Poem for Barbara who is semi-blind (Cheerful Poem 11)

Barbara is centre front. I am on the right front. Karl Blau back left. Simon Varley top right.

I've missed sending Barbara a Christmas card. Maybe I can send her a happy New Year card. I would like a card which plays a stone or sings a song. You should be able to create one yourself using something like siri. I think you can buy cards which enable you to record a brief message. First you have to compose the message.

Bright Future

by Angela Lansbury

My darling I think of you every day
I'm always hearing of you doing good
Even when I am not passing your way
I've sent this greeting as fast as I could

I'm so glad to hear good news when you're well
And I'm so sad to hear when you've been ill
So I hope all next year you'll be happy
Then brighten when you recall my goodwill

We can't count the future days life may bring
But our shared past's full of good memory
We can't count the days when we'd talk and sing
Joys we've shared with others, for cash or free

Smile and recall our successes with glee
If I call when you're away or asleep
Whisper I'm glad she's still thinking of me
We've good memories we share, and we'll keep.

Copyright Angela Lansbury 2015
Draft poem. Version 2
I was going to find a thesaurus page to change three lines ending with me, but the rhymes free and glee popped into my head.
Running through the alphabet I find: be, see, fee, he, knee, pea, sea, tea, sympathy
I would like to make some money from my poetry.
You may forward it with correct attribution in the hope that it reaches somebody who can use it commercially and pay me. Thank you

I know Barbara through Harrow Writers' Circle. Unfortunately, I missed the annual party because I was away at a prior engagement.

Please look at my posts on travel. You can follow my travel posts, follow me on Facebook, Link to me on LinkedIn. Maybe meet me at a Toastmasters speakers' club meeting. Look at or buy my books on Lulu.com and Amazon. If you buy one of my books and meet me at a Toastmasters meeting I'll sign the book for you and write a personalized rhyming couplet for you.
You can also see me reciting and talking about poetry on YouTube.
Angela Lansbury

Ooh! Poem by Angela Lansbury (Cheerful Poem 10)

Rhyme of the day from Angela Lansbury

Ooh!

Oh, dear me, there's a stinky poo
Has it come from the dog, or me, or you?
It really doesn't matter who
Just get rid of that stinky poo.

Copyright Angela Lansbury Dec 24 2015.

You may quote me for non-commercial use with attribution and written/email permission. 

This was not written after any event. It just seemed to rhyme nicely. I was thinking of the sort of rhyme I or anybody else might make up if we went into an old people's home and started developing Alzheimer's. One of the signs is talking in rhyme. Oh dear!

After I'd written it, I thought, oh dear. Have I half remembered this from somewhere else, from Michael Rosen or another writer for children.

I often get this sensation of panic, if a poem is easy, not endlessly rewritten. I then google all the words. Often you get ten variations on a line, or a rhyme, everywhere from the bible to pop songs, articles about them, and more.

Yet even by changing one word the whole implication of the sentence has often changed. 

If I wrote, 'Has it come from the king or queen or you', that would have one meaning, probably humorous, to make toddlers hiccup, only half understanding, but seeing a parent laugh. But 'from the prime minister or you'  written from a member of one political party to another, on the occasion of a gaffe, or controversy, or court case, would be totally different, political commentary, satire, or even slander. 

Written with an illustration of an owner of a woebegone dog in the park, and a pooper scoop, it could be an advertisement for cleaning up after your dog, to keep dog owners and children on side. Written as, 'from the cat or dog or you', with an illustration of three cute, guilty looking pets, would again be humorous but totally different, a comment on animals, but a fond one. 

Angela Lansbury, author of Poetry Pets And Pests (lulu.com).