Roberta Writes – d’Verse: No more Freeloading, Bird of the Week, and Thursday Doors with CFFC

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d’Verse

Melissa’s prompt is to write about a pivotal moment. I have [tried] to make my poem humorous. You can join in here: https://dversepoets.com/2025/11/11/pivot/

No More Freeloading

Lefty’s

been a freeloader

all its life

ever since

Sister Ruth

hit my left-hand knuckles

with a ruler

aimed at redirecting

the Devil’s hand

“We write with the right”

her fierce declaration

from then on

righty did all the work

except for knifework

I never could cut with the right

left retained cutting

it’s one claim to usefulness

and then, righty got injured

an overuse pain

developed and stayed

So, I, the determined

took lefty out of retirement

“No, more loafing”

I said sternly

“It’s time to earn your keep

in this body”

Now, lefty is the mouse hand

takes its share of the work

and the overuse pain

leaving righty free

to do the drawing

and the painting

on demand

Bird of the Week

This poem is for Don’t Hold Your Breath’s Bird of the Week challenge: https://anotherglobaleater.wordpress.com/2025/11/11/himalayan-swiftlet-birds-of-the-week-invitation-cxli/

Flamingo Pair (shadorma prose)

South Africa is home to two species of flamingos: the Lesser and Greater Flamingo. The key breeding site for Lesser Flamingos at Kamfers Dam in Kimberley has been destroyed due to poor infrastructure management by local government. The dam has become toxic, and the flamingo population has been forced to leave, leaving this species near threatened in South Africa. Greater flamingos shared the Kamfers Dam habitat with the Lesser Flamingos but in far fewer numbers. The Greater Flamingo in South Africa is also listed as Near Threatened regionally due to habitat loss from pollution, encroachment and disturbances at breeding sites.

morning

two young flamingos

greet the day

brief respite

before survival dictates

ongoing foraging

Picture caption: My watercolour painting of flamingos

CFFC and Thursday Doors

Dan’s CFFC challenge is Churches so I’ve combined it with my second Thursday Doors post about Westminster Abbey in London.

You can join in CFFC here: https://nofacilities.com/2025/11/10/churches-cffc/

You can join in Thursday Doors here: https://nofacilities.com/2025/11/13/the-scottish-room/

Picture caption: Westminster Abbey from the queue
Picture caption: Inner door leading into Westminster Abbey
Picture caption: The beautiful stained glass windows and chandeliers inside Westminster Abbey
Picture caption: Ornate memorial to James Wolfe
Picture caption: More gorgeous stained glass windows and chandeliers
Picture caption: I loved this tableau of Death stalking the people
Picture caption: One of the inner doorways in Westminster Abbey
Picture caption: this is the area when the coronations take place. You can see the two doors to the sides.
Picture caption: This is a close up of the Coronation platform with the two doors
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Published by robertawrites235681907

I am a writer of young adult fiction and poetry

Published

88 thoughts on “Roberta Writes – d’Verse: No more Freeloading, Bird of the Week, and Thursday Doors with CFFC”

  1. What a wonderful post, Robbie. I love the poem about Lefty. My brother is left-handed and I remember him complaining about being scolded for it at school. It’s really silly. The picture of and inside the abbey are beautiful, but my favorite image today is your flamingos watercolor. I really like that! I hope you have a wonderful weekend.

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  3. What a beautifully poignant capture of a fragile, yet resilient, moment. Your words paint a powerful picture.

    Against the backdrop of such concerning news for these species, this image of “two young flamingos” greeting the morning offers a quiet, profound hope. It’s a moving reminder of the delicate life that persists, finding its “brief respite” in the soft dawn light before the enduring struggle for survival begins anew.

    Thank you for sharing this glimpse of their world. May it inspire awareness and stewardship to ensure these graceful moments continue for generations to come.

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  4. Great lefty poem, Robbie! I well remember that ‘we write with the right’ injunction. I’m right-handed but our son’s a lefty and the daughter is pretty much ambidextrous (as was my Mum) xx

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  6. Both my sister and I were urged to write with our right hands. When my daughter learned to write, the teachers didn’t care anymore. I think there was some kind of old wives’ tale or something to do with left-handed people. I enjoyed your poems, and your flamingos are gorgeous!

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      1. It still puzzles me because the evil king Eglon was killed by Ehud in the Bible, and Ehud was able to do it only because he was left handed. So you’d think that would elevate left-handed people in the early church’s eyes.

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  8. Wow on so many counts! Beautiful painting, love the photos, but that poem is really something – when you think about all of things that were imposed on us as kids and the impact they had on how we live our lives…glad you took back the power of the lefty!

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      1. Yes, there were many things about childhood that carry over into our adult lives, many of them NOT for the better! Well, they didn’t stifle your creativity, that’s for sure!

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        1. No, they actually encouraged my creativity in many ways. The nuns just had some funny ideas about certain things. On the whole, they were fine and I had other teachers who treated me worse in high school. One used to regularly hit my palms with a ruler or bang my elbow on the desk.

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  9. My aunt was “encouraged” to use her right hand as well… stupid practice. Sad you needed to take your left out of retirement because of pain.

    Beautiful painting of the flamingoes – how sad they had to move away.

    Love the photos of Westminster!

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    1. The nuns had some old fashioned ideas in my day. I believe this has changed now. I’ve had a lot of work pressure and stress this year. I’m looking forward to my summer holiday starting 19 December. I’m delighted you liked my picture and photographs.

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      1. That they did. My mother has zero fond memories of being schooled by then.
        I bet you are! Hope you enjoy to the fullest (which I don’t doubt you will)

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  12. My daughter is left handed. I find many creative folks are. Mom mentioned that she was encouraged to use her right hand in school, although she was naturally left handed. This was not the practice when I attended school; you could use which ever hand you felt comfortable with. I liked your poem and loved the flamingo painting!

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  13. I certainly hope teachers no longer force left-handed children to write with their right hand. I love the flamingo painting. I didn’t know that there are different species of flamingos.

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    1. HI Liz, yes, there are different flamingos and their colouring is different. The picture is a greater flamingo. The lessor flamingos are lighter in colour. I don’t think writing with your left hand is an issue now. It was already dying out in my youth, I just happened to go to a convent and the nuns were old fashioned. They helped me a lot to so it wasn’t all negative. A few of my nun teachers recognised my advanced reading abilities and encouraged them hugely.

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  14. Great poem about Lefty, Roberta! I don’t recall any trouble for left-handed friends. The post about flamingos is informative and your painting is beautiful! Your pictures of Westminster Abbey are fantastic!

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    1. HI Tim, thank you for your lovely comment. SA in the ’80s was very conservative and behind the rest of the world with thinking. The nuns were wonderful in many ways so I wasn’t harmed emotionally or psychologically by some of the less progressive ideas.

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  15. I smiled at your poem. I think of my feet as lefty and righty. Ha! Lefty got badly injured in a fall a few years ago and now Righty has to start each climb up the staircase. They comfort each other as two survivors of the klutz they’re attached to! Flamingos are a kick I think.

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  16. It was a fun poem and your Flamingo painting is very beautiful. I have never been to Westminster. I’ve only been to England twice on short business trips (London and Gateshead) and I did not see much. It is very impressive.

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    1. Hi Thomas, the UK, like much of Europe, has an old and complex history. The British take great pains to reverse and maintain their history and places and objects of historical interest. This makes it a fascinating place to visit. I’m pleased you like the flamingo poem and painting.

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      1. Yes you are right. Sweden my native country has a lot of old history too. I was frequently walking on top of some small hills in the forest when I was a kid. Later they discovered that they were a buried old iron age and viking age village. They built a replica nearby that you can visit.

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          1. Thank you so much Robbie. Norwegians and Swedes have lived there for many thousands of years (Sweden about 12,000 years) but more advanced civilization like cities came later than the rest of Europe.

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  17. So wonderful, Robbie! I love the painting of the two flamingos, so sweet, and your photos of Westminster Abbey are impressive!🤩 My son and my sister are left handed too, and… as Darlene also mentioned, I think left-handed people tend to be so creative… and I mean not necessarily “more” creative, but in a somewhat different kind of way, creative… a bit hard to define, though I would say quite artistic. 😊

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    1. Hi Nicole, my sister in law is left handed and she is not very creative at all so I think it depends on which directions are person is guided towards as a youngster. My SIL, my husband and I are all chartered accountants. I also paint, write poetry and prose, and create cake art. My SIL won’t even try to paint although I’ve tried to get her to come to art classes with me.

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  20. What a fun packed post. I love your Lefty poem! I am so glad we got over the make them all right handed phase! Your painting of the Flamingo’s is stellar. When I originally moved to Florida in 1980 I was SOOOO bummed they didn’t really have Flamingos. And Westminster Abby is on a level all by itself!

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    1. HI Violet, I’m delighted you enjoyed this post. I also love flamingos. I was heart broken that the flocks at Kamfers Dam have all left. This is a real blow to the conservation of this species in South Africa. London is a fascinating city to explore.

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  21. Beautiful photos Robbie.
    I do remember how some schools used to try to change the left handed into “right”. I occasionally draw with my left hand. It’s good to use both hands I think. (K)

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  24. I enjoyed your poem about Lefty. My sister is left-handed and had the same forced right-handed experience. I’m pleased we know better, now.

    Your flamingoes are beautiful. Such a pity humans are causing all thus pollution and habitat loss.

    And your pictures of Westminster Abbey are stunning.

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  25. Hi Viv, it is a tragedy that the Kamfer Dam nesting site is destroyed. A real blow to the conservation of these beautiful birds in South Africa. I am hoping to go to the Western Cape next year to see the flamingos in the nature reserve near Cape Town. So many things I want to do. I’m going to see the turtles hatching in St Lucia, South Africa in January. I am so excited.

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  26. Your photos are absolutely stunning, Robbie! And what a cute poem about the left and right hands. I’m definitely a “righty” and can do very little with my left hand. Those two flamingos are lovely, as is the poem.

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  27. Loved the humourous tale of lefty and righty, Roberta. Peter Scott the naturalist and son of Scott of the Antarctic, was made to use his right hand more (he was a lefty) in an attempt to make him ambidextrous like his father, but he just ended up righthanded!

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  28. The doors! The poetry! The MINGOES! and blast those Nuns and their blasted rulers! I was whacked and could not understand why they were allowed to punish someone with such evil intent. Mine infraction was not for being a lefty, but still…

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  29. My infraction was for talking in algebra class. I was probably making fun of the teacher who made a lot of grammar mistakes. The real payback is that I make a lot of mistakes in grammar in spite of knowing better. 🙂 Your photos are spectacular. Now those doors would win a contest – even by Vince’s standards. And the flamingos would too! 🙂

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  31. I remember when I was in third grade and Sister Michael Anne slapped one of my classmate’s hand with a ruler. She was actually reprimanded for that, because I think we were nearing the end of all that. I love your painting of the flamingos. It’s a shame they are endangered now.

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  32. I’m so glad lefty is back to work; excellent poem. The doors in Westminster Abbey are massive and impressive. I especially like the iron hinges on the main door. Your flamingo painting is lovely.

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