She is known as Dotty,
her actual name is Gertrude,
that secret she will take to her grave.
Powerful people have always sought her out.
Edison visited in the summer months,
he proposed many times,
but a man that would electrocute an elephant
just to make a point
could never have turned her head.
Teddy Rosevelt visits, sadly his ghost
has not lost any weight.
He has an affection for her,
they manage some careful lovemaking
in the long twilight hours.
She enjoys the half-light now,
dreams of other voice that had wooed her.
Sometimes she spies little Gertrude
peeking over the foot of her bed,
but she is not at all ready to permit her existence.
Elderly hands cover eyes.
Gertrude has taken on a life of her own,
Dotty does not approve.
The old lady has kept many a romantic secret.
She has recorded her favorite erotic memories,
she keeps these missives in a carboard box,
under her bed.
Perhaps with a tinge of remorse,
upon the box lid, she has printed the legend:
‘For Gertrude when I am gone.’
Gertrude Besamer was a bunny with style, flair, and class.
She entered Marla’s Tearoom with a bit of jazzy sass.
Marla complimented her on her barrette made of glass.
And her well-padded bustle which enhanced her pretty a….
The President of the United States called last night,
he spoke most curtly, demanding to know her middle name.
She sent him packing with a stinging rebuke.
Her middle name is Gertrude;
that secret she will take to her grave.
Powerful people have always sought her out.
Edison visited in the summer months,
he proposed many times,
but a man that would electrocute an elephant
just to make a fake point
could never have turned her head.
Poor Topsy.
She enjoys the half-light now,
dreams of other voice that had wooed her.
Sometimes she spies little Gertrude
peeking over the foot of her bed,
but she is not at all ready to permit her existence.
Elderly hands cover eyes.
Gertrude has taken on a life of her own
a neglected life but still able to come when called
or to follow behind or hide in the middle
of those other names.
The lady has kept many a romantic secret.
Most of her best erotic memories
she has written down with a fine cursive hand,
she keeps these missives in a carboard box
under her bed.
Perhaps with a tinge of remorse,
upon the box lid, she has printed the legend:
‘For Gertrude when I am gone.’
Gertrude
Was Rude
And Mean
Caused Scene
Would Yell
Raise Hell
She Sat
With Bat
In Yard
Like Guard
One Friend
Til’ End
Her Dog
Named Frog
12-16-2020
Contest:Footle
Sponsor:Brian Stand
Aunt Gertrude
When Aunt Gertrude, comes by the house
I want to run away
She’s very large and burps a lot
And wears a lot of gray
Her hairy brows go up and down
When she makes funny looks
And I can tell, she has a smell
Of old and musty books
She squeezes me and grabs a hug
Before I even speak
Then her big hands will cup my face
And pinch me on my cheek
When Aunt Gertrude comes by the house
It makes me want to holler
But when she leaves, those big old hands
Will slip me a new dollar!
There was a young lass from Gertrude
Who just loved to dance in the nude
But she had two left feet
She could not hold a beat
To top it all off she was rude
* Gertrude is a ghost town in West Virginia
Traditional Limerick Contest
Sponsor: Viv Wigley
4-10-18
Are those thoughts you put in
what I once valued more
Or would what I put out
be the end winning score
Did I need your ears
for my voice to become whole
Or would I rather them deafened
words deep in my soul
In my twenties your opinion
carried some weight
In my thirties I listened
but asked you to wait
In my forties I turned
and walked slowly away
Now alone in the twilight
—to carry the day
(Villanova Pennsylvania: April, 2015)
Gertrude Bangle
1895-1914
By name I was called Trudy.
When living.
Dear friends of the living,
Do you know Whittier town
Is a very haunted town?
Do you know my ghost still walks
Still silently steps by you?
Oblivious you?
Here in the stalking shade of the myrtles?
Here in the dark shadows of the walnuts?
I still seek the solace from a seeping sadness.
Still seek the light of truth
The air of freedom
In a dark smothering hole
Here in Mt. Olive Cemetery.
Come my friends, come to me now.
Come inside this old resting ground
This long deceased land of a thousand yawning holes
And find my wandering ghost.
You will find me lurking by the Bailey and the Baird graves
Here in the dark belly of death and life eternal.
Here in the stalking shade of the myrtles.
not not
do do
Gertrude Stein
While Gertrude Recovers
By Elton Camp
Gertrude had been in the hospital a week
To her husband the doctor sternly did speak
“It’s essential you wife not get out of bed,
So be certain that she doesn’t,” the doc said
George assured him that he would comply
That proper care he would be sure to supply
As soon as it was time a meal to prepare
He pushed Gert on her bed right in there
“Is this close enough to reach the stove okay?”
To his dear wife, lying on her bed, he did say
New Years began this year
Amid global poisoning
Gertrudes’s skirt began to burn
At the edges
Sirens blared, and some attempt
At presidential communication
Seemed comical
Leaping to my sister from being
Immolated....... prevented the President's
Message connecting
I may seem slow at this verse
The end trends to drift slow
The end trends
To drift slow
11/08/11
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