—Poetry and Photos by Taylor Graham, Placerville, CA
VOYAGER
for Roxy
Where do we dream-travel, when dark
holds us fast in sleep? I’ve watched you
in long trajectory—not an arc,
but aimed past dark-thirty, a zone
far beyond anything I’ve known.
I called. You looked back. Then you flew
as if each star became your leaping-stone,
the planet-orbits of our sun
outbursting telescope. A dream.
You traveled past the star-webs spun
of time; extending our short sight
that’s bound by mortal’s dawn and night;
past the heliopause, a seam
among stars unraveling in your flight.
But this is dream. Tonight I’ll wake.
In the dark, might I sense a star
watching with distant eye? Mistake
or vision? Just pure fancy? Eye
of light gathering the on-high
in its design; a door ajar;
a blink. I’ll look again—at endless sky.
(prev. pub. in Tulane Review, 2013)
for Roxy
Where do we dream-travel, when dark
holds us fast in sleep? I’ve watched you
in long trajectory—not an arc,
but aimed past dark-thirty, a zone
far beyond anything I’ve known.
I called. You looked back. Then you flew
as if each star became your leaping-stone,
the planet-orbits of our sun
outbursting telescope. A dream.
You traveled past the star-webs spun
of time; extending our short sight
that’s bound by mortal’s dawn and night;
past the heliopause, a seam
among stars unraveling in your flight.
But this is dream. Tonight I’ll wake.
In the dark, might I sense a star
watching with distant eye? Mistake
or vision? Just pure fancy? Eye
of light gathering the on-high
in its design; a door ajar;
a blink. I’ll look again—at endless sky.
(prev. pub. in Tulane Review, 2013)
MOTHER HEN IN BOOTS
for LCM
You could hear gears ratcheting in her chuckle.
Maybe she didn’t birth search-and-rescue but
if you were good, she named you honorary
angel-of-the-high-lonesome. Ever in wings
of serape, she was taller than numbers ticked
on the wall. To save lives, wildland or urban,
mountain or highrise, she was there on the steps
climbing. And then she just kept right on climbing.
I heard she ascended clear out of earthly
sight. No honorary wings for her. They say
she died with her chin up and her search boots on—
a true mother-angel of the high lonesome.
for LCM
You could hear gears ratcheting in her chuckle.
Maybe she didn’t birth search-and-rescue but
if you were good, she named you honorary
angel-of-the-high-lonesome. Ever in wings
of serape, she was taller than numbers ticked
on the wall. To save lives, wildland or urban,
mountain or highrise, she was there on the steps
climbing. And then she just kept right on climbing.
I heard she ascended clear out of earthly
sight. No honorary wings for her. They say
she died with her chin up and her search boots on—
a true mother-angel of the high lonesome.
AFTER BUYING CUMIN AT WINCO
Earthy brown bitter-sweet aroma
permeates my kitchen. Plastic can't contain it,
the small bag I filled at the bulk dispenser.
It makes itself at home here, heady, warm,
as if just gathered from the burgeoning world
outside my door. I can smell it in the dark.
Dawn’s waiting behind the mountain.
Soon I'll be weed-eating green grasses and
forbs turning brown and flammable.
Earth the mother of herbs and spices, thistle
and ripgut brome. Bitter-sweet secrets.
Earthy brown bitter-sweet aroma
permeates my kitchen. Plastic can't contain it,
the small bag I filled at the bulk dispenser.
It makes itself at home here, heady, warm,
as if just gathered from the burgeoning world
outside my door. I can smell it in the dark.
Dawn’s waiting behind the mountain.
Soon I'll be weed-eating green grasses and
forbs turning brown and flammable.
Earth the mother of herbs and spices, thistle
and ripgut brome. Bitter-sweet secrets.
PROTEST
Lavender iris
lifts one wrinkled fist against
the death of this spring.
Lavender iris
lifts one wrinkled fist against
the death of this spring.
SEISMIC CELLAR
Loki is our guardian, once a mother-dog moving her babes from whelping box to bedroom closet, a much safer den. Who knows what hideous forces in this world? For days she’d search house and garage for ghost-scent of puppies wandered or stolen away. Spayed years ago, now mother-dog attending you—home from hospital—guarding and comforting. The other day suddenly on alert, running room to room, checking every door. What hideous threat she couldn’t pinpoint? Next morning, earthquake on the news: under Tahoe up the mountain; but that was hours after Loki’s frantic scouting, warning—
intense mother-eyes—
and a dog’s keen 7th sense
for trouble coming.
Loki is our guardian, once a mother-dog moving her babes from whelping box to bedroom closet, a much safer den. Who knows what hideous forces in this world? For days she’d search house and garage for ghost-scent of puppies wandered or stolen away. Spayed years ago, now mother-dog attending you—home from hospital—guarding and comforting. The other day suddenly on alert, running room to room, checking every door. What hideous threat she couldn’t pinpoint? Next morning, earthquake on the news: under Tahoe up the mountain; but that was hours after Loki’s frantic scouting, warning—
intense mother-eyes—
and a dog’s keen 7th sense
for trouble coming.
GOODBYE GALAHAD
The great white horse who
grazed and graced my pasture has
gone to greener fields.
He never was mine but still
gazes into memory.
The great white horse who
grazed and graced my pasture has
gone to greener fields.
He never was mine but still
gazes into memory.
Today’s LittleNip:
LADY BEETLE
—Taylor Graham
Ladybug, you’re soon
to be a mother, laying
tiny yellow eggs
which hatch, metamorphose, and
then—aphids, look out!
_____________________
Thanks to Taylor Graham today for her poems and photos, including the scandalous one of ladybugs propagating. Taylor sends us forms to ponder, including, as she says, “various breeds of mothers here [our recent Seed of the Week]”. Her forms include a Canzonetta—last Friday’s Fiddlers’ Challenge— (“Voyager”); Normative Syllabics (“Mother Hen in Boots”); a Haiku (“Protest”); a Haibun (“Seismic Cellar”); and a couple of Tankas (“Lady Beetle” and “Goodbye Galahad”—so sad...).
And now it’s time for…
FORM FIDDLERS’ FRIDAY!
LADY BEETLE
—Taylor Graham
Ladybug, you’re soon
to be a mother, laying
tiny yellow eggs
which hatch, metamorphose, and
then—aphids, look out!
_____________________
Thanks to Taylor Graham today for her poems and photos, including the scandalous one of ladybugs propagating. Taylor sends us forms to ponder, including, as she says, “various breeds of mothers here [our recent Seed of the Week]”. Her forms include a Canzonetta—last Friday’s Fiddlers’ Challenge— (“Voyager”); Normative Syllabics (“Mother Hen in Boots”); a Haiku (“Protest”); a Haibun (“Seismic Cellar”); and a couple of Tankas (“Lady Beetle” and “Goodbye Galahad”—so sad...).
And now it’s time for…
FORM FIDDLERS’ FRIDAY!
TUNA SURPRISE
—Caschwa, Sacramento, CA
what’s the first canned food you think of
that you had to open with a manual device
usually tucked away beneath everything else above
in that busy kitchen drawer full of all but good advice?
it was a camping trip right at home
building biceps using dull-edged blades
caught in the roughage where the buffalo roam
hang that tall chef’s hat with the shovels and spades
no lip on the can, it’s wrong side up
that’s OK, nothing pierced, just flip it over
careful, sharp lid! that’s blood, not catsup
you can’t rely on your four-leaf clover
good job, you got it open at last
improve your technique to get better grades
some don’t get this far and decide to just fast
hang that tall chef’s hat with the shovels and spades
Next, Carl sent us an Amanda’s Pinch:
EDITOR’S DESK
—Caschwa
no one, nobody knows the typos I have seen
social media, including the newspaper
a discipline of proofing failed to reach
I’ve had third graders do better
I’ve had third graders do better
simple words are just not that hard to teach
unlike the blueprints to building a sky scraper
maybe look at your words like your hands, are they clean?
Carl says this last one is “a List poem that started smaller and kind of got away from me”:
THE STORY OF 89
—Caschwa
89 piano with a spare key
189 The atomic number of an element temporarily called Unoctennium
289 Popular small V-8 engine in early Ford Mustangs
389 Idaho Governor signs every bill left on his desk except HB-389, the controversial Moyle property tax bill
489 420+69=489 Smoking a bowl and then doing 69 is 489
789 The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle records the first appearance of Vikings in England
889 Section of the Prohibition on Certain Telecommunications and Video Surveillance Services or Equipment, of the 2019 National Defense Authorization Act which prohibits the Federal Government from obtaining or extending a contract to obtain “any equipment, system, or service that uses covered telecommunications equipment or services as a substantial or essential component of any system, or as critical technology as part of any system.
989 the highest-numbered area code in use in the North American Numbering Plan
1089 the first reverse-divisible number
1189 number of chapters in the Bible
1289 California Penal Code section allowing the Court to increase or reduce the amount of bail, on good cause shown
1389 Battle of Kosovo between Serbian armies led by prince Lazar and Turkish forces of the Ottoman sultan Murad I, which left both leaders killed
1489 Treaty of Frankfurt signed between Maximilian of Austria and King Charles VIII of France
I-589 Application for asylum and for Withholding of Removal
1689 Bill of Rights—An Act Declaring the Rights and Liberties of the Subject and Settling the Succession of the Crown
1789 French Revolution
1889 World’s Fair held in Paris
1989 Tiananmen Square protests
2089 Western U.S. fallen victim to desertification
3089 ancient aliens return to Earth and decide it is no longer worth the bother
__________________
Many thanks to our SnakePals for their brave fiddling! Would you like to be a SnakePal? All you have to do is send poetry—forms or not—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!
__________________
FIDDLERS’ CHALLENGE!
THE STORY OF 89
—Caschwa
89 piano with a spare key
189 The atomic number of an element temporarily called Unoctennium
289 Popular small V-8 engine in early Ford Mustangs
389 Idaho Governor signs every bill left on his desk except HB-389, the controversial Moyle property tax bill
489 420+69=489 Smoking a bowl and then doing 69 is 489
789 The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle records the first appearance of Vikings in England
889 Section of the Prohibition on Certain Telecommunications and Video Surveillance Services or Equipment, of the 2019 National Defense Authorization Act which prohibits the Federal Government from obtaining or extending a contract to obtain “any equipment, system, or service that uses covered telecommunications equipment or services as a substantial or essential component of any system, or as critical technology as part of any system.
989 the highest-numbered area code in use in the North American Numbering Plan
1089 the first reverse-divisible number
1189 number of chapters in the Bible
1289 California Penal Code section allowing the Court to increase or reduce the amount of bail, on good cause shown
1389 Battle of Kosovo between Serbian armies led by prince Lazar and Turkish forces of the Ottoman sultan Murad I, which left both leaders killed
1489 Treaty of Frankfurt signed between Maximilian of Austria and King Charles VIII of France
I-589 Application for asylum and for Withholding of Removal
1689 Bill of Rights—An Act Declaring the Rights and Liberties of the Subject and Settling the Succession of the Crown
1789 French Revolution
1889 World’s Fair held in Paris
1989 Tiananmen Square protests
2089 Western U.S. fallen victim to desertification
3089 ancient aliens return to Earth and decide it is no longer worth the bother
__________________
Many thanks to our SnakePals for their brave fiddling! Would you like to be a SnakePal? All you have to do is send poetry—forms or not—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!
__________________
FIDDLERS’ CHALLENGE!
Epulaeryu: www.shadowpoetry.com/resources/wip/epulaeryu.html
__________________
MEDUSA’S FORM FINDER: Links to poetry forms mentioned today:
•••Amanda’s Pinch: poetscollective.org/poetryforms/amandas-pinch
•••Canzonet, Canzonetta, Canzonetta Prime: poetscollective.org/poetryforms/canzonetta
•••Epulaeryu: www.shadowpoetry.com/resources/wip/epulaeryu.html
•••Haibun: www.writersdigest.com/write-better-poetry/haibun-poems-poetic-form
•••Haiku: www.shadowpoetry.com/resources/haiku/haiku.html
•••List Poem: clpe.org.uk/poetryline/poeticforms/list-poem
•••Normative Syllabics: hellopoetry.com/collection/108/normative-syllabic-free-verse OR lewisturco.typepad.com/poetics/normative-syllabic-verse
•••Tanka: poets.org/glossary/tanka
__________________
—Medusa
—Public Domain Photo Courtesy of
Joseph Nolan, Stockton, CA
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.
clicking on them once, then clicking on the x
in the top right corner to come back to Medusa.
