The canyons dim, the canyons dark,
fast river churning at its heart;
the canyons sheer, the canyons steep,
trees cling to walls, ready to leap;
the canyons tall, the canyons wife,
voice echoes on the other side;
the canyons long, the canyons rough,
running those rapids would be tough;
the canyons air, the canyons breeze,
condors upon the thermals seize;
the canyons rim, the canyons trail,
draws gaping tourists without fail;
the canyons depth, the canyons walls,
few hikers reach the floor at all;
the canyons cut, the canyons age,
reminds us that earth doesn’t play.
Categories:
condors, appreciation, beauty, earth, imagery,
Form: Rhyme
you circle each word
red, you enjoy
the correcting -
“read”
the riding crop
dropped
words race away
in your inner world
dark stallions
no bridle nor bit
bareback the beautiful
once driven, given free reign
across your cartography
no maps required
for the keeper of secrets
you know the way well now
across the sensual plains
bypassing
bad dreams
flying heavens
alongside condors and eagles
Pegasus
delivers
star of Leo
to the one holding
the bow and arrow
Sagittarius
son of Pan
and Eupheme
nursing the Muses
gently Eupheme
nurses the Muses
gently Eupheme
nurses the Keeper
The Keeper of Secrets
Candide Diderot. ‘24
secretarius. Latin/etymology.
Categories:
condors, muse,
Form: Free verse
Condors and skyscrapers
Concrete walls and glass walls
Are outstanding landmarks of a city
Blocking the view of the sky and greenery
Cars and heavy traffic
Highways and flyovers
Add to the hazards of pollution
Urban afforestation is needed
To embellish our environment
To purify our environment
Greenery gives us spiritual calmness
and freedom
Soothing our eyes and souls
A reflection of purity, life and vigour
Shrubs and trees along the roads and in the gardens
Are nearer to nature and its beauty
And the origin of life
Categories:
condors, beauty, environment, freedom, green,
Form: Free verse
Absence makes the heart grow fonder.
Aspen is a place to squander.
Assess, take some time to ponder.
Absinthe causes minds to wander.
Aston Martin’s gone; I pawned her.
Accent hair to make you blonder.
Access ski slopes over yonder;
Ascend lifts on high like condors.
Accidents bring first responders.
Accept when it’s time to launder.
Absent money, home grows fonder.
Categories:
condors, silly, vacation,
Form: Monorhyme
It snowed last night;
taking out the trash,
there I am, dozing in a garden swing set
deep within July.
It could be another year.
July in a London park
lying next to her,
wisps of gentleness in a public place,
dandelion seeds parachuting upwards.
Snow falls onto my eyelids.
The trash I am hefting
is from Madrid
there are straw hats and the ruins
of several cathedrals in it.
It should be heavier
but the Iberian condors add a weightlessness
to all things too heavy to bear
across a snowy backyard asphalt.
Chill bones rattle on the swing set,
icicles weep from its wrought iron frame.
She is singing in the kitchen,
coral lips savoring what she has yet to cook.
A skein of geese are crossing over
heaped frozen spires.
Summer shorts and a T
rustle in a summer breeze, then freeze.
Categories:
condors, poetry,
Form: Free verse
Army of Napoleon Bonaparte,
Was so rhythmically marching,
Gliding across all rough paths
Like condors to conquer the Alps;
A woman aged in experience,
Warns him consequences dire;
For never ever in her lifetime,
Had she seen anyone coming back;
He, overwhelmed by love for her,
Gifts her diamonds vastly valued;
Tells her to spread the great story
Of Napoleon daring to come back;
The army in reluctance rebels,
To move ahead to such hazard;
Telling them it’s a matter trivial,
He enkindles their spirits to soar;
Indeed, they had seen a hill,
And enquired their master about it;
‘Alps Mountain is great’, he said,
Lo, this resembles nothing of it;
They climbed it so simple and easy,
And expected another expedition tough;
Reaching the plains he smilingly said,
The Alps has already been conquered;
Relentless was Napoleon’s ways,
Victory-oriented his daring deeds;
His faith mingled with intelligence,
Charisma combined with confidence;
Motivation merged with military trust,
Handled rarest of rare predicaments…
01 July 2021
Categories:
condors, adventure, confidence, courage, devotion,
Form: Free verse
It snowed last night, first fall of the year.
Taking out the trash,
there I am, dozing in a garden swing set
deep within July.
Mother of pearl eyes
above the clouds…it could be another year.
July in a London park
lying next to your soft brown hair
wisps of humid gentleness in a public place.
Snow falls onto my eyelids.
The trash is from Madrid
there are straw birds and the ruins
of several cathedrals in it.
It should be heavier
but the Iberian condors add a weightlessness
to all things too heavy to bear
across a backyard asphalt.
The chill bones on the swing set rattle,
icicles drip from blue eye sockets.
You are singing in the kitchen again,
coral lips savoring what you have yet to cook.
A skein of geese are crossing over
a heaped pile of clouds and frozen spires.
Reclining shorts and a T
rustle in a summer breeze, then freeze.
Just taking out something
to send it away
takes many years of scratch
and scrabble,
when you get there
it could be the time or the season
discarding your lost days
or you may have miscalculated
the accumulation
that gathers around the beginning of December
when the snow comes early.
Categories:
condors, poetry,
Form: Free verse
Hankering hordes of hungry hovering hawks haunt hoodoos in Utah.
Underfed California condors cruise canyon cataracts for corpses.
Nesting, starving swallows swiftly search for slime and straw in Saginaw.
Gorging ravenous ravens roam Wrangell’s razor ridges in Alaska.
Eager pelicans patrol and plunge for perch in pallid Pacific waters.
Returning red robins round up ripe raspberries in Rhode Island.
4/1/2019 Writing Challenge 6, March 2019 - 6 lines Poetry Contest Sponsored by: Dear Heart
Categories:
condors, bird, food, nature, poetry,
Form: Acrostic
Deep in the canyon with the grace of your souls
carrying your memory inside me
Visiting places where we spent time before
seeing each one of your faces
Hearing your voices whispering inside
reminding of what we knew then
Sealing a vision all time has denied
old beginnings freed from the end
Deep in the canyon, the cliffs high above
the echoes like condors they climb
The river runs wild as it carries our dream
like a mother in birth of a child
The wind calls out once, then calls out again
its question defying an answer
As our souls reunite in the vastness below
—the story of five canyon dancers
(Havasupai Indian Village: January, 2019)
Categories:
condors, spiritual,
Form: Rhyme
NATURALLY BLUE
naturally blue you are self made from the creator
Tried, true you who
are not bronze, golden nor silver
But you are ever so true, you are natueally blue
Condors flying high, higher
Child daughter of God you are
You're freed,free in the skies in the air you fly
Like an angal, a angel in the skies
naturally blue you are self made from the creator
Tried, true you who
are not bronze, golden nor silver
But you are ever so true, you are natueally blue you are
you're natural, naturally blue
Brown skinned woman
You are choosen
Real hair natural woolen
Not shaired soften fragrant rose barred all the thorns
And all that you bare is God's chosen
For you is naturally, naturally one of the few
Naturally blue
Deadicated to my friend “NISREEN”
11/15/16
WORDS by: James Edward Lee Sr.2016©
Categories:
condors, appreciation, black african american,
Form: Lyric
I am teaching poetry in an elementary
classroom -- a tiny girl with a large soul,
gigantic brown framed eye glasses and
a silky brown bang writes a poem Dorothy
Parker would have been proud of
and Alice Walker would have adorned her
walls with, I tell her,"Dear student, you are
wise beyond your years.This is really
better than tremendous."
A gigantic girl with shoulders like Heinz
Ward sails across the classroom and
snatches the poem from the tiny girl's
hands. She and her fellow condors scuffle
to read it, their savage beaks bashing
together.
The teacher and I make the bully give the
verse back.
The tiny student sighs, looks up at us our
regretful, apologetic expressions and
states, "I am used to this."
I retort, " Ah, I see. Then, you are used to
being the kinder person and the better
writer. Your assets will help you...And,
them..."
Bell ring. End of class. Books gathered.
Dismissal.
Note: The poet loved teaching and loved
students and these situations amused her
and made her love all of them even more.
The next session they were far more
collegial.
Categories:
condors, absence
Form: ABC
Left home I wandering-
Senseless of the day or the night-
Fearless of all fright-
But while sitting for a while-
Perhaps beside the duo colored Nile-
Sitting then I was thinking-
With salt less smile-
Where really am I heading to-
Where I am going to-
Me in myself then spoke up
I am in search of a friend-
Of beautiful mind, and kind and decent-
Wandering and pondering I kept on-
Foot marking the sand like exon-
Alas there I saw what really I wanted to see-
In the desert away from the sea-
God’s wonders,
An oasis in the desert-
Where I felt flying like Condors-
I could see in the vicinity of the stream-
Beside fluttering and dancing gem beads of water-
On the beautiful greenery a friend of my dream-
Thanking God I moved and moved and moved-
Moved near and near, to make the great aperture distinct-
Reaching there only I could realize-
It was not really a surprise-
I had really forgotten the well-known adage-
That there is something called Mirage.
Categories:
condors, friendship, beautiful, beautiful,
Form: I do not know?
The Edge of Extinction
Silent humming birds
Great ocean whales
Deep unknown rain forests
Dark eyed Polar Bears
Ancient Loggerhead turtles
Ivory tusked Elephants
North American Indians
Eskimos
Australian Aboriginals
Lost South American Indians
Kiwis and Kakapo’s
Sperm whales
Blue whales
Narwhales
Killer whales
Prairies covered with Buffalo
Humpback whales
Deep forest Wolves
Ospreys and Kitty Hawks
Sparrow Hawks
Red Kites
High flying Bald Eagles
Gargantuan Grizzly Bears
And slinking ferocious Cougars
Snow Leopards
Tall majestic Elms and Rowans
Snow Tigers
And dark midnight Panthers
White Peacocks
And Peacock Butterflies
Green Hedge Warblers
Corn Crakes
Green Capped Wood Peckers
Wisteria
And rare Fox Gloves
Wild Orchids
And the wild, wild Mustang
Tiny Yellow Tree Frogs
Bandit masked Badgers
Soaring Californian Condors
Red Squirrels
Water Voles
And Sea Otters
Forests of Kelp
Cromer Crabs
Sad eyed Panda’s
Will this catalogue continue endlessly
Sixteen thousand listed already
What species next
Humanity ?
Categories:
condors, animals, loss, nature, people
Form: Free verse