PROMPT: Favorite People

Daily writing prompt
Who are your favorite people to be around?

Those who don’t take many things seriously, themselves least of all.

Mystery Door [Lyric Poem]

Photograph taken in the Halasuru neighborhood of Bangalore, India.
There's something about an old wood door --
ornate (but on some humdrum street)
that makes one wonder if it's more
than its neighbors -- something offbeat:
Perhaps, a portal into Hell,
a Speakeasy of unknown vice,
a smelly cheese smuggling cartel,
a school for wizards, imprecise.

PROMPT: At Your Age

Daily writing prompt
What were your parents doing at your age?

I suspect they’d have been making strange and new noises every time they got up from a seat, as well as experiencing randomly distributed sharp shooting pains every once in a while. The apple, presumably, doesn’t fall far from the tree.

Stump Gator [Kyōka]

Photograph of a young alligator resting on a stump in the Louisiana bayou, near Slidell.
Gator rests on stump.
but my mind cannot rest.
it's not "gator"
and "stump" in the same place,
but in the same sentence.

Common Box Turtle [Lyric Poem]

Photograph of a Common Box Turtle taken in the Bayou near Slidell, Louisiana.
"The race is to steady turtles!" --
Even if the race has hurdles?
Even with its great longevity
it'll never have lift or levity
to finish before life runs out.

Hold off with race applications.
Is racer your ideal vocation?
I don't mean to be Sower of doubt,
but think speed isn't what you're about,
and that you'd make a fine doorstop.

Raccoon [Lyric Poem]

Looking like a masked bandito,
Raccoon dunks expired burrito.
It dips it not to get it clean
but to flavor it: Swamp Latrine.

Cheetah Speed [Lyric Poem]

Photograph of a Cheetah taken at the Mysore Zoo in Karnataka, India.
Swiftly sprints the slender Cheetah,
running smoothly as Velveeta.
But right now it can't rouse its feet-ah,
and slogs just like a Walmart Greet-ah.

Meerkat Lecture [Lyric Poem]

Meerkats: Taken at the Mysore Zoo in Karnataka, India.
Please allow me a conjecture:
One Meerkat stood to give lecture,
But as with me, as a pupil,
Other Meerkats lacked the scruple
To make a show of listening,
Finding the walls more interesting.

PROMPT: Most Scared

Daily writing prompt
What’s the thing you’re most scared to do? What would it take to get you to do it?

A self-administered lobotomy.

Having to watch MELANIA.

PROMPT: Family Traditions

Daily writing prompt
Write about a few of your favorite family traditions.

1.) The Feast of St. Nicholas of Myra: It’s like Secret Santa, but each family member draws a name from a hat, and they then abscond with a prized position of the person whose name they drew and pawn it at a local pawn shop. They then hide the receipt in the house. Family members each have 15 minutes to find the receipt. If they find it, they get their shit back. If they do not, the “Secret Santa” gets to keep the cash.

2.) Hide the weasel: You hide a hungry weasel in someone’s room without telling them, and they have to find it before they get a toe bit off.

3.) Candle lighting roulette: candles are set in a revolving candelabra, which is given a spin. Family members take turns stepping forward to light the candle that is closest to them. One candle hides an M-80 firecracker which explodes to spatter the unlucky family member with hot wax.