Filled with trepidation
(not amalgam)
paid a visit to the nearest sadist
he who thrills
to the sound of drills
and not the first
on my Christmas list
(DDS Jack Flash)
as for him it's all gas gas gas
but with an aching tooth
(forsooth and alas)
what else was one to do
but turn the other cheek
in the hope I would pull through
and while seated there in the chair
(to extract a page from his book
Weapons of Mass Dentistry)
with WMD in my north and south
I repeated into thin air
'Dentists all look down in the mouth!'
downcast, downtrodden, down-in-the-mouth house
not perky enough for a raccoon or a mouse
was passed over quickly by Lee Ann’s spouse
Buying this monstrosity would make him a louse.
Bare, bony fingers probe
nature’s naked cupboard
Nary a morsel seen
nutrition confined to dreams
December winds howl o’er barren ground
January storms muffle all sound
February thaws gurgle whispers of hope
Crushed by March, snowdrifts abound
Bears in hibernation, birds down south
We humans alone, down in the mouth …
One glimpse of Robin redbreast
~ no longer depressed
If you’re ever a bit down in the mouth,
Or even feeling just a little bit blue,
One thing you can rely on is,
I’ll always be there for you.
And if you feel in a bit of a hole,
Even if it’s one which you have dug,
You know you can rely on me to –
Give you a reassuring hug …
Tattle tale Tessie is on my last nerve.
She tells on everyone with vigor and verve.
Before they do much Tessie is whining away.
Wearing down my good mood by the end of each day.
Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah she whimpers and whines.
Stressing me out before I have had my snack or my wines.
This boy did that and thoses other two girls did this.
Grating my nerves, she a down-in-the-mouth miss.
Here she comes up the sidewalk to talk to me.
I am hiding in my house, hoping my car she won’t see.
She presses the buzzer for fifteen minutes, yelling “tee hee”.
I simply cannot abide one more day listening to Tattle Tale Tessie.
Old sad pumpkin witch was down in the mouth.
Her feelings were bad, and they went even more south.
She had a red nose that was always ready to blow.
Her first reaction to everything was always “heck no!”
Old sad pumpkin witch was sharp like a quill.
She had a mean mouth, that feelings did kill.
We asked her to think of something nice and keen.
But she was always morose and depressed on Halloween.
She needed a friend – a cat, a rat, or even a bat.
Let’s get her something, said my neighbor, Matt.
So, we got her an opossum, a hyena and a skunk.
The best pets of all, they got her out of her funk.
Wherever you go, don't forget
Bring your own sunshine along
To brighten up the path you travel
Singing a happiness song
It's certainly possible, look at me
Can't wipe this smile from my face
Mona Lisa can't hold a candle to Jacko
Brightening the darkest place
Am I happy with my life so far
Bet yer sweet bippie I am
Was never much of a complainer ever
Or a down-in-the-mouth type man
So wherever you go, don't forget
Give everyone a big high five
Never leave home without your sunshine
You'll brighten up so many lives
positivity in voice,
mannerism, mollycoddling
may bring tidings
up from down-in-the-mouth
to a weak grin
if that doesn’t work
perhaps, a little gin,
olive plops,
fizz fizz,
a little sun, a little breeze
wings flapping…
just
omitting, oblivious,
staring straight ahead
tethered
to fair-weathered feathers,
free-and-queasiness of tears
9/29/2021
Two daughters they had – Happy and Sad.
They had other names, but this is what we neighbors noticed.
And it is what we called them.
Happy was always laughing, smiling, joking, playing.
She was upbeat, positive, excited about life.
She was a terrific guest. We all liked having her around.
Sad got dragged to our houses sometimes by her parents.
She was down in the mouth, and in the mind.
Everything was worst scenario, and she had a bunch of them.
When Sad arrived, the party began to implode.
You have heard of the term wet blanket?
This was more like bringing a crashing meteorite of gloom and doom.
Happy went to college, which means the family stopped going to parties.
We did not see much of them, but this meant seeing less of Sad.
Which was a good thing.
The night before Thanksgiving we were all ready to welcome Happy home.
She was late – several hours. Some of us wandered back home with our signs.
Happy had been killed after her car slid on black ice.
Sad was even more sad now, which I would have not thought possible.
Deep breathing walkers
stretch across the blue grass of early day.
The park is a Florida basin under river roots.
A native cracker jammed down in a no-name Ford
listens to a country station that’s mega-nasal,
tin-star shaped and boozy.
Alligators break the dark circular water,
try again to feed on egrets,
as usual the birds are too strong to be plucked.
Later on, a guy with a big belly and low belt
will grandstand for the daily on-lookers
while throwing chickens at them.
This early I am just down in the mouth,
still surfacing.
Restless night and my legs got jailed
by lidless dreams. Now the back of my neck
tingles as old sweat refries itself.
I’m here taking the soft wet breeze
making out with a cold one inside a soda bottle
waiting for the man
who will show-up like a pond swimmer,
weed clinging to his billowing tactical shorts.
Only I and Frick and Frack over there
supposedly walking and talking
see that the park is all too clear-cut
and faking it.
When the ankle-deep mist rises,
it will be certain that we are waiting for some,
and another much cooler tomorrow.
Reindeer racks, huffing and chuffing - smokestacks
longing, like huskies, to run with shining
red sleigh. Commercials over, indicates
to Nick, in his hip black and red plaid, matching
fur-rimmed hat, pom-pom and whiskers, “Let’s go!”
Colorado Reinbeer to the rescue. The swagger
and lift of spirited gifts to neighbors.
Santa moves with the covid times, to cheer
up the down in the mouth, even the kids
with suds of their own - root or birch beer floats.
Sleigh bells and holiday harnesses play
in the steep mountain snow with “Ho! ho! ho!”
11/28/2020
Loosely based on a segment I saw on the news.
Just because others are down in the mouth
Don't let it affect you, be a big strong mouse
Lead by example
Don't get trampled
Show 'em how to grin and the fires to douse
Oh woe is me.
Life is bad.
Things are horrible.
I live in pure sad.
I drag my lethargic body
Through mire, muck and mud.
Down in the mouth always,
A true Elmer Fudd.
All things are terrible.
I feel ugly and sick.
You cannot help or uplift me.
My brain skull is thick.
I focus on all bad things I know.
Life is full of meaningful powerful woe.
Oh woe is me. The days are brutally long.
Come back here, I want to sing my death song.
In spite of your realization, there is simply no gray.
Life is horrible and bad, ridiculously ugly and sad.
My friends are all gone, they have all run away.
In my world anyway, things are awful and bad.
Just because others are down in the mouth
Don't let it affect you, be a big strong mouse
Lead by example
Don't get trampled
Show 'em how to grin and the fires to douse
Just because others are down in the mouth
Don't let it affect you, be a big strong mouse
Lead by example
Don't get trampled
Show 'em how to grin and the fires to douse
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