Thursday, January 10, 2013

Cockatoos/Hiemal





Brenda Bryant

Cockatoos  photographed in the Dandenong State Forest.


COCKATOOS

The yellow sign had dazzled our eyes

With something of a harsh surprise.

'Feed the Cockatoos' it said....

They were waiting to be fed.

For  'Dandenongs' read 'greenery',

With all the gum-trees' subtlety.

This notice  bugled its advice;

We read it once, we read it twice.

We moved on, and the cockatoos

Surrounded us and shrieked their news......

That green and white are  dominating.

Whatever  man may try creating.
*
-------------------------------------------------------------



(For Jenny Matlock)

HIEMAL

I here present an illustration,

Showing a hiemal situation.

I could have shown you a snowy scene,

Where white has overtaken green.

I could have shown a cosy room

With, outside, a world of gloom.

I could have shown some sleeting rain

Sweeping down a leafless lane.

These would have all been representations

Of very hiemal situations.

But I chose Romanians in the sea

In, not August, but January!

They are swimming under the ice

Very much against my advice!

For hiemal means 'Wintry', so I'm told.

Hiemal means ice and snow and cold.

Of all the words I could have chosen,

My 'H' word is shivery and frozen.
*


8 comments:

Tatiana said...

I'd never heard the word 'hiemal' before, but I like it! thanks for sharing :D

Cathy Kennedy said...

You have such a magical way with words. Have you considered publishing your poems? Or, maybe you are already published and I'm just ignorant of this. :) Great job!

Erin said...

Such wonderful poetry! well done. Today you've reminded me of my beautiful homeland Australia (I currently live in London), and you taught me a new word - I'd never heard of hiemal before! Thanks for posting. :-)

Rocky Mountain Woman said...

We have lots of hiemal going on around here...

st said...

Oh different and fun and I learned something new!

Judie said...

Oh, my goodness, Brenda! Feed those cockatoos! I would love to see birds like those here in Brunswick, in our back yard.

Our ocean is a tepid 59 degrees right now, and our granddaughter Laurel went for a quick swim when she was here after Christmas. Once was all it took. It will be MUCH warmer when she comes again in the summer.

storybeader said...

how scary, to swim under the ice. I agree, it would be against my advice too! {:-Deb

Lmkazmierczak said...

Ordinary Words....brilliant♫