LIMERICKS​    ©PortWhitmanTimes

Closed doors yield to money
Make futures e'er sunny
To those who subscribe
Then the potion imbibe
Goin' down smoothly as honey

Yielding to dough, doors
Open with us on all fours
Begging for cash
To add to the stash
Financing imagined amours

Why slam doors
To make statements? Or
Help close them tightly?
(Ajar they might slightly
Permit what each shutter deplores)


Breathing the air, we trust
That for which life we must
Have, with the water
So, conserve we ought'er
All of our uses adjust


Those who help us become
What we be and then some
Deserve to be thanked
For the times that they cranked
Out notes with a meaningful strum


Advice, giving or taking,
Proceeding or braking
Dilemmas of life
Avoidance of strife
May or may not bring on aching


Performance: the proof
Choreographing a spoof
Shows something within
A talent wherein
Palaver subs for a goof


Consider life a blank screen
Upon which to write a scene
With you as lead role
In total control
Of what you permit to be seen


Inhibiting life, frontiers
Obstructing what then appears
Prohibit outlooks
Thus setting in hooks
To be overly cautious fears


Acting's becoming–
For the nonce strumming
Chords in the minds,
Of patrons whose blinds
Are removed then set humming

     Henry Francisco

(Bio)

No refunds given

Do your do, accept results

Continue. Or change...

Life is all about fun
And you get only one;
If you play it just right
You conceivably might
Live-it-up ere it's over and done

(Bio)

RECREATION

THERA-PAINTING © Port Whitman Times 2004
Up to HERE with the world? Tired of disasters? Sick of taking orders? Then paint. PAINT! Not pictures of apples & oranges, not nature studies, still lifes or portraits, no kind of art, just some small object around the house that could stand a new life, oh, maybe a chair, a table or a picture frame.
     Painting something is such an unfettered joy, because in preparing the object to be painted, and a place to DO the painting, you make ready a setting for your personal triumph. Triumph? Of course. What easier way to WIN than by painting over a totally non-competitive object? Exercising complete dominion - over the color, the time, the place, the whole process right up to admiring the end result. You can paint it all at one time, or in increments, as you choose. It must simply lie there and wait helplessly, while you cover it all over with your chosen veneer, making exactly what you want of it, with no backtalk.
     TOTAL CONTROL is what we're talking here - You as DICTATOR, the object as subject, a paltry nothing after you've used it, bruised it, sanded off its very skin. Then, like a magnificent savior, you ride to the rescue, give it new life and a new outlook. Why, some things, having had their liquid makeovers, actually seem to speak to you thanking you for their new existence. Hanging on your wall, or sitting in your parlor, the beautiful beneficiary sings a paean to all who pass by, and a secret hymn to you, its beloved benefactor.
     Now, aside from the dress-up job to the paintee, the thing, consider the therapeutic value to the painter, the person - you. There is, in this world of unalterable situations, nothing like having the final, unchallengeable word, exerting ultimate POWER over a whimpering passive item (you can imagine the whimpering). You there! - Men and women who long to dominate! This is your big chance! Go forth immediately to the paint store, get equipment & supplies, make ready with your attitude of - puissance!
     Don't worry about what to paint; something always turns up.                                                                                        Henry Francisco

New Camden Times