Short Hooved Poems

Tradition in old English proves
The plural for roof was once rooves
Back then grooves in courses
From heavy hooved horses
Formed goofs in the turf known as gooves


Author's note:  We keep a dial telephone in the house so that the youts who visit us can try 
it out!  Many have never seen or used one before.  And what does this nonsense have to do 
with the above?...

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Once upon a Christmas donkey
Mary in labor was led to a door
The man inside took pity on the young couple
Allowed them to stay in his stable
Where animals kept watch

Four-footed, hooved, and horned,
They understood that magic was afoot
Joseph was grateful for the place to stay
Being a kind, empathetic humble man.
A star in the east followed the steps of the donkey
Waiting in anticipation for the birth of our Christ, baby Jesus...

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exhaustion has so many layers: 
when devils settle into joints
naps turn into marathon affairs
concentration gaps run rampant
remnants of zest circle the drain

perhaps due to feral disease
or a brief rash of boredom 
or just a blot of burr and blues
more likely the foothills of old age

for certain youth has blown away
dreams blinded in the dry grass of life
just ahead -up a steep granite pass
something feral, heavy hooved-sniffing...

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Sheep
                   (Children's Rhyme by Joan Donnelly Ellis)

 Sheep are neat
 Come in a fleet
 Sheep can leap
 Over fences or on hills steep
 Sheep sleep in a heap
 Sheep bleat in the heat
 Ride in a sheep jeep
 People keep sheep
 For their wool and meat
 People eat sheep meat
 Makes me weep
 It isn't sweet
 Sheep have feet
 Hooved feet
 Sheep wool is deep
 Their friend is Bo Peep
 Some keep sheep 
 as pets
 that's neat...

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