Best Runoff Poems
Nestling in my realm, as you host a daydream,
Reveling in breeze of my splendor evergreen,
I welcome you to my domain of rhythmic trills
Where roam the blue jays, robins, and crossbills
Feeding on berries, frolicking with hatchlings,
Singing gaily, serenading benevolent sanctuary
Amid bears’ huff, growl, and foxes’ feral-howl
Sheltered amicably from dry heat and rainfall;
Where trees reduce pollution, boost air quality,
Emit oxygen you breathe, by photosynthesis,
Bear flowers, fruits, nurturing your well-being
Temper climate cheerily, swaying with winds,
Hold soil in place, reducing runoff to streams
Protecting elixir of life in rivers and tributaries;
While you find balance in sanctity and peace,
Enlightened by whispers rustling in harmony,
That warn of deforestation ruining ecosystem,
And callousness that torches wildlife and trees;
Yet, I rise from ashes sprouting earth’s tranquility
For I am the forest of goodwill and sublimity,
Adorning every season, standing for you firmly,
Hosting you as you rejoice in salutary daydream.
May 22, 2022
Poem of the day on May 24, 2022
Placed 1st: Wisdom From Trees Poetry Contest
Sponsor: Anoucheka Gangabissoon
Categories:
runoff, nature, tree,
Form:
Personification
. . . . . . .
pink laced branches
shimmer against the sun
petals in my lunch
thirst quenched
by snow's runoff...
I roll up my jeans
my breath
silenced by cold water...
blue feet with red nails
reaching the meadow
discomfort is forgotten...
blisters on my heel
sneezing
from wildflower pollen....
flannel sleeve hanky
wildflowers
reflect on sunglasses...
camera's click
. . . . . . . . .
5/7/14 For Deb's Contest: "Spring Into Haiku
Categories:
runoff, nature, seasons, spring,
Form:
Haiku
Seasons come and go --
How ends the fillings?
Recycled we know:
rain back to the sky,
leaves to soil,
sandy runoff, particle
debris, for oysters to make
pearly luxuries --
snow on mountains
for short spell may stay
or a billion days may lay –
a store of time
in the icy clime
of glaciers,
and the earth
changes rotation;
sun, its incidence~
cooling and warming
inclination --
oceans where land,
land replacing sea --
doubtless, somehow
we will all meet again
when life
comes round
to eternity….
Categories:
runoff, creation, earth, endurance, inspirational,
Form:
Free verse
I long to walk the hills today
among bare trees that dance and sway
where leaves, now flightless, stories tell
where damp and rotting, earthy smells
enhance and echo what they say
I long to walk beneath the trees
so graceful, bending in the breeze
reflected in the runoff creek
where I can often catch a peek
before fawns scamper off with ease
I long to walk beside the brook
that shows the path the water took
when last the clouds threw back their doors
and blessed us with their precious stores
left shallow ponds in shady nooks
I long to sit upon a rock
and simply let the water talk
I babble far too much, it seems
there’s much to learn from quiet streams
away from demands of the clock
So I’ve decided what to do
and maybe it’s okay with you
for I’ve resolved: put down the pen
cast wide the door and walk again
perhaps you’d like to join me too?
Categories:
runoff, appreciation, nature,
Form:
Quintilla
Near Lake Fane the sheep graze in thy green meadow.
At ease, ewes are seen nibbling field blades most fine,
where fierce lion's shape may cast no grave shadow
or shows dire snake hole.
For ye make sure thy sheep are made safe these nights
from great teeth that tear meat and brake bones so bold.
And cold stream to lake's made still by side runoff
to hold so shallow.
This thy oak staff's sheep's certain safeguard gainst foes.
Sling's also alongside the oak stave we see.
Thus sheep sleep secure aye beneath huge shade trees
without fear nearby.
New scene speaks of bucolic peace made by night
for those under his care in closed gate sheepfold.
Then he make his fire frying rice cakes, grease beans,
and feeds male collie.
Categories:
runoff, dog,
Form:
Ode
The river is at autumnal peace
The spring runoff months long past.
The sun has mellowed, shrinking shadows.
Birds that once graced this glade
Have assayed the air and arched the horizon.
There is a gentleness in grass and tree—
A gentleness that reminds me of me.
My life’s season too is settling up,
Signed by silent, sober resignation.
What I once was, I am no more
My river has slowed to a feeble flow.
Legs that once fit me to jump and leap
Now struggle my balance to keep.
I see in nature’s changing trappings
Reflections of what is afoot for this form.
All of God's living things signal a cycle
Of orderly, ordained necrosis and renewal.
The river and sun and grass and tree
Are of the nature that is a part of me.
Sleep-needful eyes too heavy one day
Will tearlessly close in all being’s way.
I do not abhor the closing of the door.
My angel Mother whispered "there is more."
Categories:
runoff, death, life,
Form:
Rhyme
Water moves continually Over land, evaporation and transpiration
common chemical substance
essential to all forms of life
the substance has a solid state, ice,
and a gaseous state, water vapor.
About 1,460 teratonnes (Tt) of water covers 71% of the Earth's surface,
in oceans and other large water bodies,
with 1.6% of water below ground in aquifers
and 0.001% in the air as vapor,
clouds (formed of solid and liquid water particles suspended in air),
and precipitation.
Can cause hurricanes when global warming extends
entire villages left submerged as in people's streets
submeerged.
Earth's water is contained
within man-made and natural objects
near the Earth's surface as water towers,
animal and plant bodies, manufactured products, and food stores.
Water moves continually
Saltwater oceans hold ing 97% of surface water,
glaciers and polar ice caps 2.4%,
and other land surface water such as rivers and lakes 0.6%.
Water moves continually
Water moves continually through a cycle of evaporation or transpiration,
precipitation, and runoff, reaching the sea.
Water moves continually over land
Winds carry water vapor over land
at the same rate as runoff into the sea,
about 36 Tt per year.
Over land, evaporation and transpiration
contribute another 71 Tt per year to the precipitation
of 107 Tt per year over land.
Some water is trapped
for varying periods in ice caps, glaciers, aquifers, or in lakes,
providing fresh water for life on land.
Clean, fresh water is essential to human and other life.
In many parts of the world, it is in short supply.
Many organic molecules as well as salts, sugars,
acids, alkalis, and some gases (especially oxygen), are soluble in water.
Water is essential for all life on Earth.
Humans can survive for several weeks without food,
but for only a few days without water.
more than one billion people
in low and middle-income countries
lack access to safe water for drinking,
personal hygiene and domestic use.
more than 20 percent of the world’s people.
close to 2 billion people
did not have access to adequate sanitation facilities.
leading causes of morbidity
and mortality in low- and middle-income countries, frequently called developing
countries.
over 1.1 billion people are currently without safe drinking water.
Categories:
runoff, science, seasons, life, people,
Form:
Ballad
The iridescent raven perched upon pilings
By just one lake in Friesland's beautiful wetland outings
His golden beak and orange legs with claws set off
Against black feathers that glisten and are a rain runoff
Carefully he watches the Edelhert fawn play
At the edge of the lake, close to woods, where he lives all day
He had seen the das at dusk as he watched them all
His duty as the lookout to warn them against harm's fall
Against the vas that sly thief, who comes in the night
When all sleep, even for the watchman death could be his plight
Some Of The Wildlife In The Netherlands
Edelhert:Red Deer
Das:Badger
Vas:Fox
Sponsor: Elly Wouterse
Contest: Your Ode To "My"Netherlands And/Or "My Friesland"
Written: April 22, 2014
Categories:
runoff, nature,
Form:
Couplet
Seen through the red in her eyes…
The fireplace from whence burns her soul
Life begins with this broken promise
A lost trust, delivered with a royal seal
The silence separated by their erupting spatter
Between her teardrops a severed umbilical cord
Raging winds and crashing waves her eyes utters
Her heart lies on the tip of a quivering tongue
I turn away from her deep insight…
She lives each day through a rising storm
With each wipe her face is a world full of tears
Sweat beats on her forehead soaking wisdom
Her innocence swept away by the runoff
She’s a fallen star awash in the rains
Her presence defined like mist taking off
And with that she vaporizes and reigns
Star People - Poetry Contest
Sponsored by: Anthony Slausen
Categories:
runoff, how i feel,
Form:
Lyric
The snow brings life, mine's a short cold one
Being pushed around in fear of the sun
Held and shaped by a mitted hand
Then melting into the green land
Riding rivers to the sea
A warmer wetter me
What a trip
Drip drip
drip...
D
r
i
p
.
.
.
Categories:
runoff, memory, seasons,
Form:
Concrete
War with nature's a losing one,
it's just like spitting at the sun
No matter what, nature has won.
It is not fun. It is not fun.
Mankind can rape the forests broad,
with axe and chainsaw, trees are sawed,
but they grow back and we are awed.
Deserves a laud. Deserves a laud.
A species has become extinct,
but will arise, one more distinct;
to the old one it will be linked
That is succinct. That is succinct.
The sludge and runoff smother streams,
because of mankind's greedy schemes
and total lack of worthy dreams,
or so it seems, or so it seems.
The latest campaign is fracking,
sets the earth's mantle to cracking;
astute forethought sadly lacking.
I'm not backing! I'm not backing!
Into the oceans, sewers flow,
suffocate the whales' blowhole,
causes massive red tides to grow.
A tale of woe! A tale of woe!
Categories:
runoff, nature, society,
Form:
Monorhyme
Climber
by Odin Roark
Reality readied its chance
Ascent of an alpine face
Traversing ice and cold
Challenging steel axe and rope
Such was the pulsating vibration
Facing another dawn
That day
Blade and ice danced slow motion
Penetrating deep into resistance
Echoing through layered centuries
Awakening nature to its presence
Breath became reserved
High altitude remained merciless
Snow-blind eyes squinted thankfully
As yards became feet
Became inches
Became respect for the unknown
Frozen feet
Cinched tight inside
Defiant crampons
Numbly impelled their serrated spikes
The blue iced chorus groaned displeasure
Reminding auger-encroachment
Frozen time was forever resilient
Destiny prevailed
Mortality hung suspended
As will over apathy
Courage over defeat
Found fear had been conquered
Life’s architecture
Like da Vinci ’s Vitruvian Man
Became a frozen tapestry
Life’s proportions
Past
Future
Present
Coalesced
Transformed
Became…
Some might say such a tale
Mere envisages
Penned into a journal
To bide some time
This night however…
The mountain-wall’s next attempt
Huddled in a tent weathering sub-zero temperatures
Sipped tea from his father’s battered cup
A legacy found long ago
Floating atop glacial runoff
Through the night
Ink continued flowing
Tin cup foreshadowing remained warm
First light neared
Categories:
runoff, life,
Form:
Free verse
Warm sunny day slowly melts
snow lying on the cold ground
the warmth creates puddles
with slush ice moving slowly
down each path it could find
like a flash flood it creates
its own pathway
meandering down the street
to find the nearest drain
sitting watching it all happen
from the living room window
while sitting fighting the flu
you think of the force of water
and it finds its way through
the winter ice and snow
nature is a wonder
as is the beginning of spring
Categories:
runoff, spring,
Form:
Free verse
Yup, you red correctly,
this noggin must go
perhaps donated
to the Salvation Army, or Good Will
cuz, said atrophied cranial
horridly styled comfortably numb skull,
the source of immeasurable
beg hot ten woe, from dawn to dusk
nothing boot eve ville
hollow cavity mainly comprised
of wooly webbed weaving waste,
uber sawdust, sans Schuylkill
River effluvium and runoff rotten rill
hence, e'en a think tank
designated as Abby Normal
formerly atop a body named Phil
lip, or Wright winged Orville
one half brotherly duo,
the other sibling Wilbur,
whom both made a mill
yen legends getting airborne their lil
mechanical contraption
atop Kitty Hawk,
North Carolina with bi sic kill
mechanical aptitude,
when born aloft Kill Devil Hill
synonymous making fin hushed
blue prints emulating
flying fish, whose grill
like cartilage backbone
precursor to Evil
Knievel, who soared
on his motorcycle a devil
lush daring stuntman,
whose helmeted crown
full pursestrings muted cavil
ling critics with legitimate enterprise
earning gobs of legal tender,
whence aye aver
his mugshot ought to appear
on common denomination bill
and/or honoring throughout
the entire month of April.
Categories:
runoff, 10th grade, 11th grade,
Form:
Dramatic Verse
THE AL-ANDALUS QUARTET: PART TWO
CÓRDOBA / QURTUBAH 950 AD / 339 AH
From Madinat al-Zahra
and the City of Córdoba, the roads
to the Renaissance are renamed and
traveled, patrolled and protected, routed
and projected by the Umayyad Caliph
and the frail conviviality of constituent
cultures, which like the white light of
day and the lace veil of night, are somehow
connected in the shadows of evening and
the gray skies of dawn but in fundamental
opposition define one another
An astute Sephardic rabbi
said the culture of Islam in Al-Andalus
is like a cataclysmic flood that abuses
the land, rearranges its features, nourishes
its soil, eventually disappears through
evaporation and runoff, leaving folksong
and legend to chronicle its passing
The transmission and enhancement of
Classical knowledge, philosophical
erudition, the patient diplomacy within
the righteous framework of an arrogant
tolerance are like a brilliant sunrise in the
medieval world but even the sanguine
observer hears the clashing of swords in
the far mountain passes and the whispers
of betrayal at clandestine meetings and
knows that, bright as it is at this high tide
of impact, the culture is fading, not like
day into night but like the moment of
noon into the moment thereafter, that
sunlight and flood, both powerful and
magic, are receding in concert, slowly,
inexorably, through the Taifa mosaic,
the slow-motion shattering of a
stained-glass window shining colors and
light in a thousand directions, then fading
through evening toward midnight and
darkness, illuminated by stars that,
in spite of their beauty, will later be
remembered as light years away
Emanuel Carter
Categories:
runoff, christian, history, islamic,
Form:
Free verse