Secrets of The Breeze
A breeze, a playful inquisitive breeze,
Drifting over slippery slated roof tops,
Teasing the silent secretive trees.
Hearing murmurings in wind-blown corn crops
And rhythms of the pattering rain drops.
Communing with the chattering birds,
Remembering the chorused words.
Conferring with restless, careless bees -
The attentive township, listening, heard
Passing secrets of the gossiping breeze.
Barry Stebbings
Feb 2025
I watch them as the conversation shifts, chattering chameleons, changing the shades of interpretation to suit their "narrative".
I pick up their idle chatter five days of the week.
Conversation with other passengers, I never seek
to learn of a secret one of them might privately leak.
But try as I might, I cannot help but overhear
a new recipe she tried, or the reason for his fear.
Sometimes, I wish I was deaf, at least in one ear!
I try reading my newspaper and ignore the prattle,
but often it's louder than the train car's rattle.
I'm not interested in the gossip of their tittle tattle.
At least the man with the cigar, smokes it outside,
or I'd take another tram. Cigar stench I can't abide.
I live in the burbs, so it's a long way home I ride.
Today, there's a young lady who wouldn't take a seat.
She looks worried, or at least somewhat browbeat,
like the people I work with down at Dun & Bradstreet.
I often wonder what's on the young conductor's mind.
Does he despise his job because he feels confined?
I'm off at the next stop, where I leave them all behind.
chitter chattering
serenity in oak leaves
until owl descends
chatty squirrel chitter
squawking frolicking standing
on his hind legs sits
~
While in its paws he
handles something he dug out
underground left in
~
autumn blend grasses
squirrel sitting eating hazel-
nuts that he's dug up
written words by James Edward Lee Sr © 2022
Number one James Edward Lee Sr poem for the week of March 26th through March 31 2022
Near the forest green trees there is a stream-
On its silvery waters eager frogs croak loudly.
Quack quack go the numerous conversing ducks,
While splish splashing from day to citrine day!
An orange gold sun comes down to touch the hills,
As the woods abound with musical treetop thrills.
A slithering snake hisses at the sizzling heat,
Of lush summertime come to absolute standstill!
In the midst of enchanting life I went walking;
And wherever I roamed I heard animals talking.
And ruby throated hummingbird commenced humming,
In response to the engrossed honeybees' buzzing.
A multicolor hibiscus opened with the dawn sun,
At just the moment woodland prattling had begun!
music in the trees
gossips teem in green bowers
marigolds abuzz
cracker butterflies
among burgundy roses
twittering away
hollyhocks abuzz
with news of the honeybee
such blues pinks and blacks
crickets go screaming
near the endless babbling brook
in the orange dusk
Communicated
Callings caulk of code dictated
Chart centred conversations
Cull chatting curing nation
6/11/20
written words by James Edward Lee Sr. ©2020
Teeth chattering like monkeys
She went on and on
Clicking and clacking in ears that had
Turned sorrowful and disappeared into
No man’s land
Teeth chattering like monkeys
The words spewed forth
Snapping and barking in the air where
many dreams died a natural death
The promise land never promising this
Teeth chattering like monkeys
The monologue droned in triplicate
Underneath the backs of others
the students began texting with
bright happy cell phones
Teeth chattering like monkeys
The professor’s tirade kept on the track
With a click and a clack
as the rails fell into the bowels of .....
and still she had no clue
teeth are chattering
mental shakedown in the works
forward march body
A chattering of starlings...
perform their synchronized...
aerial acrobatics...
in the apricot sky
Date written: 06/23/2019
Sails flick while chattering
To the wind deciding
How to best throw itself
Into its arms.
Port rocks to starboard
And back again
While I'm throwing my insides
Over the rail into the sea.
Mainsail catches and off we go
Pushed along by nothing
Except the breath of the sea
My stomach as a sacrifice.
The water decides most things
And today to swell and fall
Bucking like a horse.
It's just the risk you take
When you let her be herself.
THIS CHATTERING OF FLOCKS
the birds are back, that’s good, the weather
is changing and I am bird-people, feathers
are my hair…look, sparrows chipping and fox,
ever-present raven with his peculiar pops
looks on, calls mate, assumes sentry position
woodwind chimes provide the percussion
yesterday’s robin is today’s good fortune
the starlings are wary but strike up a tune
the snow is all gone delighting the breeze
and a cherry aura hovers over the nearby trees
as goldfinches add colour to the ruddy ground
all become part of the symphony of sound
amid this chattering of flocks the meaning rings clear
a medicine song for my wintry heart to hear.
5/11/2016
There was a young man from Majorca,
Who was an annoying incessant talker,
His friends found a pool and threw him in
But sadly for them they just couldn't win,
Wouldn't you know he could talk under water.
Chattering Plants.
The fig tree has lost its big soft leaves and looks like a petrified
octopus in the middle of a nightmare. What the hell happened
to the ocean? It tells itself”, I´m not ugly as almond tree, looks
as rough hewn spider´s web that can´t catch any insects.
I belong to the family of Moraceae and we produce the sweetest
of fruits, we are the aristocracy in the plant world.”
The almond tree heard this and said: “I will be a bride in February
cast a spell of beauty on the landscape with my pink flowers. “
“Anyway, I´m a deciduous tree and proud of it, without my nuts
- a hint of a giggle from the fig tree- you can´t bake a good cake.
People ask for almond tarts, no one ever asks for fig tarts.”
A sullen silence falls, then the carob tree, also known as St. John
bread, and bears fruit too; elongated, dark as farm workers fingers,
judiciously says:” you´ll both be beautiful come spring.”
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