Best Horned Poems
In the daylight hours, I spend my time
So high on a perch, in a lofty pine
Where I fluff and comb my pretty plumes
And wait for the rise of the silver moon
I bob and weave on the top of the tree
Watching my world, in dimensions of three
My golden eyes fixed, on the fallen leaves
As I wait for the night, so patiently
At the set of sun, and the rise of moon
In the Croatan forest, near Camp Le Jeune
With a piercing screech, I take to the sky
On the wind, with silent wings, I fly
Over forest and swamps, on a winter night
Dipping and swaying like a wind-blown kite
In search of a rabbit, a rat or a bat
Until I find one, there's no turning back
Over Emerald Isle, and wind-swept dunes
I fly, so freely, beneath a silver moon
For miles along the Atlantic shore
Engrossed in the din of the ocean's roar
I hear from a distance, the stir of a hare
And see her dining, on sea grasses there
Her nibbling nose, like a lure, to my eyes
As I, with the speed of lightning, fly
Then swooping straight down, without a sound
I wrap my talons, so tightly around
The slow, soft beat, of a dying heart
As bits of fur, fly away in the dark
A Great Horned Owl, I'm a bird of prey
With the wind at my back, I make my way
With the chill of winter, a melt on my breast
I return triumphantly to my nest.
~~~
For contest sponsored by Eve Roper
Owls Personification
Placed: 2nd
Written: February 12, 2016
Elaine Cecelia George, of Canada
Many many moons ago
leaving the porch
of a south-facing canyon,
I hiked to a place
where the foothills
narrowed,
Where the asphalt road
ran astride the reservoir lake
into which kingfishers
dived at will,
and Great Horned owls
hooted at passerby,
And crickets chirped
in the castor bean
in the broom grass,
in the sumac and sorrel
and the scrub oak
and the sage,
I walked with gathering dusk
upslope to the ridge
where one lone bat
in diving approach,
plunged to air
as kingfisher to lake,
As owl to moon
or as moon to owl
or as owl to owl,
two owls upon the perch
fated couple
to a lifelong mate.
At this very place
I saw my mission unfold
in ceremony of solemn joining
in deepest respect
this wedded pair
framed aside starlight,
Framed within angles
of better aspect
placing male to left
female to right,
then married them there
till death do they part,
He in a cassock of feathers
all attention to duty
she with a blink
of a solitary eye,
I with a wave
of the official hand,
"I decree thee man and wife"
I the chaparral poet of authority
captain on this ship
I do wed thee,
witnessed by bat and kingfisher
cricket and castor bean.
And so my sudden voice
startled both to flight
he with wings to eclipse
the moon, the sky
she in silence
winged forever to his side.
The horned helmet of the dawn has met my sight
They’re shouting loudly, that I’m wrong – I’m right
The sky is putting on the armour of mournful clouds
I’m man with weapon I’m not farmer let someone shouts.
I’ve taken sword with hand of vengeance I’ve taken shield
I’ve never seen the kind angels and I have built
the ship to sail in land of Glory to seek and find
And maybe I will tell this story for famous Skald.
The morning’s giving me direction to be the One
I’m waiting so for satisfaction my will be done
I carry woes and pain and fury on peak of sword
I want to win I want it truly to be the lord.
I’ll share the blood without the weeping there is no choice
I hear myself that death is creeping I hear the noise
of battle and I kill with smile I’m tough as stone
I see the dead they stand like file I see the dawn.
Owls Personification Form Contest
Sponsor: Eve Roper
I SIT SILENT during the day.
I FLY FREELY during the night.
Being nocturnal I catch prey only in the night,
by day I keep quiet and I stay out of sight.
My face feathered fur is shaped like a heart,
Strength twenty eight pounds, tear my prey apart.
I am a horned owl with my ear like tufts,
intimidating yellow eyes, deep and robust.
I eat many animals that are heavier than myself,
I carry them to my nest with out any help.
I'm female and much stronger than my mate,
my best feature is my golden eyes, very innate.
Flying freely through America where I was born,
for I have a tough stature, beautiful yet horned.
I just left the desert right through Arizona,
next is the grasslands in southern Oklahoma.
I found an Osprey carcass heavier than me,
for I am the strongest owl in American History.
Last night I got excited hunting a big pelican,
I tore him apart, all that was left was a skeleton.
I corner little rodents and love to eat other owls,
I have also been known for eating various fowls.
My life is much grander than other owls I know,
I know how to fly faster, up, down, to and fro.
Being nocturnal I catch prey only in the night,
by day I keep quiet and I stay out of sight.
Date Written: February 12, 2016
Hoo H'hoo's! Hoo H'hoo's!
My nocturnal catch in the bacyard has been a feast
One good hold and the rodent is put to rest
With unwarranted suspicion a woman with stick shoos me away
My hoots are ominous she says and disturb her peaceful rest.
Hoo H'hoo's! Hoo H'hoo's! I fly to a lonely barn
The witches at magic cackle and be my friend
My corny tufts and cat like ears make me of their kind
In the east my brethren befriend the pious goddesses
While in the west we are mocked, shooed and cursed
Hoo H'hoo's! Hoo H'hoo's!
In my next life let my innocent ogling eyes in a heart face
Be born in a land where I can freely vocalise my hoots
Where I be praised with the goddess of wisdom
And not be a sorcerer's bird or a symbol of death
February 13, 2016
Sponsor :EveRoper
Where I grew up there’s a unique creature
Has Horns everywhere, a unique feature
Six inches in length and dinosaur like
The horns on his head stick out like a spike
They call him a “Horned Toad” where I was raised
“Horney Toad” or “Horned Frog” he’s also phrased
Actually he’s neither a frog nor toad
A “Horned Lizard” is the proper name bestowed
The horns on his body are actually scales
But on his head they’re bone and hard as nails
When he runs, he lifts high up off the ground
A wibble-wobble run to where he’s bound
We took some to a Boy Scout jamboree
Traded them as pets or sold for a fee
We also painted some large cockleburs
Traded as porcupine eggs as it were
There’re all kinds of legends about these guys
Like eating hot coals, and spitting in your eyes
There are fifteen species in the US
The Texas Horned Lizard’s biggest and best
The Great Horned Owl sits on his branch
Surveys the land around
Searching for some prey to eat
He knows they do abound
His head turns near full circle
His stomach needs to fill
Has to see a movement
Misses any that stay still
A Hare looks out but does not see
The threat up in the tree
Leaves the shelter of the bush
Was a better place to be
He crosses the wide open ground
To where he starts to feed
The Horned Owl glides without a sound
A beat increases speed
Talons reaching for the strike
Still has not been seen
Time is up for this poor Hare
Whose vision was not keen
The Owl will feed his family
Has plenty for some days
Nature always has a say
In who leaves and then who stays
Hello and welcome to “The Plains of the Serengeti Show”,
I’m your host Bwana Bob come on let’s get ready and go.
Right outside of this window, just a short half step away,
You can see all kinds of wildlife as they go about their day.
See the house over there with a concrete patio in the rear,
Now look closely at that patio and I think you’ll see a steer.
He’s the rarest of the patio steers he’s the kind that can give milk,
The chocolate ice cream that comes from him is as smooth as silk.
Getting back to the milk producing patio steer who looks so forlorn,
Trying not to break anything with his extremely big long horns.
It’s hard for him sometimes and that’s why they keep him where they do,
If he were in the house with other people he’d break and spill things too.
I had a turkey sandwich today with mayo, tomato and lettuce strips,
It was just delicious and tasted like the turkey kissed me on the lips.
Anyway, the long horned, milk producing patio steer is very seldom seen,
They’re not allowed to travel in packs even though that may sound mean.
Because when they get together they will invariably start a stampede,
They horse around till someone gets hurt then from their nose they’ll bleed.
Thanks for stopping by today and looking out my window with me,
Take a bucket with you when you go and get a gallon of milk for free.
I saw a beautiful great horned owl today while out on my nature walk
He was sitting proudly while snapping his bill and deeply hooting at me
And watching me so intensely from his predatory eyes with piercing gawks
I was delighted until I saw bloody skeletal remains under his tree
3/24/19
Green Horned Rhino
Have you seen the Green Horned Rhino?
A creature so scarce and so rare.
We think he’s living in Norwich,
Dressed as a Hippo, with curly pink hair
The snake snatched
it;s single horn clipped
for strong medicine,
to be used on a worrier
or a chief who,
is facing a valley of death from bullets
would be brave, unfinding
- - - - - untouched
when moon looked the other way
eclipsed,
and stillness, stark marked
stillness
made earnings,
the snake bobbed up from
the wildest of wild things
_ _ _ gave its horn
to the medicine man.
The short-horned grasshoppers are here.
Not a great morn to walk with the deer.
They came in a form
A gigantic swarm.
Taunting, laughing, ready to jeer.
Somewhere in the bowels of purgatory lives a horned me-devil drinking tea
Most know he is too evil to comprehend, others run into him, including me.
We knew not to look into his dastardly devilish dank deadened eyes.
If we face him as an equal, our souls would never have opportunity to rise.
He swishes around edges of purgatory, throwing his weight and his coat.
Bleating in a weird dead way that makes you think of Hades monster goat.
words cannot describe what you would fathom if you ran into him in the dark.
If you can be kind and helpful, do it, to avoid his devil's owner scratching mark.
Beautiful, vicious
Stares me down with amber eyes
Tiger-like bold eyes
I strutted a bit on my branch as I surveyed the others
They were commoners mostly songbirds, and two of my brothers.
Is that a great horn? A beautiful red cardinal asked in a trill.
I knew my stance was giving her and her friends quite a thrill.
My brothers began showing off, doing tricks, flying around.
They almost always act totally crazy when females are found.
A notoriously ugly turkey buzzard stopped by for a quick peek.
He flew off quickly when he saw the mouse I made squeak.
There was a rumor that an exotic blue-green peacock was in town.
Unfortunately she never showed up or I would have shown her around.
Is that just a Great Horn or is that THE Great Horn? I heard a robin ask.
I gave her a shuddered look that made her take a drink from her flask.
Intimidating other birds daily is what I easily and happily do.
If you were me, you would probably enjoy being the king, too.
My brothers of course had flown off by now, annoying another.
I heard them getting scolded by the real intimidator, our mother.