Reanimated Lavender Granola Switchblade Nun rides again.

Monday, March 18, 2024

Word Garden Word List--Poetry Out Loud

 

Hello my vocal and musical friends! This week our List is taken from poems included in a nifty little book entitled Poetry (to be read) Out Loud. It's a volume of all sorts of different poems, ranging from Dylan Thomas to Ogden Nash and back again. The one thing that they all have in common is that they are wonderful to read out loud. So, do your warm-up scales, drink plenty of water, step out of your shy reserve, and write something!

What we do here is to use at least 3 of the 20 words provided in a new original poem of our own. Then just link up, visit others, and offend librarians everywhere by talking right out loud about it! This prompt stays active through Sunday. 

And now, your List:

accent
aromatic
flamingos
furnace
glowing
leopards
madder
mania
mixing
pant
plume
portfolio
quills
rage
spice
stalk
tabby
utter
vegetable
witches

Thursday, March 14, 2024

When I Die It Will Be In Springtime

 When I die it will be in springtime,
trailing all unfinished things behind me
like a newlywed leaving in an old Chrysler. 

Charon will be at the wheel. 
The water will be calling him,
and he'll fidget with the radio, changing stations.

When I die it will be in springtime.
I've been waiting, as if living in a bus station
for the 3:45 to Omaha.

Time has grown drowsy. Print newspapers fade.
In Florida, ballplayers wear logos and speak Spanish
like my favorite poet, Lorca.
_______

For Word Garden Word List--Wordsworth.



Monday, March 11, 2024

Word Garden Word List--William Wordsworth

 

Good morrow my fulsome flowers! This week we wave in the wind to the words of William Wordsworth. 


Wordsworth is known for such poems as I Wandered Lonely as A Cloud (Daffodils) and She Dwelt among the Untrodden Ways, the latter of which is a favorite of mine. I have done you the kindness of passing over William's more (ahem) flowery words in favor of twenty I thought might serve us better. 

What we do here is to use at least 3 of the 20 words provided in a new, original poem of our own. Then just link, visit others, and then lie down in a field of daffs and contemplate that cloud over on the right that resembles a dog flying an airplane. Easy peasy! This List remains current through Sunday. 

Your List:

cloud
creatures
creep
dipping
drowsy
engines
frenzy
genius
howling
icy
madness
memorial
pomp
stroke
sweetest
topmost
unfinished
visionary
wayward
withered

Thursday, March 7, 2024

Five Reasons Why We Divorced

 

1. The phase of the moon. 
      Full in perpetuity inside your head,
     disturbing your vision from behind,
     creating avid ghosts. 

     Me, caught in tides, no handhold,
     every current riding over my tongue,
    a deep-water language for one.

2. The snowdrops in the front garden.
     You, the monarch of sweet beginnings,
     pale with presentiments, failing
     and dying in the first strong light.

    Me, the Queen of January, lover
    of the silent empty street, made 
    nervous by crowds and heat. 

3. The thespian masks on our wall.
     You were the thousand-in-one,
     going for a glass of water and
     returning a complete stranger.

    Me, forgetting what was real or scripted,
    playing a part, blundering in borrowed limbs,
    smiling, crying, ad-libbing, hating it.

4. The crow feathers on my desk.
     You liked doves, wanted everything white,
     like living in a child's storybook, letting
    someone else absorb all the splinters.

    Me, a dark star happiest at height, 
    but having foresworn the breeze
    except the one in my dreams. I called
   all night, lips never moving at all.

5. The child between us and of us.
     The Viking funeral you loaded
     your guilt upon, disguised as
     kindness, consuming itself brightly.

    Me, trying to be sober, trying 
   to be better than the mother
   I had myself, and failing, failing,
   until our child needed me most

and I swam out to him, with my real face, and a ticket out of there. 
________

for What's Going On? Fifteen Reasons 

Don't forget that the Word Garden Word List is still open through Sunday. 

Music: Roberta Flack Just Like A Woman



   
     

Wednesday, March 6, 2024

I'll Wipe That Enigmatic Half Smile Right Off Your Face, Chica

 

Mona Lisa and I sit at my kitchen table, sharing croissants.
(I have no kitchen table.)
I'm about sick of her stupid smile.
(Mona Lisa isn't even here.)
My dog wanders up and asks if there'll be anything else.
(My dog can't talk.)
I slip a revolver out from my skirts and lay it on the table.
(I'm wearing sleep pants. I own no guns.)
Sorry, says Mona Lisa. She says that all day long.
(Paintings don't speak.) 
I blow her brains out.
(She has no brains. That's why she's annoying.)
I clean up, then marry my dog.
(You can't marry a dog.) 
I whisper in his ear that the gun was unloaded.
(There was no gun, no Mona Lisa, no table.)
I hope you enjoyed this poem.
(Poem?)
______


Music: Donovan There Is a Mountain




Monday, March 4, 2024

Word Garden Word List--Inspector Pancakes


Good afternoon, mes amis, and welcome to this week's Word List poetry prompt! I have a special treat in store for you, so unroll your rugs and take out your cushions, sit Indian-style in a half circle and we will start reading Inspector Pancakes Helps the President of France!


It seems that some scoundrel has stolen the President's croissants! Mon Dieu! He asks our intrepid hero, Inspector Pancakes, to help him find them. Being a dog, he will "sniff them out" most likely. What a wonderful children's story.


There's just one thing. The large print is, indeed, a charming tale for kids. However, the small print is a hard-boiled detective yarn, wildly unsuitable for young readers! Taken as a whole, Inspector Pancakes Helps the President of France is both charming and utterly wrong on so many levels. Myself, I much prefer the "G" rated version. Not to play favorites, though, I have taken all tastes into consideration with this week's List. The first 10 words are taken from the all-ages story. The second 10 are taken from the dark alleys of the small print.

What we do here is to use at least 3 of the 20 words provided to write an original poem of our own. Then just link, visit others, and sit back at your favorite Parisian cafe with half a croissant for you and half for the dog!

Your List:

cookies
croissants
dog
France
hero
important
Louvre
milk
Mona Lisa
pancakes

abandoned
brains
dangled
Gauloise
rabid
repercussions
revolver
slammed
switchblade
unloaded
 

Wednesday, February 28, 2024

Shark Adventure

 

Some sharks move to suburbia.

They are mutant land sharks, able to breath and speak in their
strange, halting pidgin. 

Their spawn, er, kids sign up for Little League
and eat burgers at picnic tables after the games--
A lot of burgers.
Okay all the burgers.

At little Maria's birthday party, there is a pinata. 
One of the shark kids bursts up from the lawn,
opens its gaping maw,
and consumes it whole, along with much of a maple tree. 
Version 1) Maria runs inside, crying.
Version 2) Maria starts writing "Mrs, Maria Shark" over and over
in her school notebook.

Some customs elude the sharks.
Someone brings over a bundt cake as a welcome gesture.
Mrs. Shark tries for an air kiss on the cheek but sends the woman to the hospital. 
It is awkward for everyone and permanent for the neighbor.

The sharks notice that PTA mothers' and golfing dads' smiles
have turned to scowls. 
Country Club sponsorships dry up. 
The sharks make a holiday visit to the community pool and everyone runs away screaming. 

The sharks start wearing disguises in the grocery store and at the bank.
"I am a harmless minnow," says one shark
from a few rows of dagger-like teeth.
During a visit to a local gallery, all the sharks wear berets
and funny eyeglass masks.
No one is fooled.

Realizing that things have gone too far for remedy,
the sharks shrug, as sharks will, 
and solve everything by eating the school principal, 
the HOA president, and the local chief of police, 
all in a single afternoon.

They pack up all their stuff and return to the sea
where people are not so judgy and unforgiving.
They playfully sink a fishing boat and eat all the occupants, fish, tackle, and the mast. 
They are home. Their stomachs are full. All is well.
Brody and Hooper may kiss their fantastic finned butts.
________

for Word Garden Word List--Shakespeare Bats Cleanup 

Music: Baby Shark (You're welcome!)