Sleep, Deep Sleep, comic poem no 404 by Angela Lansbury

 

Where do you fly to when you're asleep?

Up in blue sky or down in dark deep?

I don't go far, though I've seen the world

Guess where I'm hiding? Under sheets, curled

My eyes are there, resting under lids

My head, like a rock, holds the pillow

My legs, solid tree trunks, lift, shape sheets

Gentle lungs pump, like leaking bellows

My mind's busy sorting out the trash

Inventing movies with silly plots

You can see where I am, still in bed

Have I gone elsewhere? No I have not!

Although my two eyes aren't open wide

I''m gently breathing, pumping red blood

I promise you, there's action inside

Fighting the flu, doing unseen good.

When I wake up, I forget daft dreams

By nine I've had breakfast, smug - washed, dressed

Mind's clean, ready for sensible schemes

Refreshed by rest for doing my best 

I was not away during the night

You could wake me up with noise or light

Alarmed or annoyed after that fright

Then happy, ready to greet sunlight.

In dreams, packed old nonsense, dried out tears

Fondly surveyed photos of past years

I've sorted recent and distant fears

Found stores of smiles, for you. darling dears.

-end-

Photos from Wikipedia article on sleep. Sleeping Girl, Domenico Fetti, c. 1615,

Sleeping Girl, Domenico Fetti, c. 1615

Hours of sleep recommended for each age group^[91]

Age and condition Sleep needs Newborns (0–3 months)14 to 17 hours 

Infants (4–11 months)12 to 15 hours

Toddlers (1–2 years)11 to 14 hours

Preschoolers (3–4 years)10 to 13 hours

School-age children (5–12 years)    9 to 11 hours

Teenagers (13–17 years)8 to 10 hours

Adults (18–64 years)7 to 9 hours

Older Adults (65 years and over)7 to 8 hours

\

In the poem 404 I considered changing one line to

I promise quiet action inside.

When I revise my poems's first draft, or re-read it for typos, sometimes I think of another alliteration to add.

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Big Thread, Small Needle comic poem number 363 by Angela Lansbury

 Somewhere in far off China

There's a factory with a beadle

Whose job is to defend

The man who makes sewing needles

Those litle sewing needles

With the tiny eye

Too small for anyone to thread

God alone knows why

One day I'll write a letter

Explaining my complaint

Or maybe I'll do better

In person with poisoned paint

I'll shout and rant, in English

Make holes big enough for thread!

Chase him with sewing scissors

Until one of us is dead.

I think I'll write to someone

About the Nobel prize

It should go to someone

Who makes needles with big eyes

Maybe we'll run all day

Maybe we'll run all night

Or another twenty years

Until we prove who's right.

And I'll go down in history

As pioneering, wise

The courageous sewer

Who fought for bigger eyes.

Maybe I made a mistake

Disregard what I said

Another's worse, or equally bad

Blame the maker of the thread

But I should end positive

Sewers please take heed, all

Who should win the nobel prize

The make of the self-threading needle

Self threading needle. Photo by Angela Lansbury

It solves all the problems

It sets the world to right

I found one, lost in my sewing box

My day's now filled with delight.

-ends-

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Everything's old, feeling blue, stained and old, need something new

Selfie photo by Angela Lansbury

I have a dream of the way I should look

Like a princess in a fairytale book

At least I could look like the fairy godmother

But looking good is such a great bother

Two hours searching for something to wear

Matching hidden eyes and fly-away hair

To make me and not my rivals feel good

Admiring stares, not a shocked stare

Not something I've worn again and again

'Not that old thing, again,' my spouse will complain

'Look, keep trying, you're always buying

You can't wear that - it's got a stain 

'You can't wear that

It's shapeless and torn'

My son: 'That's the Sixties

Before I was born!'

I keep on looking, but having no luck

Yesterday I went out in the rain

Dirty hem, shovel sandals covered in muck

My toes have borrowed a strange black stain

My new red dress is too long and too large

The cape sleeves so long they trail on the floor

I look like a hippo driving a barge

No red hat, six colours - yet must order more

I thought the answer was something new

It's better, now that the belt is tied

I won't trip up, though it's still creased

I hoisted it up, I tried

I've three hundred items but nothing looks right

When it's daytime I see clothes all suited to night

At night, beach and swimsuits, for sunny days

I don't have enough clothes, whatever they say

I'm showing my roots, must cover my head

I can't wear gray, it makes me look dead

I love the red, but I bet they will say,

'Did you wash it? You wore it yesterday!'

The heels on my sandals are all falling off

My pink baseball hat is growing black mould

The cheap dress, I just bought, is much too short

Clothes make me look old, because I am old

I'm searching and searching the internet

I've found just the right item which matches my hair

I'll have to keep searching, because I still need

To pay, so I need a millionaire. 

I'm wearing bright pink, what do you think?

You can't see my boots and you can't see my roots

The new dress is short, more like a top

But it's good enough, so it's time I should stop.

-ends-

Angela Lansbury. Written  Nov 19 2021.

More details of the clothes in

dressofthedayangela.blogspot.com

About the Author of this blog, Author Angela Lansbury

BIOGRAPHY

Angela Lansbury B A Hons ACG ALB PM5 EH5 DL5 VC5 
The Author of several books, including  Etiquette For Every Occasion. Wedding Speeches & Toasts. How to be the Best Man. Quick Quotations. Who Said What When.

Blogs travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.com

dressofthedayangela.blogspot.com

translateforfun.blogspot.com

Braddell Heights Advanced Toastmasters Speakers Club Vice President Public Relations (VPPR), Previous President

Join BHA 1st Wednesday 7pm and 3rd Saturday 2 pm Singapore time 

Vice President Public Relations (VP PR) of Tampines Changkat Advanced;

Secretary of weekly online Singapore International Dynamic Toastmasters Speakers’ Club;

Member and past president of Harrovians toastmasters club, UK; Past member of HOD Toastmasters, London. Past member in Singapore of: Toastmasters Club of Singapore (TCS); Tiarel; and Senja Cashew.

More details from Toastmasters International find a club.

Regular attendee at annual Swanwick Writers’ School, England.

Regular attendee at annual Writers’ Holiday, Wales.

Contributor to poetry readings, and after tea courses on: Speaking On Radio To Promote Books; and Plots And Character.

Winner of many club and area speaking contests in the UK and Singapore.

Language advisor to Empire Toastmasters club in Indonesia.

Language and speech workshops in Singapore.

Speaker on radio and TV in England, Scotland, the USA, and Australia.

Compiler of a school course on public speaking for teachers to prepare pupils for school open days with attending ceremonies before government ministers, Singapore.

Former member of Harrow Writers’ Circle, London, and two writing groups in Singapore.

Angela is on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Twitter. She would be delighted to link up with new friends.

I  also havemany more posts in my blog on comic poems.

 Please share links to your favourite posts.

Tell Me All Your Troubles version 2

Do tell me all of your troubles
Deaths and divorces, don't ask mine
'cos I'll tell then regret it
I say too much, all the time

I'll tell the stranger on the train
Someone I'll never see again
So if they think I'm mad or bad
They won't say so and make me sad

I'll offload sadness and sorrow
To strangers who are gone tomorrow
Who won't still be there to remind me
So I can put it all behind me

But tell me all your troubles
So I can sympathise
I won't pretend I'm a success
No need to tell you polite lies

I won't tell you all my troubles
Revive what I'd rather forget
I don't dare tell you the whole truth
Sometimes it's better not

Books talk about self-doubt
And the imposture syndrome
Ive come here for a holiday
To escape my problems at home

But I watch the woman confessing all
On stage, in poems, I sympathise
I want to tell you my truth and my lies
Unburden, share all with smiling eyes.
-ends-
Written at Swanwick Writers' Summer School
Angela Lansbury copyright Aug Sunday 25 2019

You're So Funny

You're So Funny
by Angela Lansbury

You're so funny
You're my honey
You spend my money
But you're so funny

You're always late
I'm glad to wait
Dear Little bunny
'cos you're so funny


It's half past seven
But you're forgiven
I'm soon in heaven
'cos you're so funny

You always lose
Your keys my honey
Yet, it's you I choose
'cos you're so funny

For six days after
Tears of laughter
You're so much smarter
You're so funny

I wait a while
My eyes still runny
You made me smile
cos you're so funny

You're the one I choose
What can I lose
You cure my blues
You're so funny

You wear big hats
You keep cute cats
You're on the money
cos you're so funny.
-ends-
copyright 2018 March 27

Birthday Cake

Birthday cake made for Angela by Trevor. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

Cake by Angela Lansbury

Cake, cake, let me eat cake
It's my birthday, for goodness sake
There's a limit to diets that I can take
It's iced and its nice and it's birthday cake

Let the guests in
See what their eyes say
'When can we begin?'
Don't send them away

I know it's not the best food for my health
But don't let me eat it all by myself
You've no idea the time taken to bake
The hours it took me to decorate

Go away, but I'll let you take
A tiny piece of my birthday cake
All those dieting promises I must break
Let me eat cake - and let them eat cake.
-ends-
copyright Angela Lansbury March 18 2018

Weekend Gift Poem by Angela Lansbury Comic poem 2

Let's write a poem every day
The five day week ends Saturday
Read words aloud, sweep stress away
Relieved from work, allowed to play

Yes, this week I've worked hard enough!
Thought seeking rhymes in brains is rough
What sounded swell is turning tough
Let purists, jurists, judgers scoff

For no poem arrives too late
Except through Competition's gate
Revised too much and missed their date?
Create word gems, a winner's fate

What better way to pass the time?
Each verse a ladder you must climb
A problem solved with each paired rhyme
In coldest climes, make warm sunshine

I'm sure to raise a laugh, or half
While bubbling rhymes in bubble bath
In sarongs, trot life's happy path
Sing, glad we've shared our small, sweet laugh

Dog-friendly big eyes greet a third
Like perfume sniffed, your whisper heard
Share rose drinks, fun, wit, the absurd
Paint great palm forests from pearl words

Words like ingredients in a cake
When sleepy, tail-wag words will wake
When lonely it's a hug, handshake
A poem's lick's a gift to take.

-ends-
Copyright Angela Lansbury Feb 1st 2014
Credit my words
Pay me in money, or chocolates
If you treat me to lunch, I will write you a poem!