His future was assured. I’ll tell you why.
His father owned “Repairs and Parts Supply”.
Though only twelve, already Markie could
your median income at a glance descry
and whistle as he raised your engine’s hood.
With me, he mastered nothing. Didn’t try.
What need had he for Treaties of Versailles?
Before he came to school he’d greet the crew
he knew he would inherit, by and by,
and sell a solenoid – or maybe two.
My classroom, in those days, happened to lie
across the schoolyard. Out of habit, I
arrived before the others. There I’d sit
completely unobserved by prying eye,
and grade some papers, daydream how to quit.
Young Markie would approach me on the sly,
just me and him, alone at Fleetwood High:
his head appeared around my door to shout
(it never varied – what a funny guy)
“Just sort your life out, sir!” and then run out.
Some jokes are full-on funny, some are wry:
and humour sometimes makes us want to cry:
our choices, often hard to justify.
My friends all wish, and say so with a sigh,
I’d followed Markie’s counsel. So do I.
Categories:
on the sly, life,
Form: Quintain (English)
It’s ninety one but feels like more,
Like I opened up the Devil’s front door.
He said “Come on in!” with a fire breath grin
Now I’m sweatin' places I ain’t ever been.
The sidewalk’s cookin’ eggs on the sly,
Birds stopped chirpin', too hot to fly.
Even my dog gave me that judgmental look,
Like, “Take me out again and you’re getting cooked.”
Humidity’s clingy like a bad first date,
Stickin’ to me like it’s true soulmate.
My shirt’s now soup, my socks are stew,
And I swear my flip flops just melted through.
AC’s gaspin’, fan’s wheezin’ low
I bribed ‘em both just to halfway blow.
My iced tea’s warm, my will is weak,
I’ve been napping in the fridge since Tuesday this week.
So if you see me walking slow and fried,
Just know it’s the heat I ain’t yet died.
But tell my kin if I do collapse:
Bury me somewhere with cold sweet snacks.
Categories:
on the sly, beach, how i feel,
Form: Other
Issue, O Iridescence!
Luminesce on the sly.
Pore over, phosphorescence?
Oh yes, and here is why!
Students of the nebula!
Empire has its cost!
Best to keep it regular?
That or deal of Faust!
Sauced, are ye, wild warriors?
Well, at times it's best.
Lost and sinking? Sail azures!
Tours and boors need rest.
Zest, O mighty zephyr!
Boreal pole, hear all!
Have you seen the lost heifer?
My! Io, give a call...
Fall, when winter, taciturn;
Sends the snow and ice;
Sullen, silent, spares to spurn;
Miracled device;
What will avail travelers?
High road, one with us?
Gods of death, synthetic furs?
Bile and blunderbuss!
Muss on heads of wearied folk?
That is not good news.
O for eggs with scrambled yolk!
Doom, Death, disabuse...
Channeled communications?
Be sure to precise read.
Otherwise re-educations!
Draw bead, O my greed!
Weed atop the giant's mound?
Zero Lost and Found?
O ye serpents, hissing sound?
Next below the ground...
Warning? Dark fire, warming?
O locusts on the air:
Sudden is thy swarming?
Life, ladies, is not fair...
Categories:
on the sly, animal, appreciation,
Form: Rhyme
Silver-lined clumps of cloud fleet floats away
End-summer splendor shines in ashen sky
Pairs of joyful birds bathe in the blue bay
The fall’s footsteps trace hued track on the sly
Ember meadow wears crown of diamond dew
Mesmeric dawn gleams finesse of dream glow
Blazing garden path gets paved with gold new
Empty tree boughs shed bronze leaves rustling slow
Relined spent sun in satin sky sets fire
Falling night sprouts sapphire stars shining bright
Amazed, I roam with mind soaring higher
Long to absorb the moondust with delight
Lilting crisp air spreads out ripples of cheer
Songful my heart hasn’t found yours so much near
Categories:
on the sly, autumn, september,
Form: Acrostic
The desolate wasteland
of destitute deprivation,
traversed in tortuous trail
by my jagged life,
trying relentless
so long,
so very hard,
to flatten out
anguished angularities
of serrated mangled mind,
swirling scrunched
in the egregious
whirlpool of indignation.
Sucked into sordid abyss
of despondent delirium,
I searched out sedated
for indifferent me
the possessed passion path,
leading besotted through
the pulse of collapsed portal
to my hollow heart,
not yet filled with
the arctic mist
in prolonged dreary winter
of despondency.
The spring of yearning
came on the sly
with fervor fragrance,
drifting in furtive flutter
on the delusive wings
of transient moments,
flowing out
of the fervent flowers
of my blooming garden,
where you had flown
like a beguiled butterfly,
created the cadence
of surreal symphony,
suffusing me.
The tune harmonized
with the mesmeric music
of my longing,
enthralled emotions
danced entranced
on the ripples of rhapsody
that rolled resplendent
between you and me,
to entwine us evermore,
consecrating the cryptic concept
of metamorphic magnetism,
called love…
Categories:
on the sly, analogy, joy, love, music,
Form: Free verse
I bought a winter coat today;
It didn’t have a tag,
But when I asked the price, it was
A bargain I could snag.
It fit me to a T, although
Another coat in black
Is something that I do not need,
Though I could take it back.
I tried it on again at home;
My husband gave the nod,
Yet in the pocket was a snap,
Which I found rather odd.
My fingers followed all the snaps
To see if one was gone.
Alas, the collar just had half;
No snapping could go on.
Instead, there was a little hole
Where once that snap was sewn,
A defect that decided that
This coat I would not own.
Most likely she who ripped it
Did return it on the sly,
Where it remained for someone
Unsuspecting (me!) to buy.
The next time there’s that little voice
That tells me, “You don’t need it!”
Instead of just ignoring it,
I think I might just heed it.
Categories:
on the sly, clothes,
Form: Rhyme
We are sneaking these pumpkins out of this field said Fang.
He was the leader at of the Kitty Pumpkin Sneaking Gang.
I thought it odd because if they were trying to do it on the sly.
Why would they name their gang? Why oh, dear, why?
Categories:
on the sly, halloween,
Form: Rhyme
The fleet of silver fringed cloud floats away
across ashen sea of end-summer sky.
The beguiled birds bathe in the blue of bay,
as fall arrives with hued pace on the sly.
The meadow wears the crown of diamond dew,
flickers with the finesse of dawn’s dream glow.
Lining the cinnabar garden path new,
the tawny trees shed bronze leaves rustling slow.
The setting sun sets fire in serene sky,
makes cosmic collage of red ember bright.
In its shimmer my spirit ascends high,
the gleam of golden milieu wraps my sight.
In autumn night the sprouting stars I see
drizzle silver dust with aura of glee.
Categories:
on the sly, autumn, color,
Form: Sonnet
Chocolate Covered Cherries
How ooey gooey good
Oh how I love the sweetness
Chocolate never tasted so good
Only one is not enough
Love them as I do
And I await them anxiously
Then buy and hoard a few
Eaten on the sly
Chocolate Covered Cherries
Only once a year
Venders put them on display
Enticing far and near
Really never see them
Except at Christmas time
Don't share the last box
Chocolate Covered Cherries
Here but for awhile
Each confectioner's delight
Really makes me smile
Rich and smooth so very sweet
Inside a hidden cherry
Eat them slowly, make them last
Special luscious treat
Categories:
on the sly, candy,
Form: Acrostic
Hued hint of autumn I descry,
as cotton cloud fleet floats away
across end-summer sapphire sky,
beguiled birds bathe in the blue bay.
As the meadow gets shades of fawn,
hued hint of autumn I descry.
Spectrum spills from palette of dawn,
as fall’s footfall looms on the sly.
From sun-burnt tawny trees leaves fly,
gilded with blazing gold donned new.
Hued hint of autumn I descry
on grass with topaz crown of dew.
Stars shine with your lure in charmed night,
cool winds with your scent pass me by,
I’m suffused with sense of delight,
hued hint of autumn I descry.
Categories:
on the sly, autumn, color,
Form: Quatern
Speak out freely,
Someone always finds comfort zone
Through speaking the truths.
An other person finds comfort zone
By speaking lies.
Both of them have goals
To achieve in their lives.
Jesus is the Truth
Devil is the father of lies
In this free World many people
Have different choices.
Who are we to choose for some adults
Who understand their choices?
Who are we to blame millions of folks
Who always condemn true speakers?
What can astonish highly,
It is when some people who claim to be true
And don't support the truth
Because of fearing some hidden things
While burning their hearts on the sly.
September 27/2023
Categories:
on the sly, imagery,
Form: Rhyme
Have you ever been to Slave City
Ever on my mind,
And it really is a grave pity
For all those friends of mine.
A visit back to another time,
With massah and the whip
But this is now a modern crime,
A slowly sinking ship.
No running water in Slave City
Just buckets and a well.
A child at play gets dirt and gritty
In a cold and living hell.
The city bosses run Slave City
Down in Selma, Alabam.
In their three-piece suits they're so pretty
And they don't give a damn.
No white sheets worn in Slave City
Too muddy in the sty
And politicians there are so witty
Taking money on the sly.
No white folks live in Slave City
On the other side of the tracks
And cleaning maids they haven't any
To clean their one room shacks.
No welfare cars in Slave City
No money in their hands
Just hard times there in Slave City
And no one understands.
Categories:
on the sly, angst, black african american,
Form: Rhyme
Dawn
awakes
bright cities
deep moonlit snooze
when autumn pageant’s
covert vanishing trail
exits on the sly behind
a stoic gem plinth while cheerful
denizens asses black grain pepper
clouds afloat as dark cobalt skylines watch
Gust
chill noon
might sense its
life hub platform
shiver between months
October curtain may
droop o’er high-speed dream chaser
without some red orb scintilla
or the faraway treasure trove break
from taut humdrum routine office zeitgeist
Oak
and ash
or cherry
trees in the shade
adding splashes of
colour to town verges
between day long transitions
kaleidoscope on sweet gum hue
orange, red, burgundy foliage
caress tired eyes of street inhabitants
Light
swaying
lantern’s arc
cast magic tints
at high jinx urban
throngs inside and those who
loiter on the coffee dock
margins awestruck by picture perfect
fall where countryside meets asphalt sprawl hub
Categories:
on the sly, appreciation, autumn, beautiful, beauty,
Form: Etheree
Santa Claus, Babbo Natale, whatever you choose to call him these days, in the hearts of many he was never defamed.
Yes, he rides his sleigh on Christmas spirit, fueled by the Northern lights.
Nine special reindeer with 4 toes on each foot,
prance around at night with a glowing red nose full of soot.
He wears a white trimmed jacket of velvet and fur
and when he flies across the moon, it's like a blizzard, a big fat blur.
Chimney drops, present tucks, by the time he leaves,
there really isn't anything to sweep...
A glass of milk a cookie or two, then off to bed for a fortnight sleep
While there across the midnight sky, Santa gives a
ho ho ho and a wink on the sly
Yes, he rides his sleigh each Christmas Eve for all the hearts that wait,
while Christ is readying for His blessed birth,
he Santa, is always waiting at the gate.
Categories:
on the sly, analogy, christmas,
Form: Rhyme
Faint hint of autumn I descry,
as cloud fleet slowly floats away
across end-summer’s ashen sky,
beguiled birds bathe in the blue bay.
As the meadow gets shade of fawn,
faint hint of autumn I descry,
pale gold spills from palette of dawn,
as fall’s footfall looms on the sly.
In sun-burnt trees leaves wait to fly,
adorning blazing colors new,
faint hint of autumn I descry
on grass with topaz crown of dew.
Stars will soon shine in crystal night,
as cool air ripples pass me by,
I’m suffused with sense of delight,
faint hint of autumn I descry.
_______________
August 17, 2022
Syllable count : 8 per line (HMS)
Rhyme checked with RhymeZone.com
Contest : Hint Of Autumn
Sponsored by : Regina McIntosh
Categories:
on the sly, autumn, nature, summer,
Form: Quatern
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