Dnieper Rapids

I'm in the middle of writing a historical fiction short story. The plot is about a British teen who is enslaved by Viking raiders, then taken to Kievan Rus'. Along the way a skald sings about rapids on the Dnieper River. The place names I've only seen in print and never heard pronounced. I hope they rhyme.

From the Valdai Hills, the Dnieper River flows.

Mostly south to the Black Sea it goes.

There are rapids all along with twists and turns.

The count is nine rapids where the water churns.

Most are quite a fall. Only two are navigable

And the rest of them only spell trouble.

"Don't sleep!" at the first named Kodatsky. 

"Island Waterfall" is the second at Sursky.

After that Lohansk's quite a zinger.

Dzvonesky's a real bell ringer.

Nenasytec's very naughty and violent.

At Vovnyzky the waves are turbulent.

At Budylo be sure to rouse

Or waves'll splash over the prows.

The term "rapid" is superfluous at Lyshny.

Finally, you're free at Vil'ny.

Cry Awry

Cry Awry

21 Sept 2018

You're losing sleep.

Cancer's the reason why.

The hurt runs deep,

So go ahead and cry.

Your life's been sideswiped

And it's direction has altered.

As you've been stereotyped,

Perhaps your step has faltered.

There's a new normal starting now.

You're not sure of what will be.

You'll manage to get by somehow

In spite of all the ache and misery.

Unexpectedly life's different.

You're mourning the way it was.

Living has a new battlefront.

You don't care about dramas.

People around you voice opinions.

Regardless of what splatters,

You stick to your guns

And focus on what matters.

The pain and hurt run deep.

For some relief, go ahead and cry.

You're losing way too much sleep

And cancer's the reason why.

Detracts And Facts

Detracts And Facts

13 Sept 2018

From the way some people declare

Frank unsupported statements,

There's no way to say they err

And point out how to make adjustments.

Frequently underlying conditions aren't stated

And little proof is asserted

So nothing can be debated

And counter arguments can't be inserted.

That's the way people communicate

About politics and religion.

There's no effort to educate,

Not even a smidgen.

The expounders come across as propagandists,

Not open to a different point of view.

In the end they become sadists,

Bleating my eardrums in two.

Convictions are intense opinions.

Their energetic claim detracts

From logic, and the companions

Of faith and belief aren't facts.

Overdue #metoo

#metoo

Overdue #metoo

21 May 2018

It used to be you could

Blame the victim.

Male privilege would

Hand out the dictum.

Now we're claiming

Our worthiness by naming

The perps and reframing

The situation by proclaiming

An end to blaming and shaming.

Giving credit where it's due

And shining light on the issue

With the hashtag #metoo.

It's a topic that's long overdue

And talking about it's not taboo.

As victims we felt all alone.

Today we're setting a new tone.

Old ways are being overthrown.

Patriarchy isn't carved in stone.

We're showing some backbone.

Nostalgia doesn't cut it anymore.

No going back to the way it was before.

Our movement is too big to ignore.

We're fighting with words; and more

We're voting to make our voices roar.

Ring The Bell

Ring The Bell

16 March 2018

At the end of chemo or radiation

They call it graduation.

All staff and caregivers congregate

With the patients to celebrate.

The young Mademoiselle,

With more meaning than she could tell,

Cried as she rang the bell.

No polite decorum for me.

It's not about dignity,

Nor preserving serenity.

I'm making the most of this opportunity.

After weeks of nausea hell,

With a rebel yell,

He grabbed the rope and rang the bell.

Let the bell of hope ring loud and long

As we celebrate becoming strong;

Strong enough to face cancer as beginners

And come out the other side as winners.

Hoping all would be well,

For quite a spell

The child rang the bell.

Shoes Blues

Shoes Blues

11 March 2018

Holes in the soles of my shoes

Has me singing the blues.

After looking at the selection

Of shoes in the store's collection,

Each with its own appeal,

I chose a pair close to my ideal.

At first I liked the look and feel,

Then the flaws started to reveal.

Holes in the soles of my shoes

Has me singing the blues.

Cracks appeared where the uppers flexed.

I didn't see what happened next.

The tops seemed to go unchanged,

But the bottoms were becoming deranged.

That went unnoticed until it rained

And the wetness I felt was unexplained. 

Holes in the soles of my shoes

Has me singing the blues.

Much to my dismay, at home I looked at

My shoe bottoms and could see that

The soles had a crack across the ball.

That's why my socks were wet and all.

I'll have to buy some replacements,

Adding to my money disbursements. 

Holes in the soles of my shoes

Has me singing the blues.

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Personal note: There's been a lapse in my postings. In December 2017 I got a sore spot on my tongue that made it hard to talk and chew, so I went in to see the doctor. On the 2nd January 2018 the doctor called to say I had medium squamous cell carcinoma of the tongue. On January 21st I went to the hospital and fell among the surgeons. They knocked me out, yanked a tooth, cut out my tongue and slit my throat. The doctors were having such a good time they slit my throat twice, in front and down the side. After a week in Medical Intensive Care and 3 weeks in a skilled nursing facility, I came home. In the SNF I recovered enough to start talking again. On March 12th I started chemotherapy and radiation that will go on for six weeks. I get most of my nutrition thru a feeding tube. I can't wait until this is all over and I can come up with a funny way to tell my dramatic story.