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Team of Rivals,

With Thanksgiving behind us and the Main Event of the holiday season fast approaching, we bid adieu, if you will pardon our French, to the poegle week that was, and ring in a new week of poegles with warm wishes and good cheer.  And three cheers to Bob in Pennsylvania, the winner of this week’s Friday Poegle Contest for his stellar poegle The Woods Behind Our House.  Bob, your plastic segmented jump rope is on the way.

Counterintuitive to the holiday season, this week’s theme for the Friday Poegle Contest is:  “The Devil.”  Since The Devil’s poetry peak in Paradise Lost, you could say that it is has been all downhill, but we are confident that poeglers can give this subject the thought and care that it clearly deserves.  Possible search phrases include “the devil you know,” “idle hands,” and “a little voice told me.”

That handsome devil you see on Poegles.com is Justin as he wraps up week three of Mustaches for Kids and closes in on his goal of raising $1500 for poetry programs in underfunded elementary schools.  Just a few more generous poeglers could help Justin reach his goal.

Some of you may also have seen our very own editor sharing his analysis of the slumping economy’s effect upon holiday travel on Fox Five News last week.  Here at Poegles, we don’t confine our efforts to the arts.  We believe that art can only be made by participating in the sturm und drang of modern life.  Enjoy.

Happy poegling.  See you next week.

The Editors

The Woods Behind Our House

My sister and I liked to explore.
We regularly saw buzzards,
A pregnant coyote,
Squirrels gathering acorns.

There were three big black cats
In our broken down tree house.
Outside, old toys and dolls
Buried underneath the leaves.

On cold nights after mother was gone,
We crawled under barbed wire fences
And through the brambles. I remember
Drops of blood on my sister’s nightgown.

When I was little, I had a vision
Of a tribe of insulted raccoons,
Witches and mischievous spirits,
Trees with magical powers.

My arms became limbs, my fingers leaves.

- Bob in Pennsylvania (search phrase: “the woods behind our house”)

We Made a Fort

Out of chairs and blankets.
Out of pillows and mats.
Under the neighbor’s back deck.

Out of sticks and palm tree leaves
On the beach. With logs on the beach.
With the comforter, and then
There was more bouncing.

In the hallway of our dorm one night.
In the snow to get ready for
A snowball fight. Of sunflowers.

In Sam’s Club, and we threw
Paper towels at people. Out of sheets
And we played with our toys in there.

With cushions. Using the kitchen table.
(A decent fort should fit four children
And one adult comfortably.)

Out of a blanket and some cord
For my nephew to play in
While we were cooking. With my dad
In the trees behind my house.

Under the jungle gym, and you needed
A password to come in. With the box
And I had so much fun playing in it.

Out of a hole in the ground, and it had
A pink toilet seat for a trap door.
Out of twigs and pine needles.

With a bunch of stuff we found lying around.
With curtains.
And we lived there for a year
On air and sandwiches.

-Darren in Alabama (search phrase: “we made a fort”)

For a Sibling

Sister come close and remember with me.
Dusk on the railway, dress up, mom and dad,
Corner shop porn mags we found in the woods,
The fairy tales of protective brothers.

Chapter one of what they didn’t read us
Said something about a little monster.
We always thought we were being funny,
But she didn’t come back after that day.

They should have been direct and just told us.
Was it there in the drawings, the cartoons?
All by ourselves from morning until dark,
Am I right that they should have just told us?

Do you not remember we were happy,
Children of traditional modern times.
Lives come undone; we don’t have to know why.
Just be with me and tell me who you are.

-Brad on the Upper West Side (search phrase “when we were little”)

A poegle submitted against the theme of this week’s Friday Poegle Contest, “brothers and sisters”.  This is a collage poegle- and a fine example of how shared experiences can be collected from the deep well of search results.  Enjoy.

We Made a Fort

Out of chairs and blankets.
Out of pillows and mats.
Under the neighbor’s back deck.

Out of sticks and palm tree leaves
On the beach. With logs on the beach.
With the comforter, and then
There was more bouncing.

In the hallway of our dorm one night.
In the snow to get ready for
A snowball fight. Of sunflowers.

In Sam’s Club, and we threw
Paper towels at people. Out of sheets
And we played with our toys in there.

With cushions. Using the kitchen table.
(A decent fort should fit four children
And one adult comfortably.)

Out of a blanket and some cord
For my nephew to play in
While we were cooking. With my dad
In the trees behind my house.

Under the jungle gym, and you needed
A password to come in. With the box
And I had so much fun playing in it.
Out of a hole in the ground, and it had
A pink toilet seat for a trap door.

Out of twigs and pine needles.
With a bunch of stuff we found lying around.

With curtains.
And we lived there for a year
On air and sandwiches.

-Darren in Alabama (search phrase: “we made a fort”)

Our first entry in this week’s Friday Poegle Contest, from Brad on the Upper West Side.  This week’s theme is “brothers and sisters”.  Brad offers us….

For a Sibling

Sister come close and remember with me.
Dusk on the railway, dress up, mom and dad,
Corner shop porn mags we found in the woods,
The fairy tales of protective brothers.

Chapter one of what they didn’t read us
Said something about a little monster.
We always thought we were being funny,
But she didn’t come back after that day.

They should have been direct and just told us.
Was it there in the drawings, the cartoons?
All by ourselves from morning until dark,
Am I right that they should have just told us?

Do you not remember we were happy,
Children of traditional modern times.
Lives come undone; we don’t have to know why.
Just be with me and tell me who you are.

-Brad on the Upper West Side (search phrase “when we were little”)

Update: amateur astronomers can apparently get a view of astronaut Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper ’s lost bag from earth with a decent pair of binoculars or a telescope.  More fodder for the Friday Poegle Contest’s theme: “lost in space”.

Space.com: Backyard Skywatchers Find Tool Bag Lost in Space

Lost Astronaut’s Tool Bag Spotted Floating Over Canada

Astronauts busy collecting recycled urine samples

Thanksgiving in space: stiff turkey, bland yams, piss to wash it down