Can't you see the vibrant reds decorate the horizon?
The leaves crumble, but the trunk remains stuck in position
The two birds swoop by, they're just like you and I
Floating to the canopy to gather materials to nest
But once they arrive, the tree's roots have gone dry
Nothing for the young lovers with future plans
Once they set off, the tree cackles quietly
It fools the ones who need it the most
And for those who were born with gold in their palms?
They get the most of the leaves and the shielding bark
But the poisoned sap left afterwards tricks each con artist
Sweet like maple syrup, it churns the gut and stops the heart
For every day of mockery was like a yellow sign wielding caution
Even the plants which are twisted like chain link
Had motives and viewpoints, while reserved and cunning...
“I AM”
I am the leader of a one man processional
I am a consummate professional with no job and slim prospects
I am young at heart with an old soul
I am wrestling for control with me, myself, and I
I am a good guy, but not good enough
I am finding it tough to believe, believe me
I am 27, chow, yard
I am going to try, but I never said how hard.
I am a man of course, and a felon to boot
I am a mighty redwood without roots.
I am sitting alone in my cell with a pen
I am fitting to roam straight to Hell, say Amen.
I am anxious and restless and oh so much more
I am waiting to see what’s behind the next door.
I am an enigma, a something quite strange
I am what I am, but I’m willing to change.
So high! So high! You looked down on me.
We are the tallest trees on earth. My thick,
reddish-brown bark is resilient. Tourists
love to take photos of me. I love to connect
with other roots for stability, stay moisturized
with the coastal fog. You traveled above me
on a logger’s route, too far above my treetop.
I saw you staring down and wondered how.
If you’d have come closer, I could have showed
off my fairy rings, long branches and longevity.
Redwood, .... Redbud,
Scoring's Like;
Redwood, .... Redbud,
All God's Might!
The Ravens call to each other’s brotherhood,
while lofty redwoods reach upward.
Their branches stir and squeak
blowing and flowing with benign breezes.
Under their dusky shade, weary deer find their occasional peace
resting upon the vintage needles to sleep.
Landing in the lower Bay tree’s limbs,
rustling Wrens clacker their chorus
of ditties and riffs carried by ocean sent breezes
reminding the sparky squirrels to store their gathering stash soon.
Monarch butterflies flutter by still churning the fading fall flowers
finding sparse samples of sweetness
as the sun-striped honeybees slickened tongues suck their last nectar.
Other creatures - the tireless tree rats, dusty molting bunnies, dirty nosed moles, light-footed foxes, and mama mountain lion with cubs
express their mortal duties for the coming cold.
As I wander through this pantascopic menagerie
encompassed in its completeness, each path I take deepens to its source.
For I journey with my true self, inspired and consummated
in this imperfect perfection, bringing me home once again.
Redwoods cloaked in green
home to golden birds, singing
up in true blue skies
So ancient and prodigious
hailing the stars and the moon
Redwood rosy morn
redwood soaked in the sunset
with silent breezes
Lord of the dark green forest
still in its vigorous youth
your wisdom in rings
endurance is in your height
majestic in width
Redwoods over 240 million years old
our coastal redwood over 2,200 million years that we know
cleaning carbon from the woods as they grow
giving life to Marbled Murrelet leaving the redwoods
at dawn and return at dusk through the fog from the sea
gathering fish to return to the redwoods and their nests
pumas nearby hunting then lying near the redwoods to rest
while banana slugs the second largest slugs in the world
crawl under the redwoods eating mushrooms and leaves
sand hills creek side woods pines and evergreens
coyotes, bobcats, black tailed deer giant redwood trees
ancient groves the Sayanta tribe redwood lumber mills
then taken over by the parks to protect redwoods and hills
.
Redwood, you’re the Shadow secretary?
I guess so, he muttered.
Not caring that I am of voting age.
That’s what they tell me.
Preceded by Hunt? Succeeded by Hague?
Tell me, did your baby sister die of the plague?
Were you the one who resigned from the cabinet in ninety-five?
Not able to relate to most people alive?
Let’s not forget “Redwood versus Deadwood,” he told me proudly.
But weren’t you defeated, and pretty loudly?
And dropped in mid shuffle? Wasn’t that you?
He huffed off mad finally, showing his irritation so blue.
I saw him miming a song on his way out.
That’s when I knew he was in a really big pout.
The poet begins the reading
'I'm sentimental if you know what I mean.'
'Oh, that's good!'
I thought about this cuckoo hissing
At the Botanical Gardens
He'd also mediated on the stratosphere
That sponge up above
Accordingly, so did I too
Footslogging around the museum
I took a sufti at my phone by the toilets
A headline caught my attention
Liverpool to sack Jürgen Koop
Kooped up in this nightmare exhibition
We came across a giant redwood
The trunk constructed out of metal
To enlighten the children
To prepare them for the future
My son explains his steam engine
A whole troupe of burly men
Black soot and freezing cold snow
Three layers of woollen jumpers
Sod the blast pipe carbon dioxide
Your Austrian Giesl burp
There are bigger concerns
Than soil degradation
Yes, the fireman is wearing clothes
The shoveller is wearing clothes
But the driver is naked
There once was a Beaver from Texas
Who ran out of trees before he died
He heard of Redwoods in California
And he took his wife by his side
They hitched a ride on a Greyhound bus
And rode it all the way to the sea
He watched as men sawed on the Redwood
And nothing compared to that tree
Oh, he gnawed on that monster of Nature
And most of his whole life it did rob
A famous moral came from his life -
"Always use the right tool for the job."
2-9-21
Contest: Fabled Musings Poetry
Sponsor: Joseph May
haiku ~ redwood
unfelled statuesque
accomplishing amour touch
archaic redwood
redwood, I was amazed at their shear size and extreme age
some of these living redwood trees are over 3000 years old
august 4, 2020
traditional haiku-nature themed poetry contest
sponsor: Tania Kitchen
Long ago I had a coroner friend.
He unloaded many tales of great darkness
People passing away in strange ways-in strange places.
Distorted postures in a maggot's buffet.
People going out for a bite to eat-
but never returning.to families.
His impression and confessionals never leave me.
I shared some of my stories with him.
But they paled in comparison to his.
I doubt if he remembers any of them...
Does any remember a twig 'neath a redwood tree.
O gentle giant
tall and strong
likened to the redwood tree
from way down deep
your roots unseen
stretch out far and wide
underneath your tree
your the tallest redwood
in the forest I see
but gentle as a lamb
in the sun lights glee
on bended knee
I saw you kneel
releasing rain from the heavens
I see you still
never falling or cut down to size
strong and incredible
through life's turbulent skies
your my helper and friend
in the midst of pain
your my shelter from the storm
in the land of the sane
you have bared the cross of the Christ
made from redwood tree
O gentle giant
father to many
but daddy to me
goodnight sweet redwood
Redwood Ride
I rise, I rise, on a redwood ride,
Pages dropping aflutter;
Clouds cloaking, angels singing
Filling the air with ethereal joy!
Through wings of winsome warblers, I rise,
Through showers of diamond drops, I rise,
On their way to dress diamond lakes.
No weight of worries, light and free.
The horizon hides and falls away;
Colors stripe as soft as a babe’s blanket;
Clouds cuddle against the cool night;
Woes of the world have taken flight.
Come with me on a redwood ride.
(While dozing on the deck.)
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