Breasting the Waves

                                      Sarah Gosden-Cardello

MELLOW YELLOW MONDAY

BREASTING THE WAVES

See these brave and balanced fellows

Decked out in their brilliant yellows,

Breasting the waves with youthful vigour,

And willing the waves to grow ever bigger.

The poise, the artistry, the defiance,

With no thought of art or science.

They are as one with wind and weather,

Happy to taste the sea together.

*

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A BASKET CASE!

I was visiting a monastery up on a mountain top
With a sheer cliff face below it and a truly awesome drop
The way up was by basket........ the drop was an awful sight
And only a rope was holding us as we swayed at that great height!
I became terribly nervous as the basket turned and swayed;
It would be putting it mildly to say I was afraid!
A monk was traveling with me so, seeing how we were placed,
I said to him 'How often is the monastery rope replaced?'
When he gave me his reply I really got the shakes!
'We replace it very often......
Every time it breaks!'
*

Wise Eyes

SUNDAY SCRIBBLINGS

http://sundayscribblings.blogspot.com.au/

asks us to write about 'wise'

WISE EYES

The Wise Old Owl is wrongly named,

For which, of course, it can't be blamed.

Human beings have seen its eyes

And then considered it very wise.

It stares with such a knowing stare

We think a lot of brain is there.

Sadly, the eyes are the largest part

Of the cranium. If you chart

The brain of an owl you then will find

There's not much room left for a mind!

All its brain-power is used in seeing

Which makes the owl a brainless being!

If I go round with googly eyes

Will everybody think me wise?

*

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CLANDESTINE

Your husband and my wife are both at home in bed.

And how we love our early-morning walk!

I saw you on the beach over a year ago

And it wasn't long before we stopped to talk.

At first it was all innocent; we walked briskly, on the beach,

Discussing work and hobbies and the weather.

I was finding Elsie dreary; you were heartily sick of Tom;

It was natural that we both felt drawn together.

But then our friendship changed to a deeper sort of feeling,

And now we've started having an affair!

We've been taking lots of chances, meeting secretly in hotels

And we're certain that it's true love that we share.

So far we've kept our secret; Tom and Elsie still know nothing;

The two of them lie snoring in their beds!

And the thought of illicit passion is something they'd not dream of!

They're so dull it wouldn't enter in their heads!

Watch out! That chap with the camera is pointing in our direction!

He's pretending that he's filming the morning sun.

But I bet he's a detective, employed by Tom and Elsie!

I think that we've been rumbled! Come on! Run!

*

Ruined Idyll

GRANDMA'S GOULASH

http://grandmas-goulash.info/

asks us for a VERY short story

RUINED IDYLL

Be aware

That a plastic chair

Can float away

In the bay.

Water's deep!

Do not sleep!

Woe betide

Incoming tide!

Loud screams!

Forget dreams.

(140 characters)

*

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SEEING RED

They gathered in my cosy room,

Escaping from the winter gloom,

Ready to practise for a play;

Another 'gig' was on its way.

I looked at them and 'I saw red'.

I took the photo then I said

'Red is such a cheerful colour;'

It stops the grey from looking duller.

Everyone is cheered and warmed,

Cosied-up and quite transformed

By a ruby's generous glow.'

The others said 'Oh! Are we duller

Because we wear a different colour?'

Compliments sometimes backfire

When it comes to comments on attire!

*

I Remember, I Remember

Margate Kent UK

KELLIE ELMORE

http://kellieelmore.com/2012/08/03/the-street-i-grew-up-on/

asks us to recall the street we grew up on

I REMEMBER, I REMEMBER

Roads were always long in those days.

Now I am old, roads have shrunk.

*

Connaught Road was very long;

The general store lay at the bottom of it.

On Sundays my Daddy would give me

Two great big silver coins

And I would walk, on my own,

Down to the store.

They sold sweets there.

I would buy some Licorice Allsorts for Daddy,

Some Chocolate Ginger for Mummy,

And whatever I fancied 

(That cost sixpence)

For me.

Plus,

And this was the exciting part.....

One of the new Mickey Mouse Comics

As a treat.

One Sunday I dropped the coins in somebody's hedge.

I can remember the long walk home,

Dejected.

There were no treats that Sunday.

*

And the road seemed longer than ever.

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GENETIC MISFIT

Oh woe is me! I am recessive. Soon to disappear from the scene.

For I'm a walking, talking, living, breathing but truly recessive gene.

I look like a human-being, but that is just an act;

Nature hasn't thought me worth preserving. Isn't that a sorry fact.

I am the mother of two children, but they don't resemble me.

I remember giving birth to them, but there's no similarity.

Nature has found me wanting. I'll disappear without a trace.

No-one will ever say, fondly, 'The daughter has her Mother's face.'

They are dark, whereas I was mousy, they are beautiful, where I was plain.

Their faces are completely different; they have a different type of brain.

Both of them are modest people; I'm a show-off, I admit;

They just do not resemble me the tiniest little bit.

To think I waddled round all fatly, and then went through the childbirth stuff,

Then nurtured them both for eighteen years. Wasn't that enough?

No, 'the survival of the fittest' has simply cut me out,

I find I'm having to ask myself 'What's Motherhood all about?'

I suppose it doesn't matter. I suppose I shouldn't care

That descendents, looking at photos, may say 'Who's that woman there?'

Oh woe is me! I am recessive. Soon to disappear from the scene.

For I'm a walking, talking, living, breathing but truly recessive gene.

*

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Compass

POETS UNITED
http://poetryblogroll.blogspot.com.au/


COMPASS

There was a time, in ages past, when men looked at the stars.

They worked-out their directions from Jupiter and Mars.

And now we've got the GPS, that whispers in our ear,

And tells us, with authority, that we've got from there to here.

But, in between, the compass was a wonderful device;

It pointed out the North Pole, which was full of snow and ice.

From that it wasn't difficult to seek out East and West,

And even South, if it happened to be the way that we liked best.

I'd never have thought of reading stars, or inventing the GPS;

As for thinking-up the compass, I could do that even less!
I simply benefit from brains that have bravely led the way,
When I want to get from Manchester, via Chad, to Mandalay.

I have no sense of direction and so I'm most impressed

By people who understand it all and seem to pass each test.

How fortunate that clever people, pinnacles of perfection,
Can take us dullards by the hand
And point us in the right direction!
*
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SUMMER REMEMBERED

The sun floats palely in the sky

The breeze is brisk and cool.

This picture from  last summer

Makes me positively drool!

Beside his golden ship of dreams

The lone lake-watcher views

The water stretched before him.....

As he readies for a cruise;

A cruise to far horizons

That lie across the way.

I wish that it were summer now!

It's wintry today.

*

Relay Rhyme

ACROSTIC ONLY

http://acrosticonly.blogspot.com.au/
Prompt A


RELAY RHYME

An Acrostic Limerick

Regarding the running of races
Every runner is put through his paces.
Lag right at the back
And they'll give you the sack!

You'll find out how awful disgrace is.

*

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SIGN PLEASE

Please sir, I'd like to be a ghost.

How long have you been dead?

Only a minute or two milord.

And do you feel full of dread?

On the contrary, I feel wonderful!

Ready to have some fun?

I've always fancied haunting.

No sooner said than done.

Can I choose my own methods, sir?

Well, there are limitations.....

I've got some wonderful ideas!

Not too many complications!

I'd like to drag myself along.

Right! I'll supply the chains.

I'd like to penetrate the woods!

And how about country lanes?

And I'd like to sort of mumble.

You can if you add a groan.

But I want to be original!

I won't let you be a clone!

I thought, maybe, I'd grind my teeth!

A capital idea!

And then I thought I'd whisper threats.....

Ha ha! In each shell-like ear!

So do you think I'll make the grade?

I think that you'll do fine!

What's the next thing I must do?

Just sign on the dotted line.

*

The Rose Rose

WE WRITE POEMS

http://wewritepoems.wordpress.com/
asks us to join two meanings of the same word with a verse

THE ROSE ROSE

Rose.

With petals colourful and curled;

Most popular flower in all the world.

It started as a little sprig,

Looking shy, not very big.

It spread its tendrils far and wide,

Up and up and side to side.

It's thorns developed for protection

As it chose its own direction.

It then looked up into the sky,

Wondered 'Can I reach that high?

Up from the earth, like a candle, lit,

The bright flower blossoming as it

Rose.

*

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RICH AND FAMOUS

(Written at the height of the scandal)

For most of my life, I must admit,

I daily yearned for Fame.

I longed to be that wonderful thing

A universal household-name.

I felt the little life I led

Just didn't amount to much,

And I admired the Rich and Famous

Very, very, very much.

Being a teacher seemed so drab;

A cog in the machine;

Teaching others to be famous,

If you know what I mean.

The wealth part didn't attract me;

Diamonds aren't my line;

If I wear a plastic necklace

I feel absolutely fine.

But Fame was quite another thing;

I fantasised at times

Of how I'd make a living

Performing my little rhymes!!!

Pam Ayres was my idol;

I was jealous, I admit,

Of her books, her laughing admirers,

Her comedy and her wit.

But daily life took-over;

It all remained a dream;

I stayed in my 'cog' position,

Not part of the wider scheme.

But, now that I am eighty-one,

And just an old-lady wife,

I realise that, maybe,

I've had a fortunate life.

Since I never had a Rise

I've never had a Fall;

I'm accustomed to being a Shorty

Because I was never Tall.

But 'How are the Mighty Fallen!'.....

We see that every day;

I'd rather end my life as me

Than in the Rupert Murdoch way!

*

P.S. I'm sure Pam Ayres still has her feet on the ground and is ageing gracefully!

*