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Image courtesy of inhabitots

How to Label a Box When You are Four Years Old

He told me it was a project for school.

He needed markers, colored pencils, glue,

construction paper and a straight-edge tool.

He arranged those things neatly for review.

He boxed them up, saying, “There! That should do.”

Phonetically he listed all his art

supplies for school on a sweet little chart.

Then, in big letters, he titled his gear:

the label on the box was now totally clear…

as I saw he had written, “BOX o fART.”

###

Notes:  The form is a 'dizain' which happens to be the form of the week over at Poetic Bloomings's In-Form Poet post.  When my son (now almost twelve) was around 4-ish, he made a box for his school art supplies and labeled it as you see in the poem above.  It's been a running joke with us ever since.

And...since I finally found the time to write a few poems this week (YAY!), I discovered that Robert Lee Brewer's prompt last week at Poetic Asides was to write a poem having to do with a box.  So of course, this is what popped into my head.

Anyway, let me take this opportunity to wish everyone a safe and fun-filled Happy New Year!!!

Witty Repartee

Image Courtesy of The Project Gutenberg

It’s Never Too Late for a Clever Comeback

“Repartee is something we think of twenty-four hours too late.” ~Mark Twain

Higgledy piggledy

Humorist Mark Twain said,

“Repartee’s something we

think of too late…”

Coincidentally,

Twain, like most clever folk

suffered not from this: the

talent’s innate.

###

Image courtesy of Old Fashioned American Humor

Notes:  The form is Double Dactyl. The inspiration for the poem was today's prompt of "It's too late," as posted by Robert Lee Brewer's Poetic Asides November PAD Competition.

Poe Poe Me: Once upon a time, I was ravin' about writer's block...

Image courtesy of EBSQ

Once Upon a Keyboard

Once upon a keyboard, weary, while I pondered word-string theory,
Over verb and adverb pairings, I thought, “What a crashing bore!”
Still I typed, fairly quickly: suddenly I felt quite sickly,
As if something went a-missing, dissing at me, so I swore.
`’Tis distraction,’ thus I muttered, `snapping, ‘cause I sure was sore -
Only this, and nothing more.’

Ah, distinctly I recalled it – it was writer’s block: Work stalled. (It
sucks!) And so my sentence structure wrought its ghost like ‘crime-fic’ gore.
Justified, I sought appeal; vainly I had thought to steal
From some books or other store – of vast knowledge (Could I score?)
For my new, ingenious novel – which my agent will ignore…
Nameless now for evermore.

###

Notes: The form is parody.  And it is a obviously a parody of Poe's The Raven.  For Robert Lee Brewer's Poetic Asides November PAD Chapbook competition, the prompt for today was 'Once upon a _____.'  As soon as I saw the prompt, I knew I had to go in this particular direction.  And guess what?  No writer's block happened either.  I just sat down and wrote the Poem. 

"A nickel ain't worth a dime anymore." ~Yogi Berra

Poetic Asides is now into Day 2 of the November Poem-A-Day (PAD) Chapbook Challenge.  Today's theme is to write a poem (or more than one poem) using an epigraph, which is a quote that speaks to the theme of the work, as well as inspiring or informing it.  

As you might guess, I love this sort of thing, because epigraphs are a great jumping off point.  In my case, as you might guess, I like to look for funny or humorous quotes because, well...because that is so me.  

In fact, my header today is a quote by the Yogi Berra.  And just so you know, while a nickel ain't worth a dime anymore, a couple of poems will always hold their value (whatever that might be.)

The form for each poem below is Nove Otto.

Image courtesy of Shirtoid

Pulley Get Me Outta Here!

“If you die in an elevator, be sure to press the Up button.” ~Sam Levenson

I hate that crowded, closed-in space

containing members of ‘Rat Race’.

That demon lift: elevator.      

And if I die before my floor

I only pray I’ll have strength for

pressing ‘UP’ initiator.

But here’s the thing:  I don’t know if

I’ll do it ‘ere I am a stiff.

Kind of like a late dumb waiter.

###

Image courtesy of Beyond Bounds

Candidates Debate

“Be obscure clearly.” E.B. White

Be difficult to understand.
Speak plainly, on the other hand.
You’ll confuse your opposition.
Ambiguous…the way to go,
but say it straight so folks won’t know
where you stand on each position
as a front-running candidate.
Take this advice: when in debate,
‘stump.’ You’ll be a politician.

###

Block Party

on an old scarred desk

an IBM Selectric

gathers words and dust

###

Notes: The above picture was thoughtfully provided for by Magpie Tales, for the prompt this week.  The theme of Writer's Block is obvious, as is my choice of form (5/7/5 Haiku) but I decided to write a slightly different take on it.  Instead, my idea of a block at the moment is watching my kids (in crazy costumes, of course) go 'round the block in search of candy.

Happy Halloween! 
Boo!

I don't understand...

Missed the Bus

Our tour guide pointed out each site

that we should note: “Look left. Look right.”

Confusion did prevail.

That’s because each time he’d cite

a landmark, he spoke Swedish.  Quite

a problem: language fail.

                                                       

You see, Anglais is all I speak,

so Swedish, French or even Greek

are…well... Greek to me.  Eh?

When I travel and spend a week

in foreign lands, it isn’t cheek:

just jag förstår inte.

###

Notes: Sepia Saturday provided the above picture from the Photographic Archives of the Stockholm Transport Museum as their prompt.  Pretty cool photograph, huh?  

The problem is, the signs are written in what I presume to be Swedish (which means that I cannot read them, since I do not speak or read Swedish.)


Of course, if I were going to visit Sweden in the near future (or any other country for that matter, for which English is not the native/spoken language) I would try to learn a bit about that country's language and culture in advance so I could actually appreciate what I was seeing and experiencing.  That would make it so much more of a gift, dontcha think?


Anyway, the form is Rime Couee.  And while I am sure that some folks who read this blog entry will 'get' the final line, for those who don't, the words are Swedish and in translation, mean, "I don't understand."