Best Kea Poems
Slowly spring sun caresses the land
As kowhais will softly provoke
Flushes of yellow to gently expand
Their buds of the season uncloak
Helping bellbirds escape from winter’s last choke.
Methodical beats of wood pigeon wings
Whoosh thru the quiet spring air.
Melodious trills as tuis’s sweetly sing
Fantails flitter, with hardly a care
While bush robins cheekily dare.
Fragrance of earth sweetens the breeze
New lambs adventure and race
Dragonflies linger, then floating past trees
Whio dart up the river with grace
My core just idolizes this place.
I climb up the mountain out of the trees
A kea, the comedian of the highland flies past
Does a sharp turn, lands on a boulder to tease
It’s green, blue and red feathers contrast
Their intelligence and pranks unsurpassed.
Day turns to evening; a morepork issues its call
A mournful sound that echoes the night
I descend in the darkness at the pace of a crawl
Then the hoarse cry of a kiwi just out of my sight
I'm relaxed. One day with the birds and I’m no longer uptight.
For info on these birds www.nzbirds.com
One suspects a matagouri temperament
Upon first glimpsing that weathered face.
Wrinkles extending like braided rivers
Life of tussles and toils, to demonstrate.
No stranger to heat or an icy shiver
Indeed he thrives on the wide-open space.
For living on the land he has chosen
Family provision his precious mandate.
Green land he’s seen, as it alters to brown
Faced the irony in dense drifts of white snow.
Worked in hot sun, until chilled from deep sweat
His path's always straight, head never down.
Famine next fortune, then dancing with debt
Passion persists, despite varying blows.
Quitting is failure akin to inept
No envy endures of those living in town.
Spells spent alone doesn’t mean solitude
For companions thrive for those that will see.
Colourful hebes, or when a kea flies by
Land always varies, indeed a joy to be viewed.
No clock to watch while there’s light in the sky
Family time not a whim of the breeze.
Other company not sought but never denied
For life on the land is fulfilment accrued.
2nd April 2016
Ke lekopokopo kea koposela
Se khalisi ka nna
Ke oa hao feela
Ke metsi a pula kea lelemela
Senoa-mapholi ke nna
U le naha-thote
Ke mabele kea qalana
Nthonake rebe ngoe
Mehopolo eaka ka oena
E metle seka sejana
Se sa jeleng
Kea boulela
Ke lepoloka ke robeha likotoana
likotoana...
Tsa mohla onsentse maikutlo
Pelo eaka bjara!
Ke U hopotse Sejana
Baeti kapo che!
Ha u jelle
Nka khitla motho
Senyamo? Boputsoa
Se nna,morali oa kueneng
Ke bonya seka Selatsatsi
Lit'somong
Sets'oana
Mali-matle
ke nna
Ke qheshela
ho kena
ho tsoa
Boputsoa,Senyamo?
sharp wind and snowfall
etched name on ancient mountain
light archs-cut angles
mists circle summit
chilled lava rock formations
Pele vacations
night falls mistily
artistic rain brushed dreamscape
Mauna Kea sleeps
Mauna Kea, located on "The Big Island of Hawaii" is Hawaii's largest Volcano,usually having
snow atop the summit year round.
Majestically they've stood since time had its start
rising on a cartographer's global elevational chart
Mountain ranges, wondrous works of God's creation
that eyes have beheld for centuries with fasination
Come along with me on this adventure as my ally
to the towering mountains as they reach for the sky
Let's honor them in our traveling journal of rhyme
penning of their beauty after the challenge of a climb
We'll walk along the Great Smoky ridges of misty blue
much closer to where clouds leave their traces of dew
On to the Catskills, and Appalachians in the Northeast
The States have many ranges, a mountain lover's feast!
We'll journey West to the Rockies to visit Pike's Peak
marveling at the views that tourists call its 'mystique'
We can take the Cog Railway to the top, hike it or drive
Isn't it wonderful that mountains make us feel so alive?
The Northwest's Cascades allow us to climb up three
from their crests, The Pacific Ocean we'll be able to see
Mt. St. Helens, Shasta, and the picturesque, Rainier
For you and I, my faithful ally, will have nothing to fear
Now we'll fly across that ocean to the island of Hawaii
Trek through rain forests and shade of a banyon tree
To the summits of Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa we'll go
Then leave volcanic shores in search of mounts of snow
Our destination-Mt. Fuji on the Japanese island of Honshu
We'll reach its grand summit, if it's the last thing we do
Success will be ours, then press on to the highest of all
Mount Everest stands at almost thirty thousand feet tall
The Himalayans are a challenge many climbers have taken
Our adventure'd be incomplete if this one we had forsaken
Travel time is growing short so we must again move on
Up the slopes of Olympus, Vesuvius, and the Matterhorn
To mountain tops we have missed, I'll soon be traveling
and catch a glimpse of those views that are simply dazzling
You're welcome to join me again, as my ally in the clouds
where we'll find complete serenity, away from noisy crowds
August 12th, 2017
Mountains contest
Sponsor: Julie Rodeheaver
The ABC’s of Morning
Awake on the dot of seven
Birds are chirping away
Coffee… as always, first order of the day,
Doggy kisses from Kea
Enjoying the peace and quiet
Fumble for my glasses to see
Garden shadows in early light
Harmony of leaves in the garden
Intricate patterns at play
Just as sunlight begins, a
Kinship of finch burst away.
Lavender dreams are fading
Mindful of duties to do
Overcoming an urge to be lazy, I
Pirouette to the bathroom to dress
Quietly, I exit the bedroom, a
Resting hubby not to disturb
Sit in the lounge with my ipad
Thankful for all of life’s gifts
Up to date with events, I
Venture to start my routine
Walking, now for health reasons, try to
Xerox this action each day
Yesterday, though, I missed it
Zealot, I’m not, you might say!
7/22/15
A nation with the southernmost capital in the globe
whose identity has constantly been bullied
by the global acknowledgement of a larger one.
A place where economic empowerment comes through films
to the point a movie employed a minister for maximum harvest.
No name longer than that of a Hill in Hawkes Bay;
no part of the country is more than
hundred and a thirty kilometer from the sea;
no nation is least succulent for the biting teeth of corruption.
And no other has simultaneously graced females in all high national positions.
Isolation has ruled over its wild life
to make them manufacture accessories for unique survival.
The alpine parrots, ground dwelling Kiwis and the Kea bird
all congregate in its center of diverse bird species.
It is a log off site to snakes both local or immigrated
and a home to the world’s smallest Dolphin species;
second to none in the species of penguins
and land to the heaviest insect ever known in the world.
Imagination comes to life in the existence of a giant carnivorous snail
while Disney embraced reality through the mystery of Pelorus Jack.
Uniqueness in history is continuous
in this last populated habitable landmass in the world.
Is it a first time father at eleven and a century old?
Or the pioneering of plastic surgery in medical history?
Is it the appointment of a national wizard into government’s cabinet?
Or the historic climbing adventures of Edmund Hilary?
So concerned about the Queen’s safety and its territorial defense
is such a region attributed to the long white cloud
with its blue lake- the world’s clearest waters
and its ‘women’s-right-on-voting” pride;
It’s still flabbergasting to realize five out of every hundred
of its population is human; the rest simply animals.
Work in Progress
Mauna Loa Volcano & Kilauea Sister Volcano
The political and spiritual symbolism of Mauna Loa’s historic eruption
“We’re seeing new land, new geographical features being born right in front of our eyes, and there is no power — no human power — that can stop it or can deter it,” one Native Hawaiian scholar said.
“The Native people have been saying this isn’t your place to extract and profit from anymore,” said Kaniela Ing, co-founder of Native Hawaiian-focused organization Our Hawaii and a former state legislator. “You don’t have authority to shape our sacred lands.”
The eruption, Ing said, “is Pelehonuamea saying, ‘They’re right. My people are right.’”
The deity Pele, often referred to as “Tutu Pele,” or Grandmother Pele, has been regarded as an ancestor who “creates new land” as hardened, molten lava adds to the surrounding terrain.
— KU’UALOHA HO’OMANAWANUI, AUTHOR OF “VOICES OF FIRE: REWEAVING THE LITERARY LEI OF PELE AND HI’IAKA.”
Mauna Loa, on the island of Hawai’i and alongside the dormant, snowcapped volcano Mauna Kea, is expected to continue erupting for weeks. Thus far, the lava flow has significantly slowed and does not pose a threat to communities, the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency said. However, authorities expect it to eventually reach Daniel K. Inouye Highway, which is less than four miles away, in roughly a week or more.
Dawn's diamond dew drops delight
As cooler autumn air descends
Upon the tropical trees in dappled sun
Where wild piglets run, free to forage
Down below the snows of Mauna Kea
Where the rain forests reign supreme,
Where bird songs echo during daylight
And crickets and coqui frogs chirp in eve's
Moonlight as nature's lullabies linger long.
Cooler temperatures prevail presenting
October skies, a welcome relief from the
Summer's humid heat that slows the feet.
Autumn serenely shares her halcyon hues
In lilting leaves that dance when leaving trees
To grace the grounds in a mélange of mounds
As her frosty breath awakens soulful zest.
9-13-19
Strand Choice Y Poetry Contest
Sponsor Brian Strand
____________________________________________
~First Place~
Fall Into Fall Poetry Contest
Sponsored by: Chantelle Anne Cooke
_____________________________________________
~Second Place~
Contest Name Best free verse Jul-Dec 2019
Sponsor John Hamilton
Dec 9, 2019
A Kea is a parrot found in New Zealand
Also called Wobbly Keas, pranksters of birdland
Clowns of the mountains
Known to thousands
Of natives and tourists for fun loving diversions
**A lesson offered by the poet in me I've seen,
The lee sides (leeward) of mountains are where the winds parts upwards,
And the warmth of the earthen mound, extends outward becomes trapped,
Within the grasps of escaping winds that lifts, carries its prisoners of air,
As the winds go beyond, the trapped air burst over the mound and holds,
Whispers they are part of the mound and choose to remain for a moment,
The brevity of time, the mound holds its vague strands that hovers tenderly,
Their embrace ingratiates eyes far below, for nature's love is for all to behold.
**last two images of where I live in Hilo, Hawaii of 50k residents and Mauna Kea (White Mountain--'snow capped') firstly clear skies and lastly one with the lenticular cloud above it.
*Neighboring Mauna Kea has been sleeping for centuries, but notice the red flows popping and flowing in the gray areas below Mauna Loa's actual summit. Those are rift zones that pave through gray areas untouched, then pop out further downhill wiping out whole communities. BEWARE OF RIFT ZONE--which has been ongoing now.
Mauna Loa created Kilauea Iki, Pu'u O'o, Halemaumau, and Loihi Seamount (the underwater volcano).
*Image of The Big Island Rift Zones by UHH
A Rift Zone
Our fatigued town of Hilo by the bay,
woke late Sunday and watched black turn to gold.
Midnight's oil peters ere dawn the next day,
seen three lava streamed, some people unsold.
Volcanologists call it, a rift zone,
where red skies mock as magma glows on top
while forcing lava tubes neath, treks unknown.
O'er a hundred quakes daily, stresses swap.
Slams of earth's crust formed Everest's complete,
Mauna Loa was churned out from the ground up.
Twenty-nine faced thirty-three thousand feet,
shows this volcano's peaks, win the gold cup.
Confidence of sight, conscious bets clearly,
ignorants deal with escape plans dearly.
2022 December 01
I'm Etcetera,
the sentinel
at the gate
of the realm
of Fancy.
This is the kea
of the gate,
I open
the gate
and you
enter this realm
and get
yourself lost
in fancy-
I'm Etcetera!
Ke kgathaditswe Ke lerato.
Ke mehwabadi ya lerato,
Ke lla dikeledi tsa madi a mafubedu.
Pelo yaka e marantharantha.
Kannete lerato le nsotlile.
Ke apere mabitso, Ke jere ditlhapa.
Ke bitswa sefebe, Ke Pere
kannete Ke semaumau ka baka la lerato.
Kene Ke rata Ke nahana Kea ratwa.
Hanthe lerato Lena le kgaitsedi eleng Ditakatso,
Lerato lenfetotse se sebediswa.
Empa leka jeno kentse Ke rata.
#TheLivingPoet
*Image of Mauna Kea Hilo Bay by Big Island Now.
*Hilo Town, Now and Then
Signs of
Store Closed
or Out of Business
with taped crossed doors
A passing peek
through unkept glassed storefronts
of hanging cords from ceilings
and holes in walls
Abundant parking stalls lay abandoned
near to empty sidewalks of the main street
a marooned Hilo town rest
lives now resigned behind closed home doors.
A father's lengthy search in a parking lot
following, a parked Studebaker remains unlocked
as an anxious boy does a 60's abrupt run
suddenly braked-stopped by a mother's hold
Kress Department Store gleamingly welcomes
naive ignores mannequins that adorn storefront
the scent fills inside of popcorn or packaged candied ones
mom's clothes patterns with dad about as comics filled eyes
Christmas lights droop up and down the main street
every store big or small adds to the brightness
a youngster's glee emanates feelings likewise
hoping that said feelings last forever.
*Hilo: pronounced (HEE-low)
2020 August 15
*1st Place*
Enter the 'STRAND COMPLETELY NEW (24) ,any form,any theme'
~~Brian Strand: Judged 2020 August 19