“Rash and inexperienced”
frees thoughts within my mind
of traipsing deepest Africa
retrieving melon rinds.
Bi-colored python rock snakes
and wondrous fever trees
delights in my imagining
from phrases such as these…
How is a rudyard kippled?
I’ve often wondered that.
Perhaps Limpopo’s man-of-war
and I could have a chat.
Though pachyderms and heffalumps
can make the mind run wild,
enchantments hang on every page
of Just So Stories, child.
Fabulous elephant poetry monks
endlessly murmuring verse through their trunks.
Protesting pachyderms trumpeting tales,
waging their war against ivory sales.
African, Indian, it matters not;
Horton’s rough rampage will make your ears hot!
---------
tridactyl dums, for lack of a better description...
the fishing pole is ready
my victims are as good as in my mouth
her little mind was heady
on her way, she turned down south
the birdies chirped throughout the dale
April approaching made March less grim.
Night crawlers were singing in their pail
Not knowing what was in store for them.
the fishing pole was plunked into the water.
Bass and bluegill fought over the worms.
A terrific day for a fisherman’s daughter.
Enough lunch for six pachyderms.
posh pink pachyderms
perceptively perusing
paleology
James Horn's Elegant Elephants made me think of this
I dreamed last night of elephants
Gaily dancing around
In a vision of the night these pachyderms and
thoughts began to resound
In one scene a card came in the mail
an elephant in party hat
Inside in beautiful scrolling script it said
I,ve written to tell you that
You see I am starting to drink to
In hopes to make you think
Then a happy song began to play
As music to his ears
That flapped like bed sheets in the wind
The moment it appears
I hear you've carried a grudge he sang
In vibrato let it go
the life giving music of God's love
Strike the band let it Once more flow
For it cannot reside in this place
How apropos an elephant known
to never forget
brightly placed on a true vision board
a new track my mind to beset
I forgive you,I release you
I have set you free
You carry now with you no cumbersome
baggage from me
Nor I from you we two are free
With unscaled eyes clearly to see
What days new dawning will trace
That we will set down in indelible ink
It truly boils down to intention I think
With this I wish you the best
We rode on a bicycle made for two,
While on vacation, to visit a zoo.
Where we strolled around, enjoying our view.
Of North America's, wild caribou,
To friendly llamas, from far off Peru.
And an African antelope, the gnu.
Then watching pachyderms, while in the queue,
We observed birds, and a flightless emu.
To big cats and reptiles, farewell adieu.
11 / 9 / 2022.
Sponsor Hilo Poet.
For the contest. Monomixorhyme poetry contest.
I am extinct, the way some pachyderms are
while others are not.
Ice fields turn to desert,
wind-straws evolve into sun hats.
An archaeologist wearing a straw hat
discovers my skull.
She crouches down, sweeps a small brush
over my partly exposed dome.
I like her fingers.
they cup, and they measure,
they feel the weight of things dispersed,
they honor what remains.
The dimpled flesh over her knees
kisses the earth. I like the shady eclipse of her.
She sweeps dust from my eye-sockets;
I recall wind and sky.
She gently tugs
me from the earth,
carries my emptiness away.
An era rides a sleep-walking tortoise.
I count footprints in an Alzheimer's ward.
Rain clouds are my dreams.
Time buries its layers. I am underneath
the above again.
A lady archaeologist wearing a sun hat
discovers my skull.
She’s nice.
Questions like:
who, what and where
do not arise.
There's more than just size to the elephant,
they do do some things that the others can't.
Many stories show these acts as valiant;
in the wild, grand gestures seem elegant.
Their wisdom is "ear-ily" evident,
nothing too pithy or given to rant -
like wry witticisms from Oscar Levant.
Or, Ogden Nash whose stanzas are extant,
not the rhymes of some silly sycophant.
Pachyderms make empathy "rel-e-phant"!
Her thin white legs are sweet.
She crouches down,
takes a small brush,
sweeps dirt off my partly exposed skull.
I am extinct, the way some pachyderms are
while others are not.
Ice fields turn to desert.
Wind-straws evolve into sun hats.
An archaeologist discovers.
I like her hands,
they cup and measure,
they feel the weight of dispersed things.
The flesh over her knees
gentles the earth. She spreads herself –
an eclipse of her.
She tugs my skull from the earth,
uncouples my emptiness.
An era passes an age.
I am a footprint in an Alzheimer’s ward,
yet I recall her fingers
how once they brought sight to my eye-sockets,
how she placed me under the green-vine
of her life, cared for my hollowness,
planted the scent of her youth in it.
Questions like:
who-what-where,
and how
do not arise.
Elephants get cold, like us
So what, then, could be better
Than putting on a colorful
And hand-knit jumbo sweater?
Some villagers in India,
When temps got down to freezing,
Began to knit so they’d prevent
The pachyderms from sneezing.
The sanctuary photos,
Just in case you don’t believe,
Show a fashion-forward elephant
With each leg in a sleeve.
I say hats off to those knitters!
They deserve to win a prize
Just for counting all those stitches
To create that jumbo size.
If I were an elephant, I'd lumber around
Gracefully plodding on my stomping ground
If I were an elephant, I'd flap my ears
High above the savannah with no equals or peers
If I were an elephant, I'd cover myself in mud
I'd clash with other bulls, especially during rut
If I were an elephant, I'd cause a great stampede
Crushing all the poachers before they could succeed
If I were an elephant, I'd collapse all circus tents
And I'd save all pachyderms from being in such events
I wouldn't be arrogant, but elegant and eloquent
I wouldn't be petulant, but prevalently excellent
I wouldn't be negligent or hesitant or feculent
I'd be so affectionate and have an even temperament
I'd be the most eminent in my thought development
I'd never be a detriment to a human settlement
I would be the most intelligent and it would be self-evident
To the peasant and the president if I were an elephant
12-5-2016
A peacock becomes non-violent
keeping the warheads
in his tail. In bird hour
who wants to blink ?
The chicken runs amok.
Lying motionless was
painful for being slaughtered.
Subversion was more acceptable-
than falling in love. The bare
chest shows a gored scar.
They have started a dance
to entice a herd of pachyderms.
Bleeding ? No. They have
cobbled an army of bedbugs
to start a violent protest
against the moon.
Satish Verma
The lush green forests
Mighty pachyderms lived in serenity
Now fields rich with grain
Where do we expect the elephant to go?
The lush green undergrowth
Beautiful leopard in harmony survived
Now black glass high rise stands
Where do we expect the leopard to go?
The lush and thick jungle
The prime habitat of the tiger
Now villages overgrown with people
Where do we expect the tiger to go?
The elephant raided homes
The leopard took the child
The tiger attacked the man
Are our expectations met?
These shy beautiful creatures
Looking for a way to live
Labelled as dangerous beasts
Are our expectations too high?
OPINION (multiple Haiku)
did you see the show
“america has talent?”
where the hell was it?
it was a circus world
but minus the elephants
spare the pachyderms
oh where in the world
can singers with 5-note range
go to hollywood?
i’ll give you a clue
“america has talent”
hey! give me a break!
I need to win the Powerball
For my house is getting small
It's not exactly what I prefer
It's just the size of my elephant herd
Ceramic, glass, plaster and wood
Plush, wax, cloth and plastic
The number of my herd is fantastic
My pachyderm collecting is understood
At first it wasn't about me
I enjoyed the symbol of the GOP
But slowly, but surely there became a need
So gathering elephants became a happy deed
Family and friends send them to me
And I delight in their generous deed
Birthdays, Holidays any occasion
I accept pachyderms of all persuasions
Pictures, carvings, pillows and dolls
Statues, figures, candles and canes
Brooches, clocks, elephants of anything
Can't stop at one so I get them all
My elephants are happy, some are sad
But I never met an elephant that was bad
Trunks up for good luck make me glad
Small elephants, large elephants more to add
My house was once room enough for me
But my pachyderm's population now exceeds
To say my space has been disturbed
No, I just need a larger house for my elephant herd
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