• My Husband’s Birthday-April 10th Poetry Challenge

    Today was my husband’s birthday I’d like to bake him a cake Or perhaps a pie With a candle on it We could go fishing Nice weather We’re having Anzus Lake might be open I could drive up Paddle Hill He’d probably need to Remind me To turn right, not left Onto the 200 road…

  • Tritina For The Trees

    Napowri’s ;prompt” April 7 Poetry Challenge is to write a tritina. The tritina is a shorter cousin to the sestina, involving three, three-line stanzas, and a final concluding line. Three “end words” are used to conclude the lines of each stanza, in a set pattern of ABC, CAB, BCA, and all three end words appear…

  • I AM NOT SICK!

    Poetry Challenge April 5th I am NOT sick! Why do you tell me I should see a doctor That I should Take medication Get counselling? You say I don’t eat Properly Well, let me tell you Some foods Are contaminated They don’t taste Anything Like they used to They may even be Poisonous The people…

  • April is the Cruelest Month

    And now, for our (optional) prompt. In his poem “The Wasteland,” T.S. Eliot famously declared that “April is the cruelest month.” But is it?… April is the cruelest month I’ve been dreading the 30 days of it that are marked upon the calendar. Easter Sunday 2015, celebrated as the day Jesus rose from the grave,…

  • Our Heroes

    Remembrance Day was on November 11th: We commemorated Canada’s soldiers who fought in past wars, where many died or were severely injured. We have also begun recognizing the efforts of everyday heroes, categorized as First Responders (fire, police and ambulance workers) I once wrote a poem about Rick Hansen, celebrated as a hero back in…

  • POETRY CHALLENGE MONTH- April 2nd

    April 2. Prompts are: “Seeing an old friend.” [Virginia’s prompt] [Napowrimo’s prompt] “I challenge you to write a poem that takes the form of a family portrait. You could write, for example, a stanza for each member of your family…” Yes, Old Friend, I’ve lived a good life Two good husbands without too much strife…

  • IN THE SHADOW OF THE MOUNTAIN

    My updated “rap” song for the Village of Fraser Lake. I wrote the original version more than 30 years ago. I’d hoped to find someone to put the lyrics to music but that didn’t happen. I finally had the nerve to perform it at Mouse Mountain Days in 2014. IN THE SHADOW OF THE MOUNTAIN…

  • THE SECRET

      THE SECRET In the picture I am smiling, My hair freshly permed. A big white bow bobby-pinned To a huge mass of curls. A  beauty parlor perm that Momma couldn’t get her comb Through for a whole year. I am smiling in front Of the playhouse That my dadda made for me, Behind the apple tree. That’s my swing dangling down…

  • SATIRE FROM THE SEVENTIES

    THE QUEBEC ELECTION – 1976 In a land beyond the mountains, ‘Cross a thousand miles of plain, Past the province of Ontario, Where Pierre and Margaret reign, There’s a land where French is spoken, By the people large and small, And the reason for that language- The can’t speak in ours at all. In this…

  • THE EATON’S CATALOGUE

    The other day a bunch of us “old-timers” were reminiscing about the many uses of the long-extinct Eaton’s catalogue. Today is mail-day. Wow I’m happy! We go to town with mom and pappy. We’ll drag our feet behind the sled While mom and pop sit up ahead. The horses move at such a pace They’d never win…