Short Ungainly Poems

ungainly
adjective un-GAYN-lee 
1 a : lacking in smoothness or dexterity : clumsy
b : hard to handle : unwieldy
2 : having an awkward appearance...

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Five wild turkeys
    tiptoe on the lawn
Odd, ungainly birds
    unlike swan
Suspicion is the word
    reserved, withdrawn
Quick, go get the camera
    whoops, they’re gone!...

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"Much I marveled this ungainly Foul to hear discourse so plainly
Though its answer little meaning;
Bereft of all that I adore."
Further sitting there in English parliament I wondered
What this monstrous Panting "mother"
Meant....

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Ungainly, slow, he took his time
Slowly flapping languid wings,
The Heron now began to climb
'Twas though it was his final fling,
He seemed to give it everything.

Yet as the Heron began to soar
It changed from toil to avian grace,
No heaving struggle any more
Elegant flight took it's place,
Life, played at a Herons pace....

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When did it happen?
How did I not notice?
What distracted me?
Or have I been blind
Where did she go?
The awkward girl of yesterday
Where is that ungainly creature?
When did you become a woman?
Have I been blind all this time?
When did you bloom into woman hood?
When I looked away
You were an ugly duckling
When I looked back
A bird of paradise
When did you become so beautiful?...

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They walk with their sticks
some an ungainly gait
scarves around their necks
caps upon their heads
Heading for the same place
to sit and chew the facts
talking of the old days
when young and good at sport
A special bench in the park
which the winter sun keeps warm
A few men will meet to chat
their memories ever young
Talk about  their rugby days
of playing for their team
having to sit and wait
to be called from bench to field...

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Lance-Lot
by Michael R. Burch

Preposterous bird!
Inelegant! Absurd!

Until the great & mighty heron
brandishes his fearsome sword.

Keywords/Tags: Nature, Animal, Bird, Birds, Heron, Herons, Fish, Fishing, River, Ocean, Ardeidae, Egret, Egrets, Bittern, Bitterns, Great Blue Heron, Goliath Heron, Gray Heron, Great Egret, Crane, Stork, Ibis, Spoonbill, Beak, Bill, Sword, Lance, Spear, Inelegant, Gawky, Awkward, Ungainly, Gangly, Preposterous...

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If in a year you feel the tinge
in a song you sing it wide
in a word you lie,
in mine you try..

If in a second its a sound
astride of keys a wound
unwind me before I lose
the terse word tied inside

It's lived here for a gilded age
rose at the pained dawn
and scented a jilted pair...
it is us

If inside for you it moves
for me it simply belies
the ungainly feigns and surprise...
it just tries

For the simple love in me,
it is just us...

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When you are in the moment,
You just focus on the now.
You do not question anything – 
The why or when or how.

You fixate on the task at hand
And no one’d ever guess
That other times your life can be
A huge ungainly mess.

But when you are engrossed in something,
Work-wise or for fun,
You’re so absorbed it seems your problems
Never have begun.

It’s wonderful to wallow
In the moment – you’re in clover!
Enjoy it ‘cause before you know it,
Poof! It will be over....

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A robin its breast as red as cherries

The rook in mourning dress,
Its nest in the graveyard tree,
Cawing in sympathy to tears of distress,
Looking down sadly on misery,
Hoping its young do not see.

The long necked swan swims,
So elegant on water,
Its beauty supreme;
On land it looks ungainly:
A beauty queen in jack boots.

No sacrifice, the dove coos love 
Snowy body soaring heavenwards.

Jack Horne
27th April 2011
for Constance's Four Beautiful Birds contest...

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At midnight, awakened,
The ravens stir.
You thought it was a dream.
Ill-omened prophets,
Of the night, are they.
Flying through the realm
of your ominous mind.
Foraging, ungainly,
For the desire in your heart,
No longer to be found.
As you’ve already
Given in to the darkness.
Your breath begins to fade,
Death’s door unlocks and opens.
Now above you,
The ravens caw in vain.
Because of your doubt,
You lacked any faith.
You died with that doubt
And with a soul unsaved....

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The fragility of love 

Only angels and butterflies should write love poems.
When elephants, giraffes and gruff sailors try to,
they sink into the mire of unfinished thoughts not
clarified, hazy sentimental longings and clumsy 
footwork. The ungainly trying to dance to a tune of
love that confuses them, leaving behind deep wounds
in the delicate soil of adoration that will never heal.
Or worst of all, the ultimate shame, to have ones 
declaration of love turned into a folklore joke....

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