Man On The Street

Man on the Street

They looked away
He wasn't like they were,
They walked straight, were clear of skin
and neat,

They turned and whispered
Shook their heads,
He shouldn't be out among us
He should be off the street,

He shuffled along bent and twisted
With blotchy skin and tattered clothes,

He thought to himself
I shouldn't be out on the street,
The way I am;
But no one knows,

There was a time I stood straight as an oak,
Shaved smooth and clean,
The finest clothes and shoes I'd wear,
Before the times were lean,

Then all my treasures turned to dust,
My loved ones walked away,
Success and reputation gone
Hard times and illness filled my days,

I was like them who shun me,
Offended by the sight
What I've become,
A victim of my plight,

If only I could warn them,
If they'd listen to what I say,
But I know better
They'll have to find out their own way

Nancy Ellen Crossland

The Soothing Sea

The Soothing Sea

Let the soothing sea heal my heart
From a lost love that tore it apart
Let the setting sun heal my soul
From a long fall to a rocky shoal
Let the sailing star heal my mind
From a lie that had made me blind

Blue Pueblo

Happy New Year 2011!

My New Year's Resolution

I will not throw the cat out the window
Or put a frog in my sister's bed
I will not tie my brother's shoelaces together
Nor jump from the roof of Dad's shed
I shall remember my aunt's next birthday
And tidy my room once a week
I'll not moan at Mum's cooking (Ugh! fish fingers again!)
Nor give her any more of my cheek.
I will not pick my nose if I can help it
I shall fold up my clothes, comb my hair,
I will say please and thank you (even when I don't mean it)
And never spit or shout or even swear.
I shall write each day in my diary
Try my hardest to be helpful at school
I shall help old ladies cross roads (even if they don't want to)
And when others are rude I'll stay cool.
I'll go to bed with the owls and be up with the larks
And close every door behind me
I shall squeeze from the bottom of every toothpaste tube
And stay where trouble can't find me.
I shall start again, turn over a new leaf,
leave my bad old ways forever
shall I start them this year, or next year
shall I sometime, or .....?

Robert Fisher

Merry Christmas 2010!

 

Jingle Bell Rock

Jingle bell, jingle bell, jingle bell rock
Jingle bells swing and jingle bells ring
Snowin' and blowin' up bushels of fun
Now the jingle hop has begun

Jingle bell, jingle bell, jingle bell rock
Jingle bells chime in jingle bell time
Dancin' and prancin' in Jingle Bell Square
In the frosty air

What a bright time, it's the right time
To rock the night away
Jingle bell time is a swell time
To go glidin' in a one-horse sleigh

Giddy-up jingle horse, pick up your feet
Jingle around the clock
Mix and a-mingle in the jinglin' feet
That's the jingle bell rock

Jingle bell, jingle bell, jingle bell rock
Jingle bells chime in jingle bell time
Dancin' and prancin' in Jingle Bell Square
In the frosty air

What a bright time, it's the right time
To rock the night away
Jingle bell time is a swell time
To go glidin' in a one-horse sleigh

Giddy-up jingle horse, pick up your feet
Jingle around the clock
Mix and a-mingle in the jinglin' feet
That's the jingle bell
That's the jingle bell
That's the jingle bell rock

Video Here 

Fuego's Freedom

Fuego’s Freedom

If you could’ve sworn you’d seen a horse
Charging out of a flame
Or forming out of an autumn leaf
Maybe you’ve seen Fuego’s spirit
For he is a whinny into the moon at night
And a fiery, restless creature
Starved of freedom
His mortal self
Couldn’t live off fenced pasture
He is now a wild thing
Every October he scours the scape
For a place as remote and wild as his spirit
Fuego may pay you a visit
During his journey
For a loco sort of liberty
Will Fuego, a whinny into the moon at night
A restless spirit, an autumn leaf, a stray flame…
Find his long lost freedom…
In you?

by HorsesForever, age 10

Mirror Mirror

Mirror, Mirror, Bloody Fibber

Mirror, mirror, on the wall,
Can't you show me tall and slim?
Mirror, mirror, on the wall,
Must I look so bloody grim?

Mirror, mirror, on the wall,
You're distorting my poor waist!
Mirror, mirror, on the wall,
And why the heck am I defaced?

Mirror, mirror, on the wall,
Why have I a double chin?
Mirror, mirror, on the wall,
And what's the stupid, goofy grin?

Mirror, mirror, on the wall,
Pointless asking ‘Who’s the fairest-?
More bloody likely, 'Who’s the queerest? ’
Now look, I paid a big bucks for thee,
So why can’t you be nice to me?

Mirror, mirror, on the wall,
Who’s the fairest of them all?
Me, you say? Ah, that's better -
Mirror, mirror, bloody fibber!

Copyright Mark R Slaughter 2009

A Poet's Cat

A Poet’s Cat

A poet's cat sedate and grave
As poet well could wish to have,
Was much addicted to inquire
For nooks, to which she might retire,
And where, secure as mouse in chink,
She might repose, or sit and think.
I know not where she caught the trick -
Nature perhaps had cast her
In such a mould philosophique
Or else she learn'd it of her master.

William Cowper

Happy Thanksgiving 2010

I’m Thankful for You

Thanksgiving is the appointed time
for focusing on the good in our lives.
In each of our days,
we can find small blessings,
but too often we overlook them,
choosing instead to spend our time
paying attention to problems.
We give our energy
to those who cause us trouble
instead of those who bring peace.
Starting now,
let’s be on the lookout
for the bits of pleasure in each hour,
and appreciate the people who
bring love and light to everyone
who is blessed to know them.
You are one of those people.
On Thanksgiving,
I’m thankful for you.
Happy Thanksgiving!

By Joanna Fuchs

Palo Duro Canyon

Palo Duro Canyon

The Canyon is 120 miles long, as much as 20 miles wide, and has a maximum depth of more than 800 feet. Its elevation at the rim is 3,500 feet above sea level. It is often claimed that Palo Duro Canyon is the second largest canyon in the United States. 

The largest, the Grand Canyon, is 277 miles long, 18 miles wide, and 6,000 ft. deep.

It is located in Northern Texas 27 miles southeast of Amarillo. It’s a 2 hour drive from my home. I visited there 30 years ago when my parents took me to see the play “Texas”. The play takes place outdoors in the hills of the canyon during the summer months and is amazing to see. 

I’m hoping to make a return visit someday.

 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Palo Duro Canyon

    God with his infinite power, millions of years ago
    In some important hour carved the Palo Duro.
    He leveled the plains around it and capped it with a rim of stone...
    Most any child can bound it, creation, that's God's own.

    In the center he placed great rocks, and springs on the mountainside...
    Then flowers and ferns and flox, and stately shading trees abide...
    He placed meandering streamlets, flowing from side to side...
    And many side canyons and inlets, controlling torrents and tide.

    Vandals may attempt to destroy God's marvelous works, divine...
    But oh, let future peoples enjoy, Palo Duro's wondrous design...
    Was there ever before such beauty, such blending of tints and hue?
    To preserve it now is man's duty...
    May he to this trust be true.

    L. Gough
 

She Danced

She Danced

She danced to forget the loss of love
She danced to remember the passion of love
She danced to lose herself in rhythm
She danced to find herself in rhyme
She danced to dry her tears
She danced to face her fears
She danced until heart and soul were healed

Blue Pueblo

Salad is Incompatible with Life

Salad is Incompatible with Life

Yes, my waist is fifty inches -
Big for me because I'm short.
And yes, I like my cheddar cheese
When partnered with a vintage port.

Okay, okay, that double cream
Is always served with pud,
And cake and biscuits with my tea
Are just no bloody good

For my poor hardened arteries.
But see my point of view,
Please dear wifey if you please -
A Salad makes me spew!

I'd rather eat a bowl of air
Than crunch away on greens;
Drink water from the toilet bowl
Or nibble on my jeans!

But salad! Are you there?
You know it makes me snappy -
So let me fill my face with grub,
Stay fat, and die young happy!

Copyright Mark R Slaughter 2009

Happy Halloween 2010!

  Haunted House

There's a house upon the hilltop

We will not go inside

For that is where the witches live,

Where ghosts and goblins hide.

Tonight they have their party,

All the lights are burning bright,

But oh we will not go inside

The haunted house tonight.

The demons there are whirling

And the spirits swirl about.

They sing their songs to Halloween.

"Come join the fun," they shout.

But we do not want to go there

So we run with all our might

And oh we will not go inside

The haunted house tonight.

- by Jack Prelutsky

October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month

Domestic Violence

History echoes the screams of women--
violated, abused, ravaged.
Some have heard the death knell--
the last sound ever.

Others live in fearful isolation
with humiliation and pain
endured through many years
silently suffering, lost, nowhere to turn.

Survivors live in seclusion
detached
distant
distrustful

The seclusion every suffering animal craves
to be let alone
to lick their wounds
to heal.

Barbara Baskin 2010 

Autumn Fantasy

Autumn Fantasy

In my autumn fantasy
Endless miles of blazing color
Spreads beneath my feet,

Light mist lingers through the trees;
Swirling gently with each breeze
Colors mesh in focus
Then fade;
In waves of brilliance and subtle haze,

I gather leaves;
Their unique beauty surrounding me
Inhaling their scent appreciatively,

I'd gladly coexist in this fragrant mist
My gaze defining the trees shapes and forms;
As I feel the sun on my face
Now warm,

I could stroll forever
In this place,
In awe I am of beauty
Supreme;
As only seen in a dream,

And when the sun has faded from the sky,
On a bed of soft leaves
Will I lie;
To dream again
In ecstasy
Of my autumn fantasy.

Nancy Ellen Crossland

Silence

Silence

Listen.
Do you hear it?
The low, soft nothing of silence?

Silence.
I wallow in it.
I wrap it around me -- a cloak of comfort.
I am alone.
I come into myself.

Silence.
My mind is set free.
I think, I wonder.
I feel the words flowing.

Silence.
Blessed silence.

Barbara B. Baskin 2010

A Raindrop's Life

A Raindrop's Life

The cloud is expectant and heavy
I am one of its children being born in the sky
Then, my mother is ready- she releases me
And I descend to the earth from on high.

I fall in time with the other children,
We travel downward, faster and faster we go
Toward our destination.
We feed the earth, waiting below.

We soak the ground, giving it life.
We fill streams, rivers, and seas with their share.
We wait patiently to arise again,
To gather again in the air.

We wait inside another cloud,
As we pass once again through the sky.
Our mother is ready and releases us,
We are born once again in the sky.

Mike Winegar

The Railway Train

The Railway Train

I like to see it lap the miles,
And lick the valleys up,
And stop to feed itself at tanks;
And then, prodigious, step

Around a pile of mountains,
And, supercilious, peer
In shanties by the sides of roads;
And then a quarry pare

To fit its sides, and crawl between,
Complaining all the while
In horrid, hooting stanza;
Then chase itself down hill

And neigh like Boanerges;
Then, punctual as a star,
Stop -- docile and omnipotent --
At its own stable door.

Emily Dickinson

She Sang The Old Songs

She sang the old songs

Songs of lilacs and shady lanes

She sang the peace songs

Songs of home and front porches

She sang the love songs

Songs of heart and Sunday walks

She sang until time and rhyme were one

Blue Pueblo

Free To Be You And Me

Every boy in this land grows to be his own man

In this land, every girl grows to be her own woman

Take my hand, come with me where the children are free

Come with me, take my hand, and we'll run

To a land where the river runs free

To a land through the green country

To a land to a shining sea

To a land where the horses run free

To a land where the children are free

And you and me are free to be

And you and me are free to be

And you and me are free to be you and me

The New Seekers

Live For Today

Live For Today

In the camellia tree sits a lone sparrow
Watching a butterfly flit among the blossoms.
Neither caring about the ‘morrow,
Just today, for today is awesome.

Barbara Baskin 2010