SITTING ON MULTICOLORED CARPET SQUARES
LOST IN THOUGHT, BUT THINKING OF NOTHING AND NOONE
SO MANY RIVERS HAVE CHANGED IN RANGE OF FLOW
UNEXPECTED ARE THE DIRECTIONS THAT THE ROCKS SKIP
IT IS THEN THE THE MULTICOLORED CARPET SQUARES BECOME AMBIDEXTROUS
UNPREDICTABLE ARE THE INTERCHANGES OF TIME
ALL BREEZEWAYS AND ENTRYWAYS BECOME MORE NARROW WITH ABUSED AGE
ALL OF A SUDDEN A STORM BREWS WITH CONSTIPATED RAGE
THE LAXATIVE OF RELEASED FREEDOM IS A MUCH WELCOMED CHAPTER OF EXHILARATING EXHALATION
THE MULTICOLORED CARPET SQUARES DISSIPATE WHEN THE SLUMBERS ARE THE DEEPEST
MASSAGE CHAIRS FRESH FROM SOME ABANDONED MALL WILL BE CHOSEN NEXT TIME, NEXT CHAPTER
Every building in my view
Has perfect little squares
Of windows lined up neatly
Which I gaze at, unawares.
From where I sit, I cannot see
The curtains, shades or blinds,
The distance meaning if I stare,
Then no one really minds.
And yet, behind each pane of glass
Some lives are being spent,
Each one unique, no matter what
The co-op fees or rent.
The city houses millions,
All with windows facing out,
But we never know what life
Behind those windows is about.
Cubism - words in cubes
Put words in cubes.
Ideas aligned at once,
inside the box, attuned.
Intensive interplay, makes sense.
That line there was the convincer
the second to reassure
now is that clouds that form a square
or has someone incised a cloud so delicately
or laser shapes as an alternate thinking this ones better
breaks the sky
or a cubist painting of Van Gogh's
Night so starry
is this a view from mountains forgotten spot
go go tell them what you saw
my idea for a mortal combat character
that pixelates the screen
just a few ideas in what my title was about
We meet on screen in six small squares
To stay in touch, as each one shares
What’s going on, the latest news;
To do so, Zoom is what we use.
We’re scattered now, so our routine
Of monthly dates where we’d convene
Has modified to just the talk –
No lunch, museum, shop or walk.
In six small squares, we can assess
Who’s doing well or who’s a mess.
We trade advice and give support
And somehow help to hold the fort.
We’ve met for almost forty years
And our connection perseveres.
Though age has caught us unawares,
We stay the same in six small squares.
they got me in the dark...
hooked...when
just a kid...
surrounded...by
others...stories
and walls...
of shelves...bending
under the weight of...
so many unfamiliar...voices
awaiting their turn to...
express...thoughts in
some other form such as...
that of a kid...with
a library card key to...
enter an...imaginative world
of one's own choosing...
that it...no longer be an
absent reality but...
that of some...book-square
rooting self in a garden that till then...
relatively speaking was...minus one
stan's sand
Hollywood squares, we would stare
at the set, as we do now in varying
shapes and sizes.
Now family appears
in quaint little tablet squares - some
sheltered-quiet, or
eccentric with Eiffel
Tower backdrop,
some ogling the others,
one with a gas mask face finding appall
and humor
during this fathomless race,
slow like a tortoise who can’t mete a hare —
time recklessly drawn out,
the finish line
far out there. What will we find when
civilization restarts?
Will we be wearing rags,
our riches bagged up and sent to thrift?
I stare and inquire of the squares —
will we find our round
faces headed
into outer space
or going nowhere
at a fast pace?
Are we raptured? Are we done?
NO!
the session ended, no goodbyes
too - sudden as a hawk
we will find our hands
back in the land of the living
robotic pace of happenstance
have we lost
a career,
gained weight,
kept up the humor
of the Hollywood Squares?
3/30/2020
Starting Squares
1, 2, 3,
Blocks unfurl,
A, B, C,
Wrapped nicely
neath hued swirl
Blue Spruce tree,
For every
boy or girl
learn gladly.
2019 December 21
*4th Place*
Have a Merry 3-Cubed Christmas
~~Andrea Dietrich
I have fun with the world of geometry
The square, the rectangle and the parallelogram
Oh' the trapezoid and the rhombus
The triangles, the isosceles and the equilateral
All are a great tight family together
The circles and ellipses are closely related
The formulas of geometry try to memorize
The areas and circumferences
The diagonals and angles
For the trigonometric functions
You discover a new world
The sines and cosines
The tangents and arc tangents
If all this is not enough to entice you
Most probably now you fell in love with geometry
HOLLYWOOD SQUARES
most wouldn’t find names interesting, but I would
draw squares representing student desks.
i loved looking at the baby book of names,
my mother bought, in my thirteenth year.
so i’d put a name to each of these squares,
Hollywood would give their squares faces
as would the children’s game Guess Who.
Names were simple back in my day.
Mary and Joseph, Nadine and Peter...
Of course Hollywood had fun with names.
One word - Cher, Chevy Chase, Goldie Hawn.
Today names are manipulated. They sound
the same with just a tweak of letters.
Like Kym, Davyd, and Naatlee.
And Poetry Soup, you are much
like that stew of names — our own game
of Hollywood Squares.
With questions, truth and lies, a variety of categories.
We have our Phyllis Dillers, Paul Lyndes and even Vincent Prices.
I swim in the sea of names, enjoy our friendship, our love
for poetry. Like pen pals from around the world — we write.
5/25/2018
*Hollywood Squares - American Game Show
*Guess Who - American Board Game for kids
Instead of running round in circles
I'm running round in squares
Serves the same general principle
In the getting of nowhere
Except this way you don't know
What mystery lies ahead
Around each of the four corners
And can't see the mess you've left
We all retain, at heart, a love of squares –
the ones who wear pyjamas, say their prayers:
staid Ministers of Minuscule Affairs,
so sound at spouting homilies, splitting hairs,
the Fred Astaires who wound up Red Adairs –
you think the planet yours? It’s wholly theirs!
Those unabashed enthusiasts for flares
who spew soliloquies on stocks and shares,
and somehow swell and prosper, unawares!
Compliance officers, commissionaires –
not Taras Bulbas, more like Tony Blairs,
the sort who cook with Kerrygold, just for dares,
and read about invisible repairs.
Another thing about them – … oh, who cares?
City Squares
Claustrophobic city squares
Shadows through lanes
illuminated by cold filtered light
Antique like heads of marbled stone
Conjure up the past
Dreadful voids transformed
in warm lit beauty of the day
caught between the surreal
and concrete demands of day
Faceless figures of faceless masses
enthroned puppets without strings
dance the dance of shadows
we stood on the threshold of our dreams
Opening streams beyond melancholy
within the void and interplay of form and time
pure in its nature of itself stoic and so free
beyond these painted words
that sings on tinted page
Secrets primal in their meanings
beneath the elements of appearance
come to life in the awareness
of its spontaneity
Mixing ingredients together
because I got a sweet tooth,
first time trying this recipe
to tell you the truth.
If they turn out
I will make them again,
maybe for a Christmas treat
cutting them will be a pain.
I'll have to wait until tomorrow
to cut them into squares,
the peanut butter is too soft
I will cut them with care.
I can't wait to try them
to see how they've turned out,
my patience will pay off
they'll be good, without a doubt.
If you want something different
that is beyond compare,
try this for a treat to yourself
granola peanut butter squares.
Copyright Cynthia Jones
Nov.15/2015
Since my oven broke down, I've wanted to make a treat without having to bake. I miss baking cookies.
The cold, coloured squares
led to a deep pool
where Paul swam.
He took the diving board most times,
or jumped from the uneven side.
I cannot believe Paul wanted to drown,
but he always talked about it
before he went to the pool.
He took the diving board most times,
or jumped from the uneven side.
The autopsy was not good...
Let it be said that I always jump
from the even side,
and that I do not count obsessively
the cold and coloured squares.
---------------------------------------
8/16/2015
Contest - January 2019, Any Form,
Any Theme
Sponsor - Brian Strand
1st place win
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