Thursday, July 28, 2016

The Idaho Rambler: poem

THE IDAHO RAMBLER

Poor Maw, she tried to make it look
like dyin' was God's will,
but I had figured God, like Dad,
left, moved up to Boville.

I itched to see Shoshone Caves,
Fort Hall and things beyond.
With jumpin' beans loose in my jeans,
Maw called me Vagabond.

Maw went along with all my schemes,
no nag to settle down;
she'd made that blunder earlier--
thought that's why Dad left town.

But step-dad Gayle, he ranted, said
"Book larnin's your best bet
to git a job, a house, a wife,
and learn to manage debt."

His head is full o'notions
and his pocket's full o' Skoal.

I thumbed my nose and went my way,
found work: packed peat at Mann's.
Got tired and quit, but couldn't lose
the stench on my two hands.

I hitched to Preston after that;
we stopped for beer, buffet.
The trucker, he played snooker, pool.
I met a farmer, Ray,

who needed five good wranglin' hands
for cows he meant to buy.
The pay? Four-hundred every week!
(The luck of my buckeye.)

His head is full o' notions
and his pocket's full o' Skoal.

Picked up some gear, reported in;
his wife gave me the creeps.
She sneered, her eyes bored through. Does she
plan evil while she sleeps?

We found the cattle easily
then hell took paradise;
Ray wrote bad checks to pay for them,
resold at market price.

They'd planned a way to save their hides;
we hadn't looked ahead.
Like my prediction, I died young,
gunned down with slugs of lead.

His pockets may be full of Skoal
but 'is back is full of lead.
~~
Devised from a news article back in the early 2000s. Published in HEROES FROM HACKLAND, Summer, 2003, the late Mike Grogan, Arkadelphia, editor and publisher.
c 2016 PL dba lovepat press



Friday, July 15, 2016

Cardinals, cicadas and crickets: poems

Disregard the snow--or if you're really hot, imagine...
 
a break in the heat
windows open to cicadas
and birdsong
~~
 
hidden
in the Virginia Creeper
a singing wren
~~
 
seeing red:
apple feeder, salvia
and cardinals
~~
 
drone of the traffic
close, but unseen
a cardinal's 'chit-chit-chit'
~~
 
crickets still singing
a yellow leaf falls
on my yellow shirt
~~
 
trip to the feeder
hummingbird stops on in-line
wire: cat, child close by
~~
 
 
Tibicen linnei.jpg
Wikipedia image
 
 c 2016 PL dba lovepatpress
 
 




Thursday, July 7, 2016

Back to the 90s - found poems from past Julys

Though this photo is from sis Carolyn's garden, the hydrangea plant in my yard dates back to the 60s. Google Images doesn't have anything I want to republish here, so the hydrangea photo has to suffice.
 
 
1996 - Associated Press article
 
month of rains
a boat to the flooded house
to resuc his cat
~~
 
1997 - news of Belarus
 
Independence Day
changed from July 27
to July 3
~~~
 
1997 - news
 
Palestine youngsters--
nothing to do but taunt
Israeli soldiers? 
~~
 
1997 - news photo
 
children playing
on the anti-aircraft gun
in Cambodia
~~
 
1997 - news photo
 
pickup truck with chain
dislodging tractor trailer
from the anwning 
~~
 
1997 - news photo
 
two weeks of rain
leaning over the sandbags
checking the Ober
~~
 
1999 - news photo
 
John-John's funeral
amid the white-clad sailors
the family in black
~~
 
1999 - Paper Trails, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
 
whipping the young tree
with a rolled-up newspaper
gets the sap flowing
~~
 
1999- Ann Landers
 
the disadvantage
of too many advantages
crippling the children
~~
 
c by Pat Laster dba lovepat press