Poetry Thursday 120 - Managed Disintegration

We're all on the same one-way street. Irrespective of the plethora of advice supposedly keeping us healthier for longer, humans have an expiry date. 

Managed Disintegration  

 

I’ve nee idea the year it started,  

an early sign was 40+ folk being kind, 

then the morning niggles were observed,  

head to toe and front to behind.  

 

The niggles then started to move,  

from pain in the neck on a Monday,  

to a knife cutting a groove,  

in your bum on Tuesday.  

 

The media then dive in, to compound,  

referring to the history of ‘93,  

hammering of coffin nails, the sound,  

cos' I was a youth of 43.  

 

What else could gan wrong,  

cataracts, diabetes and deafness,  

it depends if time left is long,  

will we be described as useless.  

 

If the government gets its way,  

hell will follow good intentions,  

will the state decide the day,  

to administer the euthanising injections.  

 

Is over forty years of contributing and toil, 

destined to be for nought,  

while we see super rich from media and oil,  

worshipped for the crap they bought.  

 

So we may be wrinkled and unsteady,  

a bit slower in vocabulary and fashions,  

but remember we (who) sluiced your nappy,  

and got you through life’s tribulations.  

©David L Atkinson November 2024  

God Bless 

Writing - Skills

I was Googling 'writing' and came across an interesting question - 

What is the best writing skill 

It intrigued me so I read on. 

This is what I found.

Writing skills can more specifically include:

• Grammar.
• Vocabulary.
• Spelling.
• Sentence construction.
• Structure.
• Research and accuracy.
• Clarity.
• Persuasiveness.

 

An interesting list and the very last item 'persuasion' sparked my interest. I have just finished a whodunnit that provided the oddest twist I think I've ever come across. The book is well written, characters are solid, the plot is somewhat predictable, but the twist came out of the blue. 

It was always my belief that a good twist required some preparation, even a modicum of deception. You have to grab the attention of the reader and lead them, by the nose if needs be, up garden paths until you bamboozle them with you craftily constructed false trails and reveal the culprit in the end. Not in this story. The culprit turned out to be an unnamed character that only appreared in the last three pages. 

You might wonder if this matters and I don't suppose that technically, there isn't anything against this ploy. However, it left me feeling unsatisfied that I'd been cheated out of a few mental gymnastics in trying to out think the author. Needless to say I'm not tempted to repeat the experience. 

For Steele novels etc search under Books on Amazon - 

David L Atkinson OR david l atkinson

Cessation is the most recent re-published. Inceptus gives a potted history

God Bless 

Poetry Thursday 119 - Selections

 A villanelle is a 19-line poem with a strict form: five three-line stanzas (tercets) followed by a four-line stanza (quatrain). It uses two refrains—the first and third lines of the first stanza—which repeat alternately at the end of each tercet and together form the final two lines of the poem. 

Selections  

 

More than two ways to skin this old cat, 

forget status quo when making your choice, 

history, logic and common sense is where it’s at. 

 

Belligerent old guard issued the dictat,  

chanting instructions with strident voice,  

history, logic and common sense is where it’s at.  

 

A system accepted like the bowler hat,  

commoners happy to pay the invoice,  

more than two ways to skin this old cat.  

 

Able women know relevant chat,  

their emotional knowledge we rejoice,  

more than two ways to skin this old cat, 

 

External forces direct the run of the rat,  

apathy being a passive rejoice,  

history, logic and common sense is where it’s at.  

  

You my children should stop the copycat,  

stamp your will on the episodic choice,  

more than two ways to skin this old cat, 

history, logic and common sense is where it’s at.  

©David L Atkinson November 2024  

God Bless