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639 · Mar 2014
3 days of rain
betterdays Mar 2014
there is a softness
to this,
the third day
the sibilant rain drifts
down,
to blur the world's
definition,
and soften the crust
to a malleable mire.

i sit outside on,
the front verandah ,
in woolen jumper
and watch the horizon
dissapate and the waves
become tired and grey.
after three days,
there is, no fury,
left in them.

the steam, arising from
my cup,
mingles with humid,
misty bretheren
and the birds cry
mournful.

plate, the treefrog,
revels in the rain.
his bass profundo
decrying the need for
waterlove.

all else looks for shelter
in the soft indistinct frame
of three days of rain.
plate is the name we gave to
a green tree frog who lives in the garden he is the size of a bread and butter plate and used to have a girl frog we called saucer but she has gone and he looks for froglove every rain
639 · Jan 2015
bumbling....
betterdays Jan 2015
in the house of bumbling,
frogs jump sidways
to avoid the talk
tense
with the things
unspoken....

in the house of bumbling
birds mime joy in silent cages
waiting for  life to smile...

in the house of bumbling
ants march in straight lines
hugging the walls
leaving poisoned crumbs
behind...

in the house of bumbling
the lizards no longer lounge
but busily repetitively clean
the cowebbed dark corners

in the house of bumbling
spiders have no parlours
****** no flies
they now knit cardigans
and read the words
of the wise


oh the house of bumbling
is a place of curious wondering
and sometimes is found
stumbling
in the reccesses of my mind

where and whence
it goes
when not residing with me
i do not know...

perhaps you may have
the delight
of the house of bumbling
staying the night
and removing the seriousness
of the plight

the one in which
you fight boredom
in the dark reaches
of the lonely night....
just some wordplay...
at work...
random word selected by
choosing book page line word  ie pick up a book go to page 117 count down or up to line 8  across to word 5
that word the theme or central word in your poem
in this case the word was
bumbling....such a delightful
word....
give it try.....it is a great writing exersice...especially
when feeling unispired.
638 · Apr 2016
Dear Bill
betterdays Apr 2016
Just a note
to say, thanks
for the many years
of enjoyment

when I first met you
I will admit I found
you a dry and boring
old stick

It took a while to get the knack,
to be enamoured with your style

but once converted, I was, a fan
and read you by midsummers night
in and out love, through tempests
and battlefields, with friends, foes
and witches,
on balconies, in shoreditches.
upon islands where all seemed familar
but in such a confusing way.

Through battles and histories
fact and fanciful.
I walked withyou and  
your word play
at my heels like a dog...

sometimes with clarity
and sometimes befogged.

Your words dear friend
have so often been apt...

Tho I sometimes wonder
if you knew the effect
your scrawl would have
as you sat and wrote
making it up as you went along,
I wonder if you thought your
words  were whisperings in a wind
there....and then gone.

And now you are famous,
world reknowned.
A bard no less
with the Globe at your feet

Yet to me you are a friend,
your words comfort, and inspiration
in a world unstable...

So again I say,
Thanks for the plays
the sonnets and things

it made a difference
more than you know

but just to let you know...
I still haven't got the knack
of writing in iambic flow....
Napowrimo2016bd
638 · Aug 2016
M.....is for.....
betterdays Aug 2016
mesmerized by minutiae
am now a mermaid
on the mainland
mindlessly milling about
without
control of musclebound legs
both manacled and free

minor mishaps and major setbacks
mirror the inside maniacal mentality
currently managing me

making frankenstienish manners
a mockery of the model citizen
I purport to be...

mild dyslexia, myopia, melancholy
hormonal changes,  missing ******
mindless weeping....throwing spanners
and all manners of fits
.....not to mention drooping bits....

madness beckons, second...seconds
each day an adventure in
crazed endocrinematic revelry

so tired and weary,
living the life of bleary wide eyed misery

good news though...
those in the know
say it only lasts
for three to five years

menopause.....give three flippin cheers

mercy...please
638 · May 2014
the vigil
betterdays May 2014
sitting by your bed
waiting for the waiting
to cease

my, heart a lump,
within my breast.
watches for your beat
barely discernable and frail.

so many things left unsaid
misunderstood, misread.

but there is love
mother to child
child to mother
there was love

you fade, each breath
a small farewell
each tear i shed a plea for
forgiveness
as i wait and witness

there is love and forgiveness
here carrying one home
and another to release
a burden .... forgiven.
written for a friend whose mother passed away... posted with her permission.
in hopes it may comfort others
betterdays Jun 2014
have spent this morning,
counting and measuring
thoughts.....

they are like,
little exotic birds,
that have been caught,
in an ornithologist's net.


are there enough,
or are they in decline
do they have enough
weight,
will they fly,
if, or when,
i let them go?
or will they wander around,
in circles.
dragging, a broken wing
behind them...
will they sing, a cheery heart-warming song,
or will they, croak and caw and cackle.

or will they,
fall lifeless from the net
and lie, dead on the ground.
to frail, to cope with having,
been caught, counted and measured.
betterdays Dec 2014
"She speaks poinards and every word stabs"*
Much Ado About Nothing
                            Shakespeare*

Her voice, a silken cord,
wrapped around your neck

Her intent, harm,
a slow lingering death
by rememberance
of her disdain....

By the point of her tongue
You are lanced,  again
and again.

You would not think her
an asassin....
of the highest decree,
as she sits prim and proper,
taking tea.

But stray from the narrow
path she sets..
and slow scandulous death
will beset you.
Make no mistake...
She is out to get you.

Her tongue a poinard,
Her mind, a machination,
camouflaged with coy,
polite inclination.

Her body, allurement to
ambuscade.
And then the death of
a thousand cuts begins.

Be you male, female
or mixed gender
she does not discriminate
the sharp tongued assassin
lives to win...

To cut you down, slice by
slice, by slice..
That is Madame Gossip's
much loved vice.
as part of Frank's wonderful challenge...
i took this line from Shakespeares Much Ado..
(i have been preparing text for summer residential schools)...and applied it's eloquence to the queen bee
problem my niece is having
whereby shechas been targeted for obe of those whispering cyber bully campaigns by her local queen bee....fortunately
she andxhercgroup of friends are smart enough to not become victims.
but it made me think on words as weapons...and thus
this offering....
636 · May 2014
sunday morning dreamin
betterdays May 2014
slept in
awoke to the smell of pancakes
and the sound of little blucat purring.

sun shines through
scattered wispy clouds
is cool enough for slippers
and fluffy robe
but not yet a wood fire.

kitchen table set with
vase of camelia's bright pink
and snow white blooms
my boys busy flippin hotcakes
i pour coffee, and sit to watch....
this is my utopia.....
......as long as they clean-up
636 · Apr 2014
monster hour
betterdays Apr 2014
little boy and little
cat blue,
roar around the hallways
during the monster hour.

the man mountain
lumbers behind
in frankestein pose
intoning
"the tickle man comes for
you....
the tickle man cometh,
to tickle your rickles,
and grasp your giggles,
and eat your toes!!!"
in his deepest basso
profundo.

momma, sits on the couch
in a zombie like pose
as she waits for the clock
to wind out the hour

and in the kitchen
the caulldron bubbles
with "brains and veins"
on the go.
brains and veins = spagetti bolognaise
man mountain= dad/ben
momma's a zombie from one too many academic meetings today
634 · Jun 2014
from me to you.
betterdays Jun 2014
it has been, some
seven months
since i started writing
here seriously..

before that a couple
of bread crumb poems...

so this i would like to say...
to all who care to see,
this place,
has become a sort of
nesting place, a home
of the thoughts, that
rattle around inside of me.

i feather it with words
strung together,

some like, gaudy paper chains.
and some threads of a deeper colour, grey, black, indigo blue...

some have the scent
of  an autumn morn,
smokey, salted and crisp, some of musk and lover's after bliss
others sweet reminiscent vapours, wafting from my past...
a few of, the little blucat
and his human toys.
most of love and life,
and the blessings,
that are my boys,
pebble and rock
oak and acorn...
my hope and daily joy...

i string these threads
and weavings up..
for all to come and see
and to those who do
i will for ever grateful be.

i thank you for giving
my words wings to flutter
and fly about...
thank you.... all who read, follow and comment....
it is a wonderful thing... to have your voice heard....

i have written elsewhere,
but find the community here, wonderfully supportive... so thank you
634 · Apr 2014
little bit o' love
betterdays Apr 2014
you and i
my dear one
have seen
so many
things

have taken
steps both
back and forward

have laughed
and cried
in many places

you have heard
my heart race
and watched me
sleep.

you know all
my secrets
but still
mysterious
you hold
your origins
within
the blue
twinkle of your
eye.

when we first met
for me i was
enamoured
instantly, lustful
of your graceful
beauty.

i had to have you
spent my last coins
but you were mine.

your glass so dusky
blue
washed by a million
waves.
encased in silver
filgree  
and a oak tree motif
hand linked chain

you are my luck
my blue oak
bought almost  
thirty  years past
worn most every day

i feel naked undressed
vunerable
if you are not with me.

just a chunk of sea glass
to some
to me
loves repository.
holder of memory,
rememberance and hope
napowrimo day 7
prompt: write a love poem
about/for an inanimate object.

my sea glass pendant
bought with the last of my
first grown up paycheck
28 odd years ago.
still one of my most prized
posessions.
633 · Apr 2014
morning.....now!!!
betterdays Apr 2014
the disquiet...
of the morning,
awakens me....
the magpie's squabble...
the wood pigeons.... cloying...
.. cooing love song..
the raucous, cacophony... of
the kookaburras ....as they sort out .....todays..... territorial hierachy...
........... all proclaim
morning has ......broken
.......in a sleep shattering... way
but... still ...today.. i try to eke
out ......a few more winks
....a few more.... .....moments....
of.... semi-conscious bliss
oh! .......... to .....close ....my eyes
and ....dream some more...
....but no!!!..... the cat
........is having
....................none of that.....
the birds are up...
and he........ housebound....
is hungry..... hungry...***..
633 · Sep 2014
fishing lessons
betterdays Sep 2014
"we are learning to ...
fish in the river of sorrow"*
Faith Sherien

this has been a year of
hard lessons.....
of trying,
again and again,
to perfect the the cast
to catch, cleanly,
the fish of loss.

to split it open,
and seize it's innards...
the stench, the messiness,
the ichor, the guts.

to scale the skin,
rough, cutting scales,
little tear shaped discs.

to eat of the flesh....
chewing, chewing, chewing
on the hope of afterlife.

and picking the bones clean
of delicate, delectable memories....

hard lessons,
too many this year,
yet all a part,
of a fishermans journey....
down, the river of sorrow.
632 · Apr 2014
Gundagia Blues
betterdays Apr 2014
The verdency has long been bleached from the grass.
It is now hollow straw and chaff.
It soughs and rattles it's
sorrow in whispering distress.

The livestock, ***** smudges
of skin and bone.
Stand listless, under the stick
bare branches, of the ghost gum .
Waiting for the rumble
of the feed truck to come.

The dust swirls, red fine
and irritating to skin and eyes.
The only creature to thrive
are the buzzing horde of
flies.

The bore pump clanks to life
and the water allotment
flows.
The sheep arise and drink
the trough, bone dry.
Before resettling into hungry
repose,
under the white ghost gum west of Gundagia.

This is drought, this is the
wait for rain, this is the daily
struggle, the farmers lonesome refrain.

All but the sturdiest stock
sold, shot or long gone dust,
to the unforgiving heat. Nuturing the best,
saved from starvations
questing hold.
To rebuild the farm
and complete Job's test.

After the rains have come,
all will be good again.
And if they don't come.
Doesn't matter, soon we'll
all be dead.
written after a conversation
with farming friends.
632 · Sep 2014
the precepts
betterdays Sep 2014
gotta be like
aesop and his fable
slap a moral
on the table

talk about
old slow poke
tortiose on his hike
up against a speed freak
hare' barely all there
acceleration to spare
race don't seem fair

just a joke

but then the hare/rabbit
dagnabbit!!
takes a **** of
the green
juju.....whoohoo!!!
and when he awoke

the race was done
and the slow poke
helmut headed amphibian
had won...

hare standing  around
stunned
tortiose doin the happy,
i shined your ***!!!
shell shuffle

that enoughful......

yikes!!!

this is harder than
it seems
like interpereting
dreams

better,
start again...
find a new refrain
gotta make an
original stain
gotta use my incredible brainy, brain...

bring a new flavour
new story to savour
not some tired old jam
not for this poetry slam

so here goes
follow the flow
stay in the know

don't be a facsimile
a sad printed copy
take the high road
and write a new load
of out there, boxside
originality!!!

be one with totality
up at the mountains peak
where the angels speak
to those,
who have time
to listen.

one word, one world
glows and glistens
that word be, free
that word be LOVE
and love be liberty
to a soul broken

so the morale of
the day
freely give love away
as truth,
not a carnival token

the wise old woman
(yeah that be me)
now has spoken.

done now with
her word spin
done now

gotta go do
as she say
take some action

go give a nobody
a kind reaction
some hugular compaction

be a friend
to the friendless
the possiblities
endless
let charity
have a say

go on now
be one your way
631 · Apr 2015
mulch
betterdays Apr 2015
Today,
I am leaf...
fallen to ground.

Both life and death...
at the base,
of winter's barren tree.
Napowrimo2015
prompt : Landalay,
a couplet of 22 syllables.
630 · Apr 2016
ingrained
betterdays Apr 2016
table grain
worn to
soft smooth flannel
under many hands
bleached, bleached
to opaque memories
of tree

stories held within
each cell
birds at nest
leaves in flight
each year
slow deaths
new lifes

now repository
of tableware
keeper of daily cares
slab of timber
dressed and washed
bleached, bleached
still somewhere within
the memories stir
of breeze and rain
the touch of feather and fur

tea ring stained,
and portwine blurred
babies teeth marks
gnawed into wood...

taken from place to place
granfa's table, time for grace
grace and memory
clear the table time for tea

do I remember these things clearly
or is this just fantasy
629 · Apr 2014
minnows
betterdays Apr 2014
words swim, now
like minnows,
against a tide.

sleep beckons, now
like warm autumn leaves,
with a clover scented  breeze.

dreams invite me, now
the thought,of soft cotton
pillows, excites me now.

now i have, a need to be,
sombulant and snoring,
no longer poring and
pining
over,
so many  poetry lines,
so many poetic thoughts,
so  exquisitely fine.

now i must, allow,
the words to recede.
and succumb to the body's need.

so to bed i must, now.

for tomorrow,
again i read,
diversity in talent

but the same,
in overall breed.

g'nite poets
and thank you,
for narrating
the wonder of
my dreams.
napowrimo day 25
prompt; write a poem using
anaphora(the repitition of a word or phrase)
left it so late, to write, so the tired, but thankful and anaphoric rambling, is what you have....
629 · Mar 2014
The Day of Sue.
betterdays Mar 2014
She stood,
at serene attention,
her frailty forgotten.
face made alien,
to most, by the nature
of the disease.

Oh! but the smile,
beamed lighthouse bright.
as she brought forth her
frail hand,
to recieve the parchment
paper. Her Doctorate.
The soft hat glowed,
velvet, indigo blue,
in the autumn sunlight.

The crowd that had, expanded to twice it's normal size,
for just this special person.

Stood in a wave of love.
and the graduation day,
became,

The Day of Sue.

As we whooped and hollered and stamped and clapped,
the tattoo, of our loving respect.
As tears streamed, unchecked,
down one thousand faces.
She beamed and bowed
and left the stage.
One last time.
this was hard to write,
my friend and mentor Sue
recieved an honourary doctorate from the university where she works
and truly the whole crowd stood and cried she is a most
beautiful person and beloved teacher and mentor to many
she has terminal cancer
and the university wanted to
honour her contribution.
she taught theatre studies
this was her final university
commitment.
628 · May 2014
war(hiaku)
betterdays May 2014
tidemark sandcastles,
beleagared by waves
of white horses,
the war... lost.
626 · Jun 2014
tea leaves
betterdays Jun 2014
as the tea leaf's
sacrifice
their essence
to the swirling hot water creating
a glorious steam

i look at the camelia's
pink green and unruly
next door.
i can't help but, think.
they are in serious want
of deadheading....
625 · May 2016
the protracted art of dying
betterdays May 2016
airs and graces
made up faces
hide weary bones
and holey souls

plastic smiles
haven't seen you in awhile
as internal insecurity riles
the faint heart murmurs
in these desolate piles
that have run,
far too many miles


pacemakers racing,
cracking casings,
death dicing,
panic rising,
polite ruses,
for the aged muses
pacing this,
social green mile

daily shuffle, kerfuffle
as dark winds ruffle
the blue rinse perms
and only partially muffle
comments snide
about bottoms wide,
perkless *******
and unholy rests,
of these none too
permanent guests
at this palace of
mortality and malice.

end of hours
visitors gone
wilting flowers
and dinner gong
release the  nurses
put away the purses
slump and sway
end of another day
keeping the old foe
death at bay

granny nightie,
thoughts now flighty
with pins in hair and vacant stare
fervently wishing to be anywhere
wishing for some one to be there
but knowing, life's just not fair
when you've grown this old
knowing that each day is a dare
each day a gem sometimes rare
but more often gravel  
yet, better living than stone cold.
tho stone cold.....but without a care


here I stand,  I sit, I lie,
thinking dark thoughts
on the protracted art of dying.
This poem is written from direct thoughts and nuances taken from speak  to a group of elderly people, that my theatre class and I visited as part of a research project for a piece of reminisces drama we are working on.....
625 · May 2015
need......
betterdays May 2015
need to write
something
to soothe
my soul...

write now of
skies, the perfect blue
of the smell of salt
tantalising on the zephyr breeze

write to ease
a heart so tired
so mired
in daily crud
so stuck in this viscose mud

need a day
far away
from the
maddening

a day in the green
and verdant places
see no other faces
hear the stream
make it's way
from source
to sea

need a day
to follow path
to pond's
to be tickled
and embraced
by young palm fronds
to watch nature thrive
need this badly
to survive

need a day
to recover me.
625 · Mar 2014
colour me blue
betterdays Mar 2014
colour me blue
                     ........now,
                             ..not ***** or lewd or suggestive.

colour me blue
                  ...... now
                                ...not glum
or gloomy or...  
                        woebegone.

colour me blue
                   .....now
                          ... not cerulean or beryl ...
                         or cobalt...
                              ... not indigo or ultra marine or azure

colour me blue
                       ....now
                                ..... agave tequila blue     ....now

                  please bartender....

colour me  blue.
624 · Apr 2014
churchmice
betterdays Apr 2014
bring the pizza,
pour the beer,
turn off the phones,
draw the blinds,
lets pretend,
we are not here.

we will be as quiet,
as mice in a church.
eat in the dark,
put the child,
early to bed.
mute the tv.
make love slow,
and silent,
lit by it's flicker.
before we dance naked,
one for the other.

eat cold pizza,
and drink warm beer,
with no one knowing
we are here.
623 · Mar 2014
specimen in a jar
betterdays Mar 2014
to be a speciman in a jar
inspected from all angles
not freedom,
no hopeful view
inspected for your shape,
your feelings, your i.q.

to tip and tap scream and
yell for help to free oneself,

to pace cyclically while the beat of
your innerclock ticks your
precious time away.

to watch the watchers,

hear them whispering,
gossiping, laughing,
pointing at you,

curled feotally, as far as
possible from the incessant
view.

to want one thing,
but have another.

to desire,
to emire oneself
in a,
crooked point of
view.

to be confused, restrained
by sundered synapse,
or
fixated on rythmn, numbers,
rhymes in order to get through.

to be  black ink stickmen,
in
an ink black room,
with a black dog,
chasing you....
growling out doom.

to be living a hell private
and encompassing while,
working  in uniform
oh so neat.

we are one and all,
the specimans,
incomplete.

the glass jar is there,
for
all who stumble in defeat.

....to be a speciman
in a jar
judged for ....



is a living death,
a soundless living hell

a far cry from heaven,
more an automated shell
walking, moving, talking,
exsisting.....
             in a jar...
                        ..... on a shelf.
with a big nod to, miss plath
and her bell jar.
but also from personal experience
622 · Apr 2016
fambily
betterdays Apr 2016
treeshaper and huggiver
lived a life of comparative luxury
on the sandedge of the whale road

knowledgespinner lived with them
they were three, happy souls

in a comfortbox, with a nannexe
for  lifeknitter as she gathered
her olderyears...

they had two furlings
one tuxedocat, who hunted air
one longdog with boundless energy
and little understanding.

they did daily things,
but were happiest
when daily things,
were done
and the could
be together as one

fambily..
a kenning poem of sorts
622 · Jun 2015
tis
betterdays Jun 2015
tis
tis
a
shade
past the middle
of
the night

tis
quiet
with the
exception
of the pulse of
the waves
and
your breathe
whispering in
my ear

tis
time
for
all good and sane
people
to be asleep

yet
i
am
awake
pondering
life's
questions
and
eating a mandarin,
juice
bursting with citric
sweetness
running down
my chin

tis
slightly
absurd
yet
slightly
decadent
staring
into
the depths
of the night
with the
taste of
mandarin
on the tip
of your tongue

tis
one
of this
insomniac's
quiet
joys

tis...tis...tis
621 · Aug 2014
how to make...poetry
betterdays Aug 2014
let go the words
like seeds,
to the vast and
windblown
sky

let them settle,
where they may.
some may flourish,
take root and be...

a happy little flower,
a great oak tree.

some may lay dormant,
until the right season.
some may become,
a life's new reason.

some may fall
to ravening birds
some may fall
ans flourish
yet never be heard.

and sadly some may
wither and die...
without ever understanding, why....

we as poets,
truly are,
just the sowers of seeds.

to the winds....
to the sky,
let your words go,
let them fly...
to some say, adiue
see you soon.
to some goodbye.

but let them be...
borne on the wind
...to make poetry
inspiration from the last line of dedpoets
"dedpoet"
a truly great work...
thanks for the inspiration.....
hope you don't mind the borrow.
619 · Aug 2014
dyi art
betterdays Aug 2014
mango yogurt, spilt

down my indigo t-shirt

cotton, fruit, abstract art
618 · Jun 2014
just a little inkling
betterdays Jun 2014
there it was,
sitting in the
tiny rainbow room
of my brain,
you know,
my joy's broom closet,
just behind the third eye.

was an inkling,
it was just a little one,
of an effervescent poem,
written with the love of silly.
it was born from,
the smackerel of hunny
held so stickily in the bear's paw(maw).
the one that lives
on the corner,
and is always looking
for more

it became then,
a twinkling.
it was growing you see,
expanding in girth,
learning of mirth,
the art of the funny.
it was begining to be,
the notion of an idea,
all perpertual motion
and fuzzy with glee.

it bursts forth from,
the closet and into the
brain,
in a wizzing, fizzing, ball,
too hard to contain.
around and about,
it ricochetted.

trying to find
a small pocket,
of spared thought
in which to fit
and sit for a while,
to cogitate it's
self into an amusing,
musing,
of rude and unseemly
health.

but alas and alack,
it could find no berth
in the banality,
no perch for it's caprice.

wrinkling now,
with the loss
of it's earlier gleam,
it suffers from
a bout of hysteria
and screams in futility.

please, let me  be,
a thought, complete
and in context.

let me, not suffer,
the fate of being,
just a half arsed dream.

it can see, no worse fate
for an inkling,
with some gumption.
to wither and die,
as a mere
whimsical fantasy.
with, proud and lofty thoughts, passing on by,
with not nary, a glance
in the direction,
and little to no,
compassion,
for the fate of
the poor inkling.

that once ,
had delusions of granduer.
far above, it's humble station.
618 · Jul 2014
it's all so beautiful...
betterdays Jul 2014
i enter,
entranced,by the aboreal entrance of the lush and
verdant place,
in which you
choose to exsist
the mist, smelling of
earl grey tea and
ginger cakes.
beckons,
me forward,
thru the curlique trees,
with lemon and limedrop
leaves
and drifting clouds of,
bright sunshine flowers.
in my wake my footprints
become little ponds with
goldfish toes.
ahead, i see you,
all shades of green
swinging,
lacksadaisically
to and fro...
in a hammock,
on a hummock,
between two aged, sandlewood trees
and in your hand,
you hold an island
of purple sand,
and polka dotted,
umbrella trees.
at your feet,
a crooked street
of pastel, pixie condo's
all curves and swerves,
with mushroom roofs
and teardrop windows.
your voice,
like that, of a finely,
strung cello
sings songs of welcome
to my jubilant heart
and i stop and think
you are a curious fellow.
i sit myself down,
with care
for the pixies fair
and soon fall asleep
to the lullaby of the aforementioned cello....
...alas when i awake
your no longer there
and i wonder if
you were,
just the aftereffects
of too much cake....


.....but wait
did i just hear
a pixie,
giggle,
a smiggle
up there,
behind my left ear.


...i so hope
              that i did....
                                don't you?
surrealist, freeflow
with a nod to the beatles.
617 · Apr 2016
sea soul singing
betterdays Apr 2016
sisephean soldier *****
roll sand into spheres

seagulls sqwauk and swoop
for skerricks of sausage rolls

shaggy dogs bark and snap
at shifting sand and seas

dolphins dive and swing
throgh wave tips in a secret synergy

and out in the depths
whales sound and sing
with solemn  voices
617 · May 2014
ten n'two past three
betterdays May 2014
ten n' two past three,
my mind slips from it's
domesticated fetters,
flys free into the star stitched night..

wandering, effortlessly
to climes of restless insanity
and step-stoning away from
garnered life.....

....it finds the scurrying creatures,
hovel featured and scrawny
eyes ......beggars @ the feast.
tired of the hide-away life...
wanting just a moment's grace.... a smidge of light...
pickpockets of slumber's ease.
abram, palliard, mendicant.
all asking for alms to ease their plight...

all.... wanting succour in the dead of night.
.....yet, at this time,as the darklight,
thinks and hopes desperately for dawn...

....i find my mind poor.. ....careworn and a cupboard bare and paltry...

...so again my night's thoughts . ..wend their way home hungry and sad....
black and grey wraiths,
of thoughts...... i never really had....
another freeflow insomniac
ramble.....when the upper mind is tired....it's restless children come out and play...
617 · Jun 2014
god suite(#3)
betterdays Jun 2014
looking for unique
consider the platypus, god's blueprint for strange
617 · Apr 2014
half
betterdays Apr 2014
half formed thoughts,
half finished lines,
breakfast  half eaten,
left on the...

half asleep,
half awake,
half dressed child,
starting today...
a mistake.

let us rewind,
to, when we were
all still abed.
then when the alarm
rings out
snooze it
pretend we are dead
at least to this
half made greyest day
and turn away
from this half formed mayhem
of  harried reality

go back, go back,
to the land of dreams
for today,
the better choice...
no half sown seams to burst,
hems to trip on,
clothes, that will not zip,
the zip on that set of pants that i must fix
no bad hair, no external rants,
about work incomplete,(half done).
no thinking rude thoughts,
about stinking heat swelled feet.
just cool linen,
pressed against my tired cheek
.. and an island
deserted... with cool breeze
and
a fridge with filled with
chocolate eclairs
and iced coffee ...
a big squishy chair...
utopia ....
see i am halfway there..
but
halfway here also
and the bell has rung.
time for these...
half @rsed musings to be done.
phones to answer, emails too
reports to analyse, lectures to
prepare,
here i am
half an hour
into the day
and already...  way..
too tired to deal....
so position.. my clock hands... at..
half way past... i don't care.
this, an older piece, but suits the mood
still not particularly inspired
616 · Aug 2014
beyond myself
betterdays Aug 2014
it's past midnight
and my thoughts is just
fuzz, lintballs and
cotton candy
rolling around like
tumble weeds
across a vast and barren plain
that purports to  a working
brain.
i am so very far beyond
myself that i am forgetting
who i am....why...

it is grant writing season
and i have used my quota
of words ...

so just visualize
something wonderful,
off to the west over there..
while i sleep over under
this tree here....
and if i am quiet enough, maybe i will come back,
to me.

then the carniva,
will begin again
tommorrow...
sonetimes real life is
such a grind...
thiswas me last night, writing freeflow...now
add one more day of writing
academic and theatrical jargon.... and see me sitting
slack jawed in the corner...
just don't poke me...truly
i might bite..or just begin to drool...
616 · May 2014
war(hiaku)
betterdays May 2014
tidemark sandcastles
beleagared
by waves
of white
horses,
the war is lost
616 · Jun 2014
entire & intact
betterdays Jun 2014
*******,down, sue
even from the grave,
you suprise....

i open the door to a knock,
two delivery men.
one burly, one stout,
stand on the threshold.
with a letter and a box.

the letter, from your solicitor
said.....
this is your bequest to me....
okay, i got a box of stuff....
nice, but then i read more...

you have bequeathed to me, your office, contents.
entire and intact....
the delivery men ask me where i want it put...

i say in the shed out the back
there....
so now an hour later...

33 boxes , computer, desk office chair, three foot mask
making block, and  various
posters, painting prints and
other items of theatre practitioner's paraphenalia,
sit in piles,
ordered and hapahazard,
in amongst ben's benches, tools and lathes.

and me,
i sit in, the old red leatherete, institutional,
easy chair,
holding the sack of paper and teabag infused garbage,
that came with your office.
entire and intact...

i am both laughing,
at this absurdity
and sobbing at the fact....
that this office,
will evermore,
not have,
the integeral piece,
that makes it whole,
....entire and intact...
for you my friend
....are gone
and not ever....
coming  back.
thier is a largesse in this gift
i cannot explain....but also a wicked sense of humour....
so very much my friend sue..
616 · Jun 2014
sweat
betterdays Jun 2014
one beaded drop of sweat, traverses the canyons
and ridges of his,
finely muscled back
slow ..quick.. slow
in rhythm with his .....
scintillating movement
i am transfixed,
by the little bead's progress
hesitant to portend
it's destination,
as it wends it's way downward.
i want to halt...
the glistening jewel's journey with the tip of my tongue.....cat-like,
lapping at smooth milk
but that would be.....




........a bit weird.....
i expect the young god cycling, before me in
the spin class may think me odd
if i leapt forward and licked his salty back....

...but an old girl can dream!
615 · Jul 2017
My Rosencrantz....
betterdays Jul 2017
the ache in my heart
remains undiminished
pressed down by daily need
compacted into that small blemish
that scars my soul, the tattoo of emptiness
written upon the reverse of my eyelids

this is the season of loss,
the time of letting go
yet in my heart I cannot,
I acknowledge the leaving
partake once again in the grieving,
but still I know
my heartstrings still seek yours
and now people wonder,
which lover have I lost
no lover no,no, in one sense, more indeed
but we both know if we were of Sappho's breed
we could have, no would have been each other's creed
the north south and compass complete..
but we were not born that way,
the gods at play made us for different fellows
so we became friends then sisterkin,
we were joyful for each others loves, each others success,
we were together blessed with understanding deep, deepest, over tea smoked and steeped we leapt
and climbed to highest heights
and supported each other when
we fell to the depths below...
we gave each othermgrace and kindness,
perfected the art of compassionate blindness,
and then you had to  up and go,
leaving me bereft in a way
that sees life in a far more muted way

so on that day,  the aniversary of sadness
which even if the sun shines bright,
still to me is tinted grey,
I will again take myself to a quiet place,
and drink lots of gin and a little tonic,
smile cry and become slightly, mildly histronic,
you see now three years on I just discovered
whilst your face is clear
I can hardly hear,
your voice in my head,
it is now like a whisper in my ear,
and so it appears the world,
sisterkin dear,  
is making itself abundantly clear....
you are dead,  lying dead in a box...
and again I am left to ponder,Stoppards thoughts
" Dying is not romantic, and death is not a game which will soon be over...Death is not anything...Death is not...It's the absence of presence, nothing more...the endless time of never coming back...a gap you can't see, and when the wind blows through it, it makes no sound"
(Rosencrantz and Guildenstern  are Dead, Tom Stoppard)
615 · Mar 2015
reset
betterdays Mar 2015
I lay down
and let the green chlorophyll
envelope my soul

above, the blue eternity
of the clear Indian summer sky

at my left ear,
some small being,
scuttles about in the moist
hummus of the days decay.

at my right,
the silence of a rock,
quietly mourning
it's separation from the mountain

and underneath me,
grass continues to grow,
oblivious to the oppressive
weight I have laid upon it.
ever relentless ,in the search
for the  warm of the sun...

I smell the hope of the earth
as I lay upon it
and relax into the simply,complex world that lays beneath.
and it unquestioningly,
receives the stress,
that leaches from me...


and in the sky....a bird flies...
                                unencumbered.
betterdays Mar 2014
i am all sharp,
pointed thorns,
this morning.
like a rose far past,
the glory of it's gentle, summer bloom,

i am decay, atop,
a stick of spears.
all bloated,
with dismay...

at time past,
and beauty lost,
great is the fear,
of new beginnings
and the loss of all,
i hold dear.

just cut me down,
for kindness' sake.

throw me, into the dark,
so i can quietly break...
down.

then with time, my hubris
will become earth's humus

and become,
of some small use,
to some one.
612 · Jul 2014
always for ben
betterdays Jul 2014
you smile, in your sleep,
as i crawl into bed
and i feel, so loved...

as we sleep, you reach
for me and draw
me to you
and i feel, so loved...

when you leave, the bed
you kiss my shoulder,
or my breast
and i feel, so loved...

i just hope,
you feel the same.
as i wrap myself
around you....

you are, so loved...
612 · Sep 2014
miss lucy's hands
betterdays Sep 2014
her hands
once strong
and beautiful

now frozen
into gnarled
and sculpted
tree roots

by arthritis

all bent
and knobbed
aching joints

thier skin
marred with
wrinkles
and spots

stretched
taut over
aches
sagging
inbetween

nails
kept
trim

her hands
almost
but not quite
useless

is that
how
she feels
within.
my mothers friend.....
once a fine seamstress and
winner of medals for
exquisite embroidery
now in a nursing home
unable to do the simplest
of things...
her once dextrous
and clever hands
"gnarled clubs at the end
of my arms"(her words)
612 · Nov 2014
useless prattling
betterdays Nov 2014
my words are ungracious
and spill forth today
like mewling puke....

it astounds me....
that we celebrate
landing, badly i might add,
an overpriced
piece of mechano
on the backside of a space rock...

while.....
there are people
dying... right here....
on earth....from...ebola cancer....and other diseases

it astounds me....
that one person,
can get paid, 20 million $$$$
for acting in a ****** movie
while....others beg for change and sleep rough
under park benches....

it amazes me,
that  so many in the world
cannot read or write
and do not have,
basic and i mean basic
sanitary facilities....

it confounds me.....
that wars are fought
over race and religion....

it scares me...
that my son, will grow up
in a world where safety is
far less of a gaurantee...

it saddens me....
that i am as guilty
as the next person
of passing by
oe looking the other way
become too busy, too be
involved...in other peoples
pain...

my words,
ungracious
and hypocritical
are but the useless prattle
of a ranting raving imbicele
mere  spit upon the winds
of a word in turmoil....

but come on...
should we not try
to fix this world
before discovering others
insomnia... and too many
thoughts.... created this monster of a rant....
611 · May 2017
winter is coming
betterdays May 2017
what days are these
when we sit to ponder
lifes big and small mysteries
with tea brewing
in the ***
and biscuits crumbling
in our hands

we sit and watch
the colour leach
from trees
and grass wither
underfoot

we gather
old clothes and blankets
to give to those
whose houses
are sky and ground
whose airconditioning
is frost and wind

we dread the winter's
count and the summers
harvest of those elderly
left frozen and unfound

some lose just little bits
who needs fingers and toes
some lose more and more again
we puase to remind ourselves
a life is a life no matter the choice
of the living....there is a purpose
to be found in each soul set upon
the ground

so we gather small comforts
to be bestowed on those
who live harder and meaner than
ourselves  and then sit in front
of roaring fires and suppose
our good deeds become us

yet we have treated but a symptom
of the cancer that is fed by greed
we have tried to answer need
but while we give a pittance
with one hand, the larger
beings of this land,
take with both, leaving
nothing but grist and sand
and lives with little
have a little less

it is hard to live
on crumbs

harder still
when the
big end
of town
is blind
and numb

to those who
are suffering
they do not see
the social buffering
blinkers their sight
and so continues
the cycle

whilst blankets and swags
and soup kitchens  all help
something more is needed
to bring the homeless, home

the leaves are pretty this year
611 · Apr 2014
mantra
betterdays Apr 2014
there is,
in my opinion,
nothing like the..... determination
of a four and half kilo
of blugrey feline,
that,
wants,
to be fed ......
at 5:37am.

the pushing and bumfping the disproportinate roar
of the basso profundo purr, in your right ear,
if still not convinced
or just,
downright lazy,
a whack!!
with a southpaw
to the back of the head,
your attention will restore.

no you are,still
resisting the charm offensive.
then be aware
of the flying leap&twis;;, landing on the midriff.

but from years of dilligent training (on the part of the cat).
i have deduced....
the cold nose,
trailing across my exposed flesh is to best to be avoided.

simply by,
stumbling up from your rest
and succumbing to...
the mantra,
the cat knows best!!!
fill the bowl,
be done,(no never)
with the furry pest
and hope...
you can snooze for a while
611 · Apr 2017
makin' babylakes
betterdays Apr 2017
In a ceramic concave
Take one cluckfart and beat
Add a cup and a half of moojuice
mix with a whirlpool motion
Then find beaten crushedvwheat
add two cups
mix with a whirpool motion
discover sweet cyrstals add 1cup
mix with a whirlpool motion

find and turn on heatslabtop source
put metal pool on heatslabtop source
add a dab of solid yellow moojuice
allow to liqiufy

pour in a measure of whirlpool mix
to create a babylake,
add some bluejuice spheres
or some monkey smilebars
listen for sizzle, watch for bubbles
take a babylake flipper and flip
the babylake so both sides cook evenly

place babylakes on ceramic circle
and repeat the process
dab of yellow moojuice
pouring the babylake mix
so on and so forth,
until ceramic circle is full or
you run out of whirlpool mix

sit at eating tree, with ceramic circle.
if you wish, add the juice of the maple
or tears of the sour yellow leather fruit
to your share of the babylakes
and then consume......and feel
your tummy muscles  smile
Napowrimo2017.Day 2...write a recipe poem....I think I twisted this one a bit...I am blaming it on the toothache medicine I am taking....(going to detist tomorrow) Some one just ssked for translation: Think pancake recipe written with Dali-esque twist....
610 · Apr 2014
really small thoughts
betterdays Apr 2014
miniscule
itty
bitty
tiny
teeny
runty
paltry
petite
flying commas
lilliputian
smackerels
midgey
smidgens
gnatty
buggies
catch my
peripheral vision
doing my
brain in
annoying
the sh#t
out of me.
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