Best Tortoise Poems
Ocie the Ocelot liked words a lot!
As a tot, words like dot and trot hit the spot
Then, getting older, the folder on her shoulder grew bolder
What was once handy stopped ringing so dandy
Craving vocabulary candy to bandy
She sought what she ought, to form lukewarm to hot
Mooshu, the emu guru, knew what to do
To bring notice and gain focus
Journey there, to the oracle's lair
The fortress of Morris the Thesaurus Tortoise
When she approached his door, saying, "I want more!"
His smile creased - he replied, "Your covet's increased!"
She confessed her distress at being a pest
But he said, "My dear, you're not stubborn - you're tenacious!
You're not merely aware - you're perspicacious!"
It's not only knowledge; it's proficiency, cognition, discernment
For ideas, impressions, concepts, brainstorming segments
Be bold, audacious, intrepid, resolute, gallant
Credit your capacity, flair, savvy, talent
Evade the cliche, the commonplace, the trite
Clamp on, lacerate, masticate, bite!
Hours freed, for her need to succeed
Then, at the end, one final creed to heed-
Don't fall a slave to the misbehaving knave
Sometimes, the simpler speech is the one to save.
3/4/19
Poem of the Day 3/06/19
Come wrestle with a gator!
Said the poster at the fair.
With tape around its mouth, it looked
Pathetic in its lair.
Yet in a cage adjoining it,
A tortoise ambled 'round,
Its movements sure and steady,
One foot lifting off the ground.
With claws extended, it appeared
To glide on tippy toes;
Its ancient eyes gazed straight ahead,
A true reptilian pose.
The children leaned and stroked its shell.
It didn't seem to mind,
Although I'm sure it would have liked
A stroke from its own kind.
That tortoise kept on moving,
Though perhaps to help prepare
For a coming-soon encounter
With an unsuspecting hare!
In ancient times as told in rhymes
there was a hero Greek
Whose mother said, “Before you’re dead
you should go out and seek
The glorious fame that goes with your name,
my dearest son Achilles.”
So Achilles set out upon that route
and gave up his life of ease.
And he came to a place that held a race
to determine the fleetest and bravest.
And he beat them all, the short and the tall,
and was proclaimed of Greeks the greatest.
But when he was done there came a one
who asked him a simple question:
“You’ve beat all the Greeks, I did hear them speak,
but, do I dare to mention,
Your fame and your name are likely to wane
until you outrace a tortoise.”
Though this contestant-to-be (for a tortoise was he)
appeared in complete rigor mortis,
Our hero Achilles, with grace and with ease,
took up this one last challenge.
For he thought to outpace this reptile base
was a thing he could quite easily manage.
“But before we go, since I am slow,
I really should have a headstart.”
And Achilles agreed, for despite his great speed,
he really was not very street smart.
And the upshot was he lost it because
of an ancient Greek named Zeno.
That philosopher wrote (and here I quote):
“No matter how fast and no matter how slow,
It follows from logic,” (‘though this sounds idiotic,
if I'm allowed to be blunt!),
“That the race will always be won by that mother’s son
who started out in front.”
“Though this may make one giddy, it’s quite simple really
and clear to any observer:
If one runs without pause to where the other just was,
that one has now moved on further.
Since this scenario’s repeated till the race is completed,
the conclusion is thus inescapable:
Whoever's behind will never catch up, at least not enough,
and their victory was never attainable.”
a limerick by Wayne Wysocki
The tortoise and hare had a race
But the rabbit came in second place
So the notion that speed
Makes the win guaranteed
Just isn't always the case.
A stubborn old Taurus
I wish I was a tortoise
To live life at a reasonable pace
But more on topic
I'm agoraphobic
I could go out never leaving my place
05.05.18
Viv Wigley
I wish I was a - Poetry Contest
The tortoise walks slowly through sand
No rush, no needs to understand
All problems with humans around
Just a stop to look from a sound
Carrying curiosity....
with calm moving steps it can see
The world low to ground where it goes,
It only carries what it knows
As the sun beats down on its shell
It shows confidence all is well
Heidi Sands
8/8/24
*8 Syllables
(C)opyright
To be a big tortoise, old and wise
His house is his shell and his disguise
Deliberate and quiet, he values no prize
Taking only enough to thrive and survive
War, hate, and color not seen through his eyes
We think we're smart, the old tortoise is wise.
Feb 19 2017
The load is heavy,
for one who carries his home
on his back, always
Butti the tortoise from the zoo has flown the coop
Your brother Tutti misses you, you little poop
On you there is a large bounty
If found in El Paso County
Hope you don't end up as a bowl of turtle soup
Robert L. Hinshaw, CMSgt, USAF, Retired
© All Rights Reserved
This is based on a true story. Butti came up missing at the Colorado Springs
Cheyenne Mountain Zoo, 27 Mar 2011. He and his brother, Tutti, are Indian
Star tortoises. Suspicions are that some miscreant pocketed him and strolled
away since he was about the size of a grapefruit and weighed about a
pound. Coincidentally, a river otter named Kitchi, escaped from the same zoo
a few months ago and has never been found. If interested you can read the
saga of Kitchi in my poem of the same name. Will keep you posted!!
If a turtle could.
He would walk faster- maybe.
Find some dynamite.
Dedicated to my favourite poet - Shelley
If a tortoise, if a turtle
You are never going to hurtle
Witness how your limbs are placed
Splayed east to west, all carapaced
what if some meat-eating moron,
Jonesing for a snack to gnaw on,
sees you sumo-stepping by
thinks "Hey look - a fresh meat pie"?
Running will beget disaster
You beat a hare so now you're faster?
You let your tasty bits protrude
and pretty soon they're getting chewed
No! Stop to suck your vitals in,
and hope he likes his toothy grin
Cause it's going to get busted
your gooey filling's well encrusted
I ventured into us
Without any outcome in mind
I was content at the time
Happiness was the bottom line
Nothing could prepare me for this
The fire was put out of our bliss
How did we come to this
Unbearable twist
It is impossible to know
That love once did exist
Caught
in the confusion and mist
It is hard to forge
any reasonable outcome
Which way is the right way
A clouded judgment
could be detrimental
It is so hard and my heart ache
Lord why did you forsake
Is it something I did in the past?
Is something I miss at present?
I can't see clearly
My heart is too broken
I'm teary eyed
I was brave
to suggest separation
The truth is I am terrified
I was dumb and bold
But your grudge
is just stone cold
I tried
to resuscitate
a talk with you
It was in vain
All listening
supply was cut off
Spending my time in silence
It feels to difficult
It beats strained words
to an unwilling ear
In the past I never minded
the odd behavior
here and there
But now protecting
my interest
will be my resolve
Our disagreement
seem to pile up
It seems never solved
It's way more than pride
It hurts inside
I have been through struggling
This is internal suffering
How long will I be
subjecting myself to this hurt
I was brave enough
to embrace the fire
It feels too late for me
because I got burnt
As I pick through the cupboard and rattle each tin,
Was that a moist squeak? No, it couldn't have been.
Now I open the can as I'm preparing to savor,
the tortoise aroma and the four legged flavor.
Then I turn the can over and what's flying out?
" No! It can't be alive!": I start with a shout.
He's down in my soup, in his progeny's platter.
His beak might be sharp. My teeth start to chatter.
I turn for my spoon and prepare a good whack,
He pops up and spits his cold soup on my back.
I attempt to engage as I swirl through his space,
when he surfaces quick and spews goo in my face.
On and on, it played out with me banging and flailing.
I finally gave up on this squirt gun. I'm wailing!
Don't sneer or condemn me as one callow coward.
Didn't this happen once to a Stooge-Curley Howard?
Do you have any idea how much “doo” a giant sea turtle can do?
How much tortoise “surprise” it can present to you?
You think cow plop is big? Put a cow plop on a pile of “surprise”.
You will laugh til tears come into your eyes.
In one of those “interactive” animal farms for which Florida is so noted,
was a huge sea turtle, it obviously felt bloated.
And right in the midst of the path, it nonchalantly deposited a stool.
My daughter stepped in the middle of the pool.
Wearing sandals no less, this immediately became a job for dear old dad,
anything to do with “doo” was my job to be had.
It was easy enough to lift her out of the pile, but the sandal was smothered.
That’s already too much detail, but it was recovered.
Daughter and sandal to the bathroom to remove the tortoise delight.
After that, believe me, we avoided zoos outright.
© Sept 17 2010 For Barbara's zoo contest
4
down a hilly route one huge log of wood
staring at the face both gazelle & her friend
like a bridge of test for an old wisdom bag
then climbeth old tortoise with many a lag
struggling to smuggle his bag over the log
at last lay he beside his bag & by the log!
“old tortoise, the wise!” exclaim’d the other
“thot you’ve gotten enough wisdom to trade
seeing a huge bag inherited from your father
& for this voyage to the field to be well made
first drop the bag on that log for an ease of entry
& having crossed the bag the wise gains the entry!”