Month: August 2018

August 27

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Sweet Bait

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The candy is what they really want

Details don’t attract attention at all

Brochures just bore visitors to slumber

Advice is not why they made this jaunt

It’s sugar in forms of disc, bar and ball

That gets them towards my table to lumber

Like bait to attract what’s eating the hens

Saccharine gets them out of the woodwork

Otherwise they may never come to view

For sweets they’ll even bring their friends

Avoiding my eyes they grab with a smirk

Lots of candy gone, interactions few

I’m wondering if there’s a better way

To lure people in to hear what I say.

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(A Brisbane Sonnet attempt)

August 15

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Fallen Fungus

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Oh dear the mushroom has been uprooted

Some careless walking has it uprooted

It sure looks like it’s been hiking-booted

The soft pine needle ground buffered its fall

It’s squat, short and stout with not far to fall

Do you think the person noticed it at all?

Amazingly for this organism

This is not death for this organism

Regardless of our own barbarism

Miles of mycelium supporting

Acres of hyphae supporting

Nearly immune to human cavorting

Mushrooms will thrive long after we are gone

As extinct as the great mastodon

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(A Blues Sonnet)

August 25

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Hibiscus moscheutos

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Hibiscus flowers sparkle in the sun

Enormous blossoms undulate freely

Perennial and bold, astonishing

Like crepe, exquisite, splendid, delicate

Extraordinary and ordinary

Intensely colored designed for display

The bees can’t get enough pollen gold

And branches bend beneath the flowers’ heft

Each bloom’s display lasts only a day

But followed by another rapidly

The shriveled shuttlecock flowers tumble

To earth awaiting decomposition

As others take their places high above

Just filling the summer with amazing.

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(A Blank Verse Sonnet)

August 20

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Feathered Backyard Pets

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It’s hard when pets are companion to you

With chard they would be dinner for others

My yard is playpen for my feathered few

Regarded as farmyard to another

When one of my chicks has met her demise

The run no longer safe for happy hens

When fun has turned to tears escaping eyes

I’m done tamping the grave, sad once again

When wings and legs are menu selections

Crying over chickens is frowned upon

A thing to save for fuzzy affection

A sting allowed only when pets are gone

Adored as much as bowwow and meow

Therefore deserving of waterworks now.

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(A Beymorlin Sonnet)

August 5

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Fuzzy Planning

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Road trip dreams post work-day reality

Planning the vacation but not too much

Where might we bike hike kayak camp and such

So grateful for our commonality.

Work week starts and vacation brain sets in

With each passing day focus is lacking

Mind wanders to long days of backpacking

We can’t wait until the journey begins.

The week will go by too fast we are sure

Dreaming and planning extend our short break

Thinking of it each moment we’re awake

Oh, how many more workdays to endure?

We have maps and guides but won’t let them reign

There’s just one plan: to avoid the mundane.

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(An Australian Sonnet)

August 2

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Vicious Cycle

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This hamster wheel of steel needs attention

A look at the exhaust and suspension

Though I look under with apprehension

My goal is always breakdown prevention

This machine ensures my place in the race

That rat race I cannot fully embrace

Figuring out how to withdraw with grace

As I find the parts I need to replace

This great car gets me where I need to go

Through traffic and downpours and blowing snow

I know it will get me there tomorrow

I need the car to get to work, it’s true

I need to work to get the car, I knew

But it also lets me do what I want to do.

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(An Arabian Sonnet)

August 13

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Surprise Snack

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Our for a paddle finding wild fruit

Kayak hulls knock against rocky shoreline

When we see the shrubs we make a beeline

Summer adventure with a snack to boot

Everything tastes better fresh from the source

And these small sweet dark berries hit the spot

It’s difficult not to grab the whole lot

Have to remember they’re all the birds’ got

One for us three for them without remorse

St. George Lake offers scenery for days

And many small islands to circumvent

Didn’t even need insect repellent

On Maine’s water with fruit we are content

Until the next time we paddle and graze

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(An American Sonnet)

August 1

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True Story

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Again postponing morning’s stale routine

To reach the end of the chapters last line

I’ve quietly fallen into pages rapt.

Removing myself from this fictional scene

A task that feels impossible this time

In this real-feeling, fake story I’m wrapped.

The day is getting brighter here I lay

Departure time has come and gone, I stay

Ignoring alarms, foregoing caffeine

Avoiding clock faces, lunch is unmade.

This time is luxurious and obscene

My arrival at work will be delayed

Avoiding the academic machine

Entrenched deeply in fiction unafraid.

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(An Alfred Dorn Sonnet)

July 31

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Stoneleigh

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A large gray mansion built of Wissahickon schist

With 45 rooms embellished in wood grain

Is more impressive when the details aren’t missed.

Easy to be distracted by size insane

In the small details the real wonder exists

The charm of stone flowers is hard to explain

The home’s grandeur is the point some may insist

It’s these small stone blooms that keep it from mundane

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(A Sicilian Octave Poem)

July 30

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Daucus carota

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What is the spot in the middle

Of the delicate Queen Anne’s Lace?

Surrounded by snowy white blooms

It certainly seems out of place.

*

They say Queen Anne was making lace

And tatting the designs by hand

When the needle caught her finger

A stain on the lace did expand

*

Now the flowers cover the land

Thriving in forgotten places

Far from what people call nature

Despite the life in these spaces

*

From afar all you see is white

Flowers waving across the field

It’s not until you get up close

That the colorful is revealed

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(A Redondilla Poem)

(A Serventesio Poem)