Inspectors
Poetry | Posted by Jannie on 17 January 2012 @ 1:50 PM 33 Comments
It’s all tea and crumpets
until inspectors in fedoras
and restless 3-piece suits
stand pointing at your
railway car and leaning
on your tiny caboose.
Other snoopers,
as you possibly know
from your own tangos
with clipboarded eyes,
are the popcorn police,
the chain-link fence patrol
and the nudity overseers.
There are even
government spies
ever on the watch
that farmers’ spring
grass fires never burn
wider than a 2-square
meter patch per year,
farmers whose
great-great-great-
great-great-great-
grandfathers cleared
said land almost two
hundred years ago,
farmers who, by age 10
had already forgotten
most of what had been
handed down to them
about ash fertilization,
ladybug June cotillions
and the pull of the moon
over October stallions.
Did I mention a good
many stout farming
lads and lassies were
conceived those April
grass fire nights as the
last puffs of snowmelt
were seeping back into
the love that still is and
always will be recreating
itself from the lungs of
the universe breathing?
~~ end of poem inspired by above photo of a model railroad scene.
~~ and brought to mind the time a clip-boarded kid told Dad to put his burn pile out,
~~ Dad who still loves and lives! Great Typo — in the farm house he was born in 75 years ago.
My dVerse Poets Open Link Tuesday offering.
xxooxoxox
Thank you for your comment.
I look forward to getting over to your blog in the next day or so!
On 17 January 2012 at 2:07 pm Fred said,
Jannie, I love the creativity here, remarkable poetry inspired from the image. Great job, really nicely done. Thanks
On 17 January 2012 at 2:22 pm Mama Zen said,
I’m smiling and nodding, Jannie!
On 17 January 2012 at 2:28 pm Claudia said,
this is great jannie..always so creative…love the popcorn police and the tangos
with clipboarded eyes…
On 17 January 2012 at 2:43 pm kelly said,
love that last stanza, very musical, you pulled a whole story out of that image!
On 17 January 2012 at 2:48 pm Daydreamertoo said,
An amazing write from seeing the picture. I sometimes see a picture and then feel I have to ‘write’ for it. Lovely words from you that it inspired.
On 17 January 2012 at 2:54 pm Buddah Moskowitz said,
Wow-ee, I loved this, esp how it winded to its ending. Great!
On 17 January 2012 at 3:14 pm Lynn said,
The dreaded kid with the clip board – I know just what that looks like. Good poem, my friend.
On 17 January 2012 at 3:19 pm daisy said,
Jannie, I like how that one simple picture inspired such a detailed and creative poem. Very clever and imaginative!
On 17 January 2012 at 3:20 pm Liara Covert said,
Everything is always working unless you allow the mind to imagine fear into being. Life is forever tea and crumptets unless you allow the mind to convince you that you are a failure or imagine other reasons to distract your focus from what the heart knows. Embrace all you remember and forget. Its all helping you. The life experience you have is less important than how you experience it.
On 17 January 2012 at 3:35 pm Jennifer Susannah Devore said,
A German friendette and I were once harangued by the semi-nudity police … no topless sunbathing in Laguna beach, FYI
On 17 January 2012 at 3:36 pm Jennifer Susannah Devore said,
Oops! Typo
beach=Beach … Sorry, doll!
On 17 January 2012 at 5:06 pm Jannie said,
A big thank you to Fred.
Mama Z, I edited out the petting zoo verse.
Claudia, the popcorn police have been on my mind since 1987, but not very often, thankfully.
Kelly, I changed earth to love. Which word is better there I think? Hmmn. Hey, — that’s what poetic license is for, eh??
DayDreamer, well my mind does get a little carried away. :0
Buddah — your gravatar always makes me smile. Wow-ee, you rock!!
Lynn — do you get many of those at your printing place:
Ahhh, Daisy — that’s very nice of you to let me know — thanks. And always of you to visit, of course.
Liara. Jannie is busted by you! And hey — 20 seconds of courage is all it takes is my newfound motto after seeing “We Bought A Zoo” yesterday. Highly recommend that as a movie. And of course I know you’ll say we are always being courageous, and always with no need for courage as there is nothing to fear. And you’d be right on that!! The experience of the experience, that is very wise beyond my years.
But a truly true thought, thank you.
Jennifer. Beach. beach. it’s all a beach! And now I call my mom. I think in all of Canada one can legally go topless, whether male or female.
And speaking of 20 seconds of courage…..
here I go.
xooxoxoxxoo
On 17 January 2012 at 5:34 pm wolfsrosebud said,
looks like you had fun with this one
On 17 January 2012 at 6:22 pm poemblaze said,
Great poem. It started playful and moved to lyrical!
On 17 January 2012 at 6:23 pm Heaven said,
I like the creative journey ….specially the last verse. Nice one ~
On 17 January 2012 at 6:41 pm Pat Hatt said,
Toples all around you say, hmmmm I’d like some but others might force me to run away and that is alot of great’s. I’ll add one more as great is your fate.
On 17 January 2012 at 6:49 pm ayala said,
Jannie, playful and creative .
A lovely write !
xoxo
On 17 January 2012 at 7:10 pm Glenn Buttkus said,
Another fine write, Jannie; always
playful, but when she puts her
poet hat on, you know the one with
the blue feather in it, she always
manages to work in the good
stuff too, the wordsmithing, the
thorny puns, nostalgia.
I love the lines /pull of the moon/
over October stallions/ and I am
still trying the visualize the uniforms
for the damn popcorn police.
On 17 January 2012 at 8:16 pm Aimee said,
I’m always on the look out for government spies!! I love these quirky poems Jannie! The bit about popcorn police was positively perfect. You have some of the best word combinations!
On 17 January 2012 at 8:58 pm Teresa said,
What a great poem of generations gone by! Had to chuckle about the spies, and I loved the little piece about your dad at the end.
On 17 January 2012 at 9:23 pm laurie kolp said,
Enjoyed this, Janie. Don’t we all know a great-great-great-great-great-great-
someone who did something great?
On 17 January 2012 at 10:09 pm Jennifer Susannah Devore said,
Then, I’m pretty sure a Canadian beach day is order for the Yellow Rose of TX and her Silly Cali Girl
Brrrrr! Ta, doll!
On 17 January 2012 at 10:45 pm Jannie said,
Well, holy crappy pizzas, I just wrote a whole lovely comment, forgot to copy…. and when I hit post… GONE. No IT connection, yuck.
will THIS post??
xoxoxooxoxox
On 17 January 2012 at 10:46 pm Jannie said,
Well, yes it did. Mysterious.
A sign from the Universe for me to GEt OFf This Computer and get to bed.
xooxoxoxoxoxoxo
On 18 January 2012 at 5:48 am SnaggleTooth said,
Popcorn Police can be so pesky! Always liked those fedoras n model trains tho- Was big business back in my teens when I worked at a toy store…
Cute poem, got me to giggle again-
On 18 January 2012 at 9:24 am susan said,
Hey Jannie – Wow, I am continually amazed at your creativity! We need to investigate this further and learn how to bottle that!
Hugs
Susan
On 18 January 2012 at 9:39 am Dr. J said,
I’m afraid there is way too much inspection, detection, and infection going on now-a-days!
On 19 January 2012 at 3:20 pm Sara said,
Jannie,
It’s always fun to read your poems a loud. I must admit there was a verse when I was determined to read the entire thing without taking a breath and had to work at it, but I wasn’t about to disrupt the flow:~) You have an amazing way with words. They seem to dance with joy for you. That’s a gift:~)
I sighed as the last words flowed off my tongue and into the air. Well done, my friend!
On 19 January 2012 at 5:30 pm secret agent woman said,
There is always someone snooping around, isn’t there?
On 19 January 2012 at 5:37 pm Jannie said,
Hey, everyone!
Jannie has not forgotten you.
Jannie is having a busy busy day.
And now must go make the cheese sauce for the asparagus — a veggie which the parakeets love.
See y’all later!
xooxoox
On 19 January 2012 at 7:53 pm sheila said,
As a part time genealogist, I’ll tell you this one reallllly brought me back to my researching days! Many great great grandfathers toiled on the railroads! Thank you, loved this!
On 19 January 2012 at 9:26 pm brian said,
this is lovely i dont know how i missed it the other day…i have a railmans pocket watch given to me by my grand father…and we are going to spy school in DC on sunday…very nicely done..and some really wonderful lines in it too…
On 21 January 2012 at 10:02 am Jannie said,
Hey, Sweeties, THANKS so much for gracing my humble page with your words that do make me smile with my heart.
I’m doing my song harmonies today, and please forgive my errant ways in not answering each comment individually as I like to do.
See you soon.
xooxoxoxxo
whooooooooooooooooooohooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo