Best Appalachians Poems
Ancient, rugged hills worn down by time
I miss the lush green hills of my home
Leaning away from the peaceful valley,
Mountains forged from eons long forgotten
During those prehistoric periods before
Earliest settlers found the Appalachians,
Already old, tired, and wrinkled, awaiting
The laughter of young children discovering,
Holding the secrets of ancestors denied
Their birthright by Jacobs and Jacob-ites
Where old waters flow down into new,
New River old, maybe older, than the Nile.
I miss the lush green hills of my home
Leaning away from the peaceful valley
Where John Deere still breaks the ground
In the springtime after a long, hard winter,
And where flowers bloom into October
Especially if Mother Nature allows them.
And she does, for that is her mountain way,
Creating an everlasting yearning for reunion
Back home in those West Virginia hills.
POEM OF THE DAY, December 2, 2021
Poetry Soup
written November 30, 2021
#49 on the Best New Poems List on Poetry Soup
December 8, 2021
Categories:
appalachians, home, mountains, nature, places,
Form:
Free verse
My roots lie buried in an unbroken line of brave men and women, my ancestors,
who, with boundless courage, sought a place where freedom was limitless and prized--from the Jersey shores to the Appalachians they trekked, finding bottomless seams of black gold, but the riches of infinite faith were their most valuable contribution to their endless posterity, generations to come…in an everlasting seam as bold and courageous as they, in their eternal rest, could ever have remotely imagined.
SECOND PLACE WINNER
written June 3, 2021
for "Writing Prompt - Endless" poetry contest
sponsored by Constance La France
Categories:
appalachians, courage, faith, people,
Form:
Prose Poetry
The Quakers, being religiously persecuted, set sail from expatriated England;
they were the first settlers to reach the shore of New England: a free land!
Later the Puritans came and settled in other eastern, bustling colonies
seeking the same religious freedom, but their urge was stronger than dreams.
Many moved westward on foot, on horseback and on overloaded wagons...
exploring the American wilderness plundered by indigenous Indians;
they searched for grassland everywhere, to let their cattle roam and graze;
first they built wooden shacks on vast, lush prairies full of Queen Ann's Lace.
And out of this American westward expansion, came the fearless pioneers,
who sought gold mines...despite the wild cowboys causing troubles
with heavy drinking and desire for unscrupulous women, seeking money and pleasure,
who served them more whisky and lured them to a room with a demeaning measure.
Beyond the Rocky Mountains' and the Appalachians Mountains' skies,
these diligent pioneers obtained wealth with sweat and sacrifices...
changing and shaping the wild landscapes of arable land,
avoiding the drudgery of getting stuck in mud and sand.
Categories:
appalachians, cowboy-western, family, food, history,
Form:
Quatrain
Majestically they've stood since time had its start
rising on a cartographer's global elevational chart
Mountain ranges, wondrous works of God's creation
that eyes have beheld for centuries with fasination
Come along with me on this adventure as my ally
to the towering mountains as they reach for the sky
Let's honor them in our traveling journal of rhyme
penning of their beauty after the challenge of a climb
We'll walk along the Great Smoky ridges of misty blue
much closer to where clouds leave their traces of dew
On to the Catskills, and Appalachians in the Northeast
The States have many ranges, a mountain lover's feast!
We'll journey West to the Rockies to visit Pike's Peak
marveling at the views that tourists call its 'mystique'
We can take the Cog Railway to the top, hike it or drive
Isn't it wonderful that mountains make us feel so alive?
The Northwest's Cascades allow us to climb up three
from their crests, The Pacific Ocean we'll be able to see
Mt. St. Helens, Shasta, and the picturesque, Rainier
For you and I, my faithful ally, will have nothing to fear
Now we'll fly across that ocean to the island of Hawaii
Trek through rain forests and shade of a banyon tree
To the summits of Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa we'll go
Then leave volcanic shores in search of mounts of snow
Our destination-Mt. Fuji on the Japanese island of Honshu
We'll reach its grand summit, if it's the last thing we do
Success will be ours, then press on to the highest of all
Mount Everest stands at almost thirty thousand feet tall
The Himalayans are a challenge many climbers have taken
Our adventure'd be incomplete if this one we had forsaken
Travel time is growing short so we must again move on
Up the slopes of Olympus, Vesuvius, and the Matterhorn
To mountain tops we have missed, I'll soon be traveling
and catch a glimpse of those views that are simply dazzling
You're welcome to join me again, as my ally in the clouds
where we'll find complete serenity, away from noisy crowds
August 12th, 2017
Mountains contest
Sponsor: Julie Rodeheaver
Categories:
appalachians, mountains, travel,
Form:
Rhyme
The Bible says "thou shalt not kill"
now proudly join the army lad, and go kill,
come back home, and follow your Bible again.
O middle class, your fathers built your homes
with union help, now disperse those union halls
and happily work for minimum wage, six days a week,
chant bribed politicians working for hidden oligarchs
reaping 100 million dollar bonuses, crowded apartments
will suffice.
O Appalachians, your once proud mountaintops now
miles of desert, debauched by profiteers, unbridled by
regulations written by lobbyists, clothed in frothing
chemicals, drowning your despair in burgeoning liquor
stores.
O beautiful blufflands, along my Mississippi,
I see you now, your royal crowns
decapitated,
your limestone sand greedily slurped by
frac-monster gargoyles wearing saville row suits,
entombed in New York skyscrapers.
O broken occupiers, etch your days in Heaven,
on your jail cell wall.
Truths, all truths, build slowly,
but truth must fight on, for your children's children
will know you tried to save our people and planet!
...we must fight on!
....we will!
Categories:
appalachians, faith, bible, bible,
Form:
Narrative
For there is freedom on
top of the mount,
as I quench my thirst
from the Niagara Falls fount.
I have seen the Rockies
and the Appalachians,
on journeys to other states
for family vacations.
Mother Nature calls the
Bald Eagle to soar,
through the wondrous valleys
of Mount Rushmore.
No sights are as marvelous
as the snow-capped heights,
of the Anchorage, Alaska
Northern Lights.
From Mount Kilimanjaro
to Mount Everest,
there is so much magnificence
filled with zest.
There’s an altitude of
fourteen thousand feet,
up the beautiful trails
to Colorado’s Pikes Peak.
There are Mountain Lions
and various Coyotes,
found hiding in the lower
altitude of Denali.
Mount Fuji holds the
species of the brutal Bear,
and you can find the
Grey Fox high up there.
No matter which mountain
you see in creation,
each will bring the most
captivating sensation.
Mountains Contest
August 14th, 2017
Categories:
appalachians, mountains,
Form:
Rhyme
See the mountains all afire
Flaming Appalachians
‘Neath the pastel of October sun
Treetops all alight
Waves of carmine flame
Swaying in soft dance steps
Amidst saffron highlights
Muted in glowing orange bittersweet
The slow falling flares
Of autumns sweet inferno
Strewing about the mountainside
A blanket of dry and weary sighing
In softly murmured prayer I wonder
Through the birthing rains of spring
And the unquenchable thirst of summer
Despite it all why is it most beautiful
…A moment before dying?
Categories:
appalachians, imagination, life, nature, seasonsprayer,
Form:
Free verse
AMERICAN SPLENDOR
Arizona has the Painted Desert
The Grand Canyon is there as well
Montana and Wyoming house Yellowstone
With beauty that weaves a spell
Wyoming hosts the Grand Tetons
Montana the Big Blue Sky
The splendor of God's Creation
Is nothing to deny
There's Pike's Peak in Colorado
We have the Appalachians and Great Smokies too
And the Black Hills of South Dakota
These all offer a breathtaking view
There are rivers like the Mississippi
And sights like Niagara Falls
Giant trees in California
That tower 300 feet tall
There's a Great Salt Lake in Utah
There's Washington's Puget Sound
There are five Great Lakes of fresh water
Where the wonders of nature abound
As we travel the great State of Georgia
We see mountains with cold, clear streams
And wildlife of every description
Often found only in dreams
So when you wake up every morning
And each night before taking your rest
Thank God for His marvelous Creation
America's Splendor is blessed
27 August 2008
For the contest Your Country 'Tis Of Thee
Sponsored by Brahn Bailey
Originally written in 2002
Categories:
appalachians, america, beautiful, creation, nature,
Form:
Rhyme
[the spirit of this was written after hearing KISS', "I was made for loving you"]
I keep hearing that aliens
Have thought-interfacing technology
And if I put forth the intention
This beacon will bring them to me
I'll also make the assumption
Societies universally have the same roots
As hyper-sexualized as James Bond
Females in shinny, skin-tight suits
Dispatching to my location
Nine planets, starting with Mercury
Coming in at hyper warp
Straight to planet number three
To the North-American continent
Just north of the Pan Handle
Then left of the Appalachians
An Earth stud waiting to dazzle
Wearing the Clint Eastwood getup
That I wore last Halloween
The Good, the Bad, the Ugly
Making my female coworkers crazy
I'm now projecting this image
My head cocked, cigar blazing
Eyes locked on this seduction
Not even a hint that I'm playing
Perhaps a hotty with green skin
Or maybe as blue as Avatar
What female could resist
Clint Eastwood and his cigar?
I was made for loving you
You were made for loving me
I can't get enough of you
Can you get enough of me?
My eyes are penetrating her
As I'm moving into her space
She's about to get an Earth education
From a very primitive race
Now both of us are poised
Like animals preparing to avail
But there is one thought in my head
God, I hope she's female
[I'm in a record state of sillyness tonight. oh boy yoi yoiiiiiii]
Categories:
appalachians, funny, imagination, spaceearth, planet,
Form:
Old time Appalachians deep within the hollows.
Self-sufficient, hard working, fine mountain folks
With farming, barn raising, and crafting skills,
Logging, mining and music to pleasure the ear.
Devoted to family, kin gathering they do.
Faith in the wisdom of their elders is seen.
Church going and revivals, strengthening their beliefs,
Appalachians are dignified, spirited mountain folks.
Gathering of families, generations of kin.
Folk music, old songs blended with time.
Mountain twanged voices singing out songs-
Flatfoot or clog dancing, kicking up heels,
Fiddle picking, foot stomping, hand slapping thighs,
Ballads of life's struggles, celebrations and griefs,
Brought over by immigrants generations ago.
Brings a sense of home for the young and the old.
A dedication to a friend of mine.
Categories:
appalachians, dance, dedication, devotion, faith,
Form:
Free verse
The Gaspe Peninsula dancing to music only she can hear,
She starts in the Appalachians of Northern Alabama;
Until she plunges into the sea at the end of the Gaspe,
The Mi'knaq Indians called it, the place where land ends.
She murmurs the music of the Scots and Irish settlers,
With fiddles and violins strumming and Gaelic lyrics;
On summer days, she is wildflowers and sun-drenched meadows,
That ripple in the fresh, sea breezes of the Saint Lawrence.
There are many wind turbine forests, a hundred miles high,
And the sound of the fiddles scream in her heart;
Along her shores she is rich wilderness, red cliffs, and forests,
And always the salt-tinged wind is caressing her soul.
Her peaks rise up to the azure blue sky in sweet solitude,
Birds swoop and glide her towering open rock forms;
And she hears accordian, gentle and soothing, weeping so softly,
And scattered are quaint villages and towns with bright roofs.
Many a shipwreck lay off her shores and the violin is sadness,
And the Blue Whales come surfacing and diving deeply;
Their blow-holes, blowing plumes thirty feet tall with a whoosh,
In the waters of the mighty Saint Lawrence that flows.
The fiddles are piercing and the piano cries as she nears her end,
Land plunges into the sea, and her journey has ended;
She is dancing to music only she can hear, of seascapes so beautiful,
Of boreal forests, pristine waters, wildlife, and high mountains.
_____________________________
October 5, 2015
Short Story/Music of the Gaspe
Copyright Protected, ID 15-714-669-0
All Rights Reserved. Written under Pseudonym.
Categories:
appalachians, dance, nature, travel,
Form:
Prose Poetry
Fire in the Mountains
October’s crisp clean air is blowing
and as we speak we can see our breath,
a hot coal falls from Heaven’s altar
and sparks a blaze we’ll soon not forget.
One spark touches a dry limb
and sets one tree aflame,
so quickly that one becomes so many
bringing God’s light and heat here once again.
We look to the hills and mountains
and see they are red as blood,
aflame with God’s Holy power
and revival now comes in like a flood!!!
The people of large cities to are shaken
wondering why now is it happening there,
tiny so tiny communities swept into the move of His Spirit
and delivered of innumerable cares.
People from every nation traveling there
to see and taken in this awe,
stricken by God’s Holy fear and presence so real
you can only say, this truly is God.
So the Appalachians now has a new name
since revival has come back home,
yes, the Appalachians now have to say,
have become the mountains of God.
Written by: Marilyn S. Jennings
2005
Categories:
appalachians, blessing, spiritual, visionary,
Form:
Free verse
In Honor of Milt - An Un-contest Poetry Contest
I love the way Milton’s poem begins. It draws my attention immediately. Line 10 jolts me with Jacobs and Jacob-ites.I’m still quite interested! Line 3 of verse 2 gains my attention and then flowers bloom. I love the setting of the Applachians and West Virginia.
What I said: A fave for me! So many wonderful things mentioned here! Congratulations on POTD!
Milton’s reply: Thank you, Kim, for reading my poem and expressing your thoughts. I'm so happy you made it a FAVE, for I do think it is a worthy poem to be read many, many times, and I hope everyone who reads it will. It is one of my own personal favorites.
No pretense at humility (too funny). I like that it was one of his personal favorites!! Though Milton was keen to correct, he helped me and others become better poets.
Yearning for Reunion
Ancient, rugged hills worn down by time
I miss the lush green hills of my home
Leaning away from the peaceful valley,
Mountains forged from eons long forgotten
During those prehistoric periods before
Earliest settlers found the Appalachians,
Already old, tired, and wrinkled, awaiting
The laughter of young children discovering,
Holding the secrets of ancestors denied
Their birthright by Jacobs and Jacob-ites
Where old waters flow down into new,
New River old, maybe older, than the Nile.
I miss the lush green hills of my home
Leaning away from the peaceful valley
Where John Deere still breaks the ground
In the springtime after a long, hard winter,
And where flowers bloom into October
Especially if Mother Nature allows them.
And she does, for that is her mountain way,
Creating an everlasting yearning for reunion
Back home in those West Virginia hills.
By L. Milton Hankins
POEM OF THE DAY, December 2, 2021
Poetry Soup
written November 30, 2021
#49 on the Best New Poems List on Poetry Soup
December 8, 2021
Categories:
appalachians, tribute,
Form:
Free verse
.
…I knowz there be
Otherz with know
uv the
Appalachians
Yet i swearz by it by
Thunder
I know
their fair
In mine own dukes
clinching ever so
damn gently
With each their digits
i helped her
rode
She wuz proud uv
She
hern naked
pretty soul…
Categories:
appalachians, thanksgiving,
Form:
Free verse
Lipstick art on my window;
a hole in my screen
in the shape of a heart,
left for me.
Found some footprints
in the snow,
followed them
till they met the road.
Hundreds of strangers
compromising the scent,
but all going one direction
so I followed where they went:
Over the Appalachians,
across great plains,
through a muddy river
and towns with no names.
Buffalo and elk
traded peace for bait;
we washed our hair
in a great salt lake.
Camped in the desert
shaded by a snowy range;
No one had any answers,
or offered a name.
Rested and onward
to the end of the land,
we weaved through the city
like a marching band.
Lipstick started raining
from the sky,
and all the missionaries
began to die.
The trolleys stopped,
and the fog lifted;
the wind blew east
and the fault lines shifted.
The ground opened,
and sucked the world below;
only one room remained:
it had lipstick on its window.
The window opened,
and a voice called out my name
saying, “Sorry, I can’t save you,
but I’m glad you came.”
And I fell…
until the sky was a memory;
until that voice
couldn’t even remember me.
A lipstick heart on my window;
a hole in my screen.
I woke up too late
to recall the dream.
Categories:
appalachians, adventure,
Form:
Rhyme