Canine Behaviour

You say:

you work like one,

want to be the top

and that one day will be yours.

.

You say:

you’re letting them lie,

teaching them new tricks

while you’re really in the manger.

.

Meanwhile

you’re usually sick as one

in this dog-eat-dog world.

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De Jackson, aka WhimsyGizmo, is the host at dVerse and challenges us to write a Quadrille, a poem of precisely 44 words, today including the word “dog.”

I had fun with this one! 😂

Can you find all the canine idioms?

Grief

Alone

on my back

on a stone cold floor

in a grey room

without windows,

without doors.

The air heavy

with nauseatingly sweet honeysuckle.

A recursive reflection 

of insipidly icy casseroles

playing on the walls.

A baby screaming without end.

My mouth filled

with liquid iron — 

sharp, metallic, bitter.

Incessant sirens blaring.

The ceiling falling in slow motion

and I cannot close my eyes.

Let me close my eyes! 

.

Why did you have to go

and leave me? 

Autumn

The peach has dropped her foliage

while the apricot is in no hurry —

one

….. small

………. leaf

…………… at

……………….. a

……………………. time.

.

Each night 

you slip between the sheets

before I untie a shoelace.

Winter

Winter comes

without notice,

muddying the blue sky

with thick grey clouds,

dropping temperatures,

roaring with delight

as people scurry indoors

wrapping themselves in down duvets.

.

He settles in,

encircling our home 

like an octopus,

tentacles in every nook and cranny,

wanting to come inside.

.

And Daddy puts another log

on the fire.

Psalm 37

(This psalm is an acrostic poem, the stanzas of which begin with the successive letters of the Hebrew alphabet. I have tried to rewrite it as an acrostic poem in English. Tough stuff!)

.

Avaricious people are doomed. Don’t envy them

Because they are headed for destruction; they will wither and die like a scorched plant.

Commit your ways to the Lord,

Delight in him and he will delight in you.

Exoneration will be yours, if you put your trust in him.

Fretting when evil people succeed will only hurt you; leave their judgement to the Lord.

Grudges lead to death;

Hope in the Lord and you’ll 

Inherit the land. The wicked trample the poor, 

Justifying themselves; but you give your heart to the Lord;

Know him and his ways and set store by him.

Lying and trampling upon the poor, these things will be turned against those who do them.

Maintain your life under the Lord’s care.

Never yearn after the fruit of the evil; they’ll be

Obliterated by their own folly; but those who follow the Lord will

Prosper and find unending delights.

Quiet your heart in his care,

Rest in the wisdom of the Lord; he is your

Stronghold and salvation.

Turn from evil and do what is good and right.

Unite your heart to fear the name of the Lord;

Venerate him above all.

Woe to those who honor only themselves.

eXalt his righteousness and 

Yearn for nothing but the Lord. His

Zeal is his intense, passionate love to save those He made. 

Father Knows Best

You wanted Jim Anderson as a dad.

Wisdom, warmth, acceptance, love.

A partner in crime, a wide receiver,

a barbecue buddy, the men in the family.

Instead you got a foreigner 

who lay on the couch watching Ed Sullivan,

drinking whiskey, chewing tobacco.

.

Swearing you’d create what you didn’t get,

you got four girls

who wanted Mike Brady as a dad

but got a disillusioned depressive

who sat on the couch drinking beer,

chain smoking

and demanding  

that father knows best.

Scars

They are part of me now —

an abdomen torn

bottom to top,

a chest punctured;

one made to remove

the other to receive.

In winter 

they cry and throb,

lamenting the violence

perpetrated against flesh.

They are mine,

these scars,

an intricate part

of the fabric of my life.

And I name them.

Life

Ever tightening circles

this measured part of eternity.

On the other side,

the spheres continually expand.

Redeemer

God’s not a spendthrift.

Lavishly painting the town red

(without a penny of waste),

his investments

come blooming back.

.

When I am lost

on the bathroom floor,

he leaves the ninety-nine

to find me, 

gathers me up

and reveals

the rose

nestled mid thorns.

.

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Today Lillian’s hosting Quadrille Monday at dVerse and asking folks to write a Quadrille (a poem of exactly 44 words, sans title) that includes the word “bloom” or a form of the word.

Big Numbers

It’s not a competition 

I say to myself

as his reading comes in

perfect and low.

My turn.

I swear 

the numbers go higher

the more I try to bring them down.

I’m the best

at big numbers.

Test scores, 

GPA,

Scrabble.

And now:

BP.

.

Sigh.

Give me that cuff again!