Sandra Prosser
Brian BilstonHaving a clear out of first lines for poems I shall never write. Please help yourself to any of these.
Julien Goodwin@brianbilston misread as "discarded First Ladies"
Paul Martin@[email protected] Had to look up diphthong in my copy of the Uxbridge English dictionary: very skimpy swimwear.
Stoneface Vimes@brianbilston I want to know more of Carter and his ladder. Also, I too grieve for Newport Pagnell, swallowed up by the vastness that is Milton Keynes. But not as much as I do for Olney.😉
@capnthommo These lines provide more questions than answers.
@brianbilston well every bit of research just opens up a whole lot more questions
Chris@brianbilston ...or have you just made a new poem?
@ASprinkleofSage I’ve no idea what I’ve done.
lachlan slowly taming rust@brianbilston
Also, I am bleeding profusely, so please stay a while.
Take a glass, help yourself to a pint.
Wait, what are you doing?
The wine, you daft bastard!
Also, I am bleeding profusely, so please stay a while.
Take a glass, help yourself to a pint.
Wait, what are you doing?
The wine, you daft bastard!
swggrkllr3rd@lachlan @brianbilston Think I saw that in a movie.
Lo Illetterato Lettore@brianbilston Gonna feed them to an AI or two and make a song
@illetteratolettore There’ll be none of that now.
thejikz@brianbilston
In the vaccum between when and how, I squat.
I saw a curiousity then, and now, I thought:
A free line or five or ten about chow, or nought
Why not add to them while I drop trow, on pot.
Cheers!
@thejikz Thank you
ticho@brianbilston
For that was the winter we listened to Enya,
that was the winter of our discontent. :)
(I myself am a big fan of Enya's music, for the record.)
Justin@ticho @brianbilston maybe more of a disc content then?
Gillinger@brianbilston
Ode to Disastrous Taste.
Me and you in matching tank tops
On the march to Ban the Bomb,
Early seventies brown and beige were
Worn by you with such aplomb.
I thank you!
@Gillinger lovely stuff
Su_G@brianbilston
Surely the one on p. 52 is finished? 😁
Surely the one on p. 52 is finished? 😁
@Su_G You may be right
Rachel@brianbilston It's been a while since I wrote any poetry, and this probably demonstrates why that might be a good idea.
@rvedotrc Thank you, Rachel, for finding a home for that line
Tattie@brianbilston
I am a bowl, chipped at the rim
A hairline crack running down to the base
Can I still contain all you ask of me?
Popcorn: yes, tomato soup? I don't know
Shame on me, if I were to leak and ooze
Staining your fingers tomato-orange
Would your face twist in disgust?
Would you throw me out with the trash?
I have beauty still, and my shape yet holds
Place me on your table, a centrepiece
I am not too broken
To be there
To hold
Your love
I am a bowl, chipped at the rim
A hairline crack running down to the base
Can I still contain all you ask of me?
Popcorn: yes, tomato soup? I don't know
Shame on me, if I were to leak and ooze
Staining your fingers tomato-orange
Would your face twist in disgust?
Would you throw me out with the trash?
I have beauty still, and my shape yet holds
Place me on your table, a centrepiece
I am not too broken
To be there
To hold
Your love
@Tattie You’ve taken that in a beautiful direction
slowtigerI see you forgot the fabric softener again
I'm not angry, just disapointed
I will just look without speaking
at the trousers, standing in the corner
(this of course is an echo to "Lederhosensaga" by Börries Freiherr von Münchhausen, https://krautjunker.com/2023/03/20/lederhosen-saga/, as a child I already had memorized the refrain "Geschlechter kommen, Geschlechter vergehen, hirschlederne Reithosen bleiben bestehen")
@slowtiger Wonderful!
@brianbilston
Thank you!
Thank you!
Emma Davidson@brianbilston have a file titled “song lyrics to never use”. It is made up entirely of Taylor Swift song lyrics which my Chief of Staff said I was not allowed to use in speeches when I was Minister.
I used some of them anyway.
@emmadavidson Ha ha! Good for you. Did many of them get spotted?
@brianbilston yes, got the occasional chuckle from both Labs and Libs. Strangely, only Greens ever spotted my Star Wars quotes into Hansard, and even then it was only a couple of them (I did at least one every Sitting Week for four years).
@emmadavidson Ha! At least they will be there in the records for future generations of political historians to ponder over.
That my dear, is a diphthong
to keep your fingers clean
just grab the chipth with the thongs
and dip it in the thaltha.
(Title "The lithping Mexican")
Anna Saultron 
Oi! Oi!
Oi!
Oi?
Oi! Oi!!
OI! OI?!
OI?!! OI!!?
Oi! oi...
oi oi..
oi... oi?!
OI!!!
oi? oi???
oi!!!
oi... oi?!?
Oi?
Oi??
OI?
OI!!
OI!!! OI!!!
oI... Oi...
oI...
OI...
Silently they wept.
@AnnaSaultron That’s a work of beauty, Anna
@brianbilston thank you for the allowance to use your scraped ideas as inspiration. 🙏🏾🙂
@AnnaSaultron You’re very welcome
Susanna the Artist 🌻@brianbilston Today we shall make strudel
from the last of the flour,
then journey forth into
an uncaring world
together.
Solidarity.
from the last of the flour,
then journey forth into
an uncaring world
together.
Solidarity.
@superflippy Stirring words
isolAussies instinctively see 78 as two thirds of a SECOND line.
Dusk to Don 
Mark Mason@brianbilston
Please don’t do that it’s disgusting
Was what they used to say
When I did that thing I used to do
to make you go away
But years have passed and
We are cast
in different roles today
So now you do it with me
And I like it more that way
Please don’t do that it’s disgusting
Was what they used to say
When I did that thing I used to do
to make you go away
But years have passed and
We are cast
in different roles today
So now you do it with me
And I like it more that way
@markmason Beautiful, mysterious and moving
JoeJoeTom (aka Eerie Tom)Our love is a broken oatcake
Today we shall make strudel
The sky is darkening, and yet the dove
Doth barely resembleth a poodle 🐩 😆
Zaphod BeeblebroxI see you forgot the fabric softener again
As my socks crackle down the carpet in the hall
And as for the blanket upon my favorite chair
It’s caused the cat to stick upon the wall.
Administrator"I am a bowl, chipped at the rim
Never to be filled up with cereal again by him
No more will I be filled up with Captain Crunch all the time,
He really should grow up and pick a different kind"
Brent Guernsey, Artrocity StudioPlease don't do that, it's disgusting!
No! Don't smell that; you don't know where that's been
Stop trying to lick that; I don't know the flavor of spleen -- don't ask again!
Ack! Stop humming that! Now a sound worm is tunneling through my brain
Why am I still dating him? Um, let me try to explain...
Jan Willem@brianbilston I might set these to music, using only these first lines and no other text, with the page numbers as number of bars. Will make a nice challenge (especially the 78 one).
roque (ロク)her eyes were a question mark, her mouth a semi-colon
her ears parentheses to her bold face
the caret of her nose pointed to something lacking
no character in her empty header space
@roque Excellent
@brianbilston
Carter called again today,
Enquiring of his ladder
But I rushed past him through the door
And blamed it on my bladder
Carter called again today,
Enquiring of his ladder
But I rushed past him through the door
And blamed it on my bladder
Freedom BairdI am a bowl, chipped at the rim
you snag on me
scratched, sore
but still you sip
the heat
the salt
you spin me to a smoother spot
and try again
@freedom_baird Terrific
Kim Possible 
@brianbilston Tag yourself: I am a bowl, chipped at the rim.
Bryan 
Carter called again today, enquiring of his ladder
Each time he comes around for it, he's angrier and madder
It was his father's pride and joy, his grandpa's treasure too
He'll rip your heart out when he learns you dropped it in the loo!
And why'd you choose to use the ultra full-strength bleach?
Ensuring that restoring it was now quite out of reach.
Why start with the biggest part, to try a new technique?
That acid did not leach the bleach, it made the ladder weak.
What made you choose "Remove the screws", as the next thing to try?
There is no doubt, Carter finds out, and you are gonna die!
And trying to burn the acid out! Well that was really dumb!
When Carter knows, well, I suppose he'll knock you on your bum.
A chainsaw now? That's not the tool for fixing massive burns!
I do not plan to be near here, when Carter next returns!
That YouTube short was just AI, there are no real-life hacks
For assembling a pile of chips by hitting with an axe
If I were you I'd sweep that pile of splinters off the floor
That booming sound, I guess, is Carter pounding at your door.
@isol Wow. You’ve turned my one line into an epic poem.
Dec [{(
)}]@brianbilston @isol
"That YouTube short was just AI, there are no real-life hacks"
no notes
Barry@brianbilston Did you ever write one about “being mistaken for Pam Ayres”?