Poetry Corner

Contents

Colorful Language
Appalachia
The Dragon Awakes
Blue Lives, Blurred Lines
Shades of Green
A Divisive Figure
Vernal Pool
Bumper to Bumper
Dusk
Balti King
Water World
Rituals
With the Flow
Good to be Alive
The Heffalump

Colorful Language

Welcome to Poetry Corner!

Three of the nine Muses from ancient Greek mythology were dedicated to poetry. In our everyday lives language is often clumsy, vulgar, and limited. But in the right hands, the beauty of words is revealed. Song lyrics can stir the soul, written prose can enrapture the imagination.

As a biologist, my primary source of inspiration, what I would consider the ultimate muse, is the natural world. The majesty of life on Earth is impossible to fully capture, even with a sizeable lexicon, but some literary greats before me have achieved heroic feats in the attempt. Here is my small contribution to that ongoing exploration and evolution of the English vernacular.

Enjoy!

Appalachia

A montane Meccah in the heart of the States
With peaks that can enrapture
A blue-ridged beauty where adventure awaits
A geological dream catcher
Not even the Alps can match her stature

The Dragon Awakes

Gazing to infinity
The mosaic of time lies etched across his features
As sand and stone collide
Life and love exist at the edge of nature’s dominion
Where giants fear to tread, the earth flows like wine
And he stands
Steeped in the struggles of a thousand suns

Blue Lives, Blurred Lines

Pity the plight of the po-lice
In court they look so awfully sad
Guilty until proven innocent
It’s political correctness gone mad

Pity the plight of the po-lice
Don’t act if you can’t do the time
If we lock them away for the rest of their life
They’ll think twice before committing a crime

Their riot gear is starting to crumble
Their tear gas has long since expired
Can’t do our jobs anymore, they mumble
To fire is to risk getting fired

A face of mace, a kick in the groin
Choked and pinned to the floor
Immigrants, criminals, what’s the difference?
We’ll find out once we kick down your door

These bastards deserve nothing less
Plead the fifth, plead for mercy, plead for more
The thin blue line meets the man with no name
Don’t you know we’re the good guys? they implore

Pity the plight of the po-lice
Keep your hands up, coz we shoot to kill
A high school dropout, bullied as a kid
Revenge is sweet, it’s a thrill

Pity the plight of the po-lice
Without us, they angrily hiss
The world would descend into chaos
But let’s hope chaos is better than this

Shades of Green

Stain-glass canopies split the sun’s rays
Glistening crowns in the valley of kings
The forest whispers
As midsummer’s breeze ebbs and flows
An eagle soars
The sun slowly sets
And the vast sky is blue and sentimental

Nature’s soul is at the center of mine
Never to turn away
Trample the bodies of the fallen
Trample the promise of a fresh start
The first of new beginnings
The last reminder of times gone

Stands turn to sways signaling storms on the horizon
A change of pace, a change of mood
Motion is all that remains

A Divisive Figure

Listen to the crackpot, his hairbrained schemes
Listen to the crackpot’s uninterpretable dreams
Behold his muttered utterances
Behold his spluttered gutterances
Never flustered, he’s mustered a lack-lustered bluster

Enraged, incensed, ignorant bliss
Hugs for free, fiver for a kiss
The walls come in, the tides go out
Bats in the belfry, rats up the spout

Thoughts on this, thoughts on that
A tailor’s dummy in a porkpie hat
Thoughts to the contrary, thoughts in line
The straw on the backbone, sign of the time
A scarecrow’s apprentice in search of a spine
Will do just fine
We’ll do just fine

Listen to the crackpot blather
Listen to the crackpot’s father
Listen to the crackpot rather
As the masses he tries to gather
Listen to the crackpot babble, dabble, empower the rabble
Listen to the crackpot slaver

A helping hand
To make the last stand
Dangling from a rope of sand
Won’t it be grand?
Yes, and…

Vernal Pool

Moonlight mirrored on the still water
Serpents patrol the slowly receding banks
Beauty lies beyond the eye
Frogs fill the air

Willful abandon
Monotonous regularity
A spectacle, a display, a cacophony, a chorus
To be heard, to be seen, a chance at immortality
Love is an afterthought
Most vie in vain

Bumper to Bumper

Phillip stepped out onto the veranda and coughed
His eyes struggled to focus in the mid-morning light
Scanning the garden, he affixed his gaze on two squirrels
Along the fence
Across the lawn
Up and down the trunk of an ancient walnut tree
They cavorted
What a commotion! he thought to himself
Before heading back inside and pouring another hot drink

Dusk

Crimson skies blanket the mountains
Long shadows cross the lawn
Light fades to a whisper
A faint echo fractured through tangled branches

Bound by time
The darkness looms

Grainy vision begets grainy thoughts
A fawn hesitates beneath the stories of old
The dance of the fireflies tempt the stars to earth
Until we meet again

Hurry down sunshine
Let’s see what tomorrow brings

Balti King

Why didn’t you warn me sooner
About the perils of a rich lamb bhuna
My stomach’s a lead balloon
But there’s a rumour that I’ll resume
Coz I’m a consummate curry consumer

The Mogul Dynasty
Stays open till three
The walls dripping in raita and ghee
The best Chutney in East Putney
I’m a consummate curry consumer

A monumental lentil Dahl
Leads to gut fight at the OK Corral
Then a blockage down the Panama Canal
But nothing will fade my steadfast morale
Coz I’m a consummate curry consumer

A mountain of rice
A nice blend of spice
A proverbial poppadom paradise
Save your advice, I’m not willing to sacrifice
Coz I’m a consummate curry consumer

Vindaloo joins the queue
My stomach must be black and blue
The heat clouds up my field of view
If I pull through, count me a reborn Hindu

A Bangalori Tandoori
Steeped in garam masala and glory
The aftermath however is a gory story
Colon comeuppance obligatory
Coz I’m a consummate curry consumer

Never pass on the madras
Never ignore a pakora
Never sneer a sag paneer
Never dismiss the Goan fish
Never turn away the aloo Bombay
Fill your plate before it’s too late

It’s Korma that I crave
Tough to know if my belly will behave
But fortune favours the brave
Besides it’s too late to try and save me from
The esophageal spasms
A shockwave sends me to an early gastrointestinal grave
Coz I’m a consummate curry consumer

These hunger pangs I need to quash
What better way than a Rogan Josh
And a keema naan if I can spare the dosh
But under the surface slosh slosh slosh
Why didn’t you warn me sooner

Water World

Veins stretched across an open land
Waves crashing on an ocean spray
Reach for the skies, mister
Heaven giveth and heaven taketh away

Whether peat, or clay, or lime, or sand
Cradle the body, rock to sleep
The test of time, the toll, the toil
Catch the fallen, the clouds will weep

Babbling brooks, raging rivers
Tributaries and channels
The streams that flow through the garden of Eden
Carving canyons, valleys, canals

Worship the way of the world
Sit back and admire
The lifeblood, the death knell, purgatory
Earth, wind, and fire

A drink, a drink! A toast, a toast!
To the fens that hath begotten
The swamp around us, all sticks and stones
Gone but not forgotten

Rituals

The students are desperate
Desperate for some semblance of normality
The clock strikes twelve, and as one
They turn toward the statue and bow

With the Flow

The poor river
Battered and bruised
Black and blue
At the hands of egotistical adventurers
Damn them all!

Good to be Alive

It feels good to be alive
It feels good to be alive
Striving, thriving
Struggling to surviving
It feels good to be alive

Some **’s driving like a bellend
Brake, borrow, make, mend
A serial rear-ender
Returning to sender
That’s what’s on the current agenda
Good to be alive

Veering through traffic without a care
Careering past cars without a moment to spare
Weaving, deceiving
Always believing
It could never be him
It feels good to be alive
Good to be alive

No amount of geriatric joggers
Or gluten-free food bloggers
Can burst my existential bubble
But here comes trouble
Some Barney on the double

Quick march, foot to the floor, hot-stepping action
Blink and you’ll miss it
Treasure every fleeting moment, they say
All things come to an end
It feels good to be alive

The Heffalump

You know he’s the real deal
Ordering the bargain bucket meal deal
Four pounds fifty, what a steal deal
Calories his Achilles heel deal

Jelly belly, diet dodger
Chunky monkey, porkey podger
Roly-poly, trolley codger
Gristle and grease are on the menu
At any available culinary venue

Who ate all the pies?
You fat bastard
Telling doctors lies
You fat bastard
The scales keep rising
It’s hardly surprising
It don’t require no encephalizing

Double chins come from double portions
Thunder thighs of colossal proportions
Bingo wings begin their contortions
As you guzzle ice cream by the gallon
A freak show guest spot on Jimmy Fallon

The relationship is far from platonic
The plates of chips are borderline chronic
They claim his growth is supersonic
But he just eats their words
Sick of being
So histrionic