Riffing on a Recipe

The recipe suggests
I use raspberries
but I want a different
flavor note
so decide on
a few chords
of cinnamon.
The lemon
will be off key,
must be deleted.
Do I hear
an overture
of cream cheese?
Improvisation
is my favorite spice.
This explains the
Lemon-Raspberry Coffeecake
sliding into
a Cinnamon-Cream Cheese Cake.
Call me the
jazz cook.

A.H.

Birds Only My Husband Has Seen

"Nutcatcher!"
my husband's proclamation
met with stunned silence.
What avid birder
will admit unfamiliarity
with a species?
Another time -
"It's a chad"
he told co-workers
who struggled,
in vain,
to find it listed
in the books.
Then, last week
the first ever sighting of
"a pine cruncher."
At least he isn't
boasting of spotting
passenger pigeons
or ivory-billed woodpeckers.

A.H.

Nutcatcher = gnatcatcher
Chad = chat
Pine cruncher = ???

Oh F------K!

Maybe a Facebook page
isn't a good idea.
Already have a full-blown case
of  SMCD-
Social Media Comparison Disorder.
See the pictures of svelte, stylish people
doing Really Fun Activities
while I, frumpy and gray
change the cat litter.
Left out, not invited,
never mind that I live
thousands of miles away.
The toughest blow?
Even my husband hasn't accepted
my Friend request.
Oh Facebook!

A.H.

Delete This!

Deleting work e-mails,
how rewarding to erase
notices of meetings and
conference calls
that were time-sucking.
Be gone,
agitating requests
and unnecessary reminders.
Oh, that one irritated
the snot out of me-
into the ether with you!
Deleting: fast, furious
and freeing.

A.H.