New Born
By Frank Daub
Putting up the wash – Again
one wooden clothes pin gripped
tightly
in her lips. On toe-tips; blonde hair wind-whipped
dangling in her eyes.
The sun an apricot surprise
on the back of her legs.
All busy hanging clothes
and
Watching in the yard to see the baby lulling in the doze
Of May.
My perennial loving Guard.
I hereby attempt to satisfy poplar demand
as best I possibly can…
Seeking more creative ways to stop porch thieves?
Here are some more in which to believe
Hang those dirty diapers on a clothesline
right above the package ~ this works just fine
For extra effect, make sure the diapers have been sitting in a pile
for quite a long while…
Here’s one that has those wannabee thieves running away
Post a ‘Beware of Skunk’ sign not far away
And this concludes my tips this time
for which I ask nothing, not one thin dime
The silver tips steep
In my steaming, bone-thin cup
smiling warms my lips
Second place winner: Brian Strand-1455 Short Form contest (3/24/26)
I keep a pencil in my pocket,
Here is why,
It's my electric socket,
Without it I'll cry.
When I get an idea,
I write it down,
A bird, My freind Thea,
Even about a clown.
I make it into a poem,
When i'm free,
Which is not often,
I am very busy.
To write a poem,
Here's what you need,
A pen and imagination,
Another poem you'll plead
remembered for when the moonlight waned;
the stars grew dizzy and lost their bright;
the wolf leaned on his paws, silently watching;
the darkness grew within, bloodletting.
his mother would see his pale shell;
solitary figure in early morning grief.
pitch, like a spotlight in my bedroom;
specification of dark.
the call won’t come
until after his father wakes up; perhaps,
God granted a few more minutes peace
before the sun melted like wax.
the wax mask would become ashen.
ashes fly like a son from the tips of their fingers.
side by side, together on the mountainside.
ashes leapt into the air, four years past;
halloween, a scare, an early morning reality.
his guitar silenced; his voice on repeat.
teardrops splash off vinyl,
round and round;
seasons come and go…
Free form language mathematics engineering
Contest
Two Sisters efficient x amount of life, lives a day
Improve that.
Tip Jar Writes
One:
Wake up slowly.
Admit it was never that deep.
Let your first word be hmmm.
Let your second be whatever.
Two:
Stretch, but not like you mean it.
Pop one joint, then stop.
You are not an overachiever.
You’re alive. That’s enough.
Three:
Brew something hot
and unnecessarily complicated.
Call it process.
Sip. Sigh.
Spill a little on purpose.
Four:
Reintroduce yourself
to color.
Start with gray.
Work up to a muted mustard.
No pressure.
Five:
Trust nothing that smiles too easily.
Except maybe dogs.
And one cashier
who says you’re all set
like she means it.
Six:
Throw out the list you made
of everyone who owes you.
Keep the one you made
of whom you survived—
remember who survived you.
Seven:
Don’t look for closure.
Just check your teeth for spinach
when you think you ate,
and get on with it.
in materials science and nanoscience we do not produce strange chemicals or chemistry.
the divestment from chemical engineers and turning in of the repetitive research violations beneath our electrical engineering controls is not cartel, only a correction of the development grants legally allotted to firms to coordinate a conclusion to production lines and manufacturing processes.there is no further material extraction allowed from the universal laws of physics than can be validated in the cost analysis. human beings can not be manufactured, therefor budgets are cut, payrolls are dumped and as people are dying in the streets, the tax revenue must shift to housing laws and overbloated county worker payrolls endure layoffs as a buy-product of a failure to progress with the times.
over ruled.
Welcome to the school car line
Where waiting for your children is deemed fine
New mothers often get here an hour early
There is one, Mrs. John B. Curly
Savvy veteran mothers arrive twenty-minutes late said Heather
After half the line is gone, because the waiting is much better
You will learn more secrets if you have more than a few
By the tenth or eleventh child, this will be easy for you
Obey all traffic signs and lights
Avoid road rage, rants and fights
Remember: drive in defensive mode
Instead of as if you own the road
Always be courteous as you drive
It will help to keep everyone alive
Don’t knead, bleed, and feed.
Don’t sneeze in the breeze.
Don’t ooze in the booze.
Don’t go with the flow.
Don’t scoff at a cough.
Don’t sleep and weep.
Don’t hug with a bug.
Don’t sob with a slob.
Don’t sneer at a tear.
Don’t drool in a pool.
Don’t barf on a scarf.
Don’t fly and cry.
Goodbye.
Don’t sneeze disease.
Don’t wed dead.
Don’t lip drip.
all of a sudden, with no warning at all
the universe bestowed a beauteous boon
space flickered setting our finger tips aflame
within our form shone both the sun and the moon
as bliss furrows deepen, the energy grid brightens
there is no fixed pattern which we can discern
these days tip of the nose too oft tingles
enigmatic is God’s magnetic burn
In charge of the museum store,
She was an ex-New Yorker.
Her hair was white, her glasses black
(Like me!) and yes, a talker.
She spoke of moving to the Cape
And though she missed the city,
She’d learned to love her lifestyle now,
Less hassled and less gritty.
In passing, she remarked about
Her other “Q-Tip” pals.
“What does that mean?” I asked.
She answered, “Older white-haired gals.
I guess we look like Q-Tips,
With our heads of snowy white.”
I laughed ‘cause I’m a Q-Tip, too
And somehow, that’s all right.
Earth tips her head
to bow in Fall respect,
Leaves drop in royal
red and gold
to carpet lay
For King Winter
soon shall walk
with frigid breath
Again to rule,
again.
Please see Gulf of Cadiz
Praia da Rocha Beach
Tour port cellars and bridges
hop-on hop-off buses make travel easy
take oh my cod food tour with Ricardo in Lisbon
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