Does it consume my time? Sure.
My money? Of course.
My health? Probably.
My ability to think? Naturally.
Is there great risk in it? If you're not careful ...
but of course you'll be careful
even if it makes you less so by nature ...
So why?
Why flirt with disaster? What's to be gained?
Escape.
Relatively inexpensive; perfectly legal; sometimes quite celebrated.
Christ said not to worry, didn't He?
Well - here's how, you nervous, fearful fool!
And the sweet icing atop the cake -
you ease up on the reins.
You lose the mental strength
to rein in your appetites.
So you'll get your escape - and the sickly sweet thrill
of knowing that your most selfish, raw desires could gain control
and do what your right mind would be far too shamed to endorse
in the Light.
24 August 2025
finished last few lines by 8:31 AM; started the poem some days prior.
in my favorite inexpensive thai restaurant
i move to the right side of the table
she is less likely to see the wall to her right
i try hard to avoid a lull in the conversation
and aim to be more scintillating than usual
each time her gaze moves a few degrees to her right
i make a dramatic exclamation
i consciously avoid looking at the wall on my left
though it’s difficult
because I want to monitor its position
as i silently pray for it to move behind her
it seems like it can’t make up its mind
as it moves first closer
then farther
from her peripheral vision
it almost seems to be teasing me
tormenting me
we finish eating
i’m waiting for the check
i’m in the home stretch
almost paid and gone
but then
she looks
and sees
the cockroach
no more favorite inexpensive thai restaurant
Siesta Key Florida is a favorite endeavor.
where we have taken our family vacations forever
It is inexpensive and fun; we used to go there in inclement weather.
Pure white quartz beaches are never hot on your feet.
Water activities and family-friendly concessions are sweet.
Playground there for children cannot be beat.
“Little boxes on the hillside; Little boxes made of ticky tacky
Little boxes on the hillside; Little boxes all the same”
from first verse of “Little Boxes” by Malvina Reynolds
Vanilla Is . . .
the typical white picket fence
surrounding the front yard of a ticky tack house
It’s a sunless sky
waiting for a rainbow to embrace it
It’s an ordinary bird’s egg
before the burst of life emerges from it
It’s a pie without the fruit;
a cake with no frosting
It’s the color of eyes grown dull
longing for a glimpse of romance
It’s my skin untouched by summer -
still breathing winter’s snow
It’s the quickly fading fragrance of inexpensive cologne
as Tabu's more sensuous scent lingers on and on
It’s a milky white-washed soul
of unexceptional interest
It’s a lackluster longing
for nothing in particular
As I see it, vanilla is
the epitome
of monotony
In New Jersey
I started meeting David
for many years
once a month
When encountered something important or heartbreaking
couldn't see each other
When we ate at a cheap restaurant
or enjoyed eye shopping
Inexpensive but delicious and full of kindness
We also went to the local pizza store
these are all
no matter what
happy greetings
we spent time with a grateful heart
we parted
hugging with a smile
David never married
lives underground
have few friends
relatives are in Arizona and Alaska
but his blessings are the source of my strength
David couldn't paid for food, shopping, or pizza for 12 years
But we never felt strange
however, Last month
David promised
To listen to my favorite classical music better
to buy a CD player
I ask for a phone call
"David, do you have money?"
David laughs and says "a little bit"
i am happy
David will be happier than I am
Finally, tomorrow is the day.
I always expect to hear singing from the balconies
there is only the chatter of other enthusiastic diners
in the thin alley where we consume outside in summer
Scars, my favorite restaurant with a welcoming owner
we are greeted with plates of warm steaming appetizers
crisp table cloths are white linen, the silverware heavy
It is not inexpensive, but we would gladly pay more
for the ambiance, delicious food and this gorgeous alley.
The weasel is the best Uber driver we have ever found,
We have taken rides from miles around.
He is polite and responsible and can outrun a hound.
The weasel is the best Uber we have ever found.
But he is a weasel! Aren’t they mean, sly and slick?
I heard that they carry rabies and can make you sick.
One of them carried off the eggs of my goosey named Dick.
I am fearful of the weasel said my Uncle Mick.
Then don’t use the weasel, but don’t come crying to me.
He is the most inexpensive Uber, and he is good to your she.
He brought my wife chocolates and put a candy in her tea.
If you use the wrong Uber driver, don’t come crying to me.
Along The Magnificent Mile in Chicago, there
is one of the most beautiful Great Lakes. Some
90 miles away from Lake Michigan there is a small
city in Indiana called Winona Lake. I've not touched
the waters of either, but they hold treasured memories.
In 1971-72, I found myself commuting between
the two lakes. It was not a commute to work
but one to love. The vehicle drives to see her were
not very often or predictable because I did not own
an automobile.
We were then engaged, and I was a senior in college.
We both worked in a ministry with ex-drug addicts for
the same organization. She lived and worked with women
some 90 miles away from my home in Chicago where I
worked with the men. We both were connected to a LAKE.
These were the laid-back days of pre-internet and pre-Fed Ex.;
the days of 'snail mail' and expensive landline telephone.
We mostly communicated between the two lakes by way
of letters affixed with inexpensive postage stamps.
031523PSCtest, Writing Challenge-'L' Words. Constance La France
Expensive bags, crafted with care
Leather smooth, a designer's flair
Gold hardware, a statement piece
For the elite, a luxury release
Mid-range bags, a balance found
Stylish yet practical, on solid ground
Functional pockets, room to store
For the busy, a daily chore
Inexpensive bags, simple and true
No frills, just what you need to do
Durable and reliable, a daily friend
For the budget-minded, a practical blend
Cheap plastic bags, a few pennies a piece
Holding your shopping, so thin and light
Drifting on the wind, what a sight
Filled with garbage, what a blight
Paper bags, made from trees
A natural choice, if you please
Biodegradable, a better fate
But not designed to hold much weight
Pockets too, can also be bags
Unless you need to carry eggs
They are no threat to the environment
But much too small except baggy pants
All bags, I guess, are pretty cool
From the most expensive to the least
Have pros and cons, like any human tool
They carry our stuff, with comfort and ease.
The plaid couch was well-built in 1972.
We purchased it brand new from a ritzy furniture store.
I was not fond of the plaid, but it was fairly inexpensive.
Little Plaid could tell stories about my potato chip binges.
Many of them ended up in bits under her cushions.
Her Scotch guard was remarkable.
She is fifty-one years old now.
Sitting in my granddaughter’s sorority house.
They needed a couch.
It’s so comfy, we fight over it, she told me.
They had dolled it up with pillows and artwork.
It looks better there than it ever looked in my house.
Fifty-one and you have never aged, I tell her.
Plaid never looked so welcoming!
A special Christmas is sublime
Transcendent in many ways
Like simplicity at teatime
Hiding uncomplicated gifts from gaze
Singing jubilant carols of praise
Christmas tree hunting upon the land
Searching every hill and vale
Finding one suitable, but not grand
As long as we overlook one detail
Like the aroma, please don't inhale
Our money sparse, but love in good measure
Homemade cocoa, buttered popcorn
A Christmas movie, an inexpensive pleasure
Slowly strange traditions born
Memories of special Christmases adorn
I used rhymezone.com to check the rhymes
The Quintain (English) has no set meter or syllables
Written: December 17, 2022
Contest: A Christmas Special
Sponsor: Emile Pinet
Once we found a tree that looked really nice, but we put it in the stand that night and was going to decorate the next morning. During the night an odor started to permeate the whole house. An animal had been using the tree to mark his or her territory. The tree had to go. LOL..
Uncle Pete agrees to take his great grand-nephew fishing to Lake Mare.
I don’t have a pole, Larry says. No prob, says Pete. We can share.
I’ll make my own rod, the nine-year-old says, and grabs a twig of a stick.
Uncle Pete is decked out in expensive duds; his fishing tackle box is thick.
Look! I caught one! Larry yells! Flinging a giant bass out of the lake.
This startles Pete who thinks “this must have been a little mistake.
But Larry keeps flinging catfish, walleye and groupie out of the water.
His plain inexpensive fishing rod just gets hotter and hotter.
Uncle Pete is sitting on a rock, staring at frogs on rocks.
Thinking he should have worn his lucky crocks!
Larry offers to trade places, so Uncle Pete will have a chance.
But Pete didn’t have luck there either and did the “poor me” dance.
Deffy Daffinitions (Monoku series)
inflation: the thing that makes balloons bigger and candy bars smaller
irony: when obnoxious online bullies post "your a idiot"
jury: twelve people chosen to decide which side has the best lawyer
shin: an inexpensive device for finding furniture in the dark
pediatrics: comforting the parents till nature cures the illness
golfing: getting sunburnt and bored while failing your task at great expense
vitamin: what you are supposed to do when neighbors ring your doorbell
#3 attributable to Robert Frost, all others found online and converted to monoku form by yours truly.
Forty years a surgeon
the finest in the land
Now he gets a shoddy watch
of inexpensive brand
Forty years he’d tolerated
laughter and derision
Just because he chose to
specialise in circumcision
But he just grinned and suffered
all the nasty jibes and quips
Because they didn’t know that
he had saved up all the tips
His wife however made a gift
for she knew how to stitch
She’d made a leather wallet
out of all those willy bits
A wallet, is that all, he said
derision on his face
Just give it a rub she said
et voilà, a suitcase
Vacation
thrilling, expensive
swimming, spending, hiking
condo, bistro, home, kitchen
cleaning, mowing, grilling
humdrum, inexpensive
staycation
September 1, 2021
entered in the Diamante Contest
Sponsor: Caren Krutsinger
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