Diplomatic Ragbag

just a few kind words
at the right moment can turn
wrath away for good

judging when is an
art which only peacemakers 
would care to master

join hands together
and hearts will surely follow
with minds close behind

junk the pal who claims
all people are this or that
with no overlap

jazz variations
allow possibilities
wriggle-room to grow

jettison tired old
animosities for new
ways to reconnect

justify your place 
and speak for the human race
when putting your case

justice is a cause
any person would battle for
whatever the cost

jets bomb villages
as a precaution against
whispers of dissent

jail all the peaceniks
and it's only criminals
who oppose a war

jests from the war-room
are never quite so funny
when told in battle

jaw-jaw my mother
always said is better than
war-war any day

image: Coursera

inspiration: jaw from

https://randomwordgenerator.com/

Utterances

suppose you were to 
abandon us here without
your final orders

secrets germinate
alone and fade one by one
yet blossom when shared

set a course without
agreement from the crew and
you might not arrive

stopping despots from
arising comes from speaking
your truths to power

seeing someone wronged
and staying silent is to
yield ground to evil

speak your mind or hear
another voice emerge from
your own silent lips

surprise the world with
a word collection never
yet put together

suddenly brave I
ask her out and praying for
yes prepare for nowt

image: The Breastfeeding Network

inspiration: say from https://randomwordgenerator.com/

silver bottle breakdown coffee gossip

staying
in 
luxury 
villas
eats
roubles

brave
or 
timid,
tipples
lend 
excitement

build
reliable
edifices
after 
knowing
disaster
only
wants
negligence

cup
of
fire
for
energy
elevation

go
on
spouting,
stop
if 
pouting


These little acrostic poems are based on the first five words that my Random Word Generator threw at me. Coming up with something that makes a little sense - or isn't utter nonsense, at least - is a somewhat strange little struggle I somehow seem to enjoy. 

If enjoy is the right word. This, my inner critic keeps whispering, is never going to work! I mean, who doesn't like proving that miserable little whinge-bag wrong once in a while?

If you, too, fancy a meaningless little challenge why not hit the link in the previous paragraph? I'd really like to read any little acrostic attempts! No worries if line layout is lacking - you could just put the word in brackets afterwards.

Five Haikus

flutter of white wings
across regency ballrooms
no butterfly hunt


fragments of that belt
adorn the highway behind
no drive to move on


follow a bright star
and find only your own face
nightly illumined


flow of tresses share
a river of light and air
never still somewhere


fury of high noon
appeased for a cool meanwhile 
not a long-term fix

image: The New York Times

inspiration: fan from
https://randomwordgenerator.com/

“Are we nearly there yet?”

Q.  Why are limericks like buses?
A.  Sometimes they come in threes!

 

Replying to back-seat cries,
our driver shouts Yes, soon! and sighs –
until passing just then
that old signpost again,
everyone thought he was wise.

 

Righto! (said the leader one day)
out of lockdown let’s make our way –
unless cases rise
to scary new highs,
ending the urge to make hay!

 

Rambling wild was our style
on explorings mile on mile –
up to half-way,
thrills ruled the day –
everything homeward was mild.

 

 

 

inspiration: Route from
Random Word Generator

Short & Sweet

In reply to my previous post Like Starting Again, Mike Halliwell has come up with this elegant one-word-per-line acrostic poem – a timely thought when the only way he, I and so many others can contact our grandkids is online:

Never
Underestimate
Reading’s
Supreme
Effect:
Reassuring
Youngsters.

Now there’s a happy marriage of subject and sense! Wanting to try something similar, I visit my go-to word-generation site in hopes of inspiration.

I get dash. 

That’s not to say my hopes are dashed, of course, because the big idea behind random generation is to make the best of whatever comes one’s way. Life skills and all that. And what is a word, I ask myself, but a web of fruitful associations … language …. culture ….. evolution …… ?

I wake up twenty minutes later and decide to consult the dictionary. Too heavy to lift off the shelf, alas, so I google the word instead! Ah yes, many meanings, and three of them feature below …

drive
at
several
hundred

debonair
as
swanky
harpo

don’t
abandon
social
happiness

Nine Lives

Inspired by a reply to my previous post, I resolved to write an acrostic verse with just one word per line. Here is Michael Halliwell’s succinct poem, itself inspired by this charming photo:

 

 

Picture
Us
Sleepily
Surveying
You –

Come
And
Tickle

 

Purr-fect, isn’t it?

I think the art is in its simplicity. Often harder than it looks to marry grammatical sense and apt comedy in a few words!

So when I hit https://randomwordgenerator.com and got discovery, well, my quill wilted. So to speak. It’s not a very funny word.

But then again, just now, it’s not a very funny world.

I try to be hopeful, of course. But in case hope should fall short, this post ends with another cat picture.

Dare I suggest a caption competition? Or even some more one-word-per-line acrostic poems?

 

disaster
is
sudden
creation
of
variable
economic
responses
yesterday

 

 

 

 

images: Pamper My Pet and Reddit