Tag Archives: Poets All Call

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My Big Brother from Another Mother, Bob Kabchef, shared my poem “vapor trail” with his readership today, prefacing it with a description that tickles me: “The guy’s a veritable volcano of virgin verbaciousness.” Thing is, though, volcanic though I may be sometimes, I owe a lot to Bob throwing title prompts at me, during a weekly event that I produce for our Facebook poetry group Poets All Call. Yesterday he offered a bouquet of titles, three of which were

Eloosive
Pasta your prime
I never knew that

Funny how the mind works. “Write a poem, Gary” will yield brain fog, confusion, and unproductiveness. But “Write a bunch of poems using these titles, Gary” and I am off to the races. I cranked these out in less than an hour.

Eloosive

The loosely-jointed burglar
Squeezed thruogh the junkyard’s crevices
A dog much like a murderer
Was also on the premises
A silent lethal frothing beast
With much adrenaline released
His mission: see the thief deceased
But Burgle-Man was wily;
The challenge made him smiley.

He topped a mound of carcasses
Of Ford and Studebaker
The doggoe climbed sans barkuses
To make the thief meet maker
But slipped on chrome, an effort-ender
The thief said, “Thank you, Freddy Fender!”
He knew the dog would change his gender
If given half a chance;
Best leave this scrappy dance.

The thief slunk out of sight, and grabbed
A carburetor, slinging
It to a heap away, which clabbed
And rung a tone for zinging
And Hellhound was beguiled away
And our eloosive thief ran très
Vite to the fence and up, to sway
Atop, and yelled “Yoo Hoo,
Au ‘voir, O Doggie-Poo!”

Pasta your prime

One minute on the microwave
Another on your lips
A lifetime in your fat so brave
Engirdling your hips.

The pasta you so willfully
Devoured in your youthfulness
Metabolized so skillfully
And vanished, in all truthfulness,

But as the decades drift on by
We slow, we stroll, we’re no so spry,
And pleasures stir and goodies fry
And sing a glutton’s lullaby

Inveigling in its rhyme,
Your ribs are Pasta Prime.

I never knew that

I never knew that
Nor did I know this
Nor the other thing
But it’s not for lack of trying

And sifting through
A lifetime of Thisses
And all those Thats
And the host of Other Things

For that particular That
This specific This
And the like-no-other Other Thing

That we all wonder
And whisper
And worship
About:

This Unknowable
That Indescribable
Other Thing
On the Other Side.

****

Many thanks to my Big Bro Bob, who is a fine and expressive poet in his own right!

Three Titles from Genevieve

February 23, 2021

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Inktober 17: Feat

October 25, 2016

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Inimitable Socorro

May 6, 2015

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My last blog post, “A Ten-Poem Day,” included a scrambled-up version of the above portrait. i’d originally planned to switch images if and when Socorro gave me the go-ahead to post. now, though, I’m inclined to give Socorro a post of her own.

About eight years ago I saw an Internet ad for a social website that said “Under 50 Need Not Apply.” I was 52, and a site for over-50 folks sounded good. That site was the late, lamented eons.com. It was my first experience with social media. I didn’t do Facebook till much later.

One of the first things I found was a poetry group called Callling All Poets, which Socorro had created. I joined it and loved it, participating enthusiastically.

Her username on Eons was Pajarito. We called her PJ. She was, and is, encouraging, uplifting, and motherly. Not for her was the deconstructive critique, nor putdowns of any kind. Anyone wanting input on their writing need only ask; it would come by private message if potentially embarrassing.

Of course, a few times people joined who didn’t subscribe to the ethic of encouragement and uplift. I remember two in particular. One was scathingly sarcastic; the other one was a legend in his own mind who wanted us all to benefit from his superior approach to poetry, and no other approach would do. Socorro dealt with them both with honest directness, first with a warning and then with the classic heave-ho. She has always stayed a nurturing course.

And when Eons foundered, Socorro took us to Facebook. Now we are Poets All Call, 70 members strong.

I’ve written hundreds of poems expressly for Socorro’s group. It is a nice nesty poet’s haven. And she is a wonderful leader and friend. I’ll always be grateful to her.

A Ten-Poem Day

May 5, 2015

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Today, as most Tuesdays, I conducted “Title Tuesday,” wherein I supply five poem titles for the Facebook group Poets All Call, and anyone who wishes may take a title and run with it.

The deresolutioned drawing above is of the originator of Poets All Call. I sent her an instant message asking her if it would be OK to post the drawing but I have not heard from her. If she says Yes, I’ll put the resolved image next to the deresolutioned one. If she says No–but that is moot. She said Yes.

She is a leader in the best possible sense. The group is full of encouragement and camaraderie, and we all feel free to post challenges. That’s how “Title Tuesday” got started, in the eons.com based percursor to PAC, which was called Callling All Poets. (The three ells in Callling–that’s not a typo. Long story.)

In addition to posting titles, I invite group members to post titles of their own. Two did, five each. Before the afternoon was over I wrote poem #10.

I close with the poems I wrote. Thanks deeply to Socorro, group leader, and Genevieve and Denise (yes, that Denise) for the titles.The titles are in boldface.

is it the same one

love came a knockin sunday last
and i ast
“is it the same one as ’71
to ’79 and then over&done?
is it a heart-stoppin reely big dealie one
or will its stripes change jus like a chameleon?”
i knew the answer but blowin off steam
helps tell the diffrence tween substance n dream.

love and a river are never the same.
no one is praisable. no one’s to blame.

“well, love,” i then said,
“so bare is my thread
that i cannot afford all the knee squats n lunges,
n concrete awaited who’ve taken the plunges,
so scuse me for turnin around on my heel.
there’s no room for argument, wheel nor deal.”

some love’s sound and some love’s fractured,
some love’s true, some manufactured.

that was sunday. tuesday’s now.
there’s a heartache, i avow.

the love arrives unbidden
the love leaves traces deep
some scars are seen some hidden
some fantasies won’t keep
but we are not contriving
when sweethearts win our love
with waking-so-aliving
and feeling like a dove.

[silence]

[quiescent hum]

the windswept waltz

let us Dance to the Tune of the Amber-waved Breeze
let the Rustle of Wheat make us Weak in the Knees
let the Shiver of Wavelets make Ripples of Hope
and let Two windward Spirits join Souls and eLope.

(chorus)

the Waltz it is Windswept from Hither to Yon
and all Love and all Kindness is Windborne of Dawn.

if our Burdens are Many and Riches eLude
and the Path we must Take has turned Rutted and Rude
we will Face what will Come though our Cloak-cloth is Thinned
and look Forward to Respite on Welcoming Wind.

(chorus thrice)

Morning Star

A sliverous shard of near-New Moon
Tops the predawn horizon. It is a bow
With invisible pulled string and launchable arrow
Aimed by an invisible archer, Diana, huntress.
She aims

Not at the Morning Star, her recurrent companion,
But at consuming Sol whose blaze might engulf them both.

Might becomes Does.
The Morning Star, defeated by superior candlepower,
Disappears against a blue-becoming sky.

the crumbling criterion

it’s a bird
it’s a plane
it’s . . .

well, it’s what appears to be a human being
white male six four one ninety
wearing spandex in primary colors
with a symbol on chest and cape
and airborne with no visible means of support

and he was conceived by a boy and a boy
jerry for jerome and joe for joseph

the criterion was “super”
so first they made his skin hard his legs strong
and the rest of him strong as well
later “super” extended to everything from flight readiness
to gusty freezing breath

“super” may be short for “building superintendent”
or a prefix meaning “big” or “above” or “greater than”

had it not been for friedrich nietzsche
and then adolf hitler
two jewish kids from cleveland may never have given us superman
and such is the power of psychic alchemy
for hitler’s criterion “super” crumbled
and jerry’s and joe’s grew
truth justice and the american way
strong

seasons

salt the spring
then pepper summer
allspice takes a fall
the winter frosting sugar spun
as fabled revels have begun
unto a sprigged unlumbered wall
zing- &
hum-for-
all.

replacements

slice & saw & splice & sew
that’s a brand new knee you know

laptop tablet kindle nook
pulplessly transcend the book

online order flowers
click on st john’s wort–ship
who needs drugstore hours
who needs old school courtship

boots on ground make blood and bones
send in clowns and add the drones
what’d you say? they’re headed here?
nice knowing you. [they disappear.]

One Too Many

Battles of wills do
Make losers and winners
Wars head for hills too
That spark over dinners
Tempests may toss one
From teapot to street
Dustup and loss one
Admits in defeat
Heavy the heart is
Yet beats in despite
Lesson in part is
To win, do not fight.

inky fingers

as a reef is coraled
so a finger’s whorled.

as a soap is sobby
if it is your hobby
to mix ink with brayers
better say your prayers
sure as zings the slinky
fingers will get inky.

as a topping’s fudgy
paper will get smudgy.

as a playboy’s flirty
you will feel so dirty.

like pacquiao after drubbing
you will need envigored scrubbing.

hard to get hands squeaky clean.
don’t you panic. this will mean
no one’s perfect. you may borrow
inky pads for fun tomorrow!

The Colors of Possibility

Sienna and Umber raw or burnt promise
A communion with the earth.
Pthalocyanine blue delivers wintry chill.
The oxides may take you to a lumberjack camp,
So make sure alizarine crimson goes with you as well
For shirts and spillage.

Sky pilots seek the cerulean.
The lead-white-faction risks all for the creamy clouds
That titanium white fails to deliver.

And yellows are tricky. The possibilities
Often elude. Cadmium
Seems to necessarily include
Adulterants. Get your Naples and Lemon on,
And no matter what your painting teacher told you,
The possibilities are not endless
Without Black.

May Be Nothing

That little roughness off the shoulder
The pinching sensation when flexing forward
The premonition the distant wail
That undeliverable mail

A stain that won’t come off a plate
Scratching at 3:28
Dizziness when walking slowly
Dumpster odor full unholy

May be nothing may be little
May be supple may be brittle
May be stumbles may be slips

May be the Apocalypse

To Noah Webster, Socorro Solis Olsen, and My PACpals

October 18, 2014

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Today my good friend and Leader of the Facebook Poet Pack, Socorro Olsen, clued me in on an article about words Noah Webster had in his pioneering Dictionary. The article had a word for every letter in the alphabet, and also mentioned his popularization of Americanisms such as squash, skunk, hickory, chowder and applesauce. I had a great deal of fun getting familiar with the words and their meanings by writing this poem with at least one of the words in each line. NOTE: “PACpals” refers to the members of the Facebook poetry group Poets All Call, which Socorro created and in which I enthusiastically have participated for years.

To Noah Webster, Socorro Solis Olsen, and My PACpals

Uptrain us, please, O Webster, N,
We Yoke-mates need our fun.
To bloom and Vernate well and then
Trill Zuffalo and pun.
Though Xerophagy leaves us dry
And makes us Maffle oddly,
An Ear-erecting noise awry
Makes Kissing-crust more godly.
And we may Sheep-bite from your words
Though at first Tardigradous,
No Rakeshames, we, just avid nerds
Whose Babblement’s unmade us.
Such Hugger-Mugger came before,
And now we, After-wise,
Won’t Daggle-tail the couch or floor
With Packthread o’er our eyes.
We may choose to Obambulate
To gain Longiquity
Nuncupatory deals relate
To Wranglesome decree.
Illaqueation sets the trap;
A Quadrin we don’t need,
Our Cycopede will cut the crap
For Fopdoodle to cede.
No dummy, no Gastriloquist,
Just ham on wry Jackpudding,
We’ll Squash the Applesauce, then twist
The Skunk tail, would-should-coulding.