insufferable people
it’s city life
like the train bum
We see him way too much
once a week anyway - he's notorious.
you can’t just loom over someone
stand too close
I can smell him, gross
get out of my space
get out of my face
stay an arm’s length away
He makes me miss covid isolation
There’s vulnerability in human interaction
Charles asks me with his eyes
I look away - which says ‘no,’
but I’ll let you know.
As we slide into the station
I step back
and Charles steps between us
my exit, now behind Charles, is blocked from view
and Charles pivots to subtly block his exit
until the doors close and Charles steps out.
In football that would be a ‘pic’
in basketball a ‘rub’
but there are no flags here
no fouls or whistles
we’ve practiced this for years
sheering away, steering away
misguided messieurs
.
.
A song for this:
Cannock Chase by Labi Siffre
moon - ‘fore you wink those cornflow’r ‘byes
please sing her blues - hues sewn with sighs
to splice your beams, my dreams made hers
and ghost those twilight-twined messieurs …
(your pleas to please … my passioned purrs).
Copyright © 2025 Gregory Richard Barden
( photographic art created by yours truly - filtered at Prisma )
If ever I should go again to Paris,
I hope that I can be there in the spring.
They say April is the time of year
When love pervades the atmosphere.
Couples stroll along the Seine,
Arm in arm or hand in hand,
They browse quaint bookstalls on the quay
And share a kiss along the way.
Perhaps they'll find a quiet nook
Where they can sit, sip wine, and look
Into each other's eyes and keep the world at bay.
For Paris captures in its spell
Those young messieurs and mesdemoiselles
Who find romance a many-splendored thing.
Where love's hopes and dreams survive and thrive,
Old hearts may even come alive
In that magic place that's Paris in the spring.
I'm intrigued by what there may be
'neath great depths of ocean and sea
Treasures lost from life's history
A mystery A mystery
What's buried under ocean sands
Pirate's plunder and wedding bands
I dream of finding pearls in strands
With my two hands With my two hands
Ancient vessels, sunken for years
found off the sea coast of Algiers
admired by Mesdames and Messieurs
Toasted with cheers Toasted with cheers
I'd drain one mile of a river
just one briny little sliver
What will its waters deliver?
Would I shiver? Would I shiver?
What secrets do the oceans keep?
Do monsters swim or do they creep?
I long to execute a sweep
In fathoms deep In fathoms deep
Curiosity in me wakes
To dive within uncharted lakes
and sea beds risen from earthquakes
How high the stakes How high the stakes
But sunken relics from the past
remain interred in oceans, vast
Bounty from ships with broken mast
My dream downcast My dream downcast
June 1st, 2022
Fascination and Awe Contest
Sponsored by Jeff Kyser
Poetry Form - Monotetra
*Image of Girl About Red by Pixabay.
Lady In Red
When I let one loose in the elevator ...
three men decided it was best they parted
as each of them began to size each other
none of them knew who had really farted.
I thought it would be best for it to be said
"*Messieurs, when the doors open the smell will pass ..."
at that, doors opened and the lady in red
went on to say, "... excuse **moi for passing gas."
*Messieurs; French for Gentlemen/Sirs
**moi; French for me
2021 August 01
*1st Place*
When I Let One Loose In The Elevator
~~charles messina: Judged 2021 August 09
*3rd Place*
Your Favorite Rhyme Poem in August 2021
~~Constance La France: Judged 2021 September 02
Mr. Juncker's Continental System
Cohorts of Luxembourg, arise!
Keep the Russians from the Rhiine.
Hosts of Luxembourg, en garde,
Confine the British to the brine.
"We'll do without America,"
says Merkel with aplomb.
Warily one has to ask,
"Whose finger's on the Bomb?"
Français ou Allemand?
Que parlons-nous, messieurs?
Until this issue's settled
It's Anglais, faut de mieux.
A toast, my brave companions,
on the path we march along.
Not bourbon and not whiskey
but cognac Napoleon!
This is a Messieurs Temple of high rank that disallows entry.
Here comes disturbance and confusion to dissuade at the door.
We will run fast, lock the entrance, and shout; now all is done.
__________________________________________________|
Verlena S. Walker
Contest Name: SIJO IN A TEMPLE [16-16-14)
Penned on May 01, 2014!
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