that once-a-year day of you?

Is it a celebration of years lived
or a milestone reached
a clock ticking slowly
or at break-neck speed
toward the inevitable...
shh shh shhh not yet.

Blow out the candles
one more year
can you blow them easily
when there are as
many as that and
all eyes are watching
the yearly show?


This is written for Poets United Midweek Motif
where the prompt is "Birthdays."

Summer of 2016 - a Haibun

Summer of 2016 - A Haibun

I wonder what future generations will remember and find meaningful
about the summer of 2016.  Will they remember it as being the summer
of the divisiveness of U.S. Presidential candidates? Will they remember it
as  the summer of  the beginning of the downfall of the European Union?
Will they remember the economic turmoil that occurred worldwide
and how ignorance and fear of 'the other' reigned everywhere?
Or as one more summer of denial of global warning, despite floods,
extreme heat, and rampant wildfires?  Or as the summer Zika virus gained
a foothold worldwide because people foolishly refused to cancel the
Rio de Janeiro Olympics? Will they remember it as the summer that
U.S. gun control reform failed again and again and again? I am not
optimistic right now. But I pray that something unexpected will happen
to make the Summer of 2016 turn out all right.

Sadness rules my heart
summer seems so far away
how will we survive?


A Haibun

Shared with Poets United Poetry Pantry. 

Resilient

Resilient

Resilient yes usually
a matter of pride with me
but sometimes
I fail
sink to my knees
beaten down
illusion shattered
humbled to the core
who was I trying to fool
anyway?

Written for Poets United:  Prompt is Resilence.

Ferry Tails

Rapunzel Revisited

Rapunzel, rapunzel
cut your damned hair
get yourself a stylish do
of your own choosing
and let the helpless dude
at the bottom of the tower
look for his damned key
it is not your job
to  pull the suitor up.

Jack or Jill and the Beanstalk

Find yourself a beanstalk
and climb it whether
you are Jack or Jill
and don't let anyone tell you
beanstalks are not to climb
or you are not strong enough
or you will fall before you reach the top
believe in yourself
follow your heart
you will reach top.


Dear Red Riding Hood

I know you are a smart girl
and would not be fooled
by a wolf lying in that bed
why don't you tell the
author of that foolish tale
to give you credit for
your intelligence instead
of writing you as an idiot
not knowing the difference
between wolf and grandma in bed.

Beauty and Who?

Well, Beauty, seems you
have chosen yourself an
unattractive partner,
though he is so kind.
Is this because you think
you are unworthy and
that you have to settle
for beast rather than dude?
Or did you know ahead
of time how the story would end
so you just coyly played along?

These were inspired by Elizabeth Crawford.  I had a bit of fun writing them.  (Writing should be fun, shouldn't it?)  I will share them with Poetry Pantry.

Winds of Change

Winds of Change

The winds of change

blow one breath at a time

stunning how this happens

subtle and barely noticed

until we are in a new place

bemoaning what once was

and no way to return

and no way to return.

Written for Midweek Motif where the prompt was Wind Power.

Snippet of Life #1

Snippet of Life #1

Bicycle rocket ship
blasted off by home electric meter
10 - 9 - 8 -  7 - 6......blast off
into the not-yet future of
swimming pool afternoons
theater seats sticky with popcorn
robin hood  afternoons in the woods
picnic table school room
grassy afternoons spent reading
Old Yeller and Catcher in the Rye
sheltered before the future

of high school shyness
wool cardigans and tight skirts
dances I didn't attend
basketball games I did
and my first pizza parlor pizza
bowling Sunday afternoons
taking notes in shorthand
to plan a future
I would not have dreamed....

The River

The River

The river carries away
the junk of your life
trash collected for decades
useless stuff accumulated
clutter that took up space
boxes of useless nothings
kept too long to throw away
(feels good to be unshackled)

The river carries away
the treasures of your life
the things  long searched for
the ring or the bowl or the key
the picture you knew you had
along with lost friends
and all who have died
and there are dreams too
those that got away somehow
when you weren't looking
and forevers that weren't
and laughter and tears
and you as a child so young
before your life happened
The river holds all, keeps all,
tells nothing, carries things along
somewhere out of sight
everything is there in the river
flowing to the distant sea.

A poem I liked from 2012 shared with Poetry Pantry

Committed

Committed

Committed to winning at all costs,
are his recent racist tirades
against the Mexican-American judge
the beginning of his end?

Is this the incident which will at last
cause people to see the man he really is
beneath the dyed hair and fake tan?
Will his followers, at last, see the truth?

This is written for Sumana's prompt - Commitment - at Midweek Motif.
Not all commitments are positive.

Not the World

Tulip, Violet, Basil
(This picture taken through a screen,
which explains why it is grainy!)

Not the World

You are not the world
but are the world to me
and without you my life
would be so very empty

You happily walk with me
and listen when I talk
are sad when I leave home,
welcome me on my return.

You keep me warm
when I need warming
snuggle when I need a hug
and never hold a grudge.

You protect me from danger
think of me as number one
Basil, Tulip, and Violet
you are the world to me.

Shared with Poetry Pantry.  This poem was originally written in June, 2012.  As very few people who are posting / reading now had read it, I decided to share it again today....just for the love of it.  

Parenting

Parenting

Parenting does not get easier       with passing of time
though children mature         and leave the nest
parenting is not  over      in fact in many cases    
the hardest part of parenting     is just beginning    
the child no longer wishes         to be parented
no longer wants advice      but there are pitfalls
and rocky roads       to be transversed  
and it is a clever parent     who can manage to  
help negotiate the way      subtly        and
for the most part    silently.

This is written for Midweek Motif where the theme is
"Parents, Guardians, Significant Adults in the Lives 
of Children."  I have written in a the style of Annell
just for the enjoyment of it.  Smiles.