Touched by the Stars
A girl told her best friend
Excitedly
"I am going to be
...
Gerry is what he was called by others,
Except for his family.
Relatives either said Gerald or Dad.
A well-loved man was he,
...
Suppose the parents of three toddlers
Had semi-skilled jobs,
Or were unemployed.
They went on a vacation.
...
This is a story
About something that happened
When I was nearly four.
It was 1961, in Bangalore.
...
There's these two blokes, called Lance an Len,
Who happen to be white van men.
Lance once said, 'If I had my way,
When we warn that we are coming,
...
It happened in the eighties
At Nortel's Dinner-Dance.
When a young lady at my table,
Tried to make me feel a fool.
...
If someone puts you down,
To make you look small,
They don't do that at all.
They are just seen
...
Dad: Reading you school reports just the other day
One remark came as a great surprise
I could not believe my eyes!
...
Confusion
1
At the front of a boat,
As you may know
Is the bow.
Or does it rhyme with now?
Anyhow -
If you hire a boat for a row,
Then when in the middle of the lake,
Into it you throw
The oars:
Those on the shore,
Might say something like,
"What a stupid So-and-so! "
A companion would say
Something worse.
And your row would become a row!
2
If you commit the sin,
Of putting black rubbish sacks
In your re-cycling wheelie bin:
The refuse collectors
Will refuse to collect
The contents.
You may tear up the note they leave,
Or tear s come to your eyes.
But get it right next time,
Or the bin will be left -
There's no surprise.
3
If you have a field
That with crops you want to sow.
Don't harness a cow and a sow,
To pull a plough.
4
It's better to live
'Within your means'
Than overspend, so as
Not to appear mean.
This truth is stark,
If you borrow money from
A loan shark,
They won't leave you alone.
Who in their right mind would want marriage to be a bed of roses? Rose beds are full of thorns!
Life is too short to iron towels, bedding or underwear.
I really like this poem, with its tight angry rant, laced with an uneasy mixture of acceptance of the human condition and a friendly sadness.