*VIDEO of San Francisco by Scott McKenzie, Cheers to Tony Bennett.
City of Hearts and Home by the Bay
Day star's mist yields to its grip of a bridge,
Span steel strands, harp-like, golden tags a smidge,
Light drapes the streetcars, up and down the hills,
Chimes, mass speeches, music, and painted stills,
Juggling pantomimes, street fair atmosphere,
Haight and Ashbury crossing yesteryear,
Fisherman's Wharf nearby Pier 39,
Seafood platters and fine dining with wine,
Downtown Union Square, lunching alfresco,
Market Street, Tiffany's, a Broadway show,
San Franciscans, whenever we're in Rome,
Ideal for some, but we call this home.
2022 December 31
*2nd Place*
Take Me There
~~Margarita Lillico: Judged 2023 January 21
*RZ & HMS.
The whole world knows that
Adding vinegar to chips and fish
Turns the whole offering into
An almost Earth shattering dish,
But how many people know,
How many people realise
The amazing effect to be had
By adding Mayo to your fries.
Almost a Damascus Road event
The first time that you try it
Just take the humble spud
And very quickly deep fry it
Then take a huge dollop of
That thick yellow stuff
Don’t worry just how much
You can never have enough.
A nice thick blob to make
A very tasty tasty dip
Then use one by one
On every single chip.
An explosion of joy
Follows each immersion
It really is a case of
Taste bud subversion.
Oh vinegar can be nice
It never ever goes to waste
But lather on the yellow stuff
For that cosmopolitan taste.
It’s the simpler things in life
That can give it zest and glow
Like a bag of red hot chips
And a splodge of Mayo.
You can keep your Fine Dining,
Your food artfully arranged
Your Meat barely cooked,
Oh how things have changed,
Just give me fish and ‘taties,
Wrapped and ready to go
To be Eaten with the fingers
Hot fish and ‘taties alfresco
Within a lush verdant meadow, meanders a lazy river
Where wildflowers bloom beneath the warm breath of the sun
They sway upon a gypsy wind on this early morning in June
Stems of purple heather rise above the carpeted earth,
Emerald green as any Irish hillside or garden near the shore
Their saccharine scented plumes attract the pollen seekers
Bursts of color can be seen in shades of scarlet and white
For growing on the river's bank is a plethora of anemone
Not the variety that resides in the depths of a sea
Yellow iris mingle with daisies in this alfresco arboretum
Untouched by the hand of man, it's an immaculate bouquet
Resplendent in perfumed glory and pristine perfection
There's the mellifluous sound of a cascading waterfall
singing a soft melody as it spills from crevices of granite rock
Nourishing the serpentine river flowing through the glade
This haven appears as an Elysian Field, as Eden must have been
A sanctuary to remain inviolate and reverenced by the gods
Perceived to be hallowed ground, too sublime for mortal man
September 29, 2021
Your Best Sijo Poetry Contest
Sponsored by William Kekaula
Dining alfresco under blue sky.
Heard loud, smelly fart nearby
Culprit laughed until he cried;
T'was a kid wolfing down stir fry
My appetite was shot, no lie;
Couldn't finish my apple pie.
Fart-Tastic Poetry Contest
Sponsored by Chantelle Anne Cooke
Date written: 09/26/2021
Note: This is a silly work of fiction, so the "no lie" in line 5 is obviously a lie, lol.
His new wife proclaimed, ‘Oh my God’
I think I’ve just wed a tripod
I now understand
Your steps in the sand
You left a third trail where you trod
Those newlyweds lay hand in hand
Their union sealed on the sand
The sand made her sore
But she wanted more
And, oh boy, did he make a stand
Abstaining so long was a drag
She can’t think why he didn’t brag
Their first time: alfresco
By moonlight they let go
She thought it a pole for a flag
She cried and she started to beg
Please fertilise my willing egg
As she grabbed his member
He begged please remember
Go gentle with my middle leg
I said, do you fancy a drink, Tom?
He said where the hell is that stink from?
My dog cocked his leg
We smelt rotten egg
Because he had eaten my stink bomb
*
My cat swallowed my whoopy cushion
He can’t get it out but keeps pushin’
But each time he squeezes
He makes noisy breezes
My mum holds her nose and keeps shushin’
*
They stroll the prom in their best finery
Some stop for alfresco China tea
Silly, not brave
With one big wave...
They look like they’ve come from a winery
*
She gracefully ambled the prom
I’m sure somewhere posh she was from
She patted my dog
Who ‘issued a log’
She left with a lot less aplomb
Porches,
attached decks,
patios,
intimate places for alfresco,
These make a difference
between a fortressed house
and a transparent home,
between an ego castle
and an eco-habitat.
We also spread rhododendron bushes
and hostas,
flowers and ferns
around our stone
and concrete bound foundations.
We want stable defenses
but prefer to camouflage houses
in organic color,
life giving and taking shapes.
These boundary vistas
speak of heart felt reminders
our habitat is rooted
in Earth's wilderness
In vulnerability
hidden from transparency
except with those who share our sacred space
inside
and upon,
within our co-passioned present time,
Presence bonding,
double-binding,
re-membering past wildness
anticipating future re-generative
re-storative
re-habituating
re-acclimating
re-bounding win/lose less
for more win/win paradise
Just barely 2020 visible
and silently audible
and fresco fragranced
and tasted,
felt
and so nearly touched
longing into belonging
on our cooperatively-owned front porch.
Picnic
delicacies
sliced thick.
French wine
baguettes and cheese
sound fine.
Threadbare
blankets on grass
affair.
(Musette)
04/05/2020
Finding Your Musette Poetry Contest
Sponsored by: Joseph May
This bloke said, ‘Hi,’ but we nearly passed him by
My mate said, ‘You should listen, he's a scientist guy.’
He uttered lots of nonsense but it stuck inside my head
And now I rarely go out cos I walk the streets in dread
He said, ‘ What if the ostriches never could fly
and a bit more evolution sees them take to the sky,
you’d better make a bee line to a market seller
and ask him if you might procure his biggest umbrella.
If your coffee is alfresco when you’re shopping in town,
you sit there and you sup it but the level don’t go down.
Better put a hand or saucer over your cup
but whatever you do, don’t ever look up.’
Might we then discover Darwin got it all wrong
The evidence apparent in the god almighty pong
I hope it doesn't come to pass till after I’m dead
That elephants and hippos circle over our head
I cannot help but think about the prehistoric era
And the reason for extinction which could not be any clearer
No cosmic collision killed the beasts that came before us
They were smothered in the output from an airborne brontosaurus!
An afternoon stroll, sun-tans on the balcony
Sipping lemonade, such a sweet summer delight!
Basking in a breezy, indigo summer morning
An afternoon stroll, sun-tans on the balcony
Lounging beachside with Piña colada in hand
Alfresco lunches, heading to ice-cream parlors
An afternoon stroll, sun-tans on the balcony
Sipping lemonade, such a sweet summer delight!
Summer Fun Poetry Contest
Sponsored by: Nayda Ivette Negron
Date written and posted:06/13/2018
alfresco picnics
fresh cucumber sandwiches
crisp linen on grass
5/ 18/ 2018.
BRUSHSTROKES OF BELLA
deep cobalt dining,
alfresco & breezy.
lantern swings in wind.
lush landscape view.
blue and white curtains
billow beside huge windows,
as Bella, in a quiet spot, rocks.
Marc strolls past window, painting
a scene, that captures his adoration.
eyes see Bella in corner with shawl.
Kim Rodrigues © 2017
Emergence
Alfresco
Prison
Labelled
Numbered
Indoctrinated
Jobbed
Subliminally
Terrorised
Politically
Corrected
Chemically
Fed
Laboratory
Medicated
Damned
Eating alfresco
A beautiful autumn day
Feel we could touch clouds.
Tartan blanket spread
Food consumed, leisurely ease
Taste a gentle kiss
Last sight of summer
Leaves are slowly turning gold
Nature's wedding band.
Slight smell of autumn
Through rays of late summer sun
A benediction.
Musical notes sound
Waterfall draped with green moss
Listening with pleasure.
The climbing earth meets the alighting sky ,
Trying tirelessly to douse its ball of fire ,
But only dims it ,
As it shrivels with a secretive ***** whisper ,
only heard ,
and known by tens of trailing nomadic birds .
It is their calling to their destiny ,
embedded in the horizon .
They shall fade together in alfresco .
But for the eyes of many ,
it is a flower ,
denuded of its petals .
But not forever ;
Tomorrow like a bud it shall blossom.
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