The Big DumpTruck

Throwing Little Thought Pebbles at Your Windshield Since 1996

Planting a Flag

The hardest part may be
Reclaiming the places and spaces once shared by two;
favorite haunts, now haunted.

You can ignore, retreat, recoil
Avoid the heartache
of a thousand happy memories
Or face them
Own them
Plant your flag in the soft sand
of towns with ocean views
Even as you wipe away tears
and try to smile
Tell the waitress you aren’t waiting for one more
even when your heart is
Because every special place you went
With him
Is a place you went
With you
You can own
those roads and restaurants,
the sun and the Saturdays
or continue giving them away
to someone
who doesn’t even
want them

(C) bigdumptruck.com

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2 Comments by on January 18, 2013
filed in poetry, writing
tagged ,

What Amuses Me

Welcome to class, students of “What makes Jody laugh.” We will go deep into Rifftrax and MST3K
(“The Power of Mocking Humor”) but also the following:

  • Weird juxtapositions (signs, bad captions or the wrong video in news reports)
  • Funny foreign packaging (aka dollar store humor)
  • Theater of the Absurd (The Jerk, Arrested Development, Batman TV series, Daily Show rants or things like Bad Lip Reading http://youtu.be/Zce-QT7MGSE)
  • People getting caught in a lie that they have to go with to ridiculous lengths to support (IT Crowd – Roy getting stuck pretending he’s handicapped (http://youtu.be/BHwawAf0-Bc),
    Extras – Ricky Gervais being forced to lie about being in the cemetery to visit his dead mother (http://youtu.be/HLTeltR87vw starts at about 3:40)

There will be a quiz.

No Comments by on January 17, 2013
filed in humor, lists
tagged ,

Hardy Boys and the Mystery of the Old Shoe

We saw this shoe, jammed under the stairs.
“How do you not notice that you’ve lost a shoe?” asked Jody Frank.

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No Comments by on January 14, 2013
filed in humor, writing

Okay, back to nonsense

Do not bitch about the poems. I will ban you to a Walmart bathroom in a rough neighborhood.

You were warned.

1 Comment by on January 14, 2013
filed in stuff

Winter

Frozen fields unfettered
blowing ice
breath short
wandering, pondering
The day stretches long and lean
Possibilities peak out
between gnarled tree branches
and frosted grass
lonely birds fly
with weak songs their
promises of warmer days.

For now, the sun is wanting
and the journey long
Swirls of smoke from a chimney
and my breath
call me back to the fireside
to wait
another step forward
another day closer
to spring

No Comments by on January 13, 2013
filed in poetry, writing
tagged ,

Collateral Damage

Collateral Damage

I knew a man
Once.
Forever ago
He seemed to be
what he was not
Denied his truth,
at least to me
I know now
Killing time -
late night prayers
tears
wishes and whispers
When I would not
could not
hear.
To reclaim his old life
The Pinnacle
I, collateral damage.
“Good enough”
Isn’t good enough
when you’re
selfishly
holding out hope.
Hope knocked
Right or wrong
Truth never spoken
Fleeting “I’m sorry”
Then silence

No Comments by on January 13, 2013
filed in poetry, writing

The Carousel of Bad Poetry

I wrote some poems. I don’t think they’re very good. I put them in draft mode here and they’ve been sitting for a year, waiting to see the light of day. I showed them to the guy I was dating at the time, and he liked them but I think he said that because that’s what a good boyfriend does. I have started dating again, probably too soon, but you have to take the opportunity when it presents itself. They know I’m not nearly over the ex, and so far, they’re okay with it. Yes. They. I have been on dates with two different people. This has never happened to me ever ever in the 47 years I have walked this earth. I have only been seriously involved with 4 people. I have only ever dated about 7 or 8, dating back to high school. So this is a big deal. I didn’t know I’d have to be an old lady to be popular. I would have been an old lady a lot longer ago!

But I don’t think I’m ready to test them with bad poems yet. I’m not in a relationship, I’m in a “lets get a sandwich and figure out if we have anything in common-ship.” And it’s not bad at all.

1 Comment by on January 8, 2013
filed in stuff

If a Grumpy Person Wrote a Letter to Santa

Dear Santa,
I don’t know why I have to call you Santa. I’m pretty sure that’s a version of the word “Saint” and I’m just not all that comfortable calling you that, especially when the last couple of years have been pretty lean for me in the Christmas spirit department. I mean, if you expect the entire world to call you a Saint, you are going to have to do a much better job for those among us who are enduring hard times and heartache.
I’ll put myself in that category. Not the hard times. Everyone in my family has their health, thank goodness. Everyone is employed, whether they like their job or not. I’m a firm believer that if my job isn’t literally killing me, I’m good. But I am kind of suffering in the heartache department this year, so I’m expecting you to step it the hell up. I had big romantic plans for this year. And all the years that followed. Those are dead in the water. So to make it up to me and put a smile on my grumpy face, I’d like a new MacBook Pro and maybe a nice piece of jewelry or two. Something that makes me feel special. But not special in a chorus girl in Vegas kind of way. I’m not flashy. At my age, flashy makes people talk about you behind your back, and you know I hate that.
Also, the last thing I want or need is a white Christmas. See what you can do to keep things dry around here, okay? Is that too much to ask?
Yours,
Grumpy in America

No Comments by on December 14, 2012
filed in complaint department, humor, Open Letters

Honey, I Blew Up the Website

Wow, did I make a mistake this morning. I updated my WordPress themes, which were woefully out of date. I then remembered that I had customized the code a bit for my site. I think that is the reason why the entire thing blew sky high after the update. I had created THE UGLIEST WEB PAGE ON THE INTERNET! And that is saying something.
I think it’s fixed. I don’t know if everything works, to be honest. As you can see, it’s been a long, long time since I’ve updated this page. When the domain came up for renewal, I did renew it, but I seriously wondered for a moment if I should. I think I did it to keep the email addresses I’ve had for 17 years. I’m sort of attached.

1 Comment by on December 13, 2012
filed in complaint department

Helping Hats

I was on Twitter (I do that a lot. It’s why I haven’t been posting as much here, to be honest. I’m @bigdumptruck) and someone passed along this link:

http://www.stopabductions.com/

This site is everything that I love and hate about America rolled into one shiny tinfoil ball!

I love it because it’s full of stark raving crazy, and that’s always fun. I hate it because the people who created it believe every word they wrote. It’s pretty embarrassing to share citizenship with people creating alien abduction hat instructions, when all is said and done. I’d rather the population be a bit more grounded in science. Or reality.

Please, if you do make a hat, send me a picture of you modeling it. I want to know what you look like so I won’t start any unnecessary conversations with you if we’re ever in the same geographic location.

2 Comments by on August 8, 2012
filed in coolness, stuff
tagged , ,
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