Ballade: Bedrock

Laurasia and Gondwana pressed,
volcanic vents disgorged Earth's brew
and from the shallow sea a crest
of ragged, blackened islands grew.
Below the waves the sea's floor slew
and swallowed layers of ashy grist.
The mantle forged the mineral stew,
recrystallized Manhattan schist.

Green copper, gold capped, self-possessed,
crowned heads aloof in pallid blue.
Steel chests, attired in natty vests
attending street and avenue.
Art deco, choice of parvenu-
brass, nickel, chrome, aluminum twist.
Foundations; granite, concrete glue
recrystallized Manhattan schist.

September Central Park is dressed
in greens; oak, maple, elm and yew.

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poem by Diane Hine
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Patisserie

'Caramel slice please and
coconut cookie with
takeaway mocha and
I'll try chai latte..er..
make them both skinnies, we're
meant to be dieting'.

Conical croquenbouche
passes majestically
drawing appreciative
sighs for it's artistry.

Senior regulars
meeting for coffee say
'You make them Diane, you
know how we like them and
Bet has a muffin and
Dot wants a lamington'.

Rubenesque customer

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poem by Diane Hine
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Fibonacci Rabbits

Fibonacci travelled wide
to learn from Arab scholars wise,
Number tricks and how beside
to guess a rabbit warren's size.

1202 he wrote his view
that if you start with just one pair,
Month's end doubles that to two,
the parents and twin babies fair.

Babies take a month to grow
but parents still on loving spree,
Extra siblings now in tow,
at end of month, the numbers three.

First born twins are now mature
and into mating overdrive,
Adults four, and none demure,
by end of month the pairs are five.

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poem by Diane Hine
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Formation

Katabatic winds scarce ruffle
the Emperor's resolute feathers.
An Antarctic winter shuffle
bands brooding fathers together.
Enfolded eggs, warmed by sanguine hearts
are balanced on icy clawed feet.
Penguins on the outer are ramparts
for the huddle's collective heat.
Waves ripple through close knit ranks.
Shrill rasping vibrato calls
rally the circulating flanks;
windward edge to lee, stoic walls.
Blizzards strafe lines weakened by fast.
Such unstinting paternal care
and dogged duty may be classed
a basic urge, but is this fair?
Effort requires monumental will.
Emperors who lack such are riven.
Labelled as love or instinct, still
either way, Life is hard driven.

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poem by Diane Hine
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Angiosperms

The dinosaurs of early Cretaceous
flashed color, pattern, sheen....yet
conifers, cycads and ferns layered
green on green on green....until
some nonconforming cone
with aspects shrunk or overblown,
‘bloomed' as something hitherto unknown,
an audacious rudimentary flower.
But this little mutant
was a portent of power.

Newfangled capacious leaves
packed more water-pumping veins.
Trees fed scented fruits and flowers
from sweet self-composting potpourris.
Ancestral figs, magnolias, planes,
coevolving birds, tiny mammals, bees,
all entangled in mutual gain.
Think the dinosaurs rapacious?
the flowering plants rampaged hellacious.

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poem by Diane Hine
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An Interesting Ancestry

To some of us, a tortoise lives on land
while turtles only rarely leave the sea.
‘Chelonians' applies to any brand,
so here I'll use this terminology.

Land dwellers share aquatic ancestry
and most of us decided to stay put.
Chelonians agreed to disagree.
A flippered revolution was afoot.

A late Triassic turtle fossil shows
a hard-shelled belly plate and softer back,
presumably to ward off fatal blows
from deeper-dwelling predators' attack.

Did top shell metaphorically ‘dissolve'
when full-shelled forebear sought the sea's embrace?
Or did an unshelled forebear's shell evolve
in oceanic pilgrimage retrace?

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poem by Diane Hine
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Spin

Would you like to hear
music played on space?
Sphere in thrall with sphere,
twin black hole embrace.

Hear the orbs collide,
see the future fly.
Welcome to our ride,
true, the cost is high.

Lest your body spread,
first we modify.
Reinforce your head,
structures fortify.

Transformational,
one event sublime.
Gravitational
waves of space and time.

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poem by Diane Hine
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Pantoum: Wandering

In the end it doesn't matter
Brush or roller paint afloating
As the consequences scatter
Dribbles show through extra coating.

Brush or roller paint afloating
Canvas, plaster wall or papers
Dribbles show through extra coating
Elongated teardropp tapers.

Canvas, plaster wall or papers
Home is dry or sometimes soggy
Elongated teardropp tapers
Drooling gape of grinning doggy.

Home is dry or sometimes soggy
Early man tamed wolf from wild
Drooling gape of grinning doggy
Vestige of a beast bred mild.

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poem by Diane Hine
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Child-Raising Advice

First, bear them, otherwise you won't have them.
To raise them, pick them up.
To unraise them, put them down again. Sounds obvious but........
Bear them, they'll grow on you.

Insert food.
Stick your elbow in their bathwater (I forget why) .
Do not dryclean.

Check for rattles. These are meant for external use only.
Although waterproof,
excessive exposure to the elements may damage their exteriors.
Tell your parents you forgive them and that they can baby-sit.

Tell everyone you forgive them and that they can baby-sit.
Be diplomatic about your friends' children (optional) .
Take offense when fools offer unasked for advice.

To improve reception, de-wax their ear canals.
To adjust brightness, vary the dose of red food colouring.

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poem by Diane Hine
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Pantoum: Angel

Insistent heavy throb of daylight passed
The sweated flora scented sunburnt air
The clarity of night transpired at last
The hunter shunned the radiating glare

The sweated flora scented sunburnt air
He watched the flickered furtiveness of night
The hunter shunned the radiating glare
A tissued wisp of wing eclipsed soft light

He watched the flickered furtiveness of night
Across the hanging moon's reflective gaze
A tissued wisp of wing eclipsed soft light
He felt an angel's fluctuating phrase

Across the hanging moon's reflective gaze
A hint of pink in bone-white watered silk
He felt an angel's fluctuating phrase
He felt enfolding hands as smooth as milk

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poem by Diane Hine
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