Poetry Jam Laugh in the Face of Everything

The photo shows a Polish farming couple in Connecticut, 1940

Photo credit:

Public Domain Photograph from the Farm Security Administration – Office of War Information Photograph Collection in the Library of Congress; Jack Delano, photographer.

The challenge from Poetry Jam is to respond to this photo of a Polish farmer and his wife in Connecticut in 1940. Times were hard but they found something to laugh about.

He wasn’t much to look at but

She’d loved him all her life,

He was a caring husband

And she a doting wife.

When people asked the secret

That kept their love alive

They smiled and said that hard work

And laughter made it thrive.

So when the days seem darkest

And things are at their worst

Remember this old couple

And put each other first.

Poetry Jam Songs for the Dead

Poetry Jam can be found here

Screaming in on scimitar wings, 

They settled and squabbled and fed, 

Then fled as one noisy squadron,

But one of their number lay dead.

A young inexperienced starling

Found that glass was harder than head,

His short earthly life was completed,

For Morpheus beckoned instead.

Poetry Jam Sixty-seven

Poetry Jam invites consideration of the age of 67. (I think consideration AT the age of 67 would be better.)

A further challenge is to write in an unfamiliar form. 'If you're a rhymer, don't rhyme. If you're not a rhymer, rhyme.' 

H'mm! The trouble is that I'm a wordy soul(that's WORDY not WORTHY) and never know when to stop. Maybe it's just my age;-)

I’m sixty-seven now, have been for months -

It’s just another number 

Or so I tell myself and believe it

Until I pass a mirror!

Though I swim and garden and walk the dogs,

Getting up from a chair is tough -

It’s nothing to do with the passing years,

I was fine till New Year’s Eve.

Then I danced and jived in my high-heeled shoes

Until the midnight hour.

Long journeys to take the dogs to Dorset

Who spent the night with daughter

And then home again the very next day

Caused sacroiliac pain

So that I lurched like a drunken sailor -

You’d think one leg was shorter.

It’s much better now, though I use a pole

When I’m walking in the woods;

It’s just for confidence, you understand -

Tripping on tree roots is jarring

And a folding stick accompanies me

If I have to walk elsewhere.

My daughters and son worry about this –

It’s an unusual sight for them.

They see beyond the casual excuse,

Believing that I’m ageing.

I shall not dance again next New Year’s Eve,

Or at least not in high heels.

When I’m sixty-eight I’ll be walking straight

And rising with ease from seats.

Don’t they say that great wisdom comes with age?

How much older must I be?

Barry and I both use Pacerpoles. He uses two because he's sensible. I use one, because I'm not and also I need one hand for the AquaKong - or to grab Frodo, the over-protective Velcro dog.

Poetry Jam Temptation

The prompt at Poetry Jam this week is 'Temptation'

   Temptation 

Can I tempt you to try one?

I’ll persuade you, I know -

Tantalising and such fun 

To let yourself go. 

Seductive, inviting, 

Just one little goody 

Makes exciting biting

For a fasting foody. 

Can I attempt to exempt you, 

Pre-empt your objection 

To tasting a small piece

Of chocolate confection?

No? All the more for me, then! 

Poetry Jam

My line comes from George Gershwin’s ‘I got rhythm’. Thanks to Brian Miller for the prompt.

Who could ask for anything more?

Oliver Twist was hungry and poor;

A bowl of gruel to keep him fed,

Water to drink and a crust of bread -

Who could ask for anything more?

He had bad times, behind locked doors,

Days in the workhouse were hard,

Normal life to him was barred -

Should he wish for anything more?

Living  a life beyond the law,

With Fagin teaching him thieving,

Could he ever start believing

That he could search for anything more?

Human failing’s at the core

Of Charles Dickens’ well-known tale;

Oliver’s fate, once thought so frail,

Became a joy to him once more.

Poetry Jam Summer Days

Summer Days

What we like to do is sit in the shade

On a warm summer evening,

Listening as birds make their last serenade

And the sun slips down the horizon,

While the colours flame and flush and fade

Through purple, apricot, crimson.   

What we actually do is huddle indoors

As relentless rain’s cascading,

Bedraggling the birds, battering flowers,

While a gale force wind’s prevailing.

The temperature drops, the savage squall roars,

We shiver in premature gloaming.

English summer is often delightful,

But don’t rely on the weather,

Lovely days can become really frightful,

‘Be prepared’ is the slogan for ever;

Some summers it seems June is spiteful –

Other times she is kindly, however.

'The rule is, jam tomorrow and jam yesterday - but never jam today' - except here 

Poetry Jam The shoe shine boy

Cherry Blossom Polish

Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons

The shoe shine boy

The shoe shine boy has a wooden box

With brushes and dusters and polish

And every day at seven he walks

To his usual pitch.

He knows by the shoes that the people wear

The ones who will give him their custom,

The trainers and sandals will not need his care –

They will not make him rich.

Cherry Blossom’s the very best shoe wax,

He finds the smell’s intoxicating,

He bends his back to the shoes on the racks -

There is never a hitch.

At the end of the day the shoe shine boy

Stumbles home to his humble dwelling,

For this bare-foot boy, there’s no lasting joy –

His life is a bitch.

'The rule is, jam tomorrow and jam yesterday - but never jam today' - except here 

Poetry Jam Swim, swam, swum

 Swim, swam, swum

A child’s verse might read like this;

‘We swim and then we swam,

And we all swam in jam,

And I have swum with mum,

And I cannot do my sum,

And I wish playtime would come

And then I can finish this.’

While children may stumble

With language and number,

It’s easy to fix

When they’re only six,

But adults just flounder,

Seeking much sounder

Constructions and quick

Resolutions to counter

Solutions of problems they

Never intended.

More loans to atone

For the money they’ve borrowed

Lead only to furrowed

Foreheads and low moans

Till matters are mended.

Micawber’s advice

Is nice and precise;

Spend less than you make

And then you won’t quake

When charges are due.

Spend more than you take?

Your dreams will be raked

With worry and sorrow and rue.


'The rule is, jam tomorrow and jam yesterday - but never jam today' - except here!

Poetry Jam Forgetting

The subject for Poetry Jam this week is 'Forgetting'. Click here to read more contributions.


Forgetting

Old age plays several nasty pranks, 

Purloining strength and youth,         

Seizing sight and sound and taste   

And modifying truth;

For worst of all the memory flees -      

The day before is lost,

While fifty years ago is clear,

Current events are tossed

Like garbage in a refuse truck.

Confusion reigns supreme -

‘I never did, I don’t know how,

Don’t make me cry, I’ll scream.’

Forgetting is letting

The memories go,

Sensing identity

Fading, and so,

Child once more,

Your needs are

Met each day

Every way

Until

The end

Of

Time. 

Poetry Jam Honky-tonk

More verse, though none worse, can be found here

Honky-tonk

To make a good piano

Sound like honky-tonk,

Put paper in the strings

And then begin to stonk

Those keys.

Play strides in the left hand,

Refrain with the right,

Listen to that rhythm,

Let harmony take flight,

Be free.

Poetry Jam Thunder and Lightning

More verse, though none worse, can be found here

Thunder and lightning

Are awfully frightening;

I shiver and shake,

And quiver and quake,

My muscles tightening

And knuckles whitening

At every flash

And deafening crash.

Lightning and thunder

Make me go under

The bedclothes at night,

Right out of sight.

Nerves ripped asunder

I worry and wonder

Why I’m such a clot

And growing so hot!

Donner und blitzen

Make my head splitzen!

The rumbling ceases,

Courage increases,

I pour out a spritzing

Of soda and gin sling

To celebrate quiet,

Cessation of riot. 

Poetry Jam Birthday

On receiving an invitation to contribute to 'Poetry Jam' I had a shufti at the prompt and  remembered something I'd written a while ago. My, how time marches on!! 

It’s my birthday today  - I’m fifty-eight,

Never thought it would happen to me!

I think of the years that have passed me by

And the things that I thought I’d create –

A sparkling career, a large group of friends,

Or maybe a very few good ones,

But lo and behold! I’m just getting old

And my friendships are make-do and mends!

My career was in schools – not at all cool,

My children took all my life over,

My husband away for most of the day,

And often abroad in the work pool!

I cannot complain, I’m reasonably sane,

I love all my family dearly,

My best friend’s my husband, my children come next,

And the grandchildren follow in train.

Learn from the past and live in the present,

Look to the future with pleasure,

Can’t look back and sigh, I’ve always been shy,

And it’s my fault I’m not always pleasant!

I’ve enemies few and friends even fewer,

But I’m happy with my little lot,

I’m not feeling blue – no really, it’s true,

I’m contented with all that I’ve got!