Poem-A-Day November 11

Prompt: Two for Tuesday – Timely/Timeless

On Being A Day Ahead

It’s Wednesday

when I get the prompt

and so this poem’s not timely.

Nor is it timeless

since I’m counting the hours

and living life rather sublimely.

Ahead of the game

yet governed by the past

and isn’t that always the way?

I’m here in the future

and present to the fact

there’s nothing much else to say.

Poem-A-Day November 10

Prompt:   Here Comes More Trouble

On Remembering

All over the world

At the eleventh hour

On the eleventh day

Of the eleventh month

We remember trouble.

There was a lot of trouble

Then for a lot of people.

The trouble is

There has been

More trouble

Every minute

Of every hour

Of every day

Of every month

Of every year

Since then

For a lot of people

All over the world.

We really don’t need to

Remember

Trouble.

Yet

Could we

Live without it?

Poem-A-Day November 9

Prompt: what’s in the news

On Shirtfrontery

Like winning a cricket match

this takes a little thought

though the rules are simpler

for this diplomatic sport.

You have to have a mouth

that can’t hold back

whatever chokes you up.

You have to have the knack

of making accusations without proof,

of disregarding fact and tact.

Forgetfulness is then required,

pretending you never did react.

Oh, Gumption has to be

your second name

to set up, play and win

this sense-less game.

Poem-A-Day November 8

Prompt: blind

On The Occasion Of A Fun Run/Walk Up A Mountain

We stand at the point

where our people will turn

off road into the last four hundred

metres of bush.

Cameras ready. Intent.

We steady ourselves for

appearances of extreme importance.

We clap winners politely.

We are not there for

fast runners, most of us.

We are waiting for winners of a

different kind.

Thus we stare unseeing

at other peoples’ people

as they stoically sprint, stagger or stride

up the last scenic slope.

If I do not keep my eyes

on the bend where you’ll turn

I won’t get that photograph you’ll need

to share on Facebook.

And here you come!

Your shorts being beige not black,

I know you from this distance, your will

to reach the finish line

bright enough to give me

back my sight, translate it through

a lens and see a different you – member

of a visionary crowd.

Poem-A-Day November 7

Prompt: compulsion

On Examining Character Development

In fiction there are guidelines.

In reality I turn myself

inside out looking for clues.

And I must. The legends

of my lifetime occur as mysteries.

And yet I know my media:

Jo in Little Women

Katharine Hepburn in all her movies

Robin Williams, John Lennon,

Gough Whitlam for good measure.

You would find me cooking

without recourse to recipes.

There’s no conflict in foods

worth writing home about. It’s good

there are guidelines in fiction.