Long Lily pad Poems

The first soft snow: 
leaves of the awed jonquil 
bow low
—Matsuo Basho translation by Michael R. Burch

Come, investigate loneliness! 
a solitary leaf
clings to the Kiri tree
—Matsuo Basho translation by Michael R. Burch

The cheerful-chirping cricket
contends gray...

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Dusk-gliding swallow, 
please spare my small friends
flitting among the flowers! 
—Matsuo Basho translation by Michael R. Burch

A bee emerging
from deep within the peony's hairy recesses
flies off, sated
—Matsuo Basho translation by Michael R. Burch

That dying cricket,...

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“Ten Years, Somewhere in their Lost Neighbourhood”

Of course,
he said, like a god,
there is no course,
one must simply go with the flow
the penumbra stands waivering its existence,
a kind of deactivation, fuzzy borderline hanging, 
backing the art...

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I often sit for long periods of time
hoping the perfect beginning will come to me.
To write a poem that starts with a pristine Capital
leaving readers with great expectations.

But after much torment, with not a fleck...

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O raja reigning is the light of all lights
electric rays beaming  oscillating  waves
I embody my spirit in a physical form
I kindly request her divinity to roam
beseeching with contrition
She begins to uncoil  at...

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I WISH I WEREN’T A FROG
by
JOHN M. ARRIBAS



I wish I were a frog sunning myself on a lily pad
No cares or worries to drive me mad or sad
I’ll  play it cool, wait for insects...

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I wake to a monochrome world and I yawn
The reds, greens and yellows awaiting the dawn
Out on the water, my luminous float
Rides unseen ripples in fear of no boat

This morning my roof is my fishing...

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Troll Lake was slowly filling, after the dam and bridge were finally built.
But, it was close to the city, and kids were coming nightly, without relent!
Bad things were going to happen, if we didn’t stop...

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            Warmly dedicated to SMJ

      Three Sonnets Inspired by my
         ...

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Maurice the frog was q###r; of this he had no doubt and all the lady frogs just made him yawn.
He sat all day on his lily pad, flicking his tongue at passing flies, with never...

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~

She chased a pretty butterfly,
the field a minty green
With Salvia and Baby's Breath,
a watercolor scene

As fast as her two feet could run,
she touched its silken wing,
so vivid, a kaleidoscope,
a stained-glass kind of thing

When suddenly the...

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A frog went on a day trip to a pond just down the road, where he met up with his friend, Ribbity the Toad.
They found their favourite lily pad and hopped up side by side...

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Yellow Butterflyfish and Snakeskin Discus
swim freely in this life I call an aquarium-
I see a Purple Regal Tang as the Pufferfish 
sang with a melody like a sweet guitar strum.
Blue and pink coral, like a...

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There once was a frog who wanted to wear shoes
out of the swamp he left and off to a cobbler's shop
with no time to lose. The grasshoppers and crickets
at him they did laugh, for why...

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I have a big, old froggie that lives in my ornate lily pond, so refined.
And every time I have a guest, he Farts and spurts water from his behind.
My son has named him bubbles and...

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I met Mary Oliver the other day,
next to Starbucks in that store
where softcovers surely number
well into the mid-to-high six digits.

Ours was a chance encounter, 
as neither of us would travel in 
any of the same...

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Yellow flower

I dreamt that I was floating on a cloud of velvet mist
and was a yellow flower that a moon beam hadn’t kissed
I strolled along the treetops like a spider on a thread
while listening to...

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Liquid light
lingering on the lily pad bright
with the remnant smear
of Aurora’s telltale tears
coalesced in the valley of the veins,
shimmering as the sheets of summer rains

Glistening tightrope trails,
gossamer diamond paths entail
such dangers near and far,
out of...

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Dawn's rays burst through gray clouds
Though evening's bitterness lingers
She struggles to shake free of tear-stained, satin shrouds

Each morning, so much effort just to rise
But lips part to flash a much-needed smile
When she opens the door...

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Fred frog would a dancing go,
With his best friend Bob's girlfriend Flo,
Flo went to all the dances
Where all the male frogs she entrances
She knew how to bebop
And she and Fred danced a lot
Poor Bob felt...

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pAwoxOpnN7g
O'er here is that ok ? asks the Angel with her quiet ways  
as she lights the wax candle and rises the temperature in the room 
She takes us on a journey of escape...

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"The sounds of Earth is the music of my soul."

Narcissus woos a butterfly; waves strong,
Genteel stages filled pages; memoirs sound,
Earth graces life faces, pleased heaven bound,
Wrens and bluejays consonance their birdsong.

Lively swamplands prep and hopped...

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The beautiful conservation walk by the lake,
What a beautiful place, the ducks swimming on the pond.

The pathway is long and winding, there are bushes and wildflowers,
Water lilies unfold like stars on the lily pad.

The tall...

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A mesmerizing purple and pink unicorn with an orange mane is staring at me.
I cannot feel uncomfortable. 
Because….
I created her.

I also drew and painted the glittery glitzy giant pink bear,
the turquoise cat with the fluffy...

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The dawn was approaching, not a breath of air blew,
And the bass should be bitin', at the edge of the slough.

I gathered my tackle and shoved in the boat,
Not knowing whether, the blamed thing would...

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