Nothing could be heard
Prepared for bed all alone
Reflective mirror thoughts occupy the mind
Give silver chalice a rub
Conjuring commitment stone
Nothing could be heard
Curiosity invades
Throwing a bone
Reflective mirror thoughts occupy the mind
Winter cold soon will arrive
Mumbling a grumbling groan
Nothing could be heard
Outside a crispy leaf drop
Destination known
Reflective mirror thoughts occupy the mind
Future cannot stop
Google AI on the cell phone
Nothing could be heard
Reflective mirror thoughts occupy the mind
Took AI out to play
He just sat there
Not much to say
Asked him
“AI whaddaya think”
He gave me a
Conspiratorial wink”
Asked him
“hey, how does it feel
To have a “heart”
No-one can steal?”
He laughed mumbling
“I need no mentor
My girlfriend’s waiting
At the data center”
He said “let’s go”
“I’ll drive the car”
“and NO!!”
“I won’t stop
At the bar.”
She blurted out
Something I always knew
But the fear won
Then grew and grew
...to defend
I saw him take it
Then deny to my face
No self control
Grabbing my place
...to feed
Hate, oh yes, there's hate
Seething in the skin
Soars erupting all over
Telling other's sin
...to bear
Tired and weary
Just trying to feel
A love that wants to know
Nothing but the real
...to be
...just me
Written by Trudy Schrader on 08-13-2026
I know you’ve shown me resistance,
But who knows? Maybe I’ll reveal my elegance…
You give me such a dismal distance
But who knows? Baby, I can go the distance…
I know you’re amazing just the way you are,
But I have been bitten by this feeling from afar…
It’s a lingering feeling like a burning scar…
I’m like a shooting star…and I will be with you so far
My eyes glow and you blow my mind
You’re so kind to be my kind,
But I’m left behind…a trace of a grace,
Then it disappears like your temporary embrace…
Deserted and alone again
Wishing I was a ten and zen
Then again, maybe not
I sought my soul, so rot
Astonishment made me feel once more
Resentment made me deal with grief to the core
Fragmented in my mind and mumbling with my chapped lips
Relapsed…collapsed…give me distance…trying not to cry over life’s hardships’ whips
My metabolism went missing~
moseyed off one lazy morning,
mumbling something about
mandatory moonlit me-time.
Now it mingles with mischief,
maybe munching on marshmallows,
maybe meandering through
mysterious medieval corridors
with zero motivation to return.
Meanwhile, I’m here~
making peace with my monstrous midsection,
marveling at how one small,
slippery, stubborn system
can stage such a spectacular
metabolic mutiny.
PS “Wherever my metabolism wandered off to, would you at least send a postcard?!”
The Dusky-
olive green emerges into pale yellow appearance
thy baton dignifies engagement to Lizzy's emergence.
yellow, a pictogram of thy intellect, insights and joyousness
beholder of polish grace, thou, her unspoken liveliness
Shyness thy sweet ornament, eyes the doors to forgetfulness
O' Darcy,
time cuddles thy wrist, fingers twist around the twig
Thy affection, her reflection, a melody, a mumbling click
Small town boy, thou are, relishing elegance, thou live in
And around where the birds sing and swing for thou, her twin
She too, unheard and undeclared yet integral and transparent grin
Thy sunflower-
Reminds the theory, one for other, forever and ever ahead
Sipping sips from each integrity, their compassion, a consistent thread
Spring welcomes thy counts in; autumn forget his loss even
Only thy persona, twinkles in her literary arena; she choosily given
Thy speed is the speed of light, beyond her serene delight.
Keep it to yourself boy
whatever it is keep it
unsaid.
So many times I wanted to speak out
to criticize what felt wrong...
Probably would regret it
a few moments of harshness
with words sharp and strong
cutting down foolishness perceived.
Silence with a shrug.
Not my business, not my time, not my problem.
No opinion just ease into neutral
live and let live, if there is trouble
look away eyes closed. Problems are never
what they seem.
Mumbling now and then, a way to let off steam
no one understood, just laughed at me.
Mumble Jumble guy he is.
At school I was the turtle boy, pulling my
sweater over my head to disappear.
Mocked and hit but strangely safe
in a shell within my mind. Secured.
Recluse not shy. I talk, I speak, stay involved
enough to pass as normal. But never really say anything.
Spoken but unsaid are my words.
Hidden are my thoughts.
Secret are my feelings.
I would like to express myself in a rhythm of
poetic phrases but its best unsaid.
I’ll judge you
by how you talk on the phone.
Yeah, I will.
I’ll judge you when you’re rude,
I’ll judge you by that harsh tone.
I’ll judge your vulgar mouth
vomiting on someone you don’t know.
I’ll judge you and think ruthless thoughts
I’ll judge you and I truly won’t care.
I’ ll judge your mumbling
I’ll just how you’re not prepared.
I’ll judge you, there is a person
on the other end of this line.
I’ll judge you when you hang up
behaving like a petulant child.
Yeah I sure will.
By how you talk on the phone?
I’ll judge you.
POTD
Placed 8 out of 11 placements with 35 entries.
Final days of truth approach
I'm haunted by the tragedy of living,
remembering what an ignorant fool
I was indulging only in passive pleasures
of a world that is full of lies.
I bow my head and on my humble knees
I cross a rainbow bridge,
Search for a sweet blessing of love
and find a sweet serenity.
I hear a strange whisper,
A mumbling prayer of love.
It's strange that such an invocation
should ease my penitent pain.
For if old flowers their petals shed,
then there is hope for me
since I'll shed all my transgressions,
acquire new virtuous leaves
and pray to the Almighty
that He'll forgive my sins.
The Deplorables
Because there was hilly billy running around all willy nilly. flipping and flopping his fishy filet, now he's sloppin the mopin today. Out walikin' n chillin', n stalkin road killin', for black pot fillin', the kettle's the villain. Can't quite get it right, fight though he might, his light not bight by a right sight. Yet never has he ever, on any endeavor, goten it together to weather the whatever. Whether he's hootin' n hollerin' or rockin' n rollin', he's stumbling n bumbling, "dem cookie be crumblin." A pathetic excuse this obtuse red recluse, this mighty white wighty n righty up tighty should never reproduce. These cringey, whingey, power stingy, fumblin', grumblin', crumblin', mumbling, creatures' main feature's are backwards preachers, thruth bleachers, no teachers, and NASCAR skreechers. Hee-haw, southern draw, drug withdrawal, slack jaw, Maw n Uncle Papaw. Trumpy dumpy little stumpy, frumpy clumpy always grumpy, no last straw. Vile and bile, world reviled, can't reconcile such a defiled lifestyles, and all the while, siege heil siege heil.
Having finally gotten through
The AI sentries
Dismissed all the references
Quoted from old books
Shaken the scent of incense
The diversion of bells
The echoed reverberance
Of traffic jammed words
I finally got through to GOD
Asked him what I should do
He replied “stop thinking about ME”
And how I can help YOU “
“stop telling people that I love them
If you don’t”
“and stop using MY WILL
As an excuse for not using
Your will…I gave it to you
For a reason.
I suggested he should have a Podcast
He chuckled mumbling
“satan’s got that covered”
“from both sides”
the ditch is always rejecting things
spitting them high up onto the river’s banks
last week he spit up a rusty knife and a hammer
Today he spit up something that was moving
Was it a tiny kitten? A dirty bunny?
A mechanical toy of some sort or another?
It was a mud brownie, and he was furious.
I was rejected by so many, he said, but never a ditch!
We left him alone, because he was angry.
Grumbling and mumbling, irritated about this.
Would he go to the river and clean up?
None of us had any guesses. Never saw a brownie before.
I had a lucid dream.
And got caught.
Horrible.
You go to sleep thinking.
The thinking collapses like lines on a road.
Collapses like eternity.
I had a lucid dream.
If you die in that dream, you’ll know.
Feels like a factory place.
Or my bedroom or mumbling places.
It caught onto me.
Thinking.
You don’t plan it out that way.
The way they scramble.
I had a lucid dream.
Died again, remembered how I died last week.
The buzzing, and whirling are seen all around.
Turned me into zombie bones.
At the end of the graveyard, I saw it all.
I had a lucid dream.
Knew all the flavors of dying.
Woke up too easily.
In so few words,
Autumn leaves her poetry
On the silent breath of a prayer
Prayed by a soul who can hear
The voice of heaven
In each crumbling leaf
Listen to her voice
As she prays, mumbling phrases
In rhythms of grace,
Dewy eyed expressions of life
Rising from the melancholy
Sung by gentle praises
In so few words,
Autumn sings her song
Stirring the distant prayers
Of a heart who won’t go wrong
A soul who sees through the years
The blessing of heartfelt tears.
Crisp leaves write their verse
In the kindness of a bouncing squirrel
In the warmth of hearth
In the moon who knows she’s loved
In the sun who remembers
Autumn’s ink is forever kindled
By the prayers of her gentle whispers
Not yet, I was cautioned. Don’t do it too early.
But I was ready to yell “uncle” because I was hurting.
As I opened my mouth someone put a rag in it.
I was mumbling “uncle! uncle! Uncle!”
My cousin has a mean streak.
He was not letting go.
I knew that I should have called uncle a lot earlier.
When I still had the chance.
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