A squirrel in autumn hollered, “Dang!
This heat’s got my tail in a tang.
It’s ninety-eight degrees, y’all~
that ain’t autumn, not at all!
Where’s sweata weather in Texas?” he did pang.
Today my aunt turns 98
And for her age, she’s doing great,
So we came down to celebrate,
The least that we can do.
We schmoozed a little yesterday
With snacks we picked up on the way
And brought an ice cream treat today
(Since I had craved one, too).
Then on to mah jongg in a place
Where seniors gather, face to face,
To play a game they all embrace
(The rules of which I knew).
Two hours flew by and then back where
Three huge bouquets were waiting there,
Plus cards and phone calls, all to share
Her birthday, right on cue.
Tonight, there’ll be a dinner out;
That’s what a birthday’s all about,
And at that age, there is no doubt
Best wishes sure are due.
Never been in such a trance
I was in this bewilded state
When noticed from a glance
Was this what they call fate
Perhaps down to circumstance
The fact we'd met on that date
I could not ignore her advance
So natually l did then recipricate
What was a wirlwind romance
Had l now found my soul mate
Was it down to pure chance
February twelth ninteen
ninety eight
An old poem l wrote summer of 1999
My first abab about my first love who had big impact on my life at that time smitten by her was l once bitten now twice as shy
1932 till 1972...Public Health Services put
Black males in a study, that much is true.'
Imperitive was that the course be run up
To death, then autopsy no true medical help to be given under tavel of moon or sun
The incentive for participents.? Free hospital cover, and funerals paid.' In Tuskagee Alabama, was the place it was out-played.' Fast forward to 2020 what real
Difference in advice and care did we observe? After ninety eight years..I"m asking.! What about you.?
I purchased a skeleton of a blue whale
to frame my new house, down in the vale.
Those whales grow as long as ninety-eight feet
had to purchase few extra feet from my neighbor Pete.
My whale house resides partly in his yard too
People ask me what kind of whale she was, I tell them blue.
Good thing Pete and I get along horribly and wonderfully fine
Because I am still five feet over our new agreed-upon line.
Honeysuckles commandeered my yard
Ten in a row, watching this old bard
They grow renegade, their roots are super deep.
Providing shade for my red ninety-eight Jeep.
In the Himalayas way up in a bamboo tree
Lived a solitary panda named Mr. McVee
He was a heifer of his species at fourteen pounds
His body was cuddly-looking, and he made few sounds.
He is a red panda, with an expected life span of eight.
Kind of like a cat or a bear, he thinks bamboo tastes great.
He has a black belly and ebony legs, but don’t pet him.
He does not like to be touched, avoids contact, said Jim.
Jim was the guide for the day, who was telling us about the RP.
Ninety-eight percent of red panda’s diet is bamboo, you see.
He sometimes consumes fruit, insects, and bird eggs too.
He has one more digit on his paw than you.
The red panda heard the talk, and waved to them from up high.
He is not friendly down below, but he felt safe bye and bye.
These humans could not get him up here in his joyful bamboo.
Sleeping seventeen hours a day, his naps are nearly never through.
(A lone voice whispers)
In a deep dream,
I once heard a whispered call
It came so softly
Vibrating over all my inner walls
It said boy
Stand up tall
Be courageous
Throw away all of your life's toys and climb over all your life's many walls
But I thought it was but a dream and did nothing at all
And now at ninety-eight
I'm still haunted by this soft call
Of
Boy boy
Remember
Throw out your last toy
For a 98
It's still not too late
We've still got a chance
Climb over that last wall
And together
Hand in hand
Into eternity
We'll still dance
If you can still hear this call
(C)
Copyright John Duffy
Foundation.
A poem of regret and lost love.
It started some years back,
the farmlands will produce beans instead less the corn
or the farm is now becoming a thing of adoration
or simple fascinating society as per family.
Well, war mongering grew by ninety eight percent
and couldn't linger even for a second- I remember
the gun would look like a knife or fine something- I
remember the sun is anonymous for years.
I remember people often say the end of world is here
or to be frank people would say we love graveyards
instead of offices.
Well, fear has gone from within and around so far,
people would say we don't love our country, we don't
love the world- we just want to live as free place
and do whatever we like to do- after all they would
say achievement is everything.
Ha, that would say I will drink drums of water,
that would say I will eat grasses and fascinate trees,
that would say I am a fat man leader of bats, so vamillion,
so the story went on.......
It started some years back,
the farmlands will produce beans instead less the corn
or the farm is now becoming a thing of adoration
or simple fascinating society as per family.
Well, war mongering grew by ninety eight percent
and couldn't linger even for a second- I remember
the gun would look like a knife or fine something- I
remember the sun is anonymous for years.
I remember people often say the end of world is here
or to be frank people would say we love graveyards
instead of offices.
Well, fear has gone from within and around so far,
people would say we don't love our country, we don't
love the world- we just want to live as free place
and do whatever we like to do- after all they would
say achievement is everything.
Ha, that would say I will drink drums of water,
that would say I will eat grasses and fascinate trees,
that would say I am a fat man leader of bats, so vamillion,
so the story went on.......
Am I in a dream
Only as it may seem
I am music, I am the notes
You once were the wreckage on which my soul floats
Now I am the maestro, I am also first chair
And now the crescendo (and you are not there)
And it's okay that it's not you (I've found someone new)
All colors came from three
The primary Trinity
Amaranth, Burlywood and blue
Phlox and Pesimmons to name a few
Magenta, Tawny, Zaffre and Zomp
It's bomb blast and bombast and pomp
Under pacto arco iris
We have our first kiss
The world welcomes lovers
Especially the giddiness from under the covers
And so it is an eternal dream we seek
"If I spend $2.98 on a dream
It should at least last a week"
the dream therapist put out his shingle
for a mere sixty dollars he will interpret your dream
If you dream of a turtle, it means life is slowing down
If you dream of a fish, you are trying to be free and encumbered
an oak tree in your dream can mean a variety of things
It might mean you are the oak in your family
or it could mean you admire the oak in your family
I read the brochure and thought I would have a go.
He looked like a normal man.
I offered him the sixty dollars up front.
We can take care of that later, he told me.
It is actually $67.98 with tax.
I would have to use a credit card.
Tell me about your dream, the therapist said.
I was cozy in an orange chair.
I told him that I never dream.
He argued this with me.
I left without paying him sixty dollars
or sixty seven dollars and ninety-eight cents.
I think we were both disappointed.
Invisible as the breeze
My love for you, it flows
Enveloping, surrounding you
Steady as it goes
You'll always know I'm with you
When you feel it on your face
Kissing you with coolness
Standing in my place
And one day soon I'm hoping
We'll both face to the west
As a big snowstorm approaches
The kind that we like best
Inside my big warm overcoat
Our body heats will mix
Starting temps are normal
Ninety eight point six
Then when the heat starts building
Rising well above
We'll share a private moment
An expression of our love
Nora told no one of her plan.
She had been secretly attending college for four years.
She did not expect to see anybody there except her friend Sug.
Sug could not keep a secret. She had told the press.
When Nora walked across the stage she heard “There’s grandma!”
The audience had been told to hold their applause.
Her relatives could not do it; there were tons of them.
The entire audience seemed to cheer for her.
At ninety-eight-years young, Nora felt like a celebrity.
there is a heat advisory in Kansas for me and you
It is July twenty six, and it is supposed to get to a hundred and two
A hundred and two
a hundred and two
would that melt an egg? a lamp or a shoe?
A hundred and two, I sing along with glee, no longer blue
a hundred and two, it incites and delights me, does it delight you?
I cannot quit singing a hundred and two.
I consult my echo dot, loving the idea of melting as goo.
What is the temp? I ask, hoping to hear a hundred and two
It says ninety-eight which is a letdown for both me and you.
I wanted it to be a hundred and two
I will hold out for that number, that is what I will do.
A hundred and two, a hundred and two.
Crazy weather in Kansas, and other places too.
A hundred and two, I hear a cow’s moo
A hundred and two I sing. A hundred and two!
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