Thursday, August 29, 2013

602 : Our Rupert


Three Word Wednesday requires participants
to use the three words of the week in a composition.
The words this week were Anticipate, Fearless and Serene.

Inspired by Rallentanda, with an election eight days away
And the media attack dogs running with full blood-lust,
I present:


Our Rupert.

The boy from Oz is most serene,
It’s going to his plan.
Anticipating we will consent 
To anoint his chosen man.

Headlines define the battle lines—
Dissent is on page twelve.
Our fearless Rupert intervenes
As we cannot trust ourselves.
.
---
© J Cosmo Newbery 2013
---

Tuesday, August 27, 2013

601 : The Doldrums



The Doldrums.

The sails are slack, 
There is no breeze,
No relief.
The sea is flat, stagnant.
Missing is a driving force,
A force to begin, 
A force to move.
The sailors fret 
And mutter
Dark words of rebellion.

I don't much feel like writing.
Don't feel like much at all really.
The prompts come and go,
Viewed in a desultory, 
Disinterested sort of way.
How can I write to that?
Stagnant.  Still. 
Paralysis.

I look at the screen blankly,
Almost panicking that little comes,
But almost relieved, for other reasons.
As some stuff, dark stuff, comes, 
Bubbling to the top,
All tentacles and malice.
Like all monsters from the deep
It should stay there.  
I push back.

A lone dove sits on the yardarm,
If it sees land, it says nothing.
.
---
© J Cosmo Newbery 2013
---

Thursday, August 22, 2013

600 : Flights of Fancy


“I always wonder why birds choose to stay in the same place 
when they can fly anywhere on the earth, 
then I ask myself the same question.” 
― Harun Yahya

Three Word Wednesday requires participants
to use the three words of the week in a composition.
The words this week were Distinct, Irrational, Sullen


Flights of Fancy

I should know better.
No, more correctly, 
I do know better.
But I can't help myself.

I suppose that makes it irrational;
To know something but deny it,
To do or feel the opposite,
But that's the way it is.

I want to leave this place,
No, no discarding mortal coils,
Just a distinct dislike of where I am;
A deep need to move on.

I feel remote,
As if watching from above:
Detached and disconnected,
Wrapped in a sullen, sodden blanket
That dampens the spirit
And extinguishes all hope.
The days are grey and joyless,
Interspersed with false smiles
And fake assurances.

It is very depressing.
But I am not a tree,
I can move.
.
---
© J Cosmo Newbery 2013
---


Tuesday, August 20, 2013

599 : A Stranger in their Land


Sunday Whirl (Wordle #122) presents a list of words
that we must incorporate in a writing piece.  

The words this week are:

floor, heart, stay, dreamed, persuaded, period, 
degrees, years, space, nestled, if, vision, tribute


A Stranger in their Land.

I  slip through the grove of trees,
A stranger in their land;
I don’t think they notice me at all
Or dismiss me out of hand.

It seems my vision has degrees,
Some dreamed and rather grand;
Others stay in a foetal ball
And refuse to go as planned.

But my hopes are nestled in warm arms
Upon the forest floor,
Persuaded that the space is there
To grow and then explore.

My heart absorbs these leafy charms
As if there were no more;
A tribute to the years of care
Through periods of war.

For few can see what others see
What demons they withstand,
And only they can heed the call,
Of pipe and marching band.

I  slip through the grove of trees,
A stranger in their land;
I don’t think they notice me at all
Or dismiss me out of hand.
.
---
© J Cosmo Newbery 2013
---

Friday, August 16, 2013

598 : Donning the Familiar


Three Word Wednesday requires participants
to use the three words of the week in a composition.
The words this week were Regulate, Habitual and Distraught.


Donning the Familiar

It is easy to slip into the familiar,
To don the well-known and the well worn,
Like a warm fleecy slipper;
The tyranny of the habitual.
The dulling comfort of the routine.

In such a way we regulate our lives,
Control what comes in, 
Control what goes out,
Embraced and enrobed
In the soft, warm gown of the known,
Never to meet the alternative,
The harsh and rough vestments 
Of doubt and learning.
Never to encounter the coarse 
Fabric of the unfamiliar
And the uncomfortable.
No, we retreat into secure, wrapped
In the soft Terri towel of the certainty
That only ignorance can bring.

Should we stop to think?
Stop to question the orthodoxy
Of our views, 
Inherited and embraced,
In their iron-clad entirety.
We run the real risk of—
Of what?

What are we afraid of?

Would questioning leave us distraught?
Floundering, unable to touch the bottom
Of the paddling-pool of life?
Confused, wondering what to believe?

Yes, probably.
.
---
© J Cosmo Newbery 2013
---

Sunday, August 11, 2013

597 : La-la-la-la Land


Haiku Heights has the prompt 'Ocean'.
Happily, by the time I got around to writing to the prompt,
the site had not yet closed due to flooding.


La-la-la-la Land

Deniers say no
But the ocean ignores them.
Levels are rising.
.
---
© J Cosmo Newbery 2013
---

Friday, August 09, 2013

596 : Duplicity


Three Word Wednesday requires participants
to use the three words of the week in a composition.
The words this week were Berserk, Duplicate and Quibble.

Duplicity

People.
Really funny creatures.
They can drive you berserk,
With behaviour that defies reason
Where demons lurk
Behind
Masks of the nasty kind—
Have been
Assessed that they show
Two faces,
Say “Duplicate features”.

No quibble,
Apropos.
.
---
© J Cosmo Newbery 2013
---

Sunday, August 04, 2013

595 : The Choice


Three Word Wednesday requires participants
to use the three words of the week in a composition.
The words this week were Jackass, Splendid and Rupture.

The Choice.

When you choose the lesser of two evils, 
always remember that it is still an evil.
- Max Lerner 

Election propaganda comes
In a way you can’t suppress,
Offering Jackass 1 or 2,
With their splendid hollowness.

The choice,
For us, the public voice,
Swimming against the stream:
Choose the lesser of two evils,
And rupture our self esteem.
.
---
© J Cosmo Newbery 2013
---


Saturday, August 03, 2013

594 : The Last Breath.


Sunday Whirl (Wordle #120) presents a list of words
that we must incorporate in a writing piece.  

The words this week are:

gravity, plans, thread, landscape, salt, breath, 
shadow, shoes, bread, sense, sends, head


The Last Breath.

Life on this blue ball 
Hangs by a thread.
It always has.

The window of suitable
Conditions for life,
For life as we know it, at least,
Is remarkably narrow.

And it is moving.

◊◊◊

The people have never really understood,
Never really sensed the full gravity of the situation,
Until now.  
And now it is too late.

Too late to deal with the dying landscape,
Too late to deal with the salty water,
Too late to store grain for bread,
Too late to make plans to head off the danger
Just too late.

Too late.

Death will stalk the land,
In flowing robes and fancy shoes,
Dressed to kill, as they say.
And kill he will.

Without a shadow of doubt.

◊◊◊

This sends, of course,
A warning to our successors.
If they care to listen.
.
---
© J Cosmo Newbery 2013
---


Thursday, August 01, 2013

593 : Describing the Moment


We Write Poems challenges us to capture a moment.

Describing the Moment.

Eyes closed, 
Sitting at my desk
Leaning on my elbows
I feel the pressure 
Pressure of contact,
With the desk, 
With my chair, 
With the carpet.
I am vaguely aware
Of the weight on my shoulders,
Cable knit, dark blue.
I hear the world around me.
The hum of the hard-drive
Voices from the next room
Canned laughter,
Spoons hit plates,
The low rumble of the heating.
Outside — the passing traffic.
My feet have adapted to the feel the carpet.  
I move them ever so slightly 
And countless nerves betray my action.
The brain likes movement.
Time to walk.

---
© J Cosmo Newbery 2013
---