Laughter with Loudon, and after, Comic Poem 198

 Yesterday's yesterday

I heard that Loudon passed away

Predictive text killed me next

It said that London passed away

Yes, the day before yesterday

When I heard that he'd been taken

Although not unexpected

At 96, we were shaken

And yet, and yet, and yet, and yet

In a very little while

His portrait and life history

I wrote, began to make me smile

Instead of a friendship's ending

I thought how encounters would begin

I always had a wary smile

As I listened to grinning him

Just hearing his name makes me smile

I see his teeth and hear his laugh

Any time a chat with him

Would make things better, not half!

And so, although he's passed away

I think about him more each day

Loudon, dear, Loudon dear

He has not gone, he's vividly here

Is there a lesson for me and you?

For all the world, or just us two?

To cope when someone's passed away

Just remember their happiest day

And when the worst comes to the worst

If I go first, or you go first

Remember comforting things you've been taught

To think of the good times, and laughter, think happy thoughts.

-ends-

Written on Friday 14th July 2023, in memory of my neigbour Loudon Parkin, who passed awy on Wednesday 12rh July 2023, aged 96.

Please share links to your favourite poems.

Poem after 35 UNBELIEVABLE COOKING HACKS for holiday drinks and fruit bought from the market on holiday

Oops. Wrong blog. What shall I do?
Leave it, my friend. Hope it's of use to you.
Then call it serependipity, a lucky clog
Misplaced video makes an odder blog.

Poem On Cooking and Eating
by Angela Lansbury

I wish that I could learn to cook
Spend no less time writing a book
Or reading books. Let other cooks
Use aromas like a title's hook

May all book titles have a colour
Nothing bland, boring, duller
But instead, a strawberry red
As spicy as pepper, as soft as bed

All through the day I alternate
Writing and reading, food and drink
The hunger which makes me want to eat
Feeds my drooped brain, pushed to grow, create and think.

Angela Lansbury

First version reads
Then feeds my brain with the urge to think
Second version ends
Then feeds my brain urged to make and think.
Third version above.

I read in a book on songwriting that you should edit your first draft with surprising and contrasting words to make your song (or poem) original, memorable, not just doggerel.
However, adding adjectives, metaphors, removing a and the, sometimes spoils the flow.

I remember contradictory advice:
If it ain't broke, don't fix it.
Don't over-write. (In both senses: don't cross out, don't spend too much time changing your first thoughts. I often write a blog and add a sentence to the end of a paragraph. Then the following paragraph's first sentence does not follow on, because the last sentence of the preceding paragraph has now gone off at a tangent.

I leave both final sentences so you, or a later editor, can choose what goes best.

PS Adding a syllable to every line:

How I wish that I could learn to be a cook
But spend no less time on writing a book
Or reading books. So let some other cooks
Use aromas to tempt, like a titles' hooks

May all book titles have vivid colour
Nothing bland, boring, grown dry, or duller
But instead, a bright, slap, strawberry red
As spicy as pepper, soft as shared bed

Each day I yo-yo, forced to alternate
Writing and reading, stop for food and drink
The hunger which drives my strong urge to eat
Feeds my drooped brain, pushed to grow, create, think.

-ends-