Toast with a Time Limit
Here’s hoping the missing good cheer
That should have been prevalent here
Shows up at the door, not another old bore,
Or I’ll have to be leaving, my dear,
For your party is killing my joy
And particularly, to annoy
Me: wasting my time with dull boors is a crime
I’m not quick to forgive, my dear boy.
Coming-Uppance
Relegated to the lowest
Rank of feebleniks and fools,
I can see my betters’ failings
And their breaking of the rules,
But I keep my quiet counsel,
Counting nothing disconcerting,
Never flinch, for I remember:
Blackmail can be quite diverting!
Emptying the Vessel
Under my penitential veil,
Blue-socketed and ashy pale,
I genuflect and toll my faults,
Demurely dance a pious waltz;
I bend and bow and pine and scrape,
Dressed in hair shirts and chains and crape,
And when my guilt’s no longer sore,
I’ll dash right out and sin some more!
Close Shave
The opportunity occurs
So rarely, it is true,
That I can scarce resist the urge
To put my hands on you
With malediction in my heart
A glacier in my veins
A purring curse through smiling fangs
And voltage in my brains
That perks nefarious Nemeses
Like me to work your doom—
But I’d be left too much bereft:
No You to hate? Then, whom?
Art-Colored Glasses 
amen to “wasting my time with dull boors is a crime”….this may be my new mantra! good stuff…
I definitely have very little patience with people whose social skills don’t at least allow them to recognize when others have had enough! So I have to admit that line is strictly autobiographical. 😉
particularly fond of Emptying the Vessel.
“and when my guilt’s no longer sore”
ah, yes, that space that exists just before we sin again
Close Shave had me smiling, and then smiling some more
“No you to hate? Then, whom?”
I think you should get extra credit for that sentence.
Or at least a standing ovation. **stands, and applauds**
**Curtseys deeply** I thank you! I’m so delighted you enjoyed it!
xo
Much as I love today’s poems, the artwork is drawing more of my (limited) attention…
Tell me more about it?
I think I was just on a tear about trying to see how many shades and textures of ‘black’ or at least charcoal I could get into one smallish work (about 18×24). Probably motivated by my years of finding so many different kinds of black in nothing more than permeable-tip marker pens, particularly when they fade over time and become, respectively, purple, brown, blue, green and other colors that prove the original blacks were mighty different from the beginning. The lightest whitish-greyish shades in the piece are graphite, and thus quite reflective, so they appear and disappear depending upon the angle of viewing or photographing.
“Toast With A Time Limit”: resonates personally. “Coming-Uppance, Emptying the Vessel,
Close Shave”, all enthrall, as well as, stand alone on titles alone…
I think anyone who has endured a tedious event with any boors or bores in attendance can probably understand quite well what inspired my ‘Toast’! And aren’t titles fun? I know from your poems that you, too, appreciate the many things they can accomplish, including entertaining their ‘handlers’ as we write them! 😉
xo
Good poems as usual Kathryn, your output of quality continues to astoud.
Thanks! 😀
Make that astound – my fat fingers need to go on a diet. 🙂
Well, there’s nothing like a bit of keyboard calisthenics to get the fingers all trim and limber, right? Just means we have to type an extra poem or two and we’ll all be fit as fiddles again. 😉
The way you play with lettering in Black on Black is really impressive. Great piece – I’m inspired!
While I don’t have the graphic skills you have by any stretch of the imagination, I have always loved incorporating letters and text into my work one way or another. Glad you like!!