Colorful ... Creative Challenge #265

He was a giant of a man, this man among men

He weighed 425 and stood six feet ten

His arms were as big around as phone poles

But you never met a kinder or gentler soul.

 

Everybody called him “Smitty” though not his name

He swung large hammers before an open flame.

He was really quite the remarkable fellow

The flames burned hot when he worked the bellow.

 

When your horse needed to be shod

It was Smitty who was given the nod

If finally happened causing oh such woe

Smitty dropped an anvil right on his toe.

 

Smitty was a man of very few words

Carefully chosen so as not to sound absurd

Some thought him shy or maybe bashful

In his pain, his words became quite colorful.

 

Tim D. Culey -2013-

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The Truth About Billie Joe

When Billie Joe McAlister was still quite young and growing up in Mississippi, he married a widow.

This widow had a grown daughter.

Billie Joe’s father fell in love with her, and soon they, too, were wed.

This made Billie Joe’s dad his son-in-law because he was married to Billie Jo’s daughter.

His daughter was his mother, because she was his father's wife.

To complicate the matter, he soon became the father of a bouncing baby boy whose name was Taylor, but was called “Bro” as was the fashion in Miss in those days.

His little baby then became a brother-in-law to his Dad, and so became Billie Jo’s uncle, and if he was his uncle, then that also made him brother of the widow's grown daughter, who, of course, was Billie Jo’s stepmother.

Billie Jo’s father's wife then had a son and he became Billie Jo’s grandchild, because he was his daughter's son.

Billie Jo’s wife is now his mother's mother, and although she is his wife, she's his grandmother, too.

Now if his wife is his grandmother, then he is her grandchild,
As husband of his grandmother, Billie Jo is his own grandpa!

When Bro Taylor first revealed this news, Billie Joe disappeared for some time to mull it over.

He ended up in Callahan’s Bar and discussed it with Jake and the others.
They were quite pleased and one by one toed the line, made a toast and tossed their glasses into the fireplace.

Billie Jo went back to Choctaw Ridge and discovered he had one of Callahan’s shot glasses in his pocket.

Carroll County was dry and he was afraid of what would happen if he were seen with it, so lacking a proper fireplace, he stepped up to the Tallahatchie Bridge … made a toast and tossed the glass into the river.

Later on, he discovered he still had the shot glass but his pocket watch was missing, so jumped off the bridge shouting “tempus fugit” to try to find his watch.

A witness to this misunderstood what he had shouted, and thinking he had said, “Semper Fidelus” enlisted him in the Marine Corps and he was promptly sent to Viet Nam.

The standard of living was so much better there than what it had been in Mississippi, he stayed there.

He operates a bar now in Ho Chi Minh City where the patrons are all of varying nationalities.

He has built a replica of the Tallahatchie Bridge just outside the bar and the patrons have been known to have a drink or two and then dispose of something off the Tallahatchie Bridge.

Although you might have some suspicions to the contrary, I swear by my immoral soul every word is true.

Tallachie Bridge



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Hanging in the Balance -- Creative Challenge #264

He was a man known to always “go the distance”

He thrived on projects offering the greatest resistance

When the orders came in he sprang into action

Often soaring to great heights with every challenge

The tapestries he created are found in many a palace

With arms  wide atop a ladder he kept his balance

There was no evidence he suffered from  depression

Imagine the shock when something has no explanation

We found the Curtain Man hanging from a valance.

 

Tim D. Culey -2013-

 

 

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Clear Skies - Creative Challenge #261

Sometimes my mood can be overcast

I really cannot say exactly why

Perhaps my thoughts turn to the past

When that happens I smile and sigh.

 

My mood is often like the wind

I wait and it changes by and by

My mood is subject to a whim

When that happens I smile and sigh.

 

I can’t see that it makes any sense

I soon welcome back the Clear Skies.

I return to the present tense

When that happens I smile and sigh.

 

© Tim D. Culey -2013-

 

 

This is a style of poetry called a Kyrielle It is a French form of rhyming poetry written in quatrains (a stanza consisting of 4 lines), and each quatrain contains a repeating line or phrase as a refrain (usually appearing as the last line of each stanza). Each line within the poem consists of only eight syllables. There is no limit to the amount of stanzas a Kyrielle may have, but three is considered the accepted minimum.

Some popular rhyming schemes for a Kyrielle are: aabB, ccbB, ddbB, with B being the repeated line, or abaB, cbcB,


Oh mon ami, what is keeping you from Crearive Challenge?

Under the……….Creative Challenge 260

Under the tree for shade I will go
I go under the waves to swim
I fall under the spell of cute girls
Under the law we reap what we sew

Under the porch is fun this I know
Discoveries there can be grim
We can scrunch down and roll up in curls
Even in the dark some things still grow

I am taking my girl to a show
The odds of a kiss seem pretty slim
She deserves a necklace made of pearls
I don’t have that much money to blow

Under the tree for shade I will go
I go under the waves to swim
I fall under the spell of cute girls
Under the law we reap what we sew

Tim D. Culey © 2013

My entry this week is a style of poem called La’Tuin, a poetic form which consists of 4-line stanzas with an 'abca, abca' rhyme scheme that is consistent throughout each stanza. The first stanza is repeated at the end of the piece. It contains a minimum of 4 stanzas, with no maximum length limit.

A strict syllable count of 9/8/9/8 is required per stanza.

In-Depth Explanation of rhyme:

Lines 1, 4, 5, 8, 9, 12, 13, 16 etc., all rhyme - this is the 'A' rhyme.
Lines 2, 6, 10, 14 etc, all rhyme - this is the 'B' rhyme.
Lines 3, 7, 11, 15 etc, all rhyme - this is the 'C' rhyme.
The La'Tuin is named after A'Tuin, a giant turtle from the Diskworld series. A turtle is a symbol of Mother Earth

 

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