119.365 - quatrain 119.2017 easing past

I wish I understood this itchy skin
patches that burn, or stretches that hurt
but hell I wish I understood my teachers
and for four years that hadn't worked

118.365 - quatrain 118.2017 might as well

Alicia finally took pity on her date
he waited in the livingroom to drive home his friend
who was busy in the bedroom with her roommate
"c'mon." she smiled, "let's get some practice too"

117.365 - quatrain 117.2017 life at the top

"oooooohhh!  inspiration" the guitarist cried
and rapped off a string of chords I'd never heard
so I rapped out a string of syllables I was sure made no sense
until the guitarist mounted them on his chords

116.365 - quatrain 116.2017

 the elegant elegant lady says something like "Rendena"
and a beautiful voice floats over the crowd
so beautiful you think "angels!"
and some people begin to cry

115.365 - quatrain 115.2017 oops again

this is another apology quatrain
I spent yesterday mostly sleeping
and neglected to write a blog quatrain that day
please let this one makeup for that

114.365 - quatrain 114.2017 coolers

my mother was a ventilator
my father an air conditioner so
they argued all day what the temperature should be
til central air replaced them both

113.365 - quatrain 113.2017 pain and confusion

waking up, not quite waking up
finding my leg pinned
on a chair-seat-point
trying so hard, so hard     to make sense

112.365 - quatrain 112.2017 scrabble-a-whirl

look!  look!  the wind has tossed my letters into the air
and for once I am excited at what might come down
I take off my crown and watch with child's eyes
the letters whirl, spin, and tumble like a dare

111.365 - quatrain 111,2017 strange thoughts

little boys think the strangest thoughts
trying to understand the world
until some approximately adolescent year
they stop thinking to understand girls

110.365 - quatrain 110.2017 proofs

I itch, I ache, I burn, I hurt
unlike Descartes who could still think
and thought that sufficient for his existing
I think my proofs are more enduring

109.365 - quatrain 109.2017 ordering

somedays the disorder in my computer
raises a yell from whatever's left of that orderly engineer
for hours, I collect story-starts into a folder
poem-starts into another, then grin and admit this is a different disorder

108.365 - quatrain 108.2017 advice

a friend calls with a tax question
I recommend she call one of the after hours tax services
Linda gets on the phone and after ten minutes of explaining
makes the same recommendation

107.365 - quatrain 107.2017 imitation

dancing
they call it ballroom dancing
but we know ballrooms and have danced there
sometimes getting the right poses, sometimes feet where they belong

106.365 - quatrain 106.2017 Easter

it was a bright, sunshiny day
Easter this year
a day for swimming pools, horseback rides, and children at play
a day to smile upon what we all hold dear

105.365 - quatrain 105.2017 someday

home, and finding comfort in that
even though the place looks like we abandoned it a week ago
and have only stopped by to grab supplies
one of these days, we must get organized!

104.365 - quatrain 104.2017 not quite up to it

late in the night, a shadow of Friday night's pains
throws shade on my heart
and Lindy and I hold hands and wait it out
and shadow-like it fades under what light we bring

103.365 - quatrain 103.2017 consolation

oh damn!
a friend who'd planned to visit has new plans
we'll just have to stuff the hole that leaves in our lives
with thrown away detritus from this heart thing

102.365 - quatrain 102.2017 obedience

"don't itch," I tell myself, "don't itch"
myself only has ears for suppertime
I might as well lecture it about holiness
or try to bribe it with a dime

101.365 - quatrain 101.2017 sleep-bank

today I slept less
catching up perhaps?
people who should know tell me that isn't possible
although I've made it seem so in the past

100.365 - quatrain 100.2017 visitors

two people, no, three!
came by to visit me
I didn't but I almost cried
that glad I hadn't died

099.365 - quatrain 99.2017 sleep

sleep
wake and eat and sleep
I did manage to watch the news this night
but most of the day was for sleep

098.365 - quatrain 98.2017 resurrection

two shots of nitroglycerine
apparently stopped the pains
and after twelve hours in two hospitals
I seem to be me again

097.365 - quatrain 97.2017 after a cardiac incident

oh bless the pain that does not kill!
oh bless the between times!
oh bless!  oh bless!  oh bless!  oh bless!
I can still find these rhymes!

096.365 - quatrain 96.2017 burro

the burro leaned against the canyon wall
looked back at the cowboy and shrugged
"you go on without me for a while
I'll catch up with you soon as I can"

095.365 - quatrain 95.2017 surplus

it was a year of plenty, it was a year of harvest
and mathematicians spent the winter and spring
trying to predict the next one
while songmakers celebrated this one

094.365 - quatrain 94.2017 paired

my brother was married fifteen years
before he accepted his bride
I thought him as crazy as anyone
but wondered the same about her

093.365 - quatrain 93.2017 password

he stood by bright waters and awaited the boat
and practiced what he must say
not any of the usual greetings he knew
just "good meeting" and then look away

092.365 - quatrain 92.2017 bullet storm

Mother wept, and Sister slept and Daddy played his card game
and Johnnie and I sat in the loft where we could see both them and outside
the cops arrived, exchanged high fives, then bullhorned for us to surrender
nobody said nuthin but Pa turned a card and around us bullets flew everywhere

091.365 - quatrain 91.2017 competition

Ms Johnson came here after the war
Ms Linseed was here before
they don't speak never to each other
but no one's died from either's cookies