Dramatis persona*

helenhead Helen Chick

I've always wanted a bumper sticker that said "I'm a female, LDS/Mormon, Scout leading, geocaching, piano-playing, bicycling, mathematics educator with a PhD in maths ... and I VOTE"!

I think this makes me a minority group of cardinality 1!

* Since there's only one of me and "personae" is plural (I think), I've gone with dramatis persona.

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60. Rejection [100 poems challenge]

 

60.          Rejection

Unwanted, spat out,
Returned to sender,
When all I wanted was acceptance.
Expelled, dismissed,
Ousted and spurned,
The firm finality of rejection.
Vending machine
Refuses my coins,
The anguish of unattained chocolate.

18 June 2013

 

Comments: Another one that I haven’t taken seriously. I haven’t decided if I am baulking from serious matters at the moment, or if I’m just allowing my creative […]

59. No Way Out [100 poems challenge]

 

59.          No Way Out

 17, 18, 29 June 2013

 

 Comments: Three days for five words?! This one was harder to write than it looks. It was what I eliminated that took the time, along with wrangling the right kind of words. It still doesn’t work quite as well as I would like, but I can’t afford […]

First ever overnight hike

My Dad has been scanning some of his old slides, which include photographs of various family events over the last several decades. He came across this one from my first ever hike. He and Mum took me in to the original Lake Pedder way back when I was 7, just before the lake was dammed and […]

58. Kick in the Head [100 poems challenge]

 

58.          Kick in the Head

I rikkin when yore git up and go
Done got uppen goned
There ain’t much you kin do bout it,
‘Ceptin’ mebbe findin some body
Who kin give yoursin a
Right good kick in the head.

Only iffen there’s nowt but yoursin
To be doin it
Then lessen youse
Doublejointid or sichlike
I rikkin youse
Ain’t gonna git yore
Good ole metatarsals
Anyplace nigh yore […]

57. Sacrifice [100 poems challenge]

 

57.          Sacrifice

Equally shared until now
One remains between us —
Tempting and desirable —
And it is with no small effort
That I summon strength to speak
And offer you the last Tim Tam.

16 June 2013

 

Comments: I think I may have treated this theme a bit lightly. Tim Tams, for those who don’t know, are a chocolate biscuit. Since […]

56. Danger Ahead [100 poems challenge]

 

56.          Danger Ahead

I cautiously move
Quite anxious to prove
That I can progress without fear;
Horizon is scanned,
Each step fully planned,
Deciphering sounds that I hear.

I quietly pause
To work out the cause
Of movement seen off to one side;
A deep sense of doom
From shadows that loom,
I cannot tell what they might hide.

I glance left and right
As dusk turns to night,
Yet still […]

55. Waiting [100 poems challenge]

 

55.          Waiting

A single image,
And a tag
With just three words,
Provoking puzzlement.

Time passed
The image changed;
Replaced still later
By a third,
And then a fourth.

And so for days
Changing hourly:
Story unfolding
Of stick figures
Building sandcastles
Threatened by
A rising tide.

The images faded
The end was feared
But then, revived.
A journey started
And image after image
Showed the course of
An expedition
To explore the
Monochrome world:
Past weird trees,
Climbing mountains,
Searching for rivers,
Encountering
Half-hidden creatures
In […]

54. Tower [100 poems challenge]

 

54.          Tower

I am an academic type
Who’s nearly but not quite a prof.
I claim this means I theorise,
While others claim that this confirms
An ivory tower is my place.

But such a claim is a disgrace:
I don’t exploit poor pachyderms,
Or, wanting tusks, cause their demise.
No, I’m afraid I have to scoff,
The thought is just polemic hype.

10 June […]

53. Keeping a Secret [100 poems challenge]

 

53.          Keeping a Secret

Whisper me this,
Trust me with that,
Your secrets are safe, you can bet.
I won’t dismiss
From bag: a cat —
Your secrets I simply forget.

10 June 2013

 

Comments: I don’t think I’ve quite managed to carry this one off. I feel that it needs to be this short, but it’s hard to find a tight […]

“Spectra [Tasmania]” again

A couple of photos taken tonight from Lindisfarne Bay, not far from my place. Both exposures were for about 10 seconds. A little movement of the wind over the water might explain the blur from the boats, but the blurring of static objects is due to either a failure to focus properly or the fact that […]