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 . . .

Poetry Monday: My Favourite Drink

It's Poetry Monday, and this week's topic is ...... My FAVOURITE DRINK.

Join Diane, MotherOwl, Mimi and me while we pour out our feelings about liquid refreshments. Leave your poem in the comments or on your own blog; if you do the latter, please leave a comment so we know where to find you. Use the topic or choose something else. Get your brain cells firing and have fun!


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Photo:  Pixabay

Like this hummingbird, I so enjoy a drink of fresh, cool water.

Due to old -- and now new -- GI issues, and accompanying food and drink restrictions, water is one of the few beverages I can drink without unpleasant side effects.

Caffeine of any kind, and most fruit and vegetable juices, alcohol, and carbonated beverages are on the Big Fat No list.

But there is one delicious liquid besides water that I have found I'm able to tolerate well.

Read on!


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A Riddle

My favourite drink
Is fizzy and brown
Decaffeinated and
Cools me down
Made of stuff like
Sarsaparilla root
Licorice, anise
And birch bark to boot
What is this drink?
I think you might know
If you still need a clue
Read the funny below

Source:  icanhas.cheezburger.com

That's right -- Root Beer is my favourite drink. The diet version of A&W Root Beer, please :)

What's YOUR favourite drink? Answers in the comments if you'd like!

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Next week's topic will be updated here as soon as Diane passes that info along.

Update:  The topic for next week is .......... BEAUTY ....... Good luck!

Have a great week, my friends. Drink something good for me, will you please? :)

Poetry Monday: A Joke For You

It's Poetry Monday, and this week we bring you ........ A JOKE! This topic comes to you from Diane, the blogger who started Poetry Monday in the first place.

Join Diane, MotherOwl, Mimi and me as we put our humour into verse. You can play, too -- just 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 feel free to choose another; the object is to have fun and use our gray matter.

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Whew! This topic was a big challenge for me. I'm terrible at remembering jokes, so first I had to find a joke. Then, of course, came the wrangling of the joke into poem form. The result is less than stellar, but with the deadline approaching I decided this was likely as good as it was going to get! I hope the funny below will explain it if it isn't clear. Because that's where I got the joke from in the first place :)


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The Limerick, She Limps Along

There once was a cat from Black Forest

Who ran home with a new-bought thesaurus

But his heart quickly sank --

All the pages were blank! --

And he'd no words to say just how sore he was

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Next week's topic is ........ YOUR FAVOURITE DRINK ........

Good luck, and may the upcoming week find you never at a loss for words :)


Bonus funnies! I've been collecting lolcat puns and silly jokes for awhile now; enjoy!

And so must I 😁

Poetry Monday: Bodies of Water . . . and Funnies

It's Poetry Monday, and this week's topic is ........ BODIES OF WATER.

Join Diane, MotherOwl, Mimi and me as we wade, swim, snorkel, row or sail through this topic. (Or possibly something else, something related to my poem, something like, say, hyperventilating . . .)

You're welcome to leave a poem in the comments or on your own blog; if you do the latter, please let us know in the comments so we can find you. Use the topic or choose another; just have fun and flex your brain cells. Ready ... Set ... Go!

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Before The Fear . . . And After

I've spent my whole lifetime surrounded by water
Yet I'm more like a feline and less like an otter
By which I mean water is something I hate*
Except in amounts that would fit on a plate

But just for an eyeblink (age eight to eleven)
There was a brief time I thought water was heaven
On hot summer days we'd go down to the river
Myself with my brother, and both with our mither

We played at the edges where polliwogs** grew
Into tiny dear hoppers we looked forward to
We waded and peered at the minnows so fast
They bumped us and tickled whenever they passed

And swimming? We did that, with faces submerged
And sat on the bottom, and breathless emerged
The water was cooling and like an old friend
I wish that the feeling had not had to end

My brother grew up; it was no longer cool
To be with his family or play in our "pool"
My mom was reluctant to take only me,
And I was reluctant to be the "only"

The next time I found myself facing the wet
I found I was frightened - it hasn't changed yet
I've taken those classes - you must know the ones -
For panic-struck adults with panic-struck lungs

They helped but a little; a wuss I remain
And drowning's a nightmare that lives in my brain***
Perhaps this explains, then, my mantra, my path:
Always a shower! Never a bath!****



* I know hate is a strong word, but I needed a one-syllable word for "strongly dislike"
** Did  you know that the polliwog (also known as tadpole) was the hieroglyphic for the number 100,000 in Ancient Egyptian numerals? (according to Wikipedia, anyway)
*** Literally a nightmare - that's when I signed up for the classes for panicky adult swimmers
**** True. I feel queasy getting into a bathtub, so I don't

Also, you know those scuba-diving shows like Jacques Cousteau used to make? I can't watch them without holding my breath and getting anxious.

Imagine, then, wimpy me, living in a province surrounded by water except for an itty-bitty isthmus connecting us to the nearest continent, said isthmus being actually just a piece of swampland, and, with climate change, predicted to be submerged in no time flat ... eeeep ...

This is EXACTLY how I feel when I think of "bodies of water"

 (pic from Pixabay)

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Who ever came up with this topic anyway??

Oh, yeah . . . that would be me. *punches self* *but only lightly, because I don't enjoy pain*

I don't know about you, but I need something to take my mind off potential drowning scenarios.

There, I feel much better now. I hope you do, too, and that your week is one where you can breathe deeply (an underrated ability) and avoid nightmares of any kind!

Next week's topic ....... TELL A JOKE ....... Thanks, Diane!

Storm Update

I just wanted to let you know that the storm has passed and all is well here.

We had a sustained power outage but being in a town we have been lucky to have power restored in a timely way. It's probably too late for everything in the fridge but the freezer will pull through.

Your good thoughts for Newfoundland/Labrador are welcome, as that is Dorian's next target.

Here is a news article that explains more, if anyone is interested: Post-Dorian Cleanup.

I spent a lot of time sitting in the dark thinking of the folks in the Bahamas who lost everything -- including, in some cases, their lives -- when Dorian hit there last week. I feel so fortunate in comparison, and so sad for them. The world is far from being a fair place, is it not . . .

Big Wind And Rain

Our province and three of our neighbouring provinces (New Brunswick, PEI and Newfoundland) are in the path of Hurricane Dorian. Yes, the same Dorian that devastated the Bahamas so terribly earlier in the week.

While Dorian has weakened a great deal, it is still projected to cross Nova Scotia as a Category 1 hurricane, possibly crossing over to Category 2, so we are battening down the hatches and preparing for big wind and rain.

Here's the projected path published twenty-four hours before the expected height of the storm:

See the yellow-orange arrow passing through Halifax and northeastern Nova Scotia? We're right in that path, and I expect we may lose power due to damaged or downed electric wires. Our trees are still fully-leaved and therefore more susceptible to wind damage and thus electric line damage.

This won't be the first hurricane we've come through -- Juan was a Category 2 in September of 2003 and we've had lesser ones from time to time.

It's kind of nerve-wracking though, when you can feel the house tremble in each gust of wind, and wonder if the roof will hold or if a tree will come sailing through the window.

Anyhow, if I don't show up for Poetry Monday, it will likely mean we've had a power outage.

Never fear, I'll be back online as soon as possible 😀

In the meantime ......

Poetry Monday: Summer Fun

It's Poetry Monday, and the topic this week is . . . SUMMER FUN . . .

Join Diane (who started it all), MotherOwl, Mimi and me as we shoehorn our thoughts and feelings into poetry form. Delores, at Mumblings, has made the decision to leave Blogland; last week's Monday poem was her final contribution. It couldn't have been an easy choice and I, for one, will miss her quick wit and wonderful poetry very much. (In unsurprisingly related news, I hereby wish a pox on trolls and hackers; long may they burn in Heck ...) All the best to you and your family, Delores. You can always return to our wide-open arms if you decide the coast is clear.

If the rest of you would like to give Poetry Monday a try, you may leave a poem in the comments or post on your own blog; if you do the latter, please drop a note in the comments so we can come along and read and applaud. Use the topic or choose any other; this is meant to be a fun exercise and we don't get all uppity about rules.

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Summer fun.

So many directions to go with this wide-open topic!

And yet ... there's really only one way to go when you're an introvert, like my husband and I both are, living in a town run by extroverts.

Let me explain.

Our town is host to many events starting in May and continuing through September. Every other weekend there is something Big going on. It's great for those who enjoy festivals and races and fireworks and endless eating and loud music and crowds of people, but for others (like us) it translates into noise, noise, and more noise, plus traffic jams and frequent street closures and detours when we are trying to get to work and do errands, and a feeling that the town we moved to thirty years ago has changed significantly without any input from the quiet people who chose it because it was quiet.

So . . . where some folks see "a good time", we see raucous, boozy events; where some folks who have moved away find joy in "coming home" and partying with other returnees in the summertime, we can't wait for them to leave us to what is now our home; and where some folks happily gather in herds and mobs and masses, we stick close to home and wait for the end of summer and for them to disperse. There have been more than a few evenings this summer that I chose not to take a walk because I didn't feel safe being alone and running into shrieking groups of people that I could hear in the not-so-far distance.

Come late September, peace will return. I just wish we had more of it in the other months of summer.

Whine, whine, whine.

Maybe if I write a scathing poem I'll feel better. That's how it works, right?

Right??

Oh, okay then, maybe not scathing, but definitely not singing the praises of the frenzied pack :)

Thank you, Diane, for giving us this topic. I've been wanting to write about this for some time now but needed a reason to do so.



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I Know, I Know -- #First World Problems

All winter long I savour thoughts
Of springtime warmth and garden pots

Of yard time and my gentle walks
Of porch time and our quiet talks

But then the month of May arrives
And "fun" events disrupt our lives

Instead of days and nights of peace
They're full of noise that will not cease

Crowds a-roaring, music shrill
Streets hijacked to feed the thrill

Designated drinking zones
And endless booming microphones

All summer long I harbour thoughts
Of punching idiotic sots

Of cutting the electric wires
That feed performers' amplifiers

But, breathing deeply, I resist
(That doesn't mean I do not hiss)

I look ahead to just one thing --
Relief that summer's end will bring

For when the summer "fun" is done
Our autumn peace will have begun

Ahhhhhhhhh . . .

Photo:  Pixabay

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Maybe it was scathing after all. So hard to tell when your hair is standing on end, along with all your nerve endings.

Onward ho! Next week's topic, chosen by yours truly, is ......... BODIES OF WATER ....... big ones, small ones -- let your imagination roam.

Here's hoping your upcoming week leaves all your hairs lying down nicely :)