Old Sneakers, Ducks and New Moons

Hi!  I'm sorry I've missed a few days here, both for posting and for visiting.  Beside the kidlets being home this week (Spring Break) I've been working on something prose for a writer's conference tomorrow night.  Yes, I am a bit nervous, but (fingers crossed) hopefully it'll turn out to be something really good.

Anyway, here are today's poetry offerings:  Poetic Asides' prompt is 'Like ___' and the form is Shadorma.  Monday's Child has a lovely illustration by Elizabeth Webbe, and the form is Saraband.  And finally, one of the prompts listed on Big Tent Poetry is all about using an old wives' tales.  The poem for this prompt is also a Shadorma.

Image courtesy fineartamerica/Beth Stormont - Hangin' Around

Like Old Sneakers

Tossed over

a telephone wire,

forgotten

except for

when someone tries to reach them:

they won’t come back down.

###

Wash Day

It’s wash day for Diana Duck.

She sings a darling, duckling song

and irons clothes.  She’s full of pluck.

And Dermid Duck, he joins right in

while folding laundry in neat stacks.

He places them in drawer and bin

and then he goes and gets duck snacks.        

And after that, they go to town

to buy a brand new eiderdown

in shades of blue and chocolate brown.   

                                    

At night the ducks sit on the deck.

Diana turns to give a peck                

to Dermid, who says, “Honey Bun,

I’m so glad all the washing’s done.”

###

Image courtesy of James Creek Outfitters

Hidden

Seeing a new moon for the first time on a Monday will bring you good luck. – Old Adage

You can’t see

much of a new moon

on Monday

or any

other day, for that matter.

Is luck just hidden?

###

Fortuosity

Writer's Island posted their weekly prompt today - and the magic word is 'Destiny.'  At first I was stuck on how to approach such a fateful topic, and then a bit of fortuosity happened.  Fortuosity?  Yep, fortuosity. 

Fortuosity is the name of a song from the movie The Happiest Millionaire (1967) which is performed by Tommy Steele, who plays young Irish immigrant John Lawless.  The film begins in Philadelphia, in 1916, and finds Lawless seeking employment as a butler at the home of eccentric millionaire Anthony J. Drexel Biddle. 

In the film, John Lawless has an upbeat, positive, looking-towards-the-future personality, and his song, whose lyrics include lines like, “`Round the corner, under a tree, good fortune's waitin', just wait and see…” underscore the point really well.  It's a fun movie, and I highly recommend it - so if you get the chance, watch it sometime.

But I digress.

Fortuosity.  Although not a real word, per se, it means a belief in yourself, and the fact that everything will turn out well in the end. 

So, what was my bit of fortuosity?  Stumbling upon a lucky quote.  And with that, here’s my poem:

A Saraband for a Gumball in Hand

Serendipity is putting a quarter in the gumball machine and having three pieces come rattling out instead of one—all red.  -Peter H. Reynolds

I remember when I was small

I would ask my mom for a coin

to get a cherry red gumball.

Purple was okay in my book

but red was the one that I sought.

Now and then I cheated and shook

the machine.  Kid magic, I thought.

You never know what will come out

the gumball machine’s metal spout.

Chance is what it is all about.

Luck may not decide to convene.

You might get yellow or a green.

But sometimes, you’re the conferee:

a red gumball - or two… or three.

###