Phalanxes of Flamingos
Are spoiling for a fight,
Dancing their fandangos,
In a great display of might.
Gnomings all in clature,
Alarmed within the garden;
Against the laws of nature,
Are offering no pardon.
The times they are a changin,
The HOA has spoken.
Lawn ornaments a quakin,
Must all now be broken.
This willing war is mounted;
With a price on every head.
at last all coup is counted,
We must tally up the dead
Lifeless, busted sculpture
Lays dashed across the lawn
Their rapture now in rupture
Their lifeless hopes are gone
The gazing globe is focused,
Frozen in a lidless stare.
As though some hocus pocused,
He’s alive and self aware.
When homeowners all agree,
Their good taste to defend.
With a sweeping blunt decree,
Lawn ornaments have seen their end
Poetry and Prose 
I have a homeowners association to bow to and pay fees to at the moment. Of course, they make sure the grounds outside and the overall structures are maintained. Chores I am incompetent at. I only have a few square feet of space, in back where no one can see, available in which to put the gnome and flamingo.
Thanks Frank, we’re just trailer folks. Lots of rules here too, but your flamingos and gnomes can proudly be displayed in front.
Yeah, those contracts to sign and little Hitlers to obey–another perk of suburbia.
I think I would rebel and buy flamingos and gnomes… but at the moment rebellion is to keep the woodland intact
I love the use of lawn kitsch here 🙂
Thanks Sumana
Love that title, Walter, it would make a great punk song! I’d forgotten about flamingos and gnomes in front gardens – don’t see many of them where I live. Such a sad image of those headless, quaking lawn ornaments.
Thanks Kim. We live in a trailer park full of old people. They call it yard art here
Gotta love those HOAs, perfecting the bland and evicting those badboy flamingoes. In whitewash we trust! This was a fun read.
Thanks Brendan
I love the reference to “lawn kitsch” here 🙂 brilliant take on the prompt.
Thanks Sanaa
Late to post and late to read on this prompt.
Chuckled out loud at your disturbia! My dad bought a weird cement pedestal and one of thos glazed balls and put them right at the beginning of the sidewalk up to our front door. I haven’t thought of that in years!! It truly was weird! Thanks for the smiles and the memories with your post. Loved it!
Thanks Lillian.
It puzzles me how we all, I think and from what I have read throughout the years, write about garden gnomes in a same way. It makes them appear to me as very much alive. I loved your poem, the rhyme scheme eases up but also enhances the imagery in the correct places.
Thanks Oloriel!
I LOVED your Disturbia! (What a clever word). I know someone who painted his front door welcoming red, and met with the disdain of his HOA. He fought his battle and won, as I recall. I owned a condo for a short time and had my own battles with the ach tung HOA….usually headed by self-important homeowners who have nothing better to do. Thank heaven you can see the humor … and thank you for sharing with us!
You are welcome Bev, thank you!
This is a delightful flight of flamingo fandangos and “gnomings in a clature”…thanks for the chuckle, Walt.
Thanks Lynn. Those Gnoming clatures are hard to pin down