Category: Miz Q
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Miz Quickly’s Day 24: Like Rain
A Conversation with Weather-Beaten Trees tell me when it rains likegod almighty doing the flood thing again rain in moon-big-drops plummetingfrom his out-stretched hand on my potted geraniumsand the parsley and dill maybe he’ll rain in slow syllablesand narrate his catastrophes as if he were speaking tothe primitive ages. Written for Miz Quickly’s Day 24: Rains…
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Miz Quickly’s Day 22: EZ Rhyme
My Thoughts Are Bared and Lost to amber flares of bracken, therein the deep floodwatersof last night’s storm, a moment snaredon the heather heaths and meaty petrichor,crows fly the low wintered sun, andyou and I are lost in the New Forestwhere air owns the sounds of church bellsand the hued views of the River Itchen.…
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Miz Quickly’s Day 18: A Poem after a Line by George Eliot
“It is never too late to be what you might have been.”- George Eliot Earthquake Weather We used to call itearthquake weather.The air had a metallic smell about it.And it tingled.Like if you snapped your fingers,your thumb ‘d ignite.Your skin wanted to dance. And everything you touchedfelt urgent. Defiant. Hot, butnot hot like heat, more like…
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Miz Quickly’s Day 16: Eavesdropping
Sometimes You Can’t Hear a Damned Thing I’m focused on my phone. Taking notes,listening around the corner to conversations. It’s a writing prompt; I’m not George Smiley. If only that were the truth, a woman says.And the conversation is overwhelmed bythe espresso machine and steamed milk. I glance over to the coffee-making-girltwirling knobs, sliding cups…
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Miz Quickly’s Day 15: About That Bird
About That Bird: Day 15 with a Parrot Named Suky Tawdry Falsely Positive His parrot has ordereda Covid test. It’s sickof all this negativity and wants to try beingpositive. Excerpt from the chapbook “30 Days with a Parrot Named Suky Tawdry” which might one day be published. Written for Miz Quickly’s Day 15 “About That Bird” Photo by Ahmed Zayan on Unsplash.…
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Miz Quickly’s Day 14
A View on St Ninian’s Row this town is a mapthese streets stiff as twigsbrown and grey facadeshigh rise into the mild airand we walk everywhere I am none the wiserfor watchingtheir heels flecked with purposestreet lights illuminatetheir fear of darkness Written for Miz Quickly’s Day 14: Two five-line stanzas. Observations from a pedestrian’s view point…
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Miz Quickly’s Day 12 “Tuesday”
Boys On The Tracks The air is bristling nerves The engine coughsThe carriage rocks The boys are on the tracks The whistle blowsThe driver sweatsIt rolls into his eyes These boys are troubleThe tracks do rumbleThe train’s horn toots again The boys jump asideAs if riding wings, and The boys survive another day. Written for Miz…
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Miz Quickly’s Day 11: Monday (2)
Untitled On Tuesday I sharpenedand oiled the secateurs. On Wednesday I cartedaway the pruned roses. On Thursday I sliced upbananas and made bread. On Friday I cut back thegrapevines that were dead. On Saturday I thoughtI heard a nightjar sing. On Sunday I didn’t doa single damned thing. But today is Monday. Written for Miz Quickly’s…
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Miz Quickly’s Day 11: Monday
11 October, Monday: Not by choice, my alarm lets me sleep through all its noise until 8:30. That’s every day, not just today, and then I smell coffee. It starts brewing at 8. Perhaps it’s the coffee that wakes me up. I think coffee is supposed to do that. A few stretches, and I shower.…
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Miz Quickly’s Day 10: What If
Where’s the Rabbit what if I’m wrongwhat if there’s no such thing as wrong no wrong path, wrong door, wrong choice. what if there was onlyhere, now, simple happiness. perfect happiness, a gossamer light. what if I found happinessand I was wrong about it. what if there never was a rabbit in his hat. written…
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