Tag Archives: Common Meter

Bovine Chiropractors [Common Meter]

Posted on by
6 
A cow is an animal, &
 animals are creatures.
  So, having strong proclivities
    is a cardinal feature.

Calling them "creatures of habit"
 must be for a reason.
  If creatures did not form habits
   the term would lose cohesion.

But I digress, I must admit.
 Let me get to my point.
  You see, a sloping pasture must
   be murder on the joints!

A random beast, who stood this way
 & that, would balance out,
  but standing each day - just one way -
   could cause a hip blowout.

A cow that grazes on a pitch
 must have unequal legs.
  Maybe, all it would take would be
   two tiny pirate pegs.

For wearing pegs on the downslope
 side would align the hips,
  but then on walks down to the barn
   cows would be prone to trips. 

For now, there's just one solution:
 bovine chiropractors!
  Because the cost will be so great,
   I'm seeking benefactors.

Self Portrait [Common Meter]

Posted on by
3 
So many historic figures 
 whose look we think we know.
  Did Jesus of Nazareth sport
   hippie hair & a halo?

Perhaps, he did have quite long hair
 but not the tawny blonde
  of which so many "portraitists"
   seemed to be quite fond.

The Shakespeare that we recognize 
 is drawn from memory.
  Kings oft declared true depiction
   a form of treachery. 

Past commoners' appearances 
 are lost in bygone days.
  We know Van Gogh from a mad mind,
    and know him thirty ways. 

Do you know whose look we do know?
 Every teen now alive.
  There're pics from every angle
   stored on redundant drives.

Fish-Eye View [Common Meter]

Posted on by
Reply 
Do I look blurry to a fish,
   as if a floating cloud?
 Does it expect I’ll dart away
    as silence rings aloud?

Spotless [Common Meter]

Posted on by
2 
The Ladybug of my childhood
 had polka-dots of black,
  adorning the split red shell
   that covered its wings and back.

So, who erased this bug's black dots
 to make it less dice-like,
  making it a Lady in red?
   Said thief can take a hike.

I had so many fine questions,
 but it just flew away.
  Maybe a bug somewhere out there
   has more spots coming its way.

Suspect Alterations [Common Meter]

Posted on by
Reply 
To say you love, but require change
     is so deeply fishy.
 To mold the nature of your love
      as if her soul were squishy.

Mythical Kings [Common Meter]

Posted on by
Reply 
Don't sell us benevolent kings,
  such creatures can't exist.
 An unchecked mind won't self-censor,
  and lame dogma persists.

The Golden Age Mythos [Common Meter]

Posted on by
2 
There never was a Golden Age,
   a time much better than right now.
 But playing martyr 's all the rage:
    to think our world the garbage scow --
     whose stinking mass forever grows.
 Lest you think that I'm saying these
    are times of pure and sweet repose,
 Please, let me put your mind at ease:
    
These times are best. These times are worst.
    (To blatantly steal from Dickens.)
 This twist is just how we are cursed
    to shriek like that sky fall chicken.

Grasp Reflex [Common Meter]

Posted on by
2
Der Untergang der Titanic
A white-knuckled grip on the rail,
  though the ship is sinking.
 The brain insists one hold tightly;
   there's no mind for thinking.

A samaritan pries at your
  fist, but it will not budge.
 In giving up, he feels guilty --
   conscience jury and judge.

You couldn't wedge just a single breath
  to crack a space for thought.
 A simple thing it is to let go,
   but look what fear has wrought.

A quarter million tons now drags
  you to the cold, dark depths.
 Until the body's unthinking 
   gasp of watery breath.

The hand lets go, but still you sink
  trapped by your last mistake.
 The tragedy of a grasp reflex 
   that you could not break.

Cave Monster [Common Meter]

Posted on by
Reply 
I sit within an empty cave.
   It's empty, that's for sure.
 It's dark, so dark that nothing shines.
   What sound is that? A purr?

I'm in this cave, and not alone,
   but with what I can't say.
 It's in the back where it's jet black --
   a predator? Or prey?

I'm walking now; I don't dare run.
   the ground is all cockeyed
 with stalagmites and stalactites.
   I grope, in need of guide.

And feeling through Stygian space,
   I bust open my head.
 Warm blood, I feel, run down my face.
   I'm squeezed by rising dread.

I hear a squeak, a mouse strolls through;
   then silence is restored.
 If only my mind were so rid
   of its outsized horrors.

Bliss / Comfort [Common Meter]

Posted on by
Reply 
There is no breath that's like a breath
   that's taken three miles high.
 And never so deep was a sleep
    after days of light in eye.

And water is the most beloved
    when burning thirst is slaked.
  To starving souls no gourmet meal
     e'er bested bread, fresh baked.