She sits with me at breakfast,
follows me to the park,
hovers on the drive home,
celebrates when I lie down,
snuggles in with warming pad,
and moans…
Not a companion
I would have chosen,
preferred the active,
athletic life, and yet
She complains with me
in the afternoon, invites
excuses during dinner,
grounds me in the evenings
and tosses me at bedtime
Not a companion
I would have chosen,
but at least I’ll grant her this –
she’s chronically devoted.
She’s not in the kitchen
presiding over preparations,
thriving amidst the chatter,
tutting away thieving fingers.
She’s not in the classroom,
mastering subjects,
upholding order,
ruling with charitable hand.
Nor is she at social affairs,
head bent in rapt attention,
smiling cordially,
gracious with compassion.
The Queen is missing –
the poise and composure
that marked her carriage
has vanished without a trace.
Don’t ask the old woman
tottering down the lane,
stooped and stumbling –
she’s not all there.
Her mind’s a trickster,
her ego a petulant child,
unwilling to concede wrong –
she’s merely the court jester.
(The Queen is Missing first appeared August of 2015.)
Idleness fills his hours
as if time knows no limits
I devour moments, afraid
tomorrow will forget me
we see-saw between
treacherous righteousness
and fusty avoidance
ignoring balance –
a sensible response.
(Inspired by the perils of an aging marriage, and submitted for Ragtag Community’s prompt: Â fusty.) Â Image from personal collection.
We grow our world
under evening light,
all soul charm and dance –
he a gentle father,
nice guy, quiet…
I believed.
But when search neared,
touchy –Â see a former ruse,
one smile warmed and…
sod off!
(Friday, I visit Magnetic Poetry online – words not my own, but I take responsibility for the construction. Image from personal collection.)
Looking for a rock at present,
preferably a boulder,
might dig myself a cave
and await resurrection
sacrilegious, I know,
but the tasks are overwhelming
and the words – just too much!
I mean, eleutheromania?
The mere utterance enough
to make me run for cover
and now I am to believe
that pulchritrudinous
equates with utter beauty –
oh my raspy voice
stumbles over the words
as brain loudly protests.
Too much, I say –
will have to save creativity
for another day
Meantime,
I’ll be under
that rock.
(Prompts today elicited irreverence: Â Reena’s Exploration challenge – see for yourself; and Ragtag Community’s unusual word; slightly tamed by Fandango’s “raspy“. )
Creativity’s
an eight-legged
life-sized terror,
has me cornered –
those menacing eyes
and crushing mandibles
paralyzingly frightful –
about to be consumed,
I throw her some cheese.
Lethargic, you say –
it is the moon’s withdrawal
that compels this wane –
the current that runs between
defying gravity, depleting –
no sense in fighting
such elemental flow –
total submission is key.
(Written for Reena’s Exploration Challenge: moon; Ragtag Community’s: key; and Fandango’s: lethargic.)
Why must I suffer acne still?
What trick of fate, whose wily will?
I am too far over the hill,
refuse to take a teenage pill,
must be this state of chronic ill.
(A funny ditty for Dark Side Of the Moon’s Whyquain challenge. Â I might have taken liberties with the form, but it was fun to write.)
When Scarsdale failed,
she resorted to corsets,
and girdles – trussed up
like a teabag –
sucked in her bits,
hair a touch too red,
nails forever chipping –
Dad’s disapproval a sour note –
watched as Mom steeped
in resentment, waited
for the boiling point.
(This quadrille is written for dVerse, hosted tonight by Mish, with the topic of steep. I am also linking up to Ragtag Community – note; and Fandango’s – resort.)
Discontentment –
that restless inability
to surrender to distraction –
not easily masked
Wired, I am, for intrigue –
a dramatic actor displaying
mystery, baiting an audience
Denial dons noise-cancelling
headphones, blinders –
invested in illusions
Harmony the end-goal –
no point disguising,
discontentment ignored.
(Written for Sammi Cox’s Weekend Writing Challenge – mask, in 45 words, and Fandango’s –intrigue  -, and Ragtag Community’s – harmony .)
One Woman's Quest 