Unmired

Don’t count on luck when you are stuck;
It’s fickle and unheeding.
A little pluck may help unmuck
Your journey to succeeding.

Don’t pass the buck or try to duck
When problems have you sinking.
Let others cluck or run amok
While you, instead, start thinking.

You may be struck by train or truck
Before you get unmired,
But brains and pluck, when things just suck,
May get what you’ve desired.

(inspired by the movie “Joy”)

Seeking the Sought

My missing gloves turned up today
(Good thing – I was distraught)
Inside the pockets of a jacket
I forgot I bought.

The lesson of this incident
Is that we really ought
To leave no stone unturned
Until we find what we have sought.

A search that’s merely cursory
Will yield, as wisdom’s taught,
A disappointing outcome,
All your efforts come to naught.

But diligence will show results
That laziness has fought,
So “seek and ye shall find” remains
A wise and prescient thought.

Cashmere

I put on a cashmere sweater
That a friend had passed on down
Thinking it would keep my cozy
As I traipsed around the town.

I was new to wearing cashmere
(Too expensive, I did find)
But I walked out feeling toasty
(And with Seinfeld on my mind).

I discovered, though, a downside
And I soon began to fret
For, combined with my down jacket,
All that cashmere made me sweat.

By the time I got back home, my clothes
Were soaked right to the skin.
I was wetter than, without a shower,
I had ever been.

Think that I’ll return to cotton
Which, for me, works so much better.
Seems that wearing what I wore made me
A living cashmere sweater!

Half-Off

Only buy something
That’s sold at half-price
If you like it enough
To be paying that twice.

If that’s not the case
Then you’re wasting your cash
By doubling up
On a half-as-good stash.

White Noise

Living in the city
There are lots of urban joys,
But the one thing we put up with
Is an awful lot of noise.

Though we tune it out by habit
And just rarely come unglued,
There are nights when sleep’s a challenge
And we yearn for solitude.

Then a possible solution
Did present itself and thus,
There’s a new white-noise contraption
In the bedroom, next to us.

Though my husband swears it’s helping,
Desperation does delude.
I still hear the traffic roaring,
Just a tiny bit subdued.

Still, there’s value in placebos
For believing can hold sway.
While I toss and turn, my spouse is
Snoozing peacefully away.

Fallen Rock Zone

On a highway's "Fallen Rock Zone,"
You might be a little scared
For the warning signs were posted
So at least you'd be prepared.

But I've never seen a pebble
Take a tumble through the air
Or a boulder try to join the rocks
That are already there.

Which now causes me to wonder
Why attention must be callin'
To the fact that there's an area
Where rocks have somehow fallen.

For if safety were an issue,
It would be a simple thing
To remove the "en" from "fallen"
And replace it with an "ing."

I'd Like to Write a Poem

I’d like to write a poem
That’s both uplifting and carefree,
With rainbows, smiles and lollipops
Where real life ought to be.

A poem that paints a landscape
Where we all would like to live,
Where everyone is happy
And there’s nothing to forgive.

A poem where problems don’t exist,
Not even for a bit.
I’d really like to write that poem
But this one isn’t it.