Elk Poems

The Gun

On the wall above the fire place, 
Grandpa’s rifle still sits. 
I take it down now and then to clean, 
but put it back every time. 
That is where it belongs. 

Grandpa shot deer and elk, 
He even shot...Read More

Lion 'bout grabbing tiger by tail

Holy mole lee
watch out fowl, balladeer
look out... i.e. donkey kong
primate doth share
footloose slothful writing,
essentially swiftly tailored hare

reed styled mountebank
gets made by mice elf,
an imperfect triangulated square,
while "fake" charioteer
looses neigh scent horsesense
glomming "fake" papier

mâché piñata across...Read More

The rabbit got lost, oh what to do?
So he hunted to find rabbit brothers, 
like him, too.
Into the deep forest he hopped.
Almost run over by a fire truck!
His tiny nose twitching for others
just like him.
He found huge deer and elk...Read More

Powers beyond measure wearing messages of the spirit, 
           BALD EAGLE soars with might, so majestic I can hear it.
bestowing freedom flying higher than any other bird,
   ...Read More

Yellow aspens in mid September,
The faint smell of sage and dampened grass.
A beautiful day to remember
As I sit on the hillside to glass
A world of which I'm not a member.
Raucous camp-robber jays holding class,
Maple trees and Oak brush like embers...Read More

Native American Translations

Cherokee Travelers' Blessing I
loose translation by Michael R. Burch

I will extract the thorns from your feet.
For yet a little while, we will walk life's sunlit paths together.
I will love you like my own brother, my own blood.
When you...Read More

Glaciers moved with determined strength 
in their destinies, pushing and upheaving
boulders large beyond belief
and whatever else stood in their paths
while coursing over and through the earth's crust
scraping into creation a landscape
of mountains, cliffs, valleys, moraines,
dumlins, eskers and notches,
kettle lakes, cirques...Read More

I saddle my faithful horse, King, for another day on the trail.
My dog, Duke, is anxious to go, I can tell by the wag of his tail!
The soothing sound of creaking leather is music to me,
As we seek another day...Read More

My quest to walk across the nation,
like vaunted pioneers of old,
started in Maine six months ago,
post vlogs of my progress for folks.

I am deep in Wyoming now,
and I’m on my third pair of shoes,
brown grass beneath, cropped by cattle,
in front...Read More

the eagle watches me 
from high above 
it has finally come to this 
I stand on this ragged lookout 
this jagged rock 
alone 

my friends are gone 
Bruce "Bear Paw" Perry 
Billy Fly and Blackpowder Bourgoin 
died in these mountains...Read More

I am the peakest of peaks. 
I rise out of morning mist, 
a castle of earth. 

From my towers, I see everything... 
where sky meets heaven, 
sunshine meets shadow. 

My spires: pine, spruce, fir, 
cling where they can. 
Eagles, my...Read More

light
frost whitens
the frozen verge-
inert below,summer
awaits

under
the hedge a
welcome haven-
down my neck raindroplets
trickle

dozing
on the lawn
St Swithans day-
large round spots splash into
my lap

missing
in action-
his memory 
clipped to a bedroom
mirror

a kiss
an affair-
separation
drowns into memory's
abyss

the elk
cub misses
the herd's retreat-
a lone wolf howl calls to 
the...Read More

I saw
elk frozen 
in lake. Birds pecked
out his nostrils and eyes…
Winter.


05.05.2019
Writing Challenge 1, May 2019 - Cinqku- Poetry Contest
Dear Heart...Read More

A Cowboy's Journal
By: Tom Wright
10/10/98  

The old corral stands,
silver and smooth from no care.
From years of neglect,
in the crisp mountain air.

Earlier covered with frost
now black and wet from the thaw.
I saddled Sugar Foot, my Mustang,
then searched my vest for...Read More

Enthusiasm sustained while anticipation intrigues 
To capture a glimpse of a Cooper’s hawk
Hours pass by, keeping patience as a virtue 
I span the sky and tree tops each step of my walk. 

Oh my gosh, those powerful wings suddenly appear
My...Read More

As I walk down this path of delight
Surrounded by theses trees of life
The only sound heard are crackling leaves
With birds singing in the trees

As quite as I wish to be
The animals run when they see me
I can hear rain drops...Read More

Moccasins crunching on crusted snow,
wolf-fur hood warming what I breathe,
jogging with lance and tomahawk,
other friends spread out, left and right.

The wapiti run before us,
big elk, eight or so moving,
no chance with fleetness of foot
to run down or diner out here.

They...Read More

Heading to the Great Smokies 
to see natures beauty 
We visited Oconaluftee Visitor Center
Before we even got there
We saw a most beautiful creature 

Out in a field 
Not far from Oconaluftee
was a whole herd of elk
feeding on the grass
with frost...Read More

Driving around the mountainside 
as the sun goes down 
Looking at all the nature 
turning leaves and all

Watching the elk feeding 
in the field across the way
Seeing the frost forming 
as the temperatures start dropping 

The sky starts turning
red, pink...Read More

A man in a black suit, and cane drawn
wandering above the sea of fog 
wildlife, mountains, lakes, and bog

Untroubled Heaven in his eyes for the moment
fields of green, awaken refreshed at dawn
where salmon runs the rivers blue to spawn

where shaggy...Read More

He Who Loved Night Woman, carrying
ivory revive ring, followed twilight
heart voice calling.
mature antlers appeared 
as he entered healing water

woodland creatures lined up.
raccoon, fox, elk, moose, 
felt the cool water as if they had
entered it with him,

mystical night, universal stillness
in the...Read More

'Twas the night before Christmas how could I miss 
the jangle of keys from a Santa named Chris
He won over Benji two biscuits and vice 
then recited the list, who's naughty who's nice  
He munched on the cookies drank...Read More

From pine-scented forests, past boulders and streams,
To clear lakes encircled by murals and dreams
Where bright clouds emblazon a warm azure sky,
A trail through the mountains is one I must try.

When bluebells stop blooming and nighttime grows cold,
The breeze makes the...Read More

The Black Hills wept for Thee

East of the Black Hills of South Dakota, 
On the Pine Ridge Reservation,
Live a proud tribe of Oglala Lakota, 
Part of the Great Sioux Nation.

On saddled chargers rode half the Regiment,
of the Seventh Cavalry.
A tune...Read More

At first it looked just to be a sad old house beside the sea.                          ...Read More