Best Elm Poems
Budgie managed to get me to write again, I am very grateful to him for providing me with the first stanza, he's a wonderful friend :)
***
Elm stood regally and rigid.
Ivy looked up in awe
and said, a little timid:
“Ahhhh, to be so big,
close to the Sun”
Elm nodded with a focused gaze,
he was, to be fair, somewhat amazed,
and thought to himself:
“What harm could it do
to allow this slight
little weed to wrap
around me, gain my sight?”
She looked so sweet and small,
he was so strong and tall
Ivy snug a little closer
and in a tight embrace
clung for dear life to his twigs,
wound her lithe limbs
'round his leaves,
entangled him with lovely sprigs.
Elm liked that sweet intrusion.
It tickled him in many ways:
"A little higher now, my dear,
just an inch more, yes here."
Ivy flexed her fingers, green
and poisonous, Elm didn't see
through her ambition
from his high position.
"Oh Elm, I'm almost near your head.
Oh Elm, show me your eyes,
I will caress your delicious neck
with my small leaves?"
Ivy wound 'round him in strong embrace,
and before long his breathing ceased.
Then Ivy eased, for from her high up
vantage point, she became queen
could see so far she'd never seen.
And only then she lost her grip...
When Elm broke and crashed
Ivy realised she only ruled
a Kingdom of soil and dust.
***
September 3, 2017
Copyright © White Wolf and Darren White
Rooted on a moss-banked hill,
its branches spread far and wide.
By Summer's end, leaves veined gold and crimson.
Then, Autumn’s hand brushed them with russet paint.
Twas the time of year the elm tree despised.
Wind ruffled in their last days,
leaves danced as if burning flames,
until gales sent them tumbling to the ground.
Barren, as though in malaise, the elm stood.
Blame was cast upon harsh Winter weather.
Weeping for its naked limbs,
on a moss-banked hill it grieved.
For the change of season, it held loathing
and contempt for Nature's wrongful doing.
For surrounding its roots with drifts of snow
But on cusp of Spring's advent
tiny buddings will appear.
Branches will be clothed in fulgent raiment,
an umbrella agape, providing shade
for trilling songbirds in need of perching.
Reigning from atop the hill,
Ancient elm, regally frocked.
I had a cat, a large one
I thought I loved the cat
The cat thought he loved me too!
Then, one day,
They took the cat away
The cat, with the bassinet, the little furry presence
And Sameeha’s science club chapstick
And I thought I was kissing scientific a book cover
Where he is artistic in a beauty in the other way, rare.
It was a cat. After all, it was just a cat
It had the nicest jacket ,
with hoodies on,
the cat used to sit on time,
the cat
And it had the fish, tummy time, happy face, and everything first time
For I never yearn to come back! For there, to chime!
It is just a known type of pain that I knew for far too long!
On a question paper, pm time, departmental too
Dealey Plaza, are you keeping right on the still unresolved Elm street?
Heavenly God , do you play around heavenly to utter Godsay, is your slip
Where you do not know usually after or before the strait the gate
You never knew Jack Ruby and you never knew Oswald
So you never knew other than too much other than, Please, other tall!
I saw the Elm trees
Standing tall in the cold winter
The freezing wind has withered their dense leaves
Blowing up alike fireflies
Their tough branches hit the hurricane
I heard the wind hissing in pain
The baptism of the wind
Revealing the resilience of the trees
When the hope of spring has been quietly arriving
A person's life is like four seasons
Cold and warm, prosperity and decline will always come
Resolutely facing the bitter rain and desolate wind
The God of Hope will meet you soon
The silhouette of sails sailing remotely away
Fearless of turbulent winds and waves sailing in
One can touch the dawn of the other shore
Any coldness calls only for your passion
Once cross the desert of winter
We shall meet the lush greenery of spring
In the warm spring breeze,
Raindrops are softly swaying
The delicate leaves are gently dancing
Only trees experienced wind and rain
They will be qualified to compare highness with the heaven
Only the sword light sharpened by adversity
Then can we create a rainbow in the sky
Only those who have experienced hardships
Then, it can depict the magnificence of life
And cultivate the beauty of life
"My college try at 'You're in a Horror film "
something has taken over his spirit
I do think I'll be his next ...
The land line rings , I answer Hello ? a response with crackling voice.
" Do you remember me , I am an old friend ? "
Who is this ? I respond noticing the rain falling hard ..
a sketchy voice response..
I am here , can't you see me?
"is this a sick Joke ? as I grab a knife for protection"
I'm calling the police ! This is Harassment !
" The police are here ' ....'in a psychotic response
The lights go out , the lightning from the storm has
hit a tree, I am scarred now, looking for all candles to light my way
A loud Knock ! Again a knock , I slam the phone down , fearfully
lock the door fast, yet trembling. It's as if someone is breathing
a cold breath with a long finger nail running down my back ..
Knock Knock again , I look out the peep hole, it is the police !
Opening the door , The Policeman says " We are checking to see
if you are Ok ? You need to let me in and stand behind me "
The policeman calls for backup to Elm Street .
" Someone said they saw a tall man with a mask and knife enter
your basement , The storm has blown out the electricity, lines are down "
Grabbing the cordless, I respond " someone just called , scarring me! "
That is not possible , these lines have been down for hours , the person
driving by called prescient on a cell.
I try to get a line and the phone is dead ....
The policeman is searching the home with a flashlight .
As he goes into the Kitchen I see a large knife in his Back shirt ,
Now he is laughing ..the phone rings ..
'you're in a Horror movie contest '
Sitting under the old elm tree with
his sweet heart many a year ago,
her hazel eyes looking at him
with tears flowing down her
beautiful tender face.
War had come and he must
do his duty, he told her
that dreadful day in
June of 1917.
Don't go, please stay,
I can't bear to lose
you she pleaded with
him.
Dear I will return,
then we shall marry
on my dad's farm,
as we had planned
to do this very month.
With that he kissed
her gently and held
her so tightly in his
arms for a very long
most precious time.
Then they both went
back to the old farm house,
to have some quite
time together,
maybe for the last time.
wrote 4-7-11
The Mighty Elm tree
Piercing high into the sky
lots of shade below
Thoughts of an Old Elm Tree
I am tired, oh, so tired,
My dried brown leaves are falling,
I am losing my looks before my time,
In the hot dry unnatural heat’s
Appalling late summertime, and so
I dream of last year’s emerald lush,
Of intermittent sweet raindrops,
Even fall’s first cold blush, even so
Was gentle in its bearing me into winter’s sleep.
My dear leaves crumble and crackle around
Thick hard veins like an old man’s hands,
And in my waving reverie, I wonder of winter,
Will I sleep the the sleep of the old in September and
Miss the colors of fall and Christmas time?
I am tired, oh, so tired.
When we sleep we expect sweet dreams
The kind where we ride on moonbeams
Where everything is lovely and nice
Sweet dreams made of sugar and spice
So it was on Elm street that night
When children went to sleep expecting dreams of delight
Little did they know that Freddie would be there
To turn their dreams into their worst nightmares
He goes by the name of Freddie Kruger
And has claws as sharp as a cougar
Freddie has a disfigured face
On his head a brown fedora sits in place
He wears a striped sweater of green and red
And comes to steal your soul when you're asleep in bed
So the children wouldn't sleep at night
They were in a perpetual state of fright
But sooner or later some would nod off to sleep
And come the morning you wouldn't hear a peep
In the night they had screamed and screamed
But no one heard them, it was just a dream
Elm once clad in gold
Has shed its colorful cloak
Awaits winter storms
Bare limbs lifted heavenward
As if in supplication.
(2 Nov 2013)
Entry for Francine Roberts' "Tanka Me Fall Or Winter" Contest
Thoughts of an Old October Elm Tree
My browning leaves decry
My farewell to Mrs. Summer and her plush;
With her desperate gasping push
Against cold and coming days.
When Ms. Spring thrust her first rose bud,
Putting to bed Old Man Winter’s last blow, then
I wondered would I see her again;
So many times he had come and gone.
And now, now again,
My silhouette thinned against a new dawn.
Will the old man win?
Or a new Ms. Spring discover me gone.
Elm Tree Haiku
rotting elm
diseased of beetle-
left to die
Written 28.4.18
.
leafless elm
dresses in shimmering frost
rhinestone tiera
For Charles Henderson's Haiku Contest:
The move was supposed to be for the best
A fesh new start and a change of pace
Little did she know that it was only the start of a test
Out of the little house to a place where she had to carry mace
The name surely did fit the street
Bad thing after bad thing kept coming her way
Nightmare on elm street she could not beat
The bad luck was making her start to hate her new place
After one month there she knew it was true
she felt so displace
It was ok she got the clue
This was not a place she could call home
So to the classified adds she started to look
over all the adds she let her fingers roam
The first affordable place she was going to book...
Mourning the holes in my canopy
Three Catalpa now
The Maple next door
My own Cedars
And the Pine that brought the Crossbills
But then there's the little Elm on my block
It's spine entwined with the iron fence
The house burnt down last year
The big old Maple brought down
I was warmed to see the little Elm survived
His burnt bits delicately removed
I think the arborist felt so too