Best Menagerie Poems
At daybreak,
I approach the beach across a soft hill of clover,
past sleeping Pandanus palms,
and down a small sand dune.
I am enveloped by sea wind.
I look up to a flight of swallows - symbol of returning.
They occupy the airspace of seagulls.
A kookaburra laughs, somewhere to land-ward,
bringing fond memories of far off bushland.
A Malamute passes beside me,
pulling a woman on a long leash.
If she had a small sled she could mush
along this perfect white beach.
Tall lady pines grace the shoreline
their skirts just out of reach of sea water.
Seagulls sit in small conventions pecking free donuts.
They queue up for cups of coffee; I imagine
their grey wings tucked through Aloha shirts.
A German shepherd lopes, wolf-like, scatters them,
they swoop out to sea, laughing.
They'll be telling the folks back home
of their close call.
Now the sun's rays have reached the high rises,
awakening diamond fires from glass windows.
On the horizon, sunbeams reach down in straight lines
like sun-pictures from a child's storybook.
My imagination runs wild but my walk has ended,
as I climb the wooden ramp - back to the street,
alive for what my day holds.
There’s a frog sitting on the potty going, “Rib-bit”.
Sitting down where I normally sit.
I am not sure why the frog came to visit,
But he’s sitting on the potty going, “Rib-bit.
There’s a cow sitting on the potty going, “Moo-moo”.
She’s sitting in the same place that I do.
I am not sure why the cow came to see you,
But she’s sitting on the potty going, “Moo-moo”.
There’s a horse sitting on the potty going, “Neigh-neigh”.
I sit on the potty in the same way.
I am not sure if the horse is here to stay,
But he’s sitting on the potty going, “Neigh-neigh”.
There’s a bird sitting on the potty going, “Tweet-tweet”.
I sit on that very same seat.
I am not sure if this ever will repeat,
But she’s sitting on the potty going, “Tweet-tweet”.
There’s a dog sitting on the potty going, “Bow-wow”.
She climbed up there, but I don’t know how.
I am not sure if that dog is done now,
But she’s sitting on the potty going, “Bow-wow”.
There’s a donkey sitting on the potty going, “Hee-haw”.
He’s sitting there as if it were a see-saw.
I am not sure why the donkey came to call,
But he’s sitting on the potty going, “Hee-haw”.
I am sitting on the potty singing my song,
About the animals that have been here all day long.
If they can use the potty it can’t be all wrong,
So I’m sitting on the potty singing my song.
She was ethereal in her beauty.
I always loved her of course.
But only from a respectful distance.
She collected glass animal's.
I always gave her one for birthdays.
She would kiss my cheek in thanks.
Not the kiss I craved but a kiss.
Her perfect French braids
framing her lovely face.
I fantasized unfastening them
Slowly so her hair flowed
Like the soft spring rain
washing my bare skin.
She would show me the
Intricate color mix
in her glass menagerie.
But I only saw the colors
of her hair her eyes her lips.
When the sickness came
Her skin became
taught and translucent like glass.
The weight loss
showing her frame
She looked more and more
like one of her
beloved glass collection.
Then when we lost her
She left her collection to me.
But the one I wanted
Was on a high shelf
Beyond the clouds
Far beyond my reach.
Hungry Bird
bobbin
robin
Spewing out Babies
fertile
turtle
Caught in the Rain
soggy
doggy
Loved Pet
pretty
kitty
Bigger Bird
sturdy
birdie
Angry Bovines
cattle
battle
Written: 3/3/16
Twilight fuels fireflies;
as they flash in the night.
And moths court fire's flame,
enamored with its light.
As a scarlet sun sets,
female mosquitoes thirst.
And buzzing Dusk, they swarm,
vying for who'll bite first.
Silence is broken by
a cricket's eerie shrill.
And a cicada's chirp,
haunts the night like a chill.
When Dawn breaks, Sol rises,
flooding the sky with light.
And butterflies flutter,
to every bloom in sight.
Green grasshoppers soon stir,
jumping wildly about.
And ants start scavenging,
finding new trails to scout.
Summer's menagerie,
is neither good nor bad.
Yet they thrive amidst us,
and I, for one, am glad.
Lights out, lights out!
In the run about, the critters flee to me
Storm, blazing lightning, air too warm
My friends with fur feel a curse
On the wind- a sense of berzerk
Huddling together, kitty close for good measure
Ozone green, birds stop the preen
Feels like a train is gliding by, so close nigh
Rumble the ground before the sound
The animals knew- I had no clue
We shudder in this shack, back to back
A growl here, a hiss there, outside something howls
A banshee on the wind, makes me want to flee
Yet the twister keeps us here, shaking menagerie
Slamming rain above our heads- Oh the dread!
Here we must stay- as buildings rock and sway
Perhaps for the rest of the day- hearts heavily weigh.
A. Green
suburban slumbers
mantelpiece menagerie
dreams of wild places
An ABC Menagerie
“A” is for apples and animals like ants.
“B” is for baboons with bright blue balloons.
“C” is for the circus clowns calling big cats.
“D” is for a dozing doggies dreaming delights.
“E” is for elves, elephants, and enormous ears.
“F” is for fantastic fun, and fuzzy-furry friends.
“G” is for giraffes and giant gibbering goats.
“H” is for harps, harmony, and happy hopes.
“I” is for imagination, imported igloos, and ice.
“J” is for jolly jesters, jiggling jell-o, and juice.
“K” is for kettle-corn, kings, and kangaroos.
“L” is for lively lovely ladies laughing loudly.
“M” is for monkeys and magic merry-go-rounds.
“N” is for noses, necklaces, and nuts.
“O” is for oranges, opossums, and oats.
“P” is for parties, pansies, and pokes.
“Q” is for questions, quilts, quail, and queens.
“R” is for raccoons, rushing rivers, and rats.
“S” is for sugar, shiny shells, and sunshine,
“T” is for tadpoles, tough turtles, and tots.
“U” is for unicorns under umbrellas.
“V” is for violets, vines, and violins.
“W” is for windows, windsocks and west-winds.
“X” is for xylophone, Xerox and x-ray.
“Y” is for yodeling yaks yanking yellow yarn.
“Z” is for zooming zebras zipping zealously.
© August 3, 2010
Dane Smith-Johnsen
Oh, menagerie, like the song of the Mockingbirds,
forever changing ripples in pellucid water.
My heart beats, chained and caged, yet as wild as your beasts,
unable to escape this emotional circus,
you the Ring Master and I your sad clown.
As vermilion drops infuse the myriad of ache
within my throbbing tumultuous breast,
my luscious ancestral desire for you
weeps fragrant petals for your silky Frangipani skin.
Then I look in your eyes and see the dark of twilight settle.
01/11/2018
[indulging in mystical dreams of faeries and nymphs]
Bathed in the pale shafts of moonlight
they float on silent wings, barely
fluttering, soft as a whisper
as they hover inside my room.
Tiny gossamer nymphs snatching
stray moonbeams, flirting, cavorting,
crazily misbehaving - they
glide and dance around my roses.
They may exist only in my
bare dream moonscape, mere creations
lurking in cobwebs of the brain
as conscious mind embraces dark.
I welcome sleep that gives them life
before misty dawn rushes in
my menagerie of flowr's and fruits
theirs alone to feast in moonlight.
@jjote posted 06/23/2016
As I opened the velvet box
I was suddenly flooded with a wealth of memories...
The smells, the sights, the sounds of a happy childhood almost forgotten...
Tiny rings that used to fit tiny fingers
Gleefully now fit a small princess
Rembrance of a time when Hearts and flowers and unbridled abounded
Carefree, gilded love, recounted
Half of a bosom friend's necklace, the other half belonging to a friendship gone stale and lost over the years
Memories of smiles and tears
Necklaces worn with dresses that led to nights where girlhood was in prime
Feeling like a princess and in love with being in love, sublime.
Reminders of what used be
Of a life lived and the girl that was me.
The vermilion and sangria sunset sets across the sky,
mockingbirds land gently on barren branches as they fly-
Twilight ascends and all is ebon in the darkened night,
the frangipani bushes glow as the moonlight shines,
pellucid stars sparkle with crystalline and romantic light.
Ripples in the reverie surface the relishing tidal shore,
for it’s always been this aquatic menagerie that I adore-
Ancestral generations of marine animals gather with emotion,
luscious and beautiful angel fish dance under water,
as the night does infuse with affection and sincere devotion.
10 Words and 10 Lines Challenge Poetry Contest
Sponsor: Silent One
January 6th, 2018
she saved a bird
after
he landed
with feet in the air
near
the ceramic bunny —
someone’s brother
(in the garden)
ginger snaps
on her cool desk.
cages upon cages
of snakes
and an orange-cheeked
cockatiel.
i loved to talk
to that bird
“Twhoo, twhoo, twhoo”
the bird was there
in the afternoon
when
almost all
classrooms were dark.
one day they removed
all the fun
from her room
not one gingercrumb was left.
not one
even hinted
cancer
7/10/2020
*Dedicated to a friendly teacher and a little boy
The birds chirping of pulchritudinous sound
with all the other animals running around
with the sun shinning bright 2 the ground
these animals existed in abound
the life here is so profound
most of the animals are renowned
the animals lying around,
eating all they could
they wouldn't have been eating it
if it wasn't good
At first, my perception of animals was
misunderstood
With my eyes aglow, there I stood
her christmas cluster
santa claus menagerie
jolliest decor