Making New - an Acrostic Poem for Friday Writings

HAPPY NEW YEAR !!!

Reclaim, Rekindle, and Rebirth 

Relax yourself--claim again 

empty heads will not count 

clip from your paper 

lots of paper dolls you can make 

almost a dozen from only one page 

in paper doll contests you might win 

make them slim, make them pretty,

 

Remember childhood days 

empty bellies do not count 

kindergarten days rekindled 

invest in rounded point scissor cutters 

no one cares if you act senile today 

don't you know its New Year's Day 

let them laugh the laughs on them

early childhood memories coming forth, 

another plight you'll buy

nothing counts from them 

dare acting senile today

Reserve the time wisely 

emptied hearts try to count 

better filled with childhood dreams paper dolls 

ignore the hoots they don't know 

right from left hasn't registered 

tonight new birth you will have   

hoot and holler and scream like the kid you be 

 _ _ _ 

 - Photo and Poem Copyright, Jimmiehov 2014 (URL) and 2022 , All Rights Reserved 

 - Magaly wishes to see us into the new year with our next prompt: Reclaim, Rekindle, Rebirth for Friday Writing #58 at,  

https://poetsandstorytellersunited.blogspot.com/search/label/Friday%20Writings 

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Table Games - a Poem for Sunday Muse

 .

 

We are flying our home flag today for her

U.S. America is flying our flags half mast in tribute to Queen Elizabeth III 

  

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A Lagniappe #1:  Our friends from Towcester, Northamptonshire, England,

[our flag]

 invited us to watch with them for the passing of Queen Elizabeth on her way to open Parliament.  "We didn't see the little mouse but we did see the Queen.  I tell people that she waved to me.  She was in her carriage on her way to address Parliament on their opening day.   Just our luck, I had brought my camera but wouldn't you know on this particular day I left the battery at the flat in its charger. 

"So this picture I did not take but rather it is a British press release photo which I photographed with my camera. . . " (Read more and see more of our London of Spring 2012 holiday here.) 

Note:  We also saw her, coming out in her Land Rover from the Balmoral Castle, we were going in and so we pulled to the side while she was passing us.   Mrs. Jim and I liked her a lot, as many times as we have been to the U.K., she seemed to us as our Queen also.  May she RIP.

_ _ _ _ 

 

     Playing Chess 

He played in the light 

but near the shadow 

Mentor staying close 

Standing close watching, 

or in player's mind 

He had taught him well   

Mentor city champ, 

his student was good 

Could beat his mentor, 

one of three games 

Sophomore in college 

A senior in chess 

Skipping class for chess 

Studied not, dropped out 

Note:  That student was me, the author here.  Finally after eleven years I went back to college, night school.  Eleven more years in 1975 I graduated with three degrees.  I haven't played even ten games of chess since my dropout. I do plan to play again when I go into assisted living.  I've been retired 21 years now. 

 _ _ _ 

 - Poem Copyright, Jimmiehov 2022 , All Rights Reserved 

 - I am linked with Carrie for the Photo Prompt, at the Sunday Muse #227,  

https://thesundaymuse.blogspot.com/2022/09/sunday-muse-227.html?m=1  

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Writer's Pantry Poem for Today

Take Note 

Are you a note taker? 

A note believer I am 

First day lectures I say 

To my class, "Take Good Notes 

Your Tests will be over 

the stuff you need to know 

If it's in your text book 

and what I say in class 

but not my corny jokes 

All I say you jot down 

After class rearrange 

Make a study outline 

Fill in holes, stuff you missed 

and things from your book that 

were not covered in class 

Now make a shortened one 

Study what you don't know 

Review in your spare time 

Every student I've had 

Who made an "A" took notes" 

 - You are welcome to visit my Seasonal Posts on "jim's little Christmas tree farm" blog.  https://jimmiehov7.blogspot.com/?m=1 

 _ _ _ 

- Poem and Photo Copyright, Jimmiehov 2020, All Rights Reserved 

 - I am linked with Magaly Guerrero at Writers’ Pantry #50, https://poetsandstorytellersunited.blogspot.com/2020/12/writers-pantry-50-how-do-you-take-your.html 

 - This is true, I told the above to every class I taught at San Jacinto College, Business Law, Entrepreneurship, and Intro to Business.  

 - Please excuse the photo for having a U of H sticker.  I have an Associate Degree from San Jac and two others from the University of Houston.  All three attained while working full time at NASA Houston.

Water and Stuff ~~ a Poem for Weekly Scribblings # 38

Clouds, Stuff, and Us

Here we sit 

Under Joe Btsplk's clouds *

Spilling rain 

As it goes round and round 

On a leash 

It's mother tightly holds 

Hurricane 

Storm Beta is her name 

Some will flood 

We think it not be us 

Abandoned 

Cars by the roadside sit 

Sixty-nine 

The year was bad for us 

Thirty-three 

Inch water in our house 

"All just stuff"

That's what the wet are told 

Not quite true 

Memory jogs ruined 

Time it takes 

"Just stuff" to get regained 

Joe Btsplk *

Please move your clouds along 

Reminders**

We will miss them ever 

  _ _ _ 

  - Poem and Photo Copyright, Jimmiehov 2020, All Rights Reserved 

  - I'm linked with Rommy at Weekly Scribbles # 38,  https://poetsandstorytellersunited.blogspot.com/2020/09/weekly-scribblings-38-helping-string.html?m=1

  -"for our ... Weekly Scribblings, [Rommy] would like us to write poetry or prose inspired by the thought of “things meant only as a temporary or hidden support.”" 

  - Notes: 

   * Joe Btsplk was an unlucky man in the Lil' Abner comic strip who constantly bore a raining cloud over his head.  {Google images here)

  ** When our house flooded with Tropical Storm Claudette in 1979 our most treasured ruined stuff was the most of our photographs from over the years.   We lost more, all of our furniture, three cars, and a motorcycle.  The house but not the furniture were insured.  

       Mrs. Jim, Adi Beagle Dog, and our daughter, age five, and I left by a high window in one of the bedrooms.   Also we have moved from that house and it flooded twice more for new owners.  They had been advised.  It might be flooded again today, 9-22-2020. 

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A Poem, Mind the Gap, Weekly Scribblings

"Mind the Gap" I'd always wanted to hear*
I've dreamed of those words recorded and told
every passenger boarding London trains
Chicago kids didn't ride fancy trains
New classroom job at the college waited

On the road to boyfriend's house, "Mind the lanes"

"Job, travel, crazy cop uthfollowing close"
Hadn't signaled changing lanes pulling over
Got smart with cop, arrested me, then jail
Miserable time in there--I hanged myself
I will never ever hear, "Mind the Gap"**

* "Mind the Gap," a British saying meaning watch out for the gap between the pedestrian platform and the subway car door, i.e. "don't stumble on the car ledge or fall down into there onto the tracks." 
** A TRUE STORY.  Of course it was not me, it was a young Black lady, Sandra Bland.  It all started with a change of traffic lanes to allow the police to go around her.  SHE DID NOT SIGNAL THE LANE CHANGE and was pulled over.  It turned out to be a trap by this officer, he had used it for a stop many other times.  He has been fired, the County has settled a lawsuit brought by the family.  Her sister was on the NBC Today Show for June 18, 2020.  
YOU CAN READ THE WIKIPEDIA account in the linked reference below.  
 _ _ _ _

 - Poem Copyright, Jimmiehov 2020, All Rights Reserved
 - I am linked with Magaly Guerrero with Wednesday Scribblings #24, at https://poetsandstorytellersunited.blogspot.com/2020/06/weekly-scribblings-24-when-all-else.html
 - Magaly's words for today's write, "... I invite you to write poetry or prose where speakers or characters (or us, in the case of Slices of Life) fill in the blank in the phrase “When all else fails, I _____”. You are not required to make the actual words/phrase part of our contribution. I would just like for your new poem or prose piece to be about what happens right after all else fails. Be funny. Be serious. The choice is always yours
 - This is a true story, embellished just a little to fit here,  Read all about her plight and final jail cell hanging,  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Sandra_Bland
 - It happened here, just up the road from Houston at Prairie View, Texas.  Sandra was a problem-set Black young lady, ready for a new job at the college.  The police up there were/are terrible about harassing college students (a former all Black school there) and young folk, just like they were when I lived at Lincoln, Nebraska, before going into the Army. 
 - And finally I wrote in as form sort of new to me, the 'Elevensies', introduced by Rosemary and used here earlier on these pages.  The poem, or two stanzas grouped, have elven lines with the title in the middle as the sixth line. ( http://jimmiehov6.blogspot.com/2020/05/a-morning-poem-couldnt-be-helped-woke.html )

The Telly is On; 
  a grandparent's view 

The telly is on
  what is she watching
When she was yet small
  "Weather" was her fave
She'd stand by the set
  tell temp and forecast
Weather girl was she
  point and read her lines

Now telly is on
  but watching she's not
On the floor, Netflix
  iPad, head in hands
Though teen she is not
  teen channel for her 
Growing up sooo fast
  old beyond her years
_ _ _

- Poem Copyright, Jimmiehov 2019, All Rights Reserved
- I am linked with Sumana Roy, Poets United at http://poetryblogroll.blogspot.com/2019/08/poets-united-midweek-motif-televised.html?m=1

A Poem for one word - 'Halved'

Sharecropper

The old share cropper
  worked so very hard
With family to feed
  he must be frugal

Cost of seed was shared
  Harvest of grain matched
each two kernels grown
  his landlord got one

Bales of hay that way
  all the harvest halved
Even the garden
  veggies some for each

Where they differed, how
  the proceeds were used
Landlord sold for cash
  Farmer fed to stock

Livestock to sell save
  some for family food
Roosters Sunday meal
  Hens' eggs eat and sell

Save money not used
  To buy his own farm
_ _ _

- Poem Copyright, Jimmiehov 2019, All Rights Reserved
- I'm linked with Marian in the Imaginary Garden at http://withrealtoads.blogspot.com/2019/08/just-one-word-halved.html?m=1

A Random Generated Word Order poem

Student Wisdom

Unsightly things will muscular eye and 
stocky month make.  Scruffy day but 
a glamorous student, look magnificent. Life
with a flabby book, hand chubby stories.
Plain groups question the gorgeous cases.
 _ _ _

 - Poem Copyright, Jimmiehov 2019, All Rights Reserved 
 - I am linked with Magaly Guerrero in the Imaginary Garden at http://withrealtoads.blogspot.com/2019/06/weekend-mini-challenge-exquisite-corpse.html?m=1
 - For the Mini-Challenge I have used 33 words including the two for the title.  The title words were NOT in my generated list.  After reading it a few times I chose these two as a summary for the gist of the story.
 - This poem was crafted with the help of List Randomizer, a form that allows users to arrange items in random order.  Magaly supplied the list and the Randomizer rearranged  the words.  As requested, I used in order adjective, noun, verb, adjective, and noun five times from the new list for each line.

 - List Randomizer: "There were 129 items in your list. Here they are in random order:
(Adjectives):
(I used the first five)
shapely
live
unkempt

(Nouns):
(I used all five that I pulled out)

(Verbs):
(I used the first five)
vex
state
behold

(Adjectives):
(I used the first five)
elegant
attractive

(Nouns):
(I used the first five)
coffee

(Unsorted remaining words which I could
have used in order to produce more lines):
slay
fit
fact
arise
cast
beautiful
job
burst
long
dazzling
world
short
bald
quaint
time
feels
link
undulate
word
study
home
fancy
plump
place
night
skinny
drab
problem
people
year
clean

IP: 2601:2c2:600:6837:4f1:a5f2:ee8f:326e
Timestamp: 2019-06-15 18:47:53 UTC"

a somewhat silly ditty ~~ "Small giants and large dwarfs"



Namba Parks in Osaka
Bored Panda 

 

Small giants and large

dwarfs share the landscape

 

Architects delight,

weaving climbers and

tiny windows share

the scene fighting for

 

the top, upside down,

downside up, silly

twins bewilder you

and me, cousins sad

 

to think of what may

become way of life

for normal people

too, way too sick to

 

argue, quarrel. 

Doesn't matter

_ _ _ _

Ditty copyright, © 2016 Jimmiehov, All rights reserved

Photo inspiration, Namba Parks in Osaka by Bored Panda , from Kerry's Flash 55 PLUS! Challenge. 

Kerry, at the Imaginary Garden with Real Toads (at http://withrealtoads.blogspot.com/2016/10/flash-55-plus.html ) introduced us to the Bored Panda website.  There she "came across the post, 15+ of the most Amazing Examples of Japanese Architecture. ... (she) was transfixed by the ergonomic and/or economic use of space" (just right for my giants and large dwarfs).

Oh yes, exactly 55 words, per Kerry's request. 
Note:  I may not be politically correct.  But then, ... (Doesn't matter -- I liked the picture)

Java ~ a Cinquain Poem

Java

Stimulus drink

Morning cup required

Miss beloved brew—grouch all day

Coffee

Photo and Poem
Copyright © 2010 Jimmiehov
All Rights Reserved

Instructions for "How to Write a Cinquain Poem"
by Linda Ann Nickerson
as written in Arts & Entertainment,
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/2918324/how_to_write_a_cinquain_poem.html?cat=38

Structured as 2 / 4 / 6 / 8 / 2

Line 1 contains two syllables (usually the one-word title of the cinquain poem).

Line 2 contains four syllables (usually two words, describing the title of the cinquain poem).

Line 3 contains six syllables (usually three words, citing an action or plot of the cinquain poem).

Line 4 contains eight syllables (usually four words, portraying the emotion or feeling of the cinquain poem).

Line 5 contains two syllables (usually one word, recalling the title of the cinquain poem - either as a synonym or repetition).

Linda's blog, Nickers and Ink (link), contains many of her poems

One Single Impression: Spider Webs

Her Spider Webs

cold dew drops hanging
sad useless hunting device
must eat her own web

- - - - - - -

waiting and crying
vibrations up sticky line
caught in her own web

- - - - - - -

six days sticky silk
butterfly caught in the orb
dine from her own web

- - - - - - -

weaker each new day
carries her young--mother's pride
gifting her own web

Poem Copyright © 2009 Jimmiehov
All Rights Reserved

Notes:
Pictures of mother spiders carrying her young on her back (link 1) (link 2)

Find more poems at One Single Impression
"Light House" as prompt was
suggested by Bobbie Sandlin at Constant Current (last blog entry August 2009)

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Sales are down -- MidWeek Blues -- Bailout due here?

Please scroll down one post for my Sunday poem
One Single Impression: Thirst


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Please click on the super size and you will read the "Sales Office" sign on the front door. I have no idea what they are or were selling.

I taught an entrepreneurship class at the college, I do believe I could have done a little consultant work with these people. Whatever business they are/were trying they need/needed some help.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - -

If you want to post a MidWeek Blues picture, go get directions from Rebecca by clicking on the logo here. She has a Mr. Linky and good directions . Just do what I did.
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Or do less. All she requires is a BLUE PICTURE, you don't have to write.

One Single Impression: Denouement

Denouement

swine time we celebrate in fall
hog calling you can enter once
pig racing calls to place your bets
and best dressed piggy rules for lunch



little greased pig it runs so scared
could get caught by brave child quite small
climax georgia—miss swine time danced
she's known when crown adorns her head



Copyright © 2009 Jimmiehov. All Rights Reserved

Notes:
1. Swine Time Festival is held annually in Climax Georgia (Wikipedia link)
2. Denouement: [French dénouement, from Old French desnouement, an untying, from desnouer, to undo : des-, de- + nouer, to tie (from Latin ndre, from ndus, knot; see ned- in Indo-European roots).] (TheFreeDictionary)
3. The pigs are my toys, previously in an earlier 'This and That' post, A Pig Wearing Lipstick ... (link)

Find more poems at One Single Impression
"Denouement" as prompt,
suggested by Floreta The Solitary Panda

Painting is easy when you don’t know how, but very difficult when you do. Edgar Dégas
The same may go for poetry? (whatever, I enjoy painting with the words!)

Happy Valentines Day -- Will you be my ... ?

Won't you join me for a cuppa coffee (come look)? Happy Valentine!

This was our desert at last nights Valentine Day dinner. It tasted even better than it looked! Coffee was good too (come look if you didn't do it above).

my love you're my love
precious lovely sweet our love
will you marry me

Copyright © 2009 Jimmiehov. All Rights Reserved

Posted by: at February 12, 2009 09:50 AM
on blogs.chron.com/memo/

In case anyone wonders, this had to be three lines and 17 syllables (haiku style).
Of course I'd tell Mrs. Jim about buying her the Moon and getting her anything else her little heart desires and all those nice niceties.

Concluding remarks of President Obama's Inaugural Address

So let us mark this day with remembrance, of who we are and how far we have traveled. In the year of America's birth, in the coldest of months, a small band of patriots huddled by dying campfires on the shores of an icy river. The capital was abandoned. The enemy was advancing. The snow was stained with blood. At a moment when the outcome of our revolution was most in doubt, the father of our nation ordered these words be read to the people:

"Let it be told to the future world ... that in the depth of winter, when nothing but hope and virtue could survive...that the city and the country, alarmed at one common danger, came forth to meet (it)."

America, in the face of our common dangers, in this winter of our hardship, let us remember these timeless words. With hope and virtue, let us brave once more the icy currents, and endure what storms may come. Let it be said by our children's children that when we were tested we refused to let this journey end, that we did not turn back nor did we falter; and with eyes fixed on the horizon and God's grace upon us, we carried forth that great gift of freedom and delivered it safely to future generations.
(from YahooNews, which contains his full text)

SkyWatch Friday (my sixth) -- Pretty clouds over Guatemala

Over Lake Atitlán (Lago de Atitlán)

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We rented a boat and traversed Lake Atitlán. A small town on it's shores is where I found the 'dog sleeping on the roof' picture below.

We did have several stops, the views, the people, and the skies were wonderful. One was for lunch and souvenirs. I bought a nice hat, Mrs. Jim bought a wooden flute like instrument, each was "made in Guatemala."

This was our last day in Guatemala so there were about seven hours on the bus. That wasn't nearly as much fun as doing the lake in our boat.

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Left: [large picture] [super sized] Right: [large picture] [super sized]

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On the road (dah) via Highway CA1, which is the PanAmerican Highway. It really isn't too great in places but the scenery is wonderful. We passed a lot of roadwork using temporary side roads as Guatemala is upgrading portions to four lane.

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Huehuetenango, the street leading out of town to the west. This was not the PanAm Highway. We stayed a week in Huehuetenango helping at an orphanage. The kids were sooooo loving.

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Tag: Skywatch participants and How To Have Your Own Skywatch

Links:
Lake Atitlán Wikipedia article
PanAmerican Highway Map Write-up
My previous Guatemala posts
Guatemala Road Map

SkyWatch Friday (my fifth) -- The Blahs!

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At first glance, this sky pic looks like a clear blue sky without a cloud in the sky!

Wrong! The sky is all one big cloud, not an opening in sight.

This is a common sight in the early mornings around Houston. It isn't smog, it is just a low layer of clouds that soon will be burned off by the sun's heating rays.

The NOAA weather map picture of cloud formtions below shows a very large cloud over our part of Texas, circled. The Jim Bunch's home is to the top right (northeast) part of that big cloud. You might want to make it large sized to see the map better.

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[larger sized]

Here comes the sun, here comes the sun,
and I say it's all right

Little darling, it's been a long cold lonely winter
Little darling, it feels like years since it's been here
Here comes the sun, here comes the sun
and I say it's all right

Little darling, the smiles returning to the faces
Little darling, it seems like years since it's been here
Here comes the sun, here comes the sun
and I say it's all right

Sun, sun, sun, here it comes...
Sun, sun, sun, here it comes...
Sun, sun, sun, here it comes...
Sun, sun, sun, here it comes...
Sun, sun, sun, here it comes...

Little darling, I feel that ice is slowly melting
Little darling, it seems like years since it's been clear
Here comes the sun, here comes the sun,
and I say it's all right
It's all right
Title: The Beatles - Here Comes The Sun lyrics
link: Lyrics007




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I told you the sun was doing its work. We will wait a half hour or so and have another look.

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Now only these clouds are to be seen. They are hovering over the Houston area to our south and may bring them a few showers. We will be low humidity and dry today [I'm writing this on Thursday, the 14th] with temperatures in the mid-nineties.

BTW, some mornings start out this way, with the sun shining and the sky not overcast at all.

Tag: Skywatch participants