Puffed to the brim with inane pride,
You strut about like a sparkling bride,
Displaying invulnerabilities that sting
Sharper than wild porcupinish being.
You fathom neither humanity
Nor harm of your callous inanity;
You ever frolic and chest-thump
And mock and onwards trump.
You’re aided by bloody malice
Of hell ever bereft of peace,
And abetted by the unhearing
Of heaven amid ills so searing.
So how long shall you trample,
You unfeeling impish trampler?
And dole out such endless trouble,
You most callous restless troubler?
Two flowers, dear - one white, one mauve,
and one is in, one out of, love:
two aspects of a morphing maid
who my love welcomed, then betrayed.
The hyacinth’s a lovely thing,
and I may well its praises sing!
Its meaning changes with its hue.
It puts me, dear, in mind of you.
This white one is, I must confess,
the very soul of loveliness.
And who could think such simple charm
could ever dole out so much harm!
To never meet the darker one
is what I’d planned, but I was wrong.
Too innocent, I never guessed
both mauve and white lived in one breast!
So, I will send you, dear, these flowers
which, like your love, will die in hours.
But while they live, they’re yours to keep:
and as you sow, so may you reap.
I love the way you cleverly
pontificate and think you know it all ~
so quick to dole out your advice.
I close my eyes,
take a deep breath
'cause here we go again.
Under the guise of altruism,
you rank right up there with other pests ~
wish there was a prize for 'most annoying'.
I close my eyes,
take a deep breath
'cause here we go again.
You don't need any details
the solution's already in your head ~
who wants any of the facts?!
I close my eyes,
take a deep breath
'cause here we go again.
Do you even hear yourself ~
your words and tone are laughable
but there's no stopping you.
I close my eyes,
take a deep breath
'cause here we go again.
AP: Honorable Mention 2025
A sincere act of generosity:
No media mileage
No publicity
If your right hand
Would dole out
Something for the needy
Let not your left hand
Know it.
Your intelligence, as good as driving amazing cars,
You dole out goodness, generously to all your pals,
Your wisdom, unassailably perches on the highest bar,
While foolish people, buried their's in a maar.
Your smiles burn sadness to a char,
Your beauty invites love to a chair,
Your kindness takes friendship a distance far,
The love you share is without a fear.
Your greatness, noone can ever dare,
In your heart, God's love is already there,
In the eyes of your enemies are rains of tears,
Meanwhile, to your prayers, God has his listening ears.
To your successes, God is always giving you cheers,
In divine blessings, God gave you the largest shares,
The toga of celestial favours, God made you a nice one to wear,
Heavenly salvation, God turns it into your special ware.
In skies of gray I dwell
inside of clouds,
keeping company with mugginess
and sweltering heat.
People who labor underneath me
perspire profusely; some curse.
Others pray for me
to cut their labor short.
Yes, they pray for rain.
I hear their cries,
for I’ve been mustering steam
during days and days of dreadful drought.
Pitter patter pitter patter
Their plaintive pleas I answer teasingly.
Starting slow. I dole out droplets
drop by drop by tiny drop
The droplets increase . . . plop plop plop.
Wind joins in - wailing.
Trees tremble as I splatter them
with wonderful wetness for the prayerful.
Swoosh! Ker-plunk!
I’m drumming and drumming,
pouring myself down
on thirsting flowers with heads bowed
to reverently receive me.
Umbrellas appear all over the streets.
Gleefully, I pound them, hammering away.
I pounce on the heads of uncovered people.
Soaking grass and soil,
filling rain gutters, and
sliding joyously off many hard surfaces,
I saturate every place that I’m able to outside.
I am rain, and unceasingly
this summer day,
I reign
supreme.
when God cooked a casserole
was found thrown up on a noll
out to each one would dole
The naked hills are clad in snow
Blurring the houses that line up in a row
The wind that blows is icy chill
Freezing cold is the water of the rill
Trees stand stripped and bare
But so much gaiety is in the air
Lightings from all houses shine
Sending out a radiance divine
Christmas trees stand finely decorated
Cribs are colorfully illuminated
The day has come when Christ was born
In our midst as the greatest boon
He came not in glory arrayed
But in a poor man’s rags clad
Took birth not in a palace of gold
But in a deserted manger of old
Poor shepherds were the sole witness
They beheld his radiant face in stillness
The whole world is under his magic sway
As love for all is his wondrous way
Jesus came down from Heaven on Earth
To offer the world its true mirth
To dole out the priceless treasure of peace
To see all bitterness and enmity cease
Merry ditties echo from every street
Children sing Christmas carols sweet
From angelic band, rises the lovely refrain
“Peace on Earth and goodwill to men"
Behold the radiant face in stillness of the night
Of the babe born to illumine the world in light
Nov.20. 2022
I walk in the door,
my dog is there to greet me,
wagging his tail furiously
whilst sniffing around my shopping bags
He has that suspicious, perplexed
look on his face ,
one I’ve seen so many times before
I know what he’s thinking:
how the hell do I regularly come home
with a fully cooked chicken in a bag,
Yet he cannot find so much as a stale roadkill
when I bring him for a walk?
I look back at him, incredulous too…
do you really think chickens
just immolate themselves,
then jump cooked
nice and juicy into a bag
for me to pick up along the street?
He’s still anxious and perplexed
as I dole out his share
Imperceptibly, our curiosity
and suspicion of each other evaporate,
as we polish off this beautiful creature
Soon I’m licking my fingers,
and the real miracle happens
when I say,
“Hey Siri! Put the TV on channel 8,”
and on comes the sports news
The dog too is thoroughly engrossed,
licking his — erm — himself.
# precious little words always say more ~ just never in the way we think #
He has made his own reed gourd pipe
To play on and allure his captive -
The stray serpent, in his basket inactive ,
And rendered a fangless, servile type .
Being a lazy sot, gets his drink
Displaying the hooded creature apt ;
And blows odd tunes with no tact ,
Nor ever allows the coil to jink .
Motley onlookers dole out a coin ;
They know not why : fear or taboo,
Or even feeling heavy with ado
And he leaves , having drunkards to join ;
Loyal or helpless the selfless reptile
Ever returns to it's bamboo cell,
Despite the strain or a nearby dell ;
Thralldom corrodes the entity all the while.
Blind as a bat they used to say as she rode her bike this way and that. I did
Love her thick coke bottle glasses and the way she hunched her back when she
Incited to drive down a one lane street with her head up and her eyes fixed.
No one could have guessed that she was really biking it by memory, as they
Drove by her, they would honk and say " get out of the street" ....
A lady with very little money, five children and a knapsack full of apples for
Snacks. She would drive to school at recess and dole out the fruit to her kids.
Annabelle Kor was her name and she was my mother, this I say with pride.
Born a survivor, who had survived the Jewish camps , she knew how to live free
Answer to none but God, she would tell us as they sent her strange looks
Truth be told I wouldn't have wanted any other mother, she was my hero...
August 11 2022
And
Goat heads, cockleburs, and cow pies.
These are the things
we live with, in the country.
Some you step on,
some travel in your clothes,
and some stink.
Foxtails.
That sounds so beautiful.
They are terrible.
They cling and bring pain
to the feet of dogs.
Don't get me started...
on mosquitoes and blood-sucking vermin...
that find us all in the day,
and in the night.
Yet we still go outside.
We still want to touch,
trees, and flowers...
and lay in the grass.
Ticks stay away,
fleas go somewhere else.
This is the best place,
to be calm and set the pace...
backward, or at least slowdown.
Chores make the time pass without notice.
Tired muscles and an achy back
replace the need to be concerned...
about the small things.
Yet inside,
peace reigns.
Even at the cost of life's
tiny inconveniences,
there is a payment of joy,
that only He can dole out.
Dorthea is a strange one, a weird thinker
She never starts her J’s in the middle of the line
I cannot follow her thought processes.
She is getting a D; something isn’t right here.
She is not a “normal” thinker.
She’ll probably be a drop out anyway.
I might as well get her started.
Bruce is bossy, overbearing, but a boy.
This will serve him well in the business world.
B for Bruce who brings me candies from the homemade candy shop.
I love Bruce; I cannot give him an A because he never does his work.
It’s a C for Carlotta; she is bossy, and girls should not be.
So I truly must take her down a peg or two.
I know she gets lots of A’s but she is arrogant and overbearing.
Girls should learn to keep their mouths shut. She has corrected me twice.
The A students are the compliant ones.
They stay in their seat. They do not make noise.
They do not argue, demand or ask anything of me.
They cannot make eye contact with me.
They are cowed an intimidated.
I like them the best. They never make trouble. A’s for those ten!
A’s because they have made my life as a third grade teacher easy this year.
As Halloween approaches
I wonder if any bold spirits
will venture out to maintain
a long forgotten pagan rite
and if they’ll don a Darth Vader
mask or wear a more sensible
and hygienic tight fitting
mouth and nose covering?
Regardless, there will be a light
in my crudely carved pumpkin
and I’ll wear my mask and
gloves to dole out sweet
nothings to any intrepid
souls who venture
to my door.
The doggie did his duty
And he earned his master’s praise:
“You’re such a good good doggie!”
But his eyes began to glaze…
For he only did what Nature
Had intended him to do –
Nothing special or heroic,
Yet perhaps that doggie knew…
That his owner’s pure excitement
Over excrement was weird
‘Cause each time he had to go,
It made him more and more endeared.
To dogs, we humans are bizarre
For while the pets are pooping,
Their owners dole out compliments
The whole time they are scooping.
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