I’ll never go to school again

Last night I permed my hair

The stuff stayed on too long

And now it’s wrecked beyond compare

I tried to put a hat on

But of course it didn’t fit

I grabbed a pair of scissors

And trimmed the ends a bit

I cut the fluffy frizz balls

Off the sides and back and top

And still I look ridiculous

It didn’t help a drop

I’ll have to get a tutor

For I’ll never leave my room

Of course I’ll never marry

‘Cause I’ll never meet a groom

when he agreed that Aretha Frank wrote just like he did!  There will never be anyone like Shel

Silverstein, of course, who could not only make up the zaniest, most clever and entertaining

poems but could draw as well!  We miss you, Shel.

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=shel+silverstein+made+me+do+it&rh=n%3A283155%2Ck%3Ashel+silverstein+made+me+do+it

Dear Ann

No one on earth has a sister
As caring and glorious as you
Though careers interfered ’til last summer
We’re bonded forever, it’s true

You’re a blessing and I’m grateful daily
For the deep soulful closeness we share
Our trusting, devoted friendship
Has enriched me beyond compare

Your confidence is a beautiful thing
It radiates from within
Nothing beats a full figured black woman
Who’s comfortable in her skin

A mother and grandma at 49
Looking younger than your years
The tenderness between you and your daughter
Moves me to the point of tears

What caring you give to your clients
In their eyes you must seem ten feet tall
You stand out as a foster parent as well
But with you God is first, above all

May Gospel music uplift you
Plus school songs and comedy shows
I’m rooting for you, girl, forever
With admiration that overflows

by www.rhymeshop.com

LONDON: Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II on Monday brought to a spectacular close a star-studded diamond jubilee concert which included a heartfelt tribute from the huge crowd to her ill husband Prince Philip.

The queen appeared on stage, after Paul McCartney had performed the final set, to light a ceremonial beacon, triggering a thunderous firework display seen by hundreds of thousands of spectators.

Moments earlier, her son and heir Prince Charles took center stage to celebrate the “life and service of a very special person”, drawing cheers from the crowd as he paid tribute to his “mummy”.

Despite the informal good spirit of the occasion, the prince expressed regret over the absence of Prince Philip, who was earlier hospitalized with a bladder infection.

“The only sad thing about this evening is that my father cannot be here with us because unfortunately he’s been taken unwell,” he said.

Charles urged the crowd to show their support, and they responded by raising a huge roar and singing “Philip, Philip”.

Singer Robbie Williams kicked off the gala event on a giant stage in front of Buckingham Palace in London, and was followed by acts from throughout her 60-year reign including Elton John, Kylie Minogue and Stevie Wonder.

McCartney brought the music to a dizzying climax with a brief set of Beatles and solo classics.

The crowd joined in as “Macca” ran through “Magical Mystery Tour”, “Let It Be”, a pyrotechnic-filled “Live and Let Die” and “Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da”, which had members of the royal box singing along.

The 86-year-old monarch, wearing a black and gold cape, arrived 90 minutes into the three-hour concert and was instantly greeted by cheers from a sea of revelers waving red, white and blue Union Flags.

The queen smiled and waved to the crowd after reaching her seat but her appearance without the man who has been at her side for 60 years of duty brought a tinge of sadness to the moment.

Philip, who turns 91 on Sunday, will have to stay in hospital for several days, meaning he will also miss Tuesday’s service of thanksgiving and ceremonial carriage procession through London.

“He is, understandably, disappointed about missing this evening’s Diamond Jubilee Concert and tomorrow’s engagements,” Buckingham Palace said.

Comedian Lee Mack, one of the comperes, told the crowd that 250,000 people had turned out to watch the concert directly or on big screens erected on the road leading to Buckingham Palace, and Charles acknowledged the huge display of national pride.

“I was three when my grandfather king George VI died and suddenly, unexpectedly, your and my father’s lives were irrevocably changed when you were only 26,” he told the queen as he spoke on stage.

“So as a nation this is our opportunity to thank you and my father for always being there for us, for inspiring us with your selfless duty and service and for making us proud to be British.”

Charles, his sons Princes William and Harry, other royals and special guests including Prime Minister David Cameron moved to the music in the royal box, then stood to attention when the queen arrived.

courtesy wwww.rhymeshop.com

I met Mary on her first day at Putney, we were 15. The next weekend we hitch hiked to Boston to see my siblings Michael, Bobby, David, Courtney and Kathleen, and for the rest of her life, she spent nearly every weekend and vacation with our family. We were roommates from the time we were 15 until 30, when I got married and four years later, she married my brother. When we moved back to New York, I moved a mile down the street in Mount Kisco, to be close to them.

We were inseparable — we shared friendships, a closet, a cash card. People couldn’t tell our voices apart.

Mary took great advantage of that when her mother called, and I would hear her say “Oh hello, Mrs. Richardson. I’m so sorry but Mary is in the library, studying hard. I will be happy to let her know you called.”

Once we ran into her future brother-in-law, Andy Karsch, at Mortimer’s and he said “I never see you two apart — you are just schizophrenic.” And we replied, in protest, at the exact same moment, “No, we’re not!”

Mary was brilliant, strikingly beautiful, radiant, luminous, spiritual, funny, fun.

She was the smartest student at Putney. On the left side of her desk was all her work in a neat pile. On the right side, was the pile of papers from all the other kids, which she was correcting for spelling, grammar and syntax.

At any time there would be a handful of students waiting for when Mary might be free for a talk, but what they really wanted was a listen. Even as a teenager, Mary listened with compassion to all our adolescent pain and confusion, affirmed our feelings, and made us whole. She was like a beam of white light, penetrating into the darkness and chaos, calling on our better angels, imbued with absolute moral clarity, she paved the road ahead.

Our first semester at Brown she received her first failing grade, for plagiarizing. The professor admitted he didn’t recognize the source, but he said he taught freshman for 30 years, and he didn’t believe anyone could write like that. Undaunted, Mary simply asked for a new topic, wrote him a second essay on the spot, and accepted his apologies and her well-deserved A. She went on to get straight A’s through both Brown and the Rhode Island School of Design, blessed as she was by genius on both the left and right sides of her brain.

When my brother Joe started Citizens Energy, Mary designed, wrote, and produced his first annual report, and designed the logo, which he still uses today. She was 17 at the time.

In 1986, she went to work on Joe’s congressional campaign and brought some of her trademark mischievousness to the old Boston tradition of handing out coffee and doughnuts on Election Day. At that time, there was another Mary Richardson, the beloved local newscaster. Mary called all the restaurants in the district saying, “Hi, I’m Mary Richardson, and I’m helping Joe Kennedy’s campaign. Would you like to donate something for Election Day?” So, when the other campaigns handed out lukewarm coffee and stale donuts, Citizens for Joe brought out a spread of sushi, pad thai, and lobster thermidor from Loch Ober’s.

Mary was a master at securing donations for good causes and considered the challenge a contact sport. In the mid-1980s, the military had cut off supplies to the poorest regions of El Salvador, and she volunteered to help the RFK Center for Justice and Human Rights put together a truck load of food, clothes and medical supplies for the Mothers of the Disappeared. I suggested she “start with that store that starts with ‘The’ and sells clothes,” as the CEO had helped my mother years earlier. Mary called the CEO, and when his assistant said he was off on an island vacation and unavailable, Mary explained that he was a dear friend and always incredibly generous and we needed the supplies right away. An hour later, Mary proudly reported she had secured 6 truck loads from The Limited, to which I responded, “Oh, we know the guy from The Gap!”

Thanks to Mary, the CoMadres ended up with 10 containers filled with tens of millions in food, clothes and medical supplies.

In 1977, Bobby, Michael, David and I, along with 21 friends, rafted the first ascent down the Rio Attrato in Colombia. As we started out, the local people told us there was a waterfall downstream, and we would all be killed. As the first night began to fall, we were increasingly anxious that we hadn’t found a campground, as we were in the midst of a rainforest, and the jungle on either side of the river was impenetrable. Miraculously, just as dusk settled, we came upon a pristine island, with not a twig in sight. Thoroughly exhausted, we fell sound asleep. At 4 a.m., Bobby woke us. Apparently the island had nothing growing on it because it was a sandbar, the river was rising, and every piece of clothing of every rafter was soaked. The only person who had dry clothes was Mary. Always prepared, she had packed her belongings in neat little Ziploc bags. She gave away every last piece of her dry clothes, and wore the wet clothes herself.

In 1980, Mary spent the semester working for Andy Warhol. Teddy (Senator Edward Kennedy) was running for president, and someone came up with the idea of Artists for Kennedy. Mary immediately asked Warhol for a lithograph and his rolodex. She proceeded to secure donations from Rauschenberg, Lichtenstein, Schnabel and everyone else who walked through the doors of the Factory. At 20 years old, she raised millions.

Mary was a designer for Parish Hadley, a rafting guide on the Kennebec and the Dead, she could build a campfire and on it cook a gourmet meal for 100, throw on a pot, weave a blanket, knit a hat, plumb a john, sponge paint a ceiling, and have a successful run as part of a girl group of go-go dancers in the cages at Studio 54.

In 1994 Mary married Bobby. I have never seen two people more thoroughly enchanted with one another and more completely in love. They brought out the best in one another, and spoke about each other with wonder and awe. And even at the most difficult times, they were still devoted to one another, compassionate, caring, concerned.

They had four fabulous children, to whom Mary was absolutely devoted. She took parenting classes to be a better mother, and then she started teaching parenting classes herself.

Conor was her prince and white knight. She brought him to the emergency room two dozen times in his first few years because he suffered from food allergies, and she co-founded and raised millions for the Food Allergy Initiative in order to protect him and other children. She was endlessly proud of his accomplishments, most recently telling me to be sure to hear him recite Ulysses by heart — and she was beaming two weeks ago visiting him on parents weekend.

On Monday night we had a long talk about Kyra — about Kyra’s school and Kyra’s summer plans. Mary said Kyra was excited about going to Los Angeles to visit her friend Romy and Mary wanted to be sure Kyra had time with Chessy and her other Hyannis Port cousins.

Mary loved Finn’s athleticism and his toughness. He could do no wrong, and she delighted in telling how he was arrested by the Canadian Mounties for riding the luggage carousel.

Mary doted on Aidan. There was nothing she wouldn’t do for him. For Colonial Day at his school, she drove eleven hours to the Northern Kingdom of Vermont to fetch baby chickens, bunny rabbits and old pitch forks from her family barn, to create a more authentic experience for Aidan and his classmates.

Like millions of Americans, Mary suffered from depression. She had it for as long as I knew her, and as it reared up in high school, college and beyond, she fought it back, for a day, a week, a month. These last 6 years or more, she fought it as hard as she knew how.

But that disease was not Mary herself. She was deeply Catholic, and she was an angel. And like the archangel Michael, who battled Satan when he tried to take over Heaven, Mary fought back the demons who were trying to invade the Paradise of her very being. She fought with everything she had. And I think God said to her, “Mary, you have been my warrior on the front lines for too long, you have fought valiantly, and now I am bringing you home.”

Let’s not forget they were only demons, not Mary herself, and it’s everything else about Mary that is important, and for me, will abide. She was an angel, a gift from the Heavens. So let’s not remember her for her despair, but let’s take inspiration from her determination to heal the woundedness in herself and in those she loved.

And let’s live our lives, remembering hers, with tenderness towards one another and affirmation for our feelings, and go forth with compassion, exhilaration, laughter and joy.

www.rhymeshop.com

Of course guys are being invited
They’ll love the Cigar Bar for “boys”
They can share favorite apps, kick back and relax
And show off their sexy tech toys

We’ve been the closest sisters
There could ever be
I’d go to the ends of the earth for you
And you’d do the same for me

Our story began in Long Beach
Where I worshiped you from the start
My pretty, smart and funny buddy
With a great big loving heart

Cooler than cool and stylish
A fantastic dancer too
Class president and cheerleader
There was nothing you couldn’t do

When you left to join the Navy
I was lost ’cause we were a team
But was I ever proud to watch
How you went after your dream

You worked your way through college
Then ended up in L.A.
At  studios rubbing elbows
With celebrities night and day

Ten years of la vida loca
And you totally needed a break
Still,  moving back with mom and dad
Sounded like a mistake

Yet in the land of retirees
You met the love of your life
A mountaineer outdoorsy hunk
And today you’re man and wife

The icing on the cake is Kate
Delicious as can be
What an amazing twig you’ve added
To the family tree

You’re both the most devoted parents
Any kid ever had
Kate  is one smart cookie
Choosing you for a Mom and Dad

Congratulations to you, Ann
And to my new brother Pat
Two opposites who dig each other
It doesn’t get better than that !

Incident

Once riding in old Baltimore
Heart-filled, head-filled with glee
I saw a Baltimorean
Keep looking straight at me

Now I was eight and very small
and he was no whit bigger
And so I smiled, but he poked out
His tongue and called me nigger.

I saw the whole of Baltimore
From May until December
Of all the things that happened there
That’s all that I remember

Isn’t that the saddest thing you ever read?  However, if you want to make your loved ones
happy send them a personal rhyme of congratulations for an achievement or one saying how
much they mean to you.

Try your hand at writing rhyming poems yourself or find a ghostwriter on line who writes
But if you want to share one of the most famous poems send this one.  If you want to make them cry,
that is.,

Wisconsin Airman ‘overwhelmed’ by White House Iraq veteran tribute

The Wisconsin Air National Guard’s Tech. Sgt. Cristian Bennett from Evansville agreed with President Barack Obama’s statement that there had never been a night at the White House quite like the Feb. 29 dinner for Iraq war veterans.

By: Wisconsin National Guard Public Affairs Office , Rivertowns.net

President Barack Obama leads a toast to Iraq veterans being honored during “A Nation’s Gratitude Dinner,” hosted by President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama at the White House on Wednesday (Feb. 29). The dinner included men and women in uniform from all ranks, services, states and backgrounds, representative of the many thousands of Americans who served in Iraq and was an expression of the nation’s gratitude for the achievements and enormous sacrifices of those who served there and of the families who supported them. U.S. Marine Corps photo by Sgt. Mark Faylogo

IS YOUR LOVED ONE STUBBORN?

If you have a mom like mine then yes, I would definitely say your loved one is stubborn.
My mom is definitely overweight.  She’s been told in no uncertain terms that if she
doesn’t start watching what she eats and how much she manages to gobble down when
she thinks no one is looking, she’s headed for serious trouble.  So guess what I did:
I got someone to write me some rhyming poems to send her.

I AM STARTING TO GET HER ATTENTION

The first rhyme was hilarious and I didn’t sign my name, but she told me about it to see
if I’d react.  It was her way of testing me to see if I’d written it.  I was poker faced
as could be and I could see the wheels turning.  She was used to having me bug her about
her weight, but if it wasn’t me then who else thought she was fat?  Who else would dare
send her a funny rhyme about needing to take off a few pounds?  Now she was getting
nervous.  Not about being overweight, mind you, but about realizing others were
starting to notice!

NOW I WAS GETTING BOLDER

Mom needed some sort of exercise program she could stick to and that was a fact.
I went to my rhyming poems source and had one custom-written just for her and
how fantastic and sexy she would look if she started exercising.  She came right
out and asked me if I was sending her the rhymes, but I crossed my fingers and
denied it again.  If it came from me it wouldn’t count for anything.  I’d been
bugging her for a long time to no avail.

MR. HANDSOME FROM DOWN THE BLOCK

One day mom was walking the dog and she ran into the good-looking guy who lived
at the other end of the street.  He’d lost his wife a few months earlier so mom was
always extra sweet to him.  This time he actually smiled and stopped to chat.  It was
so gorgeous out he walked along with her and before she new it, he came in for a
cup of coffee.  As she was about to take out cake from the refrigerator she had the
scariest thought.  What if he was the one sending the rhyming poems?  So she cut up
some fresh fruit instead.

A BUDDING FRIENDSHIP

Of course mom didn’t ask Mr. Handsome if he’d sent her rhymes.  It would have been
totally embarrassing to think a stranger, and a man yet, would have dared comment on
her weight.  But over the weeks they were definitely getting tight.  Mom had a glow
about her and she was watching what she ate.  She and Mr. Handsome were taking
long walks, too.  Who knows where this will lead?  Mom’s getting in shape and instead
of getting Diabetes she’s got a new boyfriend.  And to think it all started with
anonymous rhyming poems!

Go here to find out more:  rhyming poems