—Photo by Charles Mariano,
Sacramento, CA
RED WAS MY FAVORITE
—Caschwa, Sacramento, CA
My parents had a set of dishes
With different colors to choose from
And 3 sons, no girls
In the birth order scheme of things
I was the proverbial #2
And my older brother had picked the blue
It then fell to me to choose
Between a red or a green dish
The gagging green looked awful
Thus by default, my “favorite”
Color became red
For everything
But not for a lifetime
As I gravitated to other scenarios
Where I could make my own choices
Even forcing term limits to
Apply to favorite colors
Was an unwelcome imposition
So my best friend became that legal concept
Of “reservation of rights” where I could
Adjust my choices without limitation
My favorite color today?
All of them!
Period.
___________________
VIVA!!
—Caschwa
Since the beginning of time
The weaker sex has had
The reputation of being
graciously thankful and glad
To serve their life
As a prize or award
For the full enjoyment of
Their protective lord
Now, little by little
Like a stream eroding hills
Women are bursting free
Adding lungs to mermaid gills
Paving inroads into sanctuaries
Long held fast by men
Raising the bar of expectations
Marking equality now and then
But are all these exceptions
Standing only to prove the rule?
Battlefield blood isn’t pink, but red
The singular color of cruel
Men are too busy being macho
Boasting their red pain to the brink
While ladies are too busy being gracious
Covering their red pain with cute pink
—Photo by Katy Brown, Davis, CA
DODGER STADIUM
—Caschwa
(Response to “Wild Journeyman” and “Coyote Tale”
By Taylor Graham)
It was a quiet ravine in a giant land grant
Before countless collections of
Pancaked flats on disputed plats
Before a few area codes, then dozens more
Just four seasons, no red ink
Now gentle starlight has given way to
Massive floodlights, blimps, and cameras
All part of the phenomenal ritual of taking
Floorboards to the scoreboards
Pay for parking, pay for seating, pay for eating
Before the organ plays and the flag is saluted
Great athletes are stripped to their hernias
And examined like fine art on the auction block
Fans dream of catching that game-winning ball…
Did you remember to bring your mitt?
____________________
THE DEBT SOLUTION
—Caschwa
Don’t
Ever
Buy
This
____________________
SINKING ABOVE
(Borrowing from the poetry
of Tom Goff)
—Caschwa
The black key sounded
Articulate, thoughtful
Expression unbounded
Pianistically phrasing
Multiple components
Sheep and wolves grazing
Thirteen white keys colluded
To drown out the black
Leave it silent, denuded
While blaming the Russians
We steel-string our guitars
Which has repercussions
Dancing the polka dot.communist
Supremacist, white nationalist
Cubist, pugilist, even pianist
Oh wait, there’s more
The pimp from Fox News
Wants top price for their whore
Where is this going?
—Photo by Katy Brown
FREE SPEECH CANTO XXIV
—Michael Ceraolo, S. Euclid, OH
And the shopping center and shopping malls were created
And they soon usurped the place of the central business district
And they were able, with the connivance of the courts, to declare themselves
private at times
And thus they were able to discard some public functions when it suited them,
especially as regards free speech (with rare, very rare, exceptions)
And so the law (again with a few exceptions) upheld the ability to shape-shift
from public to private in order to censor free speech
And thus discourse is diminished
__________________
Today’s LittleNip(s):
RED FACES
—Gertrude Stein
Red flags the reason for pretty flags.
And ribbons.
Ribbons of flags
And wearing material
Reason for wearing material.
Give pleasure.
Can you give me the regions.
The regions and the land.
The regions and wheels.
All wheels are perfect.
Enthusiasm.
* * *
MANY RED DEVILS RAN FROM MY HEART
—Stephen Crane
Many red devils ran from my heart
And out upon the page,
They were so tiny
The pen could mash them.
And many struggled in the ink.
It was strange
To write in this red muck
Of things from my heart.
* * *
A RED WHEELBARROW
—Jack Spicer
Rest and look at this goddamned wheelbarrow. Whatever
It is. Dogs and crocodiles, sunlamps. Not
For their significance.
For their significant. For being human
The signs escape you. You, who aren't very bright
Are a signal for them. Not,
I mean, the dogs and crocodiles, sunlamps. Not
Their significance.
___________________________
Our thanks to Carl Schwartz (Caschwa) and Michael Ceraolo for today’s lively poetry, some of it trimmed in red, our Seed of the Week! Carl says his wee poem, “The Debt Solution”, is “Medusa’s Guide to Holiday Shopping”. And our thanks, also, to Katy Brown for her photos that celebrate red in nature, and to Charles Mariano for his magnificent jar of buttons, recalling our most recent Seed of the Week (Buttons). It’s great to see that he hasn’t lost his buttons over all these years….
Poetry events in our area begin this evening with Brad Buchanan and Dan Rounds reading at Sac. Poetry Center (plus open mic), 7:30pm. On Wednesday, Poetry Off-the-Shelves takes place in the Placerville library on Fair Lane, 5-7pm. Thursday is an open mic, Winters Out Loud, at Berryessa Gap Wine Tasting on Main St. in Winters, 7-8:30pm.
Next Friday at 5:30pm, El Dorado Arts Council and El Dorado County Library present Taylor Graham, Loch Henson, and Kaitlyn Stahl (plus open mic) at the library in Cameron Park. And Sunday from 1-3pm, Poetry in Placerville presents Jeff Knorr (plus open mic) at Love Birds Coffee and Tea Co. on Broadway in Placerville. Scroll down to the blue column (under the green column at the right) for info about these and other upcoming poetry events in our area—and note that more may be added at the last minute.
—Medusa
—Photo by Katy Brown
Celebrate poetry!
Celebrate poetry!
Photos in this column can be enlarged by clicking on them once,
then click on the X in the top right corner to come back
to Medusa.
