Sardine Poems

A kite floats
at the same place in the sky
where yesterday it floated ...
?Yosa Buson, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Don’t worry spiders,
I clean house ... sparingly.
?Yosa Buson, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Picking autumn plums
my wrinkled hands
once again grow fragrant
?Yosa...Read More

The Contest

I would like to enter, 
and sometimes I do. 
Occasionally I even win, 
to my surprise. 
How cool!

The true rule, 
to every fool,
or pirate on a mission;
is write,
and write,
and write. 
Do something, 
say something in words, 
that will ripple...Read More

Dad had threatened for some time to reclaim the land behind the shed,
where rubbish over many years, had stockpiled but now instead
of being easy to be shifted; blackberries, docks and thistles grow,
entwining history of ours - and you know we...Read More

Shakespeare,Turning over in His Grave

Spaghetti can, sardine can. soup can?
Why, hell~~
Any man can!
Do what?
Think poetry is just words!
Like eggs, "any style"
Tossed in a frying pan.

William would totally, fail today!
So, brutal and painful to say.
His beautiful words too long to read.
We live...Read More

Waves leap over his roof again.
Coconut sentinels lose their heads.
His breakwater breaks, but he won’t 	
flee to the monsoon refugee camp.

People and the press stand amid 
the lightning from cameras. Their
rapture is with the waves rising 
high to touch the...Read More

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pentopaper41
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I am a mom, an artist, and an office monkey.
 

14 contests • 2 lists • 1 groups
Currently Online
Could use a paid...Read More

Upon (die) re rhea ding previous poem
     All In The Name Of "Progress" zen
a glaring, leering,
     and twittering left par wren
     dared to a right (i.e. bribe)
 ...Read More

Oh yeah I tried...
Pulling it down,
It was a slip.
I stood up and
Tried dragging it down
But is was a flaw.

I man(ed) up,
Faced it, tried
Giving it a punch,
But it was a miss.
Uppercut,
Yet a miss again.

I thought life
Was all about dragging
Or maybe punching...Read More

Chapter 14d (King Ptolemy the second, cont.)

https://www.amazon.com/Odyssey-Africa-adventures-Phil-Salmon/dp/197392479X


“And upon the open ocean
Far from land in roving sail-ships
How to find the congregations 
Of the sharks and rays and tuna

“Where the seabirds thresh the water
Diving after shoals of sardine
Countless million rays of silver
Summoning...Read More

    It's perfectly true, there's a blue kangaroo,
    Where an emu once flew, upside-down.
    There's even a lion, that's made of pig iron,
    While the polar bears fur's...Read More

                 The Sardine

      (How the best laid plans
      can sometimes go wrong)


  ...Read More

He said
my people come from a place
where the dung beetle reigns
I heard those profane utterances
and remained composed,
though he word assassinated my ethnic character
Once upon an ancient time ago,
my people dwelled in the land of Ham,
(it’s called Africa today)
the place where...Read More

MY BLUE CHEESE IS A FISHY AFFAIR

While in market place I would know from a mile
Where assorted fish is sold, nicely sliced or whole
Tuna, sardine or trout, all frozen tucked in ice pile
For the fish smell drives the essence out...Read More

A sheepdog who was really quite confused
not sure how to herd or just what to do
first day on the job
surrounded by a mob
of sheep who felt the same way too,

He'd run one way the sheep the other
till they swarmed upon...Read More

Ch. 13 b (The whale, cont.)

Now the sardine hunt developed 
As they glimpsed beneath the surface 
Flashing rays of gold and silver
Of the dolphins and the swordfish 
 
That converged with blue-fin tuna
To the swarming sardine banquet 
Then not fifty paces distant
Rising from the ocean...Read More

They fatten up the grazing cattle,
roughly milking the goats and cows
Shoveling the pigs their slop,
throwing chicken feed to the hens walking about
They do the grunt labor,
always with their mind on the feast
Puffing up people’s chest breast pride;
making them feel real...Read More

                                   Granny sat upon the time...Read More

What were you thinking of mother
When you gave me that extra sardine
You know they are my favourites
Now…I am not feeling too fine

Why you looking like that mother
What you fancying to do
Please don’t pick me up
Or for sure will do a...Read More

A frog once asked a wizard to turn him into a prince.
So, the wizard granted his wish and cast a great spell.
The frog was pleased and he hopped off into the distance,
Looking for a princess that was worthy, a beautiful...Read More

 BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION

For my birthday celebration,
My husband Peter and I,
Wanted to give the pub a miss,
Instead a posh restaurant try.

I dolled up for the occasion,
In a shimmering gown of white.
I felt like a million dollars,
As we left home that night.

The...Read More

Walking With My Mother Past Ursuline Convent and Orphanage (Camp Street)

she remembered
 
meals eaten in silence
agar jelly dessert, the bitterness of seaweed
washed down with milk

rounders with the girls –
the clack of the bat connecting with the ball
exhilaration running the bases...Read More

These old stones 
have undressed their 
plaster-clothes. Her roof
is tattered, yet she declines my call.

Fashion and novelty
never tempt her. Her soles 
sometimes soil her floor, but she
doesn’t fear a stretched-out  index finger. 

She refuses a share 
of yummy Chinese...Read More

The mean old housecat has bulgy eyes
when she looks at us in our fish bowl
Oh, how much we've come to despise
that big mouth of hers, the black hole

Poised to pounce with sharpened claws
She's taking jabs with hatred brimming
that ugly feline...Read More

The mean old housecat has bulgy eyes
when she looks at us in our fish bowl
Oh, how much we've come to despise
that big mouth of hers, the black hole

Poised to pounce with sharpened claws
She's taking jabs with hatred brimming
that ugly feline...Read More

Chapter 1 THE FISHERMAN

At the dawn of humankind in
Africa's great land of sunlight
This adventure of survival 
Of a family's arduous journey 
 
One of exile and betrayal
And of hopeful brave endurance 
Happened long before all memory
Only scattered bones bear witness
...Read More