MISSED STEPS
—Sue Crisp, Shingle Springs, CA
After Medusa’s Kitchen Seed of the Week,
Oct. 13, 2020: “Time Misspent”
When you think of time misspent,
do you think of dance?
Do you ever dream in your dreams
of giving it a chance?
Easier thought about
than done.
It sounds, you know, like
it will be loads of fun.
Tap dance lessons we did,
my two sisters and me.
Practice, practice, we thought,
the steps will come,
you’ll see.
But alas, after two years of lessons
our step-ball-change was a pitiful sight.
Two years of lessons and
we still couldn’t get it right.
Our dance instructor
was a true saint.
But she finally said,
“girls, tap dancers, you ain't”.
She said she couldn’t
take our money anymore,
our progress was nil, and she needed
the space on the dance floor.
Well, yes, it was time misspent,
but that’s just fate.
I’ll try something else
at a later date.
TIME MISSPENT
—Sue Crisp
After Medusa’s Kitchen Seed of the Week,
Oct. 13, 2020: “Time Misspent”
Ninety acres of land and
a dream of crops to come.
Perhaps an overambitious
plan for some.
But this was the plan—
given time,
to take this journey.
Make it mine.
Nature has a way
of being unkind.
Time misspent, only left
with the pictures in my mind.
DOWN IN THE CELLAR
—Sue Crisp
The house is historic,
over one hundred years old.
Idiosyncrasies you can’t envision,
obstacles all if the truth be told.
It boasts a cellar with
heavy wooden door,
rickety steps down
to a cold dirt floor.
Cobwebs, spiders...
it was down there.
Creepy crawlers you felt
sure, were in your hair.
Dark and damp
and incredibly cool,
a single light bulb,
the one helpful tool.
A few wobbly shelves
sit here and there,
an aged wooden pie safe
where a space was once bare.
Doors covered in cloth
from a gunny sack.
The doors slightly crooked
and opened a crack.
For tiny green frogs,
a favorite home place,
with the habit of jumping
up, onto your face.
Sounds kind of scary, oh yes,
yet a great cool space
to store food year-round
in spider-web lace.
Down in the cellar
you kept your eyes out
for any new critters
that may be about.
Going down in the cellar
was always a test.
No matter what the outcome,
having a cellar is the best.
PISTACHIO SHELLS AND FOREFINGERS
—Joseph Nolan, Stockton, CA
My finger was stuck in the shell
When I tried to throw
It into the nearby bowl.
I know it was my forefinger,
With which I do most of my work,
And during the disposal process,
I felt a tiny jerk,
As the shell caught lightly,
For an inst,
Before it dropped to the floor.
NUTS AND SHELLS
—Joseph Nolan
A nut is softer
Than its shell.
That’s how you can tell
It’s what you want to eat,
Soft and chewy,
Sometimes sweet,
Also, how it smells,
Unlike useless shells.
ROUGH DRAFTS AND GENOCIDE
IN SERVICE OF AN EVIL SPANISH KING
—Joseph Nolan
Rough drafts
And un-sent versions
Float around my head.
The scent I
Smell around me
Might be from my head
And not from what
I actually wrote
Or said?
As we sail across vast oceans
In our tiny boats,
We pray for clement weather
To let us drift
Safely and calmly
Into foreign port,
But jackals
Wait for us to dock.
Does anyone
Intuit our meaning,
As we cross the seas
And rather than see us
As arriving Divinities,
Knows we are scorchers and burners,
Murderous, genocidal invaders,
Drunk with lust for gold and silver
And that we’d kill
Anyone, to rob him
In the service
Of our evil Spanish King?
—Public Domain Photo Courtesy of Joseph Nolan
FEAR OF LIGHTNING FROM THE SKY
—Joseph Nolan
We must return to olden times—
Of fear of lightning
From the sky.
When Zeus was angry,
He might get you.
He would not deign to explain
“Why!?!?”
He would not entertain
Any crying or whining
From a villain
Who deserved to die;
Whose death would be rather painless,
As in an instant,
He would fry.
Fry and fry
In the blink of an eye.
Lightning is hotter than sun!
And by this extreme unction
Would villains be undone.
Of course, He was always watching,
From somewhere,
Up on high.
Maybe on top of Olympus,
And a lightning bolt
Was all was required
To make a villain die!
And thus,
Many a villain
Wouldn’t even try
To do his worst-est villainy
For fear of
Lightning from the sky.
RECOVERY FROM PTSD MANTRA-PRAYER
—Joseph Nolan
It’s O.K., now,
What happened is gone.
It won’t come back, anymore.
It’s gone.
You’re O.K., now.
You can relax, now.
Whatever the horror, is gone.
Whatever your utter disgust,
That thing is gone now.
You are safe now.
It won’t come back anymore.
You are safe, now.
Everything is O.K.
(Repeat over and over, perhaps on a string of rosary beads
or mala beads, as many time as needed, until relaxation sets in.)
BELONGING TOGETHER
—Joseph Nolan
Little is
As little was,
Beneath a bright
Blue sky!
Water’s made of rain.
Need I explain?
Beneath the light
From up above,
A rainbow spreads it colors
As a symbol of love—
That we can live together!
One for all,
All for one,
Forever!
What would be
Any better?
Than that we
Could get along
And that we
Would all belong,
Together?
MOUTH WATERING
—Caschwa, Sacramento, CA
there is a cake in the oven
just put there, not hot yet
mixing bowls in the sink
kids outside, playing
TV show recording
there is a cake in the oven
the aroma runs loose
escaping the kitchen
and filling the house
who are those kids?
there is a cake in the oven
it is not your oven
HAIL, HAIL
—Caschwa
our government is
nepotism in action
nominees confirmed
prior to any hearings
it works just like a kingdom
though votes are taken,
positions are assignments
rank and standing count
much more than anything else
it works just like a kingdom
the highest office
is part of the world order
red carpet treatment
fanfare, salutes, and all that
it works just like a kingdom
provincial problems?
instructions will be given
governors obey
or else face consequences
it works just like a kingdom
the experiment
to have a democracy
will then self implode
when power confronts power
it works just like a kingdom
(a Waka poetry form)
BINDING ABDICATION
—Caschwa
(triggered by Jon Wesick’s reference to
binding arbitration in “Thirty Nine Ways to Say
Fuck You”, Medusa’s Kitchen, October 18, 2020)
The United States of America may need to amend its
Constitution once more to better articulate the
requirement that an individual who is elected to the
Office of President, who then dons the robes of
royalty and imposes that scheme on the entire nation,
shall be mandated to immediately and exhaustively
abdicate their royal mount
such gross contradiction of the reasonable expectations
of how our president should behave does not survive
the doctrine of severability, as it is clearly not just one
minor flaw that can be tolerated in the spirit of compromise,
but rather is an act of total destruction of our present
government which exists by consent of the people, and so
it is more analogous to pouring gasoline on the floor of our
own home, and setting it aflame
CONFIRMATION HEARING, DAY ONE
—Caschwa
Just like the slaveholders in ancient Greece
who gathered to create Democracy for their
own benefit, American stakeholders gathered
to hold a Supreme Court nominee up to the light
as if she might be counterfeit currency with all
the right markings in all the right places, just like
the real thing, while the utmost care was taken
to not disclose yea or nay which participants at
the hearing had very strong ties with
(BIG PHARMA, shhh!)
the bull in the china shop, huffing and puffing
as far from impartial as one can get regarding
what substantial changes the Constitution demands
to be made to the Affordable Care Act; no words at
all from the bull, just spine chilling rumbling.
________________________
Today’s LittleNip:
HARD TIMES
—Caschwa
exasperated political leanings bar
intimate liaison between lovers
entrapped in bubbles so distant and far
it creates a huge chasm under the covers
overhead a drone records all as it hovers
(an EIO poetry form, first devised by Carol
Louise Moon)
________________________
Welcome to Sacramento Poetry Day! Addled as I am these days, I almost forgot it, but that would never do. And ancient though I am, I was not on the scene for the first Poetry Day 36 years ago, so I’m going to let Patrick Grizzell tell the story on www.facebook.com/patrick.grizzell/posts/10208638162724506/.
Here in our area, Sac. Poetry Center uses Zoom for weekly readings and workshops. For more info, go to www.sacramentopoetrycenter.com/. Area online poetry events this week include:
•••Mon. 7:15pm: SPC Monday Night Socially Distant Verse online, featuring an open mic (all are welcome to read) . Zoom: us02web.zoom.us/j/7638733462 Meeting ID: 763 873 3462 ("P O E T R E E I N C”); password: spcsdv2020
•••SPC Tuesday night workshop hosted by Danyen Powell. Bring a poem for critique. Contact mostoycoff@gmail.com for availability and Zoom info.
•••Wed., 6pm: MarieWriters workshop (prompts) hosted by Laura Martin: zoom.us/j/671443996
•••Wed., 7:30pm: The Poets’ Theatre of No. Calif. invites you to An Evening of the Blues online. The Poets Theater of Northern California will read blues poetry accompanied by music, including classic poems, as well as their own. Host: Leonard Germinara. Info: us02web.zoom.us/j/87571166836?pwd=OGMyZnJNNnYrbzYwMFNsaGV4eXdSdz09/.
•••Thurs., 6pm (special time): SPC Literary Lecture Series presents New York-based lawyer Ezra Glaser on Richard Klugar's "Simple Justice" and social justice writing leading to Brown v. Board of Education. Info: www.facebook.com/groups/literarylectures/. Meeting room ID: 828 3933 9639.
•••Fri., 4pm: Writing from the Inside Out workshop led by Nick LeForce. Reg. in advance at: zoom.us/meeting/register/upwkde-opjkpnyQECAVBKolY4hKCdl61uA/. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting. (If you have registered before, use the same link.)
•••Fri., 6pm: Laura Martin presents David Iribarne: Poetry and Memories, an evening of David's poetry and memories of our friend who passed away recently from COVID-19. Zoom: us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/upwkde-opjkpnyQECAVBKolY4hKCdl61uA /.
* * *
Also this week:
•••Fri., 7:30pm: Video poetry reading on Facebook by Davis Poet Laureate James Lee Jobe at james-lee-jobe.blogspot.com or youtube.com/jamesleejobe/.
•••For more about El Dorado County poetry events, check Western Slope El Dorado poetry on Facebook: www.facebook.com/ElDoradoCountyPoetry/.
___________________
—Medusa
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