[F.F. Teague]

Dear John,

Yes, just a few poems, lol. Happy for people to pop in when they can. Tea and cake?

☕️🍰 ☕️🍰

We're pleased you enjoyed hearing the ram god speak. It was fun to find out more about him. Yes, he misses his home. That's interesting about the shrunken heads and stuffed woman; I wonder what they might say too. Times do indeed change, but some things remain intact. I visited Athens in 1999, as part of my study tour, before heading to Mykonos, Delos, Corinth, Delphi, Olympia. I think I signed a petition in Olympia to return the Elgin Marbles. This is interesting :-)

Best wishes,
Fliss & W.-B. :>)

PS: A special sphinx for you:

[John Isbell]

A most mysterious and inscrutable sphinx indeed!

I signed a petition the other day to take down a Confederate monument we have in our town square. So yes, petitions.

Cheers to you both,
John

PS tea and cake sounds lovely! And it is just tea-time here.

[F.F. Teague]

Yes, quite something! And yes indeedy to petitions. Things from Change.org pop up every day in my inbox. It only takes a few seconds to sign :-)

It's coming up to midday here; I'm still on the liquid diet, but Coo points out I can eat anything I want online 🥪🍟🍩🍒🥂

As we're with Little Mo (sphinx-guinea), here's her villanelle:


Mo lopes and leaps in autumn air
beneath the cider apple tree,
the sun upon her golden hair,

then stops awhile to sit and stare
before another glad Whee-hee!
Mo lopes and leaps in autumn air

of windblown apple, plum, and pear
and music of the bumbling bee,
the sun upon her golden hair,

and sniffs towards the crop rows, where
there's ryegrass growing fresh for tea;
Mo lopes and leaps in autumn air,

as I throw in some snacks to share,
she eats her fodderbeets with glee,
the sun upon her golden hair;

I smile and watch her from my chair,
this little life, such joy to see:
Mo lopes and leaps in autumn air,
the sun upon her golden hair.



'Basil' grows fodderbeet especially for the guineas :-)

[F.F. Teague]

Five days of plant-sitting (rev.)

They're tiny now, in one small shade of green,
these weeks-old infants in their perfect rows.
Already, though, I see them start to lean
towards the east, tenacious on their toes.

Dad told me that there isn't much to do:
just keep their bedding damp, no need to flood.
I tend, recalling 1992:
the drownings, accidental, in the mud;

and all my errors through the teenage years
then adulthood – neglect while I was high
and shining smiles or low and raining tears.
He's confident, these days, that they won't die.

They'll leave me soon, returning to his home
to find the summer sunlight all around
amidst the pots and saucers, grinning gnome,
and finest compost for their planting ground.



Published on Insight Eye (Philosophy and Aesthetics) 8>)

[F.F. Teague]

Another from our silly Scilly series. The party, comprising the mossops, Coo, and FT, learned of the plight of the SS Thames while on St Mary's and resolved to take flowers to the rescued figurehead, at his home on Tresco.


SS sonnet

In yester years I rode the Scilly seas,
0the SS Thames my steed, from London town,
oh! how she raced across the swell – such ease! –
0until that night she hit the rocks, plunged down,
with only four survivors from her wreck,
0and I, wrenched from her body to reside
in Abbey Gardens, quite the dulling deck
0for one who thrills for salt and spray and tides;
still, I may dream upon my pretty plinth,
0receive this party with their gift of flowers –
stout agapanthus, joined with hyacinth,
0shall form fine fumes to help me through the hours;
so thank thee kindly, mossops, FT, Coo,
for lilies pink and purple, white and blue.



Andrewrabbott, Figurehead of the SS Thames

[F.F. Teague]

[Silence.]

[F.F. Teague]

Comforting tea for the Tea-Lady ☕️ and a coo-kie for Coo 🍪 'Yay!' :>)

Also, a high coo after this pic (by me, with help from 'Basil'):



September solace:
Jack Frost could not slay
every flower

❄️❄️❄️