Saturday, February 02, 2008

IS YOUR 2008 DIET GOING GREAT?

IS YOUR 2008 DIET GOING GREAT?

Roger A. Davis

Many a New Year resolution it was
Overweight the reason because
Some just wanted looser jeans
Others, like me, were splitting their seams

Did you also say, “No more cigs”?
Or giving up those gambling gigs?
Whatever your this year’s hopes
God speed, escaping your addiction ropes

Now, if you had one like reading a good book
Or becoming a gourmet cook
Even with this, too, my prayers are with you
Yet, if things are in bad review

Do not throw in the towel
And get a bad attitude and scowl
Tomorrow is another day to start
From our good intentions, don’t depart

Hunker down in our foxholes of war
Then leap up and charge once more
For, if we keep at it, we will score
Victories as before

PHONEBOOK PHOBIA

PHONEBOOK PHOBIA

Roger A. Davis

Trepidation when needing a listing
Then my eyes start misting
In the old days, I could memorize a number
Now my photographic memory is in a slumber

Didn’t have Yellow Pages to contest
Not many unlisted, this was for the best
I also have this alphabet hitch
I’ve got to repeat it to get the page niche

These competing books get really big
With arthritic hands, it’s hard to hold and dig
There are Government, Coupons, Maps and Area Code sections
My current phonebook has 16 town selections

Many times, I confess, I call 411
Operator connects me, that’s my fun
It may cost more dollar bills
Yet, I get to avoid my phobia ills

PLAZA

PLAZA

Roger A. Davis

I like this word: PLAZA
In Italy, they say ‘piazza”
Not sure of the rhyme
Does it have to every time?

The Country Club Plaza opened in 1922
In Kansas City, Mizzou
Stores with Spanish architectural themes
A place to buy your shopping dreams

We’ve been to southwest plazas like in Santa Fe
A good time to be had on a fiesta day
An American version of plaza is a city square
A court house and park benches to breathe fresh air

Some have fountains or works of art
But on Turnpike, $1.60 does depart
A toll plaza, a gathering of cars and trucks
But maintenance costs big bucks

The Court House in McPherson is a sight to be seen
Awe-inspiring Clockhouse and Park, very keen
Lyons, Kansas, too, has a great City Plaza and Museum
I wish you all an invitation to come

REACQUAINTED

REACQUAINTED

Roger A. Davis

Just today, called a long ago pal
Been forty years since, wow!
Our conversation went as if we had talked yesterday
Childhood friendships reacquainted never fade away

Oh yes, there was news of friends and families
And an exchange of health and life’s calamities
Stories of our teenage good times
And I shared how now days I write rhymes

We visited thirty minutes or more
We talked of those who have passed on before
It reminded me to write this hint to you
To have this joy, their days and yours may be few

So go to a class reunion or make a call
And experience time’s magically fading fall
Remember again, friends, do not stall
Procrastination leads to never making it at all

RIDDEN OR DRIVEN

RIDDEN OR DRIVEN

Roger A. Davis

I've ridden a lot of things in my stay
My car, wrongly on a street marked ‘One Way’
Snow and ice have enticed my four wheel drives
And my record of being the best still survives

Being pulled or on a gravity slope
I’ve ridden sleds and car hoods tied by a rope
Pontoons, houseboats, sails and those motorize
Oh yes, once a canoe, which was my demise

Work related: backhoe, forklift and bobcat
Dump truck that hauled railroad chat
Chemical truck that had to be placarded in warning signs
Farm machinery: trucks, tractors and combines

Gondola atop Monarch Pass
Billy Floyd’s jackass
Paula, our Palomino
My wheelchair at the casino

Durango-Silverton train was a thrill
Cog run to Pikes Peak in September gives a chill
Carousel at the Colorado Springs Zoo
They got it cranked, you’ll say, "Whew!”

Amusement park rides like the ferris wheel
And I survived the rollercoaster ordeal
Between God and me, "Never again,” this was the deal
And from that day on, theme parks have no appeal

Escalators, time and time again
But, you know what? That first step is still hard to begin
Elevators of all kinds and sizes
In the flour mill, a circular belt one that rises

Boeing 707 and prop planes in the sky
Our favorite vehicles will be till the day I die
Our Yamaha three wheelers that we rode
Over the Colorado Mountains in vacation mode