Tag Archives: based on a true story

20 or 35

Author’s note: Is it bad that I mostly wrote this after a bike ride nearly a week ago, with some editing and additions over the next two days, but didn’t post it yet so that I could do final edits in the sauna, so it could belong to my “sauna sonnets” collection?

Twenty

Twenty miles per hour may not seem too fast
When you're accustomed to interstate speeds,
Or when one lane view fills with tractor vast,
Or when an ER visit is your need.
But on road bike, lemonade stand spied,
It gives no time to consider barter;
"Sorry, I didn't bring any money,"
Words lost in the wind? But how I replied.
And on a road bike, familiar face eyed,
It gives no time to consider ardour,
Before the road calls, "attention, Sonny!"
Attempt to determine face I revised.
Future me: be more free with hand waves cast;
Have lemonade cash so sale may proceed.

Thirty Five

Thirty five miles isn't far by car,
By motorcycle, or carbon-based horse.
Road bike though, it raises the bar by force.
I've got lemonade cash for some kids' jar;
Exterior paths of urban lake take.
Lo! A lemonade stand I surely found.
Lemonade downed, to entry point I'm bound.
Exit lake, for a scenic view make; break.
Young dark haired woman on street corner stood.
I stopped, drank, opened snack (just shy of good).
"Here Bennie," she called out to dog just passed.
Her look, voice, familiarity hast,
Dots connect as down walk she runs not fast.
One lesson learned, the other, failed indeed.

Copyright ©️ 2024 H.K. Longmore

Trashed

It was too personal, said far too much.
As for that one, I liked the imagery,
But it had no structure or rhymes as such,
And got no boost for lack of symmetry.
And that one, that one I tried to salvage
But the sands of time have not dulled the pain,
Nor have torrential rains become flame's bane.
So the bit grinder its soul will ravage.
Add to the heap this one I won't retouch;
Not that one, to which I cling: cripple's crutch.
Keep those on dreams that I've yet to obtain,
But let go those that are far too arcane.
Spare those that speak of my little cabbage,
Or of Christian journey telemetry.

Author’s note: i started a poem the other day in which I tried to salvage another that i have no intention of publishing, with a note explaining:

“This takes some bits and pieces from an unpublished poem that evolved over the course of about a year. One version of that poem took a dark turn after six or seven stanzas. One version was too much of a “when you know what you don’t know” situation. The most recent version of that poem doesn’t end as hopefully as I would like, though I think it does capture the sentiment of “things are falling apart, no matter what I try to do to hold them together,” or, “this is not how I pictured things would be a year ago” with an unstated “can we go back a year and get a do-over?”  I generally liked that poem, but often end up having to explain myself to some of my followers, and it was maybe too personal, and in some minds, lacking context, could be seriously misunderstood. So, I’ve opted to canabalize that one in favor of other art.

Ultimately I put that in the WordPress trash, providing the inspiration for this poem.

Copyright ©️ 2024 H.K. Longmore

The Moth and the Post-Workout Shower

Laundry room: sweaty clothes deposited.
Bathroom: bathtub water set not too hot.
Bathtub: shower stop up, cold posited,
Stand back, let that flow pass me by, I wot.
Under shower: water warmed, start the soak.
Tile wall: crawling upward, a smallish moth.
Amygdala: spray it off, spray the bloke!
Basal ganglia: let live, be not wroth.
Under shower: turn my back and lather.
Cortex prefrontal: rinsing fixation.
Window sill tile lip: condensation.
ADD: watch drip lip-water gathered.
Tile wall: moth takeoff, on silence bent.
Water drips: direct hit! Down with intent.

Copyright ©️ 2024 H.K. Longmore

Saline Rivers, Fresh Tides

"Come and play with us!' His fellows called out.
"Come dance with us!" Peers tried to remove doubt.
He put up no fuss, nor yet did he yield.
They knew not the reason future revealed.
Me, now, options weighed, I'd like to have played;
I'd like to have leapt and danced through the glade.
But, uncomfortable in my own skin,
I had saline rivers to cross.
For the victor is the field,
But also for the beaten down.
Both, one day, will wear a crown.
And know ye that I ye kin?
I float no better on fresh tides than salty currents;
My welcomings of the same, recurrent.

Copyright ©️ 2024 H.K. Longmore

Closed-Captioning

Movie fantastic:
Watching real life unfolding,
Senses enlivened.
An unwanted change;
Video signal goes blank,
Audio remains.
Still captivating, 
Listening to audio:
Movie fantastic.
Video returns:
Brief interludes side by side;
Pulse quickens and skips.
Signal cut again,
Audio also is lost;
Movie fantastic.
Now closed-captioning
Only signal that remains.
Relationship strained?
With no video,
No audio, still I'm sure:
Movie fantastic.

© 2022 H.K. Longmore

Wild Goose Chase

Lucy Goose on the loose,
Chasing mother and her deuce.
Mother picks up twins,
Determined goose will not win.

Goose gives chase.
Mother picks up her pace.
Gaggle left behind,
Lucy continues chase unkind.

Mother tires with her load,
Sees what could unfold;
Sets down upon the grass
Each sweet and darling lass.

Turns about to confront
Lucy Goose’s cold affront.
No longer on the run,
Mother with goose is done.

Instinct ignites:
Lucy Goose will get a fight.
Verbal sparring first begins;
Sufficient scare: mother wins.

©2021 H.K. Longmore