25 Mar 2012

Celebrity Dreams

Tess chose for this week's Mag #110 an image by Duane Michals, and here is my interpretation of a detail from it, together with a shadorma - a poetry form which has six lines of  3/5/3/3/7/5 syllables.

A rock star
shines until burnout
overtakes
the glitter
of footlights; skies cloud over
with disappointment.


 I thought I'd let you see the intermediate stage of the image from which I chose the detail I finally used...

23 Mar 2012

See The Connection?

The one between life and laughter, I mean - though cooking and recipes connect well, too! Poetry Jam is responsible for this mixture.

Cooking is a gentle art –
until one day it falls apart
and best laid plans of recipes
come unstuck, for all to see!
A cake that’s soggy in the middle
will maybe give the cook a giggle,
when he sees the state it’s in,
before he lobs it in the bin!

But one ingredient never mentioned,
even by the well intentioned,
is a special sense of humour.
It’s a fact, not just a rumour,
that laughing at the trials of life
will add a very special spice
to every dish,  both sweet and savoury
and it won’t add a single calorie!

A Happy 55

The saying goes
‘Laugh and grow fat’. 
This jolly fellow
has done just that.
But his belly won’t wobble,
his laugh won’t be heard
He’s a sound proofed  Buddha!
How absurd!
He’ll never utter a single word
for he's made of wood –
though he does look good
with his big grin –
wish I were him!

Go see the G-Man for more 55's.

11 Mar 2012

Save The Muffin Man

Four and twenty blackbirds
got baked inside a pie...
but I'm inside this muffin.
Can you hear me cry?
The steam is rising from the top
and I am nothing if not hot
and wondering just how I got
into the mix.
I'm in a fix.
Help!

Posted for The Mag 108

4 Mar 2012

Surprise

For today's Mag 107, Tess used an image created by Sarolta Bán.  However,  I couldn't resist adding a Jinksy twist to better suit the two limericks I wrote...Apologies all round!

Here's the first:-
There was a young film buff from Towcester**
who fell for the girl on the poster.
"I'm her number one fan.
If I were leading man,
I'd choose her at once for my co-star!"
And here's the second:-
A photographer chap from Kildare
filmed a model who tended to stare,
and her face on his wall
made him feel oh, so small
as her silent eyes shouted "Beware!"
**For my American Blogpals, here's a guide link to pronunciation of this place name!

26 Feb 2012

Where Lies Inspiration?

Start with an image. Choose a portion to zoom and crop, then stop. Contemplate and rotate.

Was this a mistake, or does the image now seem fake? Shelves become partitions in this position. Lines of rolling tins become rolling stock on a conveyor belt of rail or road designed to withstand a heavy load...
It leads the mind in a new direction until it arrives at an interconnection of ideas.
After years of visual surprises, eyes have learned unusual ways of interpreting every day sights. Never mind what the subject might have been at the outset. Once imagination is let loose,  there's no use curbing thought. It does what it aught, and gives us the gift of a poem...
 And this is my gift of a shadorma, for the Mag this week. With thanks to Tess - and Andy Warhol!

Change colour,
create graphic bulge.
A blurred, traffic filled highway
emerges,
its flowing
river-rush of vehicles
morphed from those red tins.

24 Feb 2012

News Time Flash 55

See MAILonline news item

A man in Essex found a gold Rolex watch in the mud as he cleaned out a roadside drain. He took it to the police, who said it would legally be his in 30 days, if it wasn’t claimed…It has been.  The owner rewarded him, but I wonder by what percentage of its monetary value?

For more inventive stories, visit G-man's entourage.