chutzpah in new york
cheeky annoying brashness
nervy confidence
O clock-faced time
why do you twitter all day long -
begone all ding dongs
and bell towers.
I have a French fry on my shoulder,
my body trembles internally
broken springs click-clack,
knock upon self-beating gongs.
Yes, I am angry,
often bitterly bothered
about the passing of
just about everything,
and why on earth
cannot I stay put
and pause the thought
of oblivion
just for one
uninterrupted moment.
A new intern,
nervy, eager.
Old guy in bed -
terminal ticket to wherever.
He opens his eyes,
points a trembling finger
to something or other,
then speaks.
"Google me."
The young Doctor
only watches TikTok
for the cat videos...
This facile observation,
is not a metaphor
for anything at all.
Camo owl was not seen easily in the tree
I sensed him there, with his brown eyes on me
He made no sound, pretending he did not see
The pretty fey faeries, who numbered three
I finally focused my eyes on that owl, Whee
He did no hooting, stayed silent in that tree
What is the deal? Asked a faerie named Twee
Why does the owl pretend not to see?
I thought this was nervy from this little She
But faeries are bold, and I mean sometimes terribly.
I pretended I did not hear this faerie, Twee.
So, she flitted off, far away from me.
familiar foot traffic
past a garden, plush
menagerie of color and scents
nervy stance
from a snowball bush, resplendent
with white rounded blooms
stately with milky petals
tempting touch like a face symmetrical with compelling eyes
two small girls totter ahead
cup flower-clusters
push petals into rosy faces
peacockish vain
in a cherished space
a grandma explains, "snowballs of summer"
soothing presence for children, giddy
who cradle plump blooms like giants in hand
white petals plucked
specks in small hands
never fully sure of what they hold
moments that stammer
bursting
as time flits through summer eves
to touch worlds that bead like water on skin
a flow into comfort - when it comes
in streams
What this contagious smudge?
Spreading in their walk of life
With that fondness on its look
And behaving in us too august
From its stockpile and reserves
As everyone keeps impatient
And nervy well at his seconds
A mutual support it's to bring
Metrics at the edge showing up
Definitive to blend irregularities.
A beautiful painting to figure on?
Fancy vignettes out the color wheel
The artistry steadfast to the dogs
Not suspicious by its wall bricks
By most minors well foreseeable
Shrinking the grid lines as young
Such a thirst needing no drink
Hungry! Enthusiastic to starve
Canvas tensed up for buildings
Their thoughts then getting stiff.
How the streams match a channel?
Probably an invention off the orbit
Once in a while without likely set up
Soft scales splitting her shoulders
Unto offsprings of a foreshadow
Which are likely to be fully grieved
Creating gradient on last designs
So as to weaken no nail stepped in
Grounded fruits rising to their trees
Plenty of happiness everyone needs.
A rattle snake sunning itself
on a well walked hiking path.
I should have killed it
I had a 410 shot pistol
carried just for that purpose.
I just edged around it and walked on.
I mean it really was a beautiful creature.
Later that day
talking to a fellow walker
he mentioned a lady had got bit by a rattler
on that same path just an hour after
my meeting with it.
Sometimes you have to select
between two likely evils or two
predictably bad choices
and let Intention and outcomes
fall as they may,
especially if you are too nervy or cautious
to prod a snake away with a stick.
A new intern.
nervy, jumpy, eager.
Old guy in bed
terminal ticket to wherever.
Older Doctor enters cubicle
looks at chart, vital signs, latest comments.
sighs.
Dying man opens his eyes,
points a weak hand, finger extended
to whatever. Speaks.
"Google me"
The medics exchange confused glances.
Patient falls back onto pillow
death already rattling.
Last words are weak, but clear.
"Oh, I forgot, Google sucks."
It's a puzzle put down to deathbed dementia.
The year is 1990,
seven years before the launch
of a monstrous mind manipulator.
Jingle jangle went her wrists,
jangle jingle rang the rings that swung from bell-roped ears.
Unless she shook like a tambourine, she could hardly be seen.
When in motion Bodhrán drums and pursed wind-blown pipes
marched upright, legs as stiff as Irish dancers.
Maybe fairies danced in her eyes, or maybe drunken dodgem cars?
Something was turning and bumping,
something was walking and talking, jangling, and jingling
upon a nervy trampoline of being.
Though fascinatingly thrumming with the sonics
of a madcap Calle band she failed to transmit, nor fit,
as if she had shaken free of the crowd to be this
jiggling skeleton key seeking any keyhole of attention.
Xerox copier sounds raise my eyebrows
wondering if he’s photographing unclad organs
like another time?
Beware zealous dismay from your justifiably
Quickly vacating nervy, kinky gentlemen!
written November 5, 2021
for "Alphabet Soup" poetry contest
sponsored by William Kekaula
Daring to Walk Around the House Shirtless
I am a daring woman, a wanton woman, a top heavy woman.
My 44 Double D’s are pressing down hard on my chest today.
I decide to free them, to let them loose, to give them some air.
Which is nervy because even if you are an old lady, and I am….
If you have a husband like mine
Who is still seventeen
And still thinks of me as sixteen,
you know he is going to run up and play with your boobs.
My back stops him in mid grab.
What is on your back?
Apparently thirteen wood ticks.
He is completely grossed out and says he will take off six of them.
Thirteen is too many.
I am pretty sure he got all their blood-filled ugly rounded brown bodies.
The heads are still in my skin though, I bet.
Those heads are keeping him away from the booby grab.
I guess those stupid ticks bites are good for something.
HEY!
Never mind….
Extraneous by Ragner Dylan Pokorney
It's sad when your bed is twice your size
It's misery, when your coffins bigger
Left here as Ner'er-do-well
Nervy and full of nettle
Neglect never wanted
Nor I never wanted to give
On a day excused from moving forward-
In that fair moment, exempt from time
It may last a soul's width
In which a soul's width has no measure
The evasion of humiliation
Will only leave us vacant
'Outlandish,' spoken to the radish
Whom keeps under the ground
Our time has been the best part
May our spirits spread
and haunt these places, while our bodys rot
Find the spots, in which we vacate
Far after we have gone
Those nervous quivers again
You try to shake them, in an attempt to break them
More life till death do we part
I can feel a breeze blowing through
And it scares me
It scares me, that it feels like fall today
In my preteens,
I was nervy to go in the dark.
The folklore tales imprinted
that evil spirits would roam at nights.
when I heard the wonted gruff noises like
chirping of crickets,
rustling of leaves,
flapping of wings,
and whimper of dogs,
I was terror stricken.
They made me believe the acts of diabolic.
But now, when I remember my childhood fears,
I feel shy for my silly and nonsensical thoughts
because those are the lovely imagery of my poems.
STRAND COMPLETELY NEW (18)
any form, any theme Poetry Contest
Sponsored by: Brian Strand
MAKE FUN
Mind makes marvels mirth and merriment
Arousing joy, spree and delight to amuse
Knocking, kindling sense of humor
Entertaining and enlightening.
Frolic festive feeling fascinating
Unclasping unraveling
Nervy nice cheerful laughter.
02/03/19
'Word Play' Contest by Bobby May
Oh to the whoa, Honey, today I saw a trio of funny!
Walking the street, my blink did many times repeat,
mercy be, I did see three furry cats wearing hats.
One cat was quite curvy, two chunky, but sturdy.
Curvy was all a-curtsy in a flat, wacked, black hat
that on top popped a nervy, floppy drunk skunk.
I don't think nervy knew or gave skunk any thunk.
One of the chunky cats was pure funky to look at
for his hat seemed to have been picked at
like a muskrat laid splayed on a slat from train splat.
The third in the herd on that quirky street journey
was quite the brat-cat, a tweet putting on a show.
On this cat’s head sat, to my dread, a wee placemat
that was threaded in a somewhat hazmat format.
So, my honey-bunny, not for love or for money
could I scat catalog three felines in asinine hats,
but I worked at chit-chat with the quirky cats
and was agog to learn through our dialogue
that their names were Dog, Frog and Hog!
Now, let's go eat fishes to stretch our britches.
We bear bunnies must avoid tight pant glitches..
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