'Write Thirteen Beautiful Lines' Poetry Contest: Sponsored by Constance La France (April/May 2025).
Where hills are alive
with imagination
carried by clouds
toward their destination
Lakeland fells and sheep
Liverpool of cormorants
Wales with its dragons
Yorkshire and terrier dogs
in Lancashire towns
of redbrick and cobbled folk
who worked with bare hands
to build a much better world
beneath these beautiful skies.
At first Constance was only was hiding one small pup
Fed him tiny bits of meat, gave him a teensy cup.
On Tuesday she found a second doggie needing a home.
At last count she had six terriers and a beagle that liked to roam.
I cannot believe your husband has not discovered them I said.
He is kind of deaf, and slow, and not real bright, kind of brain dead.
Don’t they bark sometimes? I asked, really wanting to know.
She replied,
That’s when he goes outside and searches for dogs in the snow."
Once I had a big fright,
It was dark, it was cold, was the middle of the night
Not so bright.
Fur on hand,
Such pungent air I cannot stand,
It’s planned?
Oh look.
Dog had a spook,
Poop.
Once I had a big fright,
It was dark, it was cold, was the middle of the night
Not so bright.
Airedale, king of the terriers
Domain without borders or barriers
Stubborn and proud
On alert, never cowed
Justly known for their cute little derrières
He had long hair once.
She wrote alone in her knickers'
drinking German wines.
He painted dark clouds
that never rained.
Savvy punk word-painters
slam down their ill-tempers
with blunt ballpoints of anger.
Romantic poets running in circles
yapping like Yorkshire Terriers.
Overwrought poetess
banging on about 'daddy'.
Overweight myopic philosophers
creating visual masterpieces.
He draws his thoughts
with the chalky dust
of crow bones,
black birds watch
his hocus-pocus from afar.
The shyly brazen, always
sculpting heart-stomping elephants.
She is lovely seen by
the bottom of a beer glass.
Artists all,
all sketching their faces
looking for someone
to pick them up
to play along
with their solitary games
forever.
I claimed ---and passionately---
that I'd never have a small dog,
much less one with "poo" in its name.
Not for me yappy Yorkies, shivering Chihuahuas,
shaky Shih Tzus, or terrible terriers.
Give me a wolfhound, a Dane, a mastiff,
a dog with paws like saucers,
a bark like thunder, and a tail like a whip,
(Christmas tree be damned!)
I prefer drooling retrievers, dignified shepherds.
hard-working setters, lumbering Bernards.
With this firmly in mind,
I went puppy shopping today.
Meet my Maltipoo.
Cujo.
(I haven't lost my mind completely.)
teriyaki tepee
telegraphs telescope
temperamental tentacles
teasing testy antelope
televising tempting tempos
torturing terriers who mope
teriyaki tepee
you are the utter dope!
Mr. J. Clown is incredibly sad,
His Jack Russel Terriers made him mad
They ripped her face off
With nary a cough
She was prettiest doll he’d ever had
Imagine a topsy turvy upset
Where humans were pets
President Jack Russell in talks
With terriers from york
Debating about pest control
Keeping humans in control
Women kept for breading and tame
Men kept for hunting and games
Imagine the chaos if dogs ruled
Who'd stop them being cruel
Locking humans in the garden
Barking and beating hard men
Would they prepare the food?
And clean up the poop?
Would dogs walk on two legs?
And humans use all four instead?
Defining humans into pedigrees
A caged human? Set it free
Lassie would be a heart throb
Wellards the highest payed dog
Workin for the BBC company
Barking beyond companionity
Bathrooms wouldn't be invented
Forests for public conveniences
Politics would still be as bad
Even Jack Russells barking mad
Arguing about the price of meat
From butcher dogs superleads
The largest franchise dog bone
Lots of treats to take home
Second place home barkings
Where they get pets bargains
German shepherds policing the street
As the other breeds are too weak
If the topsy turvy world was true
Not differ much from our rule
I think it would be less confusing
As the dogs life is more amusing
Wicked Witch of the West’s
Castle is now a home for unwed children, numbering twenty-three,
Children who are gloriously sock-loose and dance-e-bee.
The flying monkeys have turned into baby sitters, and lovers.
They protect the children from all mean witches and mothers.
The scarecrow and the lion come by about twice a week,
To make sure things are comfortable, they both do peek.
Tin-man runs a home for cairn terriers down the road.
He occasionally also saves an iguana, or a horny toad.
They get a face-time call from Kansas, USA, once a day.
Dorothy is in college now, so she does not have time to play.
But she picks up the ruby slippers and makes them shine,
Showing them she will never forget Oz was a fabulous time!
Rome wasn't built in a day
Mexicans like saying "Ole!"
If your horse eats nothing but hay
Teach him how to order on e-Bay
While terriers put sugar in their 'tay'
Cigarette smokers should use an ashtray
People say every dog has his day
Though I was told that crime doesn't pay
First April showers, then come what May
In life one's gotta find his own way
A voice vote's always a yea or a nay
It's lonely tonight -- Won't you stay?
When you're older, your hair might turn gray
Every knight needs some dragons to slay
If a soldier won't enter the fray
Against him will a nation inveigh
On her tuffet, Little Miss Muffet ate whey
When a donkey's upset, it'll bray
In Puerto Rico how those palm trees do sway
Now the sun's out: Go catch a ray
Do you remember when happy meant 'gay'
And nursery school age kids used to play?
From the path it's far too easy to stray
~ Life's choices please carefully weigh!
Nineteen nosey newts nudged nasty nautical nannies
Eighteen eager ermines excitedly edged everyone’s ego
Seventeen sacred slugs sat sideways searching seagulls
Sixteen slippery snails slid southwards sipping sangria
Fifteen flowery foxes fell forward fondling fuchsias
Fourteen frantic fleas froze fighting frightening fanatics
Twelve twiddling tigers told thirteen tasteless tales
Eleven elderly elephants embellished eighteen ebony earrings
Ten terrified tardy ticks tricked two thirsty Turkish tramps
Nine naughty nasal know-it-alls knew nothing nearing knowledge
Eight elastic earthworms echoed eighty edgy Egyptians
Seven solemn snakes slithered slowly sensing sunshine
Six sassy silk-moths sceptically squished spinach selfishly
Five funny fatties feared following fancy French fashion
Four fantastic faithful Finnish flies faked famous farcical facelifts
Three tenacious terriers thrilled twelve tipsy throbbing thespians
Two tireless Tanzanian tapirs tittle tattled tirelessly throughout Tuesday
One obedient oily octopus offered obnoxious orangutans oranges outrageously
Tyson the Cat.
There was a cat, some years ago,
who liked to stand his ground.
Terriers, poodles, mongrels,
He'd fight that type of hound.
I'd watch as dogs raced up to him,
barking fit to bust,
he'd just turn to face them with a snarl,
and they stopped, a bit nonplussed.
This was not expected,
not part of their plan.
cats were supposed to run away
not act like a hard man.
The ones who still went forward,
he'd attack with tooth and claw,
and pretty soon the one who ran
was a canine on withdraw.
The word spread far, and travelled wide
a legend he became.
A cat that fought the enemy,
should be in the hall of fame.
But with all such notoriety,
there is a price to pay,
and soon the dogs were queuing up,
eager for the fray.
They came from far and near
to test this feline superman,
and to see what he was made of
was the overriding plan.
I lined them up and weighed them in
as someone had to do,
they each would go three rounds with him
and then they would be through.
They all tried hard to beat that cat,
in a fair and fearsome fight.
But they all failed as I knew they would,
He was solid Kryptonite.
My Mix-Breed "Extra Fluffy"
happy as can be
Entered in the "Dog-Gone" trials
Just one of eighty-three
Some as big as horses
some as long as trains
Some so smart they spoke to you
You'd think they had our brains
The judges they were different though
The scoring one two three
For each performing act they did
they all received a "three"
Pretty soon they narrowed it down
then narrowed it down some more
Some dogs were none too happy now
they didn't even score
Terriers didn't stand a chance
Dalmatians faired the same
When a pure bred Poodle took the gold
the Shepherd went insane
How could they do this to these dogs?
was it cause they aren't the same
The judges? Mostly poodle breeds
you think they were to blame?.....
It is half past one in the morning when most people are in bed
We had to go outside just now, to sort something out instead
It’s very windy here tonight; things in the garden are blowing about
Our two little Yorkshire terriers escaped, we had to try hard not to shout
We were trying not to wake people up while calling the dogs to return
It’s so very dark and windy outside those two little dogs never learn
So there we were roaming about in the garden without much light
I can think of better things to do than go looking for dogs in the night
Well the panic is over; the dogs are in bed, which is where I should be
I thought I would just put this into a poem, so that everyone can see
The pets are tucked up now and I won’t be that long before I retire to bed
I just wanted to say what had happened, and get these words out of my head
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