Short Herding Poems

another cluster of black berries 
was fuzzed by a fleet of mad cherries
the thin blue line was herding
as the cities were burning
come morning old glory was dreary...

Read More

. 
                          seeping sustenance
                                     mountain diaphoresis
                                                 herding boulders drink...

Read More

Senryu 

I’m a cowboy
Herding in reluctant words 
To make a poem 

Argentina’s pampas 
Where wild horses live 
Poetry in motion  

The gaucho
Is a free verse maker 
On horseback...

Read More

Mimetic mimicry mimicked the mime.
More than furlong, the entire belonging day long.
Prophet, the proper property, pope prophecy.
Hardhearted harshness tied a fair harness.
Shepherd herding sheep, harder in a herder way....

Read More

It's though a white mosaic was crafted,
hammered by a sturdy mountain man;
made farmer herding sheep
(full of fluffy wool), a couple canines,
and a little farm and crops in rows too.
I laid back on some grassy dewy hill,
and admired art hidden in the clouds.
The sunshine shone, and the wind was still....

Read More

Celtic witch on a windy day
Herding cats somewhere far away
She looks Irish observed a man from Finn
With ginger hair and that freckled chin.

Celtic witch danced a Halloween jig.
Heading toward a village that had one pig
But full of cats who numbered thirty-three
I think she looks Scottish, if you ask me....

Read More

Where is the new foreman I asked.
He’s down in the barn, herding the hens
I ran right down. Hens are quite a task.
He had brand new bib overalls; he fit right in

He’s a little young isn’t he? I asked my mom
You were younger, she quickly reminded me
The hens took to him like a hypnotic ‘om’.
I was the proudest parent I could ever be....

Read More

I swear I saw a cat;
she held a cricket bat
and swung it at my head;
I danced upon the bed;
and then a dog appeared -
his clothing looked so weird:
a hat and floral dress,
all tattered - what a mess!
And flying cows in jeans,
all eating jelly beans,
were herding singing sheep;
oh, boy, that snow is deep...

for Kai's Delirium contest...

Read More

Herding and opening interesting horizon 
Ever invigorating
As  it has started,  it has started 
Houses come liberating 
Deep into the darkness heaves 
Releasing structures deep into the darkness 
Factoring number lengths dropped leasing
 into the memories bewitching sheltering
 turmoils
 Home verse


12/29/20
Written words by James Edward Lee Sr  2020...

Read More

A newborn baby.
Such excitement!
All the relatives descend on the new parents.
Grabbing their newborn, fighting over her.
Shouting out their choice of names.

A newborn baby.
Begins screaming, feeling the tension.
The new mommy is closing into a turtle shell.
Intimidated by his relatives.
The new daddy leads them all out, like herding cats.
Stepping up, like a new daddy should....

Read More

Grotesque green grandpa and grandma goblins gratifying greasy gravies.
Gregariously greeting grateful guests who are going goat-herding in Greenland.
Glimpsing grievous grandchild who gobbles greasy gravies greedily, 
Grandma and Grandpa gives Gabe, their gallivanting grandson a glimpse of
Grotesque germs giggling and gallivanting in grease.   Gabe is good-natured
as he gobbles, and gasps at the germy gunky gravy....

Read More

Winter clouds drift like arctic floes
On an atmospheric river;
wind herding, prodding them onward
to a repetitive future.
The clouds always enthralled my mind.
Their aesthetic varying shapes
captured my imagination.
As a child I would gaze at them;
letting their shapes form images
in my mind others couldn’t see.
I still watch them as an adult
change into phantom images
shown above by the first four lines....

Read More

I'm a space cowboy
riding imaginary horses
with black light saddles
herding cows in my closet
my six shooter is my finger
making bullet sounds with my lips...

My ten gallon hat
filled with false optimism
borrowed from a circus clown
in a barnyard outhouse...

My posse are ghost riders
in the milky way
we lasso Taurus the bull
and have shoot outs
with villains
shaped as shadows 
on the star dust trail....
~ ~ ~...

Read More

He sat emboldened in the saddle,
The cowpoke on the plains,
Herding his longhorns.

Sometimes folks decorate with steer horns;
A rancher must have a well made saddle
But, unlike his home and car, it’s plain.

He has to navigate many plains;
Sometimes he’ll lose a longhorn;
With a difficult task, he’s saddled.

So, his well made ordinary, plain saddle, will last through years of herding longhorns without much pain.
...

Read More

I
Nations thrive, connive, destruct -- the birds still instil awe, naturally 

II
Heretics and falsehood abound, but cows, even pigs, in town, reassure us of survival.

NOTE: In cities& towns in South Africa, the changes since Nelson Mandela's revolution, allows mainly black farmers & persons to let livestock roam towns for leftovers, rarely herding them.. Some eat plastic bags. Two are sleeping on the sidewalk, next to our only hotel, in Kerk Street, as  I write/ edit...

Read More

Wandering, Not Lost

wandering, not lost
lost, not touring
touring, not herding, 
herding, not boring
boring, not drilling
drilling, not thrilling
thrilling, not being
being, not wondering
wondering, not confused
confused, not doubtful
doubtful, not vocal
vocal, not angry
angry, not thrashing
thrashing, not swimming
swimming, not waving
waving, not drowning
drowning, not wandering
wandering, not lost.

16 12 2021 9:15am

Pick A Title Vol 27 contest entry...

Read More

Took my dead dog for a long walk today.
No one that past-by saw her,
even I only glimpsed the whisk 
of her tail as she pulled at her leash,
or overheard her cheerful panting
as ice-crunching traffic rolled on by
Back home
she laid down quite satisfied,
at my feet.
I am reading a book about Shelties,
how they were bred to be working dogs
and won’t ever be lapdogs.
I glance down,
she is already asleep.
I read on
herding images together
just for her....

Read More