down the mountain side
glaciers calving in meltdown ~
sweltering planet
Categories:
calving, environment,
Form: Haiku
Doctor Pol is a vet on TV
who resolves calving plights easily!
With his hands, puller tool
and his knowledge to rule-
baby cows are born live- breezily!
April 1, 2022
Contest: On A Lim
Sponsor: Joseph May
Syllables: 9 9 6 6 9
TV Show: The Incredible Dr. Pol
Nat Geo
Categories:
calving, animal, birth, tribute,
Form: Limerick
Here they are before me,
surreal in the dazzling morning sun.
Against clear skies of brilliant blue,
these tall glaciers of Alaskan ice,
stand heavenly before my eyes.
Their marbled, glistening whites-
arcane crevices and jagged peaks,
stir visions of cold, ghost-like forms
that glare at me in this mysterious bay
of murmurous creaks and moans.
These huge shapes of water speak,
like eerie, moving forms,
in corridors that shift and moan-
and with their loud sonorous wails,
give birth- calving chunks that fall.
With an abrupt, roaring explosion,
all at once, it starts- the large,
calved segment plummets to the sea.
These exotic glaciers live and speak-
more than the eye can see.
Categories:
calving, imagery, nature,
Form: Free verse
Always unexpected, spring arrives.
Water and warm spring air raises grass
On hills before the sheep and llamas graze.
Rain falls and tries to glaze fields of yellow hay
Stippled by the husbanded animals and deer
With their round mouthed chewing into cud.
Now, farmers can stop trips to buy extra hay
In town, pickup trucks with rolled hay bales
Jostling down the washboard country roads.
Spring calving and planting
Easiest of clichés:
Renewal, and I watch the fields green.
Queued up around the edge of the nearest one,
A stand of bushes and though there is no wind,
One quakes and shivers as if it’s cold.
I inspect beneath its outer leaves
To see two birds fluttering feathers
And jumping from branch to branch
Picking dark berries off,
Pecking them out of shape
And with broken neck gestures
Shake their heads from side to side
And eat them one by one. (4/9/21)
Categories:
calving, image, nature, spring, uplifting,
Form: Free verse
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:
calving, nature,
Form: Rhyme
Frozen, crystallized, jagged
glacier ice travels
toward freedom
toward the sea
a thunderous crash
ice shelves splash
calving free
falling into the sea
tenacious waves
appease serrated edges
rolling over but not dead
ice drifts with the sea
radiant in the sun
marbleized white and blue
dissolve in the warmer currents
death hastened by the sea.
Categories:
calving, allegory, earth, journey, nature,
Form: Blank verse
NOT SO MERRILY
in evening light, the tree not so merrily —
its shades shut tight, in revelry, lids beating
the coal cache — the portly man, delivering
tongues grab and stow curses repeatedly
astride of hohoho — his sleigh weighty
held back by slick-haired elves stampeding
faux-fur falls suffocating — snowfall heaving
calving forth a cacophonous sleet-piercing scream
an ivory finger placed on pinched lips, ominously
tells the wee little sinners to quit impeding
the work of her white-bearded spouse, seething
and thus competing they run from Mrs. Claus
12/22/2017
Categories:
calving, christmas, humor,
Form: Light Verse
A barn southwest of Central Butte
Could be seen for miles around
Upon a hill, and that was how
The Mattus place was found
A big and very well used barn
With lots of stock and feed
Pride of the Prairie West Winds Farms
A sentinel indeed
In the big bad wind of seventy-six
The Mattus place was rocked
Left Jean and Joan without a home
With John and Loretta shocked
And so the plans for their new shop
Became a barn instead
A stately straight white structure
Instead of plain old red
The big new barn soon came to know
The routine of the old
With dances held up on the loft
More shelter from the cold
An insulated calving room
New tack room ‘neath the stairs
With many new adjusting pens
Real forward thinking there
The new barn has served for many years
Just like the old one had
Still in the Mattus family
With Sheldon, Ron’s first lad
While other barns are leaning now
And threaten to fall down
The Mattus barn is straight and tall
The sturdiest around
That barn southwest of Central Butte
Can be seen for miles around
Upon a hill, it still is how
The Mattus place is found
Written by Jan Berger adapted for music by Mike Martin
Categories:
calving, family, farm,
Form: Ballad
Here they are before me,
surreal in the dazzling morning sun.
Against clear skies of blue, and
peaked snow-capped mountains-
these tall glaciers of Alaskan ice,
stand heavenly before my eyes.
Their marbled, glistening whites,
with multi shades of blue,
arcane crevices and jagged peaks-
stir visions of cold, ghost-like forms
that glare at me in this mysterious Bay
of murmurous creaks and moans.
More than the eye can see,
these lustrous glaciers speak,
like eerie, moving forms,
in corridors that shift and moan-
and with their loud sonorous wails,
give birth- calving chunks that fall.
With an abrupt, roaring explosion,
all at once, it starts- the large,
calved segment plummets to the sea.
Waves and splashes follow every birth.
These exotic glaciers live and speak-
more than the eye can see.
April 25, 2016
~2nd Place!
Premiere Contest: 2022 Poetry Marathon Mile 3
Sponsor: Mark Toney
Judged: 06/20/2022
~5th Place~
Premiere Contest: Splash
Sponsor: Kai Michael Newmann
Judged: 06/07/2020
Categories:
calving, beautiful, nature, sea,
Form: Imagism
A cowboy’s work is never done,
Like Sheppard’s among the sheep
No matter what, up with the sun,
Not really much time for sleep
You stay up all night to help out the weak
Even ones that won’t make it through
Let’s face it, that’s what makes you unique
Without it, you wouldn’t be you
You may not cry when you lose a calf
But it’s not because you don’t care
You hold strong for other’s behalf
And inside you feel only despair
You know deep down you can’t save ‘em all
And it’s not really up to you
It’s never stopped you from hitting a wall
‘Cause that’s what helps pull you through
But instead of giving in you move to another cow
It’s how you know calving season is here
You just step by her side, furrow your brow
‘Cause that’s life out on the frontier
You will always be there for her
That’s what being a cowboy is all about
Stay by her side till her calf is astir
No matter your fears or doubts
And seeing the calves running around
Was worth your all sleepless nights
You watch the play without making a sound
It’s what helps you keep fighting the good fight
Categories:
calving, animals, caregiving, cowboy-western, death,
Form: Cowboy Poetry
Sea mother awaits
The warm water is breaking
Manatee calving
Categories:
calving, animals, life, mother,
Form: Haiku
Airplane take off
Banging hammer
Crickets
Dog snoring
Engine rev
Faucet drip
Gargling
Heartbeat through a stethoscope
Ice calving from a glacier
Jumping rope
Knock on a door
Laughter
Metronome
Nutcracker cracking nuts
One hand clapping
Panpipe
Quack of a duck
River's flow
Sneezing
Typewriter tapping
Ululating widows
Vacuum cleaner cleaning
Whistling
Xylophone
Yosemite geyser going off
Zen master chant
Categories:
calving, music, on writing and
Form: ABC
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:
calving, cowboy-western, funny, happiness, nature,
Form: Cowboy Poetry