Friday 26 September 2014

The Secret

Today at the Pond - Herotomost is asking us to tell the universal truth of life - as seen through eyes of a child. He explains it much better here. 

*******

When Nana died 
She didn't cry.
She just blinked
And asked why... 

... Daddy Why?

Then together
In a thinking state of mind
We decided Nana lived
The kind of life you only find
At the end of roads travelled 
In a way we both surmised
That even God would have approved of.

Nana always used to tell us 
we all get a certain sum of ticks and beats
and using them the best we can
is what makes a life complete.

So I told her Nana lived life well
and her time had just ran out.
Then I waited with breath bated
Fretting over if she got it.

This all was a puzzle to her
So she sat a beat to see 
If she could sort it out. 
I watched her work
across the possibilities with
a curiously furrowed brow.

Then in just the right amount of ticks 
And with a teary big-eyed look 
She turned to me and said:
"If Nana died when time ran out,
Dad, let's just take our time."

I knew just then she’d found The Secret
and I hoped that she would keep it
until such a time as she would need it 
 for a life lived to completion.

********


This is based on a real conversation with my Daughter, Emma, when my Nana died (her Great Nana). I've written about it before but today seemed appropriate to revisit her innocent wisdom.

Best Sam

Wednesday 3 September 2014

Back to School

Wide eyes true 
are back to school.
Played right up
to Labour Day.
Try to be cool 
with butterflies.
Hide your Sponge Bob 
lunch box virus.
Miley Cyrus - so '08
Wonder who the 
cool kids are?
Under just know 
you are okay.

*******

 Out of the lake and into the Pond :)

Saturday 24 May 2014

Baby Proof

It's been a while. I've been resting. I'll ease back into it with inspiration from Mama Zen and Words Count from the Garden - "Write about being safe in 53 words or less"

It try to spend at least an hour 
each day playing with my baby. 
She reminds me just how baby
proof and happy life can be.

She reminds me simple things are safe and easy.

Giggling and peek-a-booing 
tickling the best of what's left
from the baby that I used to be.

(52 Words)









Tuesday 15 April 2014

The Ballad of Sam and Nona

He came from the dust of bullets and muck
and she with the grace of lilacs and such
Between the two was one fierce soul
two halves that made a whole

Together they could not be beat
he made her tough she made him sweet
they made their way and paid the toll
and slowly grew into two sacred souls.





*****



The Toads are writing Ballads today. I've been away from my poetry for a while busy working of some other projects. This was a good one to get back on tract. I think there's more here but for today that all I got.




Friday 4 April 2014

Registered Mail

Shay is kicking it old school in the Garden with some old fashioned snail mail. I took a bit of a dark turn turn on this one. The last letter I got was registered mail for the Custody Agreement mediated between me and my Ex - by far my darkest hours. 

I worked in my favourite song of all time Behind Blue Eyes. I posted both versions of the Song - the original by the Who and and remix by Limp Bizkit. I like the Who better. The new version is well sung but they left out the one verse that is my favourite lyric of all time in song or poetry: 

When my fist clenches, crack it open 
Before I use it and lose my cool 
When I smile, tell me some bad news 
Before I laugh and act like a fool 

And If I swallow anything evil 
Put your finger down my throat 
And If I shiver, please give me a blanket 
Keep me warm, let me wear your coat 

[That's why Fred Durst is the Worst.]


Behind Blue Eyes (The Who Original)

I refuse to sign today
for self-inflicted tragedy
the evil that I didn't swallow
my hamster had a speed wobble
then Speedy had a heart attack
I had to stop and take a tick
but if I choke
who'll stick their finger down my throat?

I hate those pricks 
those courthouse bricks of family sicknesses
held by mortar made of horrified 
and mortified little kids
who had to choose
and always loose 
no matter what they did.

Should I sign for misery?
register my apathy?
In the case of him and her 
Overseen by hatchet face
Gunna put me in my place
I'll take the head 
You take the rest 
If I confess would you take less?
Would you feel these feelings like I do? 
and I blame YOU

"Wah Wah Wah Wah Wah"
What the fuck was that?

Charlie Brown's teacher talking 
reading mediated papers
in the the case of me and you
no adultery but we're sick 
of getting screwed
Roger Daultry ringing in my ear
nobody knows what it's like
to be jaded and so faded
and to carry all these lies

Discover whether weekends 
and a birthday here and there
are enough to Limp along 
and show how much I care 
but maybe there's loophole here
maybe I won't fail?
if I never sign 
Maybe I can buy more time
if I never sign 
Registered Mail.

Behind Blue Eyes (The Who Original)



Saturday 22 March 2014

My Wild Woman

Inspire Howl Wing - Ella's Edge
*******

She exploded onto the scene 
with a roar
exaggerated by silence
and patiently waiting
for my Wild Man to mature

She taught me strength 
by embracing weakness
with tender nipples 
and mid month bloating
she showed majesty 
in the face of travesty

She showed me I was too strong
to be powerful
bleeding is beautiful
true beauty moves 
it bends mountains and men

Once her presence was known
she folded into gentle steel
growled quietly
at dangerous strangers
and watched with amusement.

*****

Toads are revisiting old prompts - I chose to get in touch with my wild woman.


Thursday 20 March 2014

It's Okay Day

Just for today we can be
Just be

Just for today it's Okay Day
It's Okay to be fat and white
It's Okay to be black and right
God doesn't take sides today

No stranger danger for today
No bills to pay
No one suffocates today
No one hates today

Even the sick can take a break
Break the chains of yesterday
No one starves or runs from carbs
We even let the bad guys pray

Just for today it's Okay Day
It's Okay baby girl
It's Okay to be afraid
It's just Okay

Just for today we can be
Just be

********

Today the Toads are celebrating our own special holiday in our imaginations - Happy Okay Day :)


Thursday 13 March 2014

Frozen




*****

Seems like a lifetime
since I've felt sunshine
that north wind keeps blowing

I'm frozen. So frozen.

Wind blown snow angels
hard crusty drifting
across a dark carcass
the lonely forgotten
smashed jack-o-lantern
and Christmas tree ashes
spread solemnly calmly
in deafening stillness
surrounded by breath clouds

So frozen. I'm frozen.

The crack of the ice
a warm breeze at night
icicles trickle and drip
is Mother tricking me?
Roll over and dream of
the sweet smell of spring
out there somewhere
a flickering candle
Lord knows I can't handle
much more of this winter.

I'm frozen. So frozen.

*******

Sunday 2 March 2014

Apple Happy


Inside every apple seed
is a perfect apple tree.
Pure potentiality
engineered delicately.

Inspired by the great divine?
Intelligently designed?
Happy apple accidents,
random happenings of time?

Each seed has the will to be
to manifest its destiny
to grow and bare precious seeds
achieve immortality.

Apple trees never ask why.
Can't bare pears and never try
or lay awake wondering why
branches point towards the sky.

They're just plain old apple happy

******



Today the Toads are inspired by the metrical verse of Robert Frost. One of my favourite American Poets.

Wednesday 12 February 2014

The Master

A jolt of joy and promise 
A young man’s wicked smirk 
Dough-soft and putty-pink, 
Nature’s punching bag 
Bullied no longer - he exploded. 
This little pig went ape. 

The smooth structure of night 
The way we feed 
The lavish consumption 
The hunger 
I feel that missing “o” 
Hanging off of a sad moustache. 
In and out and in and out 
Relishing every minute 

Wishing this could rattle on forever. 
Silently, she shows him. 
At the edge - nothing so vulgar 
Life lived to the hilt 
Between the sincere and insincere
The smack of satisfaction 
The ratio of demons to angels 
Where there can be only sorrow 

Sprawled in a haze of heroin 
How crushing addiction can be 
A spirit from the same tribe 
The flame of feeling that stoked 
Inside that ordinary body 
An immaculate jacket 
Helplessly he stands there. 
Arms flapping at his sides. 

Slumming was not an option. 
He joined the barn dance 
His hair neatly brushed by a fussy mother. 
Triggering the blind rage rough red-faced rant. 
The pains that he took 
To camouflage his bag of tricks. 
The full-blooded swagger 

Putting on a show. 
A modest approach 
An unexpected trait 
A force of nature 
The bulk and blaze of him - that’s gone.

********
In memory of Philip Seymour Hoffman. This is a cutout poem for the Imaginary Garden taken from the February 11, 2014 New Yorker article the Master. All the words in this poem are from this article and in the order they appeared.


Saturday 8 February 2014

Mama Likes The House In Order

Mama likes the house in order
every purpose has its place. 
Every tightly tucked emotion
measured out in proper portions
simmered to perfection and 
distributed in equal portions.

Mama Likes The House In Order - Lisa Graham

Inspired by the Art of Lisa Graham and prompted by Grace at the Imaginary Garden

Wednesday 5 February 2014

My Creative Space

In my humble opinion Hugh Dillion and the Headstones saved Rock and Roll from Kurt Cobain and the rest of the grunge hippies wannabes in the Nineties. I know that's almost blasphemy this close to Seattle but ... 

Now twenty years later they come out with this and it's just and good as their first. 




*********
"When something stands for nothing a detached memory
this ones about everything you don't think about until you sleep"

I never know why sparks fly no place to run no place to hide
I try to slow it down but I'm just too wired

 "this one's for nothing and this one's for fun"

You talk too much so I double clutch 
stutter step and a sucker punch
I'm a gateway drug but there's not enough 
so I sobered up 'cause that's twice as tough.

"and this one's for rock and roll and comic books and bubble gum"

I think I'm too old to be this mad 
my mid-life angst feel's a little sad
'Cause when I'm in my creative space 
you can't kick the smile off my face

"So this one's for the silence and the questions that it brings
and the smell of time and irreverence and the possibilities."

I never know why sparks fly no place to run no place to hide
I try to slow to down but it's just the way I'm wired

*******

Kerry has us writing about our "creative space" today in the Garden. For me it comes from inside and it comes in waves. I had fun with this one.

This is their first hit from 1990.


Friday 10 January 2014

Flaming Orbs

Flame Orb - Deborah Glessner 2014
God knows the rocky road I chose
sometimes it was just too damn close 
I'm slower now with room to grow. 
I catch my breath and take a glance 
beyond the pomp and circumstance. 

I bend in gratitude for one more 
second chance but every time my 
bounce comes back I trip and get a 
hitch that knocks me off my stride. 

At times my confidence still limps 
from wars surrendered long ago 
 A message from a glimpse of light - 
A fiery sign I'm not alone. 
A spark of truth that shines on lies
and gives hope to a new sunrise.

The bounce is not to give away
a flaming orb that must survive
and thrive behind the fiery eyes 
of Men with hearts they could not hide.

Men who showed me who I am 
and lit a fire behind my eyes.
The bounce of pride now lives inside 
the flames are too alive to die.

*******


In Loving Memory of Jack Hambleton and Robert Edge.


*******

Margaret has a cool prompt today for the Imaginary Garden. Along with the "Orb Art" of Deborah Glessner, she explains it as follows:

"For me, the word orb conjures up ghosts in the form of balls of light - life forms that are believed by some to be the human soul or life force that once inhabited a physical body here on earth. It is said they have stayed behind because they feel bound to their previous life or previous location for whatever reason."

I believe my Grandfathers stayed behind to look out for me - I have had many unexplainable experiences that have proven this to me. They were both powerful men who weren't afraid to tell me they loved me. When they both passed it had a profound effect on me and I felt like I became stronger.


Wednesday 8 January 2014

Border Town Disorder

Juarez Car Rental
Bits and pieces of a Border Town Judge
He blew up real good - better than a lawyer
ever could. All that's left is a gold tooth and
a bullet proof vest made in Russia with love 

back in the days when Cold War was enough.

I won a free trip to Juárez, - 
think I'll el pass-o on that.

Things can be boring around here
we just make babies, drink whiskey and ski.
But skiing is safe - except for Sonny Bono.
I'll take death by cirrhosis, slow and as
close as I can to my memory foam bed.


I won a free trip to  Juárez, -
think I'll el pass-o on that.

********





Toads are writing about a place we've never been and would not want to go.