Snake and the Bossa Nova

 

 LSD

—Poetry and Visuals by Smith (Steven B. Smith), Cleveland, OH

 

 

 

LOCOMOTION

Snake didn't offer Eve no apple
no
it was a cup of coffee
hot
black
no sugar
that opened their eyes
and they thought
wow, if this forbidden is this nice
what else is there?
and of course soon came
marijuana
tequila
bossa nova

 

 

 

Flashback

 

SUNTIMES

After midnight alley
of serpentine night
up dances sun

Yellow electric line
across bright blue sky
catches eye

Spring growth
slabs of yellow, white, greens, blue
hope

Sun shines down
on cold-hearted humans
rotting in their gold

Sometimes sun
on eye-closed upturned face
is enough

Sit in sun
suck its go
become autotroph

 

 

 

Before

 

 

VECTOR GRAPHIC

Sun on face
dog on prowl
creeping myrtle licking feet

Too early
I park in alley
count rats

Warm dirt
cold night
fog 

 

 

After

 

 

 

Plants eat sun
animals eat plants
plants eat us
sun eats earth
while reality eats all
then begins again
or ceases
whereupon we either start over
or pick up the pieces

Each day
the light comes later
the leaves lesser
the sky greyer
the temperature lower
the dark longer

 

 

 

Serious Up

 

 

Dirt hides seed
heart holds need
desire grows

Today butterfly
yesterday caterpillar
tomorrow dead

First things first
which hurts worse
life... or birth?

The problem
with people
is people

Let's face it
we're all fucked up
one way or odder

It's always a battle
between the proletariat
and the lariat

Stay in line
or pay the fine
no drifting from the herd

Everyday I make
from wake to sleep to wake
copy? clone? clown?

 

 

 

Magic Mushrooms

 

Beneath the bridge
in still-warm water
fish wait
for the vibration of the coming train
to rattle the old wooden trestle
shaking down the bugs
from the underside
into the water
for dinner

 

 

 

Monkey Business

 

DAMAGE CONTROL

Fight or flight?
Flee or fold?
Fuck or feel?

Feed the lizard
or seed the sky?

Bit of both
correct reply.

 

 

 

Nightstorm

 

 

 

Day gone
exhausted
nothing done
sleep
rise tomorrow
do nothing again

Dogs do
you do
I do
we all do
doo-doo

I've stopped giving a fuck
from now on I charge for them

 

 

 

Dandelion

 

Today’s LittleNip:

Bird treasure
shiny bits
left today
to pay
for yesterday's kindness

—Smith

__________________

Here is Smith, visiting the Kitchen in the middle of June, and, as always, we’re so glad to hear from him! Also as usual, LittleSnake is ambivalent about being cast as the Bad Guy—though he does love the attention. See below for snake with coffee, as well as a Quantumized Smith.

Tonight at 8pm, Poetry Night in Davis presents Brian Dempster and Lucille Lang Day in a short (35 min.) Zoom reading at ucdavisdss.zoom.us/my/andyojones/. (Poetry Night is returning to a Zoom reading due to the current heatwave. Host Andy Jones hopes to return to the John Natsoulas Gallery live readings on July 1 for the Emily Hughes reading.)

__________________

—Medusa

Smith Quantumized
“Feed the lizard/or seed the sky?”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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!

 

 LittleSnake says: When are people going to 

let go of that whole apple thing...?