he entered the house with mewing in his pocket
my daddy nearly tore down the wall with a light socket
Those better not be kittens, I cannot stand them, he said
This one likes you a lot, said my Uncle Ned
He sat one of the squalling crawling things on Daddy’s lap
Daddy acts like a hard nose, but he can be a pure sap
To this day, we are laughing about how fast he said
I am naming this one after my brother, Ornery Ned.
He bumbled round the front nine
Scrambling by the high bramble
Scum fumbled the perfect lie
After nipping his car trunk’s handle
With thwaps and pings and whammy’s
His blood turned transfusion hue
He blames his hooks on “bangin trannys”
The joke fell flat to the cart gal, regardless of cue
Crickets echo in daytime thicket
Uncle Scum sweat through his woolen plaid
He sniffed and swung, missing the ticket
Another failure at the emerald launchpd
His friends left after he swang too haphazard
But no, good Uncle Scum always has the last reply
“If Daly can do it then so can I!
Now excuse me while I swim in the water hazard!”
He swam and he floated all drunkenly bloated
But didnt note the flock of geese
all ruffled and slighted
Now Uncle Scum was banned, as he says “scapegoated”
All because the groundskeeper kept the geese around
“The ones on hole eight that are more
fight than flight”
Remember don’t do the crime...
Unless you're willing to do the time.
Be good, you’ll get treats.
Wordku: 5-7-5 words
AP: Honorable Mention 2026
We grow our family exponentially.
Siblings Uncles Aunts Cousins and little ones.
Take care of our own.
Worku: 5-7-5 words
AP: Honorable Mention 2026
Auntie Jean was making fun of two quirky curvy dances today
they both looked at me; one sent a happy wink and nod my way
I thought they were marvelous, and resolved to grow up to be like them
First, I resolved to gain a bunch of weight, not to be persnickety and thin.
Auntie Jean liked to make fun of others, but Uncle Joe never did this.
He was a corpulent guy whereas she was a mean, nasty old priss.
You meet lots of people up there,
The Mater Hospital,
Bobby told me.
Bobby is my friend,
His hospital companion said
As he , Alan,
Left before him, Bobby,
Returning home
I'll pray for you,
He said too,
A Christian,
Bobby
Reported,
You meet all kinds of people up there
And he meant of course,
Boys and girls,
Men and women,
Doctors and nurses,
But he meant also
Rangers fans,
And protestants,
And Alan
Was
One of them,
A Christian too, to boot.
And over time,
Weeks of illness,
They chatted Wendy
And
I ndiaiadh an omlan,
Became friends
Bobby is my friend,
Alan said,
And Bobby was pleased.
Bobby, you see Alan,
Prays for you too
Not in a
Kneel -down -and -pray -before -God
Kinda thing
He plays much better Alan
He tells people
How
You promised
To pray for him
That
Is Bobby's prayer
And
Its a fantastic way to pray,
Isn't it just.
A Happy Go Lucky Guy
With Down Syndrome
And Autism
A Tennis Ball Bouncing Guy
It’s what I remember about you
Every time I saw you
A Happy Go Lucky Guy
With Down Syndrome
And Autism
A guy saying
Go, Go, Go
All the time
A Happy Go Lucky Guy
With Down Syndrome
And Autism
An artist in later life
Enjoying sitting at the table
Engulphed with paints.
A Happy Go Lucky Guy
With Down Syndrome
And Autism
Living your best life
Uncle Lorne
You will be missed
By all who knew you
A son of Georgia
I was a chemist by trade
'Unbossed and Unbought'
'The Movement' gave me a call
I left the lab and I marched
My uncle the world traveler.
Wise and eccentric as he may be.
Always a story to tell.
Wordku: 5-7-5 words
AP: Honorable Mention 2025
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
granite roots gripping Pennsylvania-Dutch shale
taught me Schicksal, spun our bloodlines into compass stars~
Stärke whispered through his fractured Fraktur tales
*******************************
Schicksal = German for (fate/destiny); reflects language teaching with genealogical purpose
Stärke = strength in German
Fraktur = a stylized, highly decorative watercolor or watercolor-and-ink painting in the Pennsylvania-German tradition, often bearing elaborate calligraphy and standardized motifs, as birds, tulips, mermaids, and unicorns, and typically appearing on a book page, baptismal certificate or other family record, or merchant's advertisement. (Source: dictionary.com)
Silently,while soft rain drums on zinc in sorrowed streets,
My soul kneels where she once stood,my gal, my need,my nevermore.
crying droplets chant in syllables of her smile-sweet, small,
Silvered syllables sipping across haze and humiliation.
Her mother-a Mount Olympus of ten thousand frustrations-
mouths malice in midday markets,
sparking sparks of spite,her words whipping like wet rope.
Her uncle,a dog trainer with a dog chain in his hand,a dog's dark echo,
unchains his hate,barking at the boy he thinks too poor to dream.
I still see her ebony eyes in puddles, trembling,
telling tales of thunder,
''my township Romeo From Another Earth And Sky, ''they breathe,
be brave-Ill come back from another earth and sky
not this world of man''
But love is leashed to their lies
and the leash tears her heart before she can run.
Now I rap my requiem-
rhymes for rain,rhythm for regret,
Heartbeats hammered into-half remembered hope.
She died of a broken vow-not hers,
but the world of a world that kills its kindest loves.
Rain don't remember her name,
but I do-every drop spells my gal.
Soft syllables,same sorrow,same song,
for the gals the gods forgot to guard.
My uncle, the actor
I had an uncle who was an actor
My mother took me to see him perform
At "Folkets Park", the people's place
He played a detective. I spoiled his scene
By the audience, he was my uncle Lars
My mother had to take me outside
The acting bug stayed with me, and I wanted
To be an actor, too, I read a lot back then
and made up scenes in my head, of course
I had the best lines
When I was almost 40 years old, and ill
I was sick often in those years, mainly because
I didn't like the way my life was
I saw in the local paper the theatre in Chester
needed someone to help on stage ( I lived
in England at the time)
I rang, a young woman answered, she was
not impressed with my English and said I had
to speak perfectly before getting a job
She had poured cold water over my dream
But it was a dream inspired by my uncle
His wife was a woman with red hair; she
laughed a lot
I like to go visit them, one of the few
places, I felt at ease, could talk, and not
be told to shut up
But for the life of me, I can't remember
her name, I will put this article aside and
wait until her name appears in my dreams
RANDI was her name
uh-oh, is Uncle Caterpillar smoking again?
We sent the kids out there to chastise him.
They called him names and bullied him and were horribly mean.
He laughed at their efforts.
They have nothing on my mother, he reminded us.
We remembered his mother.
She was a horrid old biddy.
He was right.
These kids didn’t put a dent in his smoking at all.
We wondered what else we could do to make him stop smoking
None of us remembered
it was not up to us
it was up to him
Uncle Larry has been in a grumpy mood since he returned from Nam
Wears a perpetual permanent scowl on his face
his lips are always in a sarcastic style pout
He does this to keep people away
I hate people he says, which is not him at all
We nephews and nieces know better
this tough exterior with the leather jacket is a front
to keep people away, because he is a softie
he cannot say “no”; and it gets him into trouble.
He is always lending money to someone or giving them rides.
He has been taken advantage of time and time again.
This is why he wears this mean face, to protect himself.
It might work on strangers, but we live in a small town.
Everyone here knows the real Larry.
If you need anything, anytime, you will ask him first.
He is that kind of guy.
If you are
vacant of hope
Hope is vacant
of you
If you are
distant of spirit
Spirit
distant of you
If you are
absent of feeling
Feeling
absent of you
If you are
left without love
Love is left
— without you
(Rereading ‘Leaves Of Grass’: July, 2025)
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