186. Poor Puppet!

FOR ABC WEDNESDAY
'P' photos can be seen on my PLUS Blog.


POOR PUPPET!

A puppet's like a person but he isn't really real.

A puppet's just like people but he cannot think or feel.

He can look like a policeman or a man who bakes the pies,

Or the pilot of a jet plane as it flies around the skies.

A puppet has got fingers and a puppet has got toes;

A puppet has a mouth and eyes and podgy little nose,

But, though the poor old puppet has so many proper things,

It's just a pile of pieces when we let go of the strings.

A puppet can be painted or a puppet can be plain.

It can pop down in a pirouette and pop right up again.

But it cannot eat a pizza or go swimming in a pool

Or play on the piano like a pupil in a school.

A puppet needs a proper person pulling on the strings

When it performs in pantomimes and other party things.

It feels no pain or pleasure it can only just obey,

And its just a pile of pieces when its person walks away.

Extra! Extra!

The cover of our local paper this-morning says it all!

LET'S GET OUR PRIORITIES RIGHT!

There's a little race that's running over there in the U.S.A.

Something to do with Presidents; at least that's what they say.

But the most important race 

Is in quite another place.

It's 

THE MELBOURNE CUP!

'The race that stops the nation'!

Poignant Polka

Terri Moore was a fairly well-known film star 'in my day'. Did she ever gaze at this photograph, in her later years, and sense the melancholy that made me write this poem?

POIGNANT POLKA

Did anyone see her leaving?

The girl in the polka-dot dress?

Seeing's believing

That's true, I guess.

Did anyone see her going?

I looked and she was gone.

And a cold wind was blowing

Where the sun once shone.

The face in the photograph

Looks a little bit like mine.

But there I can trace a laugh,

And, here, a line.

Did anyone see her leaving?

I only know she left.

There's just one word for my grieving...

Bereft.

Did anyone hear that laughter

That hung on the sunny air?

Nothing, coming after,

Could quite compare.

Did anyone see her moving,

The swirl of a passing skirt?

Memory is proving

That time can hurt.

The face that I now see

Is familiar, in a way

But there is the life to be,

And here's today.

Did anyone see her leaving?

I only know she left.

There's just one word for my grieving...

Bereft.

184. Volcano!

This is the final version of my New York friend, Margaret's, print. We've seen it as '105. Jilted', '135. Driftwood', and '174. Bushfire'. Each time I have turned the print 90 degrees to enjoy a different view. Now comes ....

VOLCANO!

The ocean floor was shattered

By an earthquake beneath the sea,

And a miracle island surfaced

Where no island ought to be.

And a passing puffin saw it

And rejoiced in new-born land,

Which came to life in an instant

As if by a magician's hand.

Pssst!

PSSST!

When Margie Higgins came to tea

This is what she said to me....

No, no, no! I mustn't say.

Awful rumours start that way!

She knew I wouldn't  pass it on!

I thought about it when she'd gone.

Very little holds a candle

To a juicy bit of scandal.

To think that snooty Poppy Slatt

Would lose her self-control like that!

Little-girlish and demure!

Just a cover that's for sure.

Saw her only yesterday!

Never thought she'd be that way!

It seems he was covered with tattoos!

What a piece of scrumptious news!

Half her age, or even less!

Any port in a storm, I guess.

Under the boardwalk, too, I hear!

Would I consider that? No fear!

Of course, my dear, my lips are sealed,

But, one day, all will be revealed!
Please keep mum! You must! You must!
How lucky you're someone I can trust!
*

182 Under the Influence!

Yet again she proclaims herself anti-marriage! But don't forget...... I don't write the originals!

UNDER THE INFLUENCE!

When you've been married forty years

Romance is rather rare.

And there are times when you may feel

Your partner doesn't care.

Well, take the case of Benjamin

And his long-time lady, Ann.

There'd been such extravagant words of love

When their affair began.

But now he merely said 'Old girl'!

Which left her feeling shattered.

He very rarely held her hand;

He very rarely flattered.

But one day he was in great pain;

His appendix so they said!

He ended up in hospital,

Coming round in a hospital bed.

He lay there looking woozy,

Which was not a great surprise,

He groaned a bit and moaned a bit,

And finally opened his eyes.

It was then the miracle occurred!

He spoke out loud and clear.

He gazed at Ann and then he said

'You're beautiful, my dear!'

He slept then while Ann sat and gazed

At this new-found paramour.

He'd looked at her and said the words

That she'd been longing for.

Now later on, he stirred a bit,

And once more had his say,

Squinting at Ann he said the words

'You look quite good today.'

"Quite good!' cried Ann, 'Where did 'beautiful' go?'

Ben gave a nervous cough

.'Can't help it, old girl' he stuttered

'The anaesthetic's wearing off!'

Extra! Extra!

Here are the answers to yesterday's quiz.

1. Stewardesses.

2.They become longer-lasting.

3. 1932.

4. Winston Churchill.

5. The shark.

6. The eyes.

7. Dreamt.

8. Three.

9. Palindromes.

10. Leonardo da Vinci.

11. Left.

12. Blink.

13. Peanuts.


(I'm sorry I couldn't make this list rhyme!)