Tuesday, March 17, 2015

forward...lurCH!

Welcome to all and especially my faithful participants in this Forward...MarCH CHallenge, in which I attempt to write a new poem every weekday of my birthday month.  Alas, I have fallen, staggered, stumbled, swayed and lurched behind today and my lurCH poem is not ready.  Luckily, many of yours are!


Charles is up first today with a little lurCHiing bundle of wonderfulness:

FIRST STEPS

My little brother,
A wispy haired
Chunk of happiness,
Lurches toward me
For 4 steps before
Gravity bullies him
To our hardwood floor,
I smile from here to Jupiter,
He claps in accomplishment
As drool streams down
His flushed face.

(c) Charles Waters 2015 all rights reserved.

And Diane's tanka made me laugh out loud--so spot-on!

subway commute
riders lurch left right
forward and back
while auto-correct
fixes their texts


--Diane Mayr

Carol takes us back in time to visit the Lurch!  I was hoping someone would.  Be sure to visit her blog to see all the nostalgia she and The Addams Family have conjured up for us.

Lurch around the floor tonight.
Line dance moves holding tight.
Teenyboppers dip and sway
doing the lurch, the 1960s way.
Wondering about the monster groove.
It's boss, groovy, and on the move.
Don't stumble, stagger, reel, or roll.
Follow the pattern-make it your goal.
No wobbling, weaving, or tottering.
The lurch is a professional posturing.
 
And look what has happened with Donna and Diane!  It's one of those kind of spooky mind-melds that happens in the March Madness Tournament when two unacquainted poets with different words write matching poems--I noticed it yesterday here, where two moms advise their kids in situations of social challenge.

It's more likely here, I guess, where we're all writing with the same word, but still...

In Lurch Season

I felt the car lurch down and up -
my fingers slid on screen;
Before I knew it I had sent
"we avenue u mean."

I tried to say "where have you been?"
but words and letters jumbled;
The text all scrambled in this way
would indicate I'd mumbled.

Frost heaves right before the spring
are in-road roller coasters;
Instead of "Warning: Bump Ahead"
we need "No-Text Zone" posters.

For passengers in Lurch Season
"no texting" rules apply  -
My last text said "one oust pro"
Could you tell "I brought pie"?

©Donna JT Smith, 2015
And now, sternly:  NO TEXTING WHILE DRIVING!  Except in poems.

Kate passes through twice today, once with a seasonal lurch and then with a hagiological connection--"Then I remembered it's St. Patrick's"!

Spring

Spring stands thinking,
blinks and lurches here
with one daffodil and skies
that are sometimes clear.

—Kate Coombs, 2015 

Leprechauns

Leprechauns leap
and twirl and lurch.
There! One’s hiding
behind that birch.

Leprechauns’ faces
are little and old.
They grin while I scurry
to find their gold.

Leprechauns know
as they watch me run
that the best gold of all
is spring-day sun.

—Kate Coombs, 2015

Mary Lee shares "a driving poem that dates back to the days when text was what you produced on a manual or an IBM Selectric (if you were lucky) in typing class your sophomore year in high school."  Be sure to click on the Ford Falcon to see the very car in question!  (As the parent of a learner's permit holder, I can relate, though everything's automatic this time around.)  I love the noisy music of this one.

15 ½ Year-Old Learning to Drive
a 1960 Ford Falcon
With "Three-on-the-Tree:"
A Play in Five Acts

ACT 1 -- First Lessons

Vroom!
Rev, rev, rev...
Lurch-cough-die.

Vroom!
Rev, rev, rev...
Lurch-cough-die.

ACT 2 -- After Weeks of Practice

Vroom!
Rev, rev, rev,
Creep, creep, lurch-cough-die.

Vroom!
Rev, creep,
Rev, glide,
DRIVE!

ACT 3 -- Newton's First Law

Vroom!
Rev, creep,
Rev, glide,
Drive.

Stop!
Brake-lurch-die.

Vroom!
Rev, glide, drive.
Slow, clutch, stop.

ACT 4 -- Finishing Touches

Vroom!
Rev, glide, drive.
Slow, clutch, stop...hillside.

Vroom!
Rev, REV, REV...
Lurch-squeal-drive.

ACT 5 -- Gray Hair and Sleeplessness

Vroom!
Rev, glide, drive.
Bye!


©Mary Lee Hahn, 2015

Joy channels the car itself in her piece:

To whom does the car call?
To lurch and jerk and then to stall?
To need gas is no big deal
but stripping gears is all too real.

How does the car feel
knowing it needs oil for a seal
and watching the oil gauge continue to fall
with a teenaged driver off to the mall. 

Robyn Hood Black stopped by to read and couldn't resist "a wee bit o' fun"--clever fun!

Leanings

I lean to the left.
I go to a church.
Sometimes that's Southern
for left in the lurch.

Jone was caught out by today's requirement for green (maybe today's word should have been pinCH!), but she found a way around it!

St. Patrick’s Day

Dressed for school
I noticed something
quite uncool

My clothes are clean
But I could scream
Not one speck of green
to be seen

I’m in a lurch
I have to search
to find a shamrock
for my shirt.

Niiiiice!  I myself was finally visited by a workable combination of inspiration and time while sitting in the car at soccer practice, and by an Irish cad of a groom:

Wedding Story

Lovely green Sunday in Limerick--
Under clear skies all a-glimmerick:
Ronan absent from church!
Colleen left in the lurch!
He told her he wished she were slimmerick.

As usual, perhaps I tried to do too many things at once here!





 

14 comments:

  1. Here's the revised poem that I did this morning on my site! Ha! I had the same idea as you did! When I reread it, it sounded like I may have been texting and driving...I was texting and riding! So if you would replace it, I would feel much more comfortable!

    In Lurch Season

    I felt the car lurch down and up -
    my fingers slid on screen;
    Before I knew it I had sent
    "we avenue u mean."

    I tried to say "where have you been?"
    but words and letters jumbled;
    The text all scrambled in this way
    would indicate I'd mumbled.

    Frost heaves right before the spring
    are in-road roller coasters;
    Instead of "Warning: Bump Ahead"
    we need "No-Text Zone" posters.

    For passengers in Lurch Season
    "no texting" rules apply -
    My last text said "one oust pro"
    Could you tell "I brought pie"?

    ©Donna JT Smith, 2015

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hey, Donna! I hope you got that pie home in one piece! Lurch wasn't my favorite word, but it certainly resulted in some fun poems!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Spring

    Spring stands thinking,
    blinks and lurches here
    with one daffodil and skies
    that are sometimes clear.

    —Kate Coombs, 2015

    ReplyDelete
  4. Then I remembered it's St. Patrick's and tried again:

    Leprechauns

    Leprechauns leap
    and twirl and lurch.
    There! One’s hiding
    behind that birch.

    Leprechauns’ faces
    are little and old.
    They grin while I scurry
    to find their gold.

    Leprechauns know
    as they watch me run
    that the best gold of all
    is spring-day sun.

    —Kate Coombs, 2015

    ReplyDelete
  5. I have a driving poem that dates back to the days when text was what you produced on a manual or an IBM Selectric (if you were lucky) in typing class your sophomore year in high school.



    15 ½ Year-Old Learning to Drive
    a 1960 Ford Falcon
    With "Three-on-the-Tree:"
    A Play in Five Acts

    ACT 1 -- First Lessons

    Vroom!
    Rev, rev, rev...
    Lurch-cough-die.

    Vroom!
    Rev, rev, rev...
    Lurch-cough-die.

    ACT 2 -- After Weeks of Practice

    Vroom!
    Rev, rev, rev,
    Creep, creep, lurch-cough-die.

    Vroom!
    Rev, creep,
    Rev, glide,
    DRIVE!

    ACT 3 -- Newton's First Law

    Vroom!
    Rev, creep,
    Rev, glide,
    Drive.

    Stop!
    Brake-lurch-die.

    Vroom!
    Rev, glide, drive.
    Slow, clutch, stop.

    ACT 4 -- Finishing Touches

    Vroom!
    Rev, glide, drive.
    Slow, clutch, stop...hillside.

    Vroom!
    Rev, REV, REV...
    Lurch-squeal-drive.

    ACT 5 -- Gray Hair and Sleeplessness

    Vroom!
    Rev, glide, drive.
    Bye!


    ©Mary Lee Hahn, 2015

    Come over to Poetrepository so you can see the picture -- I found the exact car I learned to drive on!

    http://www.maryleehahn.com/2015/03/lurch.html

    ReplyDelete
  6. These are great! And I'm an unfaithful participant. But faithful friend. ;0) Pointy green hats off to all today... Or maybe it's round hats and pointy ears. Hmmm....

    ReplyDelete
  7. Okay - please forgive me. Can't help myself. (I'm just having a wee bit o'fun...!)

    Leanings

    I lean to the left.
    I go to a church.
    Sometimes that's Southern
    for left in the lurch.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You just about made me snort my tea, Robyn! Perfect!

      Delete
  8. Lurch: https://deowriter.wordpress.com/2015/03/17/solsc-15-day-17-forward-lurch/

    ReplyDelete
  9. Wedding Story

    Lovely green Sunday in Limerick--
    Under clear skies all a-glimmerick:
    Ronan absent from church!
    Colleen left in the lurch!
    He told her he wished she were slimmerick.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Very fun! I didn't realize it was an acrostic when I read it in the post -- double fun!!

      Delete
  10. Thanks everyone for carrying the day! Not sure my acrostic limerick was worh waiting for, but so it goes. I'll botCh it better tomorrow...

    ReplyDelete
  11. Today was a fun day at Forward...Lurch. Everyone put on their thinking caps with a wee bit of humor to celebrate St. Patrick's Day.

    ReplyDelete
  12. To whom does the car call?
    To lurch and jerk and then to stall?
    To need gas is no big deal
    but stripping gears is all too real.

    How does the car feel
    knowing it needs oil for a seal
    and watching the oil gauge continue to fall
    with a teenaged driver off to the mall.

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for joining in the wild rumpus!