Best Leif Poems
Melancholy shadows drift, (Repost)
Swirling, swirling in the mist,
Draw a veil across my way,
To hide the place where once we kissed,
And mask the mem'ry of desire.
Whose woods are these?
The poet quandered,
As through their deeps,
In thought he wandered,
Lost in search of hearth and fire.
So too search I, in lonely quest,
Of love, once mine, that now is lost.
In yonder wood I ken she waits,
I seek her now and damn the cost,
My heart lies on its funeral pyre.
In summer light, the wood is green,
In winter frost, its oaks stand bare,
I curse the mist that hides my path,
And carry through as leif I dare,
And know my hope a cursed liar.
I was looking out the window of the plane.
We did it; yes! We finally did it!
Passports in place, we hopped a plane.
Norway, here we come, all six of us.
It will be awesome; I just know it will.
Across the great abyss of the deep blue sea,
Directly to Oslo we flew –
Once we landed and passed customs…
(I dread those pat downs.)
Our family adventure began.
Everyone came to my sister-in-law’s home.
They were so happy to finally visit with us.
Then, we struck out on our own.
I loved the Viking Ship museum most.
After all, my Honey is of Viking descent!
The museum had just finished something marvelous.
It was a three-dimensional interactive presentation.
It felt almost like being a Viking; I loved it.
The artifacts in the museum were well preserved.
And, they may have been used by Eric the Red
Or Leif Erickson, Ingrid’s forefathers … But alas,
We were not allowed to touch them.
That day, we got to see a real Viking Ship, too.
It had been an awesome start to a 4 week excursion.
That night, we organized our itinerary.
We decided Oslofjord, which included lighthouses,
fishing and all kinds of recreation would be next.
The kids would really enjoy that.
All of a sudden, I heard a horn honk.
It was the school bus driver dropping of the boys.
That is when I realized that I had been
Daydreaming all along…AGAIN!
He is Conrad but not Hilton.
She is Cher but not that Cher.
He is Leif but not Erikson.
She is Tina but not that Tina
He is Chevy but not Chase.
Come meet my new kindergarten students.
the side of a ship
invites us to climb aboard-
we want to believe
penned by my friend Leif Thorstead as a gift
Bewail paltry ministry that gentle breeze ch aunt.
Impatience and dream hack milestone and whisper, a hailstorm of ornery ilk hum.
Go by the gentle breeze and bring hope.
Leif Leif kink lackey of milky joy.
Gently, gently, gentle breeze,
flag the rags on the meadow where you sleep
and declaim the meager ruddy leaves that ruin thee,
of immaculate mole illusory.
Gently, gently grip me,
or else thrash of licking whip.
Will bemoan laconically in our ill-bred head.
But still impede the witch-cash
with your gentle touch that comes from the measureless pretense of eve
like the halt of your gentle spoil that
Scour our coltish heart.
History, Columbus and Friends
To be on the right side of History you must make friends
History is the study of the past
Sponsored by political winds and spins
Lincoln sells cars on TV and kills vampires in movies
George Washington makes dollar bills
“Cesar” was a salad
Kansas is Central America…. (not sure what country)
The rest of the world does not exist
Columbus sometimes discovered America
With his Master card and Visa
Other times it’s Leif Erickson who found the USA
Or some ancient Asians but I can’t pronounce their names
And they don’t have parades
So Happy Columbus Day
I’ll have a beer and another slice of pizza
S omethign
so OHspomething
wa
somethign has gone wrong.
wrong horribly
wrong. er
ong.
yet l
leif li
will
lf
will relentlessy
go
on
Edvard Munch
An Ekphrasis Stylized Poem of Jealousy
Oh, ancient Oden!
I summon your primitive hand.
Take this oiled brush I hold,
and order my strokes with your command.
With deep red, spilling like blood across the land,
she appears as the object of my affection,
nude and reaching toward a tree
as if to lure my enemy, with want and lust-filled attention.
Is there reason, lord, why my foe is portrayed in Crayola-like imperfection?
Is he to be, Newfoundland, and she as Norway with Viking confiscation?
And are the greens not depicting my envy,
a reprieve from the harsh white lands of Greenland?
And now you insist… I portray myself, or maybe Leif,
or perhaps a Christian King!
Why do you torment me so?
Why can’t I just let this brush go, before a Berserker I become,
to seal my fate through fires run,
across my own pire I’ve tried to overcome,
and on success blazoned before the cross, to be succumbed?
Once filled with hedonistic jealousy, in my exhaustion,
I am finally outrun,
back into the green Norse woods I retreat, weak and numb…
to mend my wounds, and lust for your power hence come,
to paint another day.
by Martin Braun
July 11, 2023
Four score, nothing there
Ukraine lost the Roman hosted sporting affair
Back in London Boris raises a Saturday pint
Proclaiming success on this summer’s night
Soon the red, white boys will be coming home
Right now, Wembly is dark and alone
Waiting for Tuesday’s Spanish Inquisition
Italy goalers planning their position
But as for the Danes
Wednesday is their game
A fairy tale
Against the old guard writing the daily mail
No reason to complain
Dickens and Anderson will be talked about noting societal fame
UK will put up their best
Defending a modern-day stadium nest
While those from Denmark
Will be able to hark
Under the lights in the evening’s dark
Hollering Christian ‘we love you’
While turning Nordic Leif on Erikson too
A protagonist inside the sports book pages
Hero to those counting wages
British need to hold serve
To get what they deserve
A trip to the Championship round
And a trophy worthy of a couple pounds
Giving to the victor who wins it all
Competing in UEFA European futbol
There, within the castle-keep
Where fiery embers sleep
Comes the fairy wilds now calling thee
Where yea shall sleep no more
He rides on the white steed
In armor bright and clean
Mighty is the man among the knights
Enchanted Tamlin
They will turn him in the night
Into a fig or frog, into a tree or stone
Where he will be no more
Rocks gathered at the shore
Hold back the oceans green
There, where men were born
Warriors keep out the war
The peace is broken wide
As evil things will creep
Into the minds of men
With no one left alive
No man in all the land
Shall have the hand of Marion
Though she be plump with child
The king commands her style
In the middle of the night
The fairy queen will come
With potions conjured up
From days of old
She will turn the earthly man
Into a lion bold
Into a naked knight
Then toss him to the cold
Pierced through the heart was he
Left in the dark to die
The love of Marion will cry
As he will be no more
Death rides with the white steed
Farthest from the town
Where in the glen he fell
More lost than found
Author's Note: I wrote this poem in honor of Fairport Convention, Sandy Denny, creators of Liege and Leif and the song Tamlin
Pillage and plunder, have your fill
Indifference to my screams as you kill
Living with the guilt, though you forget
God hasn’t forgiven. No, oppressor. Not yet.
Realistically we had this land, it was already discovered.
I alone founded it. Leif found us uncovered.
Me and mine treated it well and the planet loved us.
Spanish crusaders, English invaders, now my land shrugs us.
OCTAVE:
LORD, as morn yields to noon (or dawn) my SONnet will please, tease, release:
I greet thee, having access to Your throne by Jesus
And His sacrifice on Calvary: We pray against the Virus
With a sunshiny name, an aura of a name, "a garland" ...
Corona Virus, COVID-19, or SARS-Cov-2, Thy Hand
Is mighty and righteous, always Righteous, even in judgment
God of Grace and Love, forgiveness and Provisioning
Forgive me my greed, envy, jealousy, smallness and scheming
SESTET:
I intercede for others now, nations and peoples, as did Moses & Joshua
All countries that begin with the letter "G" even if I privilege Great Germany
Bless Greenland, with ice in the veins of history, Leif Erikson (Vikings?)
Ghana, named for an Empire of Gold, but "Ghana" itself means "ruler" I think
All "G" countries, so many I cannot list them all, but we do pray for planet (s)
We forgive tourists & others as we're forgiven! CORONA time when unity begins
We had Wonder Woman,
and The Rocky Horror
Picture Show.
We had MASH,
and Hawaii Five-O.
We had Bonanza,
And the Nanny and
The Professor.
We had the Jeffersons,
And Stevie Wonder.
We had The Odd Couple,
And Flip Wilson.
We had Welcome
Back Kotter,
And the Datsun.
We had Hogans Hero,
And Sonny and Cher.
We had Lucille Ball,
and a movie called Hair.
We had Fat Albert,
with the Cosby kids,
and The Exorcist.
We had the Land of
The Lost, And the
Midnight Express.
We had Josie
And the Pussycats,
And the Mississippi Queen.
We had the Flintstones,
and Americans living
the dream.
We had Planet
Of the Apes,
And the Brady Bunch.
We had room 222,
And Starsky & Hutch.
We had the
Midnight Special,
And The Partridge Family.
We had Mighty Mouse,
And Laverne & Shirley.
We had Star Trek,
And Dog Day Afternoon.
We had The Sting,
And National Lampoon.
We had I'm OK,
You're OK,
And Leif Garrett.
We had the Love Story,
and a horse named
Secretariat.
Turbo1904?
Discover America
Come all aboard
We’re sailing to freedom
Like all those before
Leif Erikson, Columbus
Then CONQUISTADORS!!!!
They came, they saw
But noticed NO door
Discover America
Like all those before
It’s yours for the taking
Ignore the border