Just ‘jealous’ doesn’t do her justice, since
unless you factor-in her womanhood,
no vestige of the passion in her blood
or motivation comes across: her prince
conceived real circumspection. He’d convince
alumni, friends and allies that they should
placate her: Juno wasn’t wholly good,
in Miller’s words, a phrase which wins the quince,
the prize for sweetness, but wholly herself.
Our modern model argues men are strong –
look at his biceps! Somehow, all along,
I’ve known the Ghibelline to be a Guelph:
no question, Juno would approve my song:
as ingrained as the view is, it’s still wrong.
It’s easy to do nothing,
For the effort that’s required
To get off your butt and go somewhere
Is bound to make you tired.
If you factor in the traffic
And the weather, if it’s hot,
Any travel’s bound to get your insides
Tied into a knot.
People might not understand it
When a meeting you decline,
But in life you have to trust your gut
And sometimes draw the line.
Though it makes the world much smaller,
Spending so much time alone,
It’s a lot less stressful passing time
Within your comfort zone.
Sometimes beliefs that we held in our youth
Lose the certainty we once regarded as truth,
Then we have to decide what to keep, what to shed,
What still fits us or what is beginning to shred.
Simply clinging to all that we learned in the past,
Even though, at the time, we believed it would last,
Doesn’t factor in various ways we have changed
And the lessons from which we have gotten estranged.
Therefore, no one should judge if we pray or we don’t;
Some traditions we’ll honor but others we won’t.
All that matters is that we’ve no reason to hide
If we follow the guidelines we harbor inside.
No one will say it
In exactly the same way
No one actually
Ever really did
Explain it
Either
Did they
They never do
When they are trying
To sell you something
Otherwise you probably might
Just not have choose to buy it
In the first place then
Would you
Come to think of it
Then everything falls to pieces
Once you factor in and throw we
Human beings into the mix
Per - Say
D . k
We each of us make choices –
Where to live and what to wear,
The type of work we’ll do
And just how much of life we’ll share.
A thousand small decisions
Factor in to who we are,
Determining how close we’ll get
To goals (or else how far).
Our options float before us
Every day that we’re alive.
We pick them or ignore them
So we wither or we thrive.
Though some of us are lucky
With alternatives galore,
We all make our selections
‘Til we cannot anymore.
When you comment on a poem of mine
I owe you a concise note expressing thanks
That you took the time to read me is so fine.
Reading a comment makes me feel divine
As I read them up and down the planks
When you comment on a poem of mine.
I get joy from my daily New Poems dine,
Discovering new poets entering the ranks
That you took the time to read me is so fine.
Once I read each poem, now I draw a line
So many are hard to understand, like pranks
When you comment on a poem of mine.
Others so complex like trying to factor in sine
Leading me in and out of odiferous tanks
That you took the time to read me is so fine.
I enjoy poems that satisfy like a fine wine
Relieving me of so much of my daily angst,
When you comment on a poem of mine,
That you took the time to read me is so fine.
Written November 11, 2022
Sometimes in life there’s a total surprise
That’s so unexpected you have to surmise
What’s happening right there in front of your eyes
Is not quite as real as it seems.
It’s something you’ve hoped for but didn’t expect,
For out of the blue you would never suspect
A stranger to reach out and help to inject
Reality into your dreams.
The ups and the downs that we face every day
In the light of good news could start fading away.
We can’t count on good luck, but at times it just may
Be a factor in fate’s cryptic schemes.
The crowd shuffles
hands raised in vain attempt
to catch a windblown lottery ticket
If you spend 25 bucks
(not counting the price of the turkey)
You can get the turkey
for 89 cents a pound
If not….you’ll pay more
for the turkey than for
the entire dinner.
Took my grandkids to the park.
saw 32 wild turkeys crossing the street
without a crossing guard.
Never play checkers with a cat.
I made Rock Cornish Game Hen for supper.
My kids wanted to know what happened to the turkey?
I told them I washed it…..and it shrunk.
I once ate “Blood Pudding” and Parsnips with my father.
Don’t ask!
How long does it take to become “indigenous”?
I asked Mom: “how many jelly beans can I have?”
She answered: “how many is too many.”
If you factor in all the cleaning, shopping, arranging, set-up, preparation….
the Thanksgiving meal comes to about $89.73 per person..
More if you have a “kids” table.
John G. Lawless
11/23/2021
the piano notes
filled the night with magic
our hearts swaying as one
to the rhythm and the rhyme
nothing else existed
the night was ours
time no longer a factor in the equation
we had crossed into the realm of infinity
the cosmos ours to do with as we pleased
so we danced we danced we danced
Read on air by invitation ~ July 28, 2021 'WORDS & MUSIC"
AP: 3rd place 2021, Honorable Mention 2025
Gradually Grudgingly Giving In
David J Walker
The cold holds no such
Color so bold as winters bite
remembering so many a
Summer night
The warm leaving
Sweat so wet on
The back of your neck
in the faded moonlight
that looked for all the same
In December
until you factor in
the distant solstice sun and the
Longer nights
The cold will hold on
As long as it can
Gradually
Grudgingly
Giving in
Today's college-bound guys and gals
prioritize the essentials with certitude
The number one factor in choosing a school
~ is the quality and variety of the food
It's funny, she thinks.
Funny how you were the one
Begging to be trusted;
Showing offense
in realizing that she didn't.
It's funny, she thinks,
And here's why:
You begged her to trust you
And as the days grew on,
She did exactly that.
But now she's sitting here,
Waiting patiently for your return.
And she's holding on
To a hope that seems futile.
She's crying herself to sleep,
Every single night
Praying you return to her
As you promised you would.
Because when you begged her to trust you,
And she finally did,
You became an important factor in her life,
While to you,
She was nothing but a pass of time.
You meant the world to her,
But you couldn't even give her the time of day.
It's funny, she thinks,
How pathetic she is.
If you were to come back,
She'd accept you in a heartbeat
Because she still trusts you,
And she'll always be waiting.
Why I now, "Just say no"
Light turns to black
Everything slowly fades away
Mental faculties no longer react
Curtain call to life's play
The key factor in this demise flows through the veins
Ravaging the body until nothing remains
Nothing good that needle contained
Next time may put me six feet under on my back
6/21/2019
Writing Challenge 1, June 2019, Crumbling Rhyme Poetry Contest
Dear Heart
If thoughts are worth a penny
(Which was once the going rate),
Then those folks who haven’t any
Should just bide their time and wait.
If we factor in inflation,
What we think’s worth so much more
Than the age-old application
Of that passé metaphor.
Still, no matter what they’re paying
To express what’s in our head,
There will still be some displaying
Merely emptiness instead.
Guess which word irritates me in this poem?
If you do not figure it out, you can read my notes.
Who has the most clout? A carwife or a housewife?
Do we have to factor in the dollar amount paid for the car
and the house?
Would the two million dollar housewife be worth more or less than the
one hundred and twenty-eight thousand dollars housewife?
worth less because she probably can afford to hire help,
so does less of the housework?
or worth more because her house appraises at a higher number?
Shall we go ask the 1950's carhusband?
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