WHIMSICAL POETRY ~ Take A Teddy To Tea and more

Take A Teddy To Tea

When life is too much to bear~

You certainly mustn't despair.

It's nonsense to pout, or refuse to go out;

 Or pretend that you really don't care.

There are numerous ways to proceed;

But wise men have always agreed:

The most lovely way to chase gloom away

Is to take a Teddy to Tea.

                                 JCarlson

ILLUSTRATION: JCarlson



POLITICS

     While going through my writing notebook, perusing the more whimsical poems I've written, I ran across a poem I wrote for a writing class exercise in 2002.  The assignment was to find a newspaper article that dealt with a current event of some importance.  At the time President Bush and his cronies (excuse my political bias) had not yet dragged us into a war in Iraq, leaving other pressing domestic issues front and center in the headlines.  One such issue was that of drilling for oil in and around the Arctic Refuge. President Bush supported the plan, and while the House of Representatives passed it –– in April of 2002 –– the Senate rejected it.  It was this piece of headline news that I chose for the topic of my poem.  It was post 9-11, and while the climate was not exactly "happy times are here again" we were, as a nation, perhaps only vaguely aware of the disaster that lay ahead.  I cannot not accurately recall why I chose to treat a matter so serious as drilling for oil so glibly.  Perhaps we had reached the brink of intolerance for politics as usual, and had long since turned to Jon Stewart for our news!

Old King Cole was a merry old soul ...

  Or so the story goes.

        Would his fiddler's three

Be filled with glee

            To face our modern woes?

President Bush 

           Was trying  to push      
            His plan to drill for oil.

He called his advisers,

Dreaming of geysers;

Ignoring the pristine soil.

                      The guys in the Senate said "Wait just a minute!
You're not going to cut down trees

It's nonsense to fiddle;

We'll solve the riddle

By downsizing SUVs"

            JCarlson

                    April, 2002

 

      

        Composition ~

       Random notes swirled                                    

       Like falling leaves in his head                       

       The breeze, a melody

       Whispering in his ear

       Urging him to action

       The pencil was his ally;

       With quick staccato speed

       Small black specks
       Advanced
       Across the parchment

       Like stick figures
       On parade

                    JCarlson

A Scientific Study

Madam Chickadee,
Wearing her jaunty
Black cap,
Eavesdrops on her mate
Engaged in combat:
"Anything you can sing
I can sing better"
Chirps his rival -
An outsider.
The better singer
Wins the fickle heart
Of Madam Chickadee ..
Who eavesdrops

FLIGHT POEMS

The following Flight Poems were written for a company that manufactured whimsical animal mobiles; among them: cow, dragon, pig, sheep, and cat. These were marketed at trade shows in several major cities including San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Miami.

  

Dragon Wings


Everyone knows that dragons have wings.
But do they hang out in the sky?
They're fierce and they're mean
And generally green.
We know one who really can fly


She doesn't care to snuffle and snort.
Or gobble up anyone's King
Nevertheless ~
As you might guess~
She loves to show off her wings.


Pursued by the Knight, and soaring by day
When in flight she's usually smiling.
Sure she breathes fire,
But it's not her desire
To be anything less than beguiling.

                               JCarlson

                                                                                                                                                                   

 Moonstruck 

You've heard of the cow that jumped over the moon? 
Well jumping became rather boring.

 She entered  a college
To gain some knowledge
Of flying, sky-diving and soaring

Some thought it odd for a cow to enroll;
They said she was just star-gazing.
She answered "If I
Didn't think I could fly
I'd stay in the pasture grazing."

It took her three nights to complete all the flights
And she got her degree before noon.
Her marks were all A's
But the most cherished praise
Came from the Man in the Moon.

                                                      JCarlson