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."

And now, for a little ghoulish humor...

Image courtesy of Anguished Repose

Can U Top This, Vampire Style

Old Vlad, he was telling a tale

of the folks that he liked to impale.

“…but that Bathory chick?

She is more bloody sick

than yours truly: she’s so off the scale!”

Then the Countess politely demurred.

“Dear Vlad – that is simply absurd!

We both love the blood sport

of ‘la morte’ at the Court.

It’s a tie for the folks we’ve interred.”

###

Notes: The form is a double limerick.  The inspiration comes from Mad Kane's Humor Blog's Limerick-Off Monday, where the brilliant Madeleine supplies the first line of a limerick each week and then those with a doggerel sense of being contribute his or her own personal take (or takes) on the theme.  One lucky contributor will get named the weekly prompt contest winner and several runners-up are announced as well.  It's fun - so give it try it!

Drive By

I don’t have to look

through the rear-view mirror to

know where my past is

###

Notes: Magpie Tales posted the above photograph (Lee Friedlander, from America by Car) as this week's prompt.  What added to the idea of this particular poem was another prompt provided by Imunuri, who said to write about, "...a place you loved as a child."  

This does not look at all like the neighborhood where I grew up, (N.E. Philadelphia, in case you might be wondering) but I liked the idea of NOT looking in the rear-view mirror.  Why?  Because I'll always know where I came from anyway, and I like the idea of that memory.

The form, obviously, is 5/7/5 Haiku.

Take the Picture!

Class Portrait – Connemara, Ireland, 1892

Come, wee bairns.  Please.  Concentrate.

This will just take a minute.

Lads, lassies:  Co-operate!

It’s not so bad now, init?

While you stand there a-wigglin’

and squirmin’ and full o’laugh,

look up…No more a-gigglin’.

Flash!  And then a photograph.

###

Notes:  The above picture was the prompt thoughtfully provided for today by Sepia Saturday.  It is a portrait of school children in Connemara, Ireland, from somewhere back the 1890s.  

Because of that, I decided I needed an Irish poetic form to compliment the photo, so I chose the form Ae freslighe (pronounced 'ay fresh lee'.)  

If you are interested and would like to find out more about the form, check out The Poets' Garret.

You Are Here

Image courtesy of ArtSlant/'You are Here' by Priscilla Franco-Asturias

You are here because

if you are not, you must be

in some other place.

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Notes:  Sunday Scribblings' prompt today is 'You are here.'  The form is 5/7/5 haiku.  

And if you are not here, then where are you?  Just wondering'...

A moment in time/A timeless moment

Inscription on the Back of a Snapshot, 1915

Conditions are a little grim,

but what can one expect?

Our rations are…well, they are slim:

we use what we collect.

We get by on our wit and whim

but with all due respect,

in war it’s all just sink or swim.

May peace soon take effect. 

###

Notes:  Sepia Saturday posted this snapshot of some World War I soldiers cooking a meal out of a helmet.  The field behind them is wasted and desolate.  When you look at this photo, you are almost glad it is in black and white, and not color - although the starkness, by virtue of the lack of hues, is probably more powerful in the end.

The form is Hymnal Octave.

 

Double Meanings

Double Meanings

The tiny king said, “What’s the news?

With morning cup, I’ll read the views

of all my loyal subject folk.”

The paper told a tale of spoon,

of dish and cow, of magic moon,      

of little dog and artichoke

and dainty princess and a pea.

He read some more and sipped his tea

and said, “It’s all an equivoke.”

###

Notes: The form is Nove Otto.  The above picture is by Michael Sowa from The Little King, and was used as the prompt from Magpie Tales this week. 

In keeping with my love of learning cool new words, I discovered the word 'equivoke' today, which means an equivocation, a pun or a double meaning.  

An Epicure Din-o-sperience (Not)

Image courtesy of Bella's Website

I Like My Steak Rawr!

Don’t dine, O’Saure

at Cretaceous Pub.

The food will vex;

the sweet tea wrecks.

###

Notes:  This is a quick-n-cute one, because I am in a sleepy/punchy frame of mind.  The form (thanks, Sal Buttaci!) is Pun-ku. 

In other news, my poem, Missing the Point, was Walt's pick for Bloom of the Week at Poetic Bloomings (thanks Walt and Marie!) and my limerick, Bizarre Foods, got an Honorable Mention this week at Mad Kane's Humor Blog (thanks, Madeleine!)

-♥-