Best Heron Poems
A great Blue Heron
The park behind our house recently redone
And a Great Blue Heron has discovered fish
I saw the heron standing in tattered wings
Like a tattered skirt and tattered grass
I wonder, what scissors have cut them all?
A graceful neck, curved at crest
Ready to catch and strike when hungry
Strolling around the pool to snatch a fish
And sup on the fine supply.
Oh, what riches, thinks the Heron
What a delectable dinner
Among the tall grass, a stop to dine.
Oh, Heron, teach me to stand alone
Without hunchback’s coat on one feet
Show me how to bend my legs
Teach me how to swallow without chewing
Show me how to puff down into a secret
So that only those who know me can find me.
Teach me how to open wings of six feet span
Unexpected and perfect, a crone in the sky.
+++
September 29, 2014
Form: Free Verse
Seventh Place win
Contest : Animal by Regina
Great Blue Heron
Oh Great Blue Heron found along our shores,
Your stately presence in the water shows
A setting so sublime in quiet marsh
Where flowing grasses sway in gentle breeze,
And water ripples glisten in the sun…
Untamed and free, you follow nature’s way.
Alone you stand, majestic bird, with feet
In water flow, your lifeline to survive…
So motionless, you seem unreal indeed,
While listening for prey beneath, aware
The frogs and fish lay victim to your strike
From agile neck and snapping hungry beak.
What are you thinking in your vigilance
While tuning in for movement near your feet?
Are you envisioning that special prey
That might be sustenance for you today?
What lurks behind your eyes, intent and still,
While you await your chance to make the kill.
Untamed and free, you follow nature’s way
Where flowing grasses sway in gentle breeze,
And water ripples glisten in the sun…
A setting so sublime in quiet marsh…
Your stately presence in this water shows
You are the Great Blue Heron of our land.
Sandra M. Haight
~11th Place~
Contest: For The Birds
Sponsor: Anthony Slausen
Judged: 11/22/2015
heading home at dusk
gliding into melting sun
graceful blue heron
AP: 1st place 2021
heron overhead
silhouette in twilight spread~
wings hugging thick air
6/28/2021
He sat on the dock on a rainy day,
this heron; little and green. He was
patiently fishing the cold, dark waters.
For now, his meal was a minnow.
This heron, little and green he was
in my mind, reminded me of someone else.
For now, her meal was small as a minnow.
I saw her in Nanaimo wandering the streets.
In my mind, reminding of someone else
I was startled to see how industrious she was.
I saw her in Nanaimo wandering the streets,
her shopping cart full of tattered belongings.
I was startled to see how industrious she was
searching the wet streets for her next meal,
shopping cart full of tattered belongings.
She seemed to have the patience of a heron.
For now, his meal was small as a minnow,
patiently fishing the cold, dark waters.
This heron, little and green he was...
he sat on the dock on a rainy day.
The Heron, grey priest of the shallow mere
Stalks slow and calculated t’ward its prey
With cool far seeing vision of a seer
And knowing his own power needs no defray
For he alone adjudicates the day
His strategy grinds more than single axe
A long unhurried glide path to new gaze
Will reposition him for a climax
And total consummation of his plays
The end - submission that for him is praise
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Knee-deep in stillness,
it waits—a question mark
pressed into the shallows.
Then, like a blade slipped
between the ribs of the river,
it strikes.
Nothing moves
but the fish’s silver flicker
of regret.
On a black carabao's back,
a dazzling white heron
slow-dances,
the feathers on its graceful,
slender neck the breeze
romances !
the great blue heron
glides low over the blue bay...
schools of fish vanish
I AM THE HERON
There is a stoicism to me
silent, self reliant, pensive posturing
suddenness of intent and action.
My aggression is calculated,
measured in response to need,
activated by impending threat.
Stillness is the garb of my determination,
patience in the solitude of calm
spring loaded – a sharpened, piercing, beak.
I still retain my forebears ways,
their ancient chiseled features,
dedication to the rookery’s domain
amid the din of springs cool birthright.
I will cross swords defending nests
asway in natures treetop rocking chairs.
There is a stoicism to me
//Heron – aggressive, self determination,, self reliance//
submitted to – Picture Yourself As a Bird – Poetry Contest
sponsor – Andrea Dietrich
5/16/2015
I must tell you this bird:
long thin legs, sharp beak
wading in a dappled stream
grayish blue, at home in cypress
Curving skyward through Spanish Moss
Languid summer day
Cloud afloat on garden pond
Silent Heron waits.
Ripples replace cloud
Water drips from Heron beak
Koi swim unaware.
She's here again,
nearly three feet tall
wing span just as wide.
She arrives every day at eleven fifteen
landing silent on the roof shed
then glides to the ground.
She walks around the pond
then steps up on the stones
for a closer view.
She eyes the water staring steadily,
that long neck and equally long feet
find no fish swimming here.
She was here in winter
and again in early spring
now nothing left to eat.
She lingers for a moment
realizing she's come too frequently
and the pond is now devoid of life.
HERON SONNET
Betty spoke of god’s face seen through puddles
A mirror on the way from bad to good
In puddles of my overgrown troubles
There is little ebb and flow, air and food
Yet each morning and evening without fail
Fishing for frogs or what few fish proceed
To urge their seed, Great, grey Heron, female
Greets me quietly now that we both re-seed
In this habitat, watery bowel … womb
We find sunrise beside this dying pool
God in a stand of agave in bloom
Hope in this adult education school
This promise: So long hearts beat and blood flows
Heron and I will sing of tomorrows
blue heron's wingspan
sundown
heading home
Published in The Trillium Haiku Group Anthology 2022 "-to hang my hat"
AP: 3rd place 2021