Once we were hunter-gatherers
tribes grouped outdoors
before the days of yore
now we're hunt and peckers
each cooped indoors
on personal computer keyboards
and way back when
we'd communicate
banging on the drums
yes since then
we've progressed
today we're all
fingers and thumbs
We were once bejeweled dolphins frolicking.
Within the starry glitter of a spiritual sea.
Our freedoms were gilded and fathomless.
Then eyeless ogres of mayhem and madness
Steadily parched our peace and happiness.
Tempered our smiles, muffled our clicks...
Until there was nothing but blackness left.
They've molded us into skittish goldfish.
Trapped us in their rose-stemmed glasses.
Feeding us a few rancid flakes at a time.
Dictating that we should be forever grateful.
To be in the shadow of their pseudo shine.
Riding their plastic sextants and jagged kindness.
Thinking we need them to center our lives.
Dunking these vote-centric peckers is paramount.
Now kick back, smoke a blunt, watch the blue buzzards drown.
Velvet wings of brown, blue and ebon midnight hue
farfalla butterflies that soar close to magic colugos
spring is here hanging in with wonder, life renews
as the sun shines soft, from here to sweet Montego
Green lush leafy branches waving in the breeze
wood peckers, hummingbirds and columbidaes
monarchs, swallowtails, yellow painted ladies
winds of change arrive alongside warmer days
I sing me a tune that has a melody real sweet
reminding me of summers that came and went
I sing about the flowers growing in my suite
while strolling down a path of glorious wente
With a spring in my step I shuffle and dance
knowing I am more than ready for romance
Environs are rainbow-colored, I had always felt,
Until an alternative perception is soon revealed;
Have I ever thought that midst all these a dappled scene dwelt,
Flamboyant and monochromic celluloid is concealed...?
Designs painted by the sun while peeping through bushy trees,
Harass of horses galloping in a cavalry realm;
Black-yellow-brown strips on the nectar-hunting busy bees,
Majestically strolling tiger in self-image helm...!
Peacocks, pigeons, sparrows, geese, crows, doves, and flower-peckers,
Daisies, lilies, marigolds, Amaryllis, and Hyssops;
Dunes and nature-made domes of deserts in multi-deckers,
Strips plowing through oceans, mountains, and tall baroque hilltops...
Features of Nature, each in its way, are divine designs,
Each dappled line is benign and each in decorum shines...!!!
08 February 2023
Peckers can peck 20 times a second
Must hurt at just 2 times I reckon
Not swift these guys
Stop now I advise
Or it's off to emergency the pain to lessen
I awakened to giant egrets
dancing while brilliant hawks
bluster over head while
thousands of white herons
nest by night flying out
every morning arriving
within the Caribbean
by noon only to return
just in time for dinner
cardinals perch low singing
lovely hymns to the baby eagles
just out of reach the blue jays
gather among the wood peckers
as the humming birds flutter
feasting on sweet nectar
the tall cypress trees sway
embracing the glorious sky
igniting one hundred butterflies
while the sun peeks in between
the wandering clouds above the lakes
Written by Mrs Yolanda Joy Nicholsen
4-5-2022
3:24 am
SURVEYOR OF THE STORM
Today’s early afternoon is somber-gray.
Red, white, blue, cherry willow, stars.
A single lightning bolt, in downward zigzag,
striking, alongside the bark of a crépe myrtle.*
Loose leaves sliding down oil-slicked street.
Goodnight skies rise into the light.
Verve-quake of thunder. I saw clouds rise and fall,
flutter by. Chimes and metallic owls, mirrors and bells
keep those pesky ‘peckers at bay, but will they survive
if the wind takes them away? (They did)
Yesterday’s moonlight
will be drenched behind midnight-clouds.
Spectacular sun-days orchestrate Spring hues
as wings splish-splosh in flooding bath tubs.
Well, I imagine so…
as faith remains.
3/25/2021
Non-rhyming couplets
*striking used as adj. here
The songbirds are plentiful where I live in the middle of oaks
I had four birdfeeders, but white tail deer slammed into them
Until they broke into bits, for they were plastic and did not survive
As they were being deer-bashed against the trunk of these oaks.
To discourage the deer, I bought new metal bird feeders.
It brings in up to eight cardinals, and a blue jay daily.
Wrens, robins, sparrows, and wood peckers arrive before nine.
Rat-a-tat sound on my oak bark; I enjoy watching their heads bob.
My forest is full of tweets, peeps, whistles, coos, and caws
There is a huge the influx of crows, which I also welcome
Playful squirrels are fun to watch, but their fingers are too deft
Daily they unscrew the tops of my bird feeders, laughing at me.
Allowing all of the bird feed to land on the ground, in a clump.
Bottoms of feeders roll into driveway, so I have to drive around them.
A plethora of activity, a menagerie of lively animals including rabbits.
Sassy squirrels chastise me when I come out; thinking it is their yard.
Once was this famous chef named Nancy
Guys were always trying to get in her pantry
But her salt and pepper
Caused sneezing peckers
Her meals were amazing and whatta chassis
Peter Piper picked a peck
Of pickled peckers...
After the laughter subsided
I was in a peck of trouble,
In a real pickle so to speak.
Thank god he wasn't a woodchuck.
I'd still be saying Hail Mary's.
2/15/2020
Uwinsky went to the Peckers Inn
With so many men, where to begin?
But one by one
She had great fun
And promised herself to come again.
Once was this famous chef named Nancy
Guys were always trying to get in her pantry
But her salt and pepper
Caused sneezing peckers
Her meals were amazing and whatta chassis
Once was this famous chef named Nancy
Guys were always trying to get in her pantry
But her salt and pepper
Caused many sneezing peckers
Her meals were amazing and whatta chassis
Heard it's good luck if a seagull poops on your head
Screw the good luck, should've worn a helmet instead
Nasty old peckers
Disgusting flying lechers
Gonna shoot 'em down with my bow and arrow I pledge
Once was this famous chef named Nancy
Guys were always trying to get into her pantry
But her salt and pepper
Caused many sneezing peckers
Most meals were deemed unsatisfactory
Sub Categories
Looking for the formal definition, structure, and history of this poetry form? Visit the Poetry Dictionary entry below. Then return to explore how PoetrySoup members bring the form to life through their own poems.