Best Sweet Gum Poems
As a child at play
In the merry month of May
Wallowing the hours away
As one would surely say
Lying neth old sweet gum tree…
sipping a glass of sassafras tea
A pork chop tied to my neck you see…
possibly the dog will play with me
The sky is my dominion galore…
Blue infinity of divinity and more
A thunder head rumbles with a roar
Childhood imaginations explore
Ole Brownie at my side
Constant companion abide
The heart of hog dog inside
Now roams heaven with pride
One day my own Adamantine
Will see again this dog of esteem
Many frayed earthly forms I’ve seen
And blossoms of May in beauty’s esteem
by John Moses Freeman
Those spiked thorns of sweet gum balls
cause a sprawl
and sprained ankle,
close calls
Sour my day, sweet gum balls
curse you! so ill befalls!
Once and for all,
no sweet, no sweet gum balls-injury befalls
your innocent victims, vicious, thorny, balls!
.
Sweet Gum Tree's Beauty
Is in crimson leaves in fall
Stands out in forest
Different in cool of year_
Danger lurks underneath
As I walk through the valley of the Red Maple trees
I take a look and realize that’s it’s a pioneer species
and that’s just a little bit of knowledge from me
You know i shun Bradford Pears, they don’t grow naturally.
At 430 in the morning, been planting trees
but no American Chestnuts, they’re almost extinct
fool, I haven’t been studying trees for so long but
even I know Redwood’s the tallest of all.
I’m a man of the forest, and I’ve always been
dichotomous key in my hand, and I’ll have a big grin
Whoa, this tree has needles, is it the White Pine?
And I know that answer’s right, cause they’re in bundles of 5.
We’ve been spending most our lives, living in nature’s paradise.
saw a Dogwood once or twice, living in nature’s paradise.
Why does this Sweet Gum look so nice? living in nature’s paradise.
this Sugar Maple’s twice my size, living in nature’s paradise.
I saw a full-grown Box Elder last week
oh wait, that is poison ivy, it’s hard to tell, you see?
but i set it on fire, so now come down the trail
cause you’ll end up in a hospital if you take in that smell!
I cut a Black Locust, I could build a cool fence
cause it is number 1 in rot resistance
I could make a bow and arrow, Osage Orange does that
and if I cut a Black Walnut, I’d make money with that, fool
Trees are almost just like humans, or just like me
You wanna go out to the woods and get some Sassafras leaves?
or how bout Ohio Buckeyes, they look like weed.
see? we’re as messed up as these trees!
There are Elms, Maples, and Beech trees as far as the eye can see
I’m chilling by a Redbud, as hearts surround me
We’ve been spending most our lives, living in nature’s paradise.
saw a Dogwood once or twice, living in nature’s paradise.
Why does this Sweet Gum look so nice? living in nature’s paradise.
this Sugar Maple’s twice my size, living in nature’s paradise.
Sweet gum
Three pronged leaves
Foot like, dancing in breeze
Hung upon the clothesline drips blood
Scarlet
A tree of height dreams was vast Sweet gum it seems,
when I chance to retrace tender childhood thoughts.
Young dreams of enemy's luck in classic schemes.
Thoughts would drift as wars with my demons were fought.
An old Sweet gum tree, my womb of strong support,
she mothered my dreams, fetus did not abort.
Divine boughs call now I Godly dedicate,
my witness by grace, as I still meditate.
======================
4/19/2011
Surreal nature encapsulates the scene spread out in front of my unbelieving eyes. Years ago this was the center hub of activity in the rural community. Forgotten way of life as people congregate in crowded cities. It is good to visit the quiet rural area if only in pictures.
the old grist mill leans
nestled in the rocky bank
red fall leaves surreal
The swift red stained creek that energized the mill's wheel still runs over ancient rocks on its course to the mighty sea. Its course unchanged for eons but the use of its steady resources remain. The red leaves upon the trees surrounding the creek will soon be spent.Their usefulness soon to be gone..
the red sweet gum leaves
fall twirling land 'pon hard rocks...
crayfish hide beneath
Small white water rapids gush over the stony bottom and tiny waterfalls continously rushing forth to the nearest river and then onward to the mighty ocean touching on all continents then coming home to rush forth once again..Rushing water that supports all life upon this good earth..The gushing water that supported the grist mill and the small community..The water is still there and the mill is still there but the people have deserted the once thriving way of life..
lapping water flows
as people flow far away...
bream wait spring to spawn
Written: 09-21-2013
Updated: June 08, 2018
.
the old grist mill leans
nestled in the rocky bank
red fall leaves surreal
The swift red stained creek that energized the mill's wheel still runs over ancient rocks on its course to the mighty sea. Its course unchanged for eons but the use
of its steady resources remain. The red leaves upon the trees surrounding the creek
will soon be spent.Their usefulness soon to be gone..
the red sweet gum leaves
fall twirling land 'pon hard rocks...
crayfish hide beneath
Small white water rapids gush over the stony bottom and tiny waterfalls continously rushing forth to the nearest river and then onward to the mighty ocean touching on all continents then coming home to rush forth once again..Rushing water that supports all life upon this good earth..The gushing water that supported the grist mill and the small community..The water is still there and the mill is still there but the people have deserted the once thriving way of life..
lapping water flows
as people flow far away...
bream wait spring to spawn
Sponsor: Broken Wings
Contest: Haibun
Written: September 21, 2013
sweet gum's base wrapped tight
tree's limbs loaded with round balls....
pond catches offsprings
A spindling sun stream on bough's cloak spun
Melange of orange, yellow, red on foliage doth billow
Decadent Umbrella wields fluorescent shield o'er barren
fields
Glinted blades colorful shades heighten
Bright-cherry, Oak leaf gloss doth floss
Purple haze of each Sweet Gum lobe doth tase
Yellow fringes on White Oak fingers waxes with gilding
syringe
Orange Marmalade, Maple stars varnished with tinseling
spade
Blue Beech crusted folds dusted with a brackish rust
Liquidambar Styraciflua
(Sweet Gum Tree, the Sandbur of the Forest)
Written: by Tom Wright
10-25-2016
After each leaf has slowly surrendered its green
They take on the colors of a painter’s palette,
Some mimicking the sun while affixed to twigs,
Others with orange, copper and red hues;
A north wind is whispering,
As if to say, Your time is nearing.
Soon they’ll release their hold
To the order of nature, and cascade downward;
The next to descend will be those nettlesome fruit balls
Which left until mowing become launched as grenades,
And the Spring Itch which I must scratch;
They provide little shade, pollute our yard, oft infested by web worms,
And considered one of the ten most dangerous trees you can plant in your yard.
Yet their fall colors have preserved their existence in our yard.
Tom
The rope is tight around my neck
And I feel it making its imprint
Into my flesh.
I glance at the growing crowd
That has gathered round
To watch me perform my trick.
In the crowd I see only pale faces
Whose lifeless laughing pupils seem to sear
Into my flesh.
I turn from them to look at my hands,
Hands callous from cotton-picking in bands
But at last I am freed by God's graces.
I can still smell the pottage heating by the fire
I can still feel the embers jumping out
Into my flesh.
I can still see the corner, full of refuse
I can taste my bloodied molars, loose
After a thorough clubbing from the Sire.
I can see my mother being stripped and whipped
I can see my father drenched in burning tar that seeps
Into his flesh.
See my sisters displayed naked and bare
See them modeled like two healthy mares
Hear my brother's sigh as his lashing is skipped.
But I, thank God, am more fortunate than these:
I am released at once from the burden
That trembles the flesh,
Spared from the torture, from the agony,
Whisked away in a chariot stately.
And thank God for the oak, the sweet gum, trees
That have mercy on me, that grant my wish,
(Euthanasia)
FREEDOM.
And SNAP! the sand-bags hit the dirt...
...
A
Tree
Named Braford
Shaped like a Christmas Tree
Sets off at least two seasons
One with white and the other with fire
Spring blooms are beautiful and Fall puts on
A great show but when one looks at winter closely
The Bradford's buds does surely show along side these
Are tiny little pears; Food for all the birds, to feed in winter
Snow, Who would have thought that the Bradford woud hold
Hands with old Sweet Gum Joe, as they dance to the win-
Ter breeze and shiver in the cold two friends so different
They are love struck because they are so much the
Same color, Their bright burgundy and gold so
Looking like flaming touches one in yards
The other is the wild, wild woods so
Far apart but in love are they
The birds and bees
Bear their
Love
Tales
Back
And
Forth
Each
Day
Balmy summer air to southern climes doth repair
On horizon, blue azure panels shaded with smoky tincture
Silky, white fondue relpaced by pallid, silver hue
Fondling, summer breezes; gripping, autumnal wind freezes
Cooling waves react with fertile leaves; amber gown doth
retract
Nutrient-rich chlorophyll doth spill and sugary saps rill
Anon, doth ween a bright, colorful sheen
Golden crescents and cherry strobes with lobes iridescent
Rounded discs on Global Willow in creamy glaze mellow
Spiny-toothed, Red Oak leaves flossed with reddish-
green gloss
Sugar Maple stars bathed in a bright pumpkin lathe
Ovular Blue Beech blades are brushed with a brackish rust
Veins of Aspen heart umbrella bleed bright yellow
Pentagram lobes of Sweet Gum gilded with purple robes
After scintillating charade, garnished blades began to
fade
Leaves' life-giving juices the stout bough refuses
Nutritious store salvaging trunk doth score
The regal, shimmering gown now shriveling crown
A duller shade of brown on the crumpled folds redound
Last gasp, its withering anchor doth cast
Descending from mercurial splendor to mother natures
blender
August 21, 2012
Dawn
awakes
bright cities
deep moonlit snooze
when autumn pageant’s
covert vanishing trail
exits on the sly behind
a stoic gem plinth while cheerful
denizens asses black grain pepper
clouds afloat as dark cobalt skylines watch
Gust
chill noon
might sense its
life hub platform
shiver between months
October curtain may
droop o’er high-speed dream chaser
without some red orb scintilla
or the faraway treasure trove break
from taut humdrum routine office zeitgeist
Oak
and ash
or cherry
trees in the shade
adding splashes of
colour to town verges
between day long transitions
kaleidoscope on sweet gum hue
orange, red, burgundy foliage
caress tired eyes of street inhabitants
Light
swaying
lantern’s arc
cast magic tints
at high jinx urban
throngs inside and those who
loiter on the coffee dock
margins awestruck by picture perfect
fall where countryside meets asphalt sprawl hub