Tuesday, May 24, 2005

Outside the Box

Think Outside the Box

You know how people are constantly saying 'think outside the box'?
I realize there are very few boxes I fit in to begin with.
I'm not a smoker.
Not a doper.
I'm not vanilla,
I'm not a drinker,
I'm not conservative.
I'm not Republican,
I'm not a super model.
I'm not a housewife.
I don't define myself by my children.
I don't work in a cubicle.
I'm not an athlete; I'm not a tweener.
I'm not a country girl.
Nor am I the girl next door.
I'm not a crackhead, a hooker or a midnight toker.
I'm not a trekker or a trekkie.
I'm not a computer geek or a hacker.
I'm not Mrs. Robinson.
I'm not a zealot, a cultist, or a Christian.
I'm not a vegetarian, a Presbyterian or an aquarium.
And I've met so many pagans that are drug fiends, I'm not sure I even want to say I'm pagan.

Copyright fzh 2005

Monday, May 16, 2005

Leaf Frogs

Camo

Leaf frogs in ten colors
Squat in petrified ambush
Snapping up crickets

Friday, May 13, 2005

Raggedy Man

Raggedy Man

Once I met a raggedy man
His name was Peter Jay
He’d knock on doors collecting rags
From dawn till end of day
He’d take them back to his old grandma
She’d cut them into long strips
Then she and ma would braid them
Round and round they’d go
And make a rug as big as a horse
From pieces of old calico

Peter Jay the raggedy man
He’d go from door to door
His bells a’ jingly jangling’
Around his belt so worn
The housewives would drag out their old rags
Tied up in threadbare sheets
And sometimes they’d give him a biscuit or water
And beg him to sit and rest his feet

Peter Jay grew old and gray
His back was bent from toil
But he never grew no beans nor cotton
Or made no olive oil
His garden was a city full of rags and scraps
His Ma would make them into rugs and hats and bags and sacks
The braiding would go round and round
Until the work was done
Then they’d sell them in the market
Under the summer sun

Peter Jay he is no more
I haven’t seen him in many years
But I still have that braided rug
And my grandkids love it dear.



Copyright FZH 2005

Another poem, same word list

Tweener Summer in Albuquerque


Remember when we tied a string on a June bug
We never worried that it might stress the poor thing out so
Then the boy next door always trying to moon Doug
And I would obsess over that uptown boy Joe

And then Doug put that snake in my new purse
And chased my Manx cat Moot up that old oak
Then you pretended you were a waitress and served cake and I was a nurse
And Cliff caught that bullfrog that was such a beaut, no joke

Then Cindy put on her mom’s Garbo hat
And we would put on a play like we were movie stars
And the boys would tease that old hobo that was fat
On the last day I saw Joe and Cindy under the monkey bars

And he gave Cindy a rhinestone heart bracelet and acted like her man
And I was so mad I poured his smelly cologne all over his Dad’s van

Copyright FZH 2005

This poem used the same word list, but the words were used as internal rhymes.
June
stress
moon
obsess
snake
moot
cake
beaut
Garbo
play
hobo
day
rhinestone
cologne

Thursday, May 12, 2005

Dancing at the Crystal Moon

In this challenge, you were to write a poem using the word list below and keep the same rhyming pattern as the word list.



Dancing at the Crystal Moon

Her name was Sally but he always called her June.
Though their affair caused her stress,
When they danced the foxtrot at the Crystal Moon
If was for her he would obsess.
But when he got home he felt like a snake
Even though his marriage was moot
He wanted to eat; yet still have his cake
But June was such a buxom beaut.
With her creamy skin she reminded him of Garbo.

He snuck out that Friday to take her to a play;
He felt like some sort of lurking hobo,
Sneaking out of work in the middle of the day.
He brought her a ring with a big rhinestone
And splashed himself with cheap cologne.


Copyright FZH 2005


June
stress
moon
obsess
snake
moot
cake
beaut
Garbo
play
hobo
day
rhinestone
cologne

Saturday, May 07, 2005

We live life in slices. Posted by Hello

Portrait of Living Room

Portrait of a Living Room in My Middle Ages

I live in my living room.
It’s never tidy.
It’s either somewhat cluttered, very cluttered, or ‘when did the tornado hit’ cluttered.
The radio is playing ‘Lean on Me’.
There is the oscillating fan & the new TV; all that’s left of my mother’s last days at the nursing home.

There’s the iron sitting on the ironing board; not for clothes mind you.
My boyfriend is using it to iron words onto arrow shafts.

Then there’s the baby dragon coming out of its egg.
I made it by painting on a gourd, and it’s still sitting on my folding wooden table, perched on a soup mug, until I make the clay nest for it to sit in.

Wallop the cat is snoozing on the couch nestled between The Poet’s Companion, a dozen arrow shafts rubber-banded together and my blue carry sack for my dragon needlepoint that I’ve been working on for at least 3 years.

The upright piano I’ve had since I was 8 has seen better days. Covered with the plaster chess set I’ve been meaning to paint for 20 years, and two snow globes; one of a clown and one of a dragon. The fake flowers I hate that show off the black glove vase I painted. Two new photos of me looking presentable in their black cherry frames.

The didgeridoo I’m making out of 2 snake gourds that’s shaped like a giant saxophone.
I can’t finish it because I can’t decide if I want to paint it with petroglyphs or a wizard.
I can’t play it without spitting all over myself.

The 2 couches friends gave us covered with Celtic print bedspreads so the cats won’t shred them.
The Oriental rug I bought at an auction for $200.
I had to wait until all the bidders had run out of money so I could get the price down to where I could afford it without cringing.
Black Bob the cat resting with all four paws tucked under his body so he looks like a black Roomba with a tail.

The stuffed shaggy white dog on the bookshelf with Rachel’s sequined red, white and blue collar. The dog is perched precariously on top of books
and next to a tower of tarot decks from my days as a psychic.

The belly dance bin with a veil spilling out; still sitting there after a belly dance student told me she wasn’t coming back. I lent her a veil and I guess I never learn, because every time I lend something to someone they never come back. Seriously.

The fairy plate I painted when my friend worked at a paint-it-yourself pottery shop. She died of cancer at 27 but the plate lives on in a way that only inanimate objects can.

The white angel votive candleholder wrapped in my red crystal rosary sitting on the piano keys.
Try as I may to keep the piano ready for playing its covered with stuff 99% of the time.

Did I mention my hermit crab? He’s the biggest one I bought. He’s the last survivor. Did he kill the other one’s for food? When the cats startle him he jumps back inside his shell with a thud.

My two wooden practice swords for sword fighting. I never could afford the real thing.

Well, I’ve learned two things:
I collect dragon objects.
Broken dreams leave skeletonized remains all over my living room like a shrine to creativity.