** What’s Torn **
What’s been torn off or away may be
a recurring theme — of dreams or memory —
that nags, popping up unexpectedly
to recall or, for dear losses, again grieve…
The things thieved
from life — as divinely conceied,
like the Amazon forest’s trees —
don’t leave, but remain in a spectral reality…
What’s been torn away
may similarly refuse to leave —
like my calve, cut from my body, will scream,
sending phantom pain in suffered agonies…
What was seized from me on that mournful day,
— sculpted by dancing ballet for a decade,
stayed as I went from anestesized to awake
into a daytime nightmare without any escape…
When life sends us to dire places,
where hopelessness would subjugate us,
God will guard our souls and grace us
with a strength: resounding to the soul…
Left ragged, like having my health fail
in reaching goals, I will feel my heart wail
near breaking, but I refuse to let my faith pale
…believing the prayers of heaven will entail
blessings to help all God’s children prevail.
—————————
((c) s.y..eslinger 3/2024
**an addition to “On Phantom Pain” poem still in progress at this time
Categories:
calve, christian, faith, god, hope,
Form: Rhyme
Where did you get a stuffed albino squirrel?
I say this after giving it a tug and a whirl.
After oohing and ahhing over it, we all yell
And I mean down deep from the bowls of hell…
“Jambers!” loud and proud simultaneously.
We have all been there since our mothers’ knee.
Jambers is the most notorious flea shop in New York.
We spend money there fast enough to stuff porky pork.
Once I found a full-grown suit of armor I had to have.
I rented a truck and brought it to my house along with a calve.
The calve would have been a calf, but it had lost a leg.
I also brought home Blackbeard with a leg that was a peg.
If it is not to be found at Jambers, it is not to be had.
I learned this from my mother, father, and great granddad.
Jambers is the ultimate junk store, known by designers and the king.
If you cannot find anything at Jambers, you do not need anything.
Categories:
calve, silly,
Form: Rhyme
I was a nascent virgin stream
Born to glabrous mountain king
On the unflinching love his dream
The dark damsel of sky he fling.
On her rapture and cry I grown
Broken the rules with fickle friends
Freely flown as my growing brawn
Smoothing curves of fine couthy bends.
One day I reached the fall of love
Met your golden face and quiver
Fallen blind on your hands I calve
My silver hair known as river.
Mating, jiggling and blushed in red
Flown to the deep, deep to the bed.
(Horsetail Fall, located in Yosemite National Park in California, is a seasonal waterfall that flows in the winter and early spring. If Horsetail Fall is flowing in February and the weather conditions are just right, the setting sun illuminates the waterfall, making it glow orange and red. This natural phenomenon is often referred to as the "Firefall")
Categories:
calve, love, nature, river, romance,
Form: Rhyme
Winter sulks, dying slow in stark stillness
while chiffon hues shyly peek into sight
a lace of buds bloom, banishing chillness
as resurrection of colors delight.
Can you hear trees laugh as new leaves spring forth?
See fields of wildflowers wake up and smile?
Can you bask in sweet scents wafting o'er north?
Feel newness of life, a world without guile?
As earth's heartbeat quickens, living things grow
cows calve, fledglings hatch, rabbits multiply
a bountiful journey of ebb and flow
after tremulous start, spring soars through the sky.
Nature's dulcet sounds pulsate through the day
spring's glorious chorus in grand display.
Written on 3/4/2019
Categories:
calve, nature, spring,
Form: Sonnet
We approached the Hubbard Glacier,
More than seventy miles long,
And we watched it calve and listened
To its snap-pop-crackle song.
As chunks of ice broke free and fell
(That's calving) we could hear
The glacier pop and crackle
Very loud and very clear.
Occasionally, underwater
Pieces broke off, too
And they popped up to the surface
In a burst of white and blue.
They're fondly called "ice krispies,"
Like the cereal whose goal
Is to crackle, snap and pop
When milk is added to the bowl.
It's super cool (no pun intended)
Watching Nature's feats
So I'd rather watch ice krispies
Than consume Rice Krispie Treats!
Categories:
calve, nature,
Form: Rhyme
In Alaska, running loose
Are grizzlies, caribou and moose.
Eagles soar and whales cavort
And salmon fishing is a sport.
Glaciers calve and mountains rise,
Scenery to mesmerize.
Sadly, now, for tourist folk
The air is filled with thick gray smoke.
I am starting on a tour;
Don't know what will be in store,
But I'm hoping skies will clear
And some wildlife will appear.
Nature - lift that smoky noose.
I'd really love to see a moose!
Categories:
calve, nature,
Form: Rhyme
There's nothing like a pressured toot
to get you out of bed.
The moving sheets, the rustled beat;
of flatulance ahead.
That very sign that life goes on
despite the time you have.
Where waiting on the sun to shine
might mean a death through calve.
And hope is an illusion
of a sleep that's pulled you in.
When your luck means live or die
to a death that's judged your sin.
And you wake with expectations
of a world that's going to love
as you move about your business
in the manner yours will shove.
Categories:
calve, analogy, angst, appreciation, business,
Form: Quatrain
Had we but oil enough and gas,
All welfare bill would easily pass,
And we’d be spending hard, I bet,
Without incurring any debt.
You, on the Moon, would keep your bees
And tend to Martian refugees;
And I would sleep all day, in mirth,
Upon the lap of Mother Earth.
And I would send such cash to you
As to convert a die-hard Jew.
And I would pay an arm and a leg
To have my raincoat hung on a peg.
And to unpeg it, as it goes,
I’d pay, most gladly, through the nose.
But in my yard, each morn, I see
No oil or gas in front of me.
No one sends manna from the skies;
Not even Salomon the Wise.
Before you give, you first must have:
There are no bulls where cows don’t calve.
It’s good to have a kingly heart,
But spendthrift kingdoms fall apart.
Therefore, as we cannot grow rich
By drilling ground or digging a ditch,
We’d better find another way
To safely make ends meet today.
Let us make haste and use our strength,
For only then shall we, at length,
Reboot our brains, by lies undone,
And set them free, and make them run.
Categories:
calve, allusion,
Form: Rhyme
At 27,123 pounds, Gertrude was at her finest, and friskiest weight.
She said to everyone she met, “Hey, I weigh over a ton, isn’t this terrifically great?”
The other dragons were jealous, as weight in their kingdom is the best thing to have.
She ate two good-looking, Texas cowboys for breakfast, the ones who used to calve.
One of them, Jim, grabbed ahold of her masticating incisor, and pulled himself through,
The hole she had between a molar, but her sloppy green saliva was as sticky as glue.
The other cowboy grabbed onto a wisdom tooth in the very back that had a bit of decay.
As far as I know they stayed there, for a week or two, and they might still be there today!
Categories:
calve, 2nd grade, 3rd grade,
Form: Cowboy Poetry
GIVE UNTO THE LORD
Give unto the Lord you mighty
Give unto the Lord glory and strenght
Give unto the Lord the glory due, His name
The voice of the Lord is upon the waters
Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness
The voice of the Lord is in the waters
Give unto the Lord you mighty
Give unto the Lord glory and strenght
Give unto the Lord the glory due, His name
The voice of the Lord is upon the waters
The voice of the Lord is powerful
The voice of the Lord is full of majesty
The voice of the Lord breaks cedars
Yea! The voice of God breaks cedars of Lebanon
The voice of the Lord divides the flames of fire
The voice of God shakens the wilderness
The Lord shakes up the winderness of Kadesh
The voice of the Lord strips bare the calve in the field
While in the temple everyone speaks of His glory
Give unto the Lord you mighty
Give unto the Lord glory and strenght
Give unto the Lord the glory due, His name
The voice of the Lord is upon the waters
Psalm29:1-11
5/16/10
Written words by James Edward Lee Sr. ©2010
Categories:
calve, appreciation, blessing, devotion,
Form: Lyric
My life would not be worth living
So I open the gate
My life is made to be giving
It can never be to late
I want to give to you
Something I have made
As something made is true
This love you cannot trade
To give you all I have
Is something I would do
Even rub your calve
If you remove the shoe
The word of love is strong
Be careful how you use it
To feel how you belong
You never want to lose it
Words can say a lot
Actions can be louder
Careful how you plot
Do what makes you prouder
To express yourself freely
Just let yourself go
I do this really
To let myself grow
I love with my life
To all that I know
I wade through the strife
And hunt with a bow
My bow has been stolen
Now what will I do
I may go out bowling
Might do it with you
I trust very easy
And like to just share
But some can be greasy
And steal what I care
I’ll get a bow back
If it takes me some time
I’ll hunt from my shack
I’m still in my prime
I am still very giving
A love all my friends
My life is worth living
From beginnings to ends
Categories:
calve, forgiveness, life, loss, love,
Form: Rhyme
I don’t want any strife
None in my life
Perilous it would be
I would hate to see
The fear I would have
Cutting deep in my calve
Crying an option negative
For strife could shiv
My sacred heart
Forever impart
Don’t hate me
For being me
And freeing myself
From disbelief
I would fall apart
Losing my heart
From the terrible fate
You, on a separate date
I wanting to hold you
But your soul flew
Away
Today
Russell Sivey
Categories:
calve, life, loss, lost love,
Form: Free verse
Spring
Ah, spring is in the air. The time when Mother Nature renews herself.
The loving arms of the sun and the tears of the clouds bring forth the little green
shoots of promise. The little animals have preformed their dances of renewal
and their species is ensured. Ranching on the Rosebud Reservation of S. D. we
had a cow calf operation. Our springs were in tune with nature and not only did
we calve in the spring but we also had a fall calving group. We ran about four
hundred cows and since we were basically a one man operation there were
times my poor husband had to yield and allow me to help.
Categories:
calve, cowboy-western, funny, happiness, nature,
Form: Cowboy Poetry
Long ago
when the Buffalo
first began their endless journey
North to South
East to West
We shared
a heart
and we were
One Spirit.
Together
we lead the people
as great warriors,
healers and keepers
of the stories.
We made out shirts
and we danced the dance
of the ghosts.
We could not stop
their bullets,
but this did not matter to us.
It only released us from our shadow bodies.
It only sent us onto a Higher Plain.
We laughed
as we sang our death songs.
One by one
the Buffalo
are returning.
Each spring they calve
and bring us back with them.
Over and over
we slowly return.
Over and over
we fly higher
in the Blue.
Each time we fly
we come closer
to the real world.
We have been faithful
to the vision
and
one by one
We rise.
Categories:
calve, cowboy-western, inspirational, life, native
Form: Free verse