#239
Language
Words mean,
Mean words.
Many words,
Worry many.
Bees buzz
Flies fly;
Flies buzz,
Bees die.
See what I mean?
Time's passing by.
Smile for a change;
Change for a smile.
Miami Grade School, grade five, the summer...
#238
The Empty Schoolyard
for mk
We'd made a date to meet at 4
At our grade school playground.
I was late when I arrived;
She I found nowhere around,
That latent summer Saturday.
The old brick school was silent,
Its windows blank and dark:
The monkey bars, the ocean wave,
The row of swings with gentle sway,
And she I found nowhere around
On that summer Saturday.
Eventually I left for home,
Two lonely blocks in disrepair;
The emptiness I left behind--
Not really though, for it's still there,
From that summer Saturday.
Not a carriage ride...
#237
Mr. Death
Death sat down beside me
In my ratty little boat
That had sprung a leak beneath me
And would no longer float.
"Well, Mr. Death," I said to him,
"Are you here to take my soul?"
"Just your life, you silly man!
Your soul's another's goal!"
We live in a secular age...
#236
Misperception
An Angel of the Lord came down,
All light and wings and eyes:
"A UFO," the people cried,
"Has finally touched our skies!"
Do not adjust your computer...
#235
Twilight Zone
I saw an eyeball on the ground,
Peering up at me;
I wondered where its body was
And whether it could see.
I stooped to look more closely;
It blinked and disappeared:
I'd found an alien eyeball,
Detached and rather weird.
Neither a borrower nor a lender...
#234
Where?
The last person I paid in advance
Left town quickly for the south of France.
I called his number to my chagrin,
For his number said that he wasn't in.
So much for paying well in advance;
Now I'm just saving for the south of France.
More Panda Possibilities...
#233
Andy Panda #25
Andy Panda had a friend
Who could talk for days on end;
The only way to stop the flow
Was to ask him for some dough.
Andy Panda!
The problem with memory...
#232
Flesh and Blood
The problem with memory,
We often forget,
Is that mind is the matter
And the matter to wit.
I've just got to quit reading the Bible...
#231
First Peter
The Devil's like a prowling beast,
A roaring lion set to feast
On an erring Christian soul:
Only Christ can make us whole.
And we thought that was an awful war...
#230
Snapshot
We all remember the picture,
The grimace of pain and despair,
As the gun blew his head out sideways
And his life disappeared in the air.
Update on 2012-04-29 20:49 by Startzman
For information on the historical event described in the verse, see this Wikipedia site:
Remember Tergvinder...?
#229
Holy Longing
There's a hole in my self, I discover,
A boulder size hole in my soul.
Nothing I dump in will fill it;
But seeking's become my life's goal.
Nothing to crow about....
#228
A Black Bird
The old black crow is struttin' his stuff,
Steppin' high in black feather buff;
But no one will notice, no one care,
Cause an old black crow just isn't rare.
Mary had a vision...
#227
Mary's Moon
The full moon stole in my window
In the middle of the night,
Crawled about my wall a bit,
Then wandered out of sight.
Oh, that Andy Panda [time out]...
#226
Andy Panda #24
Roly-Poly Panda Pie--
Ate too much, thought he'd die.
Stuck his finger down his throat;
Coughed up sixpence and a groat.
Andy Panda!
Reading Dante's Purgatorio...
#225
The Difference
According to Dorothy Sayers*,
Hell is the substance of sin's dire fruits;
While Purgatory, dear reader,
Is the matter of sin's dire roots.
*more or less. Somewhere in her excellent
introduction to The Purgatorio.
An image has three qualities...
#224
Identity (the first)
[Beatrice Portinari]
An Image has identity;
It exists in the world of time,
Like Beatrice, real woman,
Human--majestic and sublime.
(b. 1266 d. 1290)
"Guardaci ben! Ben son, ben son Beatrici."
"Look at me well: indeed I am, indeed I am
Beatrice." [Purgatorio: xxx: 73]
The pun is punishable (and necessary)...
#223
Ad World
The world of advertising
Leads us toward our heavenly home,
Insensible that thing desired
Is Holy on its own.
Andy Panda rides the range...
#222
Andy Panda #22
Andy Panda, purple haze,
Western sunsets, desert maze,
Lost among the prickly pear,
Fell into the Rattler's lair,
Stumbled back to desert air,
Not much worse for wear and terror.
Tarantulas mean desert dawn,
Scurry across each desert lawn,
Catching bats and bugs galore,
Echoing poor Andy's roar.
Andy the desert Panda!
Just a silly songster...
#221
Troubadour
Looking for a rhyme, I am,
A word to match moonlit,
A nature word, a garden word,
A pretty word to fit
With starlit evening wanderings
And hands that interknit,
Like Lovers from the Renaissance
Who on stone benches sit.
Alas, the song has knackered me,
And sadly I submit.
Inspired by my wife's rage...
#220
Sprung
11 April 2012
The chill wind trashed the garden,
Middle of the night,
Shriveled leaves and blasted buds,
Then fled before day's light.