Xanthippe

ABC WEDNESDAY

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

XANTHIPPE

Are you a Xanthippe? Go on! Admit

You sometimes are.... a little bit.

Don't tell me you are always sweet;

All composed and calm and neat!

Don't tell me you don't ever swear,

Raise your voice or tear your hair.

Don't tell me that a soothing smile

Is, one hundred percent, your style.

When you're frustrated on the phone,

Don't tell me that you never moan,

Snarl a bit and lose your cool.

I'm an angel as a rule;

Everyone says I show restraint

And have the patience of a saint.

Insults? Well, they're never hurled;

I'm almost too good for this world.'

But even I have been known to falter

And prove that even saints can alter.

I've been a Xanthippe once or twice

Although I know it isn't nice.

'A bad-tempered woman'..... it's absurd

To think that's the meaning of the word.

It's quite a gentle-sounding name

For something which only earns us blame.

*

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YOU DON'T SAY!

'Have you heard?'

'What! Where was his wife?'

'Well I never!'

'As they say, that's life.'

'I wasn't surprised'.

'Don't pass it on'.

'I heard it from Elsie.'

'And then he was gone'.

'The same dress exactly!'

'Well, it was absurd!'

'I just couldn't credit it!'

'Don't say a word!'

'The innocent party!'

'It just didn't fit!'

'Well, I never gossip'.

*

'Well, maybe a bit'

*

A Small Tragedy

VICE VERSA

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

asks us to use the words build/destroy and rare/common.

A SMALL TRAGEDY

A common wren decided to build a little nest.

He knew it would be perfect and a cut above the rest.

He furnished it with pretty sticks and bits of this and that,

And in his little partner hopped and comfortably sat.

She laid a clutch of shiny eggs and both birds were delighted.

But, alas, some visitors were due that hadn't been invited!

Two rare snakes came calling; they were looking for a meal.

Birds' eggs, they considered, were utterly ideal.

The little wrens were helpless; they completely lost the plot.

They sat on a branch, just crying, and saw the snakes destroy the lot!

*

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RED CARPET TREATMENT

I've never had Red Carpet Treatment, nor, I guess, have you.

In fact, I think a taste of it is very overdue!

No-one has clapped and cheered me as I've stepped from a limousine.

No-one has ever gasped 'That's the prettiest dress I've seen!'

I've never nodded winsomely at all the cheering hoards

Who recognise I'm special from the way I tread the boards!

They say Red Carpet Treatment began in ancient days

And we have simply aped it with our more modern ways.

When a warrior reached prominence he walked a path of red

That represented blood and all his foes who now lay dead!

Then the railroads in America, with not a thought of blood,

Began to use red carpets when the platforms ran with mud,

Enabling the wealthy to step down from the train

And not be inconvenienced by the miserable terrain.

The colours red and purple simply reek of Royalty

But red is now predominant as we now clearly see.

Imagine a famous film-star having to walk on blue!

They'd throw a little tantrum! It certainly wouldn't do!

*

Flaunting

OUR WORLD TUESDAY

http://ourworldtuesdaymeme.blogspot.com.au/

FLAUNTING

The teasing winds of winter are ruffling our hair;

And the river flows with water that is chill.

On Barrington Tops the snow has fallen and some trees are bare,

Yet the palm tree spreads its fronds as it always will.

 Come summer, autumn, winter, spring and all the days between,

The palm tree is unchanging come what may,

And here we see it lazing in the sunshine on the green;

A touch of summer on a winter's day.

*

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POSITION VACANT

I applied for World Dictatorship

But it has given me the slip.

And that's a pity; I know I'm suited

To being rampant and jack-booted.

I know that I'd have fixed the roads,

Delivered benefits in loads,

And been a generous benefactor.

I would have had not one detractor!

My taxes, always low and fair

Would have given all an equal share.

Rights for women! Equal pay!

Maybe a three hour working day!

Retirement at the age of twenty!

A cornucopia of plenty!

All the citizens fat and wealthy....

(No, not fat, that's too unhealthy).

But everybody satisfied,

With nothing reasonable denied.

And all that I'd ask in exchange

Is nothing fabulous or strange...

Just utter grovelling subjugation

With lashings of 'All Hail!' acclamation;
Coins emblazoned with my features,

Not those of humble, lesser creatures.

And also a natty uniform

Suitably moulded to my form.

I'd have been a great success.

And the world wouldn't be in this awful mess!

*

Seed Beds

THEME THURSDAY

http://www.theme-thursday.com/

chose the topic 'Beds'

SEED BEDS

How, I wonder, do words begin?

We know of beds to grow flowers in,

But who first thought of a bed for plants?

Did the name begin by chance?

Did some gardener planting seeds

See them as living things with needs?

Did he say, as he dug them deep,

"There, little babies, go to sleep.

Rest your pretty little heads

In your very own garden.....beds!"

And did his gardener friend deride him,

Call him an idiot and chide him?

"Beds indeed! How very twee!

They're just holes in the earth to me!

And, when there are lots and lots and lots

I plant the seeds in things called plots."

But 'beds' became the chosen word

And we don't think it at all absurd.

One thing, for sure, is very clear;

There's a lot of power in a great idea.

*

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                                                                                   Norman Rockwell

WOLVES!

Norman dear! (Rockwell, I mean.)

You really slipped-up with this scene.

You labelled  it 'The Flirt'.Oh dear!

Has he got sex-appeal? No fear!

So, if he's flirting, it's rather sad.

He's old enough to be her Dad!

And, if the lady is the flirt,

Then my response is rather curt!

She isn't flirting! That's disdain!

These two men are such a pain!

Rockwell was very much of his age,

When Wolf Whistles were all the rage.

 When pretty girls were supposed to thrill

Even if the Whistler were over the hill!

I see a coin. Is there a toll?

Is paying her fee the driver's goal?

Does he hope to get in her good books

With all those silly leering looks?

He looks quite genial! What a shame

That he considers girls fair game!

In Rockwells time all girls were prey.

But no-one ever went astray!

*

Reality Check

POETIC BLOOMINGS

http://poeticbloomings.com/

asks us to comment on the above photograph

REALITY CHECK

'How odd!', we say, 'To see the world as a little tiny ball!

Why! We the folk who live on it know it's not like that at all!

Our earth is huge, with mountains high and deserts dry and wide

And oceans so far-stretching we can't see the other side.

Our earth is quite enormous! Our earth is big and blue

And we, the folk who live on it are very important too.'

Oh what a deception! Our earth is less than dust.

It's a little wizened crumpled thing with a very uneven crust.

Less than a lolly-paper we spin in the endless black

Hoping that someone, somewhere, may, one day, twinkle back.

And we are the dust on the dust, my friends, that's how important we are.

Sorry to disappoint you! You thought you were on a star!

*

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From a Mad Kane first line

COMEUPPANCE

A man who was proud of his clout

Said 'My rules nobody must flout!'

But I laid him low

When I trod on his toe!

I knew that he suffered from gout!

*  
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PS
Mid-winter in Australia. This is my daughter's little dog, Banjo, rugged-up for the season and not moving far from the fire. Isn't he sweet! 
                

'Wuff!'

Popularity

MAD KANE

http://www.madkane.com/humor_blog

gave us the first line

POPULARITY

A woman was putting-on airs,

Always boasting of all her affairs,

Saying  'I'm so attractive

The men all get active,

Lining-up double-file on my stairs.'

*

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FAT CHANCE!

A couple of midde-aged geese

Were getting to be quite obese.

Said the husband 'My sweet,

We must watch what we eat,

Or we'll melt in a puddle of grease.'

*

Ivory Tower

The Wordle

SUNDAY WHIRL

http://sundaywhirl.wordpress.com/

We are asked to use all the words in the wordle.

IVORY TOWER

Picture the beautiful maiden

Trapped in an ivory tower,

Imprisoned there by demons,

Yet as lovely as a flower!

Though granite walls surround her

She sings a sweet refrain....

'I will wait here at my window

Till my lover comes again',

The sweetness of the jasmine,

The glow from the sunset sky

Are as nothing compared to her beauty,

Though a tear falls from her eye.

At last she hears a whistle!

Her lover has come again!

Riding his ample white steed

Back to his own domain.

My lady's heart is lightened,

She fears not one mishap.

Her faithful lover will save her;

He is ready for a scrap.

What a beautiful picture,

A montage from the past!

Her lover wins the battle

And she is his at last!

*

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THE NEXT STEP

I'm all for marking time

And staying in one spot.

My life is such a pleasure to me.

I'm happy with what I've got.

I don't want to step backward,

Though I found pleasure there;

I don't want to step forward

Into what could be thin air.

Left, right, left, right, marking time,

With no 'next step' at all.

That may be rather wimpish,

But then, I'm having a ball.

*