Best Savannas Poems
Consummated under sheets of inspiration,
Conceived in cryptic dreams,
Created from cloudy concentrations,
The words flowed onto a wrinkled sheet of paper.
I concealed the verse under my pillow,
Entombed beneath my peaceful slumber,
Safe from grating barbarians.
For I do not reside in a steel fortress.
But the poem demanded breath,
And I obliged with wary trepidation.
Exposing naked insights of thought,
To public opinions and consumption.
I was misunderstood in some quarters.
My uneven stanzas documented in dorm rooms,
Lack of rhythm noted in offices,
And style criticized in coffee shops.
But my work was greeted warmly from African savannas,
Treasured in Scotland,
Saluted in London,
And praised from India’s sacred rivers.
In the heartland, school girls knew my name.
Southern belles toasted my talents.
I was pondered over breakfast in Florida,
Embraced in backwoods hamlets.
When I look within,
Searching for the brilliant author,
I question his existence.
The trance, that special state of mind, has passed.
In conscious lucidity I ask the stunning question,
“Who wrote this poem?”
Categories:
savannas, on writing and words
Form:
Free verse
I am Africa, the cradle of mankind,
Where ancient footprints in the sands of time entwined,
The birthplace of humanity, divinely designed,
In my esteemed valleys, where life first aligned.
I am Africa, the cradle of civilization,
Where mighty empires rose with determination,
From the ancient Egypt's pyramids to the Great Zimbabwe walls,
From glorious Mali Empire to Kingdom of Kush, history recalls.
I am Africa, adorned with wonders untold,
From Victoria Falls, a sight to behold,
To the Serengeti, the great wildlife migration known,
The winding Nile River, nature's masterpiece shown.
I am Africa, land of majestic savannas,
Where lion roars and elephant wanders,
From Kilimanjaro's peak to the Rift Valley's floor,
Nature's grandeur timelessly spectacular, evermore.
I am Africa, rich in resources so rare,
From Congo's minerals beyond compare,
To Ghana's gold gleaming bright,
And Nigeria's oil, a source of might.
I am Africa, richly endowed with resources untold,
Diamonds, platinum, copper, and tantalum behold,
I offer fertile soils and abundant rainfall,
To sustain life's rhythm, from the great to the small.
I am Africa, proudly dark-skinned and beautiful,
Melanin-rich, skin kissed by the sun, dutiful,
From the Maasai warriors to the Zulu kings,
Cultures and values that makes a heart sings.
I am Africa, scarred by the slave trade's hand,
As ships sailed away with souls from my land,
The Atlantic's cruel passage, a harrowing tale,
Yet from that dark chapter, my resilience did prevail.
I am Africa, the sleeping lion now awake,
To reclaim my glory, no more to forsake,
I stand tall against any disdain, my destiny to behold,
Socially strong, economically stable, politically bold.
I am Africa, acknowledging and ready to confront my flaws,
To root out corruption and greed, oppressive laws,
United in accountability, good governance, equity, and might,
I march forward with determination, embracing the future's light.
Categories:
savannas, africa, nature, society, visionary,
Form:
Quatrain
We can try to hide it
Most will attempt to push the thoughts down
We’re not naturally virtuous creatures
It’s quite the contrary - we’re monsters deep down
From the savannas we arose
Fighting fiercely to survive
Selfish, instinctive, amoral, and impulsive
Ironically, that's why we’re alive
We were forged in the primordial fires
Evolved, an anxious woman, an aggressive man
For centuries we have deceive ourselves
By saying, it's all part of God's plan
We were thrust into a world
That's far different than our ancestors home
It's a new world of abundance
Where the instinctual beast is losing control
So, we sublimate our behavior
We profess a altruistic loving heart
All the while ignoring
The monster, lurking in the dark
If we can let go of the story
Acknowledge the suffering and pain
There a chance to rise above the instincts
That are causing the most pain
Acknowledge - to live is to suffer
Recognize - conscious awareness is the burden of humanity
Accept the drive within us
Cause that's the truth - and the truth is what sets us free
“We stopped checking for monsters under our bed when we realized they live within us”
The Joker
Categories:
savannas, angst, anxiety, beautiful, change,
Form:
Rhyme
The sun still rises,
Savannas awaken with hoots,
Life breathes, heart still beats.
Categories:
savannas, life, metaphor, poems, poetry,
Form:
Haiku
The zealous zebra
Roams in savannas and eats
Grass - white stripes shimmer
Categories:
savannas, life, nature,
Form:
Haiku
(African populations are being killed off by war,
famine, disease, and neglect...when will we try to help them?)
Time,
stretching out, encompasses curtains,
on distant savannas, of shimmering heat.
And animals vanish:
ibex and antelope; elephant; grouse.
Here once, now going or gone.
Time vanishes now.
Moldering greenery, mute,
moves mainly in wind --
pliant life, submitting to breezes,
passive in sun. Rooted in spots
not chosen or won.
Plants may not vanish;
they prosper.
We do not prosper.
We vanish, as animal;
some go hardly noticed.
A dirge, as animals vanish:
we vanish unnoticed.
Categories:
savannas, angst, life, loss, natural
Form:
Free verse
Spare a thought
For buffaloes, bulls and bears groaning, mourning, starving
Under your collar don’t blow hot
Making rivers and rodents sad, carving
Space and time you don’t own
Encroaching on privileges animals and plants possess
In their comfort and discomfort zone
You dare to distress and stress
Best to minimize the plight
Reptiles and rabbits confront every morning and afternoon
With no morsels of grub in sight
As savannas and simians croon
Shambling in starvation style
Bulging bellies boast as labels of stables and fables of gluttony
For a convoy of jalopies cruising in single file
Pay last respect to Tony
Who’d passed on in pitiful poverty
Impecunious
Although in death no novelty
Comes through under the guise of ingenious
Crafting of manipulation
But you’d do well to sacrifice creature comforts to elevate the fate
Endured by long suffering trees and tigers whose daily nourishment ration
Ought to funnel a debate
On the injustice witnessed globally when a tiny few
Gorges on two thirds of world resources
With neither care nor clue
On the abuse fauna and flora sources
Suffer
Dwindle
Prefer
Decrease as the self satisfying spindle
Spins and spins
With little thought on air and water pollution
Pins
On environmental dissolution
Metamorphosing the Earth into a less habitable planet
Treated with disdain
Depleting the Earth’s net
Worth as polluters gain bargains again and again
Super profits
Turning a blind eye
To sarcasm skits, bludgeon bits and tendentious tweets
Lying inside a liberal lie
That all’s well
Environment concerns mean nothing
As imbalances and inhospitable elements swell
To spell doom unless you start caring for Mother Earth and her everything.
Categories:
savannas, poems,
Form:
Free verse
OH !AFRICA.
Alone I stand on foreign land,
My home is here, my heart not true,
Oh ! Africa, your soul I crave.
Through destiny, my pathway ‘s made,
Where eagles rest on mountain peaks,
My youth is back to heights I seek,
with winds that howl to oceans roar,
I found my place at nature’s door
Oh Africa ! my sacred place,
I share your love of open space,
My star of hope, it rises there,
My home my country’s life I share
Savannas health that rivers bring
In habitat of the lion king
©Copyright M..A. Bell
Categories:
savannas, absence, adventure, longing, missing,
Form:
Narrative
It`s always inspiring to be strong in appearance,
Brave to catch up the essentiality of the sun.
How marvelous the wind blows to beat the sensations as one.
Yes, the pride is deep for BLACK skin to have fun.
The complexion is natural to be undermined,
Are you black?
Don`t be left in deceptive truck.
The image of black soothes what is meant of beauty.
Beauty that empowers the black skin to mindfully brag.
Beauty which carries protective substances against crack,
In fact, the beauty which possess a unique mark.
It`s all about black skin.
What are the definitions of black skin?
The skin which is naturally rich in melanin,
Black skin shields the body from folate depletion,
Making rightful protection against ultraviolet with adorable colouration.
Even in the heat of savannas, black skin provides cooling mechanism which develop more efficient perspiration.
If you think “BLEACHING” is a solution,
Bleaching is rather a termination.
And not a route to set one upon the mountain to receive lovable attraction.
It aims at pulling down the magical compositions of black skin into deterioration.
Leaving behind unbearable diseases and problems which turns out to place one in frustration.
The age of black is unpredictable,
It’s the skin which causes many to be humble,
it creates the feelings of being cherishable and affable.
Every story about black skin is expensive.
At the center of public, it is seductive…
Black skin fits in all attire perfectly with magnificent sensitives.
Before the rain, it looks charming and appreciative.
Exquisite of black skin, expresses its ebonics to be communicative.
Who can buy its glory?
I mean the glory which had brought motivations from multiples of personalities within the world entertainment in every gallery.
The motivations from Martin Luther, Mohamed Ali, Oprah Winfrey, Michelle Obama, Pele, Michael Jordan, Serena Williams, Usain Bolt and many others who are in memory.
Who maintained their precious black skin and exerted influence out of its value.
Perhaps, if you think your black skin is failing you,
Black skin is the most valuable gemstone found in morning dew.
#BLACK AND BEAUTIFUL
#SALEM MEDIA INITIATIVE
Categories:
savannas, adventure, analogy,
Form:
Classicism
Watch out all you kiddies
Or I'll bite off your face
I'm a nasty baboon
It's my favourite taste
I'm usually quite cranky
Not a happy old soul
Chew on dead carcasses
Eat cheetahs whole
Why am I so ornery
It's the baboon's way
Reared on the savannas
Fight for life each day
You'd be cranky too
With body odour like this
How would you feel
If you smelled like dead fish
Watch out all you kiddies
Or I'll bite you in two
I'm a nasty old baboon
Doing things baboons do
© Jack Ellison 2012
Categories:
savannas, nature, old, old,
Form:
Quatrain
There was a giraffe
living somewhere in the savannas
a nightmare was its confusing life
laughable its appearance
Bits of its head dotted the body
the tail and bones had bits of the head
most of the legs were made up of head
and the external brain gave essence to the body
To think and reason with wisdom
eyes, ears and brain must migrate into head
scattered bits of head have to reassemble
and the legs must stand in attention
Then a crisis emerged from the bush;
hungry and desperate came a lioness.
Poor giraffe took time to assemble brain bits
and the hungry lioness had her feast day
Categories:
savannas, animal, fairy, irony,
Form:
Imagism
A classroom of wonders of earth and space
Eons ago a few hundred, the human race
Mankind comes out of African Savannas of gold
One color, one people, a tale to unfold
And perhaps guided by one love
The fertile land below the sky above
Quakes have not yet parted lands
Nor do the people yet part in bands
Souls in abundance, with patience await
To be born and make happen their fate
We wonderful humans now evolve
Spirits entering bodies, their resolve
It must have been heavenly at first
Enjoying, nature’s glory, fully immersed
Love and trust and little to fear
So far from despair and to Eden so near
Categories:
savannas, analogy, love,
Form:
Rhyme
A Bed of Hay
Across the fields a long time ago,
Where sparrows flew and lilies grew,
I skipped in play oblivious to hate,
And ran with the wind and sang with the beasts.
And slept on a bed of hay in America,
And dreamed of my home in Africa,
Where my heart gazed upon the children,
Who experience the breath of freedom.
Where the big cats prowl and elephants tramp,
And wildebeest herds roam the savannas.
And rivers churn with hippopotamuses,
And jungles swell with birds and gorillas.
And wonder what it would be like to be young again,
Without the child gone, free of pain.
Categories:
savannas, africa, america, history, racism,
Form:
Sonnet
Picky child I was
before & still am as
I’m writing this
picky, petite poem –
I am different
now…I’ve changed for
the better, though
it was a challenging
chore
Clever and cheery
teenager I am in the
present and past,
getting used to
foods I once didn’t
adore
Kangaroos hop with
hope happily, tigers
hunt wildly &
sneakily, cats meow
for people food & to
receive a feel-good
rub (independent,
little &
companion-like),
dogs yap for
attention
(dependent, little &
big buddies), ants
gather & work, flies
hover around a heap
of droppings, debris
& remains/deceased
bodies, hyenas
attack & laugh their
tails off, wolves
get into their
private packs, fish
swim playfully with
the family, gofers
barrel & eat up the
veggies from my
garden, cheetahs run
at full speed,
finches chirp their
childish,
changing-up-the-tune
chants, dutiful
dolphins go with the
wave’s ascending &
descending flow,
rabbits hop & chew
on carrots
cheerfully, lions
RAWR & laze around
on fields of golden
grace, bears huddle
with cubs & hide in
solitary, dark
caves, enormous
elephants eloquently
walk about on the
African, swaying
savannas & tons of
terrains much like
California in some
sense, lambs graze
in their
field-of-a-maze,
looking eagerly for
their shepherd,
lizards explore,
roaches scatter
around on the
kitchen & bathroom
floor, bedbugs bite
for the sake of
their sick appetite,
etc. ; is there
something new to
learn every night
and day? (The answer
is yes by deh way) I
guess I have to do
some research and
explore some more on
these subjects –
that’s my next
chillaxing, cool
chore!
Yet, I still go back
to my picky, old,
childlike, yet
innocent habits –
picking foods that I
cherish most and I
implore for more
scrumptious dishes
that I can hardly
ignore & boast about
it more and more
till my mouth
becomes sore! SCORE!
(means SUCCESS!, I
nailed it, or other
definitions behind
it)
Categories:
savannas, adventure, africa, animal, appreciation,
Form:
Acrostic
Soft and tangible nature caresses my skin
as if to comfort me in its own sorrow;
a soothing sound
soaring over the savannas.
Silky ripples in the tall grass
appear to hush time itself;
all is silent while they embrace
searing wounds in human minds.
Seeping into the cracks of
an icy heart after wisdom has hardened it,
after kindness has left
surely this tender breeze will strive unto oblivion.
Categories:
savannas, nature, wind, wisdom,
Form:
Free verse