Sense Sonnet - Tickler

Higher Calling

The cardinals met with the pope.
"God has just given me a call -"
"A good news/bad news kind of scope."
"First, the good news will please us all."
"The growth rate of going to hell"
"Has been on a steady decline."
"Heaven expansion plans go well."
"Purgatory meets each deadline."
"Here on Earth, the reports look good."
"Born again sales are on the rise."
"Scandals have eased in the priesthood."
"The stats on prayer have hit new highs."

"Now the bad news - oh the pity."
"God - she called from Salt Lake City."

Sense Sonnet - Chiller

Last Departure

I remember those moments well;
Driving to the airport that day,
Hearing the news bulletin tell
Of a jet crash on a runway.
My heart and head began to pound.
I prayed to God to let Jill's plane
Be safely landed on the ground,
My world turned into fear and pain.
Oh how I longed to see my wife,
Clinging to hope that soon we'd meet;
And she would be back in my life.
I glanced at the passenger seat.

Jill smiled at me and called my name,
Then vanished in a whirl of flame.

Sense Sonnet - Tickler

Family Disagreement

I asked Al, who was ninety-five,
His secret for life - long and sound.
He said, "Here's how you stay alive -"
"Don't drink, don't smoke, don't fool around."
"Eat good food, get good sleep - that's all"
"A body needs to do - be square."
We heard commotion in the hall.
Some guy with two young chicks stood there.
He chugged a beer, then another,
Puffing away on a stogie.
He looked like Al's younger brother.
Al shut the door and said to me,

"Oh, don't mind him. He's been so bad."
"Partied all night - but that's my Dad!"

Sense Sonnet - Steamer

Last Rites of Passage

The child was walking home from school,
Another day of fourth grade done,
An autumn day, clear, crisp and cool,
Under a bright and cheery sun.
The trees were turning gold and red.
Leaves were scattered along the way.
The child could see the house ahead,
Inside - a snack, outside - to play.
Then suddenly there came a car
Around the corner, screeching wild.
The guns fired bullets near and far,
Including five that hit the child.

Caught in crossfire of driving hate,
The child died - too early, too late.

Sense Sonnet - Tickler

Not Forgiving For Giving

A partridge in a pear tree - jeez!
Two turtle doves - what's this bird thing?
Three French hens - stop this foul stuff, please.
Four calling birds - you ding-a-ling.
Five golden rings - pawnable pick.
Six geese a laying - you're not well.
Seven swans a swimming - real sick.
Eight maids a milking - go to hell.
Nine ladies dancing - getting deep.
Ten lords a leaping - up I'm fed.
Eleven pipers piping - (bleep)!
Twelve drummers drumming - oh my head.

Twelve days of Christmas translated -
"My true love" is truly hated!

Sense Sonnet - Pumper

Cellular Pet

Pam was standing upon a chair,
Giving the bathroom light a scrub.
She got dizzy and fell from there,
Smacking her head against the tub.
She was unconscious on the floor,
Blood gushing from a forehead cut.
Soon after, coming through the door,
Bobby was not just any mutt.
He ran to Pam's purse and pulled out
Her cell phone, opening it up;
His little paws busy about
Being one techno savvy pup.

Pam's recovering from her fall.
Thanks to Bobby's 911 call.

Sense Sonnet - Tickler

Englishish

The sounds we hear of what we've heard,
We try to catch and once so caught,
We feel we're near to that what's nerd -
Within our snatch, but then it's snaught.
The teachers teach what has been taught,
The way to speak like others spoke,
To blindly preach as others praught.
The lessons squeak with sounds that squoke.
We learn to write the words they wrote -
Make senses sink where such are sunk.
No use to spite what has been spote.
Whatever we think, others thunk.

Somebody told someone do telled,
Words to behold, words to be helled.

Sense Sonnet - Steamer

In the Blood

A way of life for centuries,
Pitting the man against the bull,
Surrounded by bred tendencies
To take fate's measure forced and full.
The roaring sounds sweep like a flood
Across the time and place of skill,
Echoing passions drenched in blood
And boiled to frenzy for the kill.
Such artful motions of the cape
Are preludes to that piercing lance.
The conquered has but one escape.
Thus, ends once more this mortal dance.

Duty demands a death in prize.
One beast lives as one beast dies.

Sense Sonnet - Tickler

Dropping By

A new neighbor moved in next door.
So I stopped by to say hello.
I took along a small encore.
My poodle, Pepper, got to go.
She welcomed me and asked me in,
But looked at Pepper with some doubt.
He gave her his "I'll be good" grin.
But, I felt that he should stay out
On the porch. As I put him down,
He made a beeline straight inside;
And did a dump in earthy brown
On white carpet. I could have died.

My good intentions turned to oops.
But, that's the way the poodle poops.

Sense Sonnet - Acher

As Is

I wrote it in a feeling time,
When I still felt my heart and soul.
The sonnet flowed in metered rhyme,
Each sound a tribute to the whole.
It was about a long lost love,
Who died the day we were to wed.
In grief, I prayed to God above
To let me join her with the dead.
Instead, I was condemned to live
In lost and lonely misery.
And God - I never would forgive,
For taking her away from me.

A piece of paper and some ink,
I sold my poem for a drink.

Sense Sonnet - Tickler

Double Up

A woman gave birth to twin sons.
She couldn't give them proper care,
So put them up for adoptions.
It was in both boys' best welfare.
One went to Egypt, one to Spain.
Their new names were Amal and Juan.
The woman sometimes felt the pain
Of knowing that her sons were gone.
Years later, Juan sent his picture
To the mother he never knew.
It made maternal juices stir.
She wanted one of Amal too.

But then she happened to recall,
"Once you've seen Juan, you've seen Amal."

Sense Sonnet - Chiller

Invasion

The sound of movement wakened her.
She turned the lamp on for some light.
Running across the floor, there were
Two tiny creatures dressed in white.
They must have come from outer space.
Frightened, she reached out for the broom,
And swept them from their hiding place,
Into the middle of the room.
They shot at her with little guns.
Into her skin, the sharp pains tore.
She beat to death the aliens,
Breaking their bodies on the floor.

She found their spacecraft the next day,
With tiny letters - U.S.A.

Sense Sonnet -Tickler

Done of a Gun

Les Moore, an outlaw, roamed the West,
Robbing and killing randomly.
Many a lawman tried his best
To bring in Les Moore legally.
Many a lawman bit the dust;
Shot down in cold blood by this one
Who only sneered at fair and just,
While adding notches to his gun.
One day, while carving such a notch,
The pistol slipped and hit the ground.
All Moore could do was grimly watch
The gun fire into him a round.

Gunned down dead by his forty-four,
Here lies Les Moore, no less, no more.

Sense Sonnet - Pumper

Singing in Season

Hear the songbirds - they sing in spring,
A fresh, new wondrous welcomer;
A time to blossom everything.
Hear the songbirds sing in summer,
Sending the warmth and glow to all;
A time to mellow in the sun.
Hear the songbirds - they sing in fall,
Amid the crisp and colored fun;
A time to savor nature's art.
Hear the songbirds sing in winter,
Of sparkling joy to fill the heart;
A time to let good will enter.

Songs for every rhyme or reason,
Songbirds sing for every season.

Sense Sonnet - Tickler

Dog House

Mary dropped by to visit Pat.
A big dog followed her inside.
The two women sat down to chat.
The dog explored in eager stride.
Throughout the house there could be heard
The pitter patter of huge paws;
Then the sound of something shattered.
There was no doubt who was the cause.
Both gals arose to check it out.
The dog returned, toting a bone,
With Pat's roast - for dinner, no doubt.
Pat asked Mary in a tense tone,

"Could you please take your dog outdoors?"
"He's not mine! I thought he was yours!"

Sense Sonnet - Acher

Agonizing

A man and wife and child were lost,
Driving in a blizzard of snow.
Their car stalled from a clogged exhaust.
There wasn't anyplace to go.
They huddled close inside the car,
While the storm continued outside.
After a day, no change so far,
To leave them - he had to decide.
He started walking down the road.
All around him was blowing white.
For long hours and miles he strode,
Praying his loved ones were all right.

The wife and child were found okay.
His corpse was found ten yards away.

Sense Sonnet - Tickler

DesExes

Delighted - ex-electrician.
Defined - ex-judge in traffic court.
Devoted - ex-politician.
Debased - ex-batter in the sport.
Deposed - ex-model of fashion.
Departed - ex-actor on stage.
Denoted - ex-sax musician.
Deranged - ex-cowpoke in the sage.
Depressed - ex-dry cleaning iron fist.
Detested - ex-student who cheats.
Defiled - ex-shop manicurist.
Deserved - ex-waitress slinging eats.

Examples of rhymings depend
Exactly upon what descend.

Sense Sonnet - Steamer

Vicious Circle

The ghetto, that's where he was born,
And that's where he was gonna die.
His life was something sad to mourn.
Death waited for its turn nearby.
He learned to hustle and to beg,
A lying, thieving kid who had
A rap sheet longer than his leg.
He became good at being bad.
Caught on that fast, cool carousel,
With a street gang of teenage thugs,
Going around in living hell.
At fourteen, he o.d.ed on drugs.

He was off the ghetto-go-round,
Buried beneath it in the ground.

Sense Sonnet - Tickler

Depressed

Prison was not the life for me.
I thought out ways I could escape.
Deciding on one finally,
A plan began to take its shape.
I got assigned to trash detail;
And studied every scheduled route
Of outside pick ups - to avail
Me my best chance of getting out.
I picked the time, the place, the trash,
And I got dumped into a truck.
I felt the weight of being rash
Compress around me. I was stuck.

They dug me from the garbage bin,
That I had been compacted in.

Sense Sonnet - Acher

A Christmas Peril

Ebenezer Scrooge was his name.
He was a lovable, good guy.
All who knew him had high acclaim.
He was saint like, none could deny.
One Christmas Eve, he went to sleep.
The ghost of Christmas past, that night,
Showed his parents together weep
Over his fresh and small gravesite.
The ghost of Christmas present showed
Of those he loved, he was unknown.
No ghost of future was bestowed
Upon him; he was left alone.

Ebenezer woke up and said,
"Bah humbug," and he then dropped dead.

Sense Sonnet - Tickler

Cold Turkey or Else

I'd died and gone to heaven high.
The shock had not worn off me yet.
What choice was there but to comply?
I sure could use a cigarette.
No butts were anywhere in sight.
Those doctors told me I should quit.
Unliving proof that they were right,
I sweated through my nicky fit.
St Peter popped out of thin air.
Being a nervous newly dead,
I asked him if he had a square.
St Peter turned to me and said,

"By God, no smoking. Hear this well -"
"If you must smoke, then go to hell."

Sense Sonnet - Pumper

Anger Resolver

The sidewalk is covered in ice.
Why can't homeowners clear their walks?
It makes me mad. It would be nice
To put the bums in an ice box.
Well, I'm here, so I'll tread on.
If I'm careful, I'll be all right.
Oh, oh, here comes a woebegone,
A gal with dog - not a good sight.
And worse yet, she's on her cell phone.
The puppy comes bounding at me.
Up go my feet - ground to tailbone.
My face feels a tongue, sloppily.

Anger in me is gone as quick
As a puppy dog's "Hi there" lick.

Sense Sonnet - Tickler

Choked Up

I woke up to a wondrous sight -
The first snowfall of the season.
Flakes fluttered in the cloudy light.
I rushed to dress with good reason.
All bundled up, I ran outside
To feel the fresh, new wintry fun.
One piece of nature's art was spied.
I breathed it in - a big fat one.
It stuck back in my throat somewhere.
A choking spell came suddenly.
I just stood there gasping for air.
At last my breath came back to me.

How can someone, for heaven's sake,
Choke on just a single snowflake?

Sense Sonnet - Chiller

Dark

I got back from studying late.
The lights were off in my dorm room.
I could hear sighs from my roommate.
Her boyfriend's charms, one could presume.
I quickly got into my bed,
And very soon was fast asleep.
It was morning. I raised my head.
I felt my flesh begin to creep.
From her gashed body, blood did stream.
She looked like a cut up rag doll.
All I could do was scream and scream.
Some words were written on the wall,

In blood, "Bet you're real glad all right,"
"That you did not turn on the light."

Sense Sonnet - Tickler

Canned

A man was hired to paint the line
Down the middle of a highway.
His boss said he was doing fine -
Ten miles painted on his first day.
The second day, the man did less,
Painting only five miles of road.
The boss told him, "Okay, I guess,"
But wondered why the man had slowed.
On his third day, he only did
One single mile. The boss was hot,
"Who the hell you tryin' to kid?"
"What kind of damn excuse you got?"

"Well, each day I paint," said the man,
"I get further from the paint can."

Sense Sonnet - Pumper

Peace of War

Christmas Eve in a time of war.
Our sub was a sitting duck.
Hitting rocks on the ocean floor,
We surfaced slowly, just by luck.
If all held, home port could be made.
But first we had to make it through
Ships of the enemy blockade.
That would be a miracle true.
We kept on course into the night.
Enemy ships were closing in.
There was no way we'd win a fight.
We waited for them to begin.

Their signal lights flashed out in red -
"Merry Christmas," the message said.

Sense Sonnet - Tickler

Buyer Beware

I was on my way home and saw
A yard sale, so I stopped to look.
Beth was with my mother-in-law,
Out lunching in some little nook.
An oak rocking chair caught my eye.
It would be perfect in the den.
"How much for it?" I asked the guy.
"Gotta beat one hundred and ten;"
"Some lady was here and bid that."
Ten bucks more and I bought the chair.
Someone approached where we were at.
"That's the gal you beat out right there."

"Oh, no," I said, feeling some strife,
Because I'd just out bid my wife.

Sense Sonnet - Acher

Wrong of Protest

He was only twenty years old,
Killed by enemy mortar fire.
He was good, with a heart of gold,
And zest for life that would not tire.
He felt that he was duty bound
To serve the good ol' U.S.A.
He did so on the battleground,
Bravely fighting for freedom's way.
There are those who oppose the war.
That is their right, for which he died.
But some are rotten to the core,
Coming to gloat at his graveside.

I hear their cheers one after one,
As I bury my only son.

Sense Sonnet - Steamer

Right of Protest

It's hard to see with all the flags -
Flutterings of red, white and blue,
Carried by uniformed scuzbags,
Meant to block the doings from view.
But, the truth cannot be blocked out -
That we are in an immoral war.
Satan must be smiling no doubt,
That evil triumphs more and more.
Someone has got to take a stand,
To show the world that right can win,
To spread the word across the land,
That fighting in this war is sin.

We do God's work by being here;
One more soldier buried - to cheer.

Sense Sonnet - Tickler

Bodily

It's plain as my nose on your face.
Shoulder to the wheel off your chest,
You jump down my throat anyplace.
There, under your skin I will nest.
My elbow greases your cold feet.
Your itchy palms pulling my leg.
A stiff upper lip, as we meet
At the top of your lungs, I beg.
Splitting hairs wet behind the ears,
Sticky fingers head over heels,
I keep your chin up through the fears,
Tongue in cheek, open arms appeals.

I cross my heart and hope to die;
I am the apple of your eye.

Sense Sonnet - Steamer

In the Beginning

They came together in the room,
Of every gender, creed and race;
And they included those of whom
Had disabilities to face.
Throughout the time together spent,
There were no words or acts of hate.
In fact there was not any hint
Of other than the best of fate.
Their differences did not make
Any differences at all.
It was the purest give and take
That human watchers could recall.

A blending of true harmony -
Children - ages one, two and three.