From A to Z

                  From  Google

COLOR CARNIVAL

FROM A TO Z

See how creative you can be

When you're designing an ABC!

Pencils.....yellow, orange, red....

Each with a most unusual lead.

Someone's carved with the utmost care

The alphabet that we see there.

But I'd love to know the history

Of these old pencils that I see.

The metal bits have received a chew;

I can see the tooth marks showing through!

The erasers have been used and used,

Some quite rubbed-out and abused!

The coloured paint has been chipped and scraped;

Not one pencil has escaped!

What tortured tales each one could tell

Of  the pupil who never learned to spell;

Of the lover who couldn't quite design

Anything better than 'Please be mine';

Of the criminal with ill intent;

Of the debtor when the money's spent.

See the writers in a row

Biting, chewing, writhing so!

These pencils are a compilation

Of every human situation.

Forget the clever  ABC!

Here you see human history.

*

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REINCARNATION

(An Acrostic)

Round and round humanity marches

Emerging from eternal arches

In an incessant catch-up game,

Never escaping praise or blame

Can it be you've been courageous?

Are your sins just too outrageous?

Rated! That's how you will be!

Neatly labeled A.B.C.

And can you bear to face the fact

That this wont be the final act?

It may be you'll come back a bug

Or a slippery slimy slug!

Next time I do this earthly tour

I'll watch my Ps and Qs for sure!

*

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PS

Another happy melodrama day yesterday. This time we had our full complement, but a smaller audience.... a group called 'The Retired Friends'. They seemed a little subdued at first but they soon entered into the spirit of the thing with a will and were qute prepared to make fools of themselves at our instigation. They plied us with tasty sandwiches and cake and fruit afterwards. We have performed 'Unhand Me!' so many times now that I think the play may have to be retired!

Four extremely lively 'dead bodies'!

A special one for Ross who played the 'Virgin' very realistically.

Me adjusting 'Poor Old Peg's 'shawl.

Better Off Me

POETIC ASIDES

http://blog.writersdigest.com/poeticasides

asks us for a 'Better Off' piece.
and
THURSDAY THEME
http://thursdaythemesong.blogspot.com/

BETTER OFF ME

To be sung to the tune of 'What a Wonderful World'

Though I've had my day,

And I'm old and grey,

I look around and then I say,

From what I can see

I'm better off Me.

There is too much rain

And too much snow,

Too much wind when cyclones blow.

From what I can see

I'm better off Me.

See children in the school-yard

With things to learn each day!

Then see the poor young parents

With all those bills to pay!

See folk over the sea

Looking grim on TV!

That's when I'm glad

That I am Me!

Now I'd like to be

A Sweet Sixteen,

Be an eternal Dancing Queen,

But, since that cannot be,

I'm better off Me.

From what I can see

I'm better off Me.

*

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HISTORY REPEATING!

In my younger and more vulnerable years my father gave advice

That I've been turning over ever since.

For I've been forced to think of it far more than once or twice

Though, at the time, his wise words made me wince!

My father said 'Be a teacher! They're never unemployed!

In a Depression there's always work to do.

(I think he saw me bridle; I was really quite annoyed.)

' Jobs a that time were like diamonds; there were very few.

Why! I worked right through the thirties! I was never on the dole!

I took a cut in pay but that was all.

We always had enough for meat and rent and bags of coal,

While many workers' backs were to the wall!'

'Depressions' I said 'Were in YOUR time! This is nineteen-forty-nine!

There's so much work about we have a choice.

We modern people know that we have worked things out just fine!'

(I think a touch of scorn was in my voice!)

Still, I became a teacher as our parents' words were law,

Though I didn't really think of it 'for life'.

'Something else in the future' was just clutching at a straw!

(I'd be a famous writer or a wife!)

And teaching was quite pleasant. Why! I even had a flair

And many days were way, way more than 'nice',

But I sometimes felt a niggle for I felt it wasn't fair

That I'd been given so much dud advice.

But, recently, came the Credit Crunch and things were looking bad

And unemployment loomed, and jobs were few

And I said to my teacher son (an echo straight from Dad............)

'Teaching is great! There's always work to do!'

*

Affinity

THREE WORD WEDNESDAY
http://www.threewordwednesday.com/2011/03/3ww-ccxxx.html

'affinity. fidget. mention.'

AFFINITY

I feel a great affinity with women of the past;

Those brave souls who took the flag and nailed it to the mast.

Their suppression over time, over the centuries,

Their suffering and servitude, their painful histories.

Those clever women treated as the utterly inept;

Those women who just married and then were merely 'kept'.

They would fidget under the stupid rules that kept them second class;

Their treatment as just ornaments, which made their lives a farce.

Their brain-power wasted over years; their physical strengths ignored;

Mentally chained to kitchen sinks, while all the time their spirits soared!

Not to mention their hard-worked bodies, with children every year!

Could I have been a Suffragette and overcome my fear?

I think I'd have lacked the courage and merely toed the line;

But I thank them for the freedom and respect that now are mine.

*
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MADONNA BLUE

Stained glass windows in a wall
Inconspicuous and small,
Blue surround and decoration
With a mood of adoration.
As a choir we sang that day
And, when we were on our way,
I saw these little windows gleam,
With their strong Madonna theme.
I thought how comforting was blue;
Such a very soothing hue.
The elderly could sit and gaze
And think sweet thoughts of earlier days.
While shafts of sunshine pierced the air
And brought some gladness to them there.
An old-age home, quite sad, it's true
But softened with Madonna Blue.
*

Wanted!

WATERY WEDNESDAY
http://waterywednesday.blogspot.com/

WANTED!

Wanted!

 To make this scene complete

A nymph who'd like to dip her feet

In waters calm and cool and sweet.

Where are you?

*

Wanted!

A female in undress,

Willing to flaunt her nakedness,

And swim among the water-cress.

Where are you?

*

Wanted!

A blond with long, long hair,

And lots of attributes to share,

Who's not afraid of going bare.

Where are you?

*

Wanted!

The final finishing touch

To reeds and weeds and rocks and such;

I don't think that I'm asking much.

Where are you?

*

Without a lady in the nude,

This pond looks all too plain and crude.

Oh dear, oh dear! You are a prude!

Who needs you?

*

*

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THE DISH OF MORNING

Illilangi! Long ago,

We stayed there for a day or so.

The real world lay there far below

And shone at dawn.

The avocado trees deep green,

And all the other trees between,

Conspired to make a magic scene

That seemed reborn.

*

The cockatoos flew from the trees,

Borne on a eucalyptus breeze,

And we took breakfast at our ease

And eyed the view.

In front of us the tree-line dipped,

Maybe deliberately clipped.

And still we sat and still we sipped!

As dreamers do.

*

And many years have passed since then;

It could be nine, it could be ten,

But I'd love to go that way again

And see that dish.

That dish that held the morning light!

That contrast that was golden bright!

Those cockatoos in flashing flight!.

Yes, that's my wish

*

Gumshoe

ABC WEDNESDAY

http://abcwednesday-mrsnesbitt.blogspot.com/

GUMSHOE
(An Acrostic)

Guessing..... as a foreigner..... that gumshoe means 'detective'.

Unless, of course, Google's got it wrong (but can it be defective?);

Masculine Humphrey Bogart was certainly one of these;

Sultry and mysterious, but always sure to please.

However, did he wear soft shoes? That hasn't been made plain.

Obviously I must look when I see his films again.

Every country has it's slang; this was unknown to me.

But, if we were all alike, how boring it would be!

*
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HUMMING A HAIKU

Light fractured in splinters

Rainbow released

Flutter and hum in the light.

*

A Complex Situation

MAGPIE TALES

http://magpietales.blogspot.com/2011/02/mag-55.html

chose the illustration

A COMPLEX SITUATION

(A story that calls for prose.)

I hadn't any choice. She'd broken a promise, and that was that.

Of course, I should have been used to it; after all, I was forty-two, and, in all those forty-two years, I have never found anyone to be reliable. Someone would pretend to be my friend, but their hatred soon revealed itself. Everyone was out to get me.

It started when I went to school. Other children always chose the pencil I wanted,  just to hurt me. As they took it from the pencil-tin they would look me in the eye with utter hatred and triumph. Over the years I grew to expect 'that look'. Everyone I met was out to get me. Every day I woke up in a sweat wondering whether today would be the day I was stabbed in a dark alley, pushed under a train or just......looked at.

I never got a job. How could I, when all possible employers looked at me and decided to 'cut me down to size'? How I loved that phrase! It summed it up so well. The whole world was trying to 'cut me down to size.'

In the end I was just another vagrant on the street. Even then, 'they' were out to get me. Those poor, gaunt creatures would try to grab my one blanket, my stolen crust, all the while looking at me with hatred.

But She was different. She was a large, blousy woman in a tasteless dress who brought us sandwiches and tea at night. 'Motherly', they called her. She would actually talk to me! 'I don't judge anyone' She once said. I began to feel I could trust her. 'I have a spare room' She said; 'Come home with me and I'll look after you'. It would be so good to escape persecution, I thought.

'I promise you I'll never harm you' She said. And I believed her.

But my relief only lasted a few hours. I wandered into her kitchen that first night. She was cutting -up a lemon. 'I do like a squeeze of lemon with my fish' She said. 'Don't you?'

Oh, it sounded such a harmless little phrase. But the knife was in her hand and I could tell from the glint in her eye that She wanted to plunge it into my flesh. How that woman hated me! And how She had fooled me! She shouldn't be allowed to get-away with it. I grabbed the knife.

I hadn't any choice. She'd broken a promise, and that was that.

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DAZZLE-DARK

Here, in the dazzle-dark of day,

Between the shadow and the shimmer,

My arm encircles the moment.

*

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PS

Life has been rather hectic lately. We enjoyed Mike's final few days with us and here are the flowers he bought me, along with a gift token, as a parting gift. Lovely, aren't they. As I write Mike is high above the clouds on a 36 hour journey to his own front door...... and chilly weather. He'll be pleased to hear that, in Newcastle, the temperature has been about 35 degrees today, culminating in a storm

Yesterday we put-on another melodrama. This time there were only four of us available, so two of us had to play five parts! Olwyn played the two men and I played the three women. We had a large audience and they were very vocal and enthusiastic.

Here are two members of the audience hamming-it-up as Villain and unwilling Virgin!

And here is my lovely friend, Caroline, who came along to play the tape. She's not a member of the group (yet), but she stood-in for members of the Probus Club, who were all at a meeting.

                                      

  And, today, the Choir has performed for Malcolm's Club. I slept for two hours when I got home!

*

Success!

RUBY TUESDAY

http://workofthepoet.blogspot.com/2011/02/ruby-tuesday_28.html

PROTESTATIONS!

Red is a rousing colour that Protestors often use!

When it comes to placards it's it's always in the news.

Here are two young ladies setting off to join a rally

Intended to stop a project, the damming of their valley!

Maybe a dam is needed and maybe it is not;

A water-supply is needed when the weather's dry and hot,

But pristine countryside is doomed; there are many broken hearts,

And many different opinions register in the charts.

These young ladies have a viewpoint and a valid one, I'm sure.

They have the right to speak their minds. Long may it endure!

*
Later
I can report they had success! They, and every other supporter,
Prevented the building of the dam, the flooding of farms with water!
I still don't know the rights and wrongs, the politics of it all,
But it's good to know, in democracy, the voice that's  heard though small.
*
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RASPUTIN

 

Would I have fallen underneath his spell

As many did in Russia long ago?

His was a tale that folk would tell and tell.

His was a name that everyone would know.

Of his first forty years there's little known;

Except that from rough peasant stock he came.

He married, so he did not live alone;

And yet to monkish powers he made a claim.

He seemed to have the power to heal the sick,

And people flocked to listen to him speak.

But was this just a very clever trick

He used to fool the gullible and weak?

He heard the Tsar's son lingered near to death

Hemophilia was this poor boy's affliction.

Rasputin somehow stayed his final breath!

The drama was as great as any fiction.

Because of this strange act the people thought

He must be holy, free from any taint,

And all the high and mighty in the court

Began to view Rasputin as a saint!

He had a way with ladies, so it's said;

Although he never learned to read and write.

And many found their way into his bed,

Meaning his soul was not exactly white!

His influence began to grow too great;

In politics he often took a hand.

He acted as adviser to the state

His 'wisdom', more and more, was in demand.

Three noblemen decided he must go!

They planned his death discretely as they could.

The Tsar, of course, was not allowed to know;

He thought Rasputin wonderfully good.

His death has puzzled everyone for years!

With poisoned cake and wine he first was fed!

Imagine all their terror and their fears!

The victim didn't writhe or fall down dead!

So then they shot him, but he still survived!

So they pushed him in the river, under ice!

Was ever there a murder more contrived?

But at least Rasputin now had paid the price.

What he was, for certain, we're not sure.

A healer who was just misunderstood,

A holy man who had the power to cure,

Or a villain, quite the opposite of good?

But I wish that I had met him face to face;

Would he have had an influence over me?

I like to think I'd have put him in his place!
Then I'd have earned a place in history!
*