Short Spiny Poems

viral symptoms sprout
white pus seeps from spiny tips
envy masks gangrene...

Read More

prey of the day - frog
pleased mantis licks spiny hands. . . 
that was delicious...

Read More

spiny Mediterranean artichoke
thistle of the Asteraeae family
a wild vegetable
found in Greece...

Read More

Blue, spiny, varicose veins
years of hard work to appraise
clotted arteries heart's door strains
life's temporal lease instantly frays...

Read More

Tiny
Spiny
Surly
Ugly
Tiny spiny slimy creepiness
Surly ugly spooky nastiness



AP: 3rd place 2021

Posted on August 5, 2019...

Read More

The bass and perch are both spinny-finned.
Whereas sand dollars are spiny-skinned.
Sea urchins and starfish are spiny-skinned too.
I love my world book which is totally brand new!...

Read More

Look, these 
spiny seeds
of Xanthium,
with hooks,
have got stuck
to the hair
of these 
buffaloes
returning from 
the woods!

They've been 
carried here
to this distant 
land
to be dispersed
at different 
directions!...

Read More

Spiky hair.
Brittle.
Porcupine,
hedgehog,
spiny anteater
echidna,
kid.

Grow up prickly.
Grow up quick.
They raze -
rib dig.

Hurts in his alphabet soup.
Jeers jar.
quills quiver.

Curled up,
face tucked
into heart....

Read More

"Self absorption:
fickle, spiny sponge.
Crevices of fingerprints
stinging on the tongue...
Rapt attention 
fixed upon the
reproducing cell-
Fickle self absorption
I know you very well."


(-on the internal struggle of an artist's drive to create vs. the demands of real life.)...

Read More

my mind drifts...a tumbleweed in the wind
blowing across open desert
bouncing over past thoughts
briefly lingering in prickly places
unsettled dreams with thorny consequence
aimless is the trail it wonders
spiny twigs left as memories fail
a trail of broken remembrances in hot sand...

Read More

Beware the rose, though beauty be
With spiny thorns, it cuts, you see
As hand surrounds the prickly stem
It inflicts you pain, until you bleed

As too, in life, we dare not take
That which we should never forsake
Don’t overlook what just might be
Else you might find your heart to break...

Read More

Her mouth swallows whole
Slip away under the blackened deep

See the waves churning crashing overhead 
Moved with a toss and jerk

An insignificant faint distant star in a murky dark sky 
Embedded in sand

Lay with spiny urchins
Tumble across our sea bed

Crustaceans pinch and pick away
And what’s left for the coral

Feeds the sea
Until another...

Read More

Deep in the basement of the east wing
Lady Penelope keeps a Thing
    With big teeth and claws
    And horrible jaws
And feeds it her husband’s old flings.

While sister Edith keeps under covers
A creature that crawls and gibbers and mutters,
    That’s disgusting and spiny,
    Appalling and slimy,
And feeds it her old boyfriends and lovers....

Read More

Bird-song returns from the lingering dead.
A Carolina Wren jabs and hops
inside a miniscule ring of pale sunlight.

In the back of a cold season
the wind dresses a scarecrow
with spiny feathers.

Ice scabs scratch sod and mulch.
One inaugural leaf
invites a green legend
but it will be weeks before
chill cavities 
fill to blood heat....

Read More

With suction cups on its body,
It clings to rocks and such
So tidal currents really do not
Bother it too much.

Its teeth, as sharp as needles,
Line the rims of bulbous lips
And spiky studs, like armor,
Fend off anything that grips.

If this awful-sounding creature
Makes you frightened, you’d be wrong
For this lumpy little sucker’s
Just a mere 3 inches long!...

Read More

The land sizzles.
Brittle grass
yellows the hills.
Live oak draw sparse circles
of shade.
Spiky shrubs
cling to the parched slopes:
red stemmed manzanita,
spiny scrub oak.
Hot wind rustles the leaves.
The chaparral holds its breath,
waits for the spark,
to burst into blaze.

Later,
in the ash covered ground
under charred trees,
seeds waken and stir.

8/1/2017...

Read More

Spiky hair,
brittle waves,
porcupine,
hedgehog,
spiny Anteater,
echidna.

A kid
growing up
prickly.
The long tongues
of children
gibe him sharp.

Tumbleweed in the schoolyard.
Can’t tread him down.
Hurts are on the surface
like frozen
alphabet spaghetti.

Thorns and barbs,
jagged Jeers,
quills quietly quivering
the quarry -
face tucked
into his heart....

Read More

The spiny one we loved to watch
Come crawling out at early dusk,
To wander round our lettuce patch
In search of fat juicy mollusc.

Eating such prey, made it our friend.
Alas, no more we see it here.
Did its species come to an end,
When its habitat disappear,

As they cleared hedgerows from the scene,
When new road under construction.
Our lettuce patch no longer green,
Due to loss of the spiny one....

Read More

Your love, like cactus fruit
its tiny teeth sharp and taunting,
needling the flesh of my soul

you hide behind bold hues
and a spiny point of view,
failing your tenderness

but there's nothing sweeter in nature,
I've tasted its core,
my tongue dribbling succulent sips
of slipped slurs and
sappy sentiments

so I will gather myself beneath moonlight
and pluck petty prickles,
like a woman stupid in love...

Read More

A September chill pierces the morning
cutting through my open window.
Sharp air nips past naked ankles
as Autumn nibbles into my day.

Wasps sift September with regret
buzzing the fading scent of roses.
Tart apples sweep mellow branches
savouring a wind sweetened rain.

Chestnut burrs bristle spiny green
pregnant with mahogany clusters.
Crumpled leaves huddle in garden corners
crunching crooked for warmth.

MMC © 2011...

Read More

it crawls and creeps upon a twig,
for every inch a loathsome squirm.
such hideous, such disgusting thing,
this wiggly, hairy, spiny worm.


but when it spins its silken thread
to make itself a cool cocoon,
something magical starts in there,
unfolding slow, revealing soon.


now wriggling out of its silken shell,
ah, such bright beauty from on high,
the ugly catterpillar has turned
into a lovely butterfly !...

Read More

PORCUPINE
    
       ‘Spiny rodent Porcupine! 
        Tell me, Are you fine?’
     
     ‘Sure. Tough thorny spikes, all are mine.
      I can count from one to nine.

      I love blue sky and bright sunshine.
      With playful Porpoise, I always dine.

      I wish to go for cruise in river Rhine
      I walk free in the wood of Pine.

    I taste grapes from the yard Vine.
     Climbers are planted in a line.


 05/17/21...

Read More

Solomon’s secretive solemn sassy sensuous servants and songbirds
Solicited serious Somalian solutions simultaneously with South African,
Southeast Asian, South Dakota, and South America.  Squiffy, squirmy
Spiny specialized swordfish sent spiraling soon soared with sticky, 
Silly starfish wearing stiletto heels.  Surfboarders supposedly stepped
Over stormy streams to strip submarginal substances from slippery surfaces.
Sadly some suspected subterfuge....

Read More

.


it crawls and creeps upon a twig,
      for every inch, a loathsome squirm.
such hideous and disgusting thing,
      this wiggly, spiny, hairy worm.

but when it spins its silken thread
      to make itself a cool cocoon,
something magical starts in there,
      unfolding slow, revealing soon.

now, wriggling out of its silken shell,
      ah, dazzling beauty from on high,
the ugly catterpillar has turned
      into a lovely butterfly !

....

Read More

“This bitter, green fruit soaked in brine
is palatable, but I wish
to make the flavor more divine
by stuffing in some oily fish.”

“That thistle up there on the hill,
though spiny-sharp and armor-tough,
might prove to be delectable,
if it were just boiled enough.”

Who first made such discoveries?
Were they intended to be jokes – 
the olives stuffed with anchovies
and boiled hearts of artichokes?

Though I think they are delicious,
their origins seem pernicious....

Read More