When Sis and I were growing up--
I, nondescript; Sis, beauty queen—
she won the crowns and wowed the guys.
Me? I was on the Quiz Bowl Team.
Some handsome guys befriended me.
They came to me for sound advice,
revealing just what made them tick.
They trusted me—I was so nice.
Though Sis is smart in many ways,
she still can’t see through men’s facades.
Her heart gets broken when she finds
some guys, in truth, are cads and clods.
Date: December 31, 2019
Contest Title: She Inspires Series KH placed 3rd (premier contest)
Sponsor: Maureen McGreavy
January 29, 2020, entered in Strand Special 9
Woe betide lower men who fickle facades embrace
And wit’s hard-won gold for shifting dross exchange;
Dubbing avarice-sired glosses exquisite gems pure,
With obscuring eyes decimating solid worth's range.
With their own ears they cannot first-hand hear,
And gauge if wild grapevines solid realities say;
There's always standard hearsay in each sphere,
That defines world’s weightier subjects of the day.
It's the stark lack of depth in these artless geeks
That hatches and pupates corporate hydras’ fads:
Gimmicks-iced shenanigans to sate whims of cads;
Lie-tipped rackets hymned by classist parrot beaks.
They're the distant acquaintance who moans louder
Than the actual first-bereaved's grief-laden shoulder.
You behold the fairy eye riled by wetting garlic wafts,
That gives its tear to one unhurt by the vexing shafts.
Methinks all existence and its rigged veneers would have ceased,
If the few manipulating hucksters on its skewed stage so pleased!
Family Line
We each stand in one long line.
Back to Adam all Mankind.
The line is precious to our hearts;
Though it consists of many parts.
Country, race, and next of kin.
It is our future, and where we've been.
All riders on some cosmic bus;
Who are these folks that make up us?
If Grandma was a Nubian Queen;
Stranger things are often seen.
Veterans of perhaps a thousand wars;
Past Generations, just thus far.
Doctors, Lawyers, Indian Chiefs;
Murderers, rapists, cads, and thieves.
All stand behind us, and that's fine;
We're standing in our family line.
Why should we notice? What's the worth?
Of noticing our time on earth?
The line's a circle don't you see?
It stretches round eternity.
Look brightly and don't think it odd.
The line begins and ends with God.
Hither and thither and yon
Is a place where all cads belong
An internet tweet
Records their deceit
To haunt them their whole life long
May Day is Lei Day
Where Hawaiian flowers grow
May Day is Pay Day
In places that I know
May Day is Play Day
In places where I go
May Day is Weigh Day
For folks with vertigo
May Day is Clay Day
For potters in the know
May Day is Prey Day
For those who seek a beau
May Day is Yea Day
In flagrante delicto
May Day is Gay Day
For fans of ********
May Day is Spay Day
For cads who come and go
May Day is Stray Day
For herds of buffalo
May Day is Sleigh Day
Among the Eskimo
(M'aidez is Crochet Day
for rural Idaho)
May Day is Nay Day
For those with lawns to mow.
An evening of social justice
paid for by the “alleged” perpetrators
of the grand injustice.
What cads, these bastards
of the billions, usurpers of
our “common” wealth,
cream skimming purveyors
of the entrepreneurial spirit.
“They did not build it alone!”
No, they did not. They built it –
first in their minds imagination,
fashioned into a dream,
molded into a plan
hammered by determination.
Brick by brick, stick by stick,
thread by thread,
hour by endless hour.
And now the bread is made.
Now they come - the naysayers,
the doubters, the mockers,
in the guise of “social sainthood”,
to tear down the success,
condemn the economics
regarding the slicing of the loaf.
“The laborers may be worthy of their hire”*
but The Little Red Hen* runs the kitchen.
3/29/2018
*paraphrased biblical quotation
**1950’s(?) childrens book (The Little Red Hen)
submitted to – social justice free verse – Poetry Contest
sponsor – John Hamilton
Ive drafted this with all my heart
Hoping you will accept and read with all your heart
Let me start by telling you who you are
You are the only one whom I love
Your heart isn't as black as tar
Therefore you are the right person to get my love.
Yes, I know you aren't believing this
But as you finish reading, you will believe
I wasn't able to tell you this
Because I didn't have the courage and chance
But now, I have a little courage
I dont wanna call you 'dear'
I wanna call you 'my valentine'
I have an indefinable affection for you, yes YOU!!
And God knows why
Please dont blame me, because it's you
Who made me fly.
Have you ever noticed that I run out of words
When talking face to face with you, angel?
Don't listen to those cads
I wanna show you the right romantic way, my girl.
I love everything about you, internally and externaly
Please understand me
I love you wholeheartedly
Everything you want, tell me
I love you extra gorgeous lass
Hope you have understood
Ive drafted this with all my heart
Hoping you will accept and read with all your heart
Let me start by telling you who you are
You are the only one whom I love
Your heart isn't as black as tar
Therefore you are the right person to get my love.
Yes, I know you aren't believing this
But as you finish reading, you will believe
I wasn't able to tell you this
Because I didn't have the courage and chance
But now, I have a little courage
I dont wanna call you 'dear'
I wanna call you 'my valentine'
I have an indefinable affection for you, yes YOU!!
And God knows why
Please dont blame me, because it's you
Who made me fly.
Have you ever noticed that I run out of words
When talking face to face with you, angel?
Don't listen to those cads
I wanna show you the right romantic way, my girl.
I love everything about you, internally and externaly
Please understand me
I love you wholeheartedly
Everything you want, tell me
I love you extra gorgeous lass
Hope you have understood
The Age of Consent was once ten
To ensure there were virgins for men
But young girls love candy
Which cads have kept handy
Since Mary of Magdalene
Now the Age of Consent is 16
With virgins nowhere to be seen
On an iPhone screen
Obscene is routine
As girls document coming clean
With no age tattoo to impress
Her age is anyone's guess
Though less than oblesse
To avoid redress
Just film her head nodding, "Yes"!
A scourge on subways is the guy
Whose legs are widely splayed
So those who want to sit won’t try –
They’re shy or just afraid.
His manspread takes two seats at least
As if it is his right,
Though others think this selfish beast
Is more than impolite.
The MTA*’s creating ads
To focus on these guys,
Though likely such obnoxious cads
Will never compromise.
I wish I had the kind of nerve
To challenge such a man
And give him what he does deserve –
A kick right in the can!
*Metropolitan Transit Authority
the madman stands
with clutching hands
and shakes Eliot’s geranium
what you hold
has been foretold
but he just stared distantly
at the void
and a vacuous comment
slipped like mist
over the trees, the height
of conversation
- such a vacuous nation –
fools, cads and in moral poverty
what does the future hold?
or does it just shake
the geranium?
what have you been told
of days of old?
it’s the day of new
where hope serves few
The Sweetheart Internet Scam
By Elton Camp
This scam has been around for a while
Roués and cads are giving it another trial
With a woman they get acquainted online
Gradually, they will tell her she’s so fine
They claim to be so in love with her
And feel certain that she does concur
She becomes convinced it’s the exception
It’s true love and involves no deception
Usually, it’s another country where he lives
For not meeting, excuses he always gives
However, he plans to move to her town
For an apartment she should look around
But then a sudden emergency will arise
That he asks for money is no surprise
So then deceitful things he will have to say
“I hate to ask, but we’ll soon marry anyway”
As soon as she forks over the dough,
Into electronic oblivion he will go
In my very town we had such a case
Ladies, don’t let yourself face disgrace
As a mother with no other,
I stand alone but I am as soild as a stone.
With my children there is only love,
They were sent from above.
I thank God for them every day,
He is is always there to show me the way.
I wished so much their fathers were dads,
They just turned out to be cads.
If they only knew the love they gave away,
they might have stayed.
What they lost was my gain and there is no pain.
I have no regrets as I put her hair up with barretts.
I love them and they love me and that is the way it will always be.
I was always the little guy,
Picked on for my size,
Pushed and prodded in the halls,
Cowered to nothing by their calls,
They threw rocks at me every day,
So I would leave early on my way,
And wore two coats with hoods,
Rocks only striking when I stood,
Sometimes they'd throw boulders,
And they glanced off my shoulders,
And then I would come back in pain,
With yesterdays tear stains,
Once they crippled me for days,
Hitting my legs, oh what pains,
But then my dad took me in,
And I grew into a young man,
And two years later I returned,
And now the tables were turned,
You see I grew a foot taller,
And no longer was I smaller,
I visited those who threw stones,
And none of them had grown,
As I did those past two years,
And I couldn't pay back the tears,
For I knew their sudden plight,
They were too small to fight,
But they soon left my brother alone,
This was the gift I gained from stone,
So from bullied to protector I moved,
And the little ones all approved,
Of the new big friend they now had,
And how I stopped those bullying cads.
A little bit tipsy
and a lot of flirty
makes for outrageous talk
and situations that create
impropriety,
Women want to remain above
reproach while having a good time,
They don't want to raise any red flags
or "tow the line",
Clouds of suspicion can cast shadows
on their lives, especially with unplanned
liaisions in the middle of the night,
Some men are cads and don't have reputations
to lose, but confused, inebriated women may
instigate actions that are obtuse,
Altered egos takeover and the rest becomes
history, in a haze of consciousness,
lives could suddenly turn into a mess,
victims of rash decisions get created,
panic sets in, and lives get obliterated.
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