Topic change for Poetry Monday October 21

MotherOwl's keen eyes spotted the fact that we have already covered the topic of "shoes" -- quite recently, in fact -- in May of this year.

Oops! I blame it on my cold not checking carefully enough!

Thanks, MotherOwl.

Instead, next week we will write about ................ SOAP ......... a nice clean topic, too!

Poetry Monday: My Bucket List

It's Poetry Monday, and this week's topic is . . . . . our BUCKET LIST.

Join Diane, MotherOwl, Mimi and me as we pour out our thoughts on this topic in poetic form. You can leave your poem in the comments or post on your own blog; if you do the latter, please leave a comment so we can find you. Use the topic, or choose another; the idea is to have fun and work our thinkers; we don't get all tied in knots about rules in this poetry challenge :)

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I have, on occasion, contemplated what I would have on my Bucket List.

But as yet, I haven't found much of interest to put on that list, so this week's topic presents a bit of a challenge.

My hope for the time between now and my demise is just to live as long as I can, as healthily as I can, and then swan out of life with as little pain and inconvenience as possible.

Of course, I know that isn't likely to happen. I remember reading years ago that only 2% of the population dies peacefully in their sleep. Can one put "die peacefully and painlessly in my sleep" on a Bucket List?? I don't think that's the way it works.

Am I lacking in ambition, imagination, or motivation? Or all three? I don't know.

All I know for sure is that I've had a cold all week, so this poem is rather clunky because my brain isn't working at peak or even half capacity. My apologies in advance.


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I Guess There Is Something I'd Like To Do . . .

Folks nowadays often have a Bucket List
Of things they don't want to have died and missed
They do not wish to fade into the dark
Before they've ticked off everything
                    (or at least a majority of things) with a great big check mark . . .

Me? My Bucket List is non-existent
Travel is out, for at home I'm content
I don't have the desire to improve myself
So I won't be taking college classes
                    or running marathons or creating an empty shelf * . . .

There is no unfinished business in my life
No words unsaid, no unmended inter-personal strife
(I say what I need to when the chance is had
And my yardstick for behavior is to ask myself:
                    if I do this thing (or don't), will I later feel bad **) . . .

Granted, my needs and wants are few
I'm happy with home and hearth, it's true
That makes it easier to be happy with what I've got
And it doesn't hurt that I'm fortunate enough
                    to have gotten, relatively speaking, quite an awful lot . . .

Clean water, food, clothing and a roof
I'm luckier than many - a sad truth
Books and a bit of nature in my back yard
Are icing on the cake for a life that's been
                    very easy compared to so many lives that are hard . . .

If you have a Bucket List please do not fear
That I, having none, am judging you, my dear
We are all different and that is a beautiful thing
I invite you to divulge your list through writing
                    or interpretative dance or maybe you could sing . . .

And - OH! - I just came up with an item for my list
I need to point it out in case my shocking lack you missed
Before I die I want to rhyme a verse just as I ought
Instead of having every fourth line rhymed
                    by way of a long and meandering thought . . .
       



* Having an empty shelf somewhere in your home is one recommendation of some declutter gurus. It's supposed to provide a feeling of spaciousness or some other benefit that I can't quite remember now because it didn't make much sense to me when I read it. Actually, decluttering is one way I really could improve myself, if the truth be told. There are a dozen others, and in Real Life I'm acutely aware of them, but in Poetry Land I take liberties.

** This part is true, in case I've just made you question my honesty.

Kitty considers his bucket list. Number one: No water in the bucket please. Number two: Getting out of the bucket.         (Photo: Pixabay)

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So how about you? What's on your Bucket List?

Wishing you a bucketful of good things in your life this week :)

Next week's Poetry Monday topic will be ........... SOAP.  Good luck!

Poetry Monday: Paper

It's Poetry Monday, and this week's topic is ......... PAPER.

Join Diane, MotherOwl, Mimi and me as we make our mark on this topic (har! har!). You can leave a poem in the comments or post on your own blog; if you do the latter, please leave a comment so we can find you. Use the topic or choose another -- the object is to have fun and stretch our imaginations.

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I think my poem this week is pretty much self-explanatory.

Sometimes I think I shouldn't be explaining so much anyway. A poem should stand alone, I think to myself.

Then I remember all those English classes in school when we had to read poetry and I had no idea what was going on. Sometimes I would have appreciated a few notes to go with the poem to tell me just what the heck the author meant.

At other times, it was clear without any help.

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Empty Or Full -- It's All Good

Two kinds of paper delight me
Two kinds that I wholly adore
Blank sheets all ready for writing
And printed ones from a bookstore

The empty page begs for a story
A poem or thought from my mind
And the pages of books made by others
Are a treat and a treasure sublime

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See? Pretty transparent, eh?

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On writing ...

On reading ...

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What's your favourite paper thing?

Wishing you a week full of good stuff!

Next week's topic will be updated here when Diane has published her poem . . . . . . . .

Funnies, As Promised - Mayhem Edition

As mentioned in my Poetry Monday post, I accidentally blasted my original post to smithereens, digitally speaking, and didn't have the time or energy to reload the memes that were supposed to follow my poem.

Let's right the boat now, shall we?

It's the Mayhem Edition!

May your week be free of mayhem and destruction . . . but may you have cuteness galore 😁


Thank you to icanhas.cheezburger.com for these memes.

Poetry Monday: Beauty

May I just start by saying that when you're using Blogger it's a bad idea to use the "back arrow" button at the top of the window (as opposed to the back arrow within Blogger) . . . I wiped out my post doing that, just before I was about to hit Publish.

At least I THINK that's what happened. Whatever the cause, my post was gone.

Fortunately my poem was only three lines long and easy to re-create.

Unfortunately I also had fifteen funnies underneath it. Not hard to reconstitute, but time-consuming. They'll be coming in a separate post later this week.

It's Poetry Monday, and this week's topic is .....BEAUTY (courtesy of Diane).

Join Diane, MotherOwl, Mimi and me in exploring this topic, or choose one of your own. Leave a poem in the comments, or post on your own blog. If you do the latter, please leave a comment so we can find you. Have fun!


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It was a busier than usual week for me, but I kept the poetry topic simmering on the back burner of my mind. There's so much that can be said about "beauty", and I was trying to narrow it down and find the angle that would hook my interest.

I kept coming back to the same thing, over and over. And when the deadline was looming and my brain was mush, I did what I often do under those circumstances:  I chose a structured poem format and condensed my thoughts to their shortest form.

Real Haiku is more complicated than just the number of syllables each line contains (5/7/5), but I am ignoring all the rules except the number of syllables for the sake of simplicity.

Because I can.

That's the beauty of Poetry Monday. Nobody is marking your work. Nobody is grading you on following the rules. You're your own boss :)   

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Beauty - A Haiku

Why don't we all just
Remember that what counts is
Underneath our skin?

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That's it, from a very tired Donkey.

Next week's topic will be .............. PAPER ............ Good luck!

Stay tuned for those funnies, and have a pleasant week :)

A reasonable facsimile of my face just after I lost my post . . .