Saturday, April 30, 2016

865 - Code Red in Aisle 6


Three Word Wednesday requires participants
to use the three words of the week in a composition.
The words this week are: tantrum, tear and temper.


Code Red in Aisle 6

You’ve seen them, of course.
You’ve seen them and turned away, 
Embarrassed.
Public tantrums.
Shouting, 
Crying, 
And loud.
So very loud.
Nothing will temper their mood
But submission
To their demands.
Privately too—
Tears and noise,
Hands over ears,
They run to hide
“La-la-la-la-la…
I can’t hear you!”
Only to find them back
Peeking around a doorway
Watching you,
To see if you have missed them
And to then burst out
All smiles 
Wanting to play again.
Clean slate:
No regrets,
No scruples.
Yes, you have all seen them.

Well, children are like that too.
.
---
© J Cosmo Newbery 2016
---

Thursday, April 28, 2016

864 - Taking Flight


Midweek Motif: Openness.


Taking Flight

You open your heart
And give it to someone else—
Can they be trusted?


Forget the sweet words,
Openness means vulnerable,
Trust is essential.


You leave for the day,
Full of smiles, they wave you off
Then bitch to their friends.


The skies are open
And yet like will attract like:
Birds of a feather.


Old habits die hard—
Leopards will keep all their spots
And old dogs, old tricks.


Life is a playground:
Some things work and some things don’t.
Learn from the mistakes.


You take back your heart
And lock it safely away—
Somewhere sweet and warm.
.
---
© J Cosmo Newbery 2016
---

Monday, April 25, 2016

863 - Here Lie The Bodies



Here Lie The Bodies

Here lie the bodies 
Of countless young men
In cold, earthen graves
Across hillside and glen,
Sold the old lie
“It wont happen again”
But wars are made to make money.

They joined up to fight,
To do the right thing,
Believing it worth it
For the peace it would bring
But they couldn’t hear
The cash registers ring
Because wars are made to make money.

Politician proudly declare
“It's how we are defined:
Courageous defenders
Of the weak and maligned”
But they hide from us
How their pockets are lined
Because wars are made to make money.

Their talk is of peace
As protocol demands
But behind the scenes 
Are the corporate plans
Of how to ‘liberate’
Neighbouring lands
Because wars are made to make money.

All wars are the same:
The weak and poor die,
Our armies are recruited
By a fake battle cry.
So when will we stop 
And start to ask why?

When the wars no longer make money.
.
---
© J Cosmo Newbery 2016
---

862 - Can real punks spell cappuccino?


Sunday Whirl (Wordle #248) presents a list of words
that we must incorporate in a writing piece.  

The words this week are:

scar, hide, fire, prophet, vision, unholy, 
naked, sin, close, hills, climb, light


Can real punks spell cappuccino?*

It was sung that
The words of the prophet 
Were written on the subway walls.
Alas, this is no longer so.
The walls hold no prophetic vision now,
Just the unholy scars 
Of narcistic tags
Of the graphically talented
But cognitively vacant.
Mongrels,
Pissing on the walls
To mark their territory.
Their sin is a naked ego,
Devoid of a cloak of thought
Or wisdom.
What has become of clever graffiti?
Stuff that made you laugh?
Stuff that made you think?
Stuff that shined an awkward light 
On life’s foibles
Or injustices.
Sure, the new breed are equally athletic,
Not wanting to hide their work,
They climb fences, fire ladders,
Anything necessary,
To urinate their particular
Close and curlicue scent
On society's walls.
But where are the clever ones now?
Retired to the hills?  
Tired out? 
Died out?
Writing Facebook memes, perhaps.
.
---
© J Cosmo Newbery 2016
---

* A wall on the train line, outside Melbourne, 
used to declare: "Real punks can't spell capuchino".

Sunday, April 24, 2016

861 - One Day At a Time


Sunday Scribblings has the prompt : sequel


One Day At a Time

Yesterday was a pleasant day,
Today has promise too;
The leaves are switched to autumn,
The sky, a cobalt blue;
The past is just a memory,
The future, known to few.

All sequels are not really so,
Everything is new;
What happened once cannot return
No matter what you do:
Your age, the date, your state of mind—
The recurrences are few.

But we humans love our patterns,
They help explain our lot;
We try to reason out our lives,
To justify the plot.
But tomorrow comes regardless,
Prepared for it or not.

Tomorrow will be just as sweet,
Whatever you may say.
The sun will rise, the earth will turn,
The children laugh and play
The secret to a happy life
Is to live it day by day.
.
---
© J Cosmo Newbery 2016
---

Saturday, April 23, 2016

860 - Modern Slavery


Three Word Wednesday requires participants
to use the three words of the week in a composition.
The words this week are: pacify, rage and scarce.


Modern Slavery

Maintain your rage with what you see
As zealots gut democracy.
You cannot pacify those fools
By asking they obey the rules
That do not come from times BC,
That are not of a theocracy,
A book has told them what should be
And if allowed, they’ll make us mules—
Maintain your rage.

As ‘priests’ they hope that we will be
A compliant society.
When the doctrine’s taught in the schools
Are both harsh and wilfully cruel,
Freedom’s a scarce commodity.
Maintain you rage.
.
---
© J Cosmo Newbery 2016
---

Friday, April 22, 2016

859 - Alfalfa


Poet’s United Mid-Week Motif: Organic.


Alfalfa.

It is,
He said,
The most dangerous
Food on the planet;
Caused more deaths
Than any other;
Made countless sick;
Especially the weak
And vulnerable.
It has triggered
Miscarriages.
And yet it hides
Behind
The magic shield
Of organic,
Of green,
Of natural.
And it is.
Quite organic.
Quite natural.
Perhaps
Too natural.
That doesn’t mean
That it is harmless.
Nor that it is malicious.
Just that it is
Treacherous.
.
---
© J Cosmo Newbery 2016
---

858 - A Seal of (Dis)Approval


Mad Kane has a weekly limerick challenge.
She provides the rhyme word, the rest is up to us.
This week the word is ‘seal’.

Be warned: limericks are meant to be a bit naughty.


A old harlot who used oatmeal 
Said it helped her clients a great deal:
“They enjoy the effects
During vigorous sex
As they get a much better seal”.


A mermaid let out a big squeal
When waking, post party, with a seal.
Said the seal “Never fret,
We just had a light pet—
The real damage was done by the eel.”
.
---
© J Cosmo Newbery 2016
---

Sunday, April 17, 2016

857 - The Stalker


Three Word Wednesday requires participants
to use the three words of the week in a composition.
The words this week are: melancholy, opaque and nimble.


The Stalker

[The Boy]
As I embrace my pirate dream
With galleons, swords and lots of gold,
The world is simply what it seems
What I see today, the future holds.

[Chorus]
A trusting lad,
A trusting lad,
He thinks that what he sees today
Is like the sword that’s set in stone
And it always will remain that way,
Always will remain that way.

[Youth]
I know it all and I’m not scared,
I think that I am worldly-wise,
Immortal and so quite prepared,
To dance across Death’s sweeping scythe!

[Chorus]
With nimble feet,
With nimble feet,
He’s hop across the swinging blade,
But should he hap to trip and fall 
He’ll be sliced and diced and then filleted,
Sliced and diced and then filleted.

[Man]
Sure I know that life must end,
But no idea when it will be,
So I just live and so pretend
It will somehow bypass me!

[Chorus]
It’s quite opaque,
It’s quite opaque,
The future is so far from clear;
All that we can know for sure
Is that Death is grinning ear to ear,
Death is grinning ear to ear.

[Old Man]
The melancholy fact has dawned,
The sand is draining through the glass,
That of which I had been warned
Relentlessly now has come to pass.

[Chorus]
Relentlessly,
Relentlessly,
The future is a ball of twine,
Tangled and of unknown length…

[J Cosmo Newbery]
Oh, give me strength and pass the wine!

[Chorus]
Give him strength and pass the wine!

◊◊◊

Alternative ending for Rallentanda

[Old Greek Man]
With a four day stubble that celebrates
A serious session with fine ouzo;
Who gives a damn!  Smash the plates!
When your time is up, then youse go!

[Chorus]
A smashing time!
A smashing time!
Retsina is just recycled pine
Only for the rash or brave…

[JCN]
Um, pinot noir will be just fine!

[Chorus]

Pinot noir will be just fine!
.
---
© J Cosmo Newbery 2016
---



Sunday, April 10, 2016

856 - Bits and pieces


Three Word Wednesday requires participants
to use the three words of the week in a composition.
The words this week are: knotted, livid and impolite.


It’s called ‘seeing red’:
Livid, a hot haze descends,
Reason is absent.


People do stupid stuff.
If it’s impolite to point
Can I just snigger?


“You should just stay calm”
“Don’t get your knickers knotted”
Neither advice helps.
.
---
© J Cosmo Newbery 2016
---