Life/Lines - April 14, 2021

Submitted poems for April 14, 2021

A daily poetry practice to generate and sustain the Life/Lines among us, for published and novice poets alike

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Prompt

Write a short poem (rhyming not necessary) that includes each of the following 5 words (anywhere and in any order). Poems should not exceed 7 or 8 lines.

     fray
     error
     buttermilk
     glass
     precedent 

Send us your poem via our Submissions page or post on Twitter or Facebook using the hashtag #lifelines.

Today’s words were contributed by guest curator Ted Mathys, author of Gold Cure (Coffee House Press, 2020) and three previous books. He teaches at Saint Louis University and serves as president of the board of directors of the Saint Louis Poetry Center.


 

Poems submitted for April 14

There must be an error
A glass of buttermilk was not my order
What is the precedent in such a fray?
A glass of real milk I do pray/

Cat

***

Nerves all fray
At the news each day

With might and main
We scrub the stain

It seems never to go away

A fatal error
Now deep regret

Senseless loss, like leaves plucked from the tree of life
Left behind grieving country, child and wife

Precedent is set
Now a safe bet
Riots will ensue

Buttermilk in glass
And time will pass

What else can we do
Can we heal the ulcer in the nation’s gut with words
Is this the answer to Langston’s question

“What happens to a dream deferred”

K.J. Boehler

***

Mouthful

Grandma set a family precedent when she
poured buttermilk from a glass bottle.
Pointed out the error of my ways,
as she tossed my box of Bisquick.
Grandpa got into the fray when he declared,
“Your biscuits’ll never measure up to Gram’s.”

Linda O’Connell 4/14/21

***

Committed

An error, not simply a misstep,
spotted clearly through the glass.
Free from any opaque, milky glaze and
without preordained precedent,
the resultant fray was impermissible.

Lisette Dennis

***

Is buttermilk sweet or sour?
Is an error ever a positive power?
Is a glass half full or empty?
Can a precedent be an entry?

Jan Newman

***

She thought their bond would never fray.
Thinking she set
A precedent
In their relationship
She saw the error of her way, presumption.

It became apparent,
Peering through a glass window on this day,
Celibate, her groom was never meant.
The back of HER bridal gown she watched him zip
Color of buttermilk
And a belly bulge with all her gumption.

— J. Thomas

***

A Toast

The girl with hair the color of buttermilk
And eyes the color of soft blue silk,
Raised her glass to toast the women who came before,
Women of all colors, shapes and sizes,
Who set a precedent,
Refused to follow rigid rules and roles,
And when they made mistakes,
Had the courage to admit the error of their ways
And rise above the fray.

Pam Hughes

***

Exacting words
That fray my nerves
To reduce error
Induces terror

Buttermilk in tallish glass
May help through this impasse
Yet instead, ‘tis found that I
Today am running dry

— Chad Savage

***

Everyone’s made an error or two,
an embarrassing faux pas or boo boo,
an unfortunate relationship precedent,
a belly flop when trying to escape the fray,
But never as tummy-twisting as that day,
chugging that congealed warm glass
of chewy, clotted buttermilk too fast.

Rebecca C. Wood

***

Buttermilk Sonnet

I woke that morning craving buttermilk.
I loved that tangy taste, so thick and sour.
I had a glass—it tasted smooth as silk.
I felt a strength, a surge—I felt a power.

It was so good it set a precedent
For downing more of that delicious drink.
The next day came—I wasn’t hesitant,
And did not ask “What would the neighbors think?”

That was an error. I told a friend that day.
He spread the word and soon the stores sold out
Of buttermilk. I thought I was above the fray
But couldn’t stand that I would be without.

To that sweet drink I had become addicted
And all my thoughts were given to that liquid.

Robert Henke

***

Error

glass of buttermilk
knocked from her hand in the fray -
setting precedent

***

Kitten Tracks

There is no error
buttermilk spilled from the glass
drips
From the table, splats on the floor.
Cats
Do not believe in precedent, but jump
Directly into the puddle—
Pawprints forming kitten tracks
From foam to the fray
Licking away the evidence.

Jo Schaper

***

Made Up History

The fray
was over the last glass of buttermilk
in the Locke household.
An error in timing,
spilled milk, exchanged words
as the philosopher and his wife bumped heads in the kitchen.
But he told the story for many years as precedent
for the law of supply and demand.

Steve Givens

***

COMFORT

It worked for your mother,
she set the precedent.
Her nerves would fray whenever
she faced error or argument.
Later, she’d fill a glass with buttermilk
and add a shot of rum
and liberally sprinkle in nutmeg and cinnamon.
She’d stir it all together
and let you lick the spoon.
You never doubted,
as she smiled,
you were the bigger boon.

J Kiefer

***

my mind in a fray
over the buttermilk error
without precedent
breaking the glass ceiling
of truth

by Lloyd Klinedinst

***

Buttermilk warming in the glass,
work & production take the precedent:
emails, spreadsheets, new-found error--
nerves & familial relationships fray
as breakfast sits forgotten on the counter.

KWin

***

Out of buttermilk
When you need to make an apology?
There's a hack for that.
Take your last grave error,
Place it in the bottom of a glass.
Fill with shredded precedent
Until there's a froth of fray
So thick you're forgiven.

—John Randall

***

The errors frayed the moral fabric
There was no precedent
of a glass full of errors
The buttermilk cleaned me of my Morality.

Jey Sushil

***

When the cook inadvertently added vinegar to the milk in the glass measuring cup
he set a precedent,
Creating not an error,
But a fray among the students
All clamoring for more of these new edible concoctions, BUTTERMILK PANCAKES!

d. bates

***

glass of buttermilk gone sour...
precedents show my error-laden
dairy farmer skills
it’s time to stick with poetry
which frays a little less

John J. Han

***

The precedent to the pandemic was unchecked gathering.
Now we avoid the fray and isolate ourselves.
Making an error can cost us our health.
I swallow this advice like a glass of buttermilk
But it is not sweet.

Margaret Fourt Goka

***

Now on bitter winter mornings
I recall my father, standing by the stove
in socks always doubled and full of holes
stirring buttermilk in a pan for me to drink.

I am older now, and can consider
His own nerves, frayed perhaps by a restless night,
the ragged worries which would have lingered
so soon emerged from fitful sleep.

But I will not make this error. For here
is the precedent of love:

the steaming glass he gently gave me
and to which my small hands clung,
the soft taste of warm milk
introducing me to the day.

How new to me then it all still was,
the sweet idea of morning.

— Gwyneth Henke

***

It felt good to be in the fray,
walking around Washington Square
and singing to Cheri
about buttermilk.
There had been no precedent!
But my own error
was not knowing that soon
my body
would be made of glass.

— Matthew Freeman

***

Errors are like the frayed
End of the sweatpants cord
Or the streaks left
On the buttermilk glass
They leave a residue
But the glass still holds water
And the cord still holds
Up our pants
So they don’t have to
Set a precedent for life.

Carol Haake
4/14/21

***

GAS GRAPPLING

His skills weren’t the slickest, his moves not the quickest
Escaping the pin, his forte.
Diet training’s a must, and without it he’d bust
His preparation always key to the fray.
One match in an error, when he’d failed to prepare
The message was clear without scent,
Missing his glass of buttermilk pre-match
A non-flatulent pin, set bad precedent.

TED

***

Prayer for our President

Act as if without precedent
Yours an error

Like buttermilk
A mistake

Quiet the fray
O glass of milk

Amen

james stone goodman

***

Police Shooting Pt. 262
Each time they say it’s an
Unforced error; but it is no accident
That nerves continue to fray

With each mention of honest mistakes
The glass of trust shatters
Exposing the obvious steel wall
Of precedent; and 
Public opinion sours like buttermilk.

By Diana Haemer

***

The Precedent

Preposterous!
The fray wasn’t over
a glass of spilled buttermilk.
The incident was precipitated
by a previous error,
spilled orange juice.

Terrie Jacks

***

Those in glass houses
hurl boulders, jump 
into the fray with abandon, 
argue precedent instead of mercy. 
If you are thirsty, they serve buttermilk.
If you try, they see only error.

~Jeannette Cooperman

***

Her glass, half full- except when filled with alcohol,
she creates a life always on the verge of crisis
committed to her own insurrection in the fray.

She sets her precedents of health, never succumbing to dairy 
including buttermilk or meat including all of the creatures
of land and sea.  

Her errors are ours. Her passion is intoxicating as she engages us all in her whims
of devastation and glory. She is at once a child and a woman of the world.

***

Buttermilk is not butter and milk.
It's misleading,
causing mistakes in cooking.
But a glass of error can be a new ingredient.
We keep chafing ourselves against "the right way"
until we fray
without giving a chance to
a delicious recipe with no precedent.

Yixuan Chen

***

REVOLT
Their foray into the fray was a mistake,
an egregious error in good judgment.
They thought they were smooth as
buttermilk, slick as glass.
Their intent was to make a point,
start a new agenda, set a precedent.
It just didn’t pan out.
Betty Springfield

***

Kitchen lies

A glass of buttermilk sweating on the counter.
An error to be sure. Each dish and spoon in its spot. 
The cast iron skillet though, sits within reach 
of the backdoor, a weapon for a coming fray? 

Listen, this precedent is not new and the stories are the same:
“he had an air freshener on the rearview mirror”,
“he whistled at that woman”, “she didn’t obey my command”,
“he shouldn’t have run”.

— M.E. Hope

***

Headline image: Daniel Oberg via Unsplash