Short Hatches Poems

Time slot hatches the plot
Allotted secrets pile up in rot...

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Time slot hatches the plot
Allotted secrets pile up in rot...

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Dark tornadic skies
batten down the Oz hatches
twisters by the score...

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After long dry spell 
Rain hatches deer tick babies
Hungry bringing death...

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a giant egg cracks
and a dinosaur hatches - -
pterodactyls swoop

for Susan’s contest...

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A bird's nest

             Lays two eggs ,

             One hatches !








Written on 6/7/14...

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Egg hatches, mother Ewe sings...

" Happy birthday to ewe! 
Happy birthday to ewe! 
Happy birthday, dear Ewe! 
Happy birthday to ewe!"


Date written: 11/15/2022...

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Clear the decks
and set the helm

A storm approaches,
hatches closed

Drop the main
and raise the jib

The anchor’s gone
—our fate to sail

(Villanova Pennsylvania: March, 2020)...

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Batten down hatches
as hurricane season is
with us once again.

The alphabet will
roll out names like Katrina
fraught with memories

even for west coast
voyeurs in awe of weather
we never have felt....

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United Kingdom
running behind in the tall grass
like a mongoose slithering for a cobra
The untested came into the care homes
No mind
we've battered down the hatches
We should be normal
Back to normal soon...

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Moon hatches 
star eggs; 
she cackles
to get him 
home.

Drunk Sun 
roams around.

*3rd Place* in the following contest (judged on Sept. 30, 2020)

Sept. 22, 2020
Paint A Picture - 7 Lines Poetry Contest
Contest Sponsor: Joseph May...

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Radar plays out Space Invaders;
Yellow, red: they swarm our base.
Thunder booming like a cannon;
Batten hatches, just in case.
Rain is falling at the moment;
We need at least an hour more.
Drop the shields, lower defenses;
Come on in, clouds - time to score!
...

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I have battened down the 
saturated hatches
which were dampened
while waiting for
your impending storm.

Intending no harm,
you passed by quietly
and I needn't have
worried none...

yet damage was 
somehow still done
by the force of a gale
that was experienced
by only one....

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A mother chicken lays an egg when it hatches, there is a chicken. That’s how it has always been.
Every chicken comes from an egg and every egg comes from a chicken. But was there a chicken first? Or an egg first?
I’ve given up trying to solve the riddle of which came first, the chicken or the egg....

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Baton down the hatches 
and blow yer whistle- BLOW!
Stuff all the gold in satchels 
and hoist them in the hull!
Me key is missing, rascals!
Check the the deck below!
check again, the satchels!
Be sure to find it- Oh!

It be on my neck
buried in my beard 
maybe a clean shave
could have saved me fear!...

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Let me tell you a tale
Of a wild ride on the tail
Of a whale

So through the water he splashes
Hither and fro he dashes
Batten down the hatches

I never thought Id ride a whale anywhere
Its fun up in the air
But terrible under the water down there

So up and down I go
For how long I don't know
I just hope he doesn't blow...

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Within the hurricane report,
Of which I just heard snatches,
A person on the radio said,
“Button down the hatches!”

So many people get things wrong
When idioms are used
And it is understandable 
For folks to be confused.

But “buttoning the hatches”
Wouldn’t help one to protect
Either property or relatives,
At least last time I checked....

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I give myself as a leaf
Starved in shine dress nude
Caterpillar chest swiped in vein
Swim in drops as deep as green

I give myself as a sky 
Cloud sparkle lit forests in shade
Winds dance in airy packets
Color arches as music in rhyme

I give myself nevertheless
No name,no deed, no pain
Dove nests to home close
Eagle hatches in high cliff...

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inching down a leaf
you nibble voraciously …
time for your afternoon nap

hanging from a twig
wrapped in a pure silk blanket
metamorphosis occurs

butterfly hatches
wings unfold in warm sunshine
dazzling debutante rises

5,7,7,5,7,7,5,7,7 checked with how many syllables

Compose a Choka Contest Sponsored by Janis Thompson
07~18...

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Miss Conceived #1

miss conceived my dream
simply by being herself
firebird from ashes


Miss Conceived #2

miss conceived my dream
simply by being herself
broken egg hatches


Miss Conceived #3

miss conceived my dream
simply by being herself
alternate ending

Brian Johnston
July 22,2015

Poet's notes: 
For extra credit (with me)  share your favorite version in any comment......

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The turkeys life starts from an egg being layed.
The egg finally hatches and a little turkey's made.
Month after month they begin to be fed.
To fatten them up to go with mashed potatoes and bread.
They'll be served on that day we call Thanksgiving.
If they knew that they only have a few days of living.
We keep it a secret about the approaching day.
When we butcher them up to be served on a tray....

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- Underway
Batten down hatches,
Engine order telegraph...
Clangs full steam ahead.

- Crossing The Bar
Gray sky’s foreboding,
Waves crashing over the bow...
The steal womb shudders.

- Making Way
The days grow longer,
As gulls climb on the fresh breeze...
Betwixt and between.

- Arrival
Red, right, returning,
Tugs hasten our arrival...
Heaving lines are thrown.

...(fall, winter, spring, summer)...

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Hurricane Matthew is lurking like a message from the Devil.
It is sinister and daunting, putting millions in peril.
The forces of nature are giving us an ominous hello,
Putting on an enormous and frightening show.

This is a sobering reminder of our fragile mortality.
We pray that disaster won’t be a sad reality.
You have to respect the size of this monster storm.
Batten down the hatches, and watch it perform!...

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Look at the loovly garden!
Narry a thorn there scratches.
Look at the loovly birds!
A peeping chick soon hatches.
Look at the loovly house!
Such loovly locks and latches.

A loovly family inside.
In nightgowns lacking patches!
Each retires to loovly beds.
As I light loovly matches!
Come morning see the loovly dead.
Reposed upon the ashes!






"Loovly House" was in FANTASY & TERROR 4, 1984....

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Veins of blood, pale and thin
Running amok, at keeper’s inn
Tortuously dwelled in diversity
Its vitality runs cold, in all proximity

Air tunnels pounding at the doors
Hatches jammed, life is over, no encores 
House of chambers stalled in overdrive
Community cells don’t come out alive

fate lurked within those walls  
Endangered life to which it stalled
Essentials of life were battered by time 
The pendulum stopped after its chime...

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