I was collecting my thoughts
reflecting on my calling
giving a penny for your thoughts
underneath the harvest moon
where there was a chair lift
in the boldest of colors
and a moonbeam - now I am
blinded by the light!
~~~
collecting my thoughts - where did they go?
calling - your gift, talent or are you making a call
penny for your thoughts - I'll buy Einstein's
harvest moon - will we be harvesting crops
chair lift - can't you just use your hands
bold color - is it strong and courageous
blinded by the light - how bright was it
Buzzword Bingo Poetry Contest
Sponsored by John Anderson
August 1, 2021
Late fall and a few tourists
trickle in to ride the chair lift
to see the alpine larch, golden
against the first wisps of snow.
Some even hike down to the lodge
but most return they way they came
to the new Irish style pub and sip
a whisky mix which really isn’t sour
and inhale the smoke of imported peat.
Time’s passage feels like molasses
yet the glaciers are melting.
Soon enough our grandkids will rise to
mountain parakeets rather than chickadees
but at least they’ll be above sea level.
I slide in the chair as it begins to rise.
Legs hanging with heavy feet,
Bang them together, watch falling snow.
Brisk wind hits my face turning red.
The metal cold and wood wet,
Holding my poles dangling skis,
Nose gets numb during the ascent.
The view surreal I feel so blessed,
See them push off at the top.
Just in time I jump off
Then glide through dusty snow.
By: Greg Stanley
Submitted into Brian Strand's "Upto Sixteen lines" Contest
LIFE IN THE FAT LANE
Supersize me, Honey, with extra mayo on everything;
But hey, make it a diet coke please -
Keeping fit these days. . . . skiing tomorrow - just the thing:
Chair lift up 6000 feet, gravity pulls me down with ease.
Drive four blocks to the gym, twenty minutes in sauna;
Relax with latte lite in café at the fitness club.
Stroll in the park, admire flora and fauna -
Then couple of beers with the guys in the pub
Jump in the golf buggy now, we’ll play several rounds.
Big into football too, saw the Bears take the pennant last year.
Vibro-belt strips off those unwanted pounds :
Makes just enough room for pizza and beer.
Unable to imagine attempting the steep descent before me;
I furtively follow a turquoise topped Canadian cabinetmaker
and her Aussie friend discuss a chair lift down?
With a grumble and groan
I realize there must have been a chair lift up!
After one aborted boarding of the lift
Pay, pay, one had to pay!
Where to pay? How to pay!
Ahhhhhhh, here silly Gaijin, pay here!
I grab the circling chair; hold tight to my “go bag”
and clamber to the seat.
And away we go. Echoes of Jackie Gelson!
I watch the wee ones whoosh and bounce by
swinging their stocking covered legs
adjusting their baseball caps “Go Tigers!”
“Take me out to the ball game wheedles its way
into my frontal lobes
The lyrics printed on the wall of a building
beside the train station (in English)
running pell-mell from mind to hum.
The lifted landed me with a running stop.
within an atrium on the top floor of a modern building.
Somewhere?
Oopps.
Looking for the formal definition, structure, and history of this poetry form? Visit the Poetry Dictionary entry below. Then return to explore how PoetrySoup members bring the form to life through their own poems.