Loki Meditating
—Poetry and Photos by Taylor Graham,
Placerville, CA
—And then scroll down for
Form Fiddlers’ Friday!!
EXPLAINING DEATH TO MY DOG
Loki responds to complete sentences.
Her eyes tell me she understands almost every-
thing. She was there when her puppy’s spirit
flew away. Her brief howling wail.
Loki keeps returning there, waiting for him.
Even the necropsy didn’t understand;
nothing wrong, but he was dead.
Maybe it’s crazy to try to explain to a dog,
but she has eyes of ancient tragedy.
She knows of earth’s bone-hoard, and the joyous
headlong dash for first-light. I tell her,
her pup has gone where lost things are found
and broken things made whole. I tell her,
we all go there to find each other.
She’s good at finding. She can follow a single
scent-trail across traffic and weather,
it’s her favorite game. I explain, his spirit
flew up into wind and sky. Her dark eyes answer.
Eyes deep as a well where village women
gather to mourn their losses.
(prev. pub. in Quiet Rooms)
Loki responds to complete sentences.
Her eyes tell me she understands almost every-
thing. She was there when her puppy’s spirit
flew away. Her brief howling wail.
Loki keeps returning there, waiting for him.
Even the necropsy didn’t understand;
nothing wrong, but he was dead.
Maybe it’s crazy to try to explain to a dog,
but she has eyes of ancient tragedy.
She knows of earth’s bone-hoard, and the joyous
headlong dash for first-light. I tell her,
her pup has gone where lost things are found
and broken things made whole. I tell her,
we all go there to find each other.
She’s good at finding. She can follow a single
scent-trail across traffic and weather,
it’s her favorite game. I explain, his spirit
flew up into wind and sky. Her dark eyes answer.
Eyes deep as a well where village women
gather to mourn their losses.
(prev. pub. in Quiet Rooms)
FRIENDS BY MAGIC
A great live oak—four stout trunks
a living sawhorse of many facets, angles
of approach for turning slash-pile branches
of a brother oak to next winter’s firewood.
Am I a magician? My little chainsaw
cuts as I perform a slo-mo dance to find
the right position for each idiosyncratic
branching in a tangle of dead tree.
May it come to life again in our woodstove.
I’m getting tired; but here’s the small
stack of firewood I’ve cut. Time for a break.
My shadow points west—at a neighbor’s
field. The horse that graced this canyon
a spring ago is back! Galahad,
great white horse to bear a knight in armor.
And his sidekick Moonface the pinto pony.
(Their “real” names are less magical,
but what does an owner know?) White
horse-coat glistens in slant of morning sun.
THROUGH WINTER GLASS
Not
a cloud
last night but
I woke to white
fields before dawn—it’s
the Full Cold Moon-light’s snow.
_________________
COLD MOON NIGHT
A full-moon night in a sky of stars, on a field of crystal flakes—
how could it have snowed overnight without a single storm cloud?
Field and pasture, swale and edge of woods are snowed with moonlight.
Mural by Oak Ridge High School students
for Int’l Human Rights Day
for Int’l Human Rights Day
INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS DAY
Placerville Town Hall, 12/10/22
We gather here
for your rights and mine
for his and hers
for all humankind—
the gifts of life.
All these humans
torn apart by who
can say
what? now
as a mural—so
many colors!
LIGHTBULB EKPHRASTIC
Invent the light bulb, illumine it in-
side and out with bright colors cold and hot.
Surrounding room’s reflected in its glow.
If I examine its fine filaments,
don’t they recall a transmission tower
that could capture a plane in flight too low?
*
Our worldly progress comes to us wholesale,
but each of us gets in trouble retail.
COWBOY-BOOGIE & BOOMER THE LAMB
This game they play, the dog and lamb,
no bullying ”you are” “I am.”
The mother ewe is in dismay—
the dog and lamb, this game they play.
The dog begs chase with waving stick.
Mom Ewe is certain it’s a trick
to lure her babe from her safe place.
With waving stick the dog begs chase.
And off they go, a catch-me-not.
It is a mother’s worry-lot,
the dog’s pied-piper horror show,
a catch-me-not. And off they go.
THREE FRIENDS’ DILEMMA
Loki
(“man’s best
friend”) and I
(friend of dog and
cat) and Latches (do
cats have friends?) in odd
triangle on dog’s cedar
bed. Cat has claw stuck in fabric,
paw twisted; emitting angry cat-
calls while dog stands over, trying to be
helpful which cat does not trust. I try to
disengage catclaw while shooing dog
away—without getting scratched. At
last it works. Three friends safely
untriangulated
from cedar bed, no
cat-screams, and all
is well, friends
restored.
Peace.
Today’s LittleNip:
DECEMBER FOR-GET-ME-NOTS
—Taylor Graham
At Last
The summer’s done,
the rain’s begun.
Make the Best of It
Cold-gray and fog,
let’s walk with dog.
______________________________
Our thanks to Taylor Graham for her poetry and photos today! It’s always bittersweet to talk about the loss of friends, canine or otherwise. And yes, we’re starting to have some “weather” here in California, thankfully!
Here are forms TG has used today: Stepping Stones (“Through Winter Glass”); a Sijo ("Cold Moon Night"); a Double Etheree (“Three Friends' Dilemma”); Blank Verse/Medusa's Ekphrastic last week (“Lightbulb Ekphrastic”); a For-Get-Me-Not, a Triple-F Challenge (“December For-Get-Me-Nots”); a Swap Quatrain, a recent challenge (“Cowboy-Boogie & Boomer the Lamb”); and the Hautt, another challenge from last week (“International Human Rights Day”).
Speaking of which, TG has a poem today about the International Human Rights Day celebration which took place in Placerville last Saturday, as well as a photo of the mural that was done by Oak Ridge High School students for the occasion. For more about that, and for more info about El Dorado County poetry events, go to Western Slope El Dorado poetry on Facebook: www.facebook.com/ElDoradoCountyPoetry/, and/or see El Dorado County Poet Laureate Lara Gularte’s Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/groups/382234029968077/. Poetry is gold in El Dorado County—and everywhere else, too!
And don’t forget tonight’s Zoom reading from El Gigante: An Evening with Juan Delgado, 7pm, at cccconfer.zoom.us/j/9348057923/.
And now it’s time for . . .
Form Fiddlers' Friday!
Here are forms TG has used today: Stepping Stones (“Through Winter Glass”); a Sijo ("Cold Moon Night"); a Double Etheree (“Three Friends' Dilemma”); Blank Verse/Medusa's Ekphrastic last week (“Lightbulb Ekphrastic”); a For-Get-Me-Not, a Triple-F Challenge (“December For-Get-Me-Nots”); a Swap Quatrain, a recent challenge (“Cowboy-Boogie & Boomer the Lamb”); and the Hautt, another challenge from last week (“International Human Rights Day”).
Speaking of which, TG has a poem today about the International Human Rights Day celebration which took place in Placerville last Saturday, as well as a photo of the mural that was done by Oak Ridge High School students for the occasion. For more about that, and for more info about El Dorado County poetry events, go to Western Slope El Dorado poetry on Facebook: www.facebook.com/ElDoradoCountyPoetry/, and/or see El Dorado County Poet Laureate Lara Gularte’s Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/groups/382234029968077/. Poetry is gold in El Dorado County—and everywhere else, too!
And don’t forget tonight’s Zoom reading from El Gigante: An Evening with Juan Delgado, 7pm, at cccconfer.zoom.us/j/9348057923/.
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 challenges. Whaddaya got to lose… If you send ‘em, I’ll post ‘em! (See Medusa’s Form Finder at the end of this post for resources and for links to poetry terms used in today’s post.)
There’s also a newly dusted-off page at the top of Medusa’s Kitchen called, “FORMS! OMG!!!” which expresses some of my (take ‘em or leave 'em) opinions about the use of forms in poetry writing, as well as listing some more resources to help you navigate through Form Quicksand. Got any more resources to add to our list? Send them to kathykieth@hotmail.com for the benefit of all man/woman/poetkind!
Last Week’s Ekphrastic Challenge
In addition to Taylor Graham’s Ekphrastic poem [above], Caschwa (Carl Schwartz), Nolcha Fox, and Stephen Kingsnorth sent responses to last week’s photo. I thought this might be a hard one, but their responses were astoundingly varied:
AMBIENT ENERGY
—Caschwa, Sacramento, CA
Proposals advanced
to unplug the Constitution
from the torch of liberty
that shines light on our laws,
which is fine.
With the Second Amendment
off the books, we might finally
make some real headway on
gun control.
Oh, wait! They wanted to
keep the Second Amendment
but discard the rest? That
ship will never sail.
* * *
Bulbous eyes
and tiny size
brain, you sit
on the road,
too dim to
see that car.
—Nolcha Fox, Buffalo, WY
* * *
CLEAR OR PEARL?
—Stephen Kingsnorth, Coedpoeth, Wrexham, Wales
No glow, but magic lantern show,
both see-through and reflective glass.
I stare, gloss workbench and a lamp
(another bulb, less I mistake),
a woman sat, right hand, blade neck,
with mirror-image, table laid.
In essence, curvature in place—
think wormhole, black hole, rabbit hole,
a wonderland but physics-tooled,
from filament to firmament—
or if you so prefer, trompe l’oeil—
a crystal ball of fantasy,
imagination’s holy space.
I turn to Archimedes’ screw,
heuristic moment in the bath,
displaced and raised in one fell swoop,
the flood of logic that ensued.
So much is scene, when doubletake,
that second look, trained pupils’ strain,
academy of heart and mind.
Though science fiction genre bores
(Space Odyssey, exception made,
for complement of music pleased),
both quantum and infinity
are somehow linked in followed rules.
What’s clear is pearl, if we but see.
* * *
BULBS
—Stephen Kingsnorth
Now Edison, he understood—
in bulbs the future was contained.
Unpromising as storage looked—
‘nothing will ever come of it’
refrain that smothered all he did,
initiatives in schools of thought,
laboratories, though gardens knew.
That latent energy dismissed,
yet growing glow of filament,
bright from a dull grey coil of cold,
life springing, global warmth inspired,
attracting flutter round that core.
Near stamen gold, empowering source,
see vivify when visits fly,
and light is shone in darkened place
by power of blooming colour hex.
We never thought to see such waves
from dullest earth and barren ground;
but that is where most make mistake—
there is no dull or barren mind,
just secret buried underground.
Hear humming birds and sounding bees
hovering near the sepal crown,
though rooted in that dirty brown;
so placing bulbs, electric, corm.
assumed but dullards, fruitless born,
shows how Edison understood.
* * *
One of last week’s Triple-F Challenges was the Hautt, and here is Carl’s response, one fit for the season:
ALL GIFT, NO MAGI
—Caschwa
someone left a
poem on my porch
forlorn
struggling
will add it to my
fine collection
* * *
Another challenge was the Cromorna, and here is one from Carl:
—Caschwa
someone left a
poem on my porch
forlorn
struggling
will add it to my
fine collection
* * *
Another challenge was the Cromorna, and here is one from Carl:
STRANGE VIBES
—Caschwa
the heebie-jeebies
confound us
semaphore, Sea-bees
around us
confusions create
tremendous
forces incarnate
until dust
do us part, they say
stupendous
predator and prey
befriend us
* * *
And another challenge was the For-Get-Me-Not; Carl is calling his a Whatchamacallit-Me-Not chain:
A TOAST
—Caschwa
it’s work to be
on faculty
but even so
it ain’t much dough
most all you face
you can’t erase
just educate
then celebrate
* * *
Here is a List Poem from Carl:
IT’S A TADI TADI WORLD
—Caschwa
“They’re All Doing It” underlies foundational imperfections in our more perfect union. And because it is so ubiquitous, few dare to step up and call it out, and risk incriminating themselves or their families.
· Faith leaders molesting children
· Safety officials looking the other way
· Mob enforcers displacing local authority
· Police making excessive force the norm
· Politicians taking bribes
· Anything Trump
· Runaway racial bias
· Runaway sexual bias
· Runaway immigrant bias
· Falsifying tax liabilities
· Gatekeepers leaving the gate open
· More examples than you can shake a stick at
* * *
One of the benefits of trying out different poetry forms is that you may discover one that you really like, one that often seems to fit what you’re trying to say. Claire Baker does love the tidy Cinquain; here is one of hers for the winter:
—Caschwa
“They’re All Doing It” underlies foundational imperfections in our more perfect union. And because it is so ubiquitous, few dare to step up and call it out, and risk incriminating themselves or their families.
· Faith leaders molesting children
· Safety officials looking the other way
· Mob enforcers displacing local authority
· Police making excessive force the norm
· Politicians taking bribes
· Anything Trump
· Runaway racial bias
· Runaway sexual bias
· Runaway immigrant bias
· Falsifying tax liabilities
· Gatekeepers leaving the gate open
· More examples than you can shake a stick at
* * *
One of the benefits of trying out different poetry forms is that you may discover one that you really like, one that often seems to fit what you’re trying to say. Claire Baker does love the tidy Cinquain; here is one of hers for the winter:
SHIVERING CINQUAIN
—Claire J. Baker, Pinole, CA
Mark Twain,
you never touched
anything colder in
California than a winter
lap top.
* * *
Nolcha Fox has created a Monoku series, a chain of one-line poems falling into the Haiku family; each one paints a picture. But be careful—creating them can become addictive!
ten monoku were trapped together in an elevator
i’ll be fired if i’m late to work again, is this bagel tuesday
how long have we been in here, we’re running out of air
i hope nobody sees the stain on my jacket
what is that noise, are we falling
i hope i get home before the babysitter leaves
my phone is almost dead, no games for me
that guy is pretty cute, i wonder if he’s married
i really need another cup of coffee and a bathroom
is there a bar and a stiff martini at the end of this ride
i want my mommy, now
—Nolcha Fox
* * *
And finally, an Ars Poetica from Stephen Kingsnorth, this one a play on the word and concept of copyright:
COPYWRIGHT
—Stephen Kingsnorth
How could I copyright this verse?
My poem, which I thought
I wrote and owned,
transmogrifies.
Now poetry owning me, maybe others,
seeing words I did not see,
touring the magical mystery
of unknown ways,
with pages leading conversation,
turns and twists, paths not taken,
unintended consequences.
How could I copyright this verse?
Emancipation from my rule,
chains lie fractured, freedom claimed;
when lay pen the sheep run free,
the dog at heels snap-driving me.
All I do is copy write.
When sound is heard or word is seen,
even muffled clapper swings,
appeal is made and rings my thoughts
and en garde, fencing, parry, lunge,
breaks the stakes, and pickets lift.
Straying terms are held in check,
format what cannot be held,
rhythms beat when not desired,
heart-throb from the pulsing mind.
All I hope for, though rarely am,
is sometime copywright who sings.
___________________
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!
___________________
TRIPLE-F CHALLENGES!
AND/OR try the Baccresiezé from Viola Berg’s book, Pathways for the Poet. It's amazingly complicated, and the second example doesn’t even match the template. But, oh well, give it a shot if you want. Think of it as a puzzle:
•••Baccresiezé: www.poetrymagnumopus.com/topic/1882-syllabic-forms-found-in-pathways-for-the-poet/#veltanelle
AND/OR in the same resource, scroll down to a form that is in tercets, the Kerf:
•••Kerf: www.poetrymagnumopus.com/topic/1882-syllabic-forms-found-in-pathways-for-the-poet/#veltanelle
AND/OR another tercet form, the Logo- (not Lego-) lift:
•••Logolift: www.poetrymagnumopus.com/topic/1882-syllabic-forms-found-in-pathways-for-the-poet/#veltanelle
AND/OR take a shot at the Monoku, like Nolcha Fox did (above):
•••Monoku: https://www.waleshaikujournal.com/post/monoku
•••See also the bottom of this post for another challenge, this one an Ekphrastic Photo.
•••And don’t forget each Tuesday’s Seed of the Week! This week it’s “Lighting Up The Darkness”.
____________________
MEDUSA’S FORM FINDER: Links to poetry terms mentioned today:
•••Ars Poetica: www.poetryfoundation.org/learn/glossary-terms/ars-poetica
•••Baccresiezé: www.poetrymagnumopus.com/topic/1882-syllabic-forms-found-in-pathways-for-the-poet/#veltanelle
•••Blank Verse: literarydevices.net/blank-verse AND/OR www.masterclass.com/articles/poetry-101-what-is-the-difference-between-blank-verse-and-free-verse#quiz-0
•••Cinquain: poets.org/glossary/cinquain AND/OR www.poewar.com/poetry-in-forms-series-cinquain/. See www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/adelaide-crapsey for info about its inventor, Adelaide Crapsey.
•••Cromorna: www.poetrymagnumopus.com/topic/1882-syllabic-forms-found-in-pathways-for-the-poet/#veltanelle
•••Ekphrastic Poem: notesofoak.com/discover-literature/ekphrastic-poetry
•••Etheree: www.thepoetsgarret.com/2008Challenge/form22.html
•••For-Get-Me-Not: www.poetrymagnumopus.com/topic/1882-syllabic-forms-found-in-pathways-for-the-poet/#veltanelle
•••Haiku: www.shadowpoetry.com/resources/haiku/haiku.html
•••Hautt: www.poetrymagnumopus.com/topic/1882-syllabic-forms-found-in-pathways-for-the-poet/#veltanelle
•••Kerf: www.poetrymagnumopus.com/topic/1882-syllabic-forms-found-in-pathways-for-the-poet/#veltanelle
•••List Poem: clpe.org.uk/poetryline/poeticforms/list-poem
•••Logolift: www.poetrymagnumopus.com/topic/1882-syllabic-forms-found-in-pathways-for-the-poet/#veltanelle
•••Monoku: https://www.waleshaikujournal.com/post/monoku
•••Sijo: www.writersdigest.com/whats-new/sijo-poetic-form
•••Kerf: www.poetrymagnumopus.com/topic/1882-syllabic-forms-found-in-pathways-for-the-poet/#veltanelle
•••List Poem: clpe.org.uk/poetryline/poeticforms/list-poem
•••Logolift: www.poetrymagnumopus.com/topic/1882-syllabic-forms-found-in-pathways-for-the-poet/#veltanelle
•••Monoku: https://www.waleshaikujournal.com/post/monoku
•••Sijo: www.writersdigest.com/whats-new/sijo-poetic-form
•••Swap Quatrain: http://www.shadowpoetry.com/resources/wip/swapquatrain.html
For more about meter, see:
•••www.studiobinder.com/blog/what-is-iambic-pentameter-definition-literature
•••www.pandorapost.com/2021/05/examples-of-iambic-pentameter-tetrameter-and-trimeter-in-poetry.html
•••nosweatshakespeare.com/sonnets/iambic-pentameter
•••www.thoughtco.com/introducing-iambic-pentameter-2985082
•••www.nfi.edu/iambic-pentameter
____________________
For more about meter, see:
•••www.studiobinder.com/blog/what-is-iambic-pentameter-definition-literature
•••www.pandorapost.com/2021/05/examples-of-iambic-pentameter-tetrameter-and-trimeter-in-poetry.html
•••nosweatshakespeare.com/sonnets/iambic-pentameter
•••www.thoughtco.com/introducing-iambic-pentameter-2985082
•••www.nfi.edu/iambic-pentameter
____________________
—Medusa
See what you can make of the above
photo, and send your poetic results to
kathykieth@hotmail.com/. (No deadline.)
***
—Photo Courtesy of Public Domain
For upcoming poetry happenings in
Northern California and otherwheres,
click on
UPCOMING NORCAL EVENTS
(http://medusaskitchen.blogspot.com/p/wtf.html)
in the links at the top of this page.
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.
Northern California and otherwheres,
click on
UPCOMING NORCAL EVENTS
(http://medusaskitchen.blogspot.com/p/wtf.html)
in the links at the top of this page.
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.
