Short Great Aunt Poems

A writer?   
You are kidding right?
My family reunion’s most judgmental great aunt is clearly horrified.


Everyone is a writer! She says, throwing up her arms.


I do not reply.
For the first time in forever, she is not wrong....

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In my head politics are crazy
The rich ones way to get more cash
Senators and congress lazy
In my head 
It is a bit hazy
I vote for my Great Aunt Maisey
She eats her food up in a mash,
In my head
Politics are crazy
The rich ones way to get more cash!...

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My great aunt could conjure fire skulls the child reported.
Can you do that? Can you do that?
The visiting neighbor did not know.
She had never tried it and did not know what a fire skull was.
I doubt it, she replied.
Knowing it is difficult to visualize something
when you do not know what it is....

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H
O
L
I
D
Awesome memories formed of Great Aunt Elvira’s funny stories, and us hooting with laughter again.
Y 

P
All participants forming new memories, hoping to hear Great Aunt Elvira’s laugh again next year.
R
T
Y



Written 12-06-2020
Contest: Acrostic Play 2 Holiday Version
Sponsor: Kim Rodrigues...

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She was the bawdiest gal, they said.
Her eyes were green, her hair was red.
There were rumors of course
She rode nude on her pet horse
But we never knew her, for she was long dead.

You’re luckier for it, they told me.
She lived to be age eighty-three
She had a hankering 
For all kinds of pankering
She was my Great-Aunt Norma Bea...

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This lady’s hair is so, so white,
creates an aura for that face.
Her age puts forth its beauty in the street.

She could be my charming mother,
my darling grand-mama,
that lovable great Aunt Lucy.

But I am old, and all are gone.
How easy it is to conjure memories of those
three ladies when someone passes me in the street.


(29 Feb 2024)...

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Sirus is unaware we are watching him
Through telescopes, for he never gets dim.
his effulgent light so radiant, vivid and bright
Shows us a blazing brilliance tonight

Sirus means glowing in Greek, my daughter says
She is a genius, named for my great-aunt Inez.
Sirus is also called the dog star says my little son Jake.
He is lighting up the sky tonight, sparkling up the lake....

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Creepy planters from Delaware town
Their heads all ugly, weird smile or frown.
I cannot believe how annoying they look.
As strange as anything in any horror book.

Oh, they are yours I say to the artist with a smile.
Pretending they are not hideously strange and vile.
The artist is not fooled; she is my great-Aunt Candy Keen.
I make them for people I despise she said, people who are mean....

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I had the notion to start a comotion;
Laugh in my bath, then lots of lotion.

I used to have a tiger sponge to wash
With and it was so soapy, I'd squash.

In a backyard; knives in hand, chicken.
Inside I spent my time reading Dickens.

Oliver Twist; licorice - black and red.
Picky eater, Ellen was always well-fed.
.
Ella, my great aunt gave me a gold ring.
Mother in my childhood, ever she'd sing....

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A particular precise master gardener with a touch of delight
lives in this castle, that looks glorious and bright
Her curtains are delicate, gauzy and fine.
She knows how to plant her blooms in a line.

She did not always spend so much time on this place
But she adores her yard and house, a gorgeous space.
Rarely entertains for upkeep and beautification takes all of her time.
She is totally happy with it, this finicky great aunt of mine....

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I miss early mornings 
the chill on my legs in the boat 
as we glide easily across the lake 
the smell of fish and earthworms 
the sound of birds in a faraway tree
 I miss hearing the water ripples 
as fish come to surface 
I miss my great aunt and uncle 
teaching me to fish 
as I cast the line and 
hook the back of my shirt 
not once but several times 
I miss the lake and it's surroundings 
wondering after 36 years 
how much it's changed...

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Mysterious clock dancers have a way of gliding no one can replicate.
They travel through the fog of London, past many a garden gate.
We had not heard of them until the death of our Great Aunt Kate.
Their mystical magical way of moving is something no one can duplicate.
Many see them coming and wonder about their peculiar fate.
They slip and slide in and out of cosmic portals, in an ethereal state.
Mysterious clock dancers have a way of gliding no one can replicate....

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Great Aunt Gladys was a smoker
Her snake skin chin and cheeks were proof
I cannot tell you how scaly she was
With her deeply cut diamonds and crosses

She had no relatives except for us
Three nieces who did not want anything in her house
Until one did
It was apparently a designer ashtray worth big money

Suddenly we all wanted it.
We were fighting over it as if it was the last car in the world.
When it broke it was a relief
It was the ugliest dhramned thing!...

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Om Ostrich inherited Uncle Hillard’s hat with the onyx jewel.
We were surprised for Om never followed any kind of rule.
He was Hillard’s favorite, of course, said great aunt Crown. 
Hillard was a wild man before my ways settled him way down. 

Om was pleased, he showed the hat to everyone he saw.
The donkey loved it, he interjected a congratulatory hee haw.
The sheep and the pig were not as excited, of course.
But Om got a wonderful neigh from his bestie, the horse....

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Great Aunt Edda was super friendly when I first arrived.
Hugging and kissing me, holding me a bit too long.
I was pushing away, because her perfume was overwhelming.
I could not breathe, thought I would die in a coma of smelly old woman.

She held tight, with the grip of an alligator’s jaw.
When we got home, I begged my mother to never take me back
She discounted my concerns; Aunt Edda was her favorite aunt.
God heard me though; she passed away in her sleep that night....

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Great Aunt Maude had a bejeweled flair
With red and blue rhinestones in her hair
Black fluffy coat resembling grizzly bear
We could never outguess what she would wear

Her glitzy outfits were worn with care
Silver sequined gowns, shoulders often bare
She entices old men on the town square
All could easily be lured to her lair.

Other ensembles could never compare
Her collars glistening with fluffy hare
Other women enjoy newest cookware
Great Aunt Maude dressed exotic as Cher...

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She will probably be dressed to the sevens but riding a goat.
I could not wait to see her, my Great Aunt, Myrtle Van Poat.
I think she traded the goat for an alligator Uncle Tye said.
Well maybe she won’t come at all, maybe she’s dead.

The relatives sound jealous of Aunt Myrtle if you ask me.
She has been on cruises, and adventures in at least six seas.
She did not tie herself down with a dull, boring, banal life.
She’s riding an ostrich! Says Penelope, Uncle Tye’s jealous wife....

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