Devil's Chocolate!

—Photos of Ancil Hoffman Park by Caschwa, Sacramento, CA

SANDCASTLES ON THE STRIPMINE. BEACH
—Kevin Jones, Elk Grove, CA
 
Looked like Castle Black
Or Jabba The Hutt's place,
Never pretty, but
Sturdy.
Till the
Earthmovers
Came.

EARLY MORNING’S BRIEF RESPITE
—Joseph Nolan, Stockton, CA

It seems a shame to waste the morning
When morning is the best part of the day.
It’s coolest then, just in the sixties,
Perfect for walking, running or bicycling.

Its actually refreshing!
Worth getting up for
Worth getting out for
Out of your
Early slumber’s door.

Earliest is best.
It’s coolest, just near dawn.
When streets are nearly empty,
When hardly a soul is stirring,
Or, if stirring, it’s only just their coffee.
They haven’t made their minds up yet
Just how they will make their way
Out into their day.

It’s still cool!
The afternoon has not burned in yet.
It’s nice ‘til ten.
After that, you need the shade.
This is how a summer day is made
In this Central Valley. 

THE SMELL OF STEAM
—Joseph Nolan

I like the smell of steam
Rising in my nostrils
Like an unreal dream
Of spinning, heavenly bodies
Falling through the dark
On fire!

I like the smell of steam
Reminding me that heat and fire
Are the essence of desire
That burn within
And tear without,
That make each other
Scream and shout
And then begin again,
When they get the whim—
And meanwhile
Float along together
On gentle clouds of steam.

__________________

THE WALL STREET BAIL-OUT OF ‘09
—Joseph Nolan
 
We all
Wandered off
Into chambers
Of jade,
Happy with mirth,
Our mischief
Had made,

And made off
With all
We could take,
And acted like
We deserved,
Every
Desperate break,
We got!

But desperate or not,
We deserved
To be shot,

But instead
We were leveraged,
Over our head,

So much later
It would all
Crash down.
Much later,
Much later,
Instead. 

RENUNCIATION
—Joseph Nolan

If you are there,
The world may give
Comfort and some care.

If you are not,
The world might be
Harder than a knot.

Ask yourself
To carry all you’ve got:
How much would you want?

The lighter the load
The more your gentle laughter
Might explode
Into the wind,
Freeing you of karma
And the way you’ve sinned.

__________________

WE’RE ALMOST HERE
—Joseph Nolan

We’re almost here,
But not quite.

We’re almost together,
But not through the night.

We almost feel all right
But not quite.

DOUBLE DARE
—Caschwa

The poet: I’m going to sit right down and write a poem
Poetry: Sorry, we’re closed today, family emergency

The poet: What could possibly be wrong?
Poetry: Arts and Humanities lie mortally wounded

The poet: Who could have done such a thing?
Poetry: One hint—the root of all evil

The poet: Devil’s chocolate! I get what you’re saying
Poetry: You’re not even close

The poet: What can I do to help?
Poetry: If you don’t already know, you’re part of the problem

The poet: No, really, I mean it
Poetry: You are Excalibur, I am the stone, so wait patiently
until the proper hand finds you 

REPEATED REFLECTION
—Caschwa

Well now, doesn’t that
notion just wreak of wisdom
gained by much practice!

or it could be a
kaleidoscope of colors,
a constant, changing

hierarchy of
many biological
classifications

when you find flowers,
do you hunt for all their names
and derivations,

Or do you rather
soak up sights and fragrant smells,
hoping to repeat?

maybe snap a few
color photographs of your
floral bonanza

to awaken your
senses when doing housework
dusting those pictures

_________________

THAT AIN’T HEALTHY
—Caschwa

When the numbers on the Big Board
are trending up, all the public media
parrots sing the chorus that the
economy is healthy.

Balderdash!!

The Big Board only has eyes to see the
gainfully employed and doesn’t take any
notice at all of the painfully unemployed,
homeless, jobless, under employed, too
feeble to work, or working multiple jobs
to still not quite have one’s head above
water, buried by debt

If a big business is owed money, they
can ledger that in Accounts Receivables
to leverage someone else’s debt to get
a loan.  Just try that if you flip burgers and
your boss hasn’t paid you on time

The true measure of the health of our
economy will not be how well the passengers
in a luxury limo are doing, it will be in how
well people who are struggling just to stay
even are doing

A VERY STUDIED ARGUMENT
—Caschwa

1) Prior to speaking or taking action, consider what an opposing party might say about your words or actions
2) Notate anticipated terms or expressions (e.g. harmful, disgusting, offensive, outrageous)
3) Consult thesaurus for a more complete list of similar terms
4) Issue a preliminary argument against the opposing party using all those terms
5) Now speak or act
6) When the opposing party does respond to your words or actions, degrade and dismiss their response as being no more than an echo, and encourage everyone to just move on

“I DON’T EVEN WANT TO KNOW HER NAME”
—Caschwa 
 
A musician friend of mine
dead many years now, had
grown tired of all the pressure
and fuss of relationship baggage
and only wanted some gratification

I am getting to feel that way about
caring for my plants in the back yard
some needing more water
some needing less, some hopeless;
looks like a weed, dare I yank it out?

So quick and easy to just backspace,
correct, or redact on the computer
until the image is suitable

Maybe I am due to replace those
plants with a rock and sculpture
garden, add a Buddha or two to guide
my quiet meditation, to take my mind
off the constant need to upgrade the
(expletive!!!) irrigation system

I could can my bad jokes that were
plucked from the earth when fully ripe
and show them off to my friends on the
Internet as a higher and better use for
Mason jars

___________________

Today’s LittleNip(s):

GATHERING SHADE
—Caschwa

Five o’clock shadows
appear on neck and chin
only silhouettes remain
where workers once had been

* * *

CLEAVAGE
—Joseph Nolan

Is cleavage the gateway to Heaven?
God is everywhere,
So you might find him there,
But don’t stare!

* * *

A SAGE BEHOLDS HIS TOES
—Joseph Nolan

In complete repose,
A sage beholds
His toes.

That’s how
It goes,
When you knows!

____________________

Our thanks to today’s contributors for their comments on the world around us this morning! Poetry in our area begins tonight at 6pm with Poetry in Motion poetry read-around at the Placerville Sr. Center on Spring St. in Placerville, then continues at 7:30pm at Sac. Poetry Center in Sacramento with Chad Sweeney, Judy Halebsky plus open mic.

On Thursday, Poetry Unplugged at Luna’s Cafe and Juice Bar begins at 8pm with Jenny Lynn and Sho Nuf, plus open mic, on 16th St. in Sacramento. At 8:30pm in Old Sac, “The Best of Me” features Terry Moore and guests at Laughs Unlimited, $10 general seating, VIPs $25.

Saturday at 7:30pm, 916 Ink presents Hot Literary Nights, a fundraiser featuring young authors, at 3301 37tth Av., Sac. Tickets $75-$125. 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.

Next Monday, Sept. 2, Sac. Poetry Center will feature the first issue of Transcend: A Literary Magazine. The magazine is still accepting submissions (through this Friday, 8/31) for this first issue (Transcend.Horizons) at transcendlit.com/?fbclid=IwAR3FqKFEk8yDLnyAG4-CxQRwR6raufs9_HtL1-TGkl4AZfcN8lWtDzaLznY/.

Interested in workshops? Find the green box at the right for a listing of local ones which will be held this week and/or later. Or check out Tuesdays (Sept. 3-Oct. 8, 6-8pm) for “Kick-Start Your Creativity”, a generative 6-week writing workshop which will take place at Sac. Poetry Center this Fall, facilitated by Bethanie Humphreys. Reg: $120. Info: app.robly.com/archive?id=e16e1244ca230f8fae21e7a0d5e9eebf&v=true&fbclid=IwAR1lHXUgaKdlwETcJ3bGun3PFWATQTHMvxOnSZj7tPdvpFq7Xs1e_epeRU0/.

—Medusa, celebrating poetry—and the Devil’s Chocolate!

 Saying Good-bye to Summer
—Anonymous

Photos in this column can be enlarged by
clicking on them once, then clicking on the x
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