The Snakes Imitate Congress
—Public Domain Cartoon
—Poetry by Ann Privateer, Caschwa (Carl Schwartz),
Michelle Kunert, Joseph Nolan
GOODBYE YEAR
—Ann Privateer, Davis, CA
To a year that taught me
To slow down, stay put
Work from home
No tears shed
The sky became bluer
Few people drove cars
And beneath our masks
We smiled at each other
Humbled by being
All living in the same boat
We stayed in our pajamas
For days, no place to go
Cars were transformed
Lined up to wait
For food, or a flu shot
Nasal testing, the works
Some want to go
Back to the old normal
Others say you can't
Change moves on.
—Ann Privateer, Davis, CA
To a year that taught me
To slow down, stay put
Work from home
No tears shed
The sky became bluer
Few people drove cars
And beneath our masks
We smiled at each other
Humbled by being
All living in the same boat
We stayed in our pajamas
For days, no place to go
Cars were transformed
Lined up to wait
For food, or a flu shot
Nasal testing, the works
Some want to go
Back to the old normal
Others say you can't
Change moves on.
—Photo by Ann Privateer
WORDS
—Ann Privateer
Rain down
Hang around
Enshrined
Around her
Until thunder
Silences them.
—Photo by Ann Privateer
TO BE
—Ann Privateer
Decompositional
Interpretational
A princess of
Perturbance
Realism forgives
The unforgivable.
—Ann Privateer
Decompositional
Interpretational
A princess of
Perturbance
Realism forgives
The unforgivable.
—Photo by Ann Privateer
CARTE BLANCHE
—Caschwa, Sacramento, CA
I called a cab to pick me up at the fair
and take me all the way to over
somewhere else
the driver used English like I’d never spoken
heartily apologized his meter was
out of whack
but when I told him my intended destination,
he was able to respond with no
abeyance
I agreed to the charges he computed zip zip
and when later we parted, I handed him a nice
gratuity
—Public Domain Photos of 1918 Flu Epidemic
Courtesy of Michelle Kunert, Sacramento, CACALL BEFORE YOU DIG
—Caschwa
(adapted from a “Kinder Morgan Cares
About Your Safety” pamphlet)
before you dig into poetic verse for any
reason, contact your local poet laureate
at least two or three working days before
starting the dig to have underground
metrical accents and sensitive figures of
speech identified
Know the Signs of a Leak:
· Dead expressions
· Hissing or roaring sound
· strong or mild fragrant odor
If A Leak Occurs:
· leave the area immediately and
warn others to stay away
· do not turn on a TV or smart phone,
or share on any social media devices
which may cause an explosion or fire
· once you are a safe distance away
from the potential leak, contact your
local poet laureate
· do not allow your reading to dig into an
area where you suspect typos, grammatical
guffaws, waxing oratory, or jumbled iambs
· avoid making contact with computer
keyboards, as potential hazards may
include eye, skin, respiratory, and
intellectual irritation, and the product
may be highly flammable
these measures demonstrate our commitment to safe
poetry, and our dedication to the communities where
we sometimes forget to throw out bad work. please
share this with any and all members of your family tree,
and have a safe dig
—Caschwa
(adapted from a “Kinder Morgan Cares
About Your Safety” pamphlet)
before you dig into poetic verse for any
reason, contact your local poet laureate
at least two or three working days before
starting the dig to have underground
metrical accents and sensitive figures of
speech identified
Know the Signs of a Leak:
· Dead expressions
· Hissing or roaring sound
· strong or mild fragrant odor
If A Leak Occurs:
· leave the area immediately and
warn others to stay away
· do not turn on a TV or smart phone,
or share on any social media devices
which may cause an explosion or fire
· once you are a safe distance away
from the potential leak, contact your
local poet laureate
· do not allow your reading to dig into an
area where you suspect typos, grammatical
guffaws, waxing oratory, or jumbled iambs
· avoid making contact with computer
keyboards, as potential hazards may
include eye, skin, respiratory, and
intellectual irritation, and the product
may be highly flammable
these measures demonstrate our commitment to safe
poetry, and our dedication to the communities where
we sometimes forget to throw out bad work. please
share this with any and all members of your family tree,
and have a safe dig
Pistol Packin' Granny
—Public Domain Photo Courtesy of James Nolan
MUTANT GRAMMAR
—Caschwa
one must consider oth, then other,
then othest
in order to holst a pistol in a holster
the holstest
and to shoot at the shooter
with a shootest
wise as a hoot from a hooter
that is hootest
awake on the roost near a rooster
who is roostest
sore from the cank of the canker,
the cankest
dare not spank the proud spanker
in their spankest
celebrate je, even jer,
all in jest
—Caschwa
one must consider oth, then other,
then othest
in order to holst a pistol in a holster
the holstest
and to shoot at the shooter
with a shootest
wise as a hoot from a hooter
that is hootest
awake on the roost near a rooster
who is roostest
sore from the cank of the canker,
the cankest
dare not spank the proud spanker
in their spankest
celebrate je, even jer,
all in jest
—Public Domain Photo Courtesy of Michelle Kunert
ANTHOLOGY OF NO APOLOGY
—Caschwa
left light on for several years
no remorse, or bucket of tears
total footloose and fancy free
hello to low watt LED
all of us make mistakes each day
some are large, for which we must pay
most are minor, soon forgotten
except by elves, mean and rotten
hickory dickory doctor
lessons were taught by a proctor
distance learning ready to go
before pandemic forced it so
placed an order, wasn’t done yet
added coupons to lower debt
a box will arrive at my door,
I won’t have to visit the store
jelly jar serves as water glass
that fancy stemware we can pass
our DVR and freezer hold
action shows hot and ice cream cold
—Public Domain Photo Courtesy of Michelle Kunert
THREE POEMS
—Michelle Kunert, Sacramento, CA
This December, the Sacramento Audubon Society reinstated their stand against feeding feral and stray cats in designated wildlife areas, such as at the American River Parkway. They claim on their website that cats kill 2.4 billion birds annually, and they call cats a "non-native species”, as if they were some horrible abomination that is leading to the extinction of native birds, rather than human beings themselves abusing the environment. It also doesn't point out any organizations that support "Trap, Neuter, and Release (TNR)" for humanely managing "colonies" of feral cats. They warn us to keep dogs on leashes, but, however, do not point out that feral cats do not cause the same health dangers to humans that free-roaming dogs do—for instance, cats do not come up and bite people. Audubon's stand is still, apparently, that feral cats should be trapped to be euthanized, rather than respectfully allowed to live out their lives. If it were up to me, I would take Italy's stand on free-roaming cats, in which such cats are actually legally protected by the government, as well as maintained by paying veterinarians to do TNR to help control their populations, along with being well adored.
—Michelle Kunert, Sacramento, CA
This December, the Sacramento Audubon Society reinstated their stand against feeding feral and stray cats in designated wildlife areas, such as at the American River Parkway. They claim on their website that cats kill 2.4 billion birds annually, and they call cats a "non-native species”, as if they were some horrible abomination that is leading to the extinction of native birds, rather than human beings themselves abusing the environment. It also doesn't point out any organizations that support "Trap, Neuter, and Release (TNR)" for humanely managing "colonies" of feral cats. They warn us to keep dogs on leashes, but, however, do not point out that feral cats do not cause the same health dangers to humans that free-roaming dogs do—for instance, cats do not come up and bite people. Audubon's stand is still, apparently, that feral cats should be trapped to be euthanized, rather than respectfully allowed to live out their lives. If it were up to me, I would take Italy's stand on free-roaming cats, in which such cats are actually legally protected by the government, as well as maintained by paying veterinarians to do TNR to help control their populations, along with being well adored.
—Public Domain Photo Courtesy of Michelle Kunert
I was asked by a young man at work what I thought of the French- produced Netflix show called "Cuties”, which features scantily dressed pre-adolescent girls who do "sexy dancing”. I told him I've signed online petitions from both feminist and Christian groups to pull the show off Netflix, agreeing that it is like child pornography in that it sexualizes minor pre-teen girls. Feminists, as well as fundamentalist Christians, can agree in their opposition to the exploitation of minor girls for "sex trafficking". I did, however, remark that, if it was instead about middle-aged or older women who choose to do "sexy dancing", I might actually be supportive of it, especially in a culture that is obsessed with making only young girls mere "sexual objects". It makes me also think of a “Saturday Night Live” skit from years ago, joking that France's sex workers are called "Old French Whores”, suggesting that they are independent workers who are old, instead of young girls being pimped or trafficked. I think that a program titled, “Old French Whores" would be a very funny and witty program, with the characters having a wide variety of weird adventures.
—Public Domain Photo Courtesy of Michelle Kunert
Playground equipment, which has been strewn with yellow caution tape and declared “Closed" by health officials during this Covid pandemic, is being put in use again as "safe". However, I want potentially liable and dangerous playground equipment removed and replaced with community garden plots. Frankly, I wish I could get activists to build community gardens in parks as well as schools—organizations such as Alice Waters and her organizations, Chez Panisse Foundation and Edible Schoolyards—to help do the same in Sacramento as has been done in the BayArea. For years now, I’ve been in favor of play equipment replaced with gardens, especially considering I remember when I was a student at Mariemont Elementary School, and kids got hurt on the play equipment. This not only happened to me, but I and other kids also apparently got infected with pin worms from exposure to the contaminated sand around the play equipment. I figure if children have to learn to wash their hands from being outdoors, it might as well be from growing their own food, plus some to spare to share with their communities.
—Public Domain Photo Courtesy of Michelle Kunert
LUNCH IN AN ENGLISH COUNTRY GARDEN
—Joseph Nolan, Stockton, CA
It’s all right,
But I just noticed,
The thief of time had passed,
Past my precious garden
In brief-time of repast,
As I sat, eating something—
Lunch,
With those whom I hold dear,
When I heard a herd of horses’ hooves
Slaughtering the dust of
A country road.
“Tell me, are you weary,
From your heavy load?”
I asked the center-horse,
To which, to me, he blustered,
Through horse’s mouth’s thick lips,
“Of course, of course, of course!”
And I knew not,
What to do,
To alleviate their pain,
So I bought a ticket southward,
Down to the Kingdom of Spain.
—Public Domain Photo Courtesy of Joseph Nolan
MACHINERY AND IMPERFECTIONS
—Joseph Nolan
Little imprecisions
Can make a machine fail
Grinding off rough edges,
Wrong measurements,
And trail
Off the correct pathways,
Down mountainsides
To rail,
Absent, correcting mercies,
As machines,
In their own paths, sail!
Humming and whirring, as
Mechanical parts will do,
Burning and spinning,
Which is why
You should not do
Anything around them
When you have been drinking.
Horse on a Horse
—Public Domain Photo Courtesy of Joseph Nolan
THE KING AND HIS BROODING MARES
—Joseph Nolan
The king must have his pleasure
And the kingdom have an heir.
Which woman heirs may come from
Is a matter of little care,
As long as blood
Has come from blood,
Down and through the line,
From our ancient kings of yore,
All kings, brave and strong,
As the king might love
A dozen breeding-women,
As his brooding mares,
No-one should stare.
—Joseph Nolan
The king must have his pleasure
And the kingdom have an heir.
Which woman heirs may come from
Is a matter of little care,
As long as blood
Has come from blood,
Down and through the line,
From our ancient kings of yore,
All kings, brave and strong,
As the king might love
A dozen breeding-women,
As his brooding mares,
No-one should stare.
—Public Domain Photo Courtesy of Joseph Nolan
SUPERNOVA UNTO DARKNESS
—Joseph Nolan
Though you are a bright star, now,
As bright as we might see,
A burning supernova,
Soon a back-hole you will be,
Sucking-in
Pale moons.
We’ve seen this sort of thing before
And it is not uncommon.
There is one,
Such as you,
At that heart of every galaxy,
They say.
Be that as it may,
Billions of other stars
Will hope they keep their distance
From one, such as you,
Who’s collapsed
Into itself,
So darkly!
Even light shall not evade your grasp,
But be drawn in,
To no-one yet knows where,
To disappear,
Into the center
Of your darkest being.
—Public Domain Photo Courtesy of Joseph Nolan
PLAGUE ABOARD SHIP
—Joseph Nolan
What does it gain
The world,
As a whole,
To devour the innocent
And swallow their souls?
The plague
Came aboard our ship
On a Sunday afternoon.
Several of our shipmates
All fell ill all at once.
The Captain ordered
The healthy to assemble on-deck
And draw lots to walk the plank.
One-tenth of the lots were short,
And signaled who would die.
Death by decimation, he called it,
And deemed it necessary to prevent
The rampant spread of the plague
Which might otherwise kill us all!
He explained that the closer we were
In proximity to each other,
The more rapid would be the spread,
And since we were all
Aboard ship together,
The only way we had
Any chance of staying alive
Was to thin out the herd.
It went on like this,
From day to day,
As our ranks were all thinned out,
And thankfully,
By these means,
There were, at last,
Several survivors,
When we pulled into port
And disembarked.
What does it gain
The world,
As a whole,
To devour the innocent
And swallow their souls?
_____________________
Today’s LittleNip:
What does it gain
The world,
As a whole,
To devour the innocent
And swallow their souls?
—Joseph Nolan
_____________________
A shiny new New Year’s thank-you to today’s industrious contributors, sending us all these poems and photos to share around the Kitchen Table!
Tonight, starting at 7:15pm, Sac. Poetry Center presents Socially Distant Verse with Natachi Mez and J Rowe online at Zoom: us04web.zoom.us/j/7638733462 Facebook info: www.facebook.com/events/388390338934939
Michelle Kunert sends us some links to the US’s Youth Poet Laureate Amanda Gorman:
•••www.amandascgorman.com
•••www.cbsnews.com/news/amanda-gorman-youth-poet-laureate-coronavirus-pandemic
•••youtu.be/uuA0mF27raI
Michelle also sent us today’s photos of the 1918 flu epidemic in this country. She remarks that it’s “interesting to find out the Mutter Museum in Philadelphia started two exhibits about 'pandemics' in 2019, before it was known that a COVID-19 pandemic was coming!” CNN is also showing a documentary on the 1918 epidemic that describes how similar that event was to the current pandemic.—especially politically!
Here are some more links:
•••muttermuseum.org/exhibitions/going-viral-behind-the-scenes-at-a-medical-museum
•••muttermuseum.org/exhibitions/going-viral-infection-through-the-ages
•••www.thoughtco.com/1918-spanish-flu-pandemic-pictures-4122588
Thanks, Michelle!
____________________
—Medusa
—Public Domain Cartoon
Photos in this column can be enlarged by
clicking on them once, then clicking on the x
in the top right corner to come back to Medusa.
Would you like to be a SnakePal?
All you have to do is send poetry and/or
photos and artwork to
kathykieth@hotmail.com. We post
work from all over the world, including
that which was previously-published.
Just remember:
the snakes of Medusa are always hungry—
for poetry, of course!
clicking on them once, then clicking on the x
in the top right corner to come back to Medusa.
Would you like to be a SnakePal?
All you have to do is send poetry and/or
photos and artwork to
kathykieth@hotmail.com. We post
work from all over the world, including
that which was previously-published.
Just remember:
the snakes of Medusa are always hungry—
for poetry, of course!
