Best Cormorant Poems
In a moment of magic I once gave her a juicy innocent peach
Not yet knowing that she harboured a sweet nascent dream
In which as a youngster she knew that she would marry the one
Who handed such a fleshy gift to the gypsy Queen of Fairy Land
Bestowed upon her by night’s prophesy she carried the vision of
Requited love and blissful peace brought by subconscious longing
And spiritual clarity of a Higher Power submerged in compassion
A passionate fruit with soft skin and one huge seed of togetherness
We eloped together into a new dawn
The doomsayers had a field day as they harvested bitter doubts
‘It will only last a couple of months and the peach will turn rotten’
‘You cannot feed on clairvoyant oracles and meek pagan beliefs’
‘They are deluded insane and caught up in misguided romance’
They called her a witch a seductress and labelled me irresponsible
With so much at stake painted pictures of broomsticks and failure
While we had found the jewel in a haystack without even searching
And set fire to the past as we danced naked around a fire of passion
We knew the truth of intuitive feeling
One can never be sure what lies at the end of paths never taken
Whether road blocks and diversions belittle emotions and faith
But they who ignore heavenly signs forfeit adventure and truth
Stay stuck in spent time and hail its dubious comfort at their peril
We travelled and found a small hut on the beach out of sight
Collected starfish and driftwood and caressed wounded souls
Carved wedding bands out of sea shells and called upon dolphins
To witness our marriage surfing along happily ever since then
A cormorant applauded the feast
Under a star studded canopy on the miraculous shore of belonging
We never strayed from what intuition and feelings offered for free
Meandered on the shoreline and set our sails into a magical ocean
Tasted the salt of a mindful earth and soothed our recovering minds
Never questioned the wisdom of our union shared by hungry souls
Treasure pleasure and joy weathered powerful storms and all tides
The cosmos donates all we ever need once we are willing to navigate
Waves and effervescence sparkling desire and in our case a peach
Leading the universal way
13th May 2020
Categories:
cormorant, beach,
Form:
Free verse
Morning fog was parting for the day's performance,
and an audience of just me sat cross legged,
waiting for ghosts.
They appeared slowly, one by one.
Old whalers, freighters and, fifty yards out,
slate grey bones scarred with burnt sienna,
a young trawler.
A Cormorant dried its wings on the wheelhouse,
primary feathers spread, glistening ebony,
tattered like a tramp's raincoat.
The surf whispered warnings.
February 4th 2016
For contest 'The Sea shore' sponsor- Craig Cornish
Categories:
cormorant, sea,
Form:
Free verse
Tiny wavelets on the pool today, a gentle
breeze and raindrops fall with a rhythmic
pitter patter. The ducks and wildfowl pay
no heed, around the sedge bob and feed.
The Heron standing as if frozen, his
cunning eye a prey has chosen. And the
elegant Swan glides, the Cormorant
beneath the water slides. And the grey
clouds float on by on this quiet day at the
pool, the reeds sway and insects hide away,
dry wings are required to survive. The Otter
on its back dines on an unlucky Crayfish,
seems well at ease with his surrounds, and
the Water Vole enters a hole to the squeak
of hungry mouths. In the centre of the pool
a love dance, two Crested Grebes court,
ducking, bobbing, all magic to the eye. All
this beauty in the pitter patter, life goes on
it does not matter. Nature gives in many
ways, and as always this heart enslaves.
Categories:
cormorant, naturewater, water,
Form:
Imagism
alert cormorant
dives for fish in eventide …
…hooked prey hears death knell
Written on 3/18/2022
Categories:
cormorant, bird, sea,
Form:
Haiku
My balsa wood float rides ripple and wave
My bait unappealing today
Fingers frostbitten but I shall be brave
As I try to catch something to weigh
The cormorant seems to be doing okay
The seagull is eating his fill
The otters aren’t gonna go hungry today
And the pike is awaiting a kill
The Kingfisher fishes alone and aloof
The heron jabs quick as a spear
This riverside haven, I’ve fished since my youth
I still bring a truck load of gear
But ponder this truth under my canvas roof
There used to be far more fish here
Categories:
cormorant, environment, fishing,
Form:
Rhyme
Too much company
Kill the company,
What am I going to think?
About those curious people?
What am I going to think?
Why sailors are celebrating.
Too much solitude,
Kill the solitude,
What am I going to think?
Of the inert stone,
What am I going to think?
Looking at the gibbous moon?
Too much company,
Kill the company,
What am I going to think?
Of those talkative children,
Am I going to escape?
Those pale snakes?
Too much loneliness,
Kill the loneliness,
What am I going to think?
Of these Tuaregs
Masking their face
With deep blue veil?
Too much company,
Kill the company,
How my mother suffered
From these pale nurses,
How my mother suffered
From the devil who sits?
Too much solitude,
Can enchant the eyes,
What are we going to think?
Brilliant poets,
Tell me dear solitude,
Do you really exist?
Too much company,
Kill the company,
What do they have in mind?
Some bananas, some mangoes,
Fruit and grapes,
So man feeds himself,
Turn off this radio,
Think of the black cormorant,
Turn off that TV,
Look at the sea,
What is this fantasy?
Too much company
Kill the company.
Categories:
cormorant, appreciation, care, solitude,
Form:
Free verse
"The Relevance of Unspoken Poetry"
These are “my people”, are they not?
I spread my wings like a Cormorant
and went deep diving deep deep deep
full speed, into the muck
I came up with pearls in my beak
These are “my people”, are they not?
I reached across the table to them, throwing my runes,
the stones rolled and as they fell, on each face I saw ruins,
and in their minds I read,
the relevance of their unspoken poetry
Candide Diderot. ‘24
Categories:
cormorant, muse,
Form:
Free verse
cormorant opens wings
like a crucifix -
Good Friday
Categories:
cormorant, bird, good friday,
Form:
Haiku
Birke/Birch/Abedul
Im sanften Abendlicht
Wehen die Blätter der Birke
Goldfähnchen im Wind
In soft evening light
The leaves of the birch flutter
Golden banners in the wind
En suave luz de la tarde
Ondean las hojas del abedul
Banderitas de oro en el viento
------------------------------------
Wildgänse/Wild Geese/Gansos Salvajes
Im verlierendem Licht
Der schrille Ruf der Wildgänse
Vorbote des Winters
In a fading light
The shrill calls of wild geese
An early sign of winter
En una luz apagando
Agudos gritos de gansos salvajes
Precursor del invierno
Kormoran/Cormorant/Cormorán
Über tanzendem Schilf
Im hohen Baum auf der Lauer
Sitzt wartend der Kormoran
Above rocking reeds
A cormorant in his look-out
Lurking from a high tree
Sobre el cañaveral
En un alto árbol está al acecho
Un cormorán está esperando
Categories:
cormorant, nature
Form:
Haiku
As I watched,
like a lion with its prey
the wave growled and snarled
while crouching, preparing to pounce.
Rushing up the sloping shingle beach,
it reached out and dragged pebbles
down into its lair.
I heard
the rasping raking of the beach tumbling
pell-mell and headlong into the sea
and saw
stones spewed out as leftovers
in the next cold wave of grey water,
breaking in trails of white foam
along the coastline.
I watched
the wind-blown spray
and the black clouds over grey water
threatening and evil;
a wave rose, a hooded cobra
striking the rocks of the breakwater
before devouring them.
I listened
to the plaintive cries of
a young herring gull high above the sea,
blown sideways by the gale.
But
full twenty feet from the shore
the black-clad cormorant sat securely smug
on a post, the predator’s perch.
A swift, triumphant swoop filled his beak with supper
and I watched as he flew away.
Categories:
cormorant, sea,
Form:
Free verse
Moving reflection
a flying cormorant
on silky water.
for the "Out of Water" contest
Read more at: http://www.poetrysoup.com/poetry_contests/member_contest_details.aspx?ContestID=6186
Categories:
cormorant, allegory, bird, water,
Form:
Haiku
For all the night she trod the furrowed earth
As she has walked all winter in her wake
In seeking for the child she brought to birth
The maiden bride whom Hades chose to take
The gibbous moon is waxing to the bright
And shedding shifting shadows on the lands
One single moonbeam spills down through the night
Upon the rutted earth on which she stands
Made heavy by the weight of mother’s tears
The ground beneath her feet begins to yield
The imprint of a child’s foot appears
Emerging from the darkness of the field
The dawn is tinting grey the silken skies
The lifting mist moves gulls to take the air
She swears she hears these words within their cries
She comes, she comes, she comes, is nearly there…
Around the hill of Silbury swirl the springs
From many sources meeting there as one
Upon the fence a bardic blackbird sings
His songs of seasons ended and begun
The heron stands in wait down by the brook
The willows’ leaves weave rills upon the stream
The cormorant is fishing for the rook
Whose shadow shapes a fish from daybreak’s gleam
From alder trees drip drops of ancient dew
Like shining crystals, in to waters deep
The grey of morn becomes a brighter blue
New lambs are woken from the dark womb’s sleep
A muffled drumbeat pounds within her bones
Thrills through her feet and trembles in her chest
Draws from four corners people of the stones
To stand and lay the winter to his rest
Can it be so, she thinks, that she will come
And willingly escape the thrall of Hades
Be called by this fast beating of the drum
To dance among the wild lords-and-ladies...?
(See Part Two)
© Gail Foster 2016
Categories:
cormorant, england, magic, mother daughter,
Form:
Iambic Pentameter
I teeter on the brink of possibility.
The sun on the new horizon glistens
its rays on the undulating sea of change.
I gaze a while, drifting with a squawking gull,
or diving with a hunting cormorant -
lost in my imagination, caught in plausibility.
Sometimes a gust of wind unsettles my balance;
I totter into uncertainty, struggling to stand,
but you take my hand and steady me.
Now I only look ahead; no way back.
The chasm is inviting me to jump;
to take a leap of faith and ditch the doubt.
I place my baggage at my feet;
packages of responsibility and confusion
tucked in neatly and nestling with the past.
One last tug at the sleeve of my coat
as they make a last ditch attempt to restrain me,
and I have jumped - flying through the air, free.
As I land I see you there smiling and safe,
arms outreaching. The promise of the future beckons,
and looks inviting, exciting and full of hope.
Once I teetered on the brink of possibility
now it is a glistening reality. The sea is calm now.
And, as the sun sets on the horizon, I am home.
(note: to all my lovely friends who thought I was literally considering leaping into a chasm to
my death, I can assure that I am most certainly not!!! It is merely a metaphorocal chasm,
and I intend to stick around for quite a while yet. Heavens, I am just about to have a book
published, life is very good! Thanks so much for your concern though)
Categories:
cormorant, happinesssea, sea, sun,
Form:
Free verse
Hand in hand with the breaking pink light of dawn,
A light east breeze dances on tiptoes upon the water’s surface.
I stand on the wooden deck, looking out onto the quiet bay,
Scattered boats gently sway in their moorings.
Making me feel like I am flying amongst them - a bird on a wing,
Flocks of terns swoop and rise in graceful circles close beside me.
Dexterously stepping over the green covered rocks on the shore, three white egrets are here too;
They keenly pick out their breakfast in the lapping tide.
With a swoop and fall, a cormorant dives deftly into the water and disappears,
Moments later the bird emerges several metres away as if out of nowhere.
In a display of alternating flashes of grey and brilliant white,
Plovers so small and so swift turn and glide in controlled unison.
I glance northwards towards a distant gentle hum,
There great ships are silhouetted in the waking harbour.
I stand and breathe in true appreciation;
Oh, the magnificent beauty of this new day.
Categories:
cormorant, places, sea, light, bird,
Form:
I sit by the waters edge
Sitting on the border of a concrete ledge
Surrounded by miss-shaped rocks
Formed by the years of repeated water knocks
I throw a line in the water
As a man sits next to me with his son and daughter
On my line I get a bite
The bait disappears with little fight
I reel back in and rebait the rod
And throw back out for the battle with the cod
Suddenly I see a school of fish
Hoping for every fisherman’s wish
I recast trying to get the biggest and weightiest fish
I see a cormorant tangled up sitting on a pylon
Wrapped around his beak is plastic or nylon
I get up to aid the injured bird
But it fly’s away as soon as my footsteps are heard
I go back to my battle with the underwater beast
Still confident my patience will result in a feast
The clouds come over and it begins to rain
This just exacerbates my frustration and pain
All of my attempts have so far been in vain
But still I sit but wonder if I am still sane
The rain begins to clear
Perhaps now the fish will appear
I can see a rainbow in the distance
My mind wonders despite my resistance
I try to focus on what I want to achieve
I quickly realise that it’s the bounty of fish I want to receive
It’s hard to fish with so many natural attractions
Whilst not unpleasant they are unwanted distractions
I ponder on these thoughts for a time so long
And eventually I conclude this is wrong
I reel back in my line with rod
And forget about the fight with the cod
I am going to enjoy just being here
Such beautiful sites at a near
The glistening of the sun reflecting on the water
The earlier image of a father and his daughter
The ripples and shadows the water creates
The way the bird flew and never hesitates
The way the fish refused to be caught
The way the rain and fish together fought
The rain gently dripping off my hat
The way the cormorant on the pylon sat
The way time seems to stand still
The way nature can make a person feel
I get lost in the moment and don’t want to leave
Some of the things I’ve seen I can’t believe
I should come down here without any fishing reasons
How beautiful it would be in the different seasons
I find myself content at the water’s edge
I have never felt so comfortable sitting on a ledge
Categories:
cormorant, animals, daughter, nature, passion,
Form:
Rhyme