Sense Sonnet - Chiller

Mummy Brown

I mixed a paint called mummy brown,
Named for how made long, long ago.
'Twas good for placing flesh tones down,
To give a realness - doncha know!
I had a portrait to complete
Of one who now was dead and gone.
Thus, the project was bittersweet.
My memory, I drew upon
To recreate on canvas of
The once of her vitality,
Capturing my undying love
For a dear one so close to me.

My mummy brown paint in a cup
Was my dear Mummy all ground up.

Sense Sonnet - Pumper

Ziggy - LP Zoo

Tiz heads up, cuz Ziggy is here,
Zig zagging to check out what's new.
In this water world I appear,
Now home at the Lincoln Park Zoo.
A lot of humans coming by,
So I am pumped to seal the deal.
This gray seal is a show biz guy.
This gig I'm all up for, for real.
So far tiz going swimmingly.
The keepers keep serving fine fish.
All the attention paid to me,
I'm glad I'm booked for this splash splish.

Dazzled by my whirligiggy.
You're gonna flip out for Ziggy.

Sense Sonnet - Pumper

The Three Fossilteers

The Messel Pit in Germany
Has fossils for humans to find.
A three for one was found to be -
Snake, lizard and bug in a bind.
Fate meant for the threesome to meet.
The bug was minding its own biz,
When the lizard grabbed it to eat.
The lizard's belly the bug is
When the lizard was swallowed whole,
By the snake slithering to take
The dinner party to their goal -
Fatally falling in the lake.

Messel Pit preserved this trio,
Forty eight million years ago.

Sense Sonnet - Pumper

The Bur Oak Tree - LP Zoo

I came out of the ground and grew
Into a healthy Bur Oak tree,
Years before the Lincoln Park Zoo
In Chicago did come to be.
The Great Chicago Fire burned North,
But did not make it all my way.
So I continued to grow forth,
And the Zoo grew too - good to say.
Find the gibbons outside - look West,
Just a leaf's throw away I stand,
A tree for all seasons - the best.
Life at the Zoo is always grand.

I am a long time Zoobie - yes!
Roots - kind of acorny, I guess.

Sense Sonnet - Chiller

OxyContin Prognosis

OxyContin, pain killer drug,
A lot of docs do prescribe me.
By all the age groups I am dug
As escape from reality.
Killing pain has become big biz,
And I am considered top shelf.
And where I am, addiction tiz.
I am craved by folks like yourself.
You'll sell your soul to buy my kind.
You'll let your loved ones go through hell.
I am all that is on your mind,
And odds are that you won't get well.

You want to kill the pain - I will.
After a time - tiz you I'll kill.

Sense Sonnet - Acher

Consuming Ash

The emerald ash borer is blamed
For causing ash trees to be killed.
This beetle for the ash tree named
At eating the wood is quite skilled.
In Asia for millions of years,
These two life forms have existed.
Nature has made good balance spheres.
O'er time the trees have resisted
The infesting beetles' attack.
But human attack on the trees
Is relatively on fast track,
Speeding extinction guarantees.

The greatest threat to the ash tree -
Consumption by humanity.

Sense Sonnet - Steamer

Fiction in Tile

Dug up is a quite rare mosaic
In Israel at a synagogue.
Found in old ruins, and a take
Is that tiz a depictalogue,
Showing Alexander the Great
Meeting with a Jewish high priest.
Yes, time wise the truth would negate,
Yet a tall tale the mosaic pieced -
That even Alex was so awed
By a power greater than he,
And bowed before the Israel God,
A sort of spin on history.

All conquerors have come and gone,
But spun religion does live on.

Sense Sonnet - Pumper

Chicago - Vacuum Cleaner

Chicago was the city where
The vacuum cleaner did debut,
In eighteen sixty nine right there,
Ives McGaffey was able to
Patent a wood and canvas thing,
That when pumped by hand did so make
The dirt and stuff into it spring.
Cost 25 bucks - hard to take,
So sales of the machine went slow.
But the idea did inspire.
Yet McGaffey's vacuum - no go,
Burned up in the Chicago Fire.

The Windy City set the trend
Of sucking up by the Whirlwind.

Sense Sonnet - Pumper

Cichlids - LP Zoo

We are cichlids and we are fish,
Swimming at the Lincoln Park Zoo.
Our kind are fresh waterish,
And hail from Africa, we do.
Hundreds of species have been found,
And in various shape and size,
With vivid colors to astound.
A bunch of us can hypnotize,
As you will experience when
Your African Journey does wind
To the aquarium we're in.
A fishtravaganza you'll find.

We are fish meant just for display,
And not meant for catch of the day.

Sense Sonnet - Acher

Comet Trek

Halleluyah, Philae's been found.
The comet landing space probe lost
Years ago when it went to ground,
Into a shadowy nook tossed.
Out of the sun, it went to sleep.
Mother ship Rosetta searched on.
But from Philae, nary a peep.
Where could the little probe have gone?
Rosetta found the little one,
And sent the good news back to Earth.
Some needed closure thus was done
For the mission - for what it's worth.

Philae with Rosetta in flight,
Cometing into the dark night.

Sense Sonnet - Pumper

Saint Teresa

Mother Teresa is a saint,
Canonized at the Vatican.
The world again to reacquaint
With all the good work she had done,
In India for fifty years.
She gave the poor and sick her care.
Her profile rose among her peers,
As her life's mission she did share.
She walked the walk and talked the talk
To haves to donate to haves not.
She added sinners to her flock
To get the word out that she got.

More light shed by this shining star,
A saint at using good p.r.

Sense Sonnet - Chiller

Leon Czolgosz

I did die in nineteen o'one,
In a New York electric chair.
Killing a man was what I'd done,
Cuz I thought things were so unfair.
I stood in line, waiting my turn
To greet the man who soon would die.
Closer I got, the more my yearn
To make the world heed my outcry.
He suspected nothing, no doubt.
I aimed the revolver precise,
Doing the deed I dreamed about,
And shot William McKinley twice.

Leon Frank Czolgosz was my name,
Killing a President - my fame.

Sense Sonnet - Pumper

Wessie

An anaconda on the loose,
Somewhere in Westbrook, Maine she be.
Illegal immigrant - excuse
On how she's there and now is free.
The Presumpscot River is where
Tiz rumored she likes to hang out.
Beer to drink and tee shirts to wear,
Just for her - a legend no doubt.
Tiz hoped the snake will be found soon.
September nights will bring too cold.
She'll be unable to attune.
Dead snakes tell no tales, we are told.

Wessie, a Westbrook, Maine to do.
Stephen King may write about you.

Sense Sonnet - Pumper

Finders Keepers -LP Zoo

An African wild painted dog,
I'm barking up Lincoln Park Zoo.
I try to keep good dialogue
'Tween me and my keepers, I do.
Enrichment - humans call the stuff,
That ever keeps me on my toes.
My sense of taste is great enough,
But also use eyes, ears and nose.
So what's new? - each day I check out,
Running around my habitat,
All senses on alert - no doubt.
I know it's here - where is it at?

I am enriched by keeper picks.
Old dogs can always learn new tricks.

Sense Sonnet - Tickler

Black Olives Matter

Black olives hanging on a tree
Began to fall off one by one.
Ripened as each needed to be,
Hanging out on the tree was done.
All fell close by upon the ground,
But one began to roll away.
A black olive quite fat and round
Rolled o'er a cliff to the dismay
Of all the rest, but what to do.
This opened up a can of woe
For the black olives, sad but true.
'Twas really the pits - doncha know!

Afraid there was no help to give,
But then heard a faint cry, "Olive."

Sense Sonnet - Steamer

Fuel's Gold

More and more fossils being found,
As more and more of ices melt.
And where more fossils there be bound,
More climate warming to be felt.
Because, where be fossils be fuel
For profiteers to profit on,
Which truly is the golden rule,
Till all the fossil fuel be gone.
Warnings of climate change indeed.
But more and more, less and less ice.
Humans today pay talking heed.
Future humans will pay the price.

While climate changes more to hot,
Human behavior changes not.

Sense Sonnet - Steamer

Dummies on Smart Phones

A body was a walking on
A street sidewalk walking South way.
Another body walking yon
From the North on same sidewalk. Hey!
Neither body the other saw,
Both busy viewing their "smart" phone.
They came together, huggies - aw!
Their meet was of a nasty tone.
"Look where you're going," both did yell,
Self righteous at the shared event,
Telling each other, "Go to hell."
Of course back to their phones each went.

Cause of bodies collecting - guess!
'Twas the meeting of the minds less!

Sense Sonnet - Pumper

Sonnet into Cyberspace

Tiz so good to read and to hear
Poetry is on some comeback.
For Ima Ryma, sonneteer,
To rhyme with reason takes a knack.
Especially the sonnet sort,
A 14 liner metered verse.
The trick is keep the artsy short,
A nonsense sonnet - nothing worse.
Sending sonnets through cyberspace
Can now be done at any time.
Can be comments most any place.
For any reason, there's a rhyme.

I love writing sonnets a gob,
But to eat - still keep my day job.

Sense Sonnet - Tickler

Sent the Meal Back

I got hungry - so what to eat?
A tasty looker caught my eye.
Attached to feet a hunk of meat,
For me as big as pizza pie.
Into my mouth I popped it whole,
But quickly felt 'twas a mistake.
The food stuff did a rock and roll.
My mouth and throat did awful ache
From very painful jab and poke.
At last I managed to spit out
This mad mean meal from hell, no joke.
Avoid this food for thought - no doubt!

A tarantula by a toad -
To eat or not to eat - who knowed!

Sense Sonnet - Chiller

Over Herd

On mountain plateau in Norway,
A reindeer herd did huddle close.
A thunderstorm was on display,
A nature's fury to engross.
The reindeer drenched in falling rain,
Had weathered out such storms before,
But ill fate would doom this domain,
The reindeer herd would be no more.
Strong bolts of lightning struck the ground,
Causing electrocuting force,
Killing most animals around,
Including the reindeer of course.

Over 300 reindeer dead,
A shocking end from overhead.

Sense Sonnet - Pumper

Seed Sense

Cape Restio plants have a plan
On getting bugs to pollinate
Their seeds across a planted span.
Dung beetles do cooperate.
Large dark seeds the plants do produce
That look just like animal poop,
Along with pungent smell profuse.
The dung beetles fall for the dupe.
Each bug does roll each seed away.
The seed is buried in the ground
To eat as food another day.
Instead a growing plant be found.

Fooling animals is a part
Of why some plants are super smart.

Sense Sonnet - Pumper

Kagu Digs You - LP Zoo

From New Caledonia come I
To guest at the Lincoln Park Zoo.
This kagu bird, with wings, don't fly,
But stay close to the ground, I do.
Lizards and worms and bugs and snails
Are the munchies on which I feed.
Finding these yum critters entails
I see and dig with skill indeed.
With binocular vision eyes
To best direst my readied bill,
My nostrils, not to jeopardize,
Covered with "corns" so dirt don't fill.

Come by the Bird House where I be.
I dig humans visiting me.

Sense Sonnet - Pumper

Fake Snake Take

The yellow bellied sea snake is
An ocean traveler unique.
Humans in time and distance biz -
Some way to snake track, humans seek.
"Virtual" snakes are sent adrift,
A decade to ride ocean waves.
Results do give humans a lift.
The computerized snakes get raves.
Indeed, this wee snake tells a tale
Of simulated travels vast,
Even comparable with a whale,
In time and distance scores amassed.

Not studying close real snakes might
Be that computer snakes don't bite.

Sense Sonnet - Tickler

One or Another

Adam got a visit from God.
God came with good and with bad news,
Two new organs for Adam's bod -
A brain and a penis to use.
The brain was for intelligence,
To be able to think things through.
The penis, as a consequence,
Could cause the making babies new.
Adam thought all this news was good,
And asked God what part of it bad,
As God was sure that Adam would.
This was the answer that God had,

"Each organ needs vast blood to prime,"
"So can't use both at the same time."

Sense Sonnet - Tickler

Candid Camels - LP Zoo

We camels at Lincoln Park Zoo
Are used to humans taking pix.
Tiz like a game of peek-a-boo.
We humor humans in their kicks.
Why get our humps out of joint!
We know humans are a weird sort.
So helping them out is the point.
And we try to be a good sport.
Could be at any time and place,
A camera will be nearby,
And find its way in our face.
So we just smile - don't question why.

Camera addicts in a way,
We candid camels have to say.

Sense Sonnet - Tickler

Rock to Sleep - LP Zoo

Three lions lyin' on the rocks
Takin' big cat naps as they do.
A wide awake human crowd gawks
Lovingly at Lincoln Park Zoo.
Sahar, his mane blows in the breeze.
Zalicka and Kamali be
A sister act in blissful ease,
As dreamland beckons for all three.
Snoozing under some summer sun,
Without a worry being burned,
Big cat napping ever well done,
An act the humans rarely learned.

The lions letting out no roar.
But listen close - some sounds of snore.

Sense Sonnet - Pumper

Red Panda Cubs Lineup - LP Zoo

Red pandas, Leafa and Phoenix
Are parents making cubs on call.
Sheffield and Waveland, latest mix,
Join Clark and Addison - cubs all
At Lincoln Park Zoo, Chicago.
The names have a baseball connect.
Tiz a hometown thing, doncha know,
Pushing a World Series prospect.
The four streets around Wrigley Field -
All taken from the naming box.
Looking to the next season's yield -
How 'bout streets around the White Sox!

A call no umpire can dispute -
Red panda cubs are wrigley cute.

Sense Sonnet - Pumper

Welcome Jane Goodall - LP Zoo

Jane Goodall is coming to do
A chimp symposium right here
With me at Lincoln Park Zoo.
This news makes this chimp want to cheer.
An endangered species chimps be,
And need the humans to evolve
In mind, so to effectively
Know the problems and seek to solve.
I'm waiting for my chance to show
My closest kin my tool use skill,
"Fishing" for termites, doncha know.
I want to impress, and I will.

Jane Goodall in my neighborhood.
This chimp thinks that this is all good.

Sense Sonnet - Pumper

Me - LP Zoo

I live and love Lincoln Park Zoo,
A place that any time gives me
The old familiar with the new,
The best of time in place to be.
Here, year after year after year,
More long in years yet more a child,
Ever in awe of wonders here,
Mere steps from urban into wild.
So to the Zoo I come and go,
To live and love, the reason why.
For nature always makes it so,
For all of life a time to die.

When it is time to die, I do
Hope God I do die at the Zoo.

Sense Sonnet - Chiller

Venus for Victory

The ancient Maya checked the sky
To chart their course on what to do.
Both sun and moon were big on why
The Mayan life went on review.
Venus' bright light apparently
Was the main guide for waging war.
The calendar was checked to see
'Twas good or bad time, less or more.
The Mayans tracked to figure out,
Adding, subtracting, there and here,
The exact best date to, no doubt,
Make their enemies disappear.

Look to Venus and do the math
To time the time foes take a bath.