"Ode to Woad on Dusty Road!" (Entry 439)

O, ode to woad on dusty road. 

Isatis tinctoria, I used to adore ya. 

Cabbage extracted, then powdered. Pathetic!

No more seeded, superseded by synthetic.

You flowering plant from family Brassicaceae.  

Yellow fellow, you made me blue. Alas, I dye!

*******

I entered the 'Vogon Poetry' competition set by http://www.hitchhikerslive.com/ alas I didn't win! Seeing as it was a competition for the worst poetry, I don't know whether not winning was a good thing or not! :-) I hope you like it anyway. 

"Lethal Comes Life" (Entry 433)

Hushed tones. Not a gasp of breath. 

Botanist balletic grace,

Point and stretch to raise the prize,

In pot within its air-locked climate. 

Steady glove coax pollen (of deathly scent)

from Irisium Reptoria to

Hybrid Irisium Mortum (leaves poison to touch.)

Their bid?

Hid from all,

A heady mix of hope. 

To nurture nature and produce 

Universal Paxa Illiquisa - panacea. 

Cure all diseases.

From death comes life. 

Lethal to longevity. 

Noble reason. 

"Summer Dining" (Entry 420)

Outdoors at home by day. 

Al fresco by sea at night. 

Each I relish in their warm delight.

"Solo Flight" (Entry 409)

Solo. 

From town

Far down below. 

High up,

Take flight

To dive air this night.

"Country Colours" (Entry 404)

Cerise bows to taste the spicy wine

Cooled by verdant meadow. 

Cobalt washed the tears away. 

Crack on, to plough parched fallow. 

Champagne heads bent to hear the whispers of a

Charcoal captured shadow. 

Cleft then dance an air fandango

Collected and interlaced to increase the violent tempo. 

Cause laser beams to laugh,

Create then split the lightning tableau. 

Chase the colours, race the hues,

Caress the spectrum of the rainbow. 

"summer remains" (Entry 398)

brilliant blossoms

spring has past summer remains 

budding gone before

"Forest Days" (Entry 391)

Leaves shaded through dappled glade. 

Sun rays traded against river's wade. 

Heat scorch raided on summer forest parade. 

Boughs bend unaided protect fae where they played. 

To day's dusk now faded and time of moon lights maid. 

Eve music serenaded dream on night's crusade. 

"Balmy Ideas" (Entry 383)

Balmy day. 

Mechanical breeze whipped through the dome. 

Light shone to create tropical warmth. 

Always a balmy day inside the dome. 

Constant temperature inside the Hawaiian Dome. 

Or to ski. 

A control suit - airlock - surface shuttle - airlock away. 

In the Alps Dome. 

Oh, to wish. 

But how she wished...

She wished....

Look up from the Moon to Earth. 

To experience the real lands,

And mountains, and cities,

But mainly the oceans. 

For all her home pod,

Hawaiian Dome,

Offered with artificial surf reef and pools. 

There was no expanse of ocean,

To dive, to explore, to surf, 

To sail away. 

To be with the animals. 

Oh, how she wished to see animals for real. 

She sighed as she saw the blue of Earth. 

"One day, I'll get there. I know I will.

The thought of being there with all that diversity. 

The wonders!

To get beyond the Moon. 

To walk the land and swim the seas. 

It's a leap, I know,

But one day,

I will step upon the Earth!"

"Silver Ring" (Entry 361)

It shone out in the moonlight.

Sparkling silver, circle bright. 

A shimmering ring,

She knew what it meant, but why?

She didn't expect it, this night

To turn out this way, not right. 

She howled in anguish,

Knowing every word was a lie. 

It meant that all they'd had done was deceit 

Crying out, her world crashed at her feet.

The silver ring, she found in the forest. 

Broke her heart, she wanted to die. 

To a noise behind, she span round

Raised her head high and stood her ground,

As her tears turned to anger. 

He stepped forward with smile, so wry. 

"So, I've caught you" he said in victorious gloat. 

As in-human snarl rose in her throat. 

"You can't step over the silver circle. This ring that we made. 

Can you, werewolf? Don't deny!"

"A Spider's Eye's Views" (Entry 358)

Spider weaves her web. 

Day's work of intricate lace. 

To perch at its centre. 

Bull's eye of its endeavours. 

Stretched across the window. 

She could see the beings within. 

These giants scared her. 

She knew the dangers they held. 

They could destroy her home and her life

With a flick of their long upper leg.

She was anxious of these animals

With their to-ings and their weird busy-ness lives. 

Fancy them only having four legs and two eyes.

How on web did they ever manage?

As long as she could see them and they left her alone.

She was happy to watch these creatures, so ugly!

The more she viewed their habits. 

The more she came to love their strange ways.

Though from her webbed side of the window,

She could never understand what they did. 

Of an evening, they stared at a light in the corner,

Like moths to a flickering moon. 

By day, most never stopped moving,

How did they ever ever catch food?

Then her web quivered. A fly caught. 

To buzz and hum its distress. 

So along silken wires, Spider scurried.

Enough nature watching, back to work!

"Houseplant Haiku" (Entry 323)

Houseplant enters home. 

Shiny tongues- deep green leaves lap. 

Welcome. You belong.

"Water's Wave" (Entry 225)

How do I begin?
A touch.
A stroke.
A sin.
Water waves across my skin.
To dive, delve, drive through and survive.
A crash of caress, the best to be alive.

"Fire's on Fire" (Entry 217)

It sparked!
A lighting flick of spurred orange and yellow,
To roar adored on gas in aqua-blue mellow.
It ripped and raced in lightening streaks to strike and flight,
To boom and bellow - a hot red fellow.
To scream in bright white light.
Colours rainbowed - pure delight!

"Tale of the Un-lasted" (Entry 132)

I planted seeds in the pot, and watched them finally sprout.
Fed and watered as they grew, as the sun came out.
Soon buds appeared and unfurled.
Scarlet poppy petals met the world.
But within a day, they wilt so frail.
As nothing lasts, not even this tale.

"A Movement in The Distance" (Entry 125)

All was quiet, apart from nature
Which never stops.
All of humanity, in this part of this island,
Was quiet. As it should be,
As they stood guard.
Then something moved
In the distance,
Beyond the barbed wires, missiles and armed forces.
Between sandstone buildings, something moved.
Flashlights searched out... A stray dog!
No. Not a stray... with an owner out after curfew.
An old hunched woman. A batty lady.
They sigh.
Too early!
She straightens and blazes round after round.
Night turns to day.
Fires, cries and someone or more dies.
Watch out
When something moves in the distance.

"Where The Ancients Grow" (Entry 117)

The tall ancient pines hide the sky within the wild wood.
A place before time of humans, but in that dip where the extinct still exist.
The air is fresh, only breathed by sincere nature,
Those unmanufactured living as they should.
They are called the hidden ones.

"First Time" (Entry 110)

"There's a first time for everything!"
He yelled.
As he jumped out of the plane.
All about firsts.
The adrenaline junkie.
Trying all things dangerous
and strange
and new.
Not one to live in fear,
so everyone thought.
They were wrong.
Everything he did was because of fear.
A childhood full of scared and scarred memories.
Only way to deal -
Go for it!
Full engines, raring to go.
Cars and mountains
and treks and bikes
and rivers and oceans
and food. Any notion.
Trying everything that came his way.
Even today.
First time for everything,
as this red letter day
led him to skydive.
First time for everything
and today
was his first time to die...
and his last.

"Summer Picnics" (Entry 104)

It's wet, and yet,
we'd better stick with it.
More ants! It's pants!
Now, I'm gonna have a fit!
Sun shines. Tan lines.
Who forgot to pack the lotion?
Our ass. On grass.
Get set for picnicky commotion!

"Camp First Contact" (Entry 102)

Cold of the night began to seep
into sleeping bag.
The type of chill that groundsheet
could not still.
Unstaved, to snore and grumble
in undreamed sleep.
Comatosed hand scratched at arse
within quilted cocoon,
replied with a grunt and a fart of
satisfaction as, deep and low,
the rumbling began.
Dull throve of engine getting closer,
churning up the skies to
whip the air,
and rip the flimsy tent away.
No longer sheltered,
at visitors, he gasped and gapped.
At first light and contact,
now totally awake.

"Cloaked and Winged" (Entry 84)

Wearing a cloak of darkness,
You live in the shadows.
Sleeker, smarter, stronger
than your daytime gadabout nemesis.
Who is truly the negative?
You may not reflect the sunlight -
YOU absorb the Universe.
Attracted to the silver slither moonlight,
to bathe in its caresses
beneath the starry canopy,
you perform your life story.
Black batting of wings,
it's your moment - moth.