Sense Sonnet - Tickler

Size Matters

We, the seven dwarfs, do protest
The Starbucks firing of one who
By short stature was high oppressed.
Discriminate - Starbucks did do,
Accusing the lady to be
A danger to the folks around
Who might stumble on the short she,
And take a tumble to the ground.
We've invited the little one
To come and stay with us a while,
To soothe the harm Starbucks has done,
And serve our coffee with a smile.

Though she may be of a short height,
She can fill the shoes of Snow White.

Sense Sonnet - Chiller

Tox Stalks

High techie toys are filled with gunk,
Hazardous elements that stay
After the toys have become junk,
And then these toxins really play
In playgrounds called the human bods.
Ever being absorbed therein,
Slowly constructing freakish pods
That will take over - who knows when.
We live and breathe this nasty stuff,
Turning us into nasty things.
And when we die, then sure enough,
The nasties move to new beings.

Billions of bodies toxic bound,
Whether above or underground.

Sense Sonnet - Acher

Vagus

I am the vagus nerve, I am
A wandering throughout the bod.
Science has me under exam.
I act as a divining rod,
Perceiving outside stimuli,
Then giving the go to emote -
Sometimes a laugh, sometimes a cry.
A definite response of note.
The each of all does ever yearn
To relive the cause and effect,
Igniting the belonging burn,
Human to human to connect.

The Oprah Show does often serve
As testing ground for the vagus nerve.

Sense Sonnet - Tickler

Mother Shipton

A Mother Shipton wannabee
Wrote an "unearthed" forecasting batch
In rhyming couplet prophecy,
Including end of the world - natch!
"The world to an end shall come." - when?
"Eighteen hundred and eighty one."
Must have been a slip of the pen.
"Come" and "one" don't rhyme - 'twas not done.
If doing rhyme, then do it right,
Even to perpetuate a fraud.
Anything less is a gross slight.
A rhyme that doesn't is slipshod.

The world's end date must rhyme with "come."
The world should end in the day - "some."

Sense Sonnet - Steamer

Swipe Gripe

I am a debit card swipe fee.
When the consumer pays by card,
The retailer is whacked by me.
The arithmetic is not hard.
The retailer can pick and choose.
Eat me as an added expense.
Charge me to consumers who use
Debit cards as a consequence.
Or give consumers who pay cash
A nice discount for doing so.
Oh those banker boys' teeth will gnash.
I am their fav fee - doncha know?

I guess I've gotten too much fame.
Big Gov wants in on my swipe game.

Sense Sonnet - Pumper

Nun of the Above

I left my home I grew up in,
Bid farewell to my family
For a chosen life to begin -
A nun I am going to be.
A young woman of just eighteen,
I'd felt for years what I would do.
It is a calling most serene,
A call to serve God all and true.
Leaving all possessions behind,
I came to the convent to grow,
With God's will in heart, soul and mind.
It's my life's purpose, that I know.

I think I will truly have grown
When I no longer miss my phone.

Sense Sonnet - Chiller

Bibliophile

Yes, I am a bibliophile.
Books are the true love of my life.
I found this out after a while
Of being married to my wife,
Who did not understand at all,
And whined to her mother of it.
Momma in law then came to call.
Both of them drove me to a fit.
Time passes. A policeman comes.
Where might my wife and her mom be?
I say my wife is at her mum's.
But I don't think he believes me.

The closer the policeman looks,
He finds both buried 'neath my books.

Sense Sonnet - Acher

Money Math

Once upon a time, a hundred
Folks were selected for a test.
One was a rich selfmade biz head.
Ninety nine were poor laziest.
Assets of all hundred were pooled,
Then divvied up in equal shares
To note what economics ruled
In free market human affairs.
After a year the hundred were
Checked out to see how each had done.
Ninety nine losses did occur,
And there was only one rich one.

The ninety nine poor were poor more.
The rich one amassed wealth galore.

Sense Sonnet - Tickler

Liz Biz

The movie, Cleopatra, did
Make Twentieth Century Fox
So financially pyramid
Close to hard bankruptcy rocks.
There were so many cost delays.
"Cleo'" Liz Taylor caused her share.
She had a bad long illness phase.
The film shut down during her care,
Then moved to Rome from England's cold,
Where Liz would not get such a chill.
But still filming was oft on hold
For Taylor/Burton's rumor mill.

And because of delays galore,
Liz was paid many millions more.

Sense Sonnet - Steamer

Ashe bash

I live on Jimmy Ashe's farm,
Down in Watamu, Kenya way.
I get milked to anti the harm
My venom can cause - bite or spray.
I am my own species, do tell,
Called large brown spitting or just Ashe.
Named for Jimmy - isn't that swell? -
The guy who milks me for the cash.
One of these days Jimmy will feel
My venom spit into his eyes,
Flung from my fangs in scaled up zeal.
I don't like Jimmy - no surprise.

When I was first born I did hiss
At Jimmy, and spit but did miss.

Sense Sonnet - Pumper

Lending Help

1906 was a hard year.
San Francisco came tumbling down
In an earthquake, huge and severe.
Neighbors joined to rebuild the town.
A banker and a garbage man,
A.P. Giannini and me
Carried out a bank saving plan,
Moving the money to safety,
Using my garbage cart and horse.
The bank stayed busy and became
Bank of America of course,
Over decades, a household name.

My son got a job at that bank.
If you stop in just ask for Frank.

Sense Sonnet - Chiller

Snake Break

Somebody at the Bronx Zoo did
An oopsy and I did escape.
But being just a wet fanged kid,
The outside was scary landscape,
And 'twas cold as a mongoose tit,
So I just slithered to a nook,
And coiled to wait it out a bit.
But six long days and nights it took
Those goofy humans to find me.
In the meantime my tale did grow
Into worldwide celebrity.
Your world is so weird - doncha know?

But back home safe this cobra is
Back to my world of my show biz.

Sense Sonnet - Acher

Lab Granny

Granny gets run down by Repubs.
The Dems helped stick her in the way.
Oops. Just one more of the flubs
By both parties as they do play
With lives of older like lab rats,
Coming up with gimmicks and tricks.
Senior citizens are just stats
For Big Gov to play politics.
Rich oldies always get a pass,
But others best not hold their breath,
'Cause lab rats belong to the class
For expected and early death.

Big Gov sticks Granny in the maze.
Poor Granny - she's got numbered days.

Sense Sonnet - Tickler

Rags to Riches

I have been a begger for years,
Up and down the city streets where
This here old gal best profiteers,
Asking the folks if they could spare
A little change for a poor soul,
All dressed in rags and looking glum.
I am well practiced at the role,
And each day's take's a tidy sum.
It's private enterprise at work.
The government is not involved.
The giver gets a heart tug jerk.
Self financial freedom is solved.

After begging my daily dough,
It's back to my penthouse I go.

Sense Sonnet - Steamer

Bully Puppet

Obama orders an attack
On Libya to protect its folks.
The Constitution, white and black,
Says should not do that - holy smokes.
The Pentagon is not real pleased
That Obama chose to ignore
Its advice, and instead just breezed
Into another messy war.
Commanders in Chief pick and choose
To attack countries that heads think
We'll pay a price but should not lose.
Hold your nose - this is gonna stink.

Imperial Presidency -
Whoever's in is a bully.

Sense Sonnet - Pumper

Woolworths

Young Frank started with just one store
And one idea how to sell -
Keep the price cheap and folks want more.
Hundreds of stores later would tell.
Frank ran his empire from within
Then tallest building in the world,
Built with millions from five and ten.
Selling success about him swirled.
Winfield Hall was his grand estate,
Showplace to his fortune and fame.
All in all, not too bad a fate
For Frank - Woolworth was his last name.

Ol' Frank got real rich over time,
Charging folks a nickel and dime.

Sense Sonnet - Chiller

Going Down

Here's a worst case scenario -
An elevator plummeting.
Unlucky you are in it - so
Experts say you can do something
To maybe keep yourself alive.
Flatten your body on the floor,
Spreading out impact of the dive.
Lie out in the car center more.
Cover up your head and your face
To protect from flying debris.
Even though this is a worst case,
Try to relax, hard as may be.

Do these things and the experts say
You might live, but you better pray.

Sense Sonnet - Acher

Scuttle the Shuttle

Endeavor to go to L.A.
That's where I'm being retired to,
To a space center, so they say,
To be a sight see peek a boo.
The rest of the shuttle gang is
Getting shipped off to other spots
As tourist cash cows - that's show biz.
We're gonna miss each other lots,
And miss the flow of time and place,
Sharing some worst but mostly best,
Hurtling into the outer space,
Returning home from gloried quest.

No fun, retirement's gonna be -
A bunch of tourists pawing me.

Sense Sonnet - Tickler

For Reel

I, President Grover Cleveland,
Hereby proclaim fishing to be
The sport that I best understand
When politics gets too fishy.
About the one that got away,
The tales of such do not cost much,
But lies politicians do say,
Look for a pocketbook to touch.
Swearing while fishing is no sin.
The fish have heard it all before,
But cheating by those voted in,
Have gotten me so sore, I swore.

Fishing's good for a President
To get away from government.

Sense Sonnet - Steamer

HuffPo

The bloggers aren't writers for us
Is puffing the Huffington Post
Blogging on HuffPo is a plus
Of which any blogger would boast.
Professional writers are paid.
Something Huffpo is loathe to do
When there is so much stock in trade
Spewing forth free from the blog zoo.
Journalism is victimized,
So charges the Newspaper Guild,
That HuffPo has popularized
Unwriting - unpaid and unskilled.

HuffPo calls the Guild a crank tank
And laughs all the way to the bank.

Sense Sonnet - Pumper

White Light

Oprah says she seeks the white light
Before chatting with certain folk,
Who she thinks may be dark as night.
Lots of dark in prisons - no joke.
So before Oprah goes to jail
To talk to the nasties in there,
She asks the white light not to fail,
To keep her from throwing a swear,
Or even a punch at the bad.
'Cause though she wants the interview,
The dark side makes her oh so mad.
White light helps her from being blue.

Walking by the cells dark as pitch,
Oprah turns on her white light switch.

Sense Sonnet - Chiller

Wipe Out

Coming out on the Oprah show -
What's up with this nonsense prime time?
Airing perversion - doncha know?
By God's words this is sinful crime.
'Twas Adam and Eve from the start,
And that's how it should ever be.
The world is gonna fall apart
From homosexuality.
Some societies do it right.
If homosexuals are caught,
They're killed and removed like a blight.
Show that coming out, Oprah ought.

Perversion needs no coming out.
It needs God's wrathful end - no doubt!

Sense Sonnet - Acher

Shark Attacked

Instinct does make a shark attack.
It is not done for fun or greed,
For which the humans have a knack.
They are the really scary breed.
The humans caught me by their hook.
For fun they stabbed me in each eye.
My dorsal fin was all they took,
Then tossed me in the sea to die.
My fin will be sold for some soup
That humans have a yen to taste,
While bad mouthing sharks as a group.
The rest of me won't go to waste.

Some other sharks are eating me.
That is just the way that we be.

Sense Sonnet - Tickler

Preserved

I am the brain of A. Einstein,
Removed after the old guy died
For research into me and mine.
Genius - how does a brain decide?
Many did take a look at me.
Some thought that my different form
Allowed Al to think more smartly
Than brains that are considered norm.
Not that Al used all of my stuff,
But my stuff he used, he used well,
Making my neurons fast enough
To allow Al's thoughts to excel.

Back in Al's head I did go far,
But now I'm just stuck in a jar.

Sense Sonnet - Steamer

Rush to Judgement

Rush is joking about Japan
Full of folks who are oh so green.
There comes a big earthquake. How can
Mother Nature be oh so mean?
Rush of course will spend lots of time
Telling his listeners he's been framed.
It's a left hit on right - the crime.
Those bad lefties should be ashamed.
Gilbert did joke and he got fired
By higher powers that be.
But Rush has got to get God ired,
Being on loan from God - ya see!

The only animal to blush
Is man, but not enough for Rush.

Sense Sonnet - Pumper

Hype a Hero

Poet Longellow chose to write
A poem about Paul Revere
Some 40 years after that night
Paul's ride that history would hear.
But not of Dawes or of Prescott,
Or of Bissell and Ludington
Who also made such rides and brought
Warnings to spark Revolution.
Perhaps because Revere's name flowed
Poetic and with ease of rhyme,
That he's the one who got bestowed
As hero rider for all time.

Heroes are oft determined when
They get the benefit of pen.

Sense Sonnet - Steamer

At Play

It's human nature to play games,
Especially all games of war.
Through history so many names
Have played for real forevermore.
China, a player through it all,
By emperor or communist.
At first defense with the Great Wall,
But now offense with a sly twist.
Fund North Korea to play rogue,
And keep the world in guessing mode.
Let paranoia be in vogue,
And U.S. will will self erode.

China is betting on a guess
That stress will checkmate the U.S.

Sense Sonnet - Acher

Rosabelle Believe

If one could return from the dead,
Husband Harry Houdini could.
If "Rosabelle believe" were said
Then I would know Harry made good
Fulfilling a pact we had made.
But in seances year by year
Those code words were never conveyed.
I knew he would not reappear.
I waited patiently. I died.
But my Catholic family
Kept me away from Harry's side
In a Jewish cemetery.

But "Rosabelle believe" to be.
I am again with my Harry.

Sense Sonnet - Tickler

Oscar Crowd

The Academy Awards show
Is T.V.'s woman's Super Bowl.
All advertisers thus should know
That she selling is the prime goal.
Engagement metrics for a fee
Can help the advertisers spend
In a focused category,
Matching the ad to the best trend.
Consumer loyalty assessed,
Customer engagement reviewed,
The advertiser gets the best
Odds on the ad that numbers spewed.

The ad with most bang for the buck,
Was it by metrics or by luck?

Sense Sonnet - Steamer

Cotcha

Ron Schiller fired from NPR
For trying to do a good job.
He would have gotten a gold star
If successful in his hob nob.
If he'd brought back the 5 mil gift,
And no recording of his spiel,
His bosses would be pleased, not miffed,
No matter what had cinched the deal.
No matter if al Qaeda friend
And Ron said anti U.S. stuff.
All means justify the cash end.
Whatever it takes - that's enough.

But poor Ron Schiller, he got caught.
Now thrown to the wolves - that's his lot.

Sense Sonnet - Pumper

The K-K-King and I

I can tell you that it's no fun
Being known as the stutter kid.
I guess I'm not the only one.
Lots of us do and will and did.
My Mom took me to see some doc
Who said I should grow out of it.
In the meantime I have to talk,
But I sure feel like some nitwit.
At least now in the neighborhood,
I stutter in front of most folk,
And they ignore it and that's good.
But it's a pain and that's no joke.

It helps me to know that a king
Did overcome his stuttering.