Friday, December 17, 2021

Today's Timerick: Biden Administration Considers Sending Ukraine Military Equipment Once Bound for Afghanistan

 


When a war is looming and there's trouble overseas

America protects its apple pie and processed cheese

by shipping out an arsenal of guns and bombs and planes

to any random country for its frivolous campaigns. 


And do we ask for payment for the stuff we send abroad;

Worth a kingly ransom, with none of it slipshod?

Like Santa and his pixies, we deliver it for free;

with never any tipping or gratuity or fee.


It used to be the Commies we were fighting far afield;

we plied corrupt dictatorships with rifles, tanks, and shield

to keep those awful Marxists far away from our pure shores;

they let the guns get rusty while they learned to make s'mores.


Today our foes are legion; Uncle Sam ain't got a friend.

We buy goodwill with ammo (and we really overspend.)

Meanwhile hackers congregate to take our country down;

military weapons are a meaningless playground.


We ought to send the debt collectors out to settle things;

let them dun outstanding bills and pull a couple strings.

Then we'd sure have peace on earth, with armies out of work.

Hawks would lose their pin feathers as generals go berserk!



Haiku: 詩人は鼻をかむ

 


Scorn the fatted calf;

bring out a green lettuce leaf

for my arrival.


太った子牛を酷評しなさい。 緑のレタスの葉を引き出す 私の到着のために。


No working from work;

I have my own thermostat

thank you very much.

仕事からの仕事はありません。

私は自分のサーモスタットを持っています

どうもありがとうございます。


Grim dancing grannies

fight children and chess players

for some black asphalt.

厳しいダンスのおばあちゃん

子供やチェスプレーヤーと戦う

いくつかの黒いアスファルトのために。

Thursday, December 16, 2021

Thai Khlong Poetry: กวีกำลังหิว

 


a wayward band of 

otters in Singapore now

scare pedestrians

วงดนตรีที่เอาแต่ใจของ

นากในสิงคโปร์ตอนนี้

ทำให้คนเดินเท้าตกใจ

I go no further
than my wide front door
for food and danger
ฉันไม่ไปอีกแล้ว
กว่าประตูหน้ากว้างของฉัน
สำหรับอาหารและอันตราย

under this moist ground
snakes pipes of leaden repose
for the dawdling.
ใต้พื้นดินที่เปียกชื้นนี้
ท่องูของลีดพักผ่อน
สำหรับคนขี้งอน

Wednesday, December 15, 2021

Haiku: 詩人はバターを塗ったトーストを食べています

 


the big bellied hen

smothers her chicks with dark feathers --

they scramble for air

大きな腹鶏

彼女のひよこを暗い羽で窒息させる-

彼らは空気を奪い合う


Just what can you buy
that is worth the silent drift
of one white snowflake?
何が買えるの?
それは静かなドリフトの価値があります
1つの白い雪の結晶の?


The earth stops spinning
at the poles and instead spins
filthy dry cobwebs.
地球は回転を停止します
極で代わりに回転します
不潔な乾燥したクモの巣。




Monday, December 13, 2021

Timerick: How a $6 Bass Pro Shops Hat Became a Fashion Trend

 Build a better trucker's cap

and reap a rich windfall.
People wear it ev'rywhere,
winter, spring, and fall.
They like the hayseed ambiance,
the 'good-ol-boy' design;
and if it costs six dollars;
why, it's really mighty fine!
I wish I had invested in a cap or coffee cup,
instead of wasting money in a blasted mustache cup!

Saturday, December 11, 2021

Timerick: Inflation Hits Workers Already Worn Down by Covid-19

 


I put some gas into the tank

to drive myself to the blood bank;

where they buy plasma by the quart,

so I could pay my child support.


I will not eat fast food no more.

It's not my health, it's that I'm poor

and french fries cost more than I care

to spend on food -- I'll just eat air.


At work they've killed all overtime.

The price of stamps is now a crime.

A new car is beyond my scope.

I've turned into a misanthrope.


A hermit in the dark until

I can pay the 'lectric bill.

The only thing that's costing less

are nervous breakdowns from the stress.

Today's Timerick: Overdraft Fees Enrich Banks, and the Biden Administration Wants Less of That

 


I stopped off at my bank today;

some little fees I had to pay.

For running up a paltry bill

that was not covered by their till.


The teller gave me such a look;

she put me on a tenterhook.

The manager came out to scowl

at me like I was something foul.


A guy in a black ski mask swung

an ax that made me lose my tongue.

They surely would not punish me

for such a teeny tiny fee?


Up in heaven, where I went,

I saw it was no accident.

Accountants by St Peter's side

my overdraft would not let slide.


And so they sent be Down Below,

where flames leap with a fiendish glow.

In a thousand years, I guess,

my balance they will reassess.


And if I am not overdrawn

asbestos long johns I can don.

While with a quill I add up sums

as dragons nibble on my thumbs.


Beware, ye mortals, of what banks

will give you (and it's not their thanks!)

when you exceed their balance sheet.

It will not be the Mercy Seat!





Friday, December 10, 2021

Haiku: 足のチキンスープ

 


no more sailing ships
on the horizon of blue green
waters -- just sitting ducks


sink below sunset
settle on the bottom silt
shrimp investigate


Give only the stones
at your feet that are like loaves
Great tax deduction



***************************************

A booster shot of charity is what this world most needs. Viruses are not the threat, but greedy hateful deeds. Turn to God in heaven for the remedy that's right to bring mankind to unity and walk in Christ's rich light!

Thursday, December 9, 2021

Today's Timerick: A GOP senator suggested gargling mouthwash to kill the coronavirus. Doctors and Listerine are skeptical.

 Ron Johnson is a mighty man;

he sez to gargle when you can
to kill corona virus bugs
without the use of any drugs.

It's common sense! he cries out loud
to ev'ry mob and surging crowd;
and when the hoi polloi get wind
they're likely to be quite chagrined.

They'll torture nurses, doctors kill;
and will not pay their clinic bill.
They'll bathe in Listerine all day
to keep the virus far away.

And if you contradict their stand
they'll treat you like some contraband.
They'll tie you to a flaming stake
and burn you as a risky fake.

Ron Johnson, in your Senate seat,
why common sense do you defeat?
Cannot you find another course
to ride your hairbrained hobby horse?

Monday, December 6, 2021

Today's Timerick: China Increasingly Obscures True State of Its Economy to Outsiders (thanks to Liza Lin)

 



China is a mystery to anyone who cares

to look into their country and endure the endless stares.

Are they rich or are they poor; nobody seems to know.

Are they going off to war or keep the status quo?

Such a giant country with a teeny tiny way

of sharing information with those who overstay.

The Sphinx was quite a chatterbox, compared to old Beijing;

the Chinese would not tell you if they got a bad bee sting!



***************************


The people who live in Ukraine
are going to get a migraine
when Putin decides
to trust his broadsides

and sends troops to start raising Cain.