Short Shoals Poems

The sound of the shoals, laughter and the smell of spring and honeysuckle....

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ripples form on surface
swells crest and surge forward
shoals break then bolster...

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sand laden waves

pound rich seaweed crusted rocks---

shoals of fish swim deep...

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Waves break on your shore
tred the shells of shattered dreams
 dashed on shoals of grief...

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swim happily,
and jump out of the water
and dive,
Also, in shoals, they dance,
Seabirds wait 
to take a chance
...

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Shoals
swirling
in the sky-
like locusts in
flight-
as
light fades
the massing
starlings roost at
night

Note.Scene on the Somerset levels...

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Passion
Plunges into the vast deep waters bearing the study of life
While I stand beside its wisdom barefoot in shielded shoals of sweet
Calmness


April 14, 2020...

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Deepest emerald sea
Steepest ascent, a spree

Whitebait shoals abounding
Await echo sounding

Attract gannets display
To extract gleaming prey


Date 11/8/21
Image 3...

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Beatify the heart in sapphire waves...
echoes of the piper's sweet refrain.
Amend twisting steps, wash them all away.
Canonize salted souls with angel spray.
Harpist of silver shoals stroking golden rays~...

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Mendocino County’s nice place
Where lighthouse stands with added grace
Ships now avoid shoals coastal space
Lumber, goods for Casper city
Since Frisco’s quake stands on firm base
Faces ocean with a bold face...

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bright beacon of hope
warning of treacherous shoals
guides mariners home

Robert L. Hinshaw, CMSgt, USAF, Retired
© All Rights Reserved

Placed No. 6 in Annalise Brigham's "What My Eyes See" Contest - Feb 2011...

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Harsh winds, salt spray
familiar weight of bloodstained sabre 
hanging in a pilfered scabbard
one voice among the mayhem heeded
FULL SAIL - CAPTURE THE WIND
LEST WE BE O'ER TAKEN
BEWARE THE SHOALS!


6/25/2020...

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crisscross clouds
leave unseen tracks

warm sands 
ruffle velvet shoals

ocean sprays
release salty tears

fine pebbles 
squeeze wrinkled soles

sapphire waves
grind sparkling glass

supple limbs
explore hazy shores...

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Seeing through dreams
spoil your eyes
Time is your enemy
calling your name
the sound is deep
the lasting stars
always the same ghosts
haunt you
go to the shoals
to the mer
unburden the choices you made
the thickets cant defeat you 


...

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In the shoals of the lake
  a deeper truth was buried

It waded ashore
  when your memory was parched

Irrigating a message
  long ago forgotten

Returning your forgiveness
  —washed free of blame

(Villanova Pennsylvania: September, 2014)...

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Incantations swirl in the muddy waters and summon those who hear it to leave their homes and come to the rivers edge.
They immerse themselves in something no one can touch, but cannot help but feel.
This is the place where dreams die, only to be reborn into legends....

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Breaking points are reached
when you are gliding
just is as smooth as silk.

Acceptable risks go rogue,
easy-street gets bumpy;

beware then
for there are gopher holes,
shoals of piranha appear
in rain puddles,

then sleeping moles awaken in your head
and they don't like smooth....

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I hitchhiked up to Limbo
  to await that final toll

But lost my way when Siren’s called
  which led me to the shoals

My thumb went back inside my palm,
  their voices soft and low

No closer to those pearly gates
 —this darkened undertow

(Villanova Pennsylvania: February, 2018)...

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blowing frost on a star and gravestone 
quickening our steps like Charlie Chaplain
turning maple leaf into rubies and gold
churning flocks into wind splashed shoals
now we're hunched over like Quasimodo
the homeless sinking deeper into their hole
November struts about and barks like a crow....

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Tourists come
to take pictures
our lights no longer shine
foghorns no longer blare
yet we stand
stark white
against angry skies
memories flashing
over distant waters
tattered sailors drifting
through history’s shoals.


©12/16/2018

contest – Lighthouse Poetry Contest
sponsor – Eve Roper...

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Stately lighthouses
   Casting their beacons abroad
      Comfort for old salts

A finger of light
   Warning of treacherous shoals
      Guides seafaring souls

Robert L. Hinshaw, CMSgt, USAF, Retired
© All Rights Reserved

Placed No. 3 in Russell Sivey's "In The Light Of Haiku" Contest - Sep 2011...

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<>SHELLING OF SHOALS

oval souls
bleached out pearls
shelled stone hearts 
obscured cryptic
undercurrents
seaslime backslides
enticing 
Mermaids vice


whiteskull prey lays
shelved on shoals
seaweed eaten
greentail beaten
tidalpools black
sailor coldhole
burial ground



© Kim van Breda—9 December 2015...

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Infidel fish arrive,
shoals of blank-eyed eaters swim in circles,
each time the head turns toward Mecca
they nudge it in another direction.

Sea-bugs emerge,
dyspeptic crustaceans as small as fleas,
fastidious eaters
that consume only hate.

Above the waves a ship sails away,
having buried again
the evidence of hells D.N.A....

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The island is the green house
Where Wormwood rises above the daybreak
And yeah, he's pretty lonely,
With the world's tears bubbling over
On the counter, in a rhombus-shaped kia tub
Made from kia rocks found and bound
Along the shoals of the island,
Which is the ocean, which is the clouds, 
Which is the green house of Mr. Wormwood....

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sacred life…
mortal as a seashell
cradled and designed by divine hands

swept by tides
over the waves of chance
phosphorescence under tender skies

hidden souls
within a spiral core
with lore of an ocean at thy breast

soft landings
upon the shoals of time
'till nestled in the palm of God’s hand



~~~~~~~~~~...

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