32nd caller

“Hello guess what, you are the 32^ND YOU’RE THE WINNER!”

“I AM? I can’t believe I just won!”, he said.

“Yes, believe it, you won!“

“That’s great, what have I won?”, he said.

“Hey, let’s not get there too quickly, it’s good though.”

“Hmm, how good? I have to be out to buy groceries in a few.
What exactly is it that I’ve won?”

“Groceries? I can’t give specifics,
but you’ll not need to go now!”

“The prize is what, gourmet food?”

“Let’s just say, your cat will never go hungry.”

“If I actually owned a cat that might be useful,
but I really have to go before it rains, have to go,
sorry.”

“Rains? You’ll never need to worry about that again.”

“What do you mean I won’t need to worry about
it raining?”

“This prize was made for you! Consider water
to be a slight inconvenience of the past!”

“You’re making this up as you go along.”

“I am not sir, this is bone fide.”

“Really? This is some adaptable prize. I don’t have
a sports car, will it adapt to that? A private phone
number might be a thoughtful extra too.”

“Yes, funny you should mention the lobster,
it’s that special extra for being 32nd!”

“I didn’t mention any damn lobster.”

“Hey, congrats, you won it!”

“32nd? Wait a minute! This is the 32nd time
you’ve not been able to give away this
fictitious-time-wasting-prize?”

“I like to think of it as the 32nd opportunity.”

-click-

“Hello guess what, you are the 33^RD YOU’RE THE WINNER!”

“Didn’t you just phone me a moment ago?”

“You won the bonus call.”

-Click-

Shorter days

Painting by Eltje Degenhart

-

Shorter days, and where the meaning goes

It’s there in a pile of leaves
to plough through once more,
and then you’re aged six
going on ten
minutes to walk home.

It’s in the field stems
that are full grown,
and then you’re sixteen
going on twenty,
and adolescent crows
promote many wintry responses.

It’s in the turn of a diary leaf,
the structure of what it is,
not even science can give
adequate meaning to,
and the only code is your own.

It’s in the days to come,
ones that make up for
those that have gone onto winter,
whist it was but autumn.

The lessons of which,
not even a new season can dismiss,
although somehow a fall colouring
can persuade in life again
after death, yes, always.

Unravel

By Lenore McDonald

While looking for a picture to visualize my blog theme, I came across
this abstract, and I like it enough to post it, alongside the dictionary
definition which I’ve wanted to leave here for some time, but until now
not really found an appropriate thread (pun intended)

un⋅rav⋅el
/ʌnˈrævəl/ Pronunciation [uhn-rav-uhl]
verb, -eled, -el⋅ing or (especially British) -elled, -el⋅ling.
–verb (used with object)

1.     to separate or disentangle the threads of (a woven or knitted
fabric, a rope, etc.).
2.     to free from complication or difficulty; make plain or clear;
solve: to unravel a situation;to unravel a mystery.
3.     Informal. to take apart; undo; destroy (a plan, agreement,
or arrangement). –verb (used without object)
4.     to become unraveled.

http://www.lenoremcdonald.com

Many artists travel far from their studios to capture their experiences with nature in painting. Lenore McDonald perfers a different approach. She depicts the nature that exists in urban settings, the grass and trees, sky and water, visible between buildings and through windows….. Abstract expressionists and color-field painters of the 1950s and 1960s made a huge impact on the style of art she creates. They concentrated on brush movement and the placement of color, as opposed to rendering subjects as realistically as possible, to create meaning. McDonald was drawn to these movements because even though their works are abstract, she could find landscapes within them.

By Katie Vaughn MountainView Voice April 2, 2004

The worst ‘collab’

Feel free to add
your own thoughts
whenever you feel they fit;
It needs a new voice here,
It doesn’t,
and I’m starting this poem off.

You were rude in S1,
so now I’m not letting you
squeeze any word in this one.
(You don’t know why
you even agreed to do this)
Here’s a few beautiful random
thoughts.

(Sadly, random thoughts were cut
from final edit)

It was decided to leave the next
lines blank, except for
the occasional word for cryptic effect.
.
Joe peeled a time onion.
.
He cried.
.
.
He got over it.
.

We need something good
for the ending, something
thought provoking.
I agree, let’s let it end abruptly,
a jagged edge, sharp,
decisive, unlike anything you’ve
ever written.

You think that’s funny don’t you,
onion Joe.

Try again by Keane

The first gig is never easy

“And lo, I bring you tidings
of great hope and joy,
plus all the flat bread
and fishes you can eat.
I want to make this world,
a better plaice.”

They groaned. He knew they
would.

He was once a comedian,
until a lump of unleavened bread
thrown from a heckler
bounced from his head,
swift followed by a chunk
of ripe goat’s cheese.

After that, he lost it,
quoted the old testament,
and swan dived into the crowd
who disbelieving parted,
eager for a miraculous landing
amongst them.

“Lord, I was blind, but now
I can see!”

“Uh huh… timing.”, muttered Jesus,
wobbly dusting himself down.

“Dude, it’s look before you leap”,
winced a concerned Peter,
eyeing up a much lower mount,
just in case, for tomorrow
and tomorrow.

-

(Jesus, the teen years. I hope he forgives
my liberties!)

* No, I’m not religious, just a simple poem about
rising above indifference, and to on keep trying.

Books read this year

Lisey’s story ~ Stephen King.
Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell ~ Susanna Clarke.
The Robots of dawn ~ Isaac Asimov
The caves of steel ~ Isaac Asimov
The naked sun ~ Isaac Asimov
Dune ~ Frank Herbert
The savage garden ~ Mark Mills
The meaning of night ~ Micheal Cox
A prisoner of birth ~ Jeffery Archer
The fellowship of the ring ~ J R R Tolkien
Easy company soldier ~ Don Malarkey
False memory ~ Dean Koontz
The shadow of the wind ~ Carlos Ruiz Zafon
I am legend ~ Richard Matheson
Northern lights ~ Phillip Pullman
The subtle knife ~ Phillip Pullman
The amber spyglass ~ Phillip Pullman
The dreaming void ~ Peter F Hamilton
Harry Potter and the philospher’s stone ~ J K Rowling
Harry Potter and the chamber of secrets ~ J K Rowling
Harry Potter and the half blood prince ~ J K Rowling
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows ~ J K Rowling
The Mephisto Club ~ Tess Gerritsen
The apprentice ~ Tess Gerritsen
Demons – John Shirely

Clack click clack

*Words added by me

Underground teachings

Open spaces swell the abandoned park
to beginnings to alter Darwin’s theory,
the ground inclines to be a writer
without any footfall subjects.

A muse evolves from foliage
behind wrought gates worn quiet,
more than just the species it supports.

Night to develop till morning hours will draw
lawns to untenable beard heights,
folios in the trees collect notes of the wild,
next brush could be a gardener’s cull.

Overgrown ideas bowl along the green,
clamber literate from Russian ivy.
Trail Tsar knots as tight as former fine minds
that composed before decomposure gained,
filling the walls with coiled free verse.

Paper buds with experience and meaning,
and great philosophers grown to white roses,
in contemplation of misunderstandings,
drop petal lines into an untitled, unreadable
summer ending.

Poem challenge

The Gods are too distant  

The dark sea of sees
casts its ancient eye
towering into the night,
commands the moon
for cycloptic vision
to blink intently behind clouds.

Over lands it searches,
until in crumbled cottage ruin,
it sees what it’s missing,
a down to earth voice.

The ruin obeys the summons
as it has done many times,
against many skies,
waits for the sentiment
to pass, and the God
to beome fiercely aloof again
like the day it was built.

Still, better late than never,
but it wonders sometimes
if it is.

-

Note from a poet -

http://ishallcallyouthemoon.wordpress.com/2008/10/08/note-from-a-poet/