Best Neighing Poems
Grandpa’s chair still there
though stables are empty now
ghostly echoes of neighing
still hear Gramps praying
“Please, Lord, let me keep my farm”
blessings bestowed on our clan
*Entry for Rick’s “Chair in Shadowed Room” contest
Look around,embrace life,smile,
Even if it's only once in a while,
Gods' world,acres of entertainment,
Learn to laugh,enjoy your environment,
Umbrellas out,the birds are soaring,
Two parrots pecking,so adoring,
The king of water,angry river roaring,
Water racing each other,raindrops pouring,
Snake shaking his rattler,rumba girls luring,
Woodpecker sharing knock,knock jokes,ohh so boring,
Visa-card in his poach,kangaroo touring,
Owl seeking more wisdom,bird brain storing,
More hay over here,horses neighing,
Green,green pastures,the donkeys are braying,
Twenty four-sevens,happy hens are laying,
Do you catch the drift,of what I'm saying,
Now open your eyes,see what I'm talking about,
Hope it put a smile on your face,
Or pulled a laugh from your mouth....
"You'll find more peace in your life if you refuse to listen to idle chatter."
~ by poet
When a squirrel does it, he sounds like the Madd Hatter
But when doves coo it, it's more like romantic chatter
Chickens cluck pecking for grain that makes them fatter
and Meerkats jabber as a warning signal to "SCATTER!"
Often defined as the noises made by monkeys and birds
but I've heard such gibberish spoken by humans in words
and clinical conversations of dialogue by high-tech nerds.
I wonder if baaing and neighing is chatter among herds.
Chatter can also be considered as gossip or tittle-tattle
or as irrelevant talking, which is idle or foolish prattle.
Perhaps used in bovine circles as mooing among cattle
and the goo goo sound of a baby when shaking a rattle.
I've known a talker or two who I'd label chatter bugs
who can become more annoying then crawling slugs
That's not the kind of people I'd want to give big hugs
for their chatter might persist until I'd need ear plugs.
There's muttering and piffling, cackling and yammers
who'd talk day and night til you put on your jammers.
With nonstop chit chat, they blabber in noisy clamours
until you can make it stop with whacks from hammers!
February 4, 2023
Writing Challenge - C Words Contest
Sponsored by Constance La France
My heart
Swung between two clouds
My face
Fell above a bunch of thorns
My ears
Ran behind the neighing of love
My steps
Fell down on the brink of death
My arms
Opened to the light of heaven
My eyelids
Closed on the sadness
And my chest
Narrowed on the pulse of my heart
Oh God for now
Take me to a lover knows how to love!
The Parting
Exodus 14
We stand sweating and thirsty by the shore
At the setting of Ra
A setting we’ve always anticipated
Bringing a glimpse of beauty to each day of toil
Beauty now eclipsed by a plumage of fire
Baking our scarred backs
Reflected heat scorching past us
To turn the red waters aflame
Red mixing with yellow
Glistening and churning
What Gehenna must look like
For it was the beginning of the end when Moses came
Since his God awakened from prolonged slumber
Awakened no doubt by the prayers of devout widows
Widows who still believe the stories about Joseph
And safe-keep his bones
But there’s no denying recent events
I thought we hated the Egyptians
But not compared to Moses’s God
And now what’s left of them are here
We hear their horses neighing, their muffled screams of insults and threats
All brought here by the same whirlwind of destiny
That besets us both
And now it is night
The reds and the yellows fade to black
Vibrant colors swept away by wind
And such a wind
Spraying the salt into our faces
Immersing us, maddening us further with thirst
Hour after hour after cursed hour
Ra returns at last
Revealing a scene we will never forget
We face a gauntlet of dry ground
The sea blown aside by relentless gales
The ground covered with clinging seaweed, craggy rocks, and freshly-dead fish
Shrieking seagulls are feasting and swarming like locusts
Holy smoke it is impressive
We stand agape for a moment
Then into this valley the old step first
Slow progress, stumbling, dodging, climbing
Walking through collateral damage
Frequently looking back
Expecting to be overrun by our oppressors
Ra sets again
We all have crossed
We turn and face the sea, now filling again
Swirling with them, horses and men
Gasping for air, dying one by one
Our tears unexpectedly cover the ground
Mourning a common humanity, a shared sorrow
And we feel again the heat on our backs
Heat from the endless desert, from an unknown fate
But O God
Still we thirst
In my dreams I am outrunning horses
They strive to catch up, whinnying and neighing
I laugh; my hair is streaming so hard in their faces.
I am now the wind, catching them up in an exuberant way
I fling them onto a mountain top with other horses, free and wild.
They nod their approval, knowing I will send a helicopter full of oats and hay.
Even though I fear horses, I wish them well.
Even in my dreams.
Fields filled with stalks of corn
A plow that is dirty and worn
Jars of milk and eggs from chickens
For breakfast cooking in your kitchen
Cows are mooing-- Roosters crowing
Planting seeds for veggie growing
Muddy pigs are such a fright
Goats eat everything in sight
Horses neighing in the barn
For a carrot to munch on
Dogs are rounding up some sheep
Hay is stacked in big tall heaps
Porch swings used most every night
To see stars shining oh so bright
Country songs are playing loud
To attract a dancing crowd
Neighbors waving and say hi
Every time that you pass by
Country life is hard and fun
Lots of work is getting done
Good times start and never end
Until the sun wakes up again
There is a soft buzz in the evening air
Listen closely and you may hear
Children a laughing in the distance
Carols a playing with persistence
Rustling sounds from Mother's kitchen
Dogs a barking with tails a twitchen
Church bells a ringing down the street
People's voices as friends they greet
Horses neighing down the way
Sleigh bells a ringing so joyful and gay
Daddy a chopping to stoke the house fire
Squirrels a chattering deep in the forest briar
Chestnuts a dropping from the old tree in back
Grandpa a cussing as he gives the old stove a whack
The creaking and groaning as all climb the kitchen stairway
Silence round the table as all give thanks for the day
There is much to be said about the sounds this time of year
Listen closely and you may hear
Estephania was the Spanish horse,
with a chestnut coat and mane
and a lighter long tail...and she ate
alfalfa for strong teeth and bones.
She was domesticated, losing her liberty
and neighing she showed keen ability:
to spot dangers on a perilous path...
Estefania even stopped for a stranded cat.
In summertime she fed mostly on grass,
but bees stung her many times to protest,
and struggling to get them off her tail...
she hit a shrilling raven in the head.
And feeling sorry for the dying bird wincing,
Estefania licked his semi-open eyes...giving
him a little comfort as he folded his wings;
and whinnying she wept a river of tears.
Nightmare, Translation of Paul Verlaine’s Cauchemar
(Translation of Paul Verlaine’s quintilla : « Cauchemar ». As usual, I have tried to stick to the original’s stanzaic format and rhyme scheme. T. Wignesan)
In my unfurling dream I saw it happen
- The way the hurricane lashes the strand –
A two-edged sword whirling in one hand
An hourglass in the other
This knight rider
Come coursing through Germany
Down through towns and the open country
And from the river up mountain free,
And from forests to valley lone
This stallion
Ebony black and red as flame
Sans bridle, nor bit, nor rein.
Ne’er a hup ! nor crop, constrain
In the midst of deafening railing
Unfailing ! Unfailing !
Long plume adorning a huge felt hat
Kept in shade his eye which up it lit
And then it dimmed. Such as in the mist
Explodes and dies this blue flash clear
The weapon fire
As when the white-tailed eagle’s wing
As might by a sudden storm sting
The air streaked with snowing,
His fur coat out-raised distend
Beat back the wind,
And disclosed with an air : glory be
A torso sombre and of ivory,
While in the black night free
Through strident neighing : dazzling beneath
Thirty-two teeth.
© T. Wignesan – Paris, 2013
Flutter
Look up I see
Their souls flittering past
Down here smell carnage, hear clink, slash
neighing a warning, another one falls
Crunch of bone- stampeding to death
Screams of dying horses
Take me from here
Flutter
For the "SOUND OF EMOTION "
sponsored by Nette Onclaud
Written poem date 6/1/201
by A. Green
I SALUTE BABU KUNWAR SINGH
Let me tell you the story of a true warrior king,
‘Ran Bankura’, grand old Babu Kunwar Singh;
Who was a land lord
But wielded the sword!
Remember the rebellion of 1857, when India had a first shout
Babu Kunwar led it in Bihar and did it without any doubt.
Imagine the wonderful forests, ground and ‘the cave’, who witnessed the gorilla warfare
In a fight of pride and honor when everything was not fair.
The neighing horses, the collision of swords and a command of old man
He will not get defeated, that is the best he can!
He was old yet brave, he died a master and not a slave.
It tells us there is no age to fight,
What matters is the spirit and the feel for right.
We all know of Jack n Jill but
Shouldn’t we know the old man’s will!
The force was grounded, his hand was wounded.
He went ahead and cut his hand,
To protect his people and to free his land.
Taking the proffered ancient torch in hand
In Altamira, Santander and Lascaux
I am the fire, the flickering, burning brand
That leads the artists' hungering below.
Where forms of deer and bison billow in the dark
Etched in charcoal and berry-juice on the wall
The hunter like the artist pursues the mark
I rekindle to light this stone age carnival.
The dance of life cavorts to escape the savage crimson dart
Neighing snorting figures heart beating in the clay
For survival, skill and conquest, that is the caveman's art
And I the flame they carry within lighting the way.
Henceforth I become beacon of humanity,
Shining through memory and imagination
The light of liberty.
Hearty Island Vacation
Hurray, hurray, step on the gas
family summer break jumps today!
We started out late, Jessica kept stumping "whining"
we stopped by the horse corral, he was neighing.
We’re going now, through dusty desert and long lonely stretch
unmoving in Barstow, California, so not many excitements.
We’re scanning for dinner; will it be pizza?
We want something good and tasty!
Heavy five o’clock traffic, oh what a mess.
We went to sleep with dream of island in our head.
The next day awoke and ran out to door.
We drove west, smell of the ocean
the cool, morning air embracing with its fishy smell.
Boat’s nose rose, like the airplane
on a boat in the water feeling free.
The sky above, clear and blue
with the wind blowing in my face.
Arrived at the Catalina Island,
so beautiful, yet so overlooked.
The little island, my heart it took
it was all I could do
to stop, watch and listen.
To the tides slapping on the rocky shore.
Oats,carrots and apples too
A new nail for my shoe
Washed and brushed on all my siding
A saddle for daily riding
Pretty braids and "pony" tails
Galloping on scenic trails
Stables with a straw like bed
Conversing with Mr. Ed
Doing tricks and having fun
Bringing joy to everyone
Cowboys, clowns and rodeos
I entertain in lots of shows
Neighing to get your attention
When I need love and affection
Warm and sunny --- snow and rain
Nothing can keep me contained
I like to be free and roam
Far away or near my home
I come in all shapes and sizes
Each one bringing new surprises
To my owners every day
With my silliness and ways
Big or small --- spots or colored
I'm a breed that's like no other
Beautiful and full of action
Bringing so much satisfaction
Whenever I am seen by those
Who like to get really close
Giving me pats of delight
I am a wonderous sight