Whilst algebra for many is so poorly understood
At school I put the effort in and I became quite good
Three apples being equal to a carrot and two pears
Was obvious, for camels are a donkey and two hares
A bicycle without a wheel was equal to a boat
But take away an apple and you’ve got a mountain goat
Though if you multiply an orange by a seedless grape
The answer’s twenty six and a recurring hairy ape
Who knew that one banana added to a coconut
Might equate to seven minus half a water butt
But, hey, I passed exams that say I’m clever as can be
Two peaches plus an aubergine will not befuddle me
The usefulness of algebra is difficult to see
Unless you need to prove six plums are very nearly three
But what I learnt of algebra I never did forget
Though now I’m ninety seven… and I haven’t used it yet
I was an ecdysiast, grandma said with delight
Her grandson could not fathom this, try as he might
His ninety-seven-year-old grandma on a stripper pole?
That was before they had them, she said to young Cole.
He could not picture her as a nude-like teaasing dancer.
My striptease name was young Bambi Bubble Prancer.
It took a long time to get this out of his sixteen-year-old head.
Last thought he had for months every time he went to bed.
I once had a wish
But now it's long gone
I realize now
That I'd rather move on
In my life,
I would try to endeavor
Things I can do
To live life forever
As the years passed by,
And now that I'm old
I oft wonder
'Bout some things I've been told
Twas told we die
And go up to heaven
Well, guess I'll know soon,
I'm ninety-seven
I've outlived so many...
Family and friends
Now what I wish for
Is that my life ends
Stains on my shirt
holes in my pants
My wardrobe’s Salvation Army
not quite Paris, France
I cry all night
grief fills my lips
While the other kids
wear the latest ripped
Jeans, for which they paid
a fortune each, though poorly made
My threads cost nothing, my life’s a sham
better to be naked than what I am …
O, Lord, let this poor soul know
that life is long, there’s a ways to go
When he’s ninety-seven, no one will care
if the jeans on his knees were not threadbare
I remember the day when the terrorists shocked
Our world. I remember that sad and dreadful day.
Two planes crashed like missiles
Into the Twin Towers in NYC; one hijacked
Plane hit the Pentagon, while another landed
In Pennsylvania and exploded: all aboard died,
Including the hijackers, the criminal imbeciles.
Thousands innocent people lost their lives.
I vividly remember that infamous day.
Thousands of people could not get away.
Millions of people panicked, millions cried.
I'll always remember that dark day, where countless lives
Were changed forever. Thank God that the number one
Killer is now dead. Thank God that other killers can simply run
And hide, since they cannot plan like that anymore,
They do not have the means to hurt us anymore.
The Almighty God is good all the time,
Even after being the victim of an egregious crime.
I will always remember 9/11,
Even when I'll reach ninety seven.
May God bless America!
May God protect America!
Hebert Logerie Tuesday, September 11, 2012
Chuck is ninety-seven and fed up, angrier today than ever before.
He just received news about his grandson and he is furious with God.
Chuck’s knees are arthritic, his back aches constantly, his bowels don’t move.
He wants cancer or a heart attack, he would welcome death.
Instead, death took away his great grandson at sixteen?
Chuck was so angry when he heard that Larry was dead on arrival.
Dead on arrival! Dead on arrival! He cannot get this out of his brain.
Why didn’t you take me? He yells at God. He is screaming mad.
Texting while driving, his granddaughter tells him.
How do you know?
He was in the middle of a word.
Whatever that means….
Larry watches this with one of his guardians from his catbird seat.
What can I do to help him? He asks.
The guardian smiles, giving him no answer.
When can he come up here?
When it’s his time, the angel replies.
It doesn’t seem fair, Larry says. I want him here now.
He is not finished with his work yet. No one comes ahead of their time.
Angela Lansbury has perished after living for nearly ninety-seven years.
In 1948, she starred in "State Of The Union" and "The Three Musketeers".
When she starred as a murderess in "Please Murder Me!", her co-star was Raymond Burr.
She is best known for starring in "Murder, She Wrote" and people will always remember her.
She starred in "Death On The Nile", "Lace" and "The Mirror Crack'd".
Angela became famous because talent wasn't something she lacked.
Many will remember her as "Jessica Fletcher" which was a role that she portrayed for many years.
Angela is dead and when her friends and family attend her funeral, they will grieve and shed tears.
[Dedicated to Angela Lansbury (1925-2022) who died on October 11, 2022]
You have graduated the angel was told.
You get to help guide an earth child until she is old.
The angel was delighted and began to dance around.
You have to creep in God said, do not make a sound.
The angel’s baby was delightful in every way.
She recognized her spirit guide and wanted to play.
The monitor of the child’s room showed her orb’s glow.
Her mommy came running yelling “no! no! no!”
The angel was cautioned to turn off her light.
She had to keep her orb self out of sight.
She guarded the baby until the baby joined her in heaven.
Fortunately, by then the baby was a ripe ninety-seven.
...I’ve seen the DNA records,
her own mitochondrial trace,
showing she started her own line
all the way back in the Bronze Age!
How many siblings have I had,
“ninety-seven,” my mother informs,
she lectures on local history,
tells her ‘disguised’ stories, and more.
The local history center
is thriving since she’d been employed,
her ‘tips’ have led to ‘discoveries’
that leave scientists overjoyed.
How many more trips will she have,
I don’t know, who can really say?
All I know, she’s pregnant again,
dad’s second, and mom’s ninety-eighth.
Our children bought us DNA tests for Christmas.
Um, why would we want to do this?
What if we wanted to rob a bank or burglarize a home?
Aren’t these results going into an FBI data base?
We did it because they kept asking us about it.
Every nationality I wanted to be, did not show up for me.
My husband who has a German surname has always bragged.
We Germans are smart, we Germans are brilliant, we Germans.
His came back with this result. He is more English than the English.
He is ninety-seven percent English. I laughed my petootie off.
I would have at least half Native American blood, I was sure.
But alas, I did not.
I came out with Swedish, which is oddly odd.
A bit of German which was more than my husband
And mostly Pennsylvania Dutch and English.
I am a mutt, whereas he is a purebred – but not German.
As our troops tramped in retreat to La Panne,
who was it who held the enemy back?
The Royal Norfolks were part of the plan
to hold the line against German attack
till the last man and the last round was spent.
In Duriez Farm holed up, surrounded,
exhausted, many wounded, in torment
with no means of escape they surrendered.
The Totenkopf lined them against a wall,
ninety-seven gunned down, piled in a pit.
Yet Pooley and Callaghan survived to crawl
from that heap – years on in a court to sit
and bear witness to this massacre crime
which led to the hanging of Fritz Knoechlein.
First came Storm Ciara
On Sunday the ninth of February
She caused total havoc throughout the UK
Heavy rain brought serious flooding
Her gales so strong brought buildings tumbling
Whilst on the Isle of Wight
The most southerly tip of England
Gusts of ninety seven miles per hour
Uncovered a fossil upon earth’s core
A Dinosaur footprint from a Therapod
Who had strolled along this beach
one hundred and thirty million years before
Now in the throes of wind and rain
Another storm
Another name
He’s called Storm Dennis
Another menace
And he has just arrived
Brings heavy rain and gale force winds
I truly hope we all survive
his havoc and devastation
But like Storm Ciara he may unearth
never before seen hidden treasure
Showing even storms leave positive gifts
for us all to enjoy and explore at our leisure
Written 15th February 2020
Contest Strand No 680
Sponsor Brian Strand
HONORABLE MENTION
Who wants to go to Mars?
Be forewarned, the round trip is three years
now I'll ask again... who wants to go to Mars?
if you've got an urgent surgery approaching
like a heart transplant or leg replacement
perhaps a postponement would be wise
however, if you're ninety-seven
you'll surely want to get back for some cake
okay I'm being silly again... must apologize
how about Jamaica or Rangjung?
These old bones are compromised
Surviving the bolden wars of yesteryear
First, enduring stones, then arrows, then bullets
Fear came near when in the third encounter
Nuclear in nature
At ninety seven I feel the bones rattle
Moving with feeble clarity
There is so much left to do
Simply moving to the next room is a battle
The mind remembers Pearl Harbor
But not the spirit
Hospitals will not take me in
My mortgage like me collapsed in payment
This is the land of the free
According to memory
And
There is no glamor in these old bones
Villanelle: The Dilemma of the Non-Violent – 43
Cuck-uk ruck-cuckoo Paloma on the wing
Who gets to curry pot with 100Bn
The Eagle or the Cock gets to down bird with sling
Are the waters receding while we loud sing
Who brought us to high point at 2015
Cuck-uk ruck-cuckoo Paloma on the wing
Ere the ink is hardly dry El Ninos swing
How many wars will be wrought now in between
The Eagle or the Cock gets to down bird with sling
Will the Good Lord re-freeze melting ice crackling
From mouths of Seine Thames or Hudson here eighteen
Cuck-uk ruck-cuckoo Paloma on the wing
Nuclear tests in Pacific still in ears ring
How many more lush love green isles sunk in sin
The Eagle or the Cock gets to down bird with sling
Cheer one hundred ninety-seven hands signing
On waters lapping on heels under heat-lid bin
Cuck-uk ruck-cuckoo Paloma on the wing
The Eagle or the Cock gets to down bird with sling
© T. Wignesan – Paris, 2015
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