Postponing

Posted on August 1, 2022 by sputterpub

Postponing work a week ago
consolidated energy.
It somewhat modulated flow,
postponing work a week ago.
I’m thinking now I need to slow
my pace to vital quality.
Postponing work a week ago
consolidated energy.

(Triolet)

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Fatigued Today

Posted on July 31, 2022 by sputterpub

Fatigued today, I’m glad to have some time
at home, where I can nap and bathe and play
at solitaire and searching out this rhyme.
Fatigued today.

I’ll have a lengthy phone call – it’s our way
each Sunday morning to exchange sublime
or homely matters we remember to convey.

And that can operate like some enzyme
to catalyze more energy, or may
just reinforce the simple fact that I’m
fatigued today.

(Roundel)

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Hoist

Posted on July 30, 2022 by sputterpub

The legend says a farm boy made a vow
to lift a newborn bullock every dawn.
By that prescription he aimed to know how,
in time, to hoist a bull, with built-up brawn.
Life intervened. On land he left that cow
while he was ill two weeks, his vigor gone.
His strategy outgrew his tactic’s span.
And now he has to modify his plan.

(Ottava Rima)

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You’d Better Modulate

Posted on July 29, 2022 by sputterpub

You’d better modulate, for you’ve been blessed
voluminous, as passion’s candidate.
The need is obvious if seldom guessed –
you’d better modulate.

You brim with heat and stagger under freight
of truths so loud they beg to be expressed.
But whispers carry more attentive weight.

I don’t advise your thoughts to be suppressed.
I like what you intone and celebrate
your voice, so I’ll reiterate this stressed –
You’d better modulate.

(Roundel)

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A Dog Day of Summer

Posted on July 28, 2022 by sputterpub

I’m trying laying low at home today.
I’ll make an effort to resist each task
I might incline to self-assign, the way
I have since I was 8 or 9 years old.
I’ll hide my underwear. I’ll learn to play
a new computer game. But wait a sec –
those look like goals! I’ll languish, like I say:
remaining home, disdaining any mask,
I’ll sit a lot; I’ll snooze a bit; I’ll stay.

(Magic 9)

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Obligated Calls II

Posted on July 27, 2022 by sputterpub

The women whom I daily telephone
are probably as bored with it as I,
but when I dare omit, each takes a tone
of petulant flirtation, never wry.
They used to travel, leaving me alone,
but age and Covid make them journey-shy.
And now I only hear the speechless beauty
when one of them is called to jury duty.

(Ottava Rima)

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Obligated Calls

Posted on July 26, 2022 by sputterpub

I check in with two women every day.
They each have health concerns – I feel obliged.
I don’t claim to enjoy our talks, but hey –
I check in with two women every day.
So neither has a pithy thought to say;
I’d feel too selfish-guilty were they dodged.
I check in with two women every day.
They each have health concerns – I feel obliged.

(Triolet)

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Saturday’s Project

Posted on July 25, 2022 by sputterpub

Their shelving held four years of sundry stuff,
from books and games to cartons sent by stores.
The family with more than twice enough
bought bigger shelves with basket drawers and doors.
While parents drove to fetch, we said we’d comb –
the 5-year old and I remained at home.
We volunteered to glean and stack the goods
as they went hauling through some neighborhoods.

Together then we worked as morning passed.
We chatted and enjoyed the sorting tasks.
We separated boots from books, and cast
away receipts, old mail and wrinkled masks.
It wasn’t normal Saturday, but one
of lovely labor. Both of us had fun.

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Spider Lesson

Posted on July 24, 2022 by sputterpub

I try to win the games of words or cards,
but 2-suit Spider stymied me so much
I broke a winning streak (a streak retards
my processing with pressure’s squeezing touch).
I then threw off the records and its guards.
I upped the game to add a suit, and such
was all it took to goose my brain to flare –
another lesson learned at solitaire…

(Ottava Rima)

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Percolation

Posted on July 23, 2022 by sputterpub

My home is one of five at this address,
and I took on responsibility
to pay the common bills, and then assess
from others what they ought to send to me.
The latest invoice had some mystery.
I circulated questions. They got shook.
But I just bore the hours patiently.
They came around. Some time was all it took.

(Huitain)

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