…meet, cute

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rushing to be funny

blushing when you stutter

you search for one excuse to linger

he needs change for a buck

you’re due back at work

he’s such a cute stranger

here’s where destiny hits you like a truck

on the other hand maybe just a really great —

© Alex Ankarr 2015 All rights reserved

Image Andy Miccone, public domain.

billable hours of a superhero

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tough gig, man, no-one understands

the paperwork’s a bitch when you shoot lightning from your hands

getting paid by angry clients is no easier it seems

and then there’s the spandex ‘cause it fits with people’s dreams


but you go home to the boyfriend

if not the same time every night

if you’re lucky, he understands

you have to fight and fight the good fight

(even though dating a lawyer or a cop

you’d think they’d know the drill

the bad guy don’t go home and shut up shop

just because your guy has needs to fulfill)


yeah, a gay superhero has it hard

but count it up at the end of the day

the grateful appreciation of the populace

and a mundane boyfriend with super-powered cuddles

go a long long long long way.

– Alex Ankarr, 2016

 

Photo credit: gunner111, https://www.flickr.com/photos/moto101/

Creative Commons

 

Poem: prescription strength of love

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“Your prescription now is stronger,”

My optician says to me

He only means to give the dimming

Fuzzy world a clarity

You, I’ve not explained to him yet

He has not asked that I do

Only wants to know my headaches

An alphabet recital too

Think you I’ll love you less dearly

If I see you sharp and clear

If I see your flaws my dear one

Once I excused myopically

It’s not the case, although it should be

I love you not for fuzzy glow

For radiant halos stemming only

From faulty curve of lens, I know

I love you for your faults, you bastard

And when I see them close and sharp

I’ll pull the hornrims off my nose, dear

Vowed haloed angel, sans specs, mit harp.

© 2015 Alex Ankarr.

 

Image – Zuukuo Wuu public domain.

Poem: …star corsage

 

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a bouquet of roses,

of diamonds and baby’s breath

a few stars thrown in

to confuse over scale

and Satan peering from a black black hole

deep, deep, deep in the vase

a bouquet of roses

roses, foxes and diamonds

diamonds and baby’s breath

breath, and a few stars

the scale is confused

and Satan’s in there too

peeping out a black hole

gravity in the vase

down deep, deep

© Copyright Alex Ankarr 2017

Image – Vaughan’s Seed Company; Henry G. Gilbert Nursery and Seed Trade Catalog Collection, no known copyright restrictions.

Poem: …matrimony and the man II

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Doves shot upwards

Snowfall in reverse

Confetti burst

the groom, and his groom

fine handsome catch

every bit his match

waiting on a promise,

all dolled up and fine

forever be mine

Vows are made

Doves are flown

Fizz all downed

Rings exchanged

Dance in dreams

flowergirl screams

(Too much cake. Allowed a sip of fizz
Parents, parents, why d’you do this?)

hand in hand and

husbands now

one last vow

wedding day done

cake’s crumbs,

Listen, grooms:

It begins now.

© Copyright Alex Ankarr 2017

Image – Ludovic Bertron via Creative Commons Licence

keeping the peace, with a shotgun

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burn a few petals at a home-made altar

incense rises up

caffeine’s done its job but good

proof’s the dregs in the cup

tribute is silence

creeping around

silent feet, for him

working stiffs

don’t get much sleep

it’s a gift, for him

clock says

{chimes}

it’s two a.m.

the birds and I, we can’t sleep

but we

{chimes}

can keep

the peace for him

at least with a shotgun

disturb a few feathers

and leaves

 

 

image – Mark K.  https://www.flickr.com/photos/17708700@N07/ https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.0/

librarians, book store clerks, Pam Grout, drawing and creativity, oh my!

Kali, bookstore clerk of destruction!

Latest iteration of my Pam Grout-inspired tarot card, Kali the librarian of destruction!  An improvement on the first efforts, I feel.  I’ll be documenting every stage of the game here, because this version was fun to do, I’m quite happy with it so far and I’ll probably be cocking it up completely at some point!  So she’s currently unfinished – but don’t worry!  She’s completely ‘armless, Guv!

And she’s got a rack on her, cuz I’m rollin’ that way!

Creativity, Pam Grout and a little divine ordering… Find time to create, in Week 9!

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Week 9 (boy, these weeks are going by fast, ain’t they?) and Ms Grout is talking, in ‘Art And Soul, Reloaded’ about finding the time for your creative projects.

Phew.  Easier said than done, half the time.  Isn’t it?

Well, Ms. Grout’s first suggestion is not to just to stay up later writing, or to get up early.  In fact, she says, have a lie-in!  Daydream for half an hour!

Hey, I’m liking the sound of this!

Her second bit of advice: ditch the perfectionism, then that makes it easier to bang out a bit of your project without worrying about reaching some peak of creative perfection.  Ehh, I don’t think this one is so applicable to me.  In the midst of writing, I’m generally whistling, laughing my arse off, and holding a simultaneous conversation with the OH about whether Wyatt’s dead wife on Timeless is going to be re-animated via the wonders of time-travel, and spring out at him from a closet — giving him a heart attack in the process.

It freaks the OH the fuck out when I type and talk simultaneously.  Which is of course most of the reason that I do it.

Bit of advice, no. 3 from Ms. Grout – give up on self-sabotage.  Ehh, also not my problem.  I write lovely stories for lovely people.  Those other folks, ehh, not so much.

And finally – Pam says – in essence – do what you wanna do.  (Yes!  This is right in my wheelhouse!)  Including your projects.

Yep.  She’s a genius.  This is the proof.

 

And the main task for the week?  Give her 3 ideas for smartphone apps. Well, at least I don’t have to actually program them…

 

gif by Shane on Flickr, licence https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/