Dancing Echoes

Beats Stumbling Around in Silence


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Emperors of the Ice

At small human size emperors stand very tall
The largest, most regal, penguin of all

All dressed in their tux for a formal affair
On fish they will dine -that are caught unaware

From a smoke screen of bubbles they work as a team
To disorient both predators and prey it would seem

With bellies of fish to feed hungry young
They must return home without getting sprung

First to accelerate with a flick and a flutter
Torpedo-like form using tails like a rudder

Then with lightning speed they pop with such zeal
In an effort to not be a leopard seal’s meal

They leap through the air with the greatest of ease
Even though they have no perceivable knees

Now this leaping is more than just penguins at play
But a tactic to keep a leopard seal ambush at bay

Once safe on the ice they feed their young chick
To regurgitate fish is a pretty neat trick

And once their sole chick stops screaming for more
Comes the time to clean up any messy fish gore 

So they cradle their chick between flipper feet
To preen oily feathers that must be kept neat

Settling down for a nap, the small family of three
Has adapted to the Antarctics -30 Degrees 

Inspired by Paul Nicklen’s Life and Stress at the Ice Edge. Initially read in Maptia and also published in DAN magazine.

Background found on Pixabay by Siggy Nowak, superimposed stuffed animals by me.

Thank you  for your inspiration. If you can’t go to the Antarctic, bring the Antarctic to you.

 


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Chaos

I am not a fan
Of this growing old
The chaos in my cells
Little girl inside
Old woman outside
The aches and pains
Of an uncooperative body
While my mind still runs through meadows
Memories of 60 years like yesterday
To a time where aging was as futuristic as star travel
“I can’t wait to grow up…”
I am running out of time
“When I am an adult I will…”
There is so much left I want to do
When will I be an adult?
Whispers, “When I am ashes

In response to Patrick Jennings Pic and a Word Challenge #275: Chaos


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The Mystery of Symme”tree”

The meandering pattern
of rivers and veins
branches and horizons repeating
the grace of symmetry
found in nature
where function
overrules perfection
Fractured fractals
in balanced harmony
sing the universal code of
mathematical probability
bringing imperfect beauty
to life

In response to Patrick Jennings Pic and a Word Challenge #251: Mathematics


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Loss

For certain memories 
time stands still
and for a moment
the pain is searingly fresh
The loss makes you realize
what matters most
An aching reminder
of what it means
to truly love

In response to Patrick Jennings Pic and a Word Challenge #242: Time


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Transitions

Life’s transitions
Freedom from this mortal world
Tears role down my face

In response to Patrick Jennings Pic and a Word Challenge #236: Freedom and #237: Transition


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Otherness

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Out of the brine,
the earliest seems so other
Ordovician beauty lies
in the eyes of the beholder
Is it desire or rote primitive urges
that keep this living relic
part of our current web
To be reborn,
as the 450 million year old villain
of our motion picture nightmares
And what do they see of us
do we appear as angels or incubus?
After all,
We crawled out of the ocean too

In response to Patrick Jennings Pic and a Word Challenge #228: Otherness