Hoppy Easter

A holiday weekend and spring is here
The kid in me wants to stand up and cheer

Friday night was Passover at our neighbors’
We drank the fruit of the vine, reclined, and took a rest from our labors

Elijah stayed away despite a clear invite
Oh well, the rest of us had a real pleasant night

Saturday we gardened and watched the Masters
We shopped and we planned so Easter dinner would not be a disaster

Biscuits and ham and Easter lasagna with artichokes
The table decorated with bunnies–they’re right cute little blokes

Church and cooking and mingling with friends
And now it appears our weekend is at an end.

So happy holiday greetings to you all I do hereby send.

A Premiere Performance

Abelard and Heloise: The Musical
The concept is rather quizzical
I mean, what in tarnation?
Their love affair ended in castration

Now that I have your attention
Perhaps I ought to mention
I teach history at a community college
And of medieval things have some knowledge

In the Twelfth Century Abelard taught Latin lit
And Heloise, his star student, would sit
And listen to his brilliance hour upon hour
Until he got her pregnant and things suddenly went sour

Here’s where the castration thing comes into play
Her Uncle Fulbert said Abelard should rue the day
When he seduced Heloise so young and innocent
And into monasteries the ill-fated lovers went

The Pere Lachaise Cemetery in Paris now holds their remains
And me, a medieval historian and a tad bit insane
Visited them on Christmas day a long time ago
And last night I went to see their musical show

Abelard’s calamities are not for the faint of heart
But setting them to lyre music provides a good start
Odd-shaped bongos, tambourines, and an instrument I know not
For a donation at the door, I sure got a lot.

Ode to Champagne

Oh, the horror of it
It happened, it’s true
I opened my fridge
And knew I was through

No champagne!

I searched on the shelf
I checked in the door
I went to the cupboard
Hoping to score

No champagne!

I ran to my neighbor’s
And told her the troubley
I asked if I might borrow
A cupful of bubbly

No champagne!

She searched in her fridge
And double-checked in the door
She went to her cupboard
Hoping to score

No champagne!

Continuing my quest
I hopped into my car
Surely a supply of the stuff
Couldn’t be far?

No champagne!

To the market I hastened
I cut through the crowds
Made a beeline for the wine cooler
And shouted out loud

Champagne!

I bought a dozen bottles
There’s a discount that way
And ignoring the disapproving glances
Stepped up to pay

Oh Champagne!

The refrigerator replenished
My cupboard completed
I raised up my goblet
And this solemn vow repeated

Oh Champagne!

Life is too short
So I shall take a firm stand
To always keep a champagne stash
Chilled and on hand

My Moody Muse

When my muse comes down with a horrid blight

The writing goes wrong with no end in sight

Every word, thought, and sentence turns out trite

Leaving me feeling oh so contrite

And wondering if an end will appear for my impossible plight

But when the writing goes right

My muse alights

To amazing new heights

Of creative delights

Then the sun shines bright

And my mood takes flight!

Proper ID Required

A rose is still a rose

By any other name.

But if Rose gets mislabeled Samantha

The author is to blame

The Charlie I was so sure of

Informs me about mid way

That really deep down inside himself

He’s always been a Jay

Syd’s Bar and Grill on Finch Street

Never seemed quite right

The bar became Beau’s Bistro

And the happy hour brewski turned into a red wine flight.

I struggle with accurate naming

A good moniker means a lot

Since a character misidentified

Can really mess up a plot

Cueing the Muse

Everyone tells me to blog. Build a web presence, they say. Get your name “out there” so you sell lots of books once you’re published. I might understand the logic, but that doesn’t mean I know what to blog about. My daily existence doesn’t exactly provide a huge, long list of fascinating anecdotes to entertain the masses. That’s why I write fiction—because my real life is dull. On my best days I sit in one spot for hours and hours and pound away at my keyboard, only moving to refill my coffee cup. Boring, boring, boring. I am boring. Everyone tells me to just stop it. Stop being boring, they say, and become interesting, intriguing, and adventuresome. And then blog about it.

Interesting, intriguing and adventuresome? Surely there must be an easier solution. I like being duller than dull, and I’m quite sure I wouldn’t adventure well. So I decide that my blog needs a theme instead. Something that I can think about over coffee and never leave home to pursue. Some interesting concept that will amuse and enlighten my web audience. No matter that I have no web audience. If my theme is good, they will come.

After much deliberation, I have thought of a theme: Cueing the Muse. Stay tuned, you web audience you, and I will elaborate next time.