My body is my temple
Sometimes forget to remove my dirty shoes
~ occasional cleanup in aisle 13
Wordku: 5-7-5 words
AP: Honorable Mention 2025
In the sand
plastic beach
balls beached
l
e
a
c
h
e
d
into the sand
cleanup
summer season
footsteps
ping
a on the sand
e
l
ecologists
preached
beseeched
o u t r e a c h e d
to teach the reason
of the sand
f
e
l
l
flat
deaf ears
the sea searched
screeched
a silent tear
for the sand
Wave a magic wand and poof!
Try to put the genie back in the bottle
Oops, too late…now everyone’s laughing
More like heads shaking in disbelief
Wear the rough edges of your plan down
With the file still buried in that 34-ingredient cake
A humorous situation, no, a real mess
At the crossroads…freedom & whim
You tore apart the construct limb from limb
Disaster cleanup desperately needed
If we manage to Lego-build back to glory
Too serious of a spoof though
Walking around aloof
Eyes closed on the cloud of a sucker’s wish
Riddled with inaction
No cloud but a chasm below
Anti self-interest fools none the wiser
Footprints walking our snowy, sandy place
The silence, oh, how she makes it nimbus —
The waves unchanged after falling snow crown,
Someone else in you and I; remember — ?
I look for the heart of these ebbing shells.
The cleanup of sea froze to this blizzard.
In my mouth, her hair — tongue stirs minuet
Through silver glitter of ice, nor'easter.
Like a whipped fish hanging onto a dock,
Through a tipping sun in your Aqua eyes,
Like the snow — a chilly buoy's heartthrob;
Will the ocean between us melt in time — ?
Another white wing like frost from seagulls
On frigid beach's body; letters traced —
Within the surf, our names' wipeout; and still
Winter goes without us, in snow and gray.
I'm in a dream,
Peeing into a stream,
A snake peeped out,
Some on its snout.
A frog close nearby,
Came out to pry,
It got some too,
From me it withdrew.
I found it funny,
The way a bunny,
Growled near a tree,
Far from my pee.
Then I woke up,
I rushed to cleanup
Another bedwetting today again.
Dry night in vain.
Has anyone seen a heart,
looking for its owner?
lost mine short while ago
jilted in the third row
before the finale
notch seven, her tally
Has anyone found a heart?
Surely no one wants two
knowing what hearts go
through, unless one takes
them apart, her main feature
from the start --
Please, someone call the Maitre D
with a flashlight for losers like me --
been dropped like popcorn, gummy bear,
paste ponytail clip, fake long blond hair
loudly she laughed, maybe spritz of pee
where Barbie sat, another downed today
cleanup in row three --
Embarrassing, so embarrassing, what will I do?
The things I've done my whole life through!
I'll reverse the hairdryer and vacuum them up.
I'll mix them with the dog food and feed it to the pup.
What a mess, oh, what a mess, I reversed the flow.
Embarrassing things now float around like snow.
I pray to the lord in heaven that nobody sees.
It's like one big gargantuan, embarrassing sneeze.
Old grandpa, silly grandpa, have you lost your mind?
You're as crazy as a coot and a loon, combined.
This is no place for an ancient, befuddled gnome.
We are going to have to put you into a home.
Ebon bafflement descended
from the Sun-bleached sky;
A penumbra of illuminated lies,
this world needs to be reprimanded;
A joyous ballet of obliteration;
Fooled by the doe eyed sweetheart,
they stare into dank rotting art
disguised as impending salvation;
Wearing cheap plastic glasses,
the audience so easily led by a trend;
Commanding naked eyes ideas ascend
delaying the hypnosis of the masses;
Temporarily deprived of the norm,
blindfolds serve as a wake call;
So begins a civilization’s cleanup,
reform is now the one playing hardball;
Magnetic pull of a weary shadow,
that bold charisma brings a brief pause;
Evolution echos a bright ring of applause,
with understated yet monumental flow.
last years leaves
against the fence
warm winter day
I've never been good with things.
Electric toothbrushes need a lot of thought,
Some honey jars
need more passion to open then I have.
Putting things together
is not my thing.
I break easy when mending.
I shine at midnight.
My hands
become as flexible as sea anemones.
Words look from my eyes,
or else I tend to fall in love,
with dead dogs, or roadkill.
By morning I am asleep
in my body again.
Skills scream and flee,
as I stumble towards
their small heartbreaking hopefulness.
I am good at twisting things together.
like knotty ropes and thin threads,
people come to me
(mostly the young and naïve),
Arrive riding skateboards through hilly clouds.
They come to admire, my left-handed life,
soon they turn away,
unconvinced
by my slack grasp upon reality,
with the way I insist that their petty wrongs,
are right ways to go.
I try to lead by example - by failing.
Friends let me off easy,
They quietly
cleanup all the odd bits and pieces
that I could not hammer together.
That list keeps getting longer.
Mass Murderer thought about changing careers;
the chase was still chill, but the cleanup, too hard.
He bought him a backhoe, and oh, what a thrill!
He’s burying bodies all over the yard.
Drip drip drop drop.
Don't seem able to stop
the drips and the drops;
water finding new ways
in, to seep sop, seep sop,
rain has such a watery plop;
slop slop slop slop
without a stop: from the
bottom to the top~ full
empty full empty, in my
living room not a plug
to pull; slosh slosh~ Oh
my God! Oh my gosh!
Till, at last!~ the storm has
passed, heat alone, will dry
my steaming.... So, once more
the sun has won – and now
the joyful cleanup fun. Messy
repair-work can begun (begin
didn't sound right:)) – heaven
knew I long awaited this
vacation, my angel really
needs
a different
occupation.
While assisting a friend in a cleanup project,
Our physical heads united in the worst way.
My friend and I were moving heavy concrete
that had the design of tombstones. Too heavy
to move one of them alone, we teamed up to move
one together. On opposite sides of the concrete,
my friend pushed, and I pulled. As we repositioned
our hands for a better grip, we literally bumped heads.
It reminded me of the, "Come; Stay", standoff in
the ET movie. Love and affection were strong.
Nevertheless, both ET and the young boy stayed
in their own world and lived their own lives.
My wife and I were invited on a paid-for cruise
with friends. There was nothing in me that wanted
to go. But everything within me wanted to stay.
There was nothing more I needed to know.
But I did not know how to tell them so.
When I saw the joy in their eyes, for me
to decline would not have been wise. So, as
my heart was shouting "No!", my head said "Yes".
100222cj
VIDEO: The Old Friends Do by ABBA (LYRICS) YouTube
AUDIO: Listening Version
What Makes Friendship
What makes distance so touchable,
What makes arm wrestling physical,
What makes fun a thing for two,
What makes tears of missing you,
What makes secrets last, insiders,
What makes smiles, to be tear-wipers,
What makes fighting, ugh, forgivable,
What makes forgiving unbearable,
What makes oops somewhat culpable,
What makes cleanup punishable,
What makes laughs, the one-legged wins,
What makes others say, "Not twins?",
What makes saying goodbye really hard,
What makes memories my field of regard.
2022 August 05
*1st Place*
FRIENDSHIP
~~Beata Agustin: Judged 2022 August 08
"Life is way too short to keep
friends that break your heart. "
Quote _by Constance
A fig leaf coverup,
a friendship that was just a figment;
a charade with an ultimate breakup,
for it was a friendship with no pigment.
Evil hidden by a thick cloak,
your camouflage of friendship- I now revoke;
your false mask of kindness has been broke.
Oh, I was blind,
as your charade into my life twined;
you played with my accepting mind.
Now, your ugly true colors are revealed- and I cleanup,
I pulled back this fig leaf figment;
and all tendrils of fake friendship- I choke,
in my life you are now just a distasteful segment.
_____________________
March 29, 2022
Poetry/Rhyme/Fig Leaf
Copyright Protected, ID 03-1444-225-29
All Rights Reserved, 2022, Constance La France
Theme - chosen - Fig Leaf
Written for the Standard contest, This or That, Vol 11
sponsor, Edward Ibeh, Judged 04/22/2022
Third Place
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