Open Doors -- a Poem for NaPoWriMo 2024 Day 18

    Door Openings for Me 

I grew up knowing and hoping 

Knowing I could become something 

Born with a wrench in my right hand 

Had mechanical aptitude 

Broken clocks I'd take tic-toc out 

They then became wind up motors 

Became motors for my toys my small toys 

Could I become an engineer 

Poor but doors began to open 

Was surprised with a scholarship 

Was for the University 

Hadn't planned going to college 

Doors had opened, learned to play chess 

Squandering time, was good at chess 

Could beat the city champ in chess 

My grades demanded I drop out 

The doors opened again for me 

Factory job awaited for me 

Wrench retrieved so worked myself up 

Setup man for sixteen women 

Next door was the U.S. Army 

Their school for me, electronics 

Forty-three weeks later, third in class 

Five years later, discharge door now 

Nineteen more years, used army skills 

Aerospace Engineer's door  

Finished college, taught part time 

College offered job, I took 

Through that new door, I liked job 

Now Doctor Jim, Professor 

Then twenty-two year later 

Became Doctor Jim, retired 

 _ _ _ 

 - Poem Copyright, Jimmiehov 2024, All Rights Reserved 

 - I am linked with NaPoWriMo 2024 Day 18  with "challenge you to write a poem in which the speaker expresses the desire to be someone or something else, and explains why" 

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my Poodle Dog -- a Poem for dVerse Poetics and NaPoWriMo 2024 Day 17

[Tree just off our back yard (then) click on picture for larger size viewing]

My Beagle Dog 

You were a puppy 

when we first got you 

You grew fairly fast 

got set in your way  

Chasing squirrels 

you loved to do

Up the trees where 

squirrels were safe 

Walks you hated 

going the worst 

Coming home best 

that you would walk 

You are old now 

and can't respond 

Ashes I'll keep 

bury with me 

 - Photo and Poem Copyright,  Jimmiehov 2024, All Rights Reserved 

 - I am linked with Sanaa of dVerse Poetics  

https://dversepoets.com/2024/04/16/dverse-poetics-maggie-smith-and-conversational-mode-of-address/

   where she instructed us to write form poem as she described.  Write first person with the listener cannot respond.

 - Click here to read other's works to answer Sanaa's request. 

 - I am also linked with NaPoWriMo 2024 Day 17, 

    Day Seventeen (napowrimo.net) 

    https://www.napowrimo.net/day-seventeen-10/   

.. 

For Isle of Man

 

Unspeakable-- a Poem for NaPoWriMo 2024 Day 16

    Getting Worse 

His rash was unspeakable 

In places we never want 

Bad chafe initiated 

His underwear went unworn 

He didn't see his doctor, 

a woman, he was bashful 

Oh dear, it was getting worse, 

every day.  Now it hurts 

Medicine he had was old 

And the rats in the barn 

 had longer tails 

 _ _ _ 

 - No Photo, Poem Copyright, Jimmiehov 2024, All Rights Reserved 

 - I am linked with NaPoWriMo 2024 Day Sixteen 

   https://www.napowrimo.net/day-sixteen-11/ 

 - I think I am on prompt today; you can be a judge.  ". . . here’s today’s (optional) prompt, taken from our 2016 archives. Today, we challenge you to write a poem in which you closely describe an object or place, and then end with a much more abstract line that doesn’t seemingly have anything to do with that object or place, but which, of course, really does. The “surprise” ending to this James Wright poem is a good illustration of the effect we’re hoping you’ll achieve. An abstract, philosophical kind of statement closing out a poem that is otherwise intensely focused on physical, sensory details."

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- a Poem for NaPoWriMo 2024 Day 15

 

                   [click on picture for larger viewing]

    Favorite Stamp 

Elephants flooding the mail 

There's stamps and then there's stamps 

U.S. Postal stamps I have 

Sheets I bought two years ago* 

I liked them a lot on sight 

They are my favorites now 

Two of the beasts on each stamp 

Helped to save the elephant 

I bought every one there was 

The Post office almost cried 

                                        _ _ _ 

       

 - Photo and Poem Copyright, Jimmiehov 2024, All Rights Reserved 

 - I am linked to NaPoWriMo 2024 Day 15

   https://www.napowrimo.net/day-fifteen-10/

*Note: "The Elephants Forever stamp was issued by the United States Postal Service (USPS) on August 12, 202212. This delightful stamp features a fanciful, digital illustration of an elephant interacting with its young calf, capturing the affectionate nature of these beloved animals. The design also includes two stylized plants and a bright orange sun, adding whimsy and color to the stamp. Artist Rafael López created the original art, and Derry Noyes served as the art director for this heartwarming depiction of elephants. 🐘🌞

The first-day-of-issue event for the Elephants stamp was held at The Elephant Discovery Center in Hohenwald, TN1. It’s wonderful to see these majestic creatures celebrated through this lighthearted and playful stamp! 💌🐘

!Elephants Stamp" (source: an extra info by Bing search, "'when did the us postal elephant stamp come out")

    _ _ _ 

Flowers to Moons and Stars -- a Poem fot NaPoWriMo 2024 Day 14

   

   If's; an anaphora form poem 

If roses were pink and 

If violets were purple 

If angels had wings and 

If the Devil had horns 

If the moon pulls down his pants and 

If all the "stars" were afire 

Then what we say would be true but 

We are not, no way.  So then 

Everyone knows, and 

Nobody cares 

Thats not a lie.  It 

Suits me

(I'm not wearing a "suit",   

That "fits" me. And 

I "quit" . . . )

Flowers that are blooming today in our backyard.  The Canna Lilies had one blossom but wanted to wait for a bit to have some more; it will bloom until the next freeze.

  _ _ _ _ 

       

 - Photos and Poem Copyright, 

Jimmiehov 2024, All Rights Reserved 

 - I am linked to NaPoWriMo 2024 Day 14, here 

    https://www.napowrimo.net/day-fourteen-11/

    where we were asked to, optional, write an anaphora form poem  

 - Click here to read all my poems, mostly for NaPoWriMo as of late 

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At the Sign - a Poem for NaPoWriMo 2024 Day Thirteen

 

        Sidewalk Closed 

"Sidewalk Closed," that's what the sign said 

No other words, there's just those two 

'Twas abrupt, a slap in the face 

A traffic jam in the morning 

Runners piling up, a big heap 

Like falling dominoes, pile grows 

One body upon another falling 

Straight line not one falls to the side 

Call the cops before someone's hurt 

Laughing because there's nothing else 

The sides are mud, a sticky mess 

Puddles too would get in their shoes 

Get up and turn back nothing else 

Nothing else to do--laugh it off 

   _ _ _  

 - Photo and Poem Copyright, Jimmiehov 2024, All Rights Reserved 

 - I am linked with NaPoWriMo 2024 Day Thirteen, 

    https://www.napowrimo.net/day-thirteen-10/

    not following the prompt today, I am reading signs from my car

 .. 

  

a "Tall Tail"? -- a poem for NaPoWriMo 2024 Day Twelve

 

      Jimmie Boy 

 

Jimmie Boy was born an orphan 

In the nursery for newborns 

He was saying Mama, Dadad 

As if he knew was supposed to 

Supposed to have like others 

Others had mothers to feed them 

Daddies to teach the alphabet 

Someone had told him right after 

Right after he was born without  

They'd been killed in car accident 

But 'twas no accident.  Careless 

The other guy had been drinking 

 

The nurse had told him right away 

Jimmie Boy was a fast learner 

Luck, fostered by geniuses 

In school, first grade when he was two 

That didn't work, he knew it all 

All they could teach so had home school 

Graduated when he was ten 

What could, no would, his future hold 

 _ _ _ 

 - Photo and Poem Copyright, Jimmiehov 2024, All Rights Reserved 

 - I am linked with NaPoWriMo 2024 Day Twelve, here

    https://www.napowrimo.net/day-twelve-12/ 

    where were presented with an optional prompt idea of writing a "Tall tale".   

    If my poem is tall enough, then I satisfied the prompt?  

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My Pen -- a Poem for Friday Writings #122, Link and for NaPoWriMo 2024 Day Eleven

        [click on pictures for lartger size viewing]

        

      Ode to My Pen 

My pen, you are a trusty bud 

You're always a ready helper  

Mostly write what you'd never 

never thought possible 

Like a note to mother, working a 

puzzle, stick behind my ear 

Plucked you out of a cup at the bank 

More there but you were the one I saw 

Kind of like love at the first sight 

Even the store with gobs of pens 

Stores have oodles of others to choose 

I know you friends at the bank have me  

Pretty, black with somber green 

Hanging out my front pocket always 

You write so smoothly with black ink 

Black to match your color, goes well 

The clip I let show, how proud I am 

The folks are envious, you are so special 

I lend you out to the Mrs. and others 

I watch every thing they write 

Making sure they give you back 

They like you too, ask for you always 

Kidnaper some are known 

Into their pockets they'd thrust, I won't let 

And when night falls you are the first 

First to brush your teeth, put up your hair 

A special spot on my little night chest top 

You guard my expensive watch and 

ever present chapstick, too draped in black 

Smart phone is always your last bud to show 

 _ _ _ 

 - Photos and Poem Copyright, Jimmiehov 2024, All Rights Reserved 

 - I'm linked with Rommy at Friday Writings #122 at    https://poetsandstorytellersunited.blogspot.com/2024/04/friday-writings-122-comfort-reads.html?m=1

 - I am linked with NaPoWriMo 2024 Day Eleven, at 

    https://www.napowrimo.net/day-eleven-12/

 - On Day Nine NaPoWriMo had suggested writing an ode 'to an object'.  I had something else to write that day, but the idea sounded good.  I'm doing that prompt idea here tonight.  I don't write many odes but like them much.  Here goes . . . 

 - I am also linked with Bjorn with dVerse Open Link #360 at 

    https://dversepoets.com/2024/04/11/open-link-360-saturday-live-option/

 - Click here to see how others have written for Open Link  

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My Box -- NaPoWriMo Day Ten and dVerse Poetics

            [click picture for larger size viewing]

         My Box 

My box was once a shoe box 

I save boxes, this one is a keeper 

My box is large, the kind we all would like 

The box is made of strong cardboard 

This box had contained cowboy boots 

My box had waited to have a touch

T'would be by a rough and heavy hand 

My box was hurt, a clerk threw her away 

My box was rescued, rescued by me 

I feel my box has an affliction 

Towards me for bringing her home 

She likes to be near me when she can 

I keep my personal records with her 

Finance, travel, relationships, and the like 

Grocery shopping she loves, 

rides the cart like a small kid 

My box I gave her a name, Betty Jo   

Dressed her pretty with a coat of paint 

She sits on my writing desk 

Betty Jo likes to make the rhyme 

She has become a helper of mine 

We've grown really attached 

I wish she could talk 

Good night, polish box and go to bed  

 _ _ _ 

 - Photo and Poem Copyright, Jimmiehov 2024, All Rights Reserved 

 - I am linked with NaPoWriMO Day Ten 

    https://www.napowrimo.net/day-ten-12/ 

 - I am also linked with Kim at dVerse Poetics, here 

    https://dversepoets.com/2024/04/09/a-box-of-poems/

 - Click here to read other writer's efforts with Kim's prompt

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A Question -- a Piece of Prose for dVerse Prosery and for NaPoWriMo Day Nine

["Fu Bao in quarantine ", In China, born in 2020, 

Panda Bear just came from lease at South Korea]

            

                    Bears Checking Out 

    I was asked the other day a question about the stars, "What does it matter that the stars we see are already dead?" I was stumped and of course I put it to rest along with seems a zillion rhetorical questions I have been asked. "I dunno."  

  

    When I got home I went to old trusty fellow, Mr. Bing whose helper is Ms. AI. They know a lot, trivia and otherwise. Well, he scratched his head calling a friend. Those two knew, he wanted to make sure.

    Bing's retort, “No matter how you look at it, the idea that all, or even most, or even a lot, of the stars you can see in the sky are already dead is simply wrong. It sounds true, and kinda sorta fits with things you might think you know, but in the end the facts will win.”* 

_ _ _ _ 

 

 - * Note: found when asked the question in paragraph one, Bing (substitue for Google) answer word for word.  (URL)

 - Writing Copyright, Jimmiehov 2024, All Rights Reserved 

 - I am linked with Dora at dVerse Prosery at 

    https://dversepoets.com/2024/04/08/prosery-amy-woolard/ 

 - Dora's instructions Write a piece of prose (not poetry) of no more than 144 words that includes what is the question asked in my first paragraph here.

 - Click here to read others' works with the prompt

 - I am also linked with NaPoWriMo Day Nine at 

     https://www.napowrimo.net/day-nine-10/

 - NaPoWriMo to choose a Day is here, https://www.napowrimo.net/ 

 . .     

-- NaPoWriMo Day Eight

 

Mix and Match (not) 

He was 82 

She was 22 

He was filthy rich 

She was pee pot poor 

They met at dinner 

Vichyssoise with duck

Scalloped beans and rice 

She cooked French style 

Through stomach man's love 

His money her goal 

Los Vegas marriage 

Mutual courting six weeks  

Convenience wed 

Him to die her wait 

Please him he did wish 

Though neither occurred 

Back to mother she 

Batching alone he 

Lasted twenty years 

Both died in April 

That was their story 

Takes two make the change 

 _ _ _ 

 - Poem Copyright, Jimmiehov 2024 

 - I'm linked with NaPoWriMo Day Eight 

   https://www.napowrimo.net/day-eight-11/ 

.. 

a Postcard -- NaPoWriMo Day Seven

My Postcard message for NaPoWriMo prompt, 4/7/2024

                                                       

            Wish your were here!            

  We're in our cabin now, fine balcony. Do me    

  a favor please, feed Mickey. Key's under the    

  Mat. Home in three weeks, call you later.        

     Thanks buckets, Love, Jimmy                      

                                                                     

Pictue side of thr card:

 Adi is retiring from Pet Partners

.

Adi's working life link

Lot's about Adi link

.

- Writing Copyright, Jimmiehov 2024, All Rights Reserved 

 - I am linked with NaPoWriMo Day Seven at    https://www.napowrimo.net/day-seven-10/ 

..   

NaPoWriMo Day Six

Me, Jim, standing beside an old 1941 Ford Pickup 

    in the Canadian Yukon Provence.

http://jimmiehov.blogspot.com/2007/04/old-men-and-children-let-them-praise.html

   Understanding My Grandfather 

I loved my grandfather 

Back when I was young 

Eight years old maybe younger 

I felt he loved me the most of us nine 

Some others may have felt the same

Grandpa and I used to ride together 

Together in his new truck 

A 1940 Ford pickup 

We'd ride with his stud horse in back 

Grandpa and the horse 

They'd leave me in the truck 

Those two walked, went visiting 

Visited other farmers 

Visited them and their horses 

I didn't know what they were saying 

They seemed to enjoy their visit 

Grandfather cussed a lot 

Rough, but I never heard him take 

Take the Lord's name in vein 

He chewed tobacco 

Grandpa had a spittoon 

A short coffee can in a tin ring 

The ring bolted to the hump 

He'd spit out the window too 

One day I'll never forget 

We three rolled to a stop sign 

Twas down by the railroad track 

He said something might shock 

"Stop" he said, "S T O P " he spelled 

Now the shock, "Stop Take Off Panties" 

I never could figure what he meant 

To this day I still wonder 

_ _ _ 

 - Photo and Poem Copyright, Jimmiehov 2024, All Rights Reserved 

 - Photo taken by me in Yukon Territory  Canada first posted 2003 

 - I am linked with NaPoWriMo Day Six 

    https://www.napowrimo.net/day-six-11/

..

What Can Plants Do? -- for Friday Writings #121 and for NaPoWriMo Day Five

A Plant Race

“Youth is the gift of nature, 

but age is a work of art.” 

said Stanislaw Jerzy Lec 

Saying can't apply to plants 

I'm showing you how right now 

To my backyard flowerings 

First, the youth hasn't a chance 

Gardener sprays with weeds 

Baby days they wilt and die 

Most of the rest try real hard 

Try really hard to bloom first 

Two left to race to the end 

After the freezes red roses 

bloomed few weeks after the freeze 

Oleanders not 'til months 

Race is on, what is there left 

Only the two are left that count 

Canna Lily and Irises 

Canna Lily won, two weeks 

Despite being cut to ground 

And rabbits chewing their ears 

Irises lived through the cold 

Alive and green they grew tall 

Second place and settle for pretties 

For writing age counts for naught 

The Irises were some from 

the landscape of former house 

Built 26 years ago    

_ _ _ 

 - Photos and Poem Copyright, Jimmiehov 2024, All Rights Reserved 

 - I am linked with Magaly, host of Friday Writings # 121 at 

   https://poetsandstorytellersunited.blogspot.com/?m=1

 - Magaly has invited "us to write poetry or prose inspired by the following quote: 'Youth is the gift of nature, but age is a work of art.' ~ Stanislaw Jerzy Lec" -- I used this saying for my first line  

 - The poem is also for NaPoWriMo Day 5 (National Poem Writing Month).  It seems with many other duties also, this year I will not be writing for every day of the month.  

 - NaPoWriMo is here, https://www.napowrimo.net/

 - NaPoWriMo Day Five is here, https://www.napowrimo.net/day-five-11/

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