Submissions by MadameLavender
POEMS AND SHORT STORIES
Trimming The Tree--1970's
Dad used to trim the tree, alright-- with a chainsaw.
We always trudged out on the worst weather day, to buy the ugliest tree there was.
My brother, sister and I, held the trunk, steady, laughing,
while Dad sawed off branches, drilled holes
and superglued them into their new places
along the trunk.
I asked him, years later, why such a production?
He replied "Because it wouldn't have been any fun, if the weather and tree were perfect ."
Perhaps, much of life could be summed up as such, but we still find a way to laugh about it, eventually.
We always trudged out on the worst weather day, to buy the ugliest tree there was.
My brother, sister and I, held the trunk, steady, laughing,
while Dad sawed off branches, drilled holes
and superglued them into their new places
along the trunk.
I asked him, years later, why such a production?
He replied "Because it wouldn't have been any fun, if the weather and tree were perfect ."
Perhaps, much of life could be summed up as such, but we still find a way to laugh about it, eventually.
#Christmas
189 reads
3 Comments
The Zoltar Machine
Beachside arcade
**seagulls, cackle**
Lights , buzzers--winner!
Zoltar waits, quietly
(salt-bleached wood floors)
"25 cents, please!"
Fortune scroll from chute,
completly wordless ....
**seagulls, cackle**
**seagulls, cackle**
Lights , buzzers--winner!
Zoltar waits, quietly
(salt-bleached wood floors)
"25 cents, please!"
Fortune scroll from chute,
completly wordless ....
**seagulls, cackle**
#fate
345 reads
7 Comments
"23 And Me"
Non-healthcare company,
not subject to privacy laws....
Your world is in their hands
Buy, sell, trade....create....
(did you send your DNA to them?)
not subject to privacy laws....
Your world is in their hands
Buy, sell, trade....create....
(did you send your DNA to them?)
#science
265 reads
6 Comments
The Mediator
I spit across you
into the eye of winter,
O' mediator 'twixt it, and summer.
Coy, and full of heraldry
you are
with your fanfare stains of oranges
and golds---
I shall not give up my flowers
but will concede
on your temperatures.
I see winter there, licking its lips,
one fang-tip exposed
in a salivating peep show.......waiting....
You always let that wolf in, coward !
Drop your leaves and run
(like always)
leaving me standing on the shorelines ...
into the eye of winter,
O' mediator 'twixt it, and summer.
Coy, and full of heraldry
you are
with your fanfare stains of oranges
and golds---
I shall not give up my flowers
but will concede
on your temperatures.
I see winter there, licking its lips,
one fang-tip exposed
in a salivating peep show.......waiting....
You always let that wolf in, coward !
Drop your leaves and run
(like always)
leaving me standing on the shorelines ...
#summer
#fall
393 reads
3 Comments
Crazy Cat Lady
I have five cats, yet
no one ever bats an eyelash
when someone
has five dogs,
or fifty chickens,
or twenty fish,
or two hundred cows.
Wondering why, that is?
no one ever bats an eyelash
when someone
has five dogs,
or fifty chickens,
or twenty fish,
or two hundred cows.
Wondering why, that is?
#cats
471 reads
10 Comments
Mr. Blue Shorts
Eternal red light , traffic
backed up, on the bridge.
I sit, sweltering
in hellish heat--
engine running
sun blazing.
And there he is--
(peripheral vision )
walking confidently along the side,
pedestrian, with shorts
as blue as the lake below us.
Such a golden bronzed (skin) tone...
Such a lazily tossed t-shirt,
over a chiseled shoulder,
connected to a chiseled back..
Such a tossuled ponytail ..
Light turns green--
go, traffic!
(no, wait-- I'm not done looking!)
...
backed up, on the bridge.
I sit, sweltering
in hellish heat--
engine running
sun blazing.
And there he is--
(peripheral vision )
walking confidently along the side,
pedestrian, with shorts
as blue as the lake below us.
Such a golden bronzed (skin) tone...
Such a lazily tossed t-shirt,
over a chiseled shoulder,
connected to a chiseled back..
Such a tossuled ponytail ..
Light turns green--
go, traffic!
(no, wait-- I'm not done looking!)
...
#summer
222 reads
1 Comment
This, Too, Shall Pass
And so, it does--
everything passes
into the realm of "what was",
becoming
another memory.
"time" is a fleeting thing ...
^^They say, it heals all wounds,
this thing, called time....
while the storms empty out their rains
and the storms pass, too.
But what, then , these scars
if it all passes and
it all heals?
(that, which doesn't kill you,
makes you stronger?)
Perhaps its sting and luster
are just lost-- with time...
we forgive
accept
acknowledge ...
everything passes
into the realm of "what was",
becoming
another memory.
"time" is a fleeting thing ...
^^They say, it heals all wounds,
this thing, called time....
while the storms empty out their rains
and the storms pass, too.
But what, then , these scars
if it all passes and
it all heals?
(that, which doesn't kill you,
makes you stronger?)
Perhaps its sting and luster
are just lost-- with time...
we forgive
accept
acknowledge ...
#storm
#LifeCycle
337 reads
2 Comments
So It's Okay, If I Drop Kick Your Poodle , Then?
Oh, it's not?
Now wait a minute--
wasn't "anarchy" defined as :
A complete lack of governance, resulting
in lawlessness, and
for some, a utopian society
(and also what happens if you leave
the toilet seat up, in my bathroom..)
So if there's no governance
and no rules,
then it should be okay for me to drop kick
your yappy little dog.
Or walk into a store and take what I want
without paying
Or drive my car over your flower bed
because I feel like it
Or...
Now wait a minute--
wasn't "anarchy" defined as :
A complete lack of governance, resulting
in lawlessness, and
for some, a utopian society
(and also what happens if you leave
the toilet seat up, in my bathroom..)
So if there's no governance
and no rules,
then it should be okay for me to drop kick
your yappy little dog.
Or walk into a store and take what I want
without paying
Or drive my car over your flower bed
because I feel like it
Or...
#politics
274 reads
6 Comments
It Only Looks Good In Rainbows and Gardens
It's the black sheep
and wayward son, of the color palette...
You know which one, I mean;
oran....
"Ssshh! Don't say it out loud ! It'll show up
like Beetlejuice, if you speak its name!
(that was a close one....)
But you know it, the
outcast that worms it's way into your every thought, until ....
you can't stop thinking about it, like
the iconic picture of James Dean,so
smug and dirty-smirked, with
that dangling defiant cigarette ...
yes, indeed, that
is just what the color oran...... ...
and wayward son, of the color palette...
You know which one, I mean;
oran....
"Ssshh! Don't say it out loud ! It'll show up
like Beetlejuice, if you speak its name!
(that was a close one....)
But you know it, the
outcast that worms it's way into your every thought, until ....
you can't stop thinking about it, like
the iconic picture of James Dean,so
smug and dirty-smirked, with
that dangling defiant cigarette ...
yes, indeed, that
is just what the color oran...... ...
#art
284 reads
0 Comments
Is This The Place ?
Is this the place
where Ziggy swam off with the dolphins?
Ah, look closely, and
you'll see his last footprints
facing the water's edge--
Such calm ripples
coming to escort him back to the stars.
"Lie down, and let us form a tribute
as shock orange flows from your hair
to the seas. .."
(said the angels)
"for the Lord of Hosts
has chariots of fire, to match
the colors you chose"
And so it was,
he left a trail of glitter,
that we might know
where to look for him--
...
where Ziggy swam off with the dolphins?
Ah, look closely, and
you'll see his last footprints
facing the water's edge--
Such calm ripples
coming to escort him back to the stars.
"Lie down, and let us form a tribute
as shock orange flows from your hair
to the seas. .."
(said the angels)
"for the Lord of Hosts
has chariots of fire, to match
the colors you chose"
And so it was,
he left a trail of glitter,
that we might know
where to look for him--
...
#death
#heaven
316 reads
1 Comment
The Masons' Marks
I still tidy the family graves
when I can.
'Tis a duty, as the self-appointed
family caretaker , and
keeper of time.
I still recoil, too, when my fingertips
brush the Freemasons' marks, cut
into the headstones
and.....
all sorts of thoughts rush through my mind--
jagged things, that might splinter the soul
if......
I ever found out
to what degree, they made it, to.
Sometimes the wind comes, grinning, and
asks me if I think they knew, who
they were truly paying homage...
when I can.
'Tis a duty, as the self-appointed
family caretaker , and
keeper of time.
I still recoil, too, when my fingertips
brush the Freemasons' marks, cut
into the headstones
and.....
all sorts of thoughts rush through my mind--
jagged things, that might splinter the soul
if......
I ever found out
to what degree, they made it, to.
Sometimes the wind comes, grinning, and
asks me if I think they knew, who
they were truly paying homage...
#witches
231 reads
3 Comments
I Like Mine, Hot and Black....
The tea,
you filthy minded figs....
Whatever did you think, I meant?
Of course , the tea---and it must be black
to bring out the grainy luster
in my wood floors
when I wash them with it.
Ten tea bags in a hot water bucket,
makes for a steaming scorpion bowl,
mop-ready,
that'll strip off layers of disgust, and
years of neglect
before the polish goes on.
(It also works, just spiffy, to age fabric ,
with that vintage tea stained look)
I pour a separate cup for myself, though
so that I...
you filthy minded figs....
Whatever did you think, I meant?
Of course , the tea---and it must be black
to bring out the grainy luster
in my wood floors
when I wash them with it.
Ten tea bags in a hot water bucket,
makes for a steaming scorpion bowl,
mop-ready,
that'll strip off layers of disgust, and
years of neglect
before the polish goes on.
(It also works, just spiffy, to age fabric ,
with that vintage tea stained look)
I pour a separate cup for myself, though
so that I...
#tea
338 reads
1 Comment
DU Poetry : Submissions by MadameLavender