My Arrogant Younger Brother

The final two lines in the second stanza are those

of Proverbs 21:4 from The New English Bible.

Brother on his high 

Horse looks down on me and rides 

Roughshod over me.

I will not sit at table 

With my proud, pompous brother.

Brother on his high 

Horse looks down on me and rides 

Roughshod over me.

"Haughty looks and a proud heart --

These sins mark a wicked man."

Chrysanthemum

A found poem of mine, a parody on two lines by William Shakespeare.

The author of the final eleven words in this found poem is unknown.

What's in a name? That

which we call

a chrysanthemum

by any other

name would be

easier to spell.

 

My Endorsement of Two Writers' Ideas on Writing

"The only sensible ends of literature are, first, the pleasurable toil of writing; second, the gratification of one's family and friends; and lastly, the solid cash." So wrote Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804-1864). And not necessarily in that order. Here is a found poem of mine in which I endorse two ideas of writers Brendan Francis and Dorothy Parker on writing.

What an author likes

to write most

is his signature

on the back

of a check.

To him, the two most

beautiful

words in the English

language are:

"Check enclosed."

A Pair of Thoughts on War

In the second photo below is a haiku of mine ("The war in Ukraine . . . ") that I based on a quotation from a Sioux named Spotted Tail. That quotation from Spotted Tail is in the first photo below.

All Stars

ALL STARS

by Monty Gilmer

What causes the stars

to twinkle

is the light being

distorted as it

passes through

the Earth's atmosphere.

There is one glory

of the stars;

but one star differs

from another star

in glory,

Marilyn Monroe

said, "We are

all of us stars, and

we deserve

to twinkle."

What causes all of

us all-stars

to twinkle?

Haiku

To an adventurer

Never quench your thirst

for adventure. Adventure

is your cup of tea.

             --Monty Gilmer

An American Thief

 AN AMERICAN THIEF

The quotation in the second stanza is Ephesians 4:28

from the Contemporary English Version of the Bible.

"Old thieves never die,"

said a thief on facing his

thirteenth robbery

charge. "They only steal away."

Once a thief, always a thief?

"If," as Saint Paul said,

"you are a thief, quit stealing.

Be honest and work

hard, so you will have something

to give to people in need."

Monty Gilmer

Fable: The Pot and the Kettle

FABLE: THE POT AND THE KETTLE

by Monty Gilmer

The Pot called the Kettle

black and snapped, "You need to

clean up your act." Indeed

black, the Kettle replied,

"You, blackguardly Pot, ought

to practice what you preach."

A slightly different version of this poem of mine has just been published under the title "Fable" in the 2022 edition of The Almanac for Farmers & City Folk.

A quotation from the Epistle of Paul to the Romans

(New King James Version):

The Bees in the Farmhouse's Walls

 Nineteenth-century

farmhouse for sale: honeybees

living in the walls.

Monty Gilmer

A couple who bought a Pennsylvania farmhouse found 450,000 bees living in the walls. Sara Weaver and her husband were so excited to find the 1872 farmhouse in Skippack for an affordable price that they didn't fret over a seller's disclosure noting "bees in wall" -- and they bought in winter, when the bees were dormant. "I didn't think it would be that big of an issue," said Weaver. "But when spring arrived, that's when we started to see them." They had to pay a contractor $12,000 to move three giant colonies of bees to his honey farm; he estimated they'd been living in the house for about 35 years.

The Week Magazine (August 20, 2021)

August: Thanksgiving for Restoration

THANKSGIVING FOR RESTORATION

from the Bible: Psalm 126 (King James Version)

When the Lord turned again the captivity of Zion,

we were like them that dream.

Then was our mouth filled with laughter,

and our tongue with singing:

then said they among the heathen,

"The Lord hath done great things for them."

The Lord hath done great things for us;

whereof we are glad.

Turn again our captivity, O Lord,

as the streams in the south.

They that sow in tears

shall reap in joy.

He that goeth forth and weepeth,

bearing precious seed,

shall doubtless come again with rejoicing,

bringing his sheaves with him.

HAIKU: AUGUST

Timepieces

Here is a found poem of mine titled "Timepieces," a found poem consisting of quotations from Edward Gorey and Christina Rossetti. It is on page 53 of the 2020 edition (the Spring 2020 issue) of The Bluestone Review. To read the 2020 edition of The Bluestone Review in its entirety online, click here.

 

Find

Here is a short, untitled poem of mine, the second line of which is a link not to Facebook but to "Find," the poem by Instagram poet Luigi Coppola (@poetrypreacher) that inspired this poem of mine. The word "Finders" contains the same letters as the word "Friends."

Finders, keepers.
Find Friends,

"FrIeNDs"

who are worth keeping.

Special Knowledge about Daisies

The first paragraph in a letter that American poet Anne Sexton wrote to American poet Stanley Kunitz on February 17, 1971, reads: "I have special knowledge about daisies. They last and last as both you and I will. They are my favorite flower. There is something innocent and vulnerable about them as if they thanked you for admiring them."

Photo credit: Monty Gilmer

Copyright 2019 Monty Gilmer. All rights reserved.

Here is a short poem, a quatrain, about daisies from English poet Christina Rossetti's Sing-Song: A Nursery Rhyme Book (1872).

     Where innocent bright-eyed daisies are,
        With blades of grass between,
     Each daisy stands up like a star
        Out of a sky of green.

Below is a video of American singer and songwriter Jud Strunk singing "Daisy a Day," a love song for which he wrote both the lyrics and the music.

The Final Say: Going About

THE FINAL SAY: GOING ABOUT

by Monty Gilmer

The word which God sent unto the children of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ: (he is Lord of all:) that word, I say, ye know, which was published throughout all Judea, and began from Galilee, after the baptism which John preached; how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him.

     PETER

     The Bible: Acts 10:36-38 (King James Version)

I read

In a book

That a man called

Christ

Went about doing good.

It is very disconcerting to me

That I am so easily

Satisfied

With just

Going about.

     GEORGE SMALL

     Quoted by my mother Evelyn M. Gilmer

     Original source unknown

"The Final Say: The Best Revenge"

THE FINAL SAY: THE BEST REVENGE

by Monty Gilmer

     In his letter to the Romans Paul wrote, "If someone has done you wrong, do not repay him with a wrong. Try to do what everyone considers to be good. Do everything possible on your part to live in peace with everybody. Never take revenge, my friends, but instead let God's anger do it. For the scripture says, 'I will take revenge, I will pay back, says the Lord.' Instead as the scripture says: 'If your enemies are hungry, feed them; if they are thirsty, give them a drink; for by doing this you will make them burn with shame.' Do not let evil defeat you; instead, conquer evil with good" (The Bible: Romans 12:17-21, Good News Translation).

"The best revenge is

no revenge. Move on.

Be happy."

(Anonymous)

"The Final Say: Spread No Rumors"

THE FINAL SAY: SPREAD NO RUMORS

by Monty Gilmer

I hate to spread rumors, but what else can one do with them?

     AMANDA LEAR

     French singer, quoted in the Los Angeles Times

Lord, who may enter your Temple?

Who may worship on Zion, your sacred hill?

Those who obey God in everything

   and always do what is right,

whose words are true and sincere,

   and who do not slander others.

They do no wrong to their friends

   nor spread rumors about their neighbors.

     DAVID

     in the Bible: Psalm 15:1-3 (Good News Translation)

"Cinquain on Life's Bridges": A Found Poem

Oprah Winfrey was quoted in the New York Post as saying, "One of the hardest things in life to learn are which bridges to cross and which bridges to burn." Here is a found poem of mine in which I slightly altered that quotation from Oprah.


CINQUAIN ON LIFE'S BRIDGES
by Monty Gilmer

(A found poem: a slightly altered quotation
from Oprah Winfrey}

One of
the hardest things
in life to learn is which
bridges to cross and which bridges
to burn.

Charles Eliot Norton (1827-1908),

who wrote, "Whatever your occupation may be

and however crowded your hours with affairs,

do not fail to secure at least a few minutes every day

for refreshment of your inner life with

a bit of poetry."

"The Final Say: Kinder, Gentler"

THE FINAL SAY: KINDER, GENTLER

by Monty Gilmer

If each man or woman could understand that every other human life is as full of sorrows, or joys, or base temptations, of heartaches and of remorse as his own . . . how much kinder, how much gentler he would be.

     WILLIAM ALLEN WHITE

I want a kinder, gentler nation.

     GEORGE BUSH

"Remnants" by Jim Handlin : Poets.org

"Everything gets slow, stops. / I reread the telegram." So begins Jim Handlin's poem "Remnants," which first appeared in the May 1981 issue of Poetry. Jim Handlin earned an MA in Classics from Fordham University and a PhD in Educational Administration from Columbia University. To read more about him, click here.

Read "Remnants" by Jim Handlin >>

Red azalea

Photo credit: Monty Gilmer

(Photo copyright 2018 Monty Gilmer.

All rights reserved.)

"The Final Say: The Hen and the Golden Eggs" by Monty Gilmer

The following poem, titled "The Hen and the Golden Eggs" (1912), is a fable that William Ellery Leonard adapted from Aesop:

A cottager and wife possessed a Hen

Who laid each day a golden Egg again;

So each one thought that in its fair inside

A lump of gold there surely must abide.

And thus they killed it in the hope of gain,

And found no more than entrails, quite as plain

As fill the insides of all mortal chicks.

The foolish pair were in a silly fix.

And thus 'tis ever with the Get-rich-quicks.

The following quotation is an observation that Henry David Thoreau wrote in his journal on October 9, 1860:

This haste to kill a bird or quadruped and make a skeleton of it, which many young men and some old ones exhibit, reminds me of the fable of the man who killed the hen that laid golden eggs, and so got no more gold. It is a perfectly parallel case. Such is the knowledge which you may get from the anatomy as compared with the knowledge you get from the living creature.