Nature's Promise

 

 Loki Listens for Raven

—Poetry and Photos by Taylor Graham, Placerville, CA

—And scroll down for Form Fiddlers’ Friday!!

 

 

 

FRAZZLE OF PAST, PRESENT
Golden Shovel on “All Of My Fathers” by Kurt Luchs

Four months since fire swept through, the
forest we roamed decades ago deader,
you’d say, than the moon. A
landscape in black and gray. Father
Liveoak at edge of canyon is
gone to old age or flames, the
ground underfoot is ash. No more.

We listen for Raven. Is he
gone? Loki finds scat—some creature lives
here. New green rising from inside
of fire-dozer berm. These signs—for us.

 

 

 

 

 

TOME   

Among ash and char,
just one man-made souvenir—
looks like a book splayed
open, gone silver through flame.
Dead. I turn a page,
it rings metallic. What is
the script, what secret message?

 

 

 

 

 

RETURN AFTER FIRE

        Caldor Road, Eldorado NF

These side roads I don’t
recognize—dozed to fight flames,
or I’ve just been blind.

Bear clover, thousands
of black spikes riddling the ground—
yes, it’ll be back.

Just ourselves in this
moonscape phasing toward rebirth,
green pushing through ash.

Back at the car, I
brush off frazzled cedar sprays—
memento or a promise?

Fawn crosses the road—no—2,
3 leaping to their future.

 

 

 

 

 

ON CUTTING OF THE TREES
Golden Shovel on Charlotte Mew’s “The Trees Are Down”

I’ve driven this road before without seeing it:
a blue pond. That stringer of trees obscuring—is
it thinner now? Who has cut or trimmed, not
reckoning how leaves give up fading green for
the colors they hid all summer, a
treasure they’re giving back—at this moment
between Fall and Winter—to the
tree. How long until Spring
strikes its balance of daylight, which is
Nature’s promise? Have chainsaws now unmade
our pact with earth? A blue pond, today.

 

 

 

WHITE HORSE

He’s appeared again
without being summoned,
as if called by fresh winter grass.

He reaches across
fence that would contain him,
white in midst of dark.

He could carry a knight to battle,
but he stands quiet as peace
in an empty field.

He bears the logic of myth,
of legend and fairytale—
as if horse were born of words.

 

 

 

 

 

BEYOND PAVEMENT

I drive the freeway rushing by
those oaks unmoving under sky.
Like speechless sentinels they stand
and keep their secrets to themselves—
a lore of worms and owls and elves,
such magic I don’t understand.
And I, pressed into traffic rush,
can only long to share the hush
of oak trees cradled by the land.

 

 

 

 

Today’s LittleNip:

SO YOUNG
—Taylor Graham

Her head says zigzag
bat-flight and brightest lightning
while her hands grip tight
the rungs of ground-bound ladder
aiming, like her soles, onward.

________________________

Taylor Graham has sent us a Christmas package of poetry and photos today, celebrating tiny signs of return after the Caldor fire. And the return of Galahad!—her neighbor’s white horse in shining armor who seems to come around whenever he is needed, bringing the bright light that is good cheer.

Speaking of bringing back the light, tonight (Sat. 12/18), 6-7:30pm: Poetry Art Walk in Placerville presents “Bringing Back the Light” open mic for WInter’s Solstice, 2021 at Toogood Cellars, 304 Main St., Placerville.

Taylor's poems are in some forms this week, including two Golden Shovels (“Frazzle of Past, Present”; “On Cutting of the Trees”); a Haiku Sonnet (“Return after Fire”); a Choka (“Tome”); a Triversen (“White Horse”), and an Ekphrastic Tanka on last week’s Ekphrastic challenge (“So Young”); and a Nove Otto (“Beyond Pavement”).

And now it’s time for . . .

FORM FIDDLERS’ FRIDAY!   

It’s time for more contributions from Form Fiddlers, in addition to those sent to us by Taylor Graham! Each Friday, there will be poems posted here from our readers using forms—either ones which were sent to Medusa during the previous week, or whatever else floats through the Kitchen and the perpetually stoned mind of Medusa. If these instructions are vague, it's because they're meant to be. Just fiddle around with some forms and get them posted in the Kitchen, by golly! (See Medusa’s Form Finder at the end of this post for resources and for links to poetry terms used today.) 

 

 

 

 

This week, Claire Baker has sent us what she calls “the reliable 2-4-6-8-2 Cinquain”. Some forms are very cozy:


COSMIC RAIN !
—Claire J. Baker, Pinole, CA

Raindrops
nearly all dried
on my kitchen window,
the last droplets forming night’s Big
Dipper.

__________________

Carol Eve Ford has sent us three Pleiades from chilly Alaska, along with her stunning photos:

 

 

 

Ice Web
—Photo by Carol Eve Ford

 

 

SURFACES
—Carol Eve Ford, Kenai, AK

Shards of ice pop and scatter,
spin into darkness on all
sides of our crunching boot steps.
Shattered glass, broken china.
Silence, otherwise. Clear sky.
Subzero moon, white and flat.
Stars like frozen fireworks.

 

 

 

Arctic Moonlight (with bad camera)
—Photo by Carol Eve Ford

 

METAMESSAGE
—Carol Eve Ford       

Moonlight at forty below
makes life two-dimensional,
mathematical, black and white,
metallic—light, or not-light,
monochromatic, brittle,
monotonously extreme.
Meaning ceases to exist.

 

 

 

Lunar Eclipse 2021
—Photo by Carol Eve Ford

 

 

MISCONCEPTIONS

Midwinter sky, plain and bright,
motionless, sharp edges.                    .
Moon halts us in her headlight.           
Mesmerized, we watch our shadow       
move across her blazing face,           
mute her cold impassive light.  
Magically, she’s umber. Orb.

__________________

We had some challenges last week, including the Nove Otto. Taylor Graham sent responses to them (see above), and here are two Nove Ottos from Caschwa (Carl Schwartz):


WE GOT THE GOOD STUFF
—Caschwa, Sacramento, CA

finest booze to ever meet lips
nicest guns to wear on your hips
cigarettes that make you look cool
drugs to give you beautiful highs
clothing that is just your right size
pickup truck, best all in one tool
we have the ways, you have the means
access to all teller machines
atomic weapons, highest rule

* * *

MY, HOW FAST YOU’VE GROWN
—Caschwa

we live in window envelopes
our secrets are exposed to dopes
who utterly lack discretion
transparent text from A to Z
no limousine with privacy
an open forum psych session
our world is judgment strict and stern
we’re not allowed to feel the burn
or have even one obsession 

 

 

 

Last week's Ekphrastic Challenge

 

Our other challenge was an Ekphrastic one (above), about which Stephen Kingsnorth of Wales wrote: “I like the girl on the tarmac—but as we [here in Great Britain] call Band-aids 'plasters', I'm sticking to it—and I wouldn't want to give Johnson & Johnson free advertising anyway!” “Sticking" to it, Stephen? Really?


LIKE A CHILD
—Stephen Kingsnorth, Coedpoeth, Wrexham, Wales, UK

So many youngsters have the will
to mend the world, look after it,
because it’s there and ‘cos it’s hurt—
stick plasters on to emphasise
real injury, and healing touch.

It’s sad when most have grown a bit,
that globe is left to fend itself,
for wealth has more appeal than earth;
some even view as blessing, God—
though one, nowhere to lay his head.

In Ireland, craic good fellowship,
in concrete, maybe mafia,
or fissures where the earthquakes rage,
through tarmac, wear, age, weather splits;
but who can bridge where folk divide?

There is the parting in her hair,
a pattern crowning how we live,
though jagged, left, right combover;
perhaps a sign of what we need—
it takes two soles to unify. 

 

 

 

 

Here is Caschwa’s response to the challenge:

LIFE SENTENCE
—Caschwa

oh, those wonderful days of childhood when
one could sustain falls, cuts and scrapes
learning to ride a bicycle, and just get right
back up and keep on going, embracing the
challenges of steep hills and tricky turns

until one’s hopes and dreams are permanently
erased by brutal, atrocious, criminal acts, and
then our so-called justice system that used to
be responsive to the wishes of the people now
follows the corporate model where all remedies

to all problems are expressed in dollars and
cents, and the corporate entity, itself, avoids the
human learning curve of spending time in jail to
modify, correct, and rehabilitate its criminal
persuasions

 

 

 

 

 

And an equally lively response from Joseph Nolan:

HEALING CRACKED CONCRETE
—Joseph Nolan, Stockton, CA

How to heal
Cracked concrete
Underneath your feet?

Stitch with band-aids
In a row,
And hope they won’t
Let go?

Hoping, alone,
Won’t make it so,
But little girls
Can dream of
Concrete healing,
Just like
The rest of the world.

__________________

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!  

We had Cinquains from Claire Baker today; now see what you can make of this week’s poetry form, and send it to kathykieth@hotmail.com! (No deadline.) This week's challenge:

•••Oddquain (and variations): www.shadowpoetry.com/resources/wip/oddquain.html

And see the bottom of this post for another challenge, this one an Ekphrastic one!

__________________

MEDUSA’S FORM FINDER: Links to poetry terms mentioned today:

•••Ekphrastic Poem: notesofoak.com/discover-literature/ekphrastic-poetry
•••Choka: poetscollective.org/poetryforms/choka OR poetscollective.org/poetryforms/choka
•••Cinquain: poets.org/glossary/cinquain OR www.poewar.com/poetry-in-forms-series-cinquain./ See www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/adelaide-crapsey for info about its inventor, Adelaide Crapsey.
•••Golden Shovel: www.writersdigest.com/write-better-poetry/golden-shovel-poetic-form
•••Haiku Sonnet (four Haiku followed by two lines of seven syllables each): www.writersdigest.com/whats-new/haiku-sonnet-poetic-form
•••Nove Otto: www.shadowpoetry.com/resources/wip/noveotto.html
•••Oddquain (and variations): www.shadowpoetry.com/resources/wip/oddquain.html
•••Pleiades: www.shadowpoetry.com/resources/wip/pleiades.html
•••Tanka: poets.org/glossary/tanka
•••Triversen: www.writersdigest.com/write-better-poetry/triversen-poetic-form

__________________

—Medusa

 

 

 

Galahad
—Photo by Taylor Graham

Today's Ekphrastic Challenge! 

See what you can make of the above


photo, and send your poem to 

kathykieth@hotmail.com/. (No deadline.)


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.

 

 

LittleSnake says Insert Poem Here