A 'How Many' ditty for Tuesday Platform

How Many? 

How many sailors 

does it take to change a light bulb 

How many preachers 

does it take to change one's habits 

How many Twinkles 

does it take to make Sailor sick 

How many wait staff 

does it take to carry six coffee mugs 

How many opticians 

does it take to change a light bulb 

One 

One or two 

Two or one 

Three or two 

Patience  

                            Geniuses unite!  

 .. - - - - - 

. - Photo and Poem (ditty) Copyright © 2016 Jimmiehov, All Rights Reserved

. - Today I'm linked with  Kerry O'Connor  at The Imaginary Garden with Real Toads and her post for The Tuesday Platform

Note:

I've had this Earworm bugging me all week. I thought I might use Mark Twain's help, by adopting the tactic that his character, the conductor, used in his short story, "Punch, brothers, punch." (Link -- read Twain's story here, please click). The conductor could not help himself from singing this ditty until he finally passed it on to one of his passengers.
The little song went like this:

Conductor, when you receive a fare,
Punch in the presence of the passenjare!
A blue trip slip for an eight-cent fare,
A buff trip slip for a six-cent fare,
A pink trip slip for a three-cent fare,
Punch in the presence of the passenjare!

CHORUS

Punch, brothers! punch with care!
Punch in the presence of the passenjare!

Weekend Challenge -- Mr. Greco and Mr. Dumpty

    
          El Greco (1541--614) Oil/canvas "View of Toledo"

.Mr. Greco and Mr. Dumpty

Mr. Greco and Mr. Dumpty met 
Now figures on canvass and paper both
Was on a Sunday sunny afternoon
Way back then before Dumpty became famed

After the fall, King's men and horses failed
Dumpty had moved to Spain, there doctors could
But the Dump didn't want to fall again
Commissioned the Grec to paint his new home

Paint me a wall from which I cannot fall
That his request, was easy for the Grec
Then Grec embellished, dobbed in King's Palace
Made Toledo famous tourists would come

(The Dump lived happily ever after
The Grec became famous artist renown)



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VMsnu9bFvO8

Poem Copyright, © 2016 Jimmiehov, All Rights Reserved

Today I used a former challenge that I had missed. It is Imagined By Björn Brudberg and called "Weekend Mini-challenge - Ekphrasis ".  
 - A part of his instructions follow:
"So today I will challenge you with just a single piece of art, and this time I would like you to (write) ... a poem that does not just describe the painting, but how it speaks to you, what stories do you find in it?. You might find a detail in the painting, or it might bring back some stories from your past, it might bring back dreams or hopes. But make sure you do not merely describe the picture, you have to find your story in it." Bjorn also wanted it to be short, 250 words maximum (mine is 105 with title).

 - So I chose this one pictured above, featured by Margaret in her Weekend Challenge "Play it Again".  I hope this will suite both the desires of both of the Toads mentioned, Björn and Margaret.
 - Margaret said in her post this about the Painting:
"In this, his greatest surviving landscape, El Greco portrays the city he lived and worked in for most of his life.  The painting belongs to the tradition of emblematic city views, rather than a faithful documentary description.  The view of the eastern section of Toledo from the north would have excluded the cathedral, which the artist therefore imaginatively moved to the left of the Alcazar (the royal palace).  Other building represented in the painting include the ancient Alcantara Bridge, and on the other side of the river Tagus, the Castle of San Servando."  The painting resides at the NYC Metropolitan Museum of Art." 

Author's Note:  
 - I was not aware of El Greco's "View of Toledo" and will make a point of finding it if and when I get back to NYC. It may have been on loan when I first visited as the museum had moved to Queens ?? for remodeling. Didn't see it other times either.
 - Anyway, I would have love to have seen Toledo back in his day. Been there three times, first in 2003. The 'hill' is full of buildings, commercial, church related, and homes now. Most were old, old. Been to the Royal Palace museum a few times also. Wonderful places.

 [click on pictures for larger view]

"Old Toledo" taken from across the river.  There is plenty of underground parking near where the cars are congregated at the left.  Most people in good shape walk up the hill.  Photo taken by Chensiyuan and obtained from Wikipedia (link).

 

 

Toledo at Sunrise.  Photo by Diliff and obtained from Wikipedia, (link).

World Poetry Day ~~ a Couple in Honor! ~~ a Senryu and a Limerick

Poems 101 
Roses are red, my poem 
Loved you then, still do 
_ _ _

Poem Copyright, © 2016 Jimmiehov, All Rights Reserved 

( more Senryu at http://jimmiehov6.blogspot.com/search/label/Senryū )

 #PoetryDay  #WorldPoetryDay 
_ _ _ _ 

Another:

Two Friends

There under the elephant ear she laid
While in the kitchen my other throb played 
First one is my best girl friend
Second, wife 'til life does end 
Nice dog and good wife, sure I've got it made. 
_ _ _ _ 



Photo and Poem Copyright, © 2006, 2016 Jimmiehov, All Rights Reserved
( more of Jim's Limerick poems at )
( http://jimmiehov6.blogspot.com/search/label/Limerick )

#PoetryDay  #WorldPoetryDay  

I'm linked with Madeleine Kane at Limerick Monday contest (link) where our rhyme words are LAID or MISLAID or DELAYED.

I'm also linked with the Tuesday Platform hosted by Marian
 at The Imaginary Garden with Real Toads (link)


Visit Huffington Post's, 

... our favorite women poets working today, in honor of Women’s History Month.

14 Brilliant Women Poets To Read On World Poetry Day , here at (link)

"If" -- a Saturday Challenge poem

If;
If our feet didn't heed 
Our nose's lead 

If mud puddles were pretty, and Mom was nice 
And dogs took baths in clean water 
Mom wouldn't have spanked me that day 
She wouldn't have known 
Or wouldn't have cared
That I was muddy that day, very  

If glass bottles would sink in the stream 
Or snow wouldn't melt so bloody fast
My spring day would have been dreary
What does one learn sailing make believe
We must learn life's lessons
By work and toil, corrections and admonitions 

If we didn't grow up, and all resources were free
And adults didn't mess with our having fun
We could play forever unfettered 
But we can't be that way
So God has the next best plan for us
Grow old gracefully, live childhood once more
 _ _ _ _ _

 Photo and Poem Copyright,
© 2016 Jimmiehov, All Rights Reserved

- - - - - -
[Mom was nice, she never spanked me in my life.  She did chase me with a real broom one day though.  We've been out of pocket all week, fun and family with KP, Mrs. Jim and me in Louisiana for KP's spring break.  There we visited relatives and went to a funeral, enjoyed it all.  (link).]

I'm linked with "Outlawyer" at The Imaginary Garden with Real Toads, Weekend Mini! (link)
Her instructions are "Take a poem written by someone else.  ... you can think of your source poem as you write ... your life experience, the imagery that speaks to you, your view of the world."

I used this poem as my 'source poem:'

If
by E.E. Cummings, 
http://hellopoetry.com/poem/1597/if/

If freckles were lovely, and day was night,
And measles were nice and a lie warn’t a lie,
Life would be delight,—
But things couldn’t go right
For in such a sad plight
I wouldn’t be I.

If earth was heaven and now was hence,
And past was present, and false was true,
There might be some sense
But I’d be in suspense
For on such a pretense
You wouldn’t be you.

If fear was plucky, and globes were square,
And dirt was cleanly and tears were glee
Things would seem fair,—
Yet they’d all despair,
For if here was there
We wouldn’t be we.

My friend -- a "Get Listed" poem

Hungry to the touch 

Nourishment good to work on 

Love my able friend 

Picture and Poem Copyright 2014, 2016 respectively © Jimmiehov, All Rights Reserved

Linked to Grapling's post in The Imaginary Garden, 

Get Listed, Equinox Edition, featuring Leonard Cohen (link) 

Party Girl -- a Challenge poem for the Flash 55 PLUS!

 .. . [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TlTKhPkZSJo]

Party girl, what 'cha gonna do tonight
Will you come to my house and do your dance
Mama says you go to extremes a trance 

Pretty girl please will you come to my house
Mama won't bite she hasn't ever seen
What you do when you hear music extreme

Forgive me mother
set another plate 

 

. - - - - - - 

. - Photos and Poems Copyright © 2016 Jimmiehov, All Rights Reserved

. - Today I'm linked with Kerry O'Conner at the Real Toads in the Imaginary Garden, to her post, Flash 55 PLUS!   Kerry invited us to "join by writing a piece of poetry or prose on a subject of your choice in precisely 55 WORDS. ... the optional extra part of this challenge, I invite you to include the word EXTREME/ EXTREMES in your title or the body of your work."

Numbers Count -- a poem, my number for you

 

[Click on picture for full screen view]

Favorite Number 

Numbers are my friends 

True friends just a few 

I wouldn't name names 

But for those special 

Some special to me 

I'll tell one to you 

Eighty-eight comes first 

A lady I know 

Our race car's lucky 

Number 88 

Had three Oldsmobiles 

Model Eighty-eights 

Mom was eighty-eight 

when dear mother died 

Morse code 88 

Tells "Love and Kisses" 
 

Now I've told you mine 

You can tell me yours 

_ _ _ _ 

. .

. - Photos and Poems Copyright © 2010 2016, respectively, Jimmiehov, All Rights Reserved

. - Today I'm linked with  Kerry O'Connor  at The Imaginary Garden with Real Toads and her post for Let's Count on our Fingers & Toes

To see some more of Jim's toys please click here

Actually we wanted 77 for our race car but that was taken

 

Links:

 - Meanings of 88, Wikipedia, all good!

 - Picture of car similar to our 1934 Ford three window

coupe race car (ours had the fenders cut down)

Take the Train -- a refreshing poem for The Tuesday Platform

 

Catch a train

 

Catch a train, that's unusual

people of the South love their cars

People of the South don't pay tolls

Let alone taxes for railways

 

Catch a train, go see the doctor

doctor knows what ails his people

Perhaps he knows what's wrong with you 

Check your adenoids, he'll check your pulse

 

Catch a train, take milk to market

cows were bursting, need two buckets

One caveat, milk trains are slow

Make every stop, even your home town

 

Catch a train, it'll carry you

take you away to lands afar

Disneyworld or New York city

To the mountains, you'll be refreshed

 

 

. . - - - - - 

. - Photos and Poems Copyright © 2016 Jimmiehov, All Rights Reserved

. - Today I'm linked with  Kerry O'Connor  at The Imaginary Garden with Real Toads and her post for The Tuesday Platform

. - Notes:  I live in a suburb of Houston, Texas.  We have no trains near our house to catch but in downtown Houston, 35 miles away we can catch the in-city commuter train or the Amtrak which will carry one away from our flat land.

. - The bottom picture, a flat land sky view, was taken from the Houston Medical Center where I was visiting my cardiovascular physician.  His office is on the 27th floor and I was looking out his window towards the southwest.  Sorry for you that I missed the beautiful Houston city skyline.  The top picture was from my car in front of the parking garage for the doctor's building.  This is our commuter train, it has right of way.