Best Elk Poems
Up before dawn, a feeling has drawn
You into the mountain and trees.
Till the silence within, upon the whispering wind
A chime of bugles tease the breeze.
That majestic call, that is heard each fall
Since before our forefathers birth
And for those who take time, through rim rocks and pine
Listen and value their worth.
Each note high and low as each bugle ballad goes,
No two ever the same
They are all unique and if a chance to critique
Upon our hearts they claim.
We are put into state and can hardly wait
For the dawn of the upcoming morn
To glimpse hoof print in stride or a patch of hide
Or a tip of antler horn.
Just out of reach, lessons he’ll teach to those who play the game,
The tension and pull of a phantom bull, a soul never to tame.
While waiting and yearning, eyes straining, ears burning,
Ringing till you can’t hear a thing,
To early to late, can’t hardly wait,
Patience like a bee sting.
Like a ghost in the night they filter through site
They tease and bugle and brag,
As tell tale sign, weave and wind
Through timber, rocks and crags
Where a sapling tree, used to be
Now a twig broke scarred and torn
Velvet left there and shed of hair
To tell the rut has been born.
Strong elk scent, down wind is sent
From their bedded layer
They are up once again and start to transcend
Letting us know they were there.
A little to late can change a state
Hopes almost fell,
But all rise again when a bugle begins
For among elk, we dwell.
towering antlers,
pierce the morning horizon:
bugle in the fall.
Elk Walk
elk walk in snow to
find a morsel in warm fount
beyond, fields beacons
The Rancher
morning frost twinkles
while rancher sips coffee and
whiffs new arrivals
5/9/2014
January Haiku Contest
The Roosevelt Elk
The Roosevelt Elk
A beautiful, majestic creature, that walks with head up high with pride that stands as tall as a horse, with a rack of antlers with many points that looks like a crown on top of his head depending on how old he is, that he uses as a weapon against his foe , which are shed each year
Even though he has a heavy scent of musk he can pick up a scent carried hundreds of yards away if the wind is blowing his direction
His coat is thick and soft, with longer hair on the chest and shoulders of sable color, with a light brown body, and a cream-colored rump and no tail, their coat make it a habitat for fleas, because his coat is thick and soft it enables him to sneak through a thicket when he hears your nylon or denim clothes rake against a bush
Feeding on grasses, plants, leaves, bark, and including highbush cranberry, elderberry, devil's club blueberries, mushrooms, lichens, and salmonberries
He engages in ritualized mating behaviors during the rutting season to have his own Harem, that involves in posturing, urinating, tossing turf and fighting with his antlers, and bugling, a loud series of vocalizations which establishes dominance over other males and attracts females
A beautiful, majestic creature, that walks with head up high with pride that lives in the wide-open land with tall grass, under the canopy of Douglas –fir, cedar, and old growth stands and beautiful wild flowering azaleas
By Eve Roper 10/9/2014
The elk is just an Eastern moose,
Or else a Western caribou …
But if you chance to meet one,
He will be polite and nod to you.
Yellow pines swaying at base camp,
early October morn greets the avid hunters
with its autumnal briskness, waking any
sleepyheads who are stirring under covers,
generators humming away at varying speeds,
smell of frying bacon and sizzling eggs,
add to the aroma of the great outdoors.
Pickup trucks filled with camo-clothed hunters
traveling along the bumpy, dirt roads climbing
higher and higher until the clouds meet the hunting
grounds full of meadows creating a thick mist,
shrouding all in sight including the hunter and
the hunted creating specters among the
remnants of forest fires from years past.
In the ghostly distance, shots echo throughout the air;
did someone shoot a lone elk left behind by its herd?
On target----a proud first-time young hunter and his dad
walk through the brush to discover their next larder,
the meat is prepared, tagged and transported home for
future meals and discussions of the first successful hunt
which remains with the youngest son for his entire life.
Stellar Jays flying overhead at base camp observe the
hunters who returned empty-handed but not disppointed,
in the evening a campfire glows warming the circle of hunters,
sharing stories of expeditions as old as their grandfathers and
as young as their grandsons till late at night until the fire
is doused with water and the air smells of wet smoke,
a reminder of crawling into a sleeping bag and dreaming of elk.
A man in a black suit, and cane drawn
wandering above the sea of fog
wildlife, mountains, lakes, and bog
Untroubled Heaven in his eyes for the moment
fields of green, awaken refreshed at dawn
where salmon runs the rivers blue to spawn
where shaggy mane elks labor their spring calves
black-tailed and mule deer birth their newborn
a habitat full of wildlife species that are born
1/5/2019
I love to sit and watch the Roosevelt Elk for hours. The Roosevelt Elk named for Theodore Roosevelt, it's my favorite animal in the wild. They are the largest of the four remaining North American elk subspecies. They are beautiful, majestic creatures that walk with their head up high with pride. They stand as tall as a horse. The male elk carries a beautiful set of dark brown, tipped in cream antlers. Their antlers reach lengths of up to four feet with a distinctive three-point tip, or crown at the end depending on the age of the elk. They use the eye guards on the horns when running through brush by lowering their heads. The antlers have several purposes, most related to mating, as a weapon against their foe, and the antlers are shed each year.
Even though they have a heavy scent of musk they can pick up a scent carried hundreds of yards away if the wind is blowing their direction.
Their coat is thick and soft, with longer hair on the chest and shoulders of sable color, with a light brown body, and a cream-colored rump and no tail. Their coats make it a habitat for fleas because their coat is thick and soft, it enables them to sneak through a thicket when they hear your nylon or denim clothes rake against a bush.
They feed on a variety of grass as, plants, leaves, bark, and including highbush cranberry, elderberry, devil's club blueberries, mushrooms, lichens, and salmonberries.
They engage in ritualized mating behaviors during the rutting season to have their own harem. The mating involves in posturing, urinating, tossing turf and fighting with their antlers, and bugling, a loud series of vocalizations which establishes dominance over other males and attracts females.
The Roosevelt Elk, a beautiful, majestic creature, which lives in the wide-open land with tall grass, under the canopy of Douglas -fir, cedar, and old growth stands.
5/9/2018
Elk
slowly walk
grazing off open paths
a distant bugling call
Hunter
hunkered down, still
open sight
9/20/2020
eleven engrossed esteemed Eastern elves elected Evie, eligible electric elk. Embracing her enthusiastic, energetically evasive elusiveness, enabling enchantment to engage, enhance and excite extra enthusiastic electoralelk endorsement to electrify elfish election.
I saw
elk frozen
in lake. Birds pecked
out his nostrils and eyes…
Winter.
05.05.2019
Writing Challenge 1, May 2019 - Cinqku- Poetry Contest
Dear Heart
It had been years since the seasons changed
Then the Monarch butterflies
Shook from a blue sky in July
Like a box of colored confetti
Re-appeared a miracle atop the sticky meadows
And the day before was so hot
That on my morning walk
I found tree frogs glued to the pavement
In mid-hop
Paralyzed with eyes looking up
Clay knickknacks belonging to a shelf
In an Elk Rapids gift shop
People around here are buried in their graves
Sitting up
To stare out forever upon Torch Lake
Tombstones angled against the hills
Last ever to see
The blue of this Earth
The lake of sunsets
The mirror that shows us all
Who we turned out to be.
fierce fire-elk transforms into a skeletal elk during a forest fire
the few who have seen her, recognize her powers through prophecy
These storytellers do not last long, for they are not forest fire survivors
if you get caught in the woods during an inferno, beware of the fire-elk.
An antelope, a reindeer and an elk walked into a bar.
Which bar?
The lion stared at his friend. “Does it matter?”
“It does to me.”
“Bar Sheeba Weebalah.”
The other lion nods.
“The antelope orders a beer. the reindeer orders a whiskey sour.”
The other lion pretends to laugh, hoping this will be the end of the story.
“Not the punchline yet,” the other lion warns him.
“Then I walk into the bar and I order an antelope, a reindeer and an elk.”
The other lion howls with laughter.
Not understanding, but wanting to please the alpha lion.
I sensed I was being watched by an animal.
Human? Probably not; something baser.
Perhaps a rabbit, a rodent or a bird of some sort.
This is the Yukon, if it is something white, it will be difficult to spy.
I stay silent, in one place, slowly moving my head, watching.
Hoping it is not a polar bear; they have huge paws and teeth.
I see the animal’s breath before he appears from a thicket.
A moose elk, apparently unafraid. I take out my camera.
Knowing there is probably one chance.
I am right.