PROGRESS

For Sunday Scribblings - A New Leaf
And posted to Naisaiku Challenge?
And The American Sandwich


TWENNYTEN

Readers, watchers, avid fans
Of Space Age books and movies
Brought up on Science Fiction
Stories that got ‘Lost In Space’

Stories that informed us
The Future would arrive
In time for Century Twenty One
Year Two Thousand; Y2K

Extra-Terrestrial beings
Of Superior Intellect
Provide the opportunity
To take the initiative

Miracle cures for all ailments
Telepathic transportation
Sophisticated computers
That speak and think like us

Robot/Android workforce
Paper a thing of the past
War consigned to History
Famine and Poverty too

A decade of ‘Future’ later
Ten years passed are now past tense
Sick commuters with sick computers
Millions starve; Wars rage on

Anti-climax despite ‘Giant Leaps’
That sadly fell short of the mark
Newspaper headline this New Year
‘It Isn’t The Future Yet!’




AMERICAN SANDWICH

Casual stroll of mis-spent youth precedes the frantic sprint of old age.
Along the way to what we make of our time, most of it is wasted.
Finish line in sight now and it seems people are dying to get there.




NAISAIKU

Older and wiser
Another decade passes
New Year Twenty Ten
ANOTHER DECADE PASSES
New Year Twenty Ten
Another decade passes
Older…sure; wiser…?

AMBUSH, HIDEOUS, MEDDLE

For Three Word Wednesday


DIRTY WAR

HAPPY to Ambush
NEW and Hideous target.
YEAR to Meddle - win.

X

For ABC Wednesday

XMAS PRESENT OF XMAS PAST



X


Wife


L o v e r


C o m p a n i o n


M o t i v a t o r


C o m m u n i c a t o r

!
!
\_/

SPOT THE BALL

PLACE YOUR X WHERE YOU THINK IT MAY BE

NEW YEAR

For Carry On Tuesday


RESOLUTION

Same old, same old, sad old year
Regrets…? Perhaps a few
Another year, another chance
To start our lives anew

Half the time, I’ve half a mind
To make more time for you
The other half, on the other hand
Confusion clouds my view

Too many irons in too many fires
Too much on my plate
In truth, all lies, if truth be known
Truth is, it’s not too late

My clear intent, to clear the way
My resolution spoken
My promise that, I promise, will
Survive intact, unbroken

DELICIOUS

For Sunday Scribblings
And Monday Poetry Train Revisited
Also posted to Poets Who Blog

DEC 25, 2009

Just another Friday night
In rural Village Isan
Same as any other night
Perhaps a little cooler

Family gathered with friends
Around a simple table
A simple meal of Somtam
Simply served with Sticky Rice

Offered by those with nothing
To those who have even less
Exchanging gifts of friendship
Is the Isan way of life

For an after dinner drink
The Milk of Human Kindness
It tastes just like happiness
Only much more delicious

HINDER, JOURNEY, RIGID

For Three Word Wednesday


ONCE BITTEN

Life’s rigid regime
A journey we can’t repeat
Hindered by hindsight…?

- W -

WINTER

For ABC Wednesday


TROPICAL WINTER

At year’s end in Village Isan
Be prepared for climate change
Arriving in casual dress
Under cool cover of darkness

A hint of winter in disguise
Moves in for the chill by morning
Twice a week throughout December
Finished by February

Neighbours unite to fuel the fires
Gloves, scarves, coats, hats, help combat cold
Gather in gangs to feel the thaw
Central heating – Isan style

Breakfast is a sombre affair
Enter the sun, and spirits rise
On shafts of steam, issued by breaths
Mimicking mists in the valley

Dare to stare at insipid sun
Take the full five second challenge
Blink away green and yellow dots
Reminders of futility

Face to the east as embers fade
Lounging like so many lizards
Rays penetrate, revitalise
Hearts and minds numbed by nature

Sun earns its keep, loungers shed skins
Returning to T-shirts and shorts
Mid-morning quest for cool beneath
The shade of a Tamarind tree

And Winter, a recurring dream
Unwelcome guest, who can’t stay long
Has business to conduct elsewhere
Much tougher terrain to torment


NOSTALGIA

When
We Wore
Wellingtons
We Walked Without
Watchful Wariness
Winters Were Wonderful!

DARE

For Sunday Scribblings
And Monday Poetry Train Revisited


DARE I?

I’m getting around
to getting around to you.
Still…I hesitate

An obstacle course
lies between your heart and mine.
Proceed with caution

and circle the globe
to reach my destination
…next door to my home.

‘All’s well that ends well’?
‘Happily ever after’?
But where to begin…?

Courage deserts me,
delays the happy ending,
hastens my sadness.

Words always fail me.
If only I could express
my feelings for you,

I would find a way
to say just how much I love
all the things you do.

I love the way you… …
Then there’s the way you always… …
As well as how you… …

Most of all, I love
that thing you do with the thing
you go like that with.

One More For The Road

For Totally Optional Prompts - Penultimate


PENULTIMATE

Last one, I promise...
Unless I decide to have
One more for the road

Walk The Walk

For Monday Poetry Train Revisited

And NaiSaiKu challenge?

And The American Sandwich





A NaiSaiKu, an American Sandwich and finally, an American Sentence



Again you ask me
Who? What? When? Where? How? Why? Which?
ENOUGH ALREADY
Who? What? When? Where? How? Why? Which?
Don’t ask me again

I will not deny I understand the reason why you went away.
As you closed the door, I tried to speak, but there was nothing left to say.
Lifelong love was just another broken promise you made yesterday.

If you talk the talk, you have to walk the walk, or that’s the price you pay.

GLARE, LUSTER, THREAT

FOR THREE WORD WEDNESDAY


RADIANCE

Lustre of fools gold
The glare of publicity
Disguises the threat

DESCRIBE A BALL OF YARN

FOR OBJECTS OF IMITATION


ROAD TO NOWHERE

Return, to pick up the thread
of a forgotten story.
Fibres of exposed loose end
provoke undisciplined start;
vague, indirect. Compel me
to take the long way around,
and round again, in circles;
ever decreasing circles
surrounding the hidden core.
Uncovered; plot unravelled,
I’ll know you, outside and in.
That faded exterior,
gateway to your heart; as yet
unseen, untouched…Get ready,
here it comes; the dead centre
…And it’s over…just like that.

CLOSED

FOR NaiSaiKu Challenge?


All those billions!
No new players for CITY
TRANSFER WINDOW CLOSED
No new players for CITY
All those billions!

School Days

FOR TOTALLY OPTIONAL PROMPTS

HOMEWORK

Thank God for ‘Dinner Ladies’
Part-time school time lunchtime help
Taught me more than some teachers
With their helpful dining hints

‘Drink your milk; avoid rickets’
‘Fruit and veg prevent scurvy’

Friday afternoon homework
Biology teacher says
‘Assignment for this weekend
Write about these two subjects

Calcium deficiency
Shortage of Vitamin C’

Thank God for ‘Dinner Ladies’

Crazy Beautiful

FOR NaiSaiKu
AND THE AMERICAN SANDWICH


NaiSaiKu

From August to May
At a stadium near you
THE BEAUTIFUL GAME
At a stadium near you
From August to May


(SAVE THE) AMERICAN SANDWICH

Protest singers strum guitars, tap tambourines, while protests go unheard.
Their folk-melodies range from the sublime to the totally absurd.
From ‘Combat Global Warming, Now’ to ‘Save The American Sandwich.’