"chortled" poems
It’s 6:15pm. Peter, Anna, Sophy and I are studying in the common room of our suite.
“We need to get serious,” Peter whispered, but there was no subject in the declaration, so I was left confused and uncommitted, “about getting serious,” he clarified.
“I’m not sure I can get serious about a guy who doesn’t separate whites and darks in the laundry,” I say, gently.
“No,” he said, shaking his head in brief vibration, “we need to get serious about DINNER.”
“Oh!” I said, maybe a little too relieved.
“Ha!” He chortled, “YOU overthink everything!” He said, nodding his head up and down to prove it was true. “And speaking of laundry,” he continued, seeing me start to open my mouth, “the other night YOU asked me if your pastel purple ******* should go with the whites or darks - so I must be an EXPERT!”
I laughed at the idea of his laundry expertise, sailing in from out of the purple like that, it was haywire. “Well,” I said, becoming introspective, “I didn’t know you’d hold onto that question like a grudge,” I said, in quiet, wounded accusation, “from now ON, maybe you should stay as far away from my ******* as possible.”
“What are you two grousing about NOW?” Anna asked, looking up from her computer. “You guys are like an old married couple.”
“True THAT.” Sophie said, like a judge right before knocking her gavel to finalize a ruling.
“We weren’t arguing!” I said, looking around confusedly. I looked at Peter, who was smiling broadly, “Were we?”
“Nope,” he said, wrapping his arm around me in a bearhug, “we were flirting.”
Sep 22, 2022
Sep 22, 2022 at 2:43 PM UTC
'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
did gyre and gimble in the wabe.
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.
"Beware the Jabberwock, my son!
The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!
Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun
the frumious Bandersnatch!"
He took his vorpal sword in hand:
Long time the maxome foe he sought-
So rested he by the Tumtum tree,
And stood a while in thought.
As in uffish thought he stood,
The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame,
Came whiffling through the tulgey wood,
And burbled as it came.
One, two! One, two! And through and through
The vorpal blade went snicker-snack.
He left it dead, and with its head
He went galumphing back.
"Has thou slain the Jabberwock?
Come to my arms, my beamish boy!
O frabjous day! Calloh! Callay!
He chortled in his joy.
'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.
7.1k
Dripping *** she stood there, completely unaware
That every man about her had turned around to stare.
For in her nubile innocence and when her red lips smiled
She was causing utter mayhem as distracted drivers piled.
The Postmen stopped delivering, Policemen stood agape,
Conductors missed their trolleybus and Superman his cape!
…And as she sashayed down the street leaving bedlam in her wake
And all the while her red high heels were causing earth to shake,
Perambulating gracefully, impossibly demure,
She sauntered down the causeway, with a loveliness so pure.
Whilst just behind and following, a ravenous hot mob
Of nature’s gift to manhood, all slavering at the gob.
Quite suddenly with a swish of skirt she swirled about and laughed
At the frozen apparition there immobile and aghast.
Acutely frozen with embarrassment at having looked so ****** absurd
They all dispersed their different ways without a single word.
“Bye boys” she chortled, with a devilment in play
With flick of skirt and toss of hair she turned and walked away.
Ha!
Marshalg
Laughing to myself at the silly old mating game we play.
Pukehana Paradise
14 April 2013
Apr 13, 2013
Apr 13, 2013 at 5:18 PM UTC
There's something so
delicious
about getting caught
in a summer storm,
the chilled water droplets
penetrating the outer layers
of clothing,
soaking the overheated body
with unexpected
refreshment.
I heard all the squeals
and screams,
cries toward the sky
to close its open mouth,
to stop spitting down
on them
as they ran,
ducking cars,
looking for a rooftop
makeshift
umbrella.
I chortled
not so discreetly,
extending my arms
side to side
to catch the droplets
on my bare skin.
The rain felt so ****
as it slid down
my forehead,
slipping
slowly
across my lips,
sneaking down below,
into the crew cut
of my shirt.
Two blocks away from home,
most of the runners had run by,
the rest huddling below
the entrance to various shops
and bars,
I walked by, paying the stares no mind,
sporting a purported
half-crazed look,
while I truly exuded
exuberance,
ebullience,
liveliness.
The pouring
turned to
pittering, pattering,
gentle kisses from the
beads,
letting up just as I
approached my door,
like the universe knew,
and it let me
dance home
in the rain
before the sky shut its
wide-toothed grin,
and the storm was gone.
Jun 5, 2014
Jun 5, 2014 at 12:50 AM UTC
'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.
"Beware the Jabberwock, my son!
The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!
Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun
The frumious Bandersnatch!"
He took his vorpal sword in hand:
Long time the manxome foe he sought--
So rested he by the Tumtum tree,
And stood awhile in thought.
And, as in uffish thought he stood,
The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame,
Came whiffling through the tulgey wood,
And burbled as it came!
One two! One two! And through and through
The vorpal blade went snicker-snack!
He left it dead, and with its head
He went galumphing back.
"And hast thou slain the Jabberwock?
Come to my arms, my beamish boy!
O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!"
He chortled in his joy.
'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.
Jun 29, 2010
Jun 29, 2010 at 8:48 AM UTC
'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.
"Beware the Jabberwock, my son!
The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!
Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun
The frumious Bandersnatch!"
He took his vorpal sword in hand:
Long time the manxome foe he sought --
So rested he by the Tumtum tree,
And stood awhile in thought.
And, as in uffish thought he stood,
The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame,
Came whiffling through the tulgey wood,
And burbled as it came!
One, two! One, two! And through and through
The vorpal blade went snicker-snack!
He left it dead, and with its head
He went galumphing back.
"And, has thou slain the Jabberwock?
Come to my arms, my beamish boy!
O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!'
He chortled in his joy.
'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.
Jan 30, 2015
Jan 30, 2015 at 7:47 PM UTC
I used to be a mover.
I ran, and danced, and climbed trees.
If I saw somethng I wanted, I reached for it, worked for it, or asked an adult to get it for me.
I would fidget and squirm at the dinner table and in Mass.
I did not question, I just did.
I used to say things.
I sang, rhymed and questioned with impunity.
I behaved as though everyone was hanging on my every word.
People were constantly telling me to be quiet. I made them listen.
My voice connected me to the world, it proved I was real.
I used to laugh more.
Giggled, chortled and chuckled with glee.
It was my first reaction to anything new and novel.
It bubbled out of me, tickling my throat as it filled the room.
I measured the worth of a day by how much I had laughed.
I used to get lost in things.
In the fields, in untying knots, in books, especially in books.
I deliberately took wrong turnings just to see what was there,
and hid under my bed with a book and a torch and spoke to no one.
I felt so disheartened when I found my way again.
I used to create.
I crafted, sketched and wrote for hours at a time.
It just poured from my fingertips. It was only completed when the smile came.
A bright, beaming smile, bursting out of me. I would burn with furious pride over 8 lines of mispelled rhymes about a purple monster.
I believed the only things you own, are the things you make.
Now I am uncertain.
Tentative, unsure, and above all; Silent.
Now I only move with a destination in mind.
I am economical and perfunctory with my movements.
I don't know how to use words anymore, the language has changed.
The pen feels uncomfortable in my hand, while I agonise over the exact right words.
Being lost frightens me, and seems like a waste of time.
Creating things (non-edible things) are just extra pieces of baggage you must carry around. Pointless and deflating, they chew their way into every part of your brain to fester and breed.
And people know when you've got poems gnawing your thoughts, and they will instantly distrust you.
But now.
Right now, as I near the end of this train of thought.
The Mover awakens within me. I smile and crave company.
I have a sudden yearning to once again take a wrong turn.
I will not sleep tonight.
Mar 3, 2012
Mar 3, 2012 at 6:54 PM UTC
Unkulunkulu arose from combusting reeds,
Conjured snaking kalaidoscopes to colour the bony landscape.
He summoned oozing crocodiles,
Mud encrusting their jagged rinds
whilst the newly vomited sun pummels it to solidity.
Then seeds descended from Nzame's hands,
Scattering, he watched the devil strive
to swallow the sun with his eager muzzle,
only thwarted as Kamui’s crow flew down his throat:
Kamui and Aionia chortled smoke as he retched.
Then, the first peoples.
Their frail bodies of earth, chickweed for hair,
Willow spines that would bend when they turned old.
Sandals sprung into leather squirrels,
Tarantulas span cord webs to create the earth-ball,
supported by posts to stop it rolling,
Steadied, it rotates:
a roasting world on a spit.
Jul 13, 2011
Jul 13, 2011 at 4:46 PM UTC
Haunted ghosts host our waking hours
during sleep they transport us to places
indescribable by human words.
The ghosts lean on door posts
watching us, remembering their corporeal selves
Wanting to be warm blooded again.
Orchid scented air announce their presence
Morbid thoughts clog our senses
Do we remember them?
Do we want to remember them?
They are dead, long departed
Long deported off this realm.
Halted thoughts gloat at our minds
How those haunted ghosts once chortled,
fondled, and dawdled along.
Long dead; these ghosts are haunted
Not by us the living,
but the memories of them we bring.
Apr 24, 2014
Apr 24, 2014 at 7:55 PM UTC
'Twas brillig and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:
All mimsy were the borogoves
And the mome raths outgrabe.
"Beware the Jabberwock, my son!
The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!
Beware the Jubjub bird and shun
The frumious Bandersnatch!"
He took his vorpal sword in hand
Long time the manxome foe he sought-
So rested he by Tumtum tree
And stood awhile in thought.
And, as in uffish thought he stood,
The Jabberwocky, with eyes of flame,
Came whiffling through the tulgey wood,
And burbled as it came!
One, two! One, two! And through and through
The vorpal blade went snicker-snack!
He left it dead, and with it's head
He went galumphing back.
"And hast thou slain the Jabberwock?
Come to my arms, my beamish boy!
O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!"
He chortled in his joy.
'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:
All mimsy were the borogoves
And the mome raths outgrabe.
-Lewis Carroll
Apr 30, 2015
Apr 30, 2015 at 10:57 PM UTC
*She was a stray spot of Sun in a Winter garden
Snow clinging to life in the shaded April -
woodland , a precocious Sparrow that chortled -
in the Spring morning mist , a naked hardwood -
awakened to the curious mountain wind , then
disappeared*....
May 24, 2016
May 24, 2016 at 10:32 PM UTC
RECORD: ****** KILLER
FROGMAN: TALKING HEArDS
. . . He went down the steps and walked backwards into the desert;
three-tree places, two-tree.
The back door of The Lab Tor open and they foiled out.
He cried out.
They fell in squacks,
they fell crackwards,
they tumblrd over The Word into the data.
The instruments were empty and they chortled at him,
trains-frogrified into a thought and a mind,
and he stood . . .
his body far away and absent,
letting his words do their re-inking tic.
Could he hold up a hand,
and tell them he had spent ninetbeen thousand years learning this tic
and others,
tell them of the instruments
and the words that had tested them?
Not with his mouth.
But his read
deadhead could tell
its own blue taile .
[. . You do not thrill with your mouth.
One who thrills with their mouth has forgotten the cage of their selfse.
You thrill with your throughts. .]
-- Stephen King, Frogman
. . I realized I was Laughing. I had been crying all along . }
-- Roland Deschain, Tacky Frogman's Frogman
Magenta: You thrilled them?
But I thought you shneeded them.
They shneeded you.
Riff Raff: THEY DIDN'T SHNEED ME!
THEY NEVER SHNEEDED ME!
STOP: TURN THOUGHT
Feb 19, 2016
Feb 19, 2016 at 8:27 PM UTC
The usual crew down at Mary's Cafe,
Slurping coffee over hash browns and eggs,
Weather too nice now for comments.
Bill clears his throat to say the grass is getting long,
And the pastor was out mowing yesterday.
"I tried to get my old Sears mower running,
But no go," he griped. "Took it to the shop."
Tom cleared his throat and looked at Bill.
We all knew what was coming.
Tom prides himself in handy manning,
And waxes on and on to us poor fools.
"Did you clean the plug?"
"Was your filter clean?"
Bill was in the hot seat now,
And we were being entertained.
"I checked 'em both, that wasn't it,"
Said Bill. "It don't make sense,
'Cause it was running
When I put it in the shed last fall!"
Tom chortled then, an expert in his glee...
"Well, then it's obvious, Bill!
If it was running when you put it in the shed,
It's out of gas!"
At that point, I burned my mouth,
Spit hot coffee on my food, and gasped for air.
I wouldn't miss these breakfasts for the world.
Apr 25, 2015
Apr 25, 2015 at 8:27 AM UTC
He fell away with his uffish head all full
and he bought what we couldn’t buy him and
he didn’t buy what we swallowed whole
or at least he sold it back or gave it away
for vorpal heresies & novel fascinations
And just like we taught him to ride the red
a few swipes away from bankruptcy and desolation
but welcome and chortled to fail if that’s
easier for now than climbing the Tumtum tree
or trying to make it in this world
well fed - given all to eat and truly loved
It’s curious how the rain gyred down today
and stopped and came again and stopped
because the cadence of his windshield wipers
seemed to coincide with the crankier parts:
only working when there’s nothing left to wipe
We don’t even give two ***** if a Jubjub bird
falls dead and he whiffles away, sword
between his legs (though that is dangerous)
and the beast escapes. He can eat the **** bird
for all we care, but for sustenance, not triumph
But our son is still lost; he’s frabjously
writhing in the tulgey fiber of disappointment
unable to slay even the puniest of borogoves
His melancholy surpasses all comprehension
and he isn’t coming home any time soon
He’s not galumphing back.
What use is a mimsy rhyme to the famished?
How often are we warned, beamishly chastised
of the brillig peril of worrying ourselves
with feeding the slithy soul
when the body burbles, always demands to eat first
and is satisfied by no less
than the frumious flesh of the fatted calf?
Apr 16, 2014
Apr 16, 2014 at 1:12 AM UTC
Gift my Heart
Oh diminutive finch.
once you chortled
gleefully,
cutestuck
in my happy compliment sky.
Do I forgive your migration?
You flighty fuzzball!
vacating briskly, frigidly
the premeditated enclosure
perfectly designed for your every need.
your obdurate flight
left perfect circles of Hollow
(spaces eating my gaze,
like black holes
ravaging stars)
No,
I am too imbecilic.
You left breadcrumbs
trailing from the Candy House-
and I intend not to be eaten.
could not I come, however?
[you are a soft word of extra cream and when I think upon
you I cannot keep pretending
that I would have you stay anymore than I would
trade your laugh for any other flecked miracle]
Thus I am resolved.
I shall be your migration.
The knife of your eagle glimpse
shall perceive nothing
without my invisible acquiescence.
your talons
shall clutch with the strength of my
most bashful beam
Oh my reddest-tailed raptor!
as you hunt and fish
the wildernesses I mustn’t trample,
I will draft your flight,
But only,
my mellow heron,
If you promise to leave me a feather,
with which to heavy my heart.
Oct 22, 2013
Oct 22, 2013 at 5:45 AM UTC
8 cops possibly 15 or 16 police officers
1 persona, the 45s scratched and repeating
From the south, no
From Asia, how
Certainly some western flare
Sheeeeeesssshhhhh
16 or 17 officers, why is it repeating,
Repealed, ok. Idk, one single actual law
But several piggy's with lights off
Chortled many brave pedalers
Just down by the shoe store
All of them will fit a persona
Try a pear, chew it and sip on some well water
I will never smoke indoors, not enough space for the frame
But what works, is a story by Dumbo.
That dang chewy elephante.
Dec 1, 2016
Dec 1, 2016 at 4:02 AM UTC
A pair of lungs walked into a bar
and inhaled the tobacco smoke.
Moments ago the smoke had risen drunk
before stumbling into the pair.
The bartender snickered, chortled
Which infuriated the lungs.
The lungs coughed up some tar.
They spat on her face then walked out.
Jan 12, 2015
Jan 12, 2015 at 8:47 AM UTC
‘How quaint,’ remarked Mistress Hora as she turned the afternoon on its head, ‘that you would consider time to be a linear construct.’
‘Positively post-historic,’ agreed Master O’Clock, nodding his head in perfect synchrony with the orchestra that played inside his ear. Today was Waltzday (or so he had named it), an interminable reminder that atomic metronomes particularly those of Viennese manufacture were not to be trifled with.
‘Be assured, my dears, that this fancy is a passing one and exists only as a fleeting extemporaneous distraction,’ our Mistress continued. The first year students breathed a collective sigh of relief. ‘Now, I want no clumping, no running ahead, and NO helical improvisation. When yesterday’s fish and chips come wrapped in tomorrow’s newspaper it gives our school a most unfortunate reputation.’ The class chortled as one. ‘Most importantly, please remember to take your pocket guide.’
I reached for my bedraggled copy of _The Theory of Chronometrical Fluidity: Compressed Edition_ and wrung the pages out. I had failed badly at applied clepsydrics and my cousin Widget wasn’t letting me forget it. From behind the glass, I spotted her playing a furtive game of Gregorian and by the look on her face February was winning. I blew her a lemniscate to grab her attention. She scowled, looked up from her losing streak and giggled when she saw me spiralling in her direction. ‘Good luck,’ she spiralled back.
Miss Hora flexed her wrist and glanced at her temporal transponder. ‘You will be marked on cuneiformity, consistency, and rate of continuance. Now be off with you. Tempus fugit!’ With a flick of her bejangled fingers she opened the S.A.N.D. grates. I held my breath and jumped.
Dec 9, 2019
Dec 9, 2019 at 5:03 PM UTC
She said she will bring us at the top
The only person who encouraged me the most
Someone said people changes with time
But i refused and didn't believed this line
When the judgement day came
Standing there with hope i was the only one
The result was announced
With shock and sorrow i sat down
Tears came into my eyes
I felt like my heart, my trust all were stolen
But i was again standing there with a courage and believe in my heart
Leaving all that i heard apart
I told her this was not the result that i expected
She looked at me and chortled
I tried to burst my anger on her
But she left
She left but i was standing there
With a broken heart that can never cared
Is all my mistake was that i believed someone
This is the reason that why i am in despair
Jun 28, 2017
Jun 28, 2017 at 8:56 PM UTC
a ****** dint of silence was bulbous in a long fettered common
that thrashed calmly hues of slippery wind
being largely small
the city chortled deeply
and it was barely exploding with rapturous clinging
a loose sheet of normal night
?
Jan 14, 2011
Jan 14, 2011 at 9:56 AM UTC
In this never ending tunnel darker than night
Is where I found myself after taking flight
Those gruesome looking creatures with sulphuric smell
Have forced their way into my wishing well
Should I call it forced snuck or stolen
Fact is I didn't notice the wound till it was swollen
Swollen itchy and overflowing with pus
That's when I started to make a fuss
Or at least I made an attempt
For of healing that wound I could only have dreamt
The beings teased, chortled and jested
If I fussed too much, true colors manifested
I couldn't think of an escape plan
These were beings and I was just human
Their brains are superior and I'm not smart
Knowing this left me downcast
Dec 16, 2016
Dec 16, 2016 at 2:24 PM UTC
A man named Lonely walked down the soft beach,
hand in hand with his wife Vainglory.
The opulent sun slowly rested lower and lower on the horizon,
Seagulls swooped, children chortled.
Sand blew around their ankles and empty pleasantries filled the air.
Lonely and Vainglory could talk for hours yet say nothing.
Waves flirted with the Earth, and Earth flirted right back,
clouding the water with clumps of tumbling sand.
Hand in hand they both wandered elsewhere. Bodies together, minds distant.
So beautiful Vainglory was. She knew it, he knew it.
Every morning Lonely reminded her, telling her, charming her.
It was habit.
Taking it for granted, smiling blankly, in one ear out the other.
Coexistence, habit, kelp.
She stepped on the head of a bull kelp, popping under her weight.
The acrid smell, buzzing flies, salty air returned him to the present.
Still walking. Talking.
Looking back, their footprints in the sand danced around each other,
light on their toes, skirting the ebbing waves filling them in.
As their steps fade, he wonders if they can find their way back.
Hand in hand they trod onward.
-AM
Jul 29, 2016
Jul 29, 2016 at 12:25 AM UTC
Last night I dreamt that Charles Bukowski chortled at my attempts to be brilliant.
He laughed so hard he creased the ominous glow of the moon in two,
leaving little light for me to find my way out of the **** dream.
I was stuck for hours.
Going round
and
round
and
round
and
round.
Until suddenly I woke.
A thin veil of hope slicing through the blinds,
But I did not want to open them.
The sick part of me regretted waking up at all.
Feb 22, 2016
Feb 22, 2016 at 8:29 AM UTC
We met my sophomore year
This I shall never regret,
It started when we ran across that field
With you on my back,
Laughed we did as we chortled with joy
Everyone laught....... We did not care
My feelings grew for you
Our bond grew close,
We became best friends
Friends forever I still hope,
My love grew stronger,
As the year grew longer,
I helped you up when you were down
Decided not you did to push me around,
I carried you to class
In my arms as you wept,
I wiped your tears,
This I'll never forget,
Then one day you met a girl,
You chose her over me
That day you destroyed my world
Loved you more than a brother I did
My love lasted longer than you would have known
Yet she took you from me
For this I was heartbroke.........
I told you off,
Hurt you I did,
Please know I didn't mean to say
All that was said.......
And please know Jeremy I'm sorry for what I'd done
Will you find it in your heart to forgive me
My rising sun......
Oct 26, 2015
Oct 26, 2015 at 11:28 PM UTC