Best Mabel Poems

There is my sweet Aunt Mabel
sitting across the table
ever since her divorce
she eats like a horse
so we put her up in a stable...

Continue reading...

The crisp cool breeze
helped the sailboat to glide,
like a swan on a lake,
or the glory of a kite.

The shiny exterior
shone pearlescent white,
the gold, christened lettering,
gloriously reflecting the light.

Newly purchased, fridge stocked,
husband proudly at the wheel,
his wife dressed in stripes,
below, fussing about their meals.

This was their...

Continue reading...

A letter came from Auntie Mabel today--
Saying how she’s tired of working for low pay,
Seems her widowed sister has come to stay,
The kids make too much noise when they play
Keeps telling me she doesn’t have much to say,
Still having trouble with a molar in final...

Continue reading...

Mabel Vera Cone

1893-1911

No one knew I existed.

No one knew I died.

No one, not even my family,

Knew I lived in the back,

Out back, way behind the small white house

On shady Canobie Street.

No one cared one iota.

No one wondered where I was

Or where I was going.

If loneliness...

Continue reading...

Freddie and Mable they were so in love
He took one look at Mabel’s knockers
And billed and cooed like a silly turtle dove
Oh but in size they were real big shockers
When out shopping for panties and suitable bra
Still Freddie did not falter, Mabel fit him to...

Continue reading...

As dawn cracks the sky
and yellow light leaks through 
The neighbourhood oracle begins her day, 
sets out her stall on the corner near the station
"The end is coming"

The newspaper boy in his sister's scarf 
snatched in haste too early this morning,
just before dawn,
yawning he peddles...

Continue reading...

*A very loose form of Limerick, 
          but Mabel deserves lots of syllables.


There once was a waitress with the name of Mabel
Who used her bosom as a restaurant table
Beneath her double chins
Mabel flaunted her twins
The one...

Continue reading...

Yesterday, I received Auntie Mabel’s end-of-the-year letter
Seems, after another bout with arthritis, she is some better,
She reports that Aunt Lula Fay’s nephew is no longer in fetter
But, unfortunately, he’s only out on bail, she being his “setter.”
Sid, Auntie Mable tells me, will never be much...

Continue reading...

If you arrive too early 
at the public library 
and stand on 

the steps with Mabel 
till the doors open
you will hear Mabel’s

oration for the day.
Mabel is there every day
and her utterances vary.

Today three strangers
hear Mabel tell about 
neighborhood teens 

who park on her block...

Continue reading...

Millie’s mother Mabel mended macrame
Mainly Marseilles-made macrame,
Maddening moments mending machine macrame
Mostly made-to-order, mostly May macrame.
Making May mostly made-to-order macrame means
Many months modifying Malaysian macrame, mostly!

written February 2, 2022...

Continue reading...

A letter arrived from Aunt Mabel, always a keeper
She was delighted I bought myself a Bissell sweeper
Said they are best, but I could have gotten it cheaper,
Seems her nephew is in more trouble, getting deeper
I suspect he was caught smoking or selling a reefer,
Auntie says...

Continue reading...

Just Tom and Mabel in the village,
No honorific ever known,
Too far down the pecking order for
Such respect to be shown.
Like so many in that village
My Dad and Mam worked on
A still almost feudal system
Wage slavery not yet gone.

Oh, they were respected, 
Looked up to in...

Continue reading...

My dearest Mabel
was the human personification
of what her first name stood for:
"Beautiful" and "Lovable"
She was a nurturing mother
grandmother, teacher and woman of God

She was the perfect help mate
for my great grandfather
She was to him
what Eve was to Adam
what Sarah was to Abraham
what Rebekah was to...

Continue reading...

There was once a lady called Mable
Whose knickers were up to her navel
Her cupboards were bare
There was no underwear
So she nicked them from where she was able...

Continue reading...

Your intricacies fearfully and wonderfully wrought so well,
Sweet child, sweet daughter, greatly priced pearl,
You’re a darling, a sweetheart, my dearest ‘Mabel’,
Like your name, prayer born - meaning ‘Beautiful Girl’.
And that endless innocence in your scintillating eyes,
Each time I cup your face in my palm,
Fails not,...

Continue reading...