Two fifteen-year-olds stood in a dark hotel parking lot.
Laughing teenagers passed with their dates, to their cars.
The pair stood, awaiting her parents -
she, in a shiny, pink, satin dress, a corsage,
and a gold chain tracing a meandering path on her smooth neck,
he, in a crazy tuxedo,
and a strange garment - a cummerbund.
Earlier, clumsily, unnerved, and threatened by a huge concentration
of alien creatures, that is, fellow teenagers,
he had tried to navigate a new kind of obstacle course,
at one point, emulating something called a dance.
Her curves gracefully undulated,
stretching the fabric of her dress.
He hadn't talked much that night.
Now, in the dark, away from the crowd,
he spoke,
placing his hands around her waist,
and feeling, through slippery fabric,
something entirely new,
wonderful and real.
Categories:
cummerbund, dance, high school, memory,
Form: Imagism
Santa was on vacation, but with a cane unfortunately.
He was older now, and walked slowly, his time so free.
I could have enjoyed this longer, he thought when I was young.
When he wore handsome clothing – tuxedo with cummerbund.
You are doing okay Mrs. Claus told her man who finally retired.
But he did not think so, for being lazy was not how he was wired.
Categories:
cummerbund, 3rd grade, 4th grade,
Form: Rhyme
Calling card, heart shaped, scented with strawberry
Dot point offers plant remote scenario seeds
Swirled responses confuse clients, strings tangled
Caught in pitiless draught, swung by fastidious song
Men attempt to measure vapour, mind's desperation
Digs hungrily into collapsing burrows
Tunnel bends suddenly, bright Saint rays blinding
Instilling whites to irises burdened by jutting brow
Bosom bandaged in gilt silk gown rhythms innocently
Kimono openings brush bristled necks in eroticism
Tension simultaneously softens perception
Velvet weaves an inlet, secrets under her cummerbund
Unfamiliar ocean floor coral organism submerges
Carbon crumbling flame surmounts ash, absorbent
Finite fire paralised by Siren's immortal smiling
Fingers deftly unthread rationale, star array unrationed
Mild explosive conceals danger in magic
Moss pubis rises to challenge, a next breath
Taken as death's ultimate verdict, torture of relief
Vixen innoculates victim with vibrant vial of uranuim
15th March
Filtered heart
Categories:
cummerbund, absence, beauty, betrayal, mirror,
Form: Free verse
i woke
up
i tried
to put
pants
on but
it was
uncomfortable
a cummerbund
was even
dumber
and i
kept
thinking of
a cucumber
i laid back
down
but was
still awake
i'll try to
sleep
but i'm
still
up
Categories:
cummerbund, muse,
Form: I do not know?
Elegant traditions slowly fade.
A life of service, a worthy trade.
Helping others is its own reward;
inherent virtue can't be ignored.
Wear a tie, tip your hat,
shine your shoe, don a spat.
That's the proper way to do;
adopt a cultured world view.
Bow to kings, royals 'n mates;
respect heads of state, delegates.
Greet keen chums only by first name
but global icons with refrain.
Represent with pride your workplace;
they'll recall a friendly face.
Of course, you're free to have some fun,
remember to square your cummerbund!
Categories:
cummerbund, culture, friend, fun, life,
Form: Couplet
In two more hours I'll have to shower,
shave and coffee-prop my lids
and otherwise prepare for day. It's 4 a.m.
and now the barkeep, Griggs,
is rushing me, the first
to come, the last to leave,
the lad who just an hour before
was coaxed to quaff one more.
At work I'll cummerbund a smile,
hold my head and sit all day,
play another endless game
of solitaire or tic-tac-toe.
Griggs' apron's off. The neon's out
and now he'll set the locks in back.
The spittle, butts and half-slain beers
he'll leave for Willie who'll soon be here
to dance his broom between
the tables and the scattered chairs
as smoothly as Kelly or Astaire.
At 6 a.m., he'll climb the ladder
near the door and aim his broom
through the transom toward the sky.
Each morning Willie puts another
bullet through the eye of sunrise.
Donal Mahoney
Categories:
cummerbund, work,
Form: Blank verse
A cummerbund of peach and tangerine
below Persian blue sky now washes pale,
Marsh Harriers and Starlings call, unseen,
competing in bizarre chromatic scales.
Sewn onto the horizon in a hem,
like cardboard cut-outs on a puppet's stage,
black silhouettes of trees break up the Fen,
companions, my deep solitude assuaged.
A circling buzzard ends his last foray,
for him the next meal cannot come too soon,
the evening takes it's leave and says good-day,
lopsided smile upon Lincolnshire moon.
Now turning a full circle, one last gaze
with hope in such peace I can end my days.
Categories:
cummerbund, nature,
Form: Sonnet
oh ageless one
in your stance of green
your curtsy of orange
in your generosity of gold
your mood of blue
oh ageless one
erect in a manly deep brown
the woman with yellow hair
your black cummerbund
your fluffy white hair band
mighty oak
how you awaken
my genders
how you fill
my palette
mighty oak
the creative you inspire
the words you extract
the music you incite
the paintings you draw
from me
Categories:
cummerbund, nature,
Form: Free verse
Rat rat tat rat of archangel
wings
Puffed grey streaks buzz masts
of anchored boats
Being gently rocked to sleep by
a rising tide.
An island rises wrapped in a
cummerbund cloud
Shoulder high above a soft
dissolving mist
Raises its head to bask in a
warming kiss
A high speed ferry slips
through the mouth of the
harbor
With a cargo of fresh dreams
waking the days of famine
A solemn nod to a flag
drenched in sacrificial blood.
Categories:
cummerbund, ireland
Form: Free verse
smoother than most, all moving no boast, shooting a moon to toast, to our beautiful host
revolving no doors, just opportunities score marking the entrance ways pores
balance implored
fracking a lack of communication crashing breaking backs and racking our foundation
till were screaming take it back
unpacked and all out, dig deep for the fall out, kettle blackened from potty mouths,
busted missing a tea spout
pour me a gallon of chandon the whole sip for your front lawn, till the bottles dry
like jokes from monty python
silly satans salivating sighing and spraying your favorite simon's saying cause piles of money and ego feed are waiting for the generating
nothing new under the sun but above clouds I found me some, cause ignant bliss still exists even if you wear a cummerbund
tell all your facts and try to catch my glazed eye, cause compromise can be the do or die, to where ever future lovers lie
this blueberry from space ferry might fit in a test tube in perspective
or we just miss the point why evolution was so selective
Categories:
cummerbund, earth, environment, metaphor, mom,
Form: Rhyme
Griggs’ Bar and Grill
In two more hours I’ll have to shower,
shave and coffee-prop my lids
and otherwise prepare for day. It’s 4 a.m.
and now the barkeep, Griggs,
is rushing me, the first
to come, the last to leave,
the lad who just an hour before
was coaxed to quaff one more.
At work I’ll cummerbund a smile,
hold my head and sit all day,
play another endless game
of solitaire or tic-tac-toe.
Griggs’ apron’s off. The neon’s out
and now he’s off to set the locks in back.
The spittle, butts and half-slain beers
he’ll leave for Willie who’ll soon be here
to dance his broom between
the tables and the scattered chairs
as smoothly as Kelly or Astaire.
At 6 a.m., he’ll climb the ladder
near the door and aim his broom
through the transom toward the sky.
Every morning, Willie puts another
bullet through the eye of sunrise.
Donal Mahoney
Categories:
cummerbund, people
Form: Free verse