This morning we jogged early
I was back in my flat by six-thirty
From my tenth floor view of the Charles River basin,
The morning was incandescently flushed by the peach-colored sun.
The transparent clouds seemed stylistically stained, artfully workshopped,
which offered a softened, Tiffany glass effect wholly worthy of worship.
I can’t stop to admire it. I’m jamming things into suitcases.
Cramming things into boxes, giving things away.
I had a second interview Monday afternoon, for Johns Hopkins med school. They put the question to me:
“The semester starts in 18 days - can you do that?”
“Yes,” I replied, and just like that, I'm a Blue Jay.
Of course, I had to withdraw from the masters program but Harvard gave me a full (95K) refund - I think they’re more excited about my med school admission than I am.
I’m not afraid of discordant notes.
They change the landscape.
Take us to new emotional places.
Any major work is going to have them.
.
.
A song for this:
Hang on Little Tomato by Pink Martini
It's Amazing by Jem
WHAT KATIE DID
Katie had jogged my elbow at the poker table
I tried to snatch back my chips but was unable
And I guess I was causing some sort of hiatus
A bet’s a bet, quite irrespective of one’s status
My pleadings were drowned out in that babel
Could I lose all that money sent over by cable
Other players showed no evidence of amity
Their gain will be my loss, and a real calamity
A bet once placed, is like making a contract
By now, any smile on my face had cracked
To regular rich punters a loss doesn’t matter
But for me, it’s my world that could shatter
I held my breath at the the fate I was dealt
All could clearly witness the pain that I felt
The highest bid that I had apparently made
My hand that must now have to be played
Perhaps the others thought I was a kidder
But it’s what a high bidder has to consider
I journey in thoughts in breathless strolls
every turn straightened, and bumps made smooth
my life whose trust in God, faith controls
pass sparked eyes, climbed smiles, the wealth of souls
perks in life that gift my heart and soothe
Be the stills of the night that shades day
the noontime of Spring and Summer Eve
and Autumn colors having their weigh
to impress snowflakes, window display
roam throughout my blest years I achieve
At work, everything is play by play
but I shake and bake, easy as pie
friends for lunch at a sidewalk cafe
at the church, had communion and pray
then trekked home, smiling that satisfy
The internal spirit externals
the facts of my life great from the start
each passing day juices my kernels
joy jogged entries, my daily journals
when my life part, find me in your heart.
There lived a kind lady named Summer,
Her faithful spouse, he was a plumber
When her pipes became clogged,
To her rescue, he jogged
But forgot to kiss her, a bummer!
Just as I walked through the rain,
A skoosh of perfume lingered,
It jogged my memory of you;
And for a moment,
I saw your face smiling,
And you were closer than ever before.
I turned the sight to my locked door,
But, it's deadpan;
Unlike the joy it had when you were closer.
Dear I miss you!
Just like the cloud,
My heart cries too.
dawn dual duel
two poets
a face-off duel joust
free verse rhyme verse
a modernist traditionalist
mull and muse tell it true
prompt a reaction lay it out there
lover of words, jarring lover of pattern, rhyming
readers response individual readers all delight alike
anything goes on loose lines strict punctuation and meter
memories jogged and jangled memories lovingly recalled
stark and confronting language beautiful nice melodious words
leaves reader's questions unanswered readers cherish the poems like songs
10 free steps 10 syllables
bang bang
both dead
duel done
babel babble
I've seen you move with fire
Your spirit all aglow
You sang and wrote poems all winter,
New life you did reenter.
Faith had found you
You were like morning dew.
The reservoir you jogged
The Hudson where you biked,
Those were your spot of healing
Your place of worship appealing.
faith had found you
You were like morning dew.
And then you disappeared
That devil's jealous heart,
Just kept coming after you
As life and death, you reviewed.
Faith had never left you
You were like morning dew.
So! if one's inner limp dims,
And no one seem to care,
Seek out your spot of healing
Your place of worship appealing.
*
Baskets of straw holding beautiful flowers,
My lone heart in flore street,oh how I miss the flower boys,
Floating in flower fields with the butterflies riding the winds,
How I miss the boys,the flower boys of flore street,
Rose boys,lily boys,daisy boys,sunflower boys,
Beautiful they were,each unique in his own,
Winter came- I long to see the boys,the flower boys,
What happened to them,what happened to the boys,
The cheerful and colorful boys,
I remember in the far distance of my jogged up memory,
How they play on flore street.... Or how they used to play,
Growing up is addicting,
But fear consumes me without the boys,
Growing up without the boys,
..........Flower boys of flore street,
Rose boys,lily boys,daisy boys, sunflower boys,
Baskets of straw holding beautiful flowers,
How I miss the flower boys of flore street.
The truest of the truthful dukes who chooses to amuse the fuse of the groove to let loose /
So soon a bloom that is to loom over any gloom /
Forget bigots they’ll never get big like shots or lots /
As I’m aloft through the roof of this joint like I smoked your top locks off /
It's time to prove a hue of stooge slew anew over the slop and open up shop /
This is just my hop to jot through rot like I’m laying sod around the job /
Lost a corn cob as I jogged and juiced a hog in marinade across the log /
Sogged the mob and their pishposh hodgepodge /
Lobbed a rock at her wishy wash lodge she thought she had locked /
Got a troth full of suave to unlock and dislodge /
As we opt for a broth onslaught to loft all the costs /
I mopped the spot of rot sought after by maggots /
We hoped not to botch what my hero’s fruition brought us /
But a lying jont of stop watch witches forgo wishes and forge a lot unjust /
Upped the ante of the pot and ended with no loss just profit /
Stunned the evil planning in a trot as we tended to our cause
Almost a breathe amongst the trees
Peace be on him
His words lightens the World
He has a recurring past
with different phrases, drifting
His jogged memory allies itself
to a multitude of thoughts
Years glancing hope shall blossom
Today rain blows over the lawn
My knees have helped me always.
From my crawling toddlerhood
To my trike, then 2-wheeled riding,
If I needed them, they would…
Let me walk for many miles,
Help me climb up many stairs;
Do aerobics in a gym class,
Reach for shelves from tops of chairs.
On my knees, I’ve dug and planted
Bulbs so daffodils would grow.
I’ve bent down to tie a thousand shoes,
Scrubbed floors so they would glow.
I have jogged and danced and boogied
And played lots of running sports
And throughout, my knees have given me
The greatest of supports.
But at last, with age advancing,
From some things I must refrain
For my trusty knees have lately
Just provided me with pain.
The Blackpool donkeys have given up,
they have boarded jumbo jets
as emotional support animals.
Once they used to plod between
the Blackpool piers
half a mile up, half a mile back,
day after day,
carrying whooping kids and adults
as they heavily jogged along;
fat thighs clapping sore ribs.
In a dulled daydream the donkeys moved
with downcast eyes,
backs spavined from gleeful bums and knees.
When they could carry no more -
they were trucked away
to be neglected unto death.
Now the donkeys,
when not flying business class,
surfboard in Hawaii,
their Bermuda shorts billow
as if tailored for four-legs.
Those that once rode them
on that uncultured English beach,
now take river cruises
to the more refined European cities
never wishing to see a donkey,
but if they should come across one
I hope that for a moment
they feel a knobby spine
again bruising those broad buttocks.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
https://www.blackpoolgazette.co.uk/news/abused-donkeys-not-licensed-work-blackpools-beaches-572591
I felt happy as a lark,
I watched an aardvark;
As I sat in a giant arc.
Next, I waved hi to Mark,
As he jogged in the park.
He wanted to catch Clarke.
Then I noticed a dog bark,
That resembled a gray shark;
Lastly, had to run; it got dark.
Alexis Y.
03/11/2022
By things I see sometimes today
I’m dumbfounded and blown away.
I’ve seen folks driving far
all alone in a car.
Covid masks they still wear anyway.
I could see once a girl IN the pool.
Did a double take because that fool
kept the mask on her face
(though she swam with such grace),
yet there wasn’t a Covid mask rule!!
Once I watched from inside hubbie’s truck
a cute couple that jogged. What the fruck!?
Out in nature they wore
covid masks. Furthermore,
by themselves were they! I’m still dumbstruck.
Aug. 14, 2021
(nothing against masks as mandated! Just a few things I thought were funny)
for the Dumbstruck Poetry Contest of Charles Messina
Forty three years of marriage and still you make my heart beat strong
I never wanted to be anything else but your wife and loving song
Together we walked, jogged and trotted but most of all we danced,
to the rhythm of our first hello. Every loving act was a show of love;
When we were young we danced between sleepless nights and drank
the brew of life as if it were a fox trot of maelstrom haze;
Then the kids left home and we found ourselves alone again,
Phonographic unused cylinders of time crooned again
with love songs from Edith Piaf;
You wrapped your arms around my waist and gave me a beginners taste
Life had been good to us but oh how we lived it in such haste...,
Then we got a second chance, and we did it just so
losing ourselves on the living room floor,
we danced like newly weds on their wedding day;
That was the last time we danced together without goodbyes,
today all I own is an old phonograph, and yesterday's slow sighs.
July 13, 2021
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