I took my dog for a walk on the beach.
Ran into Karen and she started to preach.
Plastic bags times three; filled with doggie debris.
People polluting the beach she decreed.
I smiled politely turning to continue on my way.
Apparently, she had a whole lot more to say.
I listened disinterested and mostly ambivalent.
Thinking, how could anyone be so ignorant?
When a seagull swooped by and did something magnificent.
It was the perfect rejoinder to this entire incident.
Without displaying too much emotion;
I wondered, how much of that gets dropped in the ocean?
Karen’s face was filled with disgust.
Now a parting shot just was a must.
Imagine if we tried to bag the lot of it.
Could we fill our oceans with all that plastic?
I tipped my hat and headed on my way.
Wishing Karen, a most wonderful day.
A parting shot
Baristas bang to level the grounds
Constant caffeinated sounds
Murmured speak of 'where to next'?
Lonely figures sit and text
Gluten-free on plates piled high
Condensing people passing by
Foreign tongues that click and slur
Counterpoint a song from Blur
Buy 'to go' to cut the cost
By patronage the past has lost
Dusty corners, crumbs they've missed
Pierced lip and tattooed wrist
How strange our habits, then and now
That beg the questions when? and how?
Suspended nylons now replaced
By skin-tight leggings trimmed and laced
Time has changed the way we think
Of what we eat and what we drink
Like poetry that used to rhyme
Now lost in Jabberwocky slime.
In the days before Elvis
Swiveled his pelvis
Young Frankie was rockin'
The girls with bobby socks on
He crooned those love ballads
And jazz arias light as tossed salad
His parting shot, a stirring 'My Way'
On 'Summer Winds' so fickle and gay
I think I better leave right now
Before I say something stupid
Like only a boy in love would
And if this is our parting shot
Let it not be lost in sentimentality
I am sure you agree
We can drop the formalities
We know each other far to well
To pretend
We do not know each other's foibles
And pressure point's
Otherwise we could overcome
This impasse we fall before
All the while knowing
Sooner or later we will ramp up the rhetoric of abuse
Until 1 of us gives in
And neither of us can remember
Why on earth we shared a bed together
Maybe I loved you to much
To try and patch things up
O Ye
Titans of powder keg Ignatius ink
I speak to Thee
When flight and night
Draw
The thaw of bedded grass
Under village green sunlight flowers
I seek my charge
As fond letters
Adorned with stamps and frank's
Litter my thoughts
Provoking verse of stale curse
I while each stroke to the i
I dot and cross
For all is lost
More than the last
Each parting shot
Is such sweet sorrow
So i beg of your leave untill tomorrow
Goodnight god bless
No more no less
She takes to the Skies tomorrow
She leaves us at a loss
But somehow better
She is the personification of the letter in a bottle
My muse of peace
The season's follow
I set thou free
From my clench released
Go forth from me
Let me be
fill the void, oh! hotshot
knuckle down to call in question
like elucidation of parting shot
triviality over inflection
05/08/16
the younger sister means always the last to get
they say its middle child syndrome but I'm the youngest yet
the baby of the family treated like a fool
smothered yet ignored following the rules
my older sibling ignore me for the majority of the time
but when they turn there attention i sure do pay for that crime
simple things like walking past and smacking the back of my head
with the parting shot following the lines "i do wish you were dead"
My parents are no better for all they see is the money sign
a nuisance that occurred when there life intertwined
beaten down and left alone is this what the fates had planned?
answer me! Damn it! Answer me I demand!
So I guess what I'm feeling is little sister blues
forced to pay for others crimes until I'm old news
I just have to wait for the final song
when I can spread my wings and finally be gone
This bewildering computer of mine just gives me fits!
I panic when the consarned thing goes on the fritz!
I peruse the baffling manual but that doesn't help me any.
It might as well have been written in Hindustani!
There is no one more computer illiterate than I,
So I must call that guy in India when things go awry!
He patiently checks for spyware and virus infections,
And tests the modem and internet connections.
Today he found no problems during his troubleshoot.
He suggested that I shut down and try to reboot!
As a parting shot he asked if my cursor was working alright;
I reached for the mouse to check - it was nowhere in sight!
At that mortifying discovery I gently hung up the phone.
Consternation reigned - how much more can I condone!
The frayed mouse tail lay there looking so grotesque.
I looked for the mouse on the floor and all about my desk!
Alas, nothing to do but buy another for it to replace.
But wait! Why that Cheshire smile on my pussy cat's face?
"Aha! I think the mystery is solved!" I exclaim to my spouse!
"I think that sneaky scoundrel has swallowed my mouse!"
Robert L. Hinshaw, CMSgt, USAF, Retired (© All Rights Reserved)
Night closes in there in the streets
Rushing upon the tar two boys
Racing their bicycles
To defeat
Fearlessly weaving near the cars
Freedom is a feeling
A moment in time
Carefree and one handed on the bar
He looked on them remembering,
Himself at that stage
So long ago its seems,
life turned that page
Where the youthful minds,
carry unthinkable dreams
And so we grow older
And life unwinds
Or maybe we forgot
He felt a rush of laughter and envy while he watched
No protection on their heads
As they faded from the parting shot
Manipulator
Manipulator of the corn and sun making waves of amber grains learning to be
future time traveling now just marking time taking up spaces meant to be used
by people just like the eye peggy sue and bobby billy ginger lee using all the
markers calling all the shots calling all the markers in to guarantee a slot
manipulating everyone around them with the worthless they become promises of
sex to pay for some every other word coming from a worthless space saying
things to others a disgrace saying things like oh that well that it does not really
matter why do you keep on bringing that item up to me it does not really matter
much to me a parting shot a drifting howl goodbye a cipher in my eye tomorrow
will be better for that is when we triumph that is when we win tomorrow we will
rise up stronger from the din of all the worthless noises tearing all the ears away
tomorrow when the band begins again to play what happened to today
manipulator
I can't really decide,
my fault or yours.
You started it by asking me a qustion.
I was polite and answered the best way,
or at least I thought.
They say copying is the greatest form of flattery,
but I laugh at the person who said that.
Your flattery inevitably broke my newly discovered heart.
I don't pretend to understand you,
and sometimes I don't even try.
So, as my parting shot,
please, get out and stay out of my other life.
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