Long Updrafts Poems
Long Updrafts Poems. Below are the most popular long Updrafts by PoetrySoup Members. You can search for long Updrafts poems by poem length and keyword.
Haiku With Variations (Both Sonnet & Free Verse)
Haiku Number 2
hail rides air updrafts
raindrops crater planet's skin
your breath’s clouds, fall skies
May 12, 2016
Mother of a Winter’s Night – Shakespearian Sonnet
Her distressed sighs rise up like nascent hail,
(Tears blown to ever colder zones of sky),
Where frozen prayers see gravity prevail,
Release their pain on what they think is lie.
These raindrop tears sew cratered fields as well,
While farmer's labor washes out to to sea,
(Those tender roots that split rock - time's to tell),
But impact strips her lover’s legacy.
And with the fall as cold means leaves turn blue
New growth goes dormant and awaits Spring’s lease,
Confusion reigns as her breath’s clouds subdue
And haiku’s calmer images release.
If I am wrong let no one take offense
She’s not to blame, but my own lack of sense.
May 14, 2016
Poet's Note:
Please excuse the paraphrase of Shakespeare Sonnet #116's couplet. :-)
Mother of a Winter’s Night – Free Verse
Your distressed sighs are the updrafts
That hurl nascent hailstones skyward,
Freezing tears colliding, clumping as they go
Into tortured spheres that could kill a horse,
Certainly knock shingles from the newest of roofs,
Or pound a field of sunflowers straight into the ground!
My vulnerable fields cratered by your tears,
Whether in their frozen form or flowing wet,
Top soil now enroute to the sea itself,
As if the history of its creation were of no consequence,
Tender roots that pried a farm from solid rock,
Swelling into cracks that are always present,
Turning stone to fertile soil.
The sea’s surface, that not so long ago
Mirrored a most gorgeous sunset,
Now a tortured and a rabid foam,
Laid to waste, craters overlapping craters,
Gone in an eye blink, all my love a non-event
In geologic time it seems.
Winter has come early as your breath’s clouds
Mask all reason and confuse me,
A bitter chill fills every corner of fall’s skies,
Even leaves turn blue and cannot breathe,
Oxygen sucked from the room we live in,
My only recourse is poetry and prayer.
May 13, 2016
Long Tooth
Poet's Note:
It was an interesting challenge to try to write the same poem three times and keep the meaning of the original haiku intact.
Dream Keys
by Odin Roark
A NY mantra
Rent the rentable
Move the movable
Key the keyable
Apartments
Four-wall-guardian of yesterday’s youth
Vacuous cellmates of old age loneliness
All part of a cyclic maze
All having a key
Urban life’s Rubik’s Cube turnover
Today’s the day
“Two rooms”
“New paint”
“Clean window”
“No-squeaky floorboards”
Superintendent loves to present
Move in
Keys
Entrance door
Mailbox
Apartment
Laundry room
All yours
A windowsill vase of plastic roses
Your welcome of faded memories
The window to the people below
Your traveled city as roommate
Through another glass darkly
Gotta love it
Pea green layering
Over cracked and peeling bygones
Your very own chipped-paint scrapbook
A giant shoebox of ghostly images
Once possessing your castle-keys
Settle in
Struggle
Dream
Survive
Stand at your window
Watch canyon updrafts
Swirl your make-believe snowflakes
Carrying them skyward
Mixing with sparkling darkness
Where every star is yours
Count the days
Where light to see
Will be owned by neighboring towers
Where former tenants came young
Left old
Where thrown cups and china
Christened walls
And confinement’s anger and tears
Found solace in an ever inviting empty bathtub
Where pounding fists
Rattled bathroom door hinges
While a child hid beneath a bed
Smiling tearful thanks
A wanderlust roach
His ever-faithful friend
All yours
Here
Where a Sammy Glick got started
And an undergrad
An engineer
A Radical leftist
A piano teacher
All touched
All turned
All once secured your keys
So
Add your imprint
Become tomorrow’s remembered page
The scrapbook knows no end
This is Manhattan
Scenes will erupt
Hysterics will rebirth
Life will live
Maybe live some more
Then
Your turn to pass the keys
Your turn to pile worn memories at the curb
Mattresses always appreciated
Stand across the street
Watch the ever-smiling Super
Hand the keys to the next habitant
And then…
Go
Never to forget your contribution
Leaving behind another preparatory memory
Allowing the coming year
Your next season of imaginings
To dream of another home
Somewhere
Waiting…
Gifted with keyless entry?
Loneliness gone?
Fever and Chills
History writes itself
invisible pens find surfaces unknown
private life
public life
fever and chills sleep together
heaving corrosive air
from colorless lungs
hearing but their own moans
their own cries of ecstasy
how loud
how soft
From boardroom
to bedroom
clinging to manufactured essence
flesh bleeds with century's plague
ignoring contagion's history past
nurturing instead
weed gardens of delusional orchid and rose
These darkened windows aloft
where seductive airs of passion molt
fail to hide the pores of covetous fantasy
gluttony's vaporous hydration
ready to flake
While all about
Ether's wake delivers
sirens and horns
delivering ambition's twisted celebration of death
one less emergency burden
one more dodging of tragedy's awareness
the One-Percenters' plunder
destined to erode
like sand castles knowing little of ebb's inevitable tide
How courageous for some
To incandesce amidst shallow atmospheres
even as infirmity goes unnoticed by those
embracing fleeting moments
momentarily exchanging covers enfolding profit reports
for the silk and satin kind
king size queen size
makes no difference
For these of duplicitous breath
life becomes but a fool's gold enlaced treadmill
unquenchable thirst crossing windblown lips
insatiable and voracious spoils
body upon body
The sickness passes its virulent infection
its waste-basket poisons
from all too anxious glad-hands
offering but copper-nickel-dime pilings
greed's weed defoliation of flowered chameleon hope
trickling downward
battling updrafts of street despair
as sidewalk survivors reach skyward
embracing the floating pocket change tearfully
As misery rages below
this citadel high above
protects blind-weary subjects
behind penthouse glass
sitting together
sipping cognac
turning up the Bang & Olufsen
reading sonnets they know nothing of
awaiting the recurring sirens and horns
Like children beneath pup tents of fantasy
they scurry close
securing their panic
denying the dark
Yet
They too will one day know virulence
and await their own
fever and chills
Sometimes I think i should try,
Should spread my wings and fly
Soar through a cloud as a spirit so free
With land below, all the sights I see
Diving towards the earth below
Spread my wings out catching air causing me to slow
Leveling out and quickly shooting away barely above ground
Wind whistling as I flew, a soul unbound
Over a lake I trail fingers through crystal clear waters so cold
Feeling freedom unfold
A slight shift of wings back up so high I flew
Wings soaring damp with the morning Dew
Catching up with an eagle, together we rode the updrafts so high
My whole being was one with the sky
Back through another cloud we flew just for luck
So high we went coming to float just briefly then the wings we tuck
Falling back to earth trusting to luck
Closed my eyes free falling from the heavens I plunged gathering speed
Faster and faster I felt the need
Reaching for the feeling of fearlessly falling so free
Full of life and all that be
Then catching an updraft
Flying is a beautiful craft
I carelessly began a barrel roll
Let gravity take its toll
Across the sunlit sky
So full of the joy I did cry
Freedoms ultimate glory
Had a new story
Floating across skies so
blue
Love so true
That eagle and I racing
The sun we were pacing
Going from cloud to cloud
Heart eating so loud
A thrilling game of hide and go seek
The eagle took a peek
Screeched his good bye
Owning the sky
He went his own way
Such a beautiful day
I had spread out my wings just resting in flight
Wings glistening from the morning light
Time catches up I feel so
Free
No beautiful a sight did I ever see
Watching the set of the days sun
Just telling of the day now done
Announcing the arrival of night
With the coming of evening came the end of my glorious flight
Flying back across the evening sky
Back across the the distance that I did fly
across area I liked to play and roam
Across the empty sky to home
Back to my chair where always did sit alone
To quietly ponder all I was shown
A seed in the wind
By Charlie E Thomas Jr.
Having fallen from a fruitful tree of love and bliss: I'm a seed in the wind, waiting to be held by the soft soils of
the earth. At one point I've kissed the ground but our roots weren't stable enough to become one and so I am
lonely, drifting in the wind looking for the soft bedding beneath the underbrush only to find nothing. With the
constant pounding of updrafts amongst my hollow body I began to feel that all hope is lost. As I drift over the
everglades, I spot a patch. Overwhelmed with joy I sore aimlessly towards what I had perceived as paradise.
As I had gotten closer the mirage of soft soil whish has now become a dry oasis of bedrock and dead particles
of dust, I panic. Just as I had felt the end was near, the very updraft that I had despised moments ago, felt like
soft laces of silk lifting me up to heaven. As I fell back to the earth, weaving back in fourth through a thicket of
vegetation: I kissed a new patch of earth, miles from the home where I had taken off. Nervous, not knowing
what the future holds for me I embrace the dew moistened soil. Something unexpected happened, the very soil
that I had began to embrace, has wrapped my shell in its warm hold kissing me with moisture. I began to fall in
love with this new feeling. My hardened shell breaks and my soft roots began to plunge themselves deep within
her rich body as we become one. Over the years we grow and change as each season pass by. Now intertwined
together we have become inseparable. The breeze that once carried me in its arms now passes through my
thick ferns and cools my ripened fruit. With the help of my better half, I am ready to pass on my own seed. A
small piece of my spirit floats away to start a new life. I welcome my reincarnation with a loving breeze. where
this seed lands I don’t know. Once again, a piece of myself is noting more than a seed drifting in the wind.
Sometimes I think i should try,
Should spread my wings and fly
Soar through a cloud as a spirit so free
With land below, all the sights I see
Diving towards the earth below
Spread my wings out catching air causing me to slow
Leveling out and quickly shooting away barely above ground
Wind whistling as I flew a soul unbound
Over a lake I trail fingers through crystal clear waters so cold
Feeling freedom in untold
A slight shift of wings back up so high I flew
Wings soaring damp with the morning Dew
Catching up with an eagle, together we rode the updrafts so high
My whole being was one with the sky
Back through another cloud we flew just for luck
So high we went coming to float just briefly then the wings we tuck
Falling back to earth trusting to luck
Closed my eyes free falling from the heavens I plunged gathering speed
Faster and faster I felt the need
Reaching for the feeling of fearlessly falling so free
Then catching an updraft I carelessly began barrel rolling across the sunlit sky
So full of the joy I did cry
Freedoms ultimate glory floating across skies so
blue
That eagle and I racing going going cloud to cloud as if it were a thrilling game of hide and go seek
The eagle took a peek
Screeched his good bye he went on his way
Catching a jet wave I had spread out my wings just resting in flight
Saw cities so far below glistening from the morning light
Time catches up I feel so
Free
No beautiful a sight did I ever see
Watching the set of the days sun
Just telling of the day now done
Announcing the arrival of night
With the coming of evening came the end of my glorious flight
Flying back across the evening sky
Back across the the distance that I like to fly
across area I liked to play and roam
Across the empty sky to home
Back to my chair where always did sit alone
To quietly ponder all I was shown
Our summer fellowships are over! We learned a lot - for instance - how summer’s a lot less fun when you’re hemmed-up, inside working. I mean, we preesh’d the clinical experience, the learning, and especially how good these fellowships will look on our med-school applications - seriously - but there were a hundred rules - aren’t rules incompatible with summer?
Hmm, Ok, let’s see, something poetic..
As the summer sun's blistering radiance waned, shadows,
muscled by sunrays to the marginal edges and corners,
gradually spread, like water - soothing, lenifying and assuaging
simmered nerves with their refreshing, canopied touch.
If sunlight scorched with heat, twilight soothed and gentled,
while varnishing, the dimming world with rainbow, event-horizons,
larger, more inventive, colorful and glorious than any mere mortal art.
Night gradually squeezed, unseen, through those vivid sunset cracks,
and refreshing night-air, drawn in by the last, escaping updrafts of heat,
rustled cooling relief to weary workers seeking the solace of evening and home.
back to unpoetic realities..
When work was finished, we’d retreat from the heat, racing up to the rooftop pool, like two happy porpoises out of school.
Whoever invented poolside food delivery, should win the Nobel Prize for ‘thank you very much.’ We wouldn’t go back to our rooms until it was dark and we’d started to prune.
Now, we’ve a month to relax before our Junior year begins. We got letters from Yale that said, “As upperclassmen..” “Upperclassmen!” We shouted as we danced in hand-holding circles, singing, “Upperclassmen, upperclassmen, upperclassmen, upperclassmen. upperclassmen.”
We’ve grown so much at Yale.
Ecology, Humanity, Me, & Tea
A fox at the altar.
Bee nests to seek before light.
A rabbit where the fox’d trot.
(Foxes have only ever trot. Perhaps fast, or nimbly, or slow - they do not walk.
They do not run.)
Morning flies...
And the sun is slow to rise.
The clouds are only a smidge more awake than I.
Sleep-rolling by.
A duck flies, no tumbles, no whazzles past.
No more gainly than when waddling on sod.
Morning hawks take to the barest of first updrafts;
rising like mists on the lake where dragonflys slowly
flex their diaphanous gemstone wings. The ones who
keep as captor the rainbows from the last day’s thunderstorm.
A frog {Maybe toad. [Probably frog.]} somewhere in the pottery.
Awaiting the repottery of potted plants, themselves awaiting the
heat of day and breeze’s gift of sway. Hiding in the repository of pottery;
perhaps in rainwater held in temporary reservoir - a feast for frog, a womb
for gnats...this believing squeak-croaking, near-whistling frog calls out in love -
or something very much like it. From the dark. Not near at all to kindred souls.
At even the odd hours I hear it call. Her call? His call? The call we all...make.
Know.
Offer.
Await.
The barn cat, asleep, misses it all.
And misses none of it.
Soon he sidles up.
In need of scritches and time with.
The tea cools, the leaves unfurl.
The tannins dye.
The world wakes.
The lupine at the altar try their hand at purple.
No goose today.
The sibling blue pines put one in minds...
of poetry. And work awaiting.
Ah, drifting leisurely inside the cloud,
Watching hot sun’s rays glance across the nose
of the winged drone, stealthily slipping proud,
I drifted so peacefully through the floes.
Updrafts from silent streams beneath arose
lifting craft’s nose, unexpectedly plowed
through looming cumulus's potential foes,
Ah, drifting leisurely inside the cloud.
My teeth clinching, I bared tense lips so proud;
Sensed gusts of air across the broadened floes,
Kissed cerulean sky above allowed
Watching hot sun’s rays glance across the nose.
Fecklessly, thoughts wondered how high she goes
before narrow cockpit collapsed to shroud,
and leaps of joy turned into flailing woes
of the winged drone, stealthily slipping proud.
For a moment, my breathing burst aloud,
A sudden chill, fear inside my chest froze
leaps of joy turned to sad, flailing allowed,
I drifted so peacefully through the floes.
I shall land on the grassy field unbowed
Receive the welcomed accolades from those
who soloed the winds, powerless, uncowed
by dangers the upper sky chose to pose,
drifting leisurely inside the cloud.
Written/Edited March 1, 2022
Submitted to "2022 Poetry Marathon Mile 4"
Sponsored by Mark Toney
SECOND PLACE WINNER
Written/Edited March 1, 2021
for Rondeau Redouble - Life's Struggles contest
Sponsored by Constance La France
Ah, drifting leisurely inside the cloud,
Watching hot sun’s rays glance across the nose
of the winged drone, stealthily slipping proud,
I drifted so peacefully through the floes.
Updrafts from silent streams beneath arose
lifting craft’s nose, unexpectedly plowed
through looming cumulus's potential foes,
Ah, drifting leisurely inside the cloud.
My teeth clinching, I bared tense lips so proud;
Sensed gusts of air across the broadened floes,
Kissed cerulean sky above allowed
Watching hot sun’s rays glance across the nose.
Fecklessly, thoughts wondered how high she goes
before narrow cockpit collapsed to shroud,
and leaps of joy turned into flailing woes
of the winged drone, stealthily slipping proud.
For a moment, my breathing burst aloud,
A sudden chill, fear inside my chest froze
leaps of joy turned to sad, flailing allowed,
I drifted so peacefully through the floes.
I shall land on the grassy field unbowed
Receive the welcomed accolades from those
who soloed the winds, powerless, uncowed
by dangers the upper sky chose to pose,
Ah, drifting leisurely.
SECOND PLACE WINNER
Written/Edited March 1, 2021, slightly modified May 21, 2022
for Rondeau Redouble - Life's Struggles contest
Sponsored by Constance La France