#3 (Bop) – My Flesh and Blood

“Mumma, when will you die?” she asks with

Innocence in her eyes and a smile on her lips,

“Can I keep your unicorn t-shirt as memory once you’re gone?

And sleep on your side of the bed?

I will cry so much Mumma,

When you die.”

 

Says my six-year-old daughter.

 

“Will you neck come clean off if

I pull it hard enough, or

do you need a knife to cut a neck?” she wonders,

“Do you think the bears ran after Goldilocks and

cooked her and ate her up for revenge? Also,

after you are dead, I will not leave you but

I’ll stuff your body and play with you,

like a doll!”

 

Says my six- year-old daughter.

 

“I like ghosts and ghouls and monsters,

and scary things that go ‘BUMP’ in the night,

Why won’t you show me those creepy movies mother –

With the zombies and vampires and weird looking dolls,

and darkness and blood and knives and ‘attackings’?

I love them all – just like you!

 

Says my six-year-old daughter.

 

-Prachi S

ANDREW COTTER ZOOM MEETS WITH HIS DOGS

ANDREW COTTER ZOOM MEETS WITH HIS DOGS

Zoom!  Olive looks worried, those big black labrador eyes stare into the webcam. She’s starting to tear up.  Has she done something wrong? Maybe she’s chewed Andrew’s new shoes, those white nikes worn only twice.  Maybe she’s desperate, pleading to go out. Why won’t Andrew step away from his laptop, end this meeting, open the screen door?  Mabel keeps messing about. She’s fiddling, turning her video on and off, grabbing her squeaky toy, looking anywhere but at Andrew, her dear old boss.  She’s bored, doesn’t want to Zoom anymore.

 

 

NOTES:  After Andrew Cotter’s YouTube video:

“BBC sports commentator holds hilarious Zoom meeting with his dogs”   Posted 5/12/20.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gTvC6pMFByI

         Hour 3, 8 am, PM 2020

 

 

Hour 3 (2020)

bangs and sunflowers

old worn-down paperbacks and ice-teas

itchy summer unrest in the shade

out into the sun:

now screaming and running and reverting back to the womb

and eating it up and embracing her

and falling back into the sunflower kingdom

holy matramony among ants

it was a june marriage

divorce came in october when she moved away for college

The Covid 19 Bop

The Covid 19 Bop

 

How long will it take

before I can drink

a cold one at a bar

or dine out

with family

and friends?

 

How long will it take?

 

I have worn my mask,

stayed six feet apart

from loved ones,

cleaned groceries

with Clorox wipes,

and washed my hands

until they have bled…

for months now.

 

How long will it take

 

for science to lead

for data to dictate

for politics to follow

for distances to shrink

for bandannas to disperse

for Change to take place?

 

How long will it take?

 

Al Qur’an

        Al Qur’an

Al Qur’an

You are my lawyer
When am in trouble.

You are the best friend ever,
That talks in parable.

I can only cry on your laps,
Because you are like my mother.

When I recite Ikhlas three times,
You give me peace in my sleep forever.

Al Qur’an

You are my only source
of wealth.

And the only communication device
To Al- Waarith.

You are my only source
of knowledge.

My google,

And my Facebook that connects me
to other believers.

Al-Qur’an

You are

And you will be

My Amazon

Since I will have to read you

Before I can understand

That . . . Is what I call trading.

 

 

(Hour 03) 12.30-01.30am. PROMPT, the bop

beyond the door

there’s someone at my door
something strange at my door
who shouldn’t be at my door
& the people who should be
are likely never coming back
through that door ever again

i wish i was brave enough to go through

whatever is at my door
i’m pretty sure
is not any kind of human
it might be robot
AI of a basic kind
but not a very kind kind
if what I saw it do
through the door is typical

i wish i was brave enough to go through

i don’t know if they’re scanning
using heat sensors or x-rays
or infrared or UV
all i know is it’s just one door
between them & me
& it’s not enough to keep out the dust

i wish i was brave enough
                                       to go through

Six Feet Apart (Hour Two, A Haiku)

Six Feet Apart

 

Divided           we            live

only joined now by Death, the

Great Unifier

 

(A haiku is a three line poem with the syllable count 5/7/5.)

#2. Poem a la Hurry

“Poem a la Hurry”
Ingredients:
1. 4 Cups creativity, sifted
2. 2 medium cups of coffee
3. 3 parts Inner Critic, diced
4. 1 Wall Clock, promptly ticking
5. Several Birds, chirping

Instructions:

Pour Creativity into a large mixing bowl.
Gently stir in the Diced Inner Critic.
When well mixed, slowly blend in the coffee until consistency
is even.
The inner critic may form lumps, be sure to keep stirring, so
the Creativity can dissolve them.
Add in the Ticking Clock, constantly.
Add in the Bird Chirps. They have always been there, remember to notice when they slow down.
Mix all until blended, let sit for 5 minutes, then serve.

They tell you we are the future of tomorrow but what does tomorrow hold for us seeing our the present is a mess

They tell you to build and improve on your father’s legacy but there’s nothing to improve we need to start afresh from the roots

The root of the problem call it corruption, call it egocentrism anyone you feel like it all comes to one thing how heart and mind everyone cares for themselves and not about building a nation whereby even the least person can have a say or at least afford three square meals a day

Mother nature looks at us with tears in our eyes as how much we hate ourselves and also ruin the planet

We kill beautiful animals and when they are about to get extinct we start looking for a way to stop it, it’s always said that prevention is better than cure

But our hearts have become hard and won’t break or yield to the pleas and the warnings of the news

Seeing the statistics we call it all bunch of lies and just mere figures not knowing they are people trying to save earth and our lives but we keep pollution and endangering species calling them nothing other than food

It’s a pandemic they call corona but the pleas of social distancing has fallen on deaf ears as some make mockery of it saying that it’s all a sham and they are toying with us

We are behaving like Caesar allowing our wisdom (foolishness) to be consumed with confidence

I hope it won’t be too late as we say had i known before we act

 

Family Picnic

So, here’s the deal

After 3 months of shutdown

staying at home

and centuries of civil unrest

that erupted during covid

Our family has a picnic

Connections can happen no matter the distance.

People alone and lonely

tired of their own company

whining about their hair

and their dog’s hair

Mournful protests

of unrequited peace

Afraid to look inside

at what is important

Connections can happen no matter the distance

With a jerky start

and lots of arguments

we emerge trying to unite

we hear of more cases

In a distant place

and hope we are doing it right

Connections can happen no matter the distance