Where’s the gravy train I rode
In those days of waggy tails
With no thoughts of getting old
And no precious aim to chase
I can’t recognize the wreck
Whose each morning’s waking up
Counts as luckiest comeback
But it’s me with coffee cup
Course I had that vague idea
What those better days acquire
Mary Hopkin puts it clear
There’s no point to join the choir
Days of pleasure, wine and smoke
Days of roses, lovers lanes
All has gone beyond the joke
Though the joker still remains.
“You didn’t like it?”
“Jenny, you write to write!”
“I feel every word to the fiber
of my being!”
“Oh, God”
Life's one big practical joke.
I'm standing on top of the world.
Laughter gets me through anything.
Wordku: 5-7-5 words
AP: 3rd place 2026
Of course, the joke’s on me –
The game is fixed so none succeed.
We must try even if we fail.
For, in the end, not one prevails.
Yet the question must always be:
Do I laugh when the joke’s on me?
I breathe a smoke it’s a bit of a choke
Cause I quit my smoking habit
Rather long time I did
But I may start again if you say I can
You’re the kind of lady that makes my world turn
Sending me roses to keep the setting sun burn
I see the snow it’s a bit of a show
Cause it’s 30th of April what a thrill
When all snow used to melt or it haven’t felt
But it did fall to make the land look good
And we watch in awe as if it’s understood
I’m not at war it’s a bit of a law
They can change overnight but I wouldn’t fight
We are kind of people that help your garden grow
Sit among the roses in the evening afterglow
I’m doing fine it’s a bit of a crime
In somebody’s book I might be a crook
But I don’t care and they’re well aware
You’re the kind of lady that makes me feel great
I give you anything even though it’s a bit late
I smashed the mirror it was a bit of an error
But then I was a boy who liked to annoy
I was hated to bits but with me it fits
You thought what a bloke he’s a bit of a joke
But I’ll make him work he can use my fork..
What a joke
Leaving my mind stale and broke
Waiting for people
I’m not asking them to climb a mountain or steeple
Whether they are professional or not
It’s like living in a time forgot
It’s mind numbing and tedious
The lack of duty is careless
I wish they understood
What is cruel, bad and good
That waiting for them means others are waiting for me
You are paid to serve so I can be free
Promised one thing they do another
My time you disregard like no other
I should not have to chase everyone
Nagging people is no fun
To make sure they do what they promised
Hold them to account to make them honest
A waste of time and energy
Giving bad service and lethargy
Sitting around twiddling thumbs
Having to be thankful for their crumbs
Eventually they may show
At a rate that is so slow
Am I a blip
in my own life
known as obscurity?
Is this a poem for you
and me?
Or am I a maze
of lost meaning?
Is my little life
a labyrinth
I cannot solve?
Is my day
called
Sudoku?
One barista cracks daily jokes.
What did one bean say to another?
Come on be brew-tally honest.
Wordku: 5-7-5 words
AP: Honorable Mention 2026
In playfulness, we created a dream,
within which just as an actor on stage,
to feel fully each ripple in our heart,
we chose to enter deep ambedo trance,
whence having forgotten our origin,
blown like a leaf in storms we had conjured,
we were compelled to inquire who we are,
in as that light which does not come and go,
not knowing that in truth there was nothing,
except wisps of smoke dancing in sunlight,
held in embrace by space, taunted by time,
being the womb in which desires are spawned,
which we saw clearly when thought mists lifted,
in the vast, vibrant void of cessation,
where poised at a singularity point,
recognising we were the magician,
knowing that there is nothing to be done,
we woke up in the dream as the dreamer,
employing power of bilocation,
deemed as a madman when we laughed at death.
"Together, we will be~~~ until life's end
Since our loving hearts indeed match and blend."
I cherished that text
Time had never flexed...
Yes, to all God-blest friends,* such he did send!
1 John 4:21And this commandment have we from him, That he who loveth God love his brother also.
January 29, 2026
2nd place, "My Funny Valentine" Limerick Poetry Writing Contest
Sponsored by Andrea Dietrich; judged on 2/13/2026
cool kids at school
mop tops,
pompadours,
hippie hair,
afros…
me?
a crew cut—
really, dad?
~*~*~*
I still quarrel with the words you said
On the day we loved in bed.
Beneath them hid the pain of evanescence,
Wrapped in a crumpled paper dress.
I cannot forgive the promise you broke -
One more sunrise together, one more shared joke.
At least one parting kiss,
On the deathbed before you left.
No Rest for the Broke
A hustler from Durban did hustle and grind,
But heaven seemed hundreds of hopes far
behind.
He pleade for peace,
Got debts without cease,
And found fate had a fiendish design!
The Chicken Crossed For Wi-Fi
A clucking wee chicken went creaking
one day,
Crossed the craziest crossing for a hotspot,
they say.
But the signal so week,
Now chirps out his challenges in eggs
every day!
The Blesser and his Money
There was once a blesser in Zamdela,
Who spent his mitha on falsetto-
Today he sings for the fame,
but easily forgets his name,
now he hums in tongues incognito
The Jamaican Chef
A chef from out Jamaica,Joy,
Made jerked chicken a jammin' great toy.
Wi' hot habits he had,
He was hardly so had,
His hot hen helped him hire every hoy!
A snatcher named Javas, a silent snake's son,
Snapped phones with such speed, he
shocked everyone.
He'd steal seven a second,
A storm of a fellow, we reckoned,
Sending signals of sorry such soon he was
spooky with snatching so swiftly he'd shoot
past the sun!
The man in the elevator was a plump rounded one,
The buttons of his suit almost coming undone.
He chortled with his might when I walked in,
His askewed moustache fluttering like a bee.
Whipping out a comb he brushed his hair barely made,
His oiled strands of four plastering on his head.
Next came the perfume which he sprayed with gusto,
While I sneezed and choked right in tow.
Pulling the belt barely up his tummy,
He cleared his throat quite like a dummy.
Off I ran into the closing doors with a slam,
Before his paunch held them back - followed by an "At your service ma'am!".
"He is different" --
She said after their first date,
Her clown makeup on.
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