Best Loggerhead Poems
The sand is swept with gleams of light,
pale moonbeams burst where wavelets crest
about sea turtles seeking nest.
Soft seas are flat and calm tonight
beneath the light of stars; on land
she digs an egg womb out of sand.
Before impending winds take flight
the dawn reveals her scrabbled walk
of mother love; how nature talks.
Sea turtle pounded, stormy plight,
small beach creatures in fright, agape;
the loggerhead cannot escape.
A tropical cyclone's sad blight
has swept her nest and eggs apart;
the beach displays her broken heart.
The sand is swept with gleams of light,
soft seas are flat and calm tonight
before impending winds take flight.
Sea turtle pounded, stormy plight,
a topical cyclone's sad blight.
Copyright, November 18, 2017
Faye Lanham Gibson
Categories:
loggerhead, beach, natural disasters, nature,
Form:
Rhyme
In the wee hours of the morning
When the owls and imps were upon the marsh
We would take our old pirogue and paddle into the darkness
Our intent was to catch bullfrogs but anything was game
We were two young boys armed with BB guns and fishing poles
Headlights strapped hard and tight around our skulls
We searched the shore and stumps for eyes glowing in the night
Cypress trees towered overhead and occasionally the canopy would break
And we would see the clouds drifting quickly past and catch a glimpse of the moon
The paddles would never break the waters surface, as silence was our friend
Once we spotted our prey we would move in slowly and my brother would creep
Slowly to the bow. He would bend over the bow reaching out many feet in front of the boat and grab the frog behind the front legs and quickly stash it away into a burlap sack
Every catch brought us great pleasure, as this was no easy feat. We could have shot them with the BB guns but that was illegal and not nearly as fun. On occasion we would have to steal them from a water moccasin that was ready to strike. Those moments were like lighting and only steeled our intentions to catch more.
Once we had caught a dozen or so we would begin to look for other prey to catch or harass (we were teenagers and couldn’t help ourselves). The occasional raccoon caught out in the open was always fun to chase but never pleasurable to have in the pirogue with us. We learned that lesson the hard way one night when I pushed the boat into the fork of a cypress tree with an old mother coon eating a turtle. My brother and I fought like hardened sailors to keep her at bay but both ended up in the water and nearly sank the pirogue.
Other occasions found us pulling loggerhead turtles from the depths and trying to dispatch them before they bit off a finger.
We both have all our appendages to this day, but I swear Lord we tried, we really tried to lose them.
I never saw a frog leg jump from the pan, but the old man did make us slice them at the knees just to be sure we didn’t loose a piece of that meat that tasted better than any chicken I ever ate.
Categories:
loggerhead, beautiful, childhood, water,
Form:
Narrative
Tiny sea turtle; creeps its way across white beach sands to sea.
Newly hatched reptile, learning to swim into his new life; he’s free.
One day, he will grow into a very fine loggerhead.
Categories:
loggerhead, animal, nature, poems, poetry,
Form:
Sijo
I WISH I WEREN’T A TURTLE
by
JOHN M. ARRIBAS
I wish I weren’t a turtle, I’d rather be a hare
I beat him every time, but no one seems to care
I carry this armor plate every where I go
Designs on them are worthless, its just for show
But I’m just a plain ole turtle, not a clever terrapin
I stay distant from the water cause, folks, I can’t swim
I stick to terra firma where my claws get a good grab
I wish I could propel sideways, like my ole pal the crab
I might be slow and some say totally pragmatic
If I get to my destination, I am completely ecstatic
I’ve got some kin; that are never ever outsmarted
Go far out to sea then return to where they started
You may have heard of them, Loggerhead, Leatherback
Hawksbill, Green. They are mariners seldom seen
And for those of you that don’t know didley
Let me introduce you to the Olive Ridley
They cruise at will through the seven seas
While I stumble constantly into forest debris
As you can see my family members travel far
Yet, I’m lucky crossing the street, avoiding a car
And I have a plethora of enemies as well
I’d have been eaten long ago, if not for this shell
I’m most vulnerable during the mating season
Rivals try to upend me to claim the warm one
So that’s how it goes, each day is the previous
Winter will soon be here, I’ve got to get serious
I’ll comb the swampy areas for some real soft mud
I’ll bury myself and hope spring won’t bring a flood
I’ll shut down all my systems, I won’t even breathe
Til the sun the warms me, I’ll constantly utter a prayer
That when I awake I’ve been transformed into a hare
Humbuggery
Categories:
loggerhead, allegory, emotions, fantasy, children,
Form:
Rhyme
betwixt the circuitous cocoon of rose hips wrestles a world of unfathomable infamy
induced by light and shadow murmur influences ridicules scent.
conscripted into nature's loggerhead shrike chirp by forces unknown
influenced by the pestilence of greeds monkey see monkey do, ovary retards.
up from the grave of the anchor root rises the sun of expansion
cleansing the cane to shoulder its crown watching bud eye fornicate.
obliging the filament petition to pullulate the wind bats its lash
awakening the anther to feed its feeder roots.
efflorescent anatomy of stamen and pistil captivate beauties awe
apathy will bloom its withered rose until perceived with the nose!
Categories:
loggerhead, beauty, change, growth, rose,
Form:
Couplet
Oh, lofty love if for you I could smile again
I’d never on you inflict further pain
Nor your love trap in my miserable chain
If only you could grant me upfront
A second chance to confront the affront
I pinned on your sensitivity at the waterfront
Where you and I first met
You wearing the love helmet
That made my resistance plummet
As I gazed at you lost for words
Until you surrendered passwords
That grew into affection catchwords
Graduating our puppy love into substance
Until forces of circumstance
Tore you from me in an instance
Where a rush of mad blood to my head
Made me wink at a redhead
Plunging you and I at loggerhead
Turning my world blue
Losing the love glue
That left me without a clue
On where I could obtain forgiveness
For the obtrusiveness and impulsiveness
Inherent in the unattractiveness
My gauche action brought in the wake
Of the mistake
Made fully awake
But sleepwalking
As I knew you lay quaking
Breaking at the thought of my shaking
The foundation of the love we built
Not in a word or a quilt
Not in loam, sand, wit or silt
I beg you to take me back
Cos you and I can pack
Again more love in our stack
Where I pledge to play fair
To lavish on you more care
As I dare say I’d no longer stare
At anyone but you
Each day, each night to love you anew
To prepare for you and share a new love stew
Filled with freshness
Genuineness
Truthfulness and happiness.
Categories:
loggerhead, poems,
Form:
Free verse
Oh! The land is green
It bounteousness thus dissolves my spleen
When upon my chagrin
Nature offers her shoulders for me to lean
Oh! The land is green
Each morning of greenness offers me a gleam
And the sun never ceases to radiate my dream
Oh my land is a crème de la crème
Oh! The land is green
When my neighbors cry of famine
Because harvest has been infested by vermin
I still smile at the produce of my famine
Indeed there is no cause for crying
So, stop whining; keep smiling
Oh! The land is green
The cock crows to welcome me into daybreak
The stream, river, lagoon even the lake
in drought never at stake
Oh! The land is green
The harmattan does not rebel against summer
The rain not at loggerhead with the farmer
I will seek no asylum because my land is safer
And I do not live in constant fear of disaster
The land is green
The land is green
My land is green
Categories:
loggerhead, nature, seasons, me, me,
Form:
Rhyme
The Edge of Extinction
Silent humming birds
Great ocean whales
Deep unknown rain forests
Dark eyed Polar Bears
Ancient Loggerhead turtles
Ivory tusked Elephants
North American Indians
Eskimos
Australian Aboriginals
Lost South American Indians
Kiwis and Kakapo’s
Sperm whales
Blue whales
Narwhales
Killer whales
Prairies covered with Buffalo
Humpback whales
Deep forest Wolves
Ospreys and Kitty Hawks
Sparrow Hawks
Red Kites
High flying Bald Eagles
Gargantuan Grizzly Bears
And slinking ferocious Cougars
Snow Leopards
Tall majestic Elms and Rowans
Snow Tigers
And dark midnight Panthers
White Peacocks
And Peacock Butterflies
Green Hedge Warblers
Corn Crakes
Green Capped Wood Peckers
Wisteria
And rare Fox Gloves
Wild Orchids
And the wild, wild Mustang
Tiny Yellow Tree Frogs
Bandit masked Badgers
Soaring Californian Condors
Red Squirrels
Water Voles
And Sea Otters
Forests of Kelp
Cromer Crabs
Sad eyed Panda’s
Will this catalogue continue endlessly
Sixteen thousand listed already
What species next
Humanity ?
Categories:
loggerhead, animals, loss, nature, people
Form:
Free verse
Leatherback, murray river, matama
Hawksbill, common musk and spiny soft shell.
Loggerhead, Atlantic green, alligator snapping
Turtles are we, in every country we dwell.
The largest sea turtle reaches eight hundred pounds.
A leatherback whose love for jellyfish abounds.
Alligator snapping is one fourth of leatherback’s weight
Uses pink fleshy flap of lower jaw for bait.
The difference in turtles fascinates me.
I can picture the loggerheads running to the sea.
No matter what country you decide to make your home
There is a turtle close by, even if it is in this poem.
Categories:
loggerhead, animal, fun,
Form:
Rhyme
I shall love you always
though in the brief moment of that promise
I shall leave you to search and destroy the enemy
with your sweet scents of lilacs lingering on my mind
Scents buried deeply to recall
the many fragrances of your body
still in my moments of distress I pray
that in your lonely times when desire beckons
You will still wait for me
To give me the pleasure of bathing you
with these hands that desperately want to hold your nakedness
I shall love you always
if always is as long as forever
In that interminable absence
eons may come and go
and oceans of light years roll through heaven
but any length of time will not deter my love
Nor will the vast distances of hot desert sands
I shall return like a loggerhead turtle
Returns to its nesting grounds
For its mate
Keep the faith, my sweetness,
I shall soon be next to you to cup your breasts
in the palm of my hand and taste your tender skin
With my tongue
I shall always love you
if always is as long as forever
but pray for my safe return
as I pray to return to you.
Categories:
loggerhead, angst, love, war,
Form:
Free verse
"Clapper Rail, Condor,
Loggerhead Shrike and a lost,
Whooping Crane, rarer..."
"Stop!" "Did you make the chess team?"
"No, because I am too short."
Categories:
loggerhead, allegory, boy, father son,
Form:
Tanka
Loosing (lou sing) the damn rumors...
Torpedo style full speed ahead
keeping me in suspense,
what salacious gossip
gets browned, buttered, rolled
down the alley and bred
into unsavory tidbits,
these souffled ears dread
to hear hard boiled morsels
poached, scrambled, whipped
donning barren falsehoods
zeitgeist spouting dunderhead
trumpeting hex pence heave
signature border wall
inside this weatherbeaten egghead
sponge bobbing squarepants,
whereby passers by some with fathead
steer clear avoiding your truly
wobbly, and zany fountainhead
even atlas shrugged his shoulders
in repugnance at mine R.E.M. bored
heavy slimy algal filled
legally tendered greenhead
thank dog - me noggin
rock solid hardhead
able to withstand falsehoods
pitting this uber capital one
tindered linkedin lyfted loggerhead
with silent springing
black barbs snubbed from lunkhead
argh, those cruel verbal slings
fired weapons courtesy
mass destruction multiwarhead
lobbed, rocket propelled, tear gassed
glancing off cratered moon faced pate
said vicious unfounded nailhead
sharp hearsay twittering
with wingspan outspread
pterodactyl by bajillion miles exceeded
size of Sheepshead
Bay, I knew best to tread
softly, and carry big stick
admonished by Teddy Roosevelt
in conjunction with unifying thread
primarily on issues
in mathematics and logic
advanced by Alfred North Whitehead,
hence we must find another
place to escape widespread
senior citizens acting juvenile,
maybe a place gravely wrested
or willingly conceded
from grateful dead.
Categories:
loggerhead, 10th grade, 11th grade,
Form:
Enclosed Rhyme
Picking Okra was Before Child Abuse
or
I'd Rather Eat a Possum
By: Tom Wright
8/5/00
Layers of clouds lay overhead,
perhaps a summer rain.
Though tempted to denounce,
as a child, I would refrain.
A carpet of dust surrounds bare feet,
large drops are now falling,
Warm, as they hit my unclad back,
while from a distance, Mother calling.
Thunder cracking,
lightening flashes, at first, just a bit,
and near the porch, an aging poplar
has taken a direct hit.
Tell me again Mom,
It's too dangerous to pick Okra,*
but not to wash fruit jars. **
Now try convincing a " loggerhead " of that. ***
Would rather play with my toy cars.
Shou'da wore a shirt, Itching all over,
Fried Okra sure is fun to eat,
not so for a boy to pick.
First, get the tub and take a Lysol bath,
then maybe a treat.
Valuable lessons they assured I was learning,
and at some latter day, I'd use.
But picking Okra has never helped,
today, it's called Child Abuse.
* (What lightening danger Mom, I got under a tree,)
**1f I cut my hand on a jar, then you'll be sorry).
***(thought that was my name until Jr. high)
Categories:
loggerhead, child abuse, childhood, humor,
Form:
Lyric
There will be no carved monument
a notable nothings chisel to say “ Kilroy was here ”
no mentions for mournful obituary
the local newspapers won’t hear
All but slow faded loggerhead
so much struggling for remember me
the acquittal of yesterdays memory
announced by the digital alarms by their bed
With those bauble paraphernalia's of surviving
the counterfeit collection of reasoning why
in ticker-tape parades of paper-chase fluttering
falling bedazzled from an empty sky
And so in all the desperation's of grabbing
having must have its wanting
these needful things of
the glitter ball room of living
Each daily's confrontation
each bent back to meet the challenge
rips away the life's gift wrapping
only to discover there is nothing
Every breath fallen to detention
their hours spilled inconsequential
no connection connection no
the void of cognizance competes for survival
Was Kilroy ever here
present attentive on the register of arrival
was there ever a miracle so ignored
on the fateful day when the world is born
Some woeful history in a libraries chronicle
containing the graffiti of unknown scribbling
left to proclaim all we would need
is surely to be in the paraphernalia of surviving
Categories:
loggerhead, life,
Form:
Free verse