Short Updraft Poems

skimming the updraft
a hawk soars past my head
with playful ease...

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Whispy charcoal clouds
Fan brushed laced updraft
Gracing the quiet day...

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Ash, sparks drifting up,
On the fire's updraft borne,
Like souls go skyward...

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hanging motionless
scanning the buffet table
			…a feathered silence

John G. Lawless
©3/6/2023...

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September Song(for Sarah)



Chill September days
show off
silver gulls,
suspended as they are
on strings of blue.


Caught in the updraft
I think of you,
and do not fully understand
how you turned my life around,
Or
how below became


above....

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My mood seems of late like
swirling leaves on the ground,
caught up in occasional updraft,
if only for a few feet,
then fall back to ground.

Leaves are expressionless,
hiding their true feelings and thoughts,
swirling wherever gusts take them,
and crunch under foot....

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Broken Wing


I am left alone
a bird of prey
feasting on carrion
wasting my talent
roosting on the ground
unable to grasp
the inevitable
longing for the wind’s
warm updraft
to lift me
from flightless
death


4/16/2017

submitted to – BROKEN WING – Poetry Contest...

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Once he ran, a younger man, now he hobbles
   Once he walked, cheerfully talked, now he wobbles

Once he laughed, a breezy updraft, now he cries
   Once he hoped, with the future eloped, now he sighs

Once he looked forward
   ~ Now he looks toward
         The day when he can die...

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The sky is clear bright and open
Showcasing the glowing patterns
I traced while lying down
Snuggled against dewy grass on loamy soil

My spirit soars amidst the amidst the updraft
and my heart returns to visit
the feeling of home

Your spirit is here
Wrapped about our love
Our shared memories
Etched into the fabric of unchanging stars...

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The hawk lay upon the lazy late afternoon 
air currents;
Floating, circling, spiraling, ever downward.
Its wings spread wide, white feather-tips splayed.
It teetered on the updraft 
above the terraced alluvial plains
in the lea of the Himalayas.
Landing with a compression of desire 
upon the crumbling limestone outcropping,
It stood preening.
Waiting,
For the next breeze....

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Their wing span stretched to full extent 
to catch the updraft compliment. 
Still bodies caught in endless flight
Gray backs roll to sleek plumed white 

Ever on they plough the ocean
Held aloft with graceful motion
Testament to His creation
Marvels of natural aviation

Bodies turn on the slightest flip
As they swoop and soar, bank and dip. 
Then one by one they disappear
And suddenly the sky is clear....

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Listen to poem:

In the nighttime hours
As the world deftly creeps by
I summon my powers
Spread my wings and fly
Past cotton clouds,
Snow-capped mountains, white
I am lost and I am found
I am beauty and blight

Past the midnight chimes
A soul searching for home
Tangling myself in rhymes
So as to not feel alone
Catch the updraft of hope
Friendship sun on my face
My place in this world in scope
Loathing, with love replace...

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This kite electric
tangled in the power lines
tattered silk like paper skins
of dyed and colored onion rinds
With salty satin stains
flapping in the ocean air
it once held tight a child's hand
tingling knuckles white and bare
Updraft caught and carried
jangling raw up on the wires
electric now ungrounded
white heat lightning fuel tipped fires
Now it begs release
from the metal to the sky
With my own eyes as witness
sparks reach out to catch it fly....

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