Works of fire and thunder
flower the surface of a dark river.
When the rockets
are dead-eyed and spent,
muffled calls remain -
a flap and gabble,
of the peevish and ruffled.
Night stumbles over the edge
of gunpowder clouds.
Ducks deliver themselves
to the dark-dinged sky.
Distant cannons sigh.
my dentist seemed well suited
some friends though this disputed
but after a quack
at my dental plaque
i found him well web footed.
fox
quick, sly
hunting, mystifying, chasing
silver, wild dog, duck, fowl
plucking, swimming, migrating
web-footed, tame
goose
Date created: 08/29/2022
I saw a heart on a Large pink to scarlet web-footed wading bird with down-bent bill,
The heart was pink and so very hard to see, but I knew it was there,
Because it was in my little Minnie’s smile.
Her favorite long sleeved shirts have hearts on them,
Underneath she wears a short-sleeved cotton one; for comfort,
Today's undershirt had the wading bird on it!
4 years old, happy with her
Heart and Flamingo and Playful smile.
©david byrne Jan 2021
I buy my clothes from “Quacker Factory”
But there are no ducks in my house
Their colorful embroidery is more than satisfactory
I've met web-footed workers at their warehouse
When I visit, they make me stay at their henhouse
*December 5, 2020
For Sara's "Trademark" contest
Greater Flamingo, you beautiful wading bird.
What a captivating sight you are!
Long-legged, web-footed wonder with aquiline beak;
taking to the sky in style!
Your courtship dance is almost hypnotic
You move with such giraffe-like grace;
wading along the edges of shallow,
all decked out in glorious pink.
N/A in "In Praise Of The Ode" Poetry Contest
Date written: 10/07/2020
"Submitted for...
Hm's And Na's October 2020 Poetry Contest (Winner: 1st Place)
Sponsored by: Constance La France
Date: 11/02/2020
web-footed babes
looking for mama
ducklings
I rowed from Cambridge where
my scull was slapped by the wake
of the long boats from MIT and Harvard
then dodged the hodgepodge of
tiny sloops in the lower basin
competing and sharing the venue
along the bank in my "own" space
I drifted
flags waving from the shore spoke of the night
the Esplanade was awash with revelers
so many flags moved and reflected
off the lazy waves and celebrated
to the hum of strings straining to tune
the Anthem was the birthday hymn
The Stars and Stripes Forever
wrestled with my recollections
of "Web- Footed Friends"
Until Longfellow's soul hovered - smiling
and Tchaikovsky's gift reverberated
shell and cannon echoed over the Charles
and through the city spires
in the brilliant sky colors danced with
each embellished percussion
candles for THE birthday and
wishes for peace was in the hearts
of all who shared
FOWL
a feathered flockin farm animal
just a bird
web footed floater who runs
bird
common domestic rooster or hen
maybe a turkey, I should duck
the meat of a domestic used as food
decontaminate, purge,
disinfect, sanitize
brush rinse, scour
corrupt, rot, spoil
clarify, not cleansed much
bemire, besmirch, daub, grime, mire, smirch, smudge,
decontaminate, purge, purify blight
disinfect, sanitize sweep, wash, wipe
brighten pollute, tainty
straighten,tidy
adulterate, doctor
of something harmful or undesirable
contaminate, taint befoul,
grime, mire, smudge, soil,
corrupt, rotten, spoil smear
clarify, clean, cleanse, clear,
All that and all this is contaminate, pollute, boule
FOWL?
2/24/18
Written by James Edward Lee Sr. 2018©
Dog footed deep rooted fist and fouled
Cankerous flea infested unglorified scowled
Floating above the four walled space
Drowning not thyself but every chequered face.
Wing wilted uninhibited web footed guest
Seeking not short lived stay but being adept
Burying your nailed claws in every nook
And the floor space
Even deeper steadier stiffer
For your imperished stage.
I can see your monstrous form when I wake
It hovers over me in sleep and shakes
Every deep rooted breath with lizard and snake.
I wishing the fisted strength to drive you & trod
Over the dunes unsung unrapturous over beaten sod.
Dog footed deep rooted melancholy be not amazed
If I throw myself and you out in the maze.
The curious dormant nature of tools
becoming more than themselves in their quick
and singular way of performing:
Snowshoes making the body's weight a lie
over twenty foot drifts-web-footed
again I get to the river
where the fishing rod asleep in its limber
length jumps suddenly alive when the fish´s strike
leaps right into my hands.
Idle on the back porch the shovel´s
angle is to the point in its way
of getting under the surface. Through use
its handle is turning to harder wood
from layers of petrified sweat
and the bridle hangs stiff on a nail
saving the shape of the mare´s head,
remembering a mouth.
Red and silver rainbow trout freeze
on the snow as the sun goes down and the hot-
tempered ax head caught in the tightening grip
of the cold finally gets its crack
at a tree limb. Later the castiron woodstove
gathers to itself all the heat it can handle.
Smoke rises up to the cold night´s crisp stars,
impalpable almost as words
but which in their right use still have their way
of getting us through to the world
alive for a moment.
Signets and swans on a lakeside terrain
On bank for a pedestal high on the plain,
Steeped on the side and I just can’t explain
Why ducks who pretend they are swans once again.
With tall hat and tails, with a promised disdain,
For mimicking mute while the others maintain
Through casually chic but with doubt ascertain
What tattooed this fashion for it to remain.
Where jealousy rides, it’s the colour of down
Swans! White as perfect, to a duck’s dreary brown
The order of things on the lake show the town,
A fashion’s high stakes are a ducks tattooed gown.
From silt at the bottom to weed all around
A tall- hat and web-footed, clumsy old clown
Has made itself noticed, who hasn’t a frown,
And crowned itself champion from richly renown.