BROODING NIMBUS
I am not just an ordinary cloud
Dark and menacing all in grey
A harbinger of storm and rain
Ready to fulfil my destiny again
Snow will fall, as it must obey
Blanketing Earth like a shroud
But I do prefer the other image
As a halo that surrounds a saint
An light emanation for a deity
And an example of spontaneity
Inspiration of a picture to paint
Maybe make a holy pilgrimage
But a brooding nimbus, I’m not
A bowling ball with no fingerholes
Maybe hovering in a dim-lit sky
But rain is not me starting to cry
I can assume a variety of roles
But always when cold, never hot
SECRET LOVE
I must admit to loving Doris Day
Secret Love sung in Calamity Jane
The gentle song just blew me away
Now, I always want to hear it again
Those lyrics really said it all to me
And like her, I just about fell apart
And seeing her sing it was fantasy
It struck straight into my heart
It struck straight into my heart
This for me was also a secret love
And my racing pulse would start
That smile, like the blue sky above
This is the first time I have shared
All these years, I’m still unprepared
I must admit to loving Doris Day
Martha Jane Cannary,
For her time was quite contrary.
A hard drinking, sharp shootin' gal,
Who dressed like a man and whose language was foul.
7/24/21
For Brian Strand's July 24 Poetry Contest
Calamity Jane the adventuress,
Lived and died hard under stress.
She could drink, smoke and shoot,
Out rode most galoots,
Men had to admit she's the best.
Calamity had a kind heart.
with her money she'd freely part.
If she could help,
Why not 'cause she felt,
She might help someone make a new start.
Calamity dressed like a man,
And most folks did not understand,
But she made her own way,
'Cause she'd no one to pay,
And she had to work like a man.
She died with the clothes on her back,
And the few things she kept in her pack.
She'd lived mostly alone,
Always been on her own,
She got tough 'cause she couldn't go back.
Her ma and her pa both died young,
And her siblings, they were all gone.
She was one little girl,
All alone in the world,
And her last song has finally been sung.
Everyone was staring
Frozen in their seat
Down the stairs
Made quite an entrance
Calamity Jane
Without her underwear
Her buxom figure
Generously in full view
For everyone to see
Down the stairs
All watched Calamity Jane
In her birthday suit
The whole incident
Might have gone unnoticed
But no such luck
Frozen in their seat
Mouth wide open
Everyone just stared
Down the stairs so clumsily
Had I not tripped
No doubt we could have
Saved the life size portrait
Of Calamity Jane
Au naturel
AP: Honorable Mention 2020
Is It Deplorable
And Does It make me Criminal?
If I used my Genius
To become Felinous
As I was craving to become your Ethos
All that I Did
Was to pave my way to your Heart
To be seen as your darling Sweetheart
For the arrows of Cupid
Have made me Languid
Should I see myself as an illegal Caid?
Like a Calamity called Calamity Jane
I shattered the opaque glass pane
Behind which you hid your true side
That of a braveheart prone to landslide
Rest your Faith on my Genuine Feelings
In my Conscience, I never did any Stealing
Not even any Raping, Beating or Assaulting
But I leave it to you to be Judging
In your eyes, am I a Criminal?
Seduction was my weapon
To prove my devotion
Should I be judged guilty
I would be in Misery
Totally lost in this Reality!
Honorable Mention
For the contest : The Unread Poems
Sponsored by : Yasmin Khan
Buffalo Bill
Stood in the rain and caught a chill
Was very ill and in some pain
He moaned and groaned…"This is a calamity, Jane!!"
The Ballad of Cat Ballou (Continued)
With her outlaw gang they're now telling a story of how she rode the plains.
The wildest gal in the old west since Calamity Jane.
She killed a man in Wolf City, Wyoming. Killed a man it's true
and that is why they'll be hanging her highness Cat Ballou.
The day has finally come. She's being sent to her glory for the way she sinned.
They'll be sending her soul on a wayward wind.
She has the smile of an angel,
but fights like the devil.
The eyes of an angel,
but bites like the devil.
The face of an angel,
I say she's the devil.
She's mean and evil through and through.
Cat Ballou,
what's come over you?
You're mean and evil through and through.
She escaped and rode away,
on her hanging day.
Where is still a mystery,
but Cat rode into history
and her legend grew.
She was the Queen of the Outlaws,
Her Highness Cat Ballou.
Riding the quarter slot pony
at Woolworth’s five & dime
Would send this half pint cowgirl
back to another time
I was Calamity Jane riding hell bent
to bring the US mail,
Annie Oakley, with dead eye aim,
shooting lint specks off a nail,
In my games of Cowboy & Indian
everyone would win
The Lone Ranger & Tonto
were my two bestest friends
Out in the back yard,
on my old swing set
I created memories
that I will never forget
I would swing & sing for hours
loud enough for the world to hear
I rode the meanest broncs
never showed a bit of fear
I dreamed of Being like Tad or Fox
Weren’t nobody putting me in a china box
while momma dreamed of frills & lace
In my dreams, I always rode ahead of the race
I always wore a white hat
& never lost a fight
Evil wore a black hat
& a heart as black as night
I find myself wishing
more often here of late
That I could return again
to that childhood age of eight
When everything made more sense
& innocence wasn’t lost
I wonder, if I turned back time,
what would be the cost?
© April 2005
She makes the whip go poppin’,
Her pistol shots are heart stoppin’,
Woman of romance, grit and fame,
Wild Lady of Heart, Calamity Jane.
She’s history, wrapped up in mystery,
And she lives the life she loves,
Taking with innocent gratefulness,
The gifts from God above.
Listen to her stories,
And you can live them too,
Then realize, the greatest gift,
Has also been given to you.
When she gives her stories,
And all her very best,
You become a vital part,
Of the Legend of the American West.
Oh, she makes that whip go poppin’,
Her pistol shots are heart stoppin’,
Woman of romance, grit and fame,
Wild Lady of Heart...Calamity Jane.
*Dedicated to Norma Cathey, Great Grand Niece of Calamity Jane.
Thanks for the laughter.
Looking for the formal definition, structure, and history of this poetry form? Visit the Poetry Dictionary entry below. Then return to explore how PoetrySoup members bring the form to life through their own poems.