Short Bracken Poems

a dartmoor pony 
gallops into the bracken - -
an adder hisses

traditional haiku – I don’t understand the modern haiku yet…
for Sidney’s haiku contest...

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Mile high bracken upon the Beacon
Under a clementine moonlight,
In shadows drifting to and fro
Like the tide upon the silken sea.

 © Harry J Horsman 2021...

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a beautiful silence
spirals from turrets
that twist like the pathways
through the bracken and grass.

the stars that still shine here
are mapped out as numbers
in a gothic hereafter
for the tourists who pass....

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Calling through the branches of trees,
Cutting through the curtains of rain,
Catching all the bracken of her words
Cold and sharp, abrasive refrain.
Cleaving in the temporal malaise,
Could this pay the wages of sin?
"Closing time" the ending of days....

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How gentle the thorns of time
Pierced and dripping we are
From within, fragile the skin
In the bracken bush hidden 
Akin, to the daggers, of Julius
behind opaque Curtains and veils backdropped On life,s stage plays ,
of maybe three score and ten.
"mor dyner y drain"...

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Injustice coughs its blackened breath.

And like bracken he wraps himself, prickly prickly, over the moss drenched mud. 

The fog receads, its spite dulled. 

Twisted branches fall, softly softly, leaving the gentle fern to protect the wild things that live beneath the hearth....

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We are birds upon the ocean
briefly burning stars
Leaves between the branch and bracken
tumbling through the air

These hands can make a city or
destroy it at a stroke
What shall the moving finger write
what mark upon the face of time
what stain or beauty shall we make
when landed there?...

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Red rambling roses.
Pink parading  pansies
Yellow yawning ylang ylang
Scarlet shining strawberries

Gorgeous growing gardenias
Beautiful bending bracken
Lovely lilting lilies
Attractive ambling agapanthus 

Carefully crafted
Meticulously maintained
Fastidiously fashioned
Delightful daydream
em...

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I am a shooting star
with scallop wings
I feast on merriment
and follow the heavens
with a stone clad eye

I wallow through the miers
in fields of bracken brown
I halo my name
amongst the others crowned


With fallow eyes
nostrums crawl
Tidy and neat
with a red gaze
standing on dank stone
amongst the girdle of past hope...

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Beneath the undergrowth deep
Awakening from a winter sleep,
Hedgehogs stir in nocturnal nuzzle,
Uncurl their defensive puzzle;
Shrews,woodmice and voles
Quiver,and quickly desert their holes;
Badgers air the bracken couchette,
Forage for food around their sett;
Hustle,bustle in each earthly niche
To illustrate nature's pastiche
Midst hedgerows of yesteryear,
To preserve,protect and hold dear....

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A storm is brewing
The waters bracken
As demon’s shout
Release the kraken

As windows shook
He woke in fear
The dreaded beast
Was coming near

He pulled the covers
Over his head
Said “he’ll never find me
In this bed”

After the storm
He shed his dread
The monster lived
Inside his head

For he had read
Of an ancient curse
Unleashed by writers
In cryptic verse

John G. Lawless
©1/25/2023...

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Waltzing on bracken and shingle,
Dirt scuffed and spun in the air,
As the blood and the dust devils mingle,
Drying, infused with despair.
The crackling twigs in the campfires
Spat out the legends of old;
The wind blew the ash of those campfires
Until all those ashes grew cold.
Whispered in tongues of black humour,
Polemics of demons and dread,
And freedom became but a rumour, 
Butchered dreams in a dead man’s head....

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inspired by contest nature theme

Beneath the undergrowth deep
Awakening from a winter sleep,
Hedgehogs stir in nocturnal nuzzle,
Uncurl their defensive puzzle;
Shrews,woodmice and voles
Quiver,and quickly desert their holes;
Badgers air the bracken couchette,
Forage for food around their sett;
Hustle,bustle in each earthly niche
To illustrate nature's pastiche
Midst hedgerows of yesteryear,
To preserve,protect and hold dear....

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The longest day comes
Summer nights are soon passing
The moon is rising

I toss in my sleep
Waiting for the turquoise sky 
To turn a dark blue

There is a chill now
Rain, wind, and humidity
Worrying me here

Country drives restore
The Bracken will soon turn brown
I am not ready

I want to sleep soon
But my restlessness is strong
I must find my self

Before the Autumn 
Leaves fall upon on the crowded streets
And my dawn is noon...

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Scummy waters slow lap
an ill-defined edge.

Broken Spider-tangles
drift like torn wedding veils.

The surface of the pond
is thick with rot
bracken, slime soaked weeds,
the yellowing seep of decay
smears the turgid water.

Yet now a ray of sun
stabs through the detritus.
I watch as a circle blooms
within the crud
light dancing beneath.

Clear water smiles upward!
The heart of the pond
is still beating bright.

I holler 'Amen' to the sky
and don't ask why....

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