My body is flat
I can shock enemies
What am I?
An ocean ray
A sting ray
I am not as large as a manta ray
But I am deadly toward my prey
Categories:
sting ray, animal,
Form: Free verse
Scientists describe it as an event
In the hot paradise of Key West
Condos festivals hotels
Dancing feet under bells of lights
I’ve sung Margaritaville there
Myself
Beneath the docks
Pan fish spin in the new green pea sea
Mad somersaults
Alone
To their own kind of tambourine
Bring out your Dead
Bring out your Dead
14-foot Swordfish swish their tails
Beach themselves by the dawn of rails
Swim in the sandpaper sun’s preferable agony
A woman stands by cries and mutters
“I’m so sorry”
Reaches for his folded-over fin
Comfort to the roadside beggar
Sting Ray does the butterfly
Chops atop the ocean’s surface
Charges something unseen beating its wings
Battering the space where waves dot the sky
As if it were an archangel screaming
Stop it! Stop It!
To the Great False Prophet Anthropomorphism
Animals and plants are as human
As we
Without fingers and hands to see
All creatures speak from a conscience
Possess morals
If we’d listen from beyond our own shortcomings
And denial
The Key West fish are calling us
In plain language
Help us help us
We’re boiling to death.
Categories:
sting ray, betrayal, earth, endurance, environment,
Form: Free verse
They call me Corvette Granny
as I cruise around in my red Sting Ray,
vintage 1965 convertible and what a looker,
the top down with my hair flying in the wind,
totally not looking my age and undisciplined.
The call me Corvette Granny,
men want to race me on the streets,
they stare at my crimson beauty and wink,
flirting with a mighty engine that always wins,
knowing that they will eventually be kicked in the shins.
They call me Corvette Granny,
taking off at the light and burning rubber,
people on the sidewalks stop and stare,
wondering who is that crazy old bat,
driving a sports car looking smug and fat,
until my husband the cop stops me for speeding.
Categories:
sting ray, humor,
Form: Rhyme
They call me Corvette Granny,
as I cruise around in my red Sting Ray,
vintage 1965 convertible and what a looker,
the rag top down with my hair flying in the wind,
totally not looking my age and undisciplined.
They call me Corvette Granny,
men want to race me on the streets,
they stare at my crimson beauty and wink,
flirting with a mighty engine that always wins,
knowing that they will eventually be kicked in the shins.
They call me Corvette Granny,
taking off at the light burning rubber,
people on the sidewalks stop and stare,
wondering who is that crazy old bat,
driving a sports car looking smug and fat,
until my husband the cop stops me for speeding.
April 3, 2018.
Categories:
sting ray, humor,
Form: Rhyme
I used to dream of marrying one day
a princely man! My soul mate he would be.
I dreamed of visiting lands far away.
That dream I lived! It’s now a memory!
I used to like to kick a ball and run
the bases, ride my purple Sting Ray bike,
skip rope, play tag and other games so fun
which have become the things I USED to like!
I watch my grandson get excited by
a visit to the park, a simple toy. . .
He’s unaware how fast that time can fly
and how - one day - he’ll miss his childhood joy!
And what he’s dreaming, I can too recall. . .
as bliss I found in things when I was small!
Aug. 21, 2015 for the Childhood Dreams Poetry Contest of Silent One
Categories:
sting ray, childhood, happiness,
Form: Sonnet
Our love had no syllables
It had no meaning nor symbols
It was a pure air bubble
Clear as a crystal ball
It diluted the oceans’ blue
It had no definition for it was true
It dissolved tears into a love potion
It moved in slow motion with utter devotion
It had no words to speak our thoughts
Its essence could not be taught
It was magic without the tricks
A beautiful dream like the matrix
Jealous doubted like jellyfish floated away
With the grace of a sting ray
Our breath was an osmosis notion
Our sweet love, an aqueous solution
Categories:
sting ray, devotion, love, , sweet
Form: Rhyme
jellyfish floating
in turbulent sea currents
beware tentacles
sting ray flapping by
vast oceans you do cross
in your endless quest
Categories:
sting ray, fish, nature, ocean,
Form: Haiku
A flounder is a flat fish, found in tidal waters
Laying on the bottom, partially covered with sand
“Floundering”, is a nighttime sport on the Texas coast
You slowly wade through tidal flats, with a gig in hand
A helper carries a Coleman lantern, held on high
You both keep scanning the bottom for a tail-tell sign
If you spy the flounder’s head with those two eyes on top
Gig him and get him on to shore quick and don’t waste time
There’s another creature that covers-up in the sand
You must always be alert and on the watch for him
A sting ray has a serrated barb in its whip tail
A bad encounter with this creature can turn out grim
Don’t take steps when you wade, just slide your feet in the sand
Should you bump a sting ray, hopefully he’ll swim away
But if you’re taking steps and you step on top of one
Then you’re in real trouble and there will be hell to pay
The flounder is excellent fair; meat white and flakey
They can be cooked many ways: baked, fried or on the grill
Although you can catch them by fishing with hook and bait
Wading at night and gigging one, is a bigger thrill
Categories:
sting ray, adventure, nature,
Form: Quatrain
i gather my sticks and stones
beat around the bush
facing East, then West
bow three times
scrape my knees on the doorstep of persuasion
the attic is filled with cobwebbed intrusions of domesticity
but nothing seems out of place,
the basement leaks with water under the foundation
and the walls shout with time cracking through the lifted iris
you purr like a selfish house cat, smug and twitching his whiskers
with pensive appetite,
i'm off to save the world, the sting ray in my pocket,
a jawbone on my shoulder,
dragonflies are busy dodging mouthfuls of distress
my croc is ticking out his schemes on a Tuesday afternoon,
you could do worse than read this poem.
you should have read the riddle I left for you.
Categories:
sting ray, adventure, mystery
Form: I do not know?
Together we entered your world...
majectic in your approach...
as we summonds our courage...
not a word we spoke...
you tapped me by honing my
unique heart beat...
I felt your power...you brang all
oceans before me...
...silent messenger of all depths...
you disappeard into the dark
your body - tail great length...
I fed you...I forever humble in
your gracious presents...
your tail hovered over my head...
dripping in all oceans...all rivers
I stood in awe...as you weilded
your power...
My courage now stood in a
puddle of respect...
you glide with such serenity...
your movement without replicant...
this beauty of black mass...
this underworld intrigued...
this mighty giant sting ray
made a believer out of me...
Her wing span fifteen feet...
at 250 kgs she celebrates
her age of 45...this beauty...
before me...
...this black scarey mass...
I will not forget everyday...
We breathe the nearer...
...in your presence I truly
felt alive...for I knew in that moment
you changed my thinking...
...changed my life...
Categories:
sting ray, passion,
Form: Lyric