Best Primly Poems
A scarlet tanager sits primly on the rail
Of the new fence erected near the meadow,
He eyes me stroll as I take in every detail
The path to the woodland is rather narrow,
Infrequently used, it is rapidly overgrowing
I am brushing against the yellow yarrow,
As hottest of summer is fast approaching
The meadowland has nary a cooling shadow.
Happily, I note the salt lick has disappeared
I hope its purposes were well-intentioned,
Certainly not as the hunter’s ploy, I feared
In a previous post, I am sure I mentioned.
I feel the coolness of the pleasant breeze
As I approach the edge of the tree line
Where meadow gives way to aspen trees,
And further on, a stand of taller pine.
I shall follow the trail through the wood
To the river which I can faintly hear, ahead
Where I saw a huge buck in full manhood,
And I have seen signs of where he bed.
It is a good two-mile hike, not exhausting
But I stop to examine new growth along
And for moments to reflect, I am pausing,
I’m encouraged by the tanager’s song.
Written June 18, 2022
Categories:
primly, bird, nature, tree,
Form:
Quatrain
Did she say time numbers or prime numbers?
I was sure it was not rhyme numbers.
She is staring at me. Miss Johnson, math teacher.
Takes daydreaming in class as a personal affront.
Her eyes narrow. I yawn. Bad move.
Could you demonstrate this on the board, Caren?
Out of all the students in all the math penitenturies in all the galaxies….
Miss Johnson moves her head toward the blackboard.
When I get there I pick up a piece of smeary chalk.
Where to begin?
“Make two columns,” she says primly.
I understand now why no man has been desperate enough to marry her.
“One for prime and one for composite.”
A clue. Maybe prime is odd and composite is even?
I make the columns.
The second I throw down the one and the two hands are up.
Every classmate wants a turn to redo my work.
The math brains are dying to show Miss Johnson they were listening.
I remember thinking “When am I ever going to need this?”
That was fifty-seven years ago, and frankly, I never have needed it for any reason.
Prime, crime, rhyme, dime, lime, mime, lime.
Who cares?
P.S. Miss Johnson never did get married.
Categories:
primly, 10th grade, 11th grade,
Form:
Narrative
Curled up on the floor. In the middle of the day. I dream.
Images of hats and pills come out of nowhere.
“I visit my garden each morning
searching the ground to see
if the unused pills I found
in my mother’s pill boxes,
and planted, had produced
a rose or purple Phlox.
I buried her tablet boxes,
buried them, like tiny coffins.
I lined the miniature graves
with crushed blue velvet,
(like the cases that stored
her elegant forks used only
on special occasions,
at four o’clock tea-time,
the cake served primly
on gold-rimmed plates).
Treading through the wet grass,
rootling through the fertile soil,
I saw, without surprise,
blue hats growing wild,
velvet and tulle,
pills and sequins
scattered and whimsical,
my mother decorating
their botanical brims
with silver cake forks
tied with ribbons”.
I wake up,
eyes blurred,
I can barely see.
I make a cup of tea,
cut a slice of currant cake,
and eat it with a small,
antique English fork.
Categories:
primly, blue, death, dream, garden,
Form:
Free verse
So polite. Wearing gloves. And hats. Hair in Easter colors.
Church ladies; prissy, smiling, crackling in their perfumes.
Flowered dresses, sitting primly on the hard wooden pews,
Singing in loud overtones songs they have known for decades.
Smiling at the Easter bonnets, and the tiny white lace gloves
Worn only by them and the toddlers now, everyone else in
Blue jeans, plaids, regular street clothes,
Sunday best no longer applies
Still they come, in their lavender hair, wearing their Bibles
In sheaves and satchels, letting their slips hang a bit in back.
Not as lively as before, but still with sparks they throw the
Way of Old Bill, the only bachelor over eighty, the reason some still come.
Categories:
primly, christian, easter,
Form:
Free verse
BILINGUAL CONFRONTATION
She entrée-ed into the room and it was all so déjà vue
Because her Quebecois wiggle was timed to match the tango
But she’d met her match with the senorita from Peru
Madre de dios - que Madonna! With eyes afire from the fandango.
They locked horns just after the siesta de toros
When les beaux gars were just relaxing from the dance
And they hair-pulled and cheek-scatched around the floor-os
To see who would command the beaux gars’ romance
Brigitte had a scalp-hold on Conchita and held it grimly
And the Peruvian princess had her claws full of French cheek.
Oh, for the gentlemen they always behaved so primly,
But in a fight their rough grasps could lock for a week
In an instant Brigitte snapped the beads of the princess
And there was Peruvian horror at the loss of the necklace
So the latina grabbed the earring of the Montrealaise
And it was snapping and grabbing in manner reckless
At last the toros woke up and the lutte des chattes ended
The Spanish senorita with arms around a toro
And the Quebecoise demoiselle with her lips locked
On a beau gars for today and maybe tomorrow
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . .
Note: These Spanish/French expressions are untranslatable, but
their equivalent meaning is given as follows: -
Madre de dios - que Madonna! = Holy mackerel - what a looker!
siesta de toros = snooze time for the drunken guys
les beaux gars = cool dudes
toros = guys ( hitherto drunk and asleep )
lutte des chattes = cat fight
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . .
Entered in Debbie Guzzi ‘s Contest Bi-Lingual Poetry
Categories:
primly, fantasy, funny,
Form:
Quatrain
for my mother
In a photo jaundiced with age, you kneel
on a sidewalk somewhere in time and space,
when I was in the time and space
in the place before we're born. Daddy's girl,
doomed daughter, your distant look,
chin in hand, a shawl around your shoulders
against morning chill. It's your girlfriend, not you,
coaxing baby steps beside his child's chair
from your small son, all eyes on him,
and not on you, Beauty. Is this the happenstance
you thought would follow heady romance
with the dandy beside you--before me, before
your first-born's unsteady steps? A younger you
in summer dress, newly married, parasol high
against a Georgia sun, "pretty feet" primly placed
the way it's taught at finishing school,
your husband's eyes on you, and no one else
in the whole world would do?
Top of the World, Girl! before the word bi-
polar could be spoken in broad daylight,
and applied to you. Your dapper father, tie-d
and suit-ed, as an all-important man should,
a gray fedora'd Little Caesar, Edward G,
your triggerman who called all the shots.
You steadied yourself on him, holding on,
holding on. Was it cold that day on a Georgia side-
walk, four of you watching Baby walk? If
you had only known so soon to step
out of history, all of you, leaving the tintype,
the ghost who held the camera,
all of you, Ghosts.
Categories:
primly, familybaby, baby, time,
Form:
Free verse
With Ma Lil Nude Dill
one bilabial fricative smacking
tongue thrusting (lizard like)
indefatigable prelapsarian
Garden of Eden dwelling primate
doth pine with two lipped treating zest
for Eve fun juiced a tasty droplet, wrest
ting kitty meowing Mz er loo,
sans verboten fruit Yukon die vest
via jump starting
a hovering damn
electric kool aid acid test
Hair and there, a bare naked lady attired
in her birthday suit, the sexiest
plump bosom roseate
sear suckered nipples trickling milky nectar
when casting shadowed umbra at rest
thirsting, unleashing, vaunting,
et cetera viz prurient quest,
whereby this rambunctious
horny bull lever severely oppressed
condemned with life sentence
of penile solitude, nest
souled (sorely testing
agonizing Victorian modest
tee primly and properly
tortures carnal temptation lest
surrendering syllabus "C" ) even jest
a jot, cuz tis pure torture restraining
feral, hormonal, integral hankering
to stoke libido at Parochialism be hest
thus, aye feel unfairly deprived,
no hello kitty will be guest
unsure how helpful "getting off my chest"
works thee unnatural tethered
sexual suppression, perhaps best
left unmentioned, encumbered
with jiggly, flabby droopy breast
works, and unwanted love handles
state of reined swiftly tailored
harried stylishly groomed
FitBit bridled uncertainty I attest.
Categories:
primly, 11th grade, 12th grade,
Form:
Free verse
I noticed her two weeks ago.
She flew into my physics lab
like hell itself was after her
and tripped as she sat down.
She's always late for classes,
stammers her apologies,
flustered and myopic, her glasses
primly perched upon her nose.
Accident-prone, she barreled
through the library like Grant
attacking Richmond, giggling nervously
as she checked out her books.
To me she is a treasure, a whirling
dervish dressed in black and white,
always black and white, like for her
it's some particular religion.
I asked her to the movies. She acted
like I was the first who'd ever taken
interest, she was flattered but she
flatly and decidedly said no.
She had thrown down the gauntlet,
so I set out to woo her with my wit
and charm, taking every opportunity
to bump into her when and where I could.
Finally she acquiesced, and when
she slowed down enough to smile
and chat and laugh and joke with me
my heart was hers to keep!
Categories:
primly, friendship,
Form:
Verse
I noticed her two weeks ago.
She flew into my physics lab
like hell itself was after her
and tripped as she sat down.
She's always late for classes,
stammers her apologies,
flustered and myopic, her glasses
primly perched upon her nose.
Accident-prone, she barreled
through the library like Grant
attacking Richmond, giggling nervously
as she checked out her books.
To me she is a treasure, a whirling
dervish dressed in black and white,
always black and white, like for her
it's some particular religion.
I asked her to the movies. She acted
like I was the first who'd ever taken
interest, she was flattered but she
flatly and decidedly said no.
She had thrown down the gauntlet,
so I set out to woo her with my wit
and charm, taking every opportunity
to bump into her when and where I could.
Finally she acquiesced, and when
she slowed down enough to smile
and chat and laugh and joke with me
my heart was hers to keep!
Categories:
primly, friendship,
Form:
Blank verse
RAZZLE—DAZZLE ROSE
Cherubic piping of baker’s icing,
Rose petals: pink, yellow, orange, purple.
Satisfies iris of my inner soul.
Panache yellow, flickers, flashes mine eyes.
Tangerine tropical juice primly squeezed.
With romantic swoosh, kissed, by pink pursed lips.
Light stroke of purple blend from Kincaid’s brush.
This hypnotic beauty, a prized dayspring.
The sun spots bedazzle in xanthous light.
Razzle-dazzle of Victorian vine.
Behind Belle’s ear, the beast falls to his knees,
pleading for his life or death. The regale
from Eden’s garden at peak perfection.
4/19/2018
Categories:
primly, beauty, flower,
Form:
Blank verse
Grandmother and grandson,
their faces cast so profoundly
from one mold,
or is it the struggles shared
that have left the same
clefts and furrows
on both?
Sunday visit in Tim Horton's;
She, primly sipping Iced cap
He, hungrily scratching Lottery tickets.
Never looking at
the other's face,
each too busy
quietly, yet impatiently
auditing the allotted minutes.
Or is it their fear
of seeing the reflection of truth
that blocks their view?
This invisible division
sits between them,
like the sun
uncomfortably
blotting out the view
through a windshield.
He, scratches and does not win,
then leaves her to primly sip
as he methodically flees
to his ageing car.
She, sips without pleasure
discretely watching
through the glare,
his slouching retreat.
The ties that bind
can be truly blinding.
See you next Sunday dear?
Categories:
primly, addiction, dark, family, loneliness,
Form:
Free verse
Three women friends, riding in a golf cart, an arboretum journey.
The sky was overcast, the mood jubilant, we were ready for fun.
A reverence and sacred silence met us as we entered the park.
There were ten different gardens, named, with plaques.
Daises and bleeding heart, stood proudly and primly.
This was a well-planned excursion to a magical place.
It did not disappoint – massive sculptures were plaqued and signed.
I took photos from my seat in the back, facing where we had gone,
Not where we were going. I had volunteered for this rumble seat.
One raindrop felt charming to me. I announced it.
We laughed about it, at the same time, on watch.
Lightning meant we would have to take the golf cart back.
One drop turned a rapid, unexpected rain storm.
There was no way to stay dry back here or up front.
The canopy designed for sun was no challenge for the water that pounded us.
Tell me if you are getting too wet, the driver said.
We laughed, announcing how wet we already were, not wanting to turn back,
Wanting to see everything.
We were getting soaked but it was worth it.
Categories:
primly, friendship,
Form:
Free verse
Daring the tigers to toss her aside
To flay her open, and eat her hide
She sat prissily and primly, happily too.
Planning to take these tigers out of the zoo.
The tigers got wind of it and threw her over the wall.
They liked not having to hunt dinner, tiny rabbits so small.
They were spoiled and happy, their dinner was at five.
She knew better than to crawl back there, lucky to be alive.
Categories:
primly, animal, woman,
Form:
Rhyme
Two serious girls with long dark hair.
Enter the school office loudly and proudly.
Their voices are shrill.
Their eyes are huge.
They are half carrying a classmate.
He is their charge, and they are taking this job seriously.
The girls do all the talking as they drag him
Past saloon doors, into the Nurse’s station
“His nose is broken,” one primly tells the nurse.
“He is bleeding, call the ambulance,” the other one says.
The nurse and I smile.
There is nothing as much fun
As watching a semi- helpless five-year-old boy
Being led in by two experts,
Female kindergarten classmates.
Categories:
primly, 1st grade, 2nd grade,
Form:
Rhyme
A pristine pink petticoat prissily pranced priggishly and primly.
A prideful prima donna prisoner of Peggy’s prideful preteen
promenade.
Categories:
primly, 10th grade, 11th grade,
Form:
Alliteration