Perched up on the shelf
Watching me as I go by
Knowing that I can't resist
Your chocolate sugar high
Your triangular packaging
Triggers a pavlovian response
An uncontrollable craving
An undeniable want
Tearing off your paper foil
I'm torn with indecision
Knowing that the truth is
You've absolutely no nutrition
Too bad, the point is moot...
I gulp down a hefty chunk
And with a sinking feeling
Know my diet plans have sunk
Categories:
pavlovian, humor,
Form: Rhyme
He sits up; alert
His head turns sideways, I swear with a grin
He slowly performs an extended stretch
A furrowed brow; my best friend
It's a pattern of behaviors
A Pavlovian routine I've come to know
Its as if he's trying to prepare me
For the extreme love he's about to show
He leans into my leg
He slings a string of slobber across my shoe
I scratch him behind the ear
And good lord, he almost comes unglued
His tail wags wildly
He sprints around and around
He's here with his own special person
And he thinks - I'm the one he's found
As he begins to tire
He lays right beneath my feet
Occasionally he turns to look at me
Hoping I'll provide an extra treat
He's a mans best friend
A human stress and anger vaccine
He's not a therapist or a life coach
His set of skills are canine unique
As he prepares for the evening
He performs an extended stretch for the night
He curls up in a ball
Everything in both our worlds is just right
Categories:
pavlovian, animal, dog, friendship love,
Form: Rhyme
something tragic
happened to the girl
no one knows what
she began to write poetry
no one knows why
bluebirds turned into ravens
ships sunk in calm harbors
men turned overnight
into monsters
she wrote about her daddy
the secret Nazi of Martha’s Vineyard
her mother the drunk
her brother the skunk
dark revelations hammered words
and drooled like Pavlovian dogs
she became famous
for being overwrought
chained as she was
to her poetics arts
of course she had always
planed her ending
old poets are the first
to be forgotten
but the young -
the put upon
they live on
to rattle our cages
through the ages
Categories:
pavlovian, poetry,
Form: Free verse
Just when you thought
You had your freedom
You respond to
The sound of the bell
Any bell.
Categories:
pavlovian, allusion, emo,
Form: Free verse
Life’s Buses Never Run on Time
Life’s buses never run on time
so I wait, in stoic supplication,
for a god who has no schedule.
Coincidence decides the crossing
of our paths, spontaneous reunion
of faith and practicality disappearing
in the dirt of city streets, nameless
sojourners jostling for “personal”
space, waiting to be disgorged
into those awaiting passage.
Illiterate traffic signals give
us hand signals – WAIT!
WALK – DON’T WALK.
Pavlovian elevators “ding”
signaling those waiting
that the door is about to open.
The waiters fall away
silent contrails left behind
in the slipstream of life’s waiting.
1/24/2016
Submitted to – Becca’s Inspiration “Waiting” – Poetry Contest
sponsor – Craig Cornish
Categories:
pavlovian, life, metaphor, time,
Form: Free verse
WANDERLUST
A subtle dab of perfume on the wind
autumn siren whispering
her song amid the trees.
Beguilingly peeking
from behind
leafs blushing fan.
The taste of salt upon the air
seasoning to tempt
adventures palate,
salivation at the ringing
of Pavlovian bells.
Imagination in the dust of vision
oasis in the sight of closing eyes,
unreachable horizons
barely touching
the edges of the wander lust.
John G. Lawless
contest - WANDERLUST
8/15/2014
Categories:
pavlovian, travel,
Form: Free verse
When Pavlov was ringing a bell,
Some saliva his dogs would expel.
And just like that drool
I’m a Words with Friends fool,
For its music makes me want to spell.
Categories:
pavlovian, dog, words,
Form: Limerick
No grabby
Material axis-
Astounded this fundamental
Fact of blistering depth-
How meaning wraps inside
Taking hold as you open
A netting to be grazed
By the spirit of nuance
Our fruit grabbing, knee jerk flattered
And upward rejection keeps
Consciousness at its sliver
Like Pavlovian organelles
Somewhere back the atom-split
Nietzschean absurdity left
Our borders bulging
With nothing left to do
Assuming inherent harmonics
Reapply the will to grace
Re-energizing a forgotten fate
And capturing passion
On this expanding phoenix
Categories:
pavlovian, allegory, passion, political,
Form: Free verse
we gently pray upon our desire
or maybe our desire preys upon us
recoil in disgust at the muck and mire
only to answer, "what's all the fuss?"
life's joys and private hells undreamt of
scale's fulcrum tipping the balance of power
recoiling from the pain of our own love
and the similarity of "devout" and "devour"
Pavlovian, we turn to the bell ringing
for a scrap of nourishment or tender care
too often to find indifference stinging
is all that others have offered there
how can we anthologize a life
without including a rhyming of strife?
© Goode Guy 2012-02-03
Categories:
pavlovian, adventure, caregiving, devotion, happiness,
Form: Sonnet
the stearn bear
ate the bull
as meat unto idols
(the idle mammals
of mammon
on fence road)
the bags of king Midas filled
as offense rose
the comstock lode
dropped
bovines into stockyards
and the slaughterhouse rules
(u.s.) Pavlovian fools
Categories:
pavlovian, political,
Form: Free verse
Summer comes and goes with this guy's timely presence
The kids chase after the van much as dogs after a cat
Elusive though he is, we swear to run him down
For a few simple dollars money does buy happiness
His age old chimes ring the friendly bells
A welcomed euphony however short it is
The reminder of oral ecstasy start kids pleading to their parents
For five dollars they can bring their daddy back one too!
Tantalizing tongues going around town with his music astir
Making us drool in the same Pavlovian way
A mid afternoon snack for the children so good
And a promise they'll eat spinach at five o'clock
Passed from the man in the white shirt and hat
To the children who stand on tippy toes for ice cream cones
As they struggle to reach over the table between the two
They count their blessings when it doesn't spill
Two scoops of heaven and celestial sounds
Traveling countless areas of interest
Even his portable freezer cannot keep
Our hearts from melting for him
Categories:
pavlovian, life, love, children,
Form: Free verse
I wanted to offer you a drink
refreshment after a day of grinding labor
respite from the heat
so I peeled and chopped some fresh words
squeezed a cup of tangy words
an eggshell full of frothy words
a sugar cube of sweet words
a jigger (two) of tipsy words
and blended them vigorously…
then slowly…
Enchanting,
the swirling spiraling fluidity
attention and care
Inspired by tenderness, moved by passion
mesmerizing patterns of
subtly shaded sustenance
sparkles of fire ironically flashing
from crushed iciness
When I reached for my pen
to pour it all out with
that demon of bygones
who lives in the attic
decided to bark.
I was startled and jerked
Pavlovian dancesteps
toppled the poem
which spilled on my desk
and my lap
and the floor.
Damp with frustration
blotting up sorrow
nearly surrendered to stainedness
the voice of the giver
who’d set me in motion
reminded me of
ample drops that remained
full of the essence of
care.
Drink
drink deeply
drink and be well.
Categories:
pavlovian, caregiving, food, on writing
Form: Free verse