C. Adebayo

In the Gale 

Standing quite proudly
Withstanding nature’s pressure
Emancipated

The Healing 

Our spirit requires softness and presence ensuring calm
The journeys of others offer hope and inspiration
As the cost of survival bids us farewell, relinquished pain reveals freedom

Peace be with you

Goodness

Humanity shines
When uprightness embodied
Within mankind’s soul

I’m Sorry, Gaia 

Mother cries to us, but we hear not.
She laments as we wail in misfortune.

And she…

Instinctually responds
As humanity destroys our cocoon of existence.

~~~

C. Adebayo was born in Africa but has lived in many countries. Her parents were missionaries who traveled to many countries where they felt led to do good works. This is Adebayo’s first feature on The Short of It.

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Nature’s Lament

Inspired by Eugenia’s Weekly Prompt – Dusk & Reena’s Exploration Challenge #226

the fiery sky
begs me at dusk
come
see nature’s bounty
unburdening

each step i take
mires me to its message
relinquishing the day
i listen for the confessions of the dark

mother cries
her beauty is vanishing
her children the cause

Marjorie Maddox

Double the Consonant, Shorten the Vowel 

That’s what comes from majority rule: 
the T’s stretching their crossbeams further 
across better, G’s claiming they’re bigger, 
L‘s lazily lounging with their political pull, 
P‘s too dippy with twin happiness to notice 
their former association with pain and poverty. 

O O‘s and silent A‘s, 
diminutive i’s, E‘s eager to please and acquiesce, 
and, of course, the once ubiquitous U
whoop, roar, hoot, scream, screech 
above the clamor of consonants 
already claiming house control of hubbub
commotion, applause

There Is a Rat in the Middle of Separat

not just his teeth, as pointed as before-test pencils, 
but his entire seamy body gleams 
with lasciviousness and longing for the lost 
spelling bee, its airborne script  
intercepted by the evolved, phonically 
abused, and chomping pterodactyl, 
who took the tiny sting like a man 
sucking on sore taste buds, 
and flew off to a museum to sulk. 

The rat’s tail snaps out like nun-chucks, 
reels in the red meat of the rational, 
the tough but tenuous topic sentences tied together 
just-so with brown-paper and transitions, 
but no address,  
“Undeliverable” stamped across the letters 
before they’re tossed. 

In this garbage can of sound and lost vowels, 
there must be, the rat sneers, 
bones worth chewing, homonyms half-digested, 
picked over and passed on  
by Spelling Checkers. And he digs deeper 
into the pile of mismatched prefixes,  
misspelled bannanna peals; he digs deeper 
into the tunnels of proclaimed typos; he digs deeper 
sniffing, sniffing, sniffing, 
day-dreaming always of Limburger 
accurately spelled. 

I Take My Coffee with Two E’s 

two F‘s and no artificial sweetener; 
my sherbet, please (so low-fat), with an extra r
my filet mignon with its g and n 
tenderly underdone. 

Ah vichyssoise à la Ritz, 
bouillabaisse, asparagus vinaigrette, 
salmon dipped and smoked; 
Ah, Grand Marnier soufflés, 
peppermint-chocolate mousse, why wait 

for the weight of words 
to ingest each letter 
by letter? Such sweet 
seasoning to the palate,  
basted sound and roasted syllable. 
Ah, Messieurs et Madames, 
the delicacy, the delight, 
the culinary delectableness of language 
skillfully marinated, prepared, 
and presented by that master  
Webster.   

A Double Helping of S, Please 

Yes, I’ll take another s in my dessert,  
another slice of strudel, 
an extra sampling of strawberry shortcake, 
a smidgen more of spritz, twin pecan tassies, 
double cheesecake snack squares. 

No thank you, please, not a single desert, 
that dusty Sahara sandbox 
where I crave scores of sibilations 
to satisfy this persistent thirst  
for all that’s sweet and sugary. 

Earth Day: 2020 

Hell, yes, open the window  
and reel in some sanitized breeze,  
some O-Say-Can-You-See-the-Sky 
and Hey-Can-You-Feel-the Sea 
(with each properly scrubbed toe) 
                                 but please don’t. 
cough or sneeze your unhealthy 
memories of bliss or shimmy up 
too close to any trees six feet apart 
and frost-bitten at their blooms  
from last week’s blizzard. 
Or don’t patriotically salute or  
                                 mourn Ma Nature’s 
50th year celebration of today’s  
Call to Action brought to you 
in living color from the living room.  
No, nothing’s dead yet except 
excuses to not deep-clean  
such continued devastation. Until then, 
                                 let Her breathe. 

Then There’s That 

A hand, a slap, a fist. 
The morning dew, the question 
 “Who is the stranger with such fragile fingers  
straightening today the ironed collar of your shirt?” 

The bruise pooling beneath skin, 
the skin taut across belly, 
the faint heartbeat beneath 
the scuttle of punctuated No’s. 

And the exclamations of joy, 
the em-dash of hope, 
the comma of sigh typed expertly 
at 120 words a minute 
into the narrative of hand 
protecting the other.  
                                 There’s that. 

And the first glance and the last 
blow, and the morning and the evening 
of the broken bones, and the stitched-together 
hellos and the swollen goodbyes, and the repeat 
ritual bend, mend, pretend, upend, transcend, descend… 

And then there’s that. 

~~~

Professor of English at Lock Haven University, Marjorie Maddox has published 11 collections of poetry, the story collection What She Was Saying; 4 children’s/YA books, Common Wealth: Contemporary Poets on Pennsylvania, and Presence (assistant editor). Begin with a Question and Heart Speaks Is Spoken For are forthcoming in 2021/22. www.marjoriemaddox.com Marjorie was first featured in The Short of it on September 4, 2020. She also had three pieces featured in The Sound of Brilliance.

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Cracked

Suliman Sallehi – Pexels

Inspired by Sadje’s What do you see #117

A serious reflection

i see our world as splitting up
coming apart at the seams
politics, pollution, people
tragedies galore

i don’t know how much longer
i can keep it together
teetering on the top of the world
looking down with grief

A funny take

I don’t know how much longer I can keep these two peaks together. My calf and thigh muscles are killing me! But I just can’t let the Earth split in two!

2022

Inspired by Reena’s Exploration Challenge #212 – It’s new… does it mean it’s welcome?
& Eugenia’s Weekly Prompt – Chapter

another year
another chapter
it’s new… does it mean it’s welcome

… only if it brings us something better
what does better even mean
seems insurmountable

the division, the animosity, the inhumanity
politics, people, our ever-deteriorating climate
it’s not new… but some positive change would be welcome

Reblog – Old School

Excellent take on the current climate issues. Mother Nature will win.

The Twisting Tail

I’ve lived through plagues
Seen my fair share of crusades
I’m Old School comrades

I’ve seen ice ages come and go
Friend to mammoth and eskimo
I’m Old School bro

I saw the dinosaurs have their day
Until a meteor paved their way
I’m Old School compadre

I saw a land without fire
Without man’s desire
I’m Old School squire

I stood by in the time of the witch
Before humanity flipped the first switch
I’m Old School bitch

I knew the price before money
I recall the primordial ooze being runny
I’m Old School honey

I’ve seen what humans can create
And how it’s lead to the current state
I’m Old School mate

Like all before, I will survive your rule
I’m the earth, I’m nobodies fool
I’m forever, I’m Old School

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Just Keep It Up

Inspired by Reena’s Exploration Challenge – 7/22/21 & Eugi’s Weekly Prompt – Soaring

protestors up in arms fighting the good fight
light and air pollution
large garbage patches dotting our oceans
space debris circulating mother earth

astronauts soaring above looking down
witnessing it all, seeing clearly
most of the people residing here
lacking demonstrable empathy

the inhabitants shortsighting their future
i say let it burn
go further into destruction
finish the job

mother will heal when we are gone