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Meerkat Society Majestic eagles soaring in the sky Eat lunch by swooping down to catch their prey, Except if there's a meerkat standing by, Resolved to warn all others: hide away! Known far and wide for working as a team, A meerkat gang takes turns at every chore. Togetherness is how they stand supreme. Supporting kith and kin's what they live for ... Once also our own species, humankind, Cooperated more along life's road. I hope we can rebuild those ties that bind, Embracing what defines the meerkat code: That since divided you are bound to fall, You live as all for one, and one for all! (First published on September 24, 2020 in Grand Little Things and reprinted in the Creativity Webzine on 5th February, 2024) |
Pint of Guinness Perhaps you've dreamt of what there'll be to drink Inside the pearly gates of heaven's wall? No doubt they'll have fine wines there, but I think Their Guinness will be godliest of all! On top you'll see a luscious creamy head Froth over an elixir of dark gold. "Good Lord!" you'll say, "I'm happy being dead!" Upon your lips their chalice will you hold, Imbibing their divine seraphic brew, Not wishing e'en a drop should go to waste. Nirvana's cultured draught will render you Ecstatic as you savour ev'ry taste! ... Suppose you're loath to wait for such delight? ... Some say it's served in Dublin ev'ry night! (First published on September 18, 2020 in Autumn Sky Poetry Daily) |
My Rocking Horse My parents said this horse was best of all. You didn't have to feed it twice a day. Re-shoeing it or mucking out its stall Or making sure it didn't run away Cost nothing from the day they brought it home! Kept happy by its rider near the fire, It never spied a mare that made it roam: No fence was ever breached by its desire! Gymkhanas by the fire attract no flies, Hard-wired to smell out dung on which to breed. One needn't always question what is wise, Regarding where to step behind your steed! So, yes, I never took a riding course— Except astride my tireless rocking horse! (First published in the September 2020 issue of Lighten Up Online as a winning entry to Competition 50: Horse Lines) |
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Figures of Eight For viewers from directly overhead, In shapes of eight a dot appears to move, Gyrating to the left, then right instead, Until once more that dot's retraced its groove. Restricted to this view, one may believe Each circuit leads the dot to nowhere new, So readily one's point of view deceives— One fails to see what others know is true! ... For shifting one's perspective to the side Exposes how the dot can soar and soar: If eights are perpendicularly spied, Gyres make a dot redo what's done before. However, from the side, that dot takes flight To spiral up to ever higher height! (First published on October 26, 2020 in Grand Little Things) |
Pinocchio's Nose Perhaps when Shakespeare said the truth will out, It meant the famous Bard foresaw a day No humans' words could ever be in doubt, Or else they'd feel their nostrils sneak away! Could Shakespeare have supposed an actor's snout Could grow onstage from lying? Like as not, He'd have to make his actor's back face out In later scenes—or modify his plot! ... Othello's tale could have a happy end, Should Iago's nose grow like Pinocchio's: New lines for Desdemona could be penned, Occasioning no jealous-husband throes— Since all deceit would add a nasal inch, Exposing Iago's lies would be a cinch! (First published on February 28, 2021 in the Creativity Webzine) |
Acrostic Sonnet A Shakespeare sonnet's fourteen lines must be Constrained to match its rhyme scheme to a T, Requiring A B A B C D C On top of D E F E F G G. Strong beat must follow weak beat just five times To make the metre perfect. But there's more: It takes a turn between two later rhymes, Concluding with the twist one's building for ... So that's enough for Shakespeare? Not for me! One fourteen-letter phrase must be enrolled Not only as the title, but the key No left-hand side can not display in bold ... Each time I spot a fourteen-letter phrase, This sonnet-writing urge brooks no delays! (First published on February 28, 2021 in the Creativity Webzine) |