A GLASS HALF EMPTY OR HALF FULL

Half. Way. There. It’s all downhill from here.

For today’s prompt, write a prediction poem. Make a prediction. Write about another person’s correct or incorrect prediction. Or, you know, be unpredictable.

Monday 15th April 2019

Robert Lee Brewer’s Poem-A-Day on Writers Digest

A GLASS HALF EMPTY OR HALF FULL


by John and Margaret Yeo

The Weather forecast is dire;                  
 I am sure the weather will get better:
Continual rain will never stop;              
We will probably not get a drop:

The crops will fail, we are set to starve;
The predictions are overstated:
Global warming is taking its toll;
We will all eat well and survive on a roll:

The world will become a gigantic desert;
Our scientists are all very clever:
The soil will dry and become sand;
They will find ways to make a stand:

The oil will run out, we will grind to a halt;
We will discover new fuels to survive:
The Earth will become dust with millions hungry;
New foods will arrive to feed our young:

An asteroid will collide and wipe us out;
We will all take a trip to outer Space:
Our people need to cling to pessimism;
We will all survive on our innate optimism:

For every pessimist there is an optimist.

© Written by John and Margaret Yeo ~ All rights reserved.

LONDON UK


Two weeks! That’s how much poeming we’re about to complete. Big deal. For today’s prompt, pick a state (or province, territory, etc.), make it the title of your poem, and then, write your poem. A few possibilities include New York, California, Ontario, Bavaria, and Champagne. It goes without saying, but I’ll say it anyway: Feel free to bend this in any direction you wish.

Sunday 14th April 2019

DAY FOURTEEN

Robert Lee Brewer’s Poem-A-Day on Writers Digest

image courtesy of pixabay.com

LONDON UK


by John Yeo

We’d decided to explore London Town
Following the familiar tourist trail
Steeped in history a jewel in the crown.

The Infamous Tower brought on a frown
Torture and death in the hopeless jail
We’d decided to explore London Town.

The Houses of Parliament, laws laid down,
Buckingham Palace will never grow stale
Steeped in history a jewel in the crown.

High above, the London Eye turns around
Circling to add wonder to the cities portrayal
We’d decided to explore London Town.

Theatre and Art galleries, Museums abound.
London’s exciting vibrancy will never stale
Steeped in history a jewel in the crown.

Hyde Park, Madame Tussaud’s high renown
Horseguards and Westminster never fail
We’d decided to explore London Town.
Steeped in history a jewel in the crown.

© Written by John Yeo ~ All rights reserved.

Image courtesy of pixabay.com

A UNIQUE HERITAGE


For today’s prompt, write a view poem. Wherever you’re at, you have a view: maybe of a river or sunset. Maybe of a cubicle or a copy machine. Even the blind have a view of darkness, nothingness, or some other -ness. And that’s just being literal, because everyone has views on sports, politics, poetry, etc.

Saturday 13th April 2019

DAY THIRTEEN

Robert Lee Brewer’s Poem-A-Day on Writers Digest

Image courtesy of pixabay.com

A UNIQUE HERITAGE


(A view of colonisation)
By John Yeo

Time is like many grains of sand
Each grain is an aeon of a life-span,
our land is old and contains
Our heritage, our past, our forefathers remains.

We befriended and welcomed you here,
You shared our land and resources.
We welcomed your views and new ways,
A surrender in peace when you took control.

You thrive and get rich from our land,
Our nation has customs, a glorious past.
We worship our Gods, our dreams are real
We have mysterious age-old ways and beliefs.

Please respect our customs, enjoy our ways
Do not claim our art or our heritage
Respect our culture, it is all we have left
To sustain us and pass on, for our children.

© Written by John Yeo All rights reserved.

Image courtesy of pixabay.com

The Art of Survival


For today’s prompt, take the phrase “The Art of (blank),” replace the blank with a word or phrase, make the new phrase the title of your poem, and then, write your poem. Possible titles include: “The Art of Writing,” “The Art of Painting,” “The Art of Showing Up to Parties Fashionably…~

Friday 12th April 2019

DAY TWELVE

Robert Lee Brewer’s Poem-A-Day on Writers Digest

The Art of Survival


By John Yeo

Giraffes are an example of selective breeding,
Thousands of years as a means of survival,
Their necks have grown  longer and longer.
By stretching aloft  to the tallest of trees
Where the sweetest shoots burst forth
They feed high above their competitors reach.
Survival of the tallest and fittest.

The  benefit of height to assuage hunger
With their heads in the clouds at the treetops
Their necks growing longer and longer
The unfortunate giraffes would soon have to bend
To reach down to satisfy their hunger.
The reversal of the accepted survival law.
Survival of the shorter and fittest.

Would shorter giraffes with an easier reach
Be able to feed from the tops of the trees
Become the more attractive to females?
Would shorter necks become the norm
After a few generations of breeding?
Charles Darwin certainly would be delighted,
Survival of the strongest and fittest.

🌏 © Written by John Yeo all rights reserved.

TO A DEAD PLAYWRIGHT


For today’s prompt, write a dedication poem. This is a poem dedicated to a person, an animal, or an organization. Or hey, objects work too–like a poem to a rock or paper bag. Put the dedication in the title or in a line under the title (“for Mother” or “to the heart-shaped rock between the creek and the tulips”). I dedicate today’s prompt to all of you!

Thursday 11th April 2019

DAY ELEVEN

Robert Lee Brewer’s Poem-A-Day on Writers Digest

Image courtesy of pixabay.com

TO A DEAD PLAYWRIGHT


by John Yeo

You will never come to know me in my lifetime.
I feel I know you incredibly well.
I have read and admired much of your life’s work;
Your powerful magic will stay with me to my end.
Reinforcing my humble hopes with high aspiration.
Maturing with the years like a rare vintage wine.

The beauty of your verse and your wide comprehension
Of life, and life’s changing, ever changing situations .
Kings and Queens with their hopes and dreams
Lovers and clowns, tragedy with comedy entwined.
The language of mystical life, hopes and fears
Sowing seeds in my thought, building high inspiration.

The players weave your silken web of dreams sincere,
Teasing the groundlings and the intellectual elite.
With exquisite laughter, impossible expectations.
Poetical life that has endured four hundred years.
Love and wit, expressed in a rare language
Drama with wonder, blood, cruelty and fears.

The irresistible, controversial, William Shakespeare.

Copyright © Written by John Yeo ~ All rights reserved.

THE HERMIT


For today’s prompt, write a lone poem. Perhaps the poem is about a solitary wanderer or person who just prefers to go it alone. Or a lone winner, lone wolf, or some other solo individual. Or alternatively, I’ll accept poems that are about loans or that are about being alone.

Wednesday 10th April 2019

DAY TEN

Robert Lee Brewer’s Poem-A-Day on Writers Digest

Image courtesy of pixabay.com

THE HERMIT


by John Yeo

The hermit sat in some welcome shade,
Sunshine lit up the forest corners,
Nobody ever visited this secret glade.

A gentle breeze the branches swayed,
A sparkling stream with cool clear waters,
The hermit sat in some welcome shade

Wild birds sang and approached unafraid
Colourful, friendly, social performers,
Nobody ever visited this secret glade.

Deer who grazed here never strayed
Far from this glades secret borders,
The hermit sat in some welcome shade.

Butterflies fluttered and Rabbits played,
Sheltered safely here from life’s scorners
Nobody ever visited this secret glade.

After he dumped the old life he had made
For a quiet life to escape from his creditors
The hermit sat in some welcome shade
Nobody ever visited this secret glade.

© Written by John Yeo ~ All rights reserved.

Image courtesy of pixabay.com

LOVE POEMS

Tuesday 9th April 2019

Time for our second Two for Tuesday of the month! Pick one prompt or use both…your choice!

Write a love poem. All you need is love.
Write an anti-love poem. Or not.
Remember: There are many forms of love: romantic love, friend and family love, love of being alive, etc.

Tuesday 9th April

DAY NINE

Robert Lee Brewer’s Poem-A-Day on Writers Digest

Image courtesy of pixabay.com


A LOVE POEM


by John Yeo

Your thoughts tend to be narrowly focussed
On the person who evokes the feeling
Emotions go haywire control is lost
As your new love enters your life.
Something takes you by surprise
As you wander along aimlessly
You are introduced to a person
Who makes a disturbing impression
Leaving you puzzled, somewhat nonplussed.
Hopelessly wondering what happened.
Love has arrived like a bolt from the blue.

© Written by John Yeo ~ All rights reserved

Image coutesy of pixabay.com

NOT AN ANTI-LOVE POEM


by John Yeo

When I woke up this morning
I uttered these words
Heavens above, I must be in love,
I’m always incredibly happy.
Although I know it sounds soppy
You refer to me as a daft old thing.
Every little thing we share together.
We love, laugh and share our lives
Each moment seems to deepen the feeling.
Fifteen years ago we tied the love knot
Marriage has taught me nothing of anti-love.

© Written by John Yeo ~ All rights reserved

LUCKY NUMBER

For today’s prompt, write a lucky number poem. Some people have lucky numbers, some don’t. Wherever you fall on the lucky number spectrum, you can still write a poem about the phenomenon of lucky numbers and/or luck in general.

Monday 8th April 2019

DAY EIGHT

Robert Lee Brewer’s Poem-A-Day on Writers Digest

Image courtesy of pixabay.com

LUCKY NUMBER


by John Yeo

There were three witches stirring the broth
Of the cauldron of fabulous fortune.
Three wise men stared into crystal balls.
A trio of wizards studied the runes.
Three answers to my question gave birth
To my tri-universal problematic equation.

The significant number with firm proof
You will need to follow wherever you roam,
A number that will always be with you;
The key to your future in a third dimension
Wherever you roam in Sea, Sky or Earth.
Look to the cycle of a mystical threesome.

Your lucky number will be with you forever
Engendering three branches of fortune
Three spins; Good, Bad or Indifferent.
Look to the leaves of a four leafed Clover
Then break of a leaf and feel the power.
Of this harsh sometimes brutal world
Where luck lies with the accident of birth.

© Written by John Yeo ~ All rights reserved.

UNLUCKY NUMBER


For today’s prompt, write a lucky number poem. Some people have lucky numbers, some don’t. Wherever you fall on the lucky number spectrum, you can still write a poem about the phenomenon of lucky numbers and/or luck in general.

Monday 8th April 2019

DAY EIGHT

Robert Lee Brewer’s Poem-A-Day on Writers Digest

UNLUCKY NUMBER


by John Yeo

Hooray! The expected parcel arrived today,
Six foot tall and very heavy
My bookcase, flat packed in pieces.
Excitedly I open the box to search
For the self-assembly instructions.

These are obviously the sides,
This must be the top and bottom
Where are the instructions?
White plastic packaging to preserve
The parts from damage in transit.

Some small packages of nuts and bolts,
Metal brackets and rails.
Where are the instructions?
Ah! Paper on the bottom very clear,
The instructions written in Mandarin?

Horror of horrors, I telephone the UK number,
Sorry the number you are calling is busy.
I take a screwdriver and begin the task,
The bookcase is coming together,
I try phoning the number again, still busy.

I continue the task of fitting together
The cabinet, with tools and my instinct,
I fit the parts, the bookcase stands tall
I try the unlucky number again; still busy,
I tear the instructions up my task completed;
Using self help as my guide.

© Written by John Yeo ~ All rights reserved

MUSING ON PROCRASTINATION

I wrote this post for ‘The Quintet’ our church magazine in response to the theme of…PROCRASTINATION.

Image courtesy of pixabay.com

MUSING ON PROCRASTINATION

by John Yeo

I now appreciate absolutely, the meaning of the word, PROCRASTINATION

 When we returned from the church service today I had every intention of beginning work on the next chapter of my book. First the iPad was the lure away from the work in hand, I found there were many light hearted, unnecessary things that needed my urgent attention, such as who has read and liked my latest posting on the social media. The Scrabble word game App takes another slice of my valuable time as I sit and think, and work out various combinations of letters to defend my honour. We enjoyed tea and biscuits, before the continuation of a drama series began on television and this took my attention away from the keyboard and the continuation of my story.

By this time I am renewing my resolve to begin work! But before I begin I have to just check on the outside world on the social media pages again, then Margaret and I do battle at Scrabble and complete our game.

I still haven’t written one word and it is time for dinner. Margaret has been preparing a wonderful meal in the kitchen and we sit and enjoy our Sunday dinner together in front of the television.

I then begin to focus in spite of the pull of the interesting selection of programmes that are being broadcast at this peak period on a Sunday evening.

I then give up writing and procrastinate by reading and posting an article on procrastination on my social media page before I retire to read poetry in bed.

PROVERB

Procrastination is the thief of time, if you delay doing something, it will take longer to do later on.

© Written by John Yeo ~ All rights reserved