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    40-Words

    April 2023 Dew Drop In Poems

    I have been a writing com member since 2016.  I have been actively posting in various challenges and contests since I began and have posted close to 998 pieces. I highly recommend this site as a warm, welcoming writing community and I have learned so much about the art and craft of writing from participating.  You can find my work at https://jcosmos.Writing.Com/

    Index

    Weekly Challenge

    #27. When Sam First Saw Maria

    ID #1062875

    #26. election cinquain
    ID #1062282

    #25. spider web
    ID #1061843

    #24. 24 Star Crossed Lovers
    ID #1061842

    #22. week 10 my faith journey
    ID #1061840

    #21. too many gunmen joy bell
    ID #1060903

    Writer’s Cramp

    End of Empires

    Quiet January Night With Cosmic Cat

    Lunch with Allen Ginsberg item 231151 Winner

    Dogs of War

    Hitler as an Artist winner

    Express It in Eight

    #19. Strange Places
    ID #1063026

    #18. Gateway In Central Asia
    ID #1063024

    #17. The perfect cup of tea
    ID #1063023

    #16. The Future Of The World At Stake
    ID #1063022

    #15. Warning Signs
    ID #1062873

    Poet’s Place

    #62. why do we write?
    ID #1062876

    #61. Guns Eleven Poem
    ID #1062627

    #60. morning routines Tanaga
    ID #1062284

    #59. names
    ID #1062273

    #58. More Guns Rondeau
    ID #1062048

    #57. The Whole World Out of Control Ronka
    ID #1062047

    40 Words

    01/31/2023-‘re-enter’
    ID #1062534

    #6. 01/30/2023- ‘rescue”
    ID #1062533

    #5. 01/29/2023- ‘old”
    ID #1062532

    #4. Unusual sway
    ID #1062531

    #3. Decency or fascism is your choice
    ID #1062530

    Stormy Lady

    Everything in Life is Foolish or Immoral For Stormy Lady
    ID #1059452

    #9. Barbados Dreaming on a Winter’s Day for Stormy Lady
    ID #1055645

    #8. o dark Hundred
    ID #1051150

    #7. Last night of High school memories
    ID #1049689

    #6. A Mother’s Luminous Tears
    ID #1048420

    Writers Cramp Entries

    Writer’s Cramp does a prompt every day with a daily winner. I have won quite a few of these and try to enter them daily.

     

    End of Empires

    38

    On February 2, 1901,
    Queen Victoria was laid to rest.
    Largest gathering
    Of European royalty ever assembled
    Attended the funeral.

    This was the height
    Of the British Empire.

    Few would have thought
    In a few short years
    World War 1 would begin.

    And then World War Two
    The Cold War
    Followed by the gradual
    End of the British Empire.

    The sun did set
    In the British Empire

    But in 1901
    It seemed like
    The British Empire
    Would last forever.

    Empires rise and fall
    Sometimes one sees the decline.
    Other times it comes as a surprise.
    In hindsight almost inevitable.

    What will be the end?
    Of the American Empire?
    Will America break apart?
    Into ten or 15 new nations?

    If there is a civil war
    It will not end up
    As proponents think.

    That is the nature
    Of civil war
    And war in general.

    it never ends as planned.

    “ War, Good God all, what is it good for?
    War has only one friend, the undertaker.”

    NEW (birthday week) PROMPT:
    On February 2 (2/2) 1901, the state funeral of Queen Victoria of Great Britain took place and was one of the largest gatherings of European royalty in history. Write a poem or story about this event. Use HISTORY as one of your genres.

    A Quiet January Night

    26 lines

    Sam Adams
    Was at home
    On a quiet January Night.

    Snowbound
    In his Capitol Hill Row house,
    Down the street from Lincoln Park
    In the heart of DC.

    All in all
    Sam felt at peace
    With the world.

    Having accepted
    As he was getting older,
    And having reconciled
    With his long-estranged siblings.

    He was playing the piano
    While his cat
    The Buddha Cat
    Was lost in his cat verse
    Deep in meditation.

    Soon he put on some
    Buddha bar meditation music
    And joined the cosmic cat
    In mediation.

    There is a new prompt up in “The Writer’s Cramp” – and if you write the best story or poem (and follow all of the rules) you just might win 10,000 GPs.

    ” WINNER & NEW PROMPT Due Sunday, January 21″ 16 hours 40 minutes 35 seconds
    Please use the following as the Title of your story or poem:

    “A Quiet January Night”

    Please select “Spiritual” as one of your genres.

    Make sure you create a new static item for your entry, and include your word count for stories (1000 words or less) or a line count for poems (40 lines or less) IN your forum post with the b-item link to your entry to be a qualified entry.

     

    Lunch with Allen Ginsberg (winner)

    39

    If I had a chance to go back in time
    and meet for lunch a famous poet
    I would go back to 1954.

    to my hometown, Berkeley, California
    to visit with and have lunch
    with one of my literary heroes
    Allan Ginsberg.

    I would knock on his door
    and tell him I came from
    from 2024, the future.

    And wanted to talk to him
    about the future world
    and we would go and have lunch
    in North Beach.

    And over wine and pasta, we would talk
    We would talk about his life and legacy
    and then talk about the future world.

    I would tell him that Donald Trump
    would become President
    and usher in an era of neo-fascism.

    H would be astonished.
    but finally concluded
    that he knew of the Trump family
    and could see that coming.
    They had bad juju he concluded.

    And then he would go home
    and write a series of poems
    about the future of the U.S.

    And perhaps we would have prevented
    some of the future from taking place
    perhaps it was inevitable
    as he would write,

    “the future is coming sooner than we think
    and it will be stranger than fiction.”

    Unfortunately, I can’t award a winner today. Please remember to select the appropriate genre if the prompt requires one. (Today’s prompt does not.)

    NEW PROMPT: Tomorrow, January 6, is National Take a Poet to Lunch Day. Write a story or poem involving lunch with a poet. The poet can be living, formerly living, imaginary, or even yourself. What’s on the menu, and what topics are discussed?

    The WINNER Is:

    Lunch with Allen Ginsberg   (E)
    Imagined lunch with Allen Ginsberg
    #2311511 by JCosmos (146)

     

     

    Dogs of War Unleashed

    dogs of war howling
    dogs of war howling

     

    dogs of war poster
    dog of war poster

     

     

     

     

    35

    Sam Adams
    watched from far-off Mumbai
    as the terrorists launched 9-11.

    Thanking the Gods
    that his wife was not working
    there at the Pentagon.

    He had a vision
    that the Dogs of War
    Have been set free
    Of their cages in hell,
    And are out
    howling at the moon.

    The Dogs of War
    Have been set free
    To wreck what havoc
    Might be.

    Yes, the Dogs of War
    The Hell Hounds
    Have bound out of their cages
    Sniffed about, smiled

    At the destruction, they saw
    They knew soon
    They would be in their element
    As the world descends into chaos,

    The world saw the face of pure evil
    That fine September morning

    A morning like any other morning
    Until a fateful moment
    When two planes came out of the sky,

    And Destroyed the center of world capitalism
    In an act of horrific violence, and pure evil
    That is beyond the comprehension
    Of mere mortal man.

    Dec 7, 1941, was the attack by Japanese warplanes on Pearl Harbor in Hawaii, an event that propelled the United States into the forefront of World War II.

    For tomorrow, write a story or poem that is set during an unexpected military attack. (But broadly construed … could be like Pearl Harbor, could be a science-fiction space war, could be a gang war in NYC, could be an unexpected snowball attack by the neighborhood bullies, could be in fairyland, etc.)

    Focus your tale on the experiences of an “ordinary person” in this attack, rather than someone removed from the action (e.g. not military leaders in command-and-control centers.) Try to bring to life the confusion and emotions of the situation.

    Hitler as an Artist?

    20

    A Hitler historian
    was fascinated
    With Hitler’s failed attempt
    To be a painter,

    Hitler always blamed
    His failure as an artist
    Due to a cabal of Jewish painters
    Who were the arbiters of taste
    In Vienna right after World War 1

    One day he discovered
    A cache of lost Hitler paintings.
    Among the paintings,
    was one labeled
    “International Bird Painting Day”.

    Art historians all agreed –
    It was the worst bird painting
    Ever made,

    Proving that Hitler
    Would never have made it
    As an artist,
    Since he had no talent

    As an artist,
    Sadly, his depraved, evil
    malignant evil talents
    Lay elsewhere.

    NEW PROMPT: Tomorrow, April 8, is Draw a Picture of a Bird Day. Write a story or poem about someone with limited artistic talent attempting to observe this occasion.
    20

     

    Express it Eight

    Soling Bling is the host of the Express It In Eight Daily prompts. The goal is to write an eight-line poem. Here are my most recent entries.

    Jellyfish Lake and Other Strange Places

    Sam Adams was an explorer
    He had been to many strange places
    Among the Weider were the Jellyfish Lake
    Filled with jellyfish
    Snake Island off of Brazil
    Filled with the deadliest snakes in the world
    And the famous cannibal island
    where outsiders are forbidden in the Andaman seas.

    INTERESTING PLACE: JELLYFISH LAKE

    https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/jellyfish-lake

    #19. Strange Places
    ID #1063026

    Gateway In Central Asia

    In an ancient town in Central Asia,
    Deep in the high mountains on the old Silk Road,
    There lays a weird church, mosque, and temple.
    With four doors, one to the church, the mosque, and the temple.
    The fourth door, hidden in the back rooms leads to an indoor patio.
    The fourth door reveals ten smaller green doors on top of each other.
    According to the sign above, each door opens a portal
    To other worlds, a one-way ticket for madmen only.

    Doors [#2308179]
    green doors

    #18. Gateway In Central Asia
    ID #1063024

    Perfect Cup of Tea

     

     

     

     

    Lately, I have been drinking
    Much more tea and less coffee,
    Particularly in the afternoon.
    My latest tea of choice is my wife’s secret blend.
    Bitter melon, jujube dates, ugly potato, wormwood
    With Earl Gray, green tea slims fast,
    Yogi detox teas are added to the brewing pot.
    Perfection in a soothing hot cup of heaven.

    SELF-CARE IDEAS

    BUY YOURSELF SOME FLOWERS

    DRINK A CUP OF HOT TEA

    #17. The perfect cup of tea
    ID #1063023

     

    The Future Of The World At Stake

    trump 4
    trump 4

     

     

     

     

     

    In the U.S. in November
    There is a noteworthy
    Looming election.
    An election that will determine
    In a comprehensive manner,
    The future of the U.S. and the world
    Will the U.S. choose fascism?
    Or will democracy and sanity prevail?

    LOOMING

    NOTEWORTHY

    COMPREHENSIVE

    #16. The Future Of The World At Stake
    ID #1063022

    Warning Signs

     

     

     

     

     

    the warning signs
    are everywhere
    will we heed them?
    will we wake up
    and see that Trump
    and the MAGA movement
    are fascists determined
    to destroy American democracy.

    POEM TITLES

    Warning
    by Jenny Joseph

    When I am an old woman I shall wear purple
    With a red hat which doesn’t go, and doesn’t suit me.
    And I shall spend my pension on brandy and summer gloves
    And satin sandals, and say we’ve no money for butter.
    I shall sit down on the pavement when I’m tired
    And gobble up samples in shops and press alarm bells
    And run my stick along the public railings
    And make up for the sobriety of my youth.
    I shall go out in my slippers in the rain
    And pick flowers in other people’s gardens
    And learn to spit.

    You can wear terrible shirts and grow more fat
    And eat three pounds of sausages at a go
    Or only bread and pickles for a week
    And hoard pens and pencils and beermats and things in boxes.

    But now we must have clothes that keep us dry
    And pay our rent and not swear in the street
    And set a good example for the children.
    We must have friends to dinner and read the papers.

    But maybe I ought to practice a little now?
    So people who know me are not too shocked
    When suddenly I am old and start to wear purple.

    >< >< >< >< >< ><

    I Choose the Mountain
    by Howard Simon

    The low lands call
    I am tempted to answer
    They are offering me a free dwelling
    Without having to conquer

    The massive mountain makes its move
    Beckoning me to ascend
    A much more difficult path
    To get up the slippery bend

    I cannot choose both
    I have a choice to make
    I must be wise
    This will determine my fate

    I choose, I choose the mountain
    With all its stress and strain
    Because only by climbing
    Can I rise above the plain

    I choose the mountain
    And I will never stop climbing
    I choose the mountain
    And I shall forever be ascending

    I choose the mountain

    #15. Warning Signs
    ID #1062873

     

    Poet’s Place

     David Sneider is the host of Poetry Place.  He does a weekly poetry form challenge similar to what Writer Digest does.  I try to try my hand at both and between the two of them and Fan Story, I have tried over 150 poetry forms since 2016.

    Here are my most recent attempts

    Why do we write?

    40 lines

    A writer is often asked
    Why do you write?
    What motivates you?
    What keeps you going?

    How do you handle the constant rejections?
    The self-doubts
    What comes with the writer’s life?

    I write as many writers do
    Because I must
    Because the damn muse
    Will never leave me alone

    The characters in my head
    Demand to let their voices be heard
    Demand to be freed
    To tell their tales

    And I am a slave
    To my muse
    Who takes me
    Where she will

    No matter what
    I must write every day

    Usually starting my day
    Drinking coffee
    Watching the news unfold

    Writing my thoughts
    Letting the poetry flow
    Out of my soul

    Bleeding onto the computer screen
    The words waiting to be spoken
    To tell their tale
    Before the day is over

    That is why I write
    Because I can not write
    That is the Buddha nature
    Of being a writer after all.

    Most of us probably started writing to fulfill the requirements of our teachers in school. We wrote to pass the course and gain recognition through grade assignments.

    During some self-analysis upon leaving the Navy and starting my job search, I realized that the things I enjoyed the most and had the most success with involved writing of some sort. Therefore, a technical writing job seemed to be the perfect union of that interest with my engineering education. For the next few years, I wrote to instruct field technicians on how to implement retrofit modifications on aircraft.

    Later, in the business world, I wrote to enlighten co-workers, managers, and customers about procedures, policies, and systems.

    Nowadays, while I sometimes still write for those reasons (as I’m doing here), many more factors keep me engaged in this wondrous process. That’s probably the case with you, too.

    If you feel a need to express your most personal response to this mysterious, beautiful, and sometimes painful world in the shapes, colors, sounds, and smells of your imagination, creative writing can provide a powerful means of therapeutic release.

    The pure joy that comes with meeting the challenges of crafting the language into something meaningful, like molding a piece of clay with your hands, can be a refreshing recreational outlet.

    Many writers are driven to publish their work on the printed page. I can vouch for the exhilarating sense of satisfaction that comes with that first acceptance letter.

    Upon receiving a reviewer’s comment that one of my stories reminded him of a stand-up comedian’s routine, I realized that the desire to entertain/is also a driving force that keeps me motivated.

    For whom do you write?

    Many writers resist criticism and defend their writing with the claim that they write only for themselves. While some therapeutic or recreational writing may not be intended for sharing with an audience, writing is usually employed as a means of communicating with other people. Of course, the grocery lists and phone numbers you scribble on scraps of paper are probably intended for only you. However, those things within you that won’t rest until they are given voice–the burning memories that linger in your heart and the fanciful fugitive images floating around in your head–must be shared with someone else to satisfy the need for expression.

    When you sit down to write, you should keep your audience in mind. Whether it be your friends and family, a group of readers interested in a particular genre as identified here at WDC, or an editor for a specific publication, the language you use serves as a bridge between you and the reader. Choose accordingly.

    Your reasons for writing along with your prospective audience will influence the voice you use in your writing, as the relationship between the writer and the reader develops into a true collaboration in this wondrous experience.

    Today’s Practice Session: Write about your objective(s) as you continue on this marvelous journey.

    Then ponder the postings of your peers and exchange views about the various motivations that keep us all inspired in this venture.

     #62. why do we write?
    ID #1062876

    Guns Eleven Poem

     

     

     

     

    Guns
    so many
    people are dying
    Politicians offer useless prayers
    Death

    The Elevenie, also called Elfie in German, is an exercise in language distillation. Consisting of five lines with word counts of 1, 2, 3, 4, and 1, respectively, it captures a thought in only eleven words, as described and demonstrated in the following links:

    https://rolandsragbag.wordpress.com/2020/10/09/elfchen/

    Wikipedia defines an Elevenie, or Elfchen, as follows:
    “An elevenie (German Elfchen — Elf “eleven” and -Chen as a diminutive suffix to indicate diminutive size and endearment) is a short poem with a given pattern. It contains eleven words which are arranged in a specified order over five rows. Each row has a requirement that can vary.”

    A simple form, similar perhaps to Haiku, Senryu, or Tanka, in which the poet attempts to carry an idea within a set format of words and lines which imposes certain strictures of thought and form on the author.

    The usual format requires a short verse of eleven words in five lines in the form – 1, 2, 3, 4, 1. An order which I have reversed in my last of the 4 Elfchen below . . .

    #61. Guns Eleven Poem
    ID #1062627

     

    Hot Coffee Tanaga

     

     

     

     

     

     

    Hot coffee starts my morning.
    watching the news mid-morning.
    Too much coffee is a warning,
    a migraine a forewarning.

    Afternoon I drink hot tea.
    Contemplating to be.
    What is to become of me?
    Turning on music filled with glee.

    As the sun sets, I drink red wine.
    With my wife, all is just fine.
    While looking at the moonshine,
    As we sit down start to dine.

    The Tanaga is an ancient Filipino form that has evolved from a complete poem to a series of stanzas. The structure consists of four mono-rhymed lines with seven syllables per line, as described and demonstrated in the following links:

    https://www.poetrymagnumopus.com/topic/2191-philippines-ambahanawit-tanaga/#tana…

    #60. morning routines Tanaga
    ID #1062284

    My Name

     I was born John Cosmos Aller
    But for most of my life
    I called myself Jake Cosmos Aller
    Nowadays, I call myself J Cosmos Aller
    or Cosmos As my pen name

    the name Cosmos has nothing
    to do with me being born
    in Oakland
    growing up in Berkeley

    no one buys that story though
    Cosmos being such a Berkeley-like name

    My great-grandfather wanted
    an English translation
    of the family’s last name
    Aller
    looked it up in a German English dictionary

    had two choices
    Cosmos
    or Universe
    chose Cosmos
    and thus I am the last
    of the Cosmos Aller’s

    The universe would have been
    an equally good Berkeley name

    But I have had other nicknames
    The kids nicknamed me Allergy
    And pretended to sneeze
    When I passed them by

    The name  Jake came about
    From a dream I had
    As a boy scout

    I was riding a horse
    Named Jake

    I would scream
    Whoa Jake
    Slide aside Clyde
    Turn around Verdiack

    I started saying these words
    When I walked about Campus
    And people thought I was a bit mental

    So, people simply started calling me
    The Whoa Jake kid,
    Later simply became Jake

    After I left school
    I liked the name, Jake
    Better than John
    Too many Johns
    In the world, I thought

    When my wife became an army officer
    We would sometimes get invites
    To things addressed to Captain Lee and Mr. Lee
    Got tired of trying to explain
    We had different last names
    So, I became Jake Lee

    Later when I was in the military hospital system
    As a dependent getting operations
    The doctors just assumed I was a major
    And called me Major Aller

    I did not correct them
    Liked having been promoted
    To the rank of Major!

    When I started trying to become
    Professional writing and blogger
    I thought using my middle name
    Would be a nice pen name

    So now I am either J Cosmos Aller
    Jake Cosmos Aller
    John (Jake) Cosmos Aller
    or just Cosmos

    No longer Jake Lee
    Or Major Aller though.

    unless you are Maya Angelou, Stephen King, or some other famous writer whose name alone is enough to draw an audience, the title is one of the most critical elements of a poem. As the only thing a prospective reader will see while scanning the list of items in a writer’s port or the Table of Contents in a book, it serves as the door that must be opened to enter the realm of the poet’s imagination. If that entrance does not generate some kind of interest, that browser will likely move along to the next item, or maybe even the next author.

    Like the names of your children, a title gives the poem a specific identity. Of course, some poets eschew such traditions and leave their work without any identifying reference. Emily Dickinson did not put titles on her poems, even though her editors often did before publication. Frank O’Hara often applied simple, nondescript titles, such as Poem. Would you let your child go through life without a name? Then, why would you ever think of not naming your brainchild or tagging it with some irrelevant label?

    Because many poems are so short in comparison with other forms of literature, their names should capture the underlying essence of the expression as it sets the tone and prepares the reader for what is to come. Mark Twain once said, “The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lightning and a lightning bug,” and I believe the same advice would apply to titles for a poem. This can be a struggle in many cases. Sometimes the title comes to the poet out of the blue as inspiration for an entire composition, and sometimes it hides within the shrubbery of the text.

    Here are a few suggestions to aid you in your search for the perfect name:

    1. Start with the title and let it propel you into the poem.

    2. Use the first line of the poem as your title.

    3. Provide a brief description of the poem’s theme.

    4. Find a phrase or image within the poem that can represent the whole.

    5. If you are writing a narrative poem, an action verb may help engage the prospective reader with the experience being described.

    6. Use your imagination to pluck lightning from the phantasmal cloud of cosmic pixie dust swirling around in your head.

    Your assignment: Write a poem about the concept of NAMES.

     #59. names
    ID #1062273 entered on January 11, 2024, at 7:16 pm   [Edit]   [5 views]

    More Guns Roundeau

    gun
    gun

     

     

     

     

    More guns killing people today.
    Is it just another day?
    Politicians offer prayer.
    All the dead gun ghosts don’t care.
    Have we completely lost our way?

    To the gun ghosts, what do we say?
    Our prayers are just another cliche.
    Will the guns continue to flare?
    More guns.

    Will we continue to pay?
    Will our country be able to stay?
    Will hatred continue to stare?
    Will there be an end to this nightmare?
    Do we have any words left to sway?
    More guns.

    : aabba aabR aabbaR. Lines 9 and 15 are short

    The Rondeau is a French form of fifteen lines with an intriguing pattern of rhyme and repetition, as described and demonstrated in the following links:

    http://www.shadowpoetry.com/resources/wip/rondeau.html

    #58. More Guns Rondeau

    trump jpg
    trump jpg

     

     

     

     

     

    I wake up with the morning dawning sun.
    Turn on my TV watch the news,
    drinking a hot snarling cup of coffee.
    thinking dark gloomy thoughts as the snow falls.
    Bombs, war, inflation, end-of-the-world.

    The Ronka is another spinoff from the Japanese Haiku and Tanka forms devised by Ken Ronkowitz. The structure consists of five unrhymed lines with seven words per line. The theme should “focus on observations of the day as seen in the outside world and the inside worlds of dwellings and the mind,” as described and demonstrated in the following links:

    https://writingtheday.wordpress.com/2015/02/02/trying-the-ronka-form/

    ID #1062048 entered on January 8, 2024, at 1:46 am   [Edit]   [5 views]

    #57. The Whole World Out of Control Ronka
    ID #1062047 entered on January 8, 2024, at 1:41 am   [Edit]   [4 views]

    40 words

    Rupali Goswami is the host of the 40-word challenge – to write a 40-word poem or micro story based on the daily prompts.  Here are my latest attempts.


    01/29/2023- ‘old”

    Watching the news
    I feel the old-age blues
    I turn off the barking, deranged,
    talking heads,
    had enough of them all
    for a lifetime
    turned off that snarling noise box.
    And have another cup of coffee.
    With my lovely wife.

    #5. 01/29/2023- ‘old”
    ID #1062532 entered on January 17, 2024, at 4:22 am   [Edit]   [2 views]

    01/28/2023-‘unusual’

    Donald Trump
    Is the biggest con artist
    carnival barker, grifter,
    Flimflam man
    That ever lived.
    He has an unusual
    Sway over his cult-like
    MAGA Followers
    Who thinks he is God’s Anointed
    Some call him the orange Jesus
    The Messiah!

    #4. Unusual sway
    ID #1062531 entered on January 17, 2024, at 4:17 am   [Edit]   [12 views]

     

    01/27/2023-decency’

    The next election
    Boils down to this
    Will we choose decency?
    represented by Biden
    And Democracy
    Or will we choose hatred?
    And Fascism?
    Represented by Trump?

    © Copyright 2024 JCosmos (UN: jcosmos at Writing.Com). All rights res

    #3. Decency or fascism is your choice
    ID #1062530

     

    Darius Smith, V Poems about the assassination of a Wall Street conman

    see the Assassination of Darius Caesar Smith, V for the complete set.

    01/31/2023-‘re-enter’

    When
    Sam Adams
    Bought the 3-d print Glock
    He tested security several times.
    Smuggling the gun in
    And re-entering the building.
    Where he administered justice
    To his lying scumbag frat bro
    Darius Smith, iv.

    #7. 01/31/2023-‘re-enter’
    ID #1062534

    01/30/2023- ‘rescue”

    When Darius Smith, IV
    Sam’s College frat bro
    stole 100 million dollars
    2 million from him
    he prayed that someone
    would rescue his soul
    as he blew him, Darius, away
    as he ate dinner. with Sam’s
    estranged wife.

    #6. 01/30/2023- ‘rescue”
    ID #1062533

    Stormy Lady Contest

    Stormy Lady is the host of a monthly contest where she does the poetry newsletter duties.  Here are my most recent entries, some of which won.

    Everything in Life is Foolish or Immoral For Stormy Lady

    Oscar Wilde once said

    “Everything in life I love
    Is either foolish, immoral
    Or fattening”

    But for me
    I am filled with crazy desires
    Walking down the river at sunset

    Watching the moon rise
    Over the canal in Gimpo
    Casting its reddish glow
    Over the romantic waters

    Stopping to smell the fall flowers
    Softly inhaling their sweet fragrance
    That fills the air with the scent of love
    Bad craziness takes me over

    Filled with love I pick the chrysanthemums,
    the daisies, marigolds, poppies, purple flowers
    and the red and purple cosmos flowers

    Putting them into a bouquet
    Of autumn wildflowers
    To give to my wife

    Who is always walking by the side?
    As the moon shines on
    Filling us with a deep love

    We stop and enter a wine shop
    Having a glass of wine
    Looking down the hallway
    As the canal flows on by

    We stop and laugh
    And howl at the lunatic light
    Of the full moon

    Foolish
    immoral
    desire
    daisies
    hallway
    softly
    fragrance
    air

     #10. Everything in Life is Foolish or Immoral For Stormy Lady

    ID #1059452

    Barbados, West Indies – March 4, 2007: A beach scene on the Caribbean Island of Barbados with a yellow lifeguard station and people enjoying the beach and the water.
    On a winter’s day
    In cold, dismal snowy DC
    My thoughts often turn.
    To Barbados.And the three wonderful years
    I spent serving my country.
    In Barbados, and the Eastern Caribbean.Recalling blissful days
    Hanging out at the Hilton Hotel
    With the love of my wife by my side.Sunday brunch then hitting the beach.
    Drinking rum sours while watching people
    Frolicking in the Blue Sea.

    Visiting my other islands
    once a month
    Antigua, Dominica, Grenada, St. Kitts,
    St. Lucia and St. Vincent and the Grenadines

    Meeting political leaders
    Liming with the locals.

    Listening to the steel drum band
    Play as the sunsets
    Over my secret Caribbean paradise.

    Comment: My best tour in the Foreign Service was when I served as Deputy Pol/Econ Chief in Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean (Antigua, Barbados, Dominica, Grenada, St. Kitts, St Lucia, and St Vincent and the Grenadines) from 2007 to 2010. Liming is local jargon for having a drink.

     

    #9. Barbados Dreaming on a Winter’s Day for Stormy Lady

     

    ID #1055645

     

    O Dark Hundred

     

     

     

     

    0 dark hundred
    Just before dawn
    Insomnia comes over me

    My mind filled with
    Haunting whispers
    Degrading the air

    troubled rumors
    of distant places
    of ancient times

    traveling afar
    extinguishing

    the rage
    I feel against the coming
    Dark Night of the Soul

    Note: o dark hundred is a military/intel word denoting the early morning hours just before dawn when soldiers often wake up to go to battle

    #8. o dark Hundred
    ID #1051150

    Last Night of High School Memories

     

    free roaming berkeley
    free roaming berkeley

     

     

     

     

     

    One of the most memorable nights
    In my life
    Was my high school
    graduation night
    In Berkeley in 1974.

    We had all gone out
    To numerous graduation parties
    Partying all night
    Until dawn.

    Then heading
    to Berkeley’s Tilden Park
    Inspiration point
    Where we ran into
    Numerous friends,

    This was a BHS tradition
    Dating back to whenever
    We all ended up there
    On the morning
    After graduation night.

    We all shared a moment
    Enjoying the rare sunlit morning
    Usually foggy but that morning
    The sun lit up the distant horizon
    With dramatic hues.

    As the sun rose
    over the mountain tops.
    Of the Berkeley Hills and Mt. Diablo

    We all stared at the sunrise
    Looking at the beauty all around us
    Contemplating the tranquil mood
    We were in.

    Then we left
    Ending up at IHOP
    Enjoying the lumberjack breakfast

    Bacon, eggs, pancakes, sausage
    Lots of hot coffee to wash it down
    Heavenly first breakfast
    As an official adult
    Member of society

    Getting home at about noon.
    Knowing that one stage
    In our life was over

    Waiting for the next stage
    To begin.

    Knowing that we may
    Never see our friends again
    As our paths
    would soon diverge.

    But I will never forget
    That magical night
    When I officially
    Became an adult.

    © Copyright 2023 JCosmos (UN: jcosmos at Writing.Com). All rights reserved.

    #7. Last night of High school memories
    ID #1049689

    #6. A Mother’s Luminous Tears

    An old Mother
    Embraces her daughter
    And son-in-law

    Luminous tears
    Flowing down her face

    As she looked
    At her children
    Filled with love

    A devoted humble
    Guiding loving spirit
    Smiling at her

    These are the rules:

    1) You must use the words I give in a poem or prose with no limits on length.

    2) The words can be in any order and anywhere throughout the poem and can be any form of the word.

    3) All entries must be posted in your portfolio and you must post the link in this forum, “Stormy’s poetry newsletter & contest” [ASR] by May 13, 2023.

    4) The winner will get 3000 gift points and the poem will be displayed in this section of the newsletter the next time it is my turn to post (May 17, 2023)

    The words are:
    A mother embraces luminous tears devoted spirit humble guiding

    #6. A Mother’s Luminous Tears

    ID #1048420

    The End

     

     

     

  • guest blog by Douglas Richard Colthurst

    guest blog by Douglas Richard Colthurst

    Guest Blog by Douglas Richard Colthurst

    Cosmos Reading List 2022 Final Updates

    This is my first guest blog piece.  I got to know Douglas’s work through Fan Story.  I will be posting from time to time other guest posts from my Fan Story, Writing Com, and other writing groups.  I hope you enjoy his work as much as I have.

    Bio

    Douglas Richard Colthurst was born in 1955 on a farm in Cabery, a tiny town in central Illinois. Received a Bachelor’s in Biology from the University of Illinois at Urban-Champaign and a Doctorate in Dentistry from the University of Illinois at Chicago (I think?). 

published dentist with prison dentistry experience published poet and amateur painter novice wine sommelier comic book collector bilingual in English and German amazing father –  bowler, golfer, chef motorcycle license, and Harley owner

    You can contact him at

    Douglas Colthurst <colthurstdouglas74@gmail.com>
    colthurstdouglas@gmail.com>

    And see his portfolio at https://fanstory.com/myportfolio.jsp?userid=360707

    Victor Touche ? A 59-plus eight-year imposition on this planet. Who…. always wanted to slow down, explore the other side of his brain, and amount to something other than a paycheck. Of course, the other side of me would argue paycheck first you dolt, there’s time for the other later. Ah well, as Jackson Browne once said, something like I wake up every day to the great compromise. I have a lovely daughter of 21. (senior college, (oh me, oh my). Which fulfilled and completed my life to a degree I shall be ever grateful for. As all of you parents know. Love to cook. Wine. Wine Cellar at last. Harley Davidson. Rebel. Always did resent authority.

    Setting the scene.

    The Walk

    hate standing in lines. But there I was, happy as a clam, standing in line; for a fake diploma. (The real one came later by mail.) But it did represent the culmination of four years of pure hell, dental school. Some people didn’t seem to mind it. But for most of us, it was a long grind. One must study continuously. This is interrupted only by eating, sleeping, and lab work. Seriously. I am not inviting sympathy. One’s time is simply occupied until graduation. I finally learned of shortcuts that many students knew, but it was too late to use them. And I don’t think I would have anyway, but that is for another story; my dental school experiences.

    Since there was no time to assess my coming work situation, I graduated needing a job, housing, and money. My parents still lived in a rural town in central Illinois. They had seen an advertisement in the local paper for a dentist at Pontiac Maximum Security Prison. What? As in, what was I thinking? I know. I thought the same thing. I mean the same thing. But I could earn a little money, live with my parents, and buy a car. You know, start living.

    I interviewed and unfortunately got the job. Now, this was done by an “administrative company,” responsible for hiring all the healthcare professionals for Illinois’ prisons. This is pertinent because before, each dentist contracted with the state. This may not seem significant. It didn’t happen to me either. But, oh boy, was it ever. The only thing that matters in prison is power. Yeah, to be sure, the prisoners are in a stark Darwinian experiment. Yes, but all that matters to the guards is power. And to the multiple wardens. Think I exaggerate? Read on, gentle reader. So the dentist before me was there for some thirty years. And he had his self to answer to. I didn’t realize how irritated the wardens were with this setup. Petty? Absolutely. But we’re just getting started. Turns out there was a lot of built-up, pent-up resentment over the dental area not being under the direct control of the prison officer hierarchical system. Guess what? I wasn’t informed of all the myriad political land mines I was soon to step on. I firmly believe if I had listened only to the advice from my administrators, I wouldn’t be alive today.

    So I pull into the prototypical gravel parking lot at 7:30 AM. Pontiac was one of my old stomping grounds from high school. Quik’s was still there. Used to polish up the car or pick-up truck and drive around Quik’s. Over and over until we almost lost our minds. Cruisin’. Yep, we used to cruise Quik’s for hours. Good burgers. Probably not, but hey, we were teenagers. Big parking lot. Multiple lots for several businesses. All shut down after five or on weekends. Cruise, check out chicks. Repeat, ad infinitum. Once every hour or so, a new set of mounds bounced around. Gas was thirty cents a gallon. Gear heads. Pot heads. A little head now and then just to get by. Never got in trouble. Don’t know how.

    Oh yes, the Pontiac Prison gravel parking lot. Cool morning. The crunch of old familiar sounds as I stepped out onto the gravel. Almost brought a subconscious recognition of fear. The only time we heard those sounds, (of crunching gravel beneath our feet), was getting out of a car for a fight or a friend. I looked towards the prison.

    Simple barbed wire outer fence, with a small guard house. Grass lay after this for twenty feet or so, and then the administrative complex which housed everything, basically, except the prisoners. Long and rectangular, looked like a school. Ran the entire north side of the prison complex. Enter through glass doors and then proceed ten feet to the oldest, biggest, most intimidating steel gate that I had ever seen. Auguste Rodin’s “Gate of Hell,” without the ornament. Just swung grudgingly open momentarily, before slamming shut momentously on those huge groaning hinges. Shut. Silence, every time. For a moment, just made one reflect on the “end.” Period. Never have had quite the same feeling about gates since. Shudder, groan, goodbye is all they ever said.

    As I said, just stepped out onto the dewy morning gravel. A new day. A new life. Whoa there, cowboy, probably not what was said on the “inside,” eh? I have tried to tell people about this…” feeling” one notices emanating from Pontiac Prison. No one pays much mind until you’ll be going in. Ancient. Evil. Stark. Mania. Insanity. Loneliness. Despair. Hopelessness. A forever feel to these piled up, reeked up, soiled up rock confines. One feels the cement used is from Roman times. Filth, eking out of this place and contaminating you as you watched, mesmerized. Yes, I know. My assistant used to laugh at my exaggeration of these elements in the story of Pontiac. Till I took her there one day. Parked in the old gravel parking lot. Saw her laughs turn to that first recognition of fear.

    “Maybe we should go,” she said.

    “Why? We just got here. Come on, get out and take a look. Wanna go in?”

    She just shuddered and got back in the car. We talked about it later. She wasn’t laughing. She also felt that creeping nausea, that evil reach out to…
    Yep, that’s Pontiac alright…the parking lot.

    So, here I was on my first day. Boots on the gravel. Built like the proverbial “Brick …. House.” No, I’m not kidding. Thought I should mention this. It’s from dental school and the sick environments created there. But applies here too. Helps almost anytime, anyplace, as far as I can figure. Now, I wasn’t going in here to prove my manhood or fight or anything like that. Just the same, Darwinian is Darwinian. Went to the little gatehouse.

    “Hi,” the guard said. The guards get, and security in general gets, progressively surlier as one goes inside and/or their rank goes up. Not that the guards treated me badly, they didn’t.

    “Hi, uh, I’m new…”

    ” Dentist, aren’t you? Yes, I can see that.”

    He may not have even asked me for ID, after all, what were the chances some young punk would come here on the day the new dentist was, and falsely announce himself? Also, I don’t believe they ever searched for me. It was a courtesy. They may have once for a lockdown.

    “Just check in at administration. They’ll take it from there.”

    Walked up about twenty feet, went through the administrative-looking doors, and voila, instant prison life. Like switching on a light. Someone young, or white, stands out. Period. You better hope you’re standing out because you are NOT in prison blues. Just stopped to catch my breath.

    “Who you think you lookin’ at? Huh? You better get your pearly white back up the hall where it belongs. Fish.”

    “Ahem, me?”

    “Yea, YOU. Who the hell you think I talkin’ to?”

    A guard appears, “Alright Marcus, ain’t you s’posed to be somewhere? Best be gettin’ there.”

    Guard: “Can I help you, sir?”

    “Uh, yes, looking for administration?”

    “Healthcare or Prison?”

    “Healthcare.”

    “Right around that corner. You the new dentist?”

    “Yes, yes, that’s right.”

    As I rounded the corner I couldn’t help peeking into the room where the inmates made their phone calls or met with people and visitors. Just pure chaos. Boyfriend arguin’ with a girlfriend.

    “You know I didn’t. You tell Jackie his ass be mine.”

    And so on. And then I ran into that big fake smiling face I had seen so many times in the salesmen who frequented my father’s hardware store. The typical, seedy, untrustworthy, lyin’ when I can, and then some, the face of my immediate superior in the health administration. A job with little beginning and similar education, and soon representing nothing to me but a pain in the ass. I just wish I wasn’t always right on these matters.

    “Hello, you must be Victor.”

    “Uh, yes, you just interviewed me, remember?”

    “Oh, yes, of course, I do. We’re just excited to have you join us and start your career, aren’t you?”

    “Yes, about that. I don’t have my license back from the state yet. It’s just procedural, but don’t you think I should have it?”

    “Oh, don’t worry about it. You’re under our malpractice umbrella.”

    Now, at this time, I was so naive, I thought if he says so, it must be alright. Fortunately, my license arrived that week and all was well.

    “I think all your paperwork has been signed. Now, do you remember where the dental clinic is?”

    “Sure.” I kind of half thought to myself.

    “Ok, already? Here we go.”

    He walks me back down the hallway, where this other prisoner is now back again looking at me with defiance. Then turns right to the “gate.” Tells the guard to open it, this is the new Doc. As I’m still travailing the length of the door upwards with my eyes, I vaguely recognize…

    “Do you need anything else?”

    I felt like I was just ready to go under anesthesia. Dreamlike. Then the guard slammed the ton gate closed and my world reverberated. Boom. Unimaginable stopping-retaining power. I shuddered for a moment. Was just going to say something to the guard when I noticed he was on the other side of the gate. I stumbled a little on the interior cement steps then caught my balance. Turned around into the sun. 8:15 AM. The yard. Full of prisoners mowing, clipping, hoeing, scything, (I kid you not) the grass. Maybe two or three hundred of them.

    ALL came to a dead stillness. Not a sound. Not a twitch of a muscle. Uh-huh? Well, this was a bad decision and I turned back for the gate. The guard just smiled. Ok, ahem…ahem, ahem. Wasn’t ready for this today. Just a simple little two-block walk to the dental clinic, through these boys. Now, you may think what you like, but every man knows intrinsically what’s going down here. I had NO doubts. Ladies, you’ll just have to believe me, there are certain moments in a man’s life that cannot be misinterpreted.

    Besides, I still had Ronnie R., in the tower to protect me. Yes, sir, he would shoot down any gang member trying to do me bad. If he got permission to load his gun. If he wasn’t looking the other way on purpose. Ronnie would level that gun and shoot a gang member to save me. Hahaha. Yes, it was a pretty good joke, on me. Ronnie would no more do this than…I don’t know what. He works there. Hello. Even if he quit that day, there would be a contract out on the street for him to be dead. And the best part about it was I knew Ronnie, from high school. Yep, he was our local drug dealer and all-around Charlie Manson look-alike. (And if you need a psychiatrist to tell you Charlie Manson’s crazy, you might as well ask your priest if it’s time for an affair.) Yes, sir, I was…screwed and tattooed.

    So I took a deep breath, let it out, took my Goddamned testosterone Superman pill, and started to walk a walk, I would remember for a very long time. See, this was about not showing fear. Believe me, ladies, I know what I say. These men could easily kill me, beat me, etc. But that wasn’t it now. Now was to see if the boy could walk the walk. Remember, I told you I was built like a brick shit house. And thank God for me, psychologically at least. These guys hadn’t moved a muscle since I came in. Some on the sidewalks. Some are on the grass. Leaning on hoes. Foot in my way. Chest in my way. You get it. Oh, by the way, the game is played like this: Must stay on the sidewalk. That’s where one would normally walk. Walking around or in the grass is a big mistake. Of course, walking into someone is a big mistake also. Therein lies the crux.

    I walk down the few remaining steps to the yard. No movement but the eyes. They follow me. Test me. Judge me. Dare me. I come up to the first man who is in my way, partly, on the sidewalk. I’m getting pissed off. This helps me. I know where I am, but this intimidating, bully-stuff never set well with me. So, I mumble an excuse me, and do a combo go around (a little), push him away,(a little), and stare at him, (a little.) He says nothing, but there is no retaliation. This goes on in several similar confrontations, but mostly “eye fu..ing” as they say. Although one guy just had to not move and I was forced to push a little more than I wanted. You don’t push as much as take your shoulder and bump him out of the way. I thought things had been going well. One block-two hours. It seemed. Then this guy, and I thought there would be a little trouble. (uh, yeah…I accidentally knocked him over), (oh, BTW, that’s a no-no).

    But who should come to my rescue at that opportune moment? Ronnie R? No, even better. The cell blocks were just huge. All cement. Facing the yard, all one could see was oblong filth. The one I currently was in front of was like that. Complete silence still. Then a BOOMING BIG BLACK VOICE rang out from the empty cement cell block…

    “Hey, hey…I know what you need boy. (Just reverberating and booming in the silence.) You need someone that’s been locked up for a LONG time. Hey, hey.”

    Oh yeah, that just made my cracker-ass day. Then all hell broke loose. Everybody cat-callin’. Whistlin’ what a nice ass I had. You get it. To the clinic. Everybody was laughin’ now.

    Uh-huh? First-day jitters? Tell me about it.

    Casablanca

    And you flick another ash-
    mesmerized,
    her stockings pass.

    Stockings so seemed
    hands in your hair,
    tears…
    not really there.

    Shoes
    just for you…

    Hmm, perhaps
    another glass,
    another year,
    another lass.

    The memory,
    alive again…
    another chance-

    hands in your hair,
    you flick another ash.

    Jimmy Keane

    Played professional football,
    the forties, our beloved Bears.
    Big bear, big hands.

    Sweet, broke man.
    Not broken,
    just broke.

    Entertaining.
    Stories…
    oh, the stories he could tell.

    Best “hrmmph” I ever heard.

    Charm-when he wanted to-
    I’ve never seen better.
    Golf hustler,
    big, life-filled laugh.

    Truly, a man’s man.

    Memories-
    oh, to access them.
    He drifted in and out
    of memories, reality,
    at the end.

    Random brain perfusion?
    Dilaudid induced delusion?

    We all have perfect memory.
    Of this, I’m sure-
    just can’t access it.
    But we will,
    someday we will.

    Dilaudid,

    the dear medical establishment,
    induces random, multiple
    memory trails-not delusions.

    The patient actually gets
    a whiff of…
    eternity,
    peace,
    ecstasy.

    He reached out for me,
    tubes an’ all-
    my little hand
    and his big paw.

    Let me part
    with a little something
    we men, can’t admit.
    I loved this man.

    Try holding the hand
    of someone passing.
    It doesn’t get
    any more real,
    than this.

    The ignorance,
    lifted from your shoulders,
    is almost worth…
    What you miss

    Whenever you said something to him, or reprimanded him,
    (ha ha), all he ever said was-” Ok, Coach.”

    placed in storage

    Closet Bound

     

    Before the full length mirror
    stands the reflection of
    pressing matters.

    Parasitic woman
    presses her dresses,
    lays them in boxes
    alongside her letters.

    Pretty, pretty closets
    stacked full of dreams,
    and the empathy she lacks.

    Sees her future
    much clearer
    through crystal
    liquored glass.

    Parasitic woman
    presses her dresses,
    leaving her messes
    lay.

    From yesterday and before,
    it’s been forever for
    an arm to reach
    the children
    and not the glass.

    Languid mirror
    of narcissistic visions
    without means…

    Still, she presses on.

    The End

     

     

     

     

     

    Innocence must pass

    An Easel and A Quay

     

    My measured stroke seems smaller,
    but quicker by same measure.

    An innocence long squandered,
    as innocence must be.

    Unrolled another canvas
    and sat a new study.

    I thought perhaps she liked me,
    her legs she moved with ease.

    I began,
    but quickly saddened.
    Still, I painted
    the picture bound to be.

    An innocence so brilliant,
    colours that touched her,
    my hand just seemed to know.

    I paid her rather quickly,
    she asked if she could see.

    I smiled but said, “Come later,
    much later in the day.”

    Brushes against the easel…
    the paint had its way.

    Her innocence, those colours,
    splattered across the canvas,
    and tracked the quay.

    I walk a path familiar

    as I see her up the way.,

     

    This piece is fictional.
    Figurative, and fumbling. LOL