NEW NORMAL SHADORMA
a retrospective
A shakeup
to our way of life—
spring cleaning
gone extreme:
wash your hands of everything,
breathe your own masked air.
Lockdown has
lasted long enough
for us to
remember
old ways of doing things with
just the things we’ve got.
Folks working
at home, less traffic
on the way
into town,
with luck you’ll find a slot in
the parking garage!
DON’T CALL IT ‘NORMAL’
Flooding there, but catastrophic wildfire here.
Where are snowbird juncos this winter?
I keep one mask for Covid, another mask for smoke.
Where will bees, polar bear, coral reefs go?
And where have the glaciers gone?
Drought and bark beetles turn half the forest brown.
Can our native oaks survive the rising temps?
Bomb cyclone carved a canyon under our fence.
Snow heaped on live-oak, tossed down whole trees.
How many billions of birds have we lost?
INSIDE OUT TRILONNET
He’s brought you blindly to this maze
expecting you to find a way
out of what’s become murky ground.
But each new turn just turns you ‘round
the way you came before. These gray
walls muffled with a foggy haze—
the same old argument, a phrase
that dead-ends. No time for delay—
what possibilities abound!
Remember openings you’ve found
beyond these walls, the wild fields gay
with crystal snowflakes that amaze,
a snowfield with imagined thread
of footprints aimed like arrowhead.
‘HISTORIC STORM’
for two voices
Overnight snow cloaked
the town in sparkling crystal,
the trees in ermine
before they came crashing down
on rooftops, driveways, cars.
We stoke the woodstove,
imagine snowbound, cozy
warm by candlelight.
Be glad you still have power
for charging your devices.
And how beautiful
the snow, it begs a poem
to preserve this day
and the next and the next, till
snow’s trampled gray and slushy. [option 1]
snow buries us in our home. [option 2]
WATCH IT
Take
your pick
of colors
to match your mood
pastel or somber
bands that fasten to your wrist
smooth as skin without a twist
reminding of the
round face counting
each tick of
passing
Time.
WINTER BREAK
The children left their colors bright on stone;
a careless Santa cap by flagpole-round;
a tiny scarecrow girl left quite alone
at edge of frozen grass. And then I found
a garden strawman guarding the unknown—
what’s yet to plant in overwintered ground;
but farther, just outside of classroom 10,
two glass-struck sparrows will not fly again.
Today’s LittleNip:
ANIMAL OF THIS YEAR
for Echo the zoo Tiger
Shall the Tiger (beast
at risk among us humans
for our own mistakes)
now guide us, whose roar echoes
thru bars, down our corridors?
______________________
Thanks to Taylor Graham, we have sharp photos and poems of our Sierra foothills today, including the Shadorma (“New Normal Shadorma”, after our Seed of the Week in the Kitchen, “The New Normal”); a List Poem (“Don't Call It 'Normal’”); a Trilonnet (“Inside Out Trilonnet”); a Renga—try reading it alternating stanzas with someone else (“’Historic Storm’”); a Tanka (“Animal of This Year”); an Arkquain, last week's Form Fiddlers’ Challenge, as well as last week’s MK Ekphrastic Challenge (“Watch It”); and an Ottava Rima (“Winter Break”).
And now it’s time for . . .
FORM FIDDLERS’ FRIDAY!
I have posted this poem from Joseph Nolan to show its interesting rhythm and rhyme pattern. See what I mean:
ASCENDING TO WORTH
—Joseph Nolan, Stockton, CA
Someone
Is offering
Something,
You cannot
Get on Earth.
You have to
Ascend to
The Heavens
To find
What it is
Worth,
In slumber,
Safe from mayhem,
Bound in garments,
Around your girth,
That protect you
From predators,
Who’ve prowled
The world
Since your birth.
* * *
Last Friday, our Fiddler’s Challenge was the Arkquain, and Caschwa (Carl Schwartz) dived/dove into it with both pens. Here are three of them from him:
WHAT DOES REMEMBER MEAN?
—Caschwa, Sacramento, CA
was
laying
out the plans
for a poem
called an Aardvarkquain,
"ant" remember more than that
stopped to pet and stroke the cat
we no longer have:
special ashes
in a box
up on
shelf
A DAY IN THE PARKQUAIN
—Caschwa
so
easy
to support
a worthwhile cause
doing no more than
sitting to take the vaccine
(not consent to film nude scene)
statistically safe
normal outcome
this will save
peoples’
lives
NOAH’S ARKQUAIN
—Caschwa
pair
double
two by two
no private rooms
or cable TV
allergies? you’re on your own
vegan diet, no wishbone
all animals sit
horny, ready
consummate
marriage
vow
Then Carl sent us an Ekphrastic Arkquain Swirl; last week's Ekphrastic Challenge was to respond to this photo:
QUAINT
—Caschwa
my
very
first wristwatch
had a strap band
that pinched my poor skin
oh, what a relief it was
to get that thing off, because
the pain knew no end
better to watch
a wall clock
for the
time
instead
of enduring
such utter pain
so I made the switch
to those expandable straps
that twist and flex, pose no traps
smooth beyond belief!
did that for years
until I
noticed
that
people
now tended
to check their phones
always so ready
with the time and the weather
metropolis or heather
so I tried that, too
no more watch bands
tossed them all
away
done
Finally, here is a Haibun from Carl:
CART BEFORE THE HORSE
—Caschwa
saw a TV commercial for some
wonderful elixir, then they list
all the possible side effects, and
finally, if you still have the capacity
to hear every word they say, they
slip in the disclaimer that you might
be in that group of people who
get sick from their product, and
so you should tell your doctor what
ails you
fortunately, my household’s medical
plan affords us access to professional
medical advice with just a phone call,
so we can check with our doctor in
advance of putting some new-on-the-
market substance in our bodies and
waiting to see if it wants to kill us
and then there’s that LAPD response
team coming to a scene where some
unarmed man needed to be brought
under control, so of course they sent
in officers heavily armed with lethal
force, as if that is the only answer you
need to have to solve any problem,
displaying virtually no equipment,
training, nor intent to try using non-
lethal force before skipping all that
and going straight to discharging guns
in the general direction of the suspect
oh that is OK
just let the harm flow freely,
we’ll fix it later.
____________________
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!
See what you can make of this week’s poetry form, and send it to kathykieth@hotmail.com! (No deadline.) This week's challenge, inspired by Taylor Graham's poem above, "Inside Out Trilonnet":
•••Trilonnet: www.shadowpoetry.com/resources/wip/trilonnet.html
(see Taylor Graham’s example above)
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:
•••Arkquain, Arkquain String, Arkquain Swirl: poetscollective.org/poetryforms (scroll down)
•••Ekphrastic Poem: notesofoak.com/discover-literature/ekphrastic-poetry
•••Haibun: www.writersdigest.com/write-better-poetry/haibun-poems-poetic-form
•••List Poem: clpe.org.uk/poetryline/poeticforms/list-poem
•••Ottava Rima: www.writersdigest.com/write-better-poetry/ottava-rima-poetic-form
•••Renga Chain: www.writersdigest.com/editor-blogs/poetic-asides/renga-poetic-forms
•••Shadorma: www.writersdigest.com/editor-blogs/poetic-asides/poets/shadorma-a-highly-addictive-poetic-form-from-spain
•••Tanka: poets.org/glossary/tanka
•••Trilonnet: www.shadowpoetry.com/resources/wip/trilonnet.html
_____________________
—Medusa
Today's Ekphrastic Challenge!
See what you can make of the above
clicking on them once, then clicking on the x
in the top right corner to come back to Medusa.
