Railroad, Caldor Mills
—Poems and Photos by Taylor Graham,
Placerville, CA
—And then scroll down for
Form Fiddlers’ Friday, with poetry by
Nolcha Fox, Stephen Kingsnorth,
and Joyce Odam
Placerville, CA
—And then scroll down for
Form Fiddlers’ Friday, with poetry by
Nolcha Fox, Stephen Kingsnorth,
and Joyce Odam
SPOOKY
What sickened the old settlers’ trees
so dead leaves fly like ghosts in a blizzard?
Limbs fallen, branchlets and twigs
become kindling and tinder.
Ultimately, trunks stand as bare snags.
Soon, first dew will glisten
the ground covered with woodland litter.
Halloween is months ahead
with its uncanny transformations,
but we blame the trickster
Climate, and deal
with each tree as it fails.
What sickened the old settlers’ trees
so dead leaves fly like ghosts in a blizzard?
Limbs fallen, branchlets and twigs
become kindling and tinder.
Ultimately, trunks stand as bare snags.
Soon, first dew will glisten
the ground covered with woodland litter.
Halloween is months ahead
with its uncanny transformations,
but we blame the trickster
Climate, and deal
with each tree as it fails.
WALKING PARTNER
Endurance is walking the woods trail
littered with crispy liveoak leaf-fall and prickly
star-thistle underfoot—my human partner’s feet
protected by shoes, not bare-skin pads
against August-stickery ground—
and a constant buzz & hum
of bugs bothering my ears & eyes
and most importantly my nose.
But a dog must bear unflinchingly
as guide and protector. And speaking of bear,
I know she saw that great black heap
of scat filled with berries, and I know she
acknowledged it as bear.
Unsure, she looked at me,
brave scout and steadfast guardian,
and I keep leading onward.
Endurance is walking the woods trail
littered with crispy liveoak leaf-fall and prickly
star-thistle underfoot—my human partner’s feet
protected by shoes, not bare-skin pads
against August-stickery ground—
and a constant buzz & hum
of bugs bothering my ears & eyes
and most importantly my nose.
But a dog must bear unflinchingly
as guide and protector. And speaking of bear,
I know she saw that great black heap
of scat filled with berries, and I know she
acknowledged it as bear.
Unsure, she looked at me,
brave scout and steadfast guardian,
and I keep leading onward.
ABANDON
Long ago the track was silenced—
no more railroad songs to sing.
Soon the woods forgot those ballads.
Berries to their brambles cling,
oak trees root as tough as ballast.
Now a jay-bird takes to wing
guiding on, then disappearing
as my dog and I keep stride
by the rails that beckon onward
though right here they must abide.
CHILDREN’S VOICES
A lonely track skirts the schoolyard fence
thru oak woods with no whither nor whence
but deep-dark sense of ever-rootedness
while schoolbooks open a cosmos immense.
MIMULATION
Erythranthe cardinalis
Monkeyflower red as a bleeding heart
hides within giant chain fern,
winking a scarlet tease.
Erythranthe cardinalis
Monkeyflower red as a bleeding heart
hides within giant chain fern,
winking a scarlet tease.
DISTANCE VIEW
Horizon’s a watercolor:
misty blue-gray fading at its gentle ridgeline
into paler feather-gray-blue more angular as it rises
into eroding-sharp of mountain silhouette
fading till it becomes sky.
Horizon’s a watercolor:
misty blue-gray fading at its gentle ridgeline
into paler feather-gray-blue more angular as it rises
into eroding-sharp of mountain silhouette
fading till it becomes sky.
Today’s LittleNip:
AUSPICE IN TIME OF CLIMATE CHANGE
—Taylor Graham
Between RR track
& ranchland, lush poison oak
begins to redden—
could it be a sign, omen,
promise that autumn will come?
AUSPICE IN TIME OF CLIMATE CHANGE
—Taylor Graham
Between RR track
& ranchland, lush poison oak
begins to redden—
could it be a sign, omen,
promise that autumn will come?
___________________
Our thanks to Taylor Graham for today’s poetry and pix! About our recent Seed of the Week, Endurance, she writes, “I guess there's some endurance here. Getting through August is always a matter of endurance.”
Forms TG has used today include a Word-Can (“Spooky”); a Tanka (“Auspice in Time of Climate Change”); a Decannelle (“Abandon”); a Gwawdodyn Byr (“Children's Voices”); and a Kimo (“Mimulation”). The Decannelle and the Gwawdodyn Byr were last week’s Triple-F Challenges.
For info about El Dorado County poetry events, past and future, go to Taylor Graham’s Western Slope El Dorado poetry on Facebook: www.facebook.com/ElDoradoCountyPoetry/. And click on Medusa's UPCOMING NORCAL EVENTS (http://medusaskitchen.blogspot.com/p/wtf.html) for details about future poetry events in the NorCal area—and keep an eye on this link and on the Kitchen for happenings that might pop up during the week.
And now it’s time for…
FORM FIDDLERS’ FRIDAY!
 | |
There’s also a 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 Photo
We received responses to last week’s Ekphrastic photo of the woman at the pier from Nolcha Fox and Stephen Kingsnorth:
LAST BITS
—Nolcha Fox, Buffalo, WY
Her shadow swells
to fill the dock,
to guard her back
from burn.
Soon enough,
the light will wane,
and fall will roar
the brittle leaves
to ground.
She opens arms
to hug the warmth,
what’s left
of summer’s end.
* * *
IN PLAIN SITE
—Stephen Kingsnorth, Coedpoeth, Wrexham, Wales
More halfway scene is sun bleached stage,
with shadow staining darker brown,
then blanched sheet water beneath, top,
light from the upper left, of course.
The interruption, drapery,
some brimful straw to ward off sun,
a frontispiece unseen, assumed,
pair scapulae to finger tips.
No angle at olecranon,
obtuse the purpose laid out, sheer;
slight tilt of head in shoulder rest,
is she awake or shade indeed?
I would more poolside, timber too,
planed, varnished, lying, true to sight,
flat slats for deckhands, straplines cue,
a waisted deep, seep sanded toes.
They’d watched her, breakfast, balcony—
the killer, cereal was nuts—
but quite unmoving and unmoved,
thought ripples, ankle play in cool.
Of our reflection on this site
so leisurely that lulled to sleep?
This platform flawless to her tread,
her feet slid down till touching bed;
there crimson drain pools under bridge,
plays ball but then coagulates.
Until the tec, forensic call,
a body propped, and moored with rope.
Those water rats had breakfast too.
* * *
Joyce Odam has sent us two short forms this week. Here is a Pearlette, complete with her instructions:
Photo Courtesy of Public Domain
FROM MY ALBUM OF THOUGHT
—Joyce Odam, Sacramento, CA
As far as memory’s reach . . .
strolling summer’s moonlit beach
again . . .
~~~
Now in summer’s sad reclaim . . .
nothing, nothing stayed the same . . .
ah, then . . .
(prev. pub. in Brevities, July 2017)
Pearlette:
Syllabic 7, 7, 2
(Can be stanza pattern)
Rhymed: a a x, b b x (etc.)
(“x” equals no rhyme)
Source: Poet’s Choice Magazine
* * *
And this is a Stevenson, also from Joyce:
—Joyce Odam, Sacramento, CA
As far as memory’s reach . . .
strolling summer’s moonlit beach
again . . .
~~~
Now in summer’s sad reclaim . . .
nothing, nothing stayed the same . . .
ah, then . . .
(prev. pub. in Brevities, July 2017)
Pearlette:
Syllabic 7, 7, 2
(Can be stanza pattern)
Rhymed: a a x, b b x (etc.)
(“x” equals no rhyme)
Source: Poet’s Choice Magazine
* * *
And this is a Stevenson, also from Joyce:
.png)
Sketch Courtesy of Public Domain
THE UNNERVING CRY
—Joyce Odam
When you are taken by a cry
in a startled moment then laugh and try
to make of it a lullaby
that lulls a child to sleep—
and it was you—and your mother wept
for all the sorrows she had kept,
though none for you had happened yet—
dream cries go very deep.
(prev. pub. in Brevities, August 2017)
The Stevenson:
Two four-line stanzas, rhyme aaab, cccb
First three lines in tetrameter (4 ft)
Last line of each stanza in trimeter (3 ft)
* * *
And Stephen Kingsnorth has sent us an additional Ekphrastic poem, about which he writes, “[Last Saturday’s] 'Crone' by Ann Wehrman, with photo by Chris Feldman (http://medusaskitchen.blogspot.com/2023/08/puppets-and-puzzles.html), reminded me of a more friendly version…”
—Joyce Odam
When you are taken by a cry
in a startled moment then laugh and try
to make of it a lullaby
that lulls a child to sleep—
and it was you—and your mother wept
for all the sorrows she had kept,
though none for you had happened yet—
dream cries go very deep.
(prev. pub. in Brevities, August 2017)
The Stevenson:
Two four-line stanzas, rhyme aaab, cccb
First three lines in tetrameter (4 ft)
Last line of each stanza in trimeter (3 ft)
* * *
And Stephen Kingsnorth has sent us an additional Ekphrastic poem, about which he writes, “[Last Saturday’s] 'Crone' by Ann Wehrman, with photo by Chris Feldman (http://medusaskitchen.blogspot.com/2023/08/puppets-and-puzzles.html), reminded me of a more friendly version…”
Sketch Courtesy of Public Domain
CRONE
—Stephen Kingsnorth
Creased, old beyond my mother’s age,
she pottered through her sunshine plot,
as I by day, handed to school.
She watered terracotta pots,
urns of clay forever there,
antiquity before her home,
and drawn up long before her birth.
She tramped the spread of pebbles found
beneath, around, surrounding sea,
in open sandals, sockless feet,
bone bunions moulding outer straps.
As cheeky chap I smiled at her,
which she returned from pebbledash,
and as my mother pulled me on,
she knew I knew her ancient rocks
were nurtured by her open shoes,
the gravel seep between her toes,
those stones she carried under arch,
and gravel trapped under her sole.
But hobbling, tending earthenware,
her rare earth insights into care,
Mum’s eyes averted, for the road,
she slipped, a custom through the years,
one cobble from her hand to mine.
We knew that gem was palmed for life,
a precious loan, long weathered, turned,
the world to bear for journeyman.
(prev. pub. by Fresh Words, June 2022)
_____________________
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!
—Stephen Kingsnorth
Creased, old beyond my mother’s age,
she pottered through her sunshine plot,
as I by day, handed to school.
She watered terracotta pots,
urns of clay forever there,
antiquity before her home,
and drawn up long before her birth.
She tramped the spread of pebbles found
beneath, around, surrounding sea,
in open sandals, sockless feet,
bone bunions moulding outer straps.
As cheeky chap I smiled at her,
which she returned from pebbledash,
and as my mother pulled me on,
she knew I knew her ancient rocks
were nurtured by her open shoes,
the gravel seep between her toes,
those stones she carried under arch,
and gravel trapped under her sole.
But hobbling, tending earthenware,
her rare earth insights into care,
Mum’s eyes averted, for the road,
she slipped, a custom through the years,
one cobble from her hand to mine.
We knew that gem was palmed for life,
a precious loan, long weathered, turned,
the world to bear for journeyman.
(prev. pub. by Fresh Words, June 2022)
_____________________
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!
•••Pearlette (Poet’s Choice Magazine/Joyce Odam): 7/7/2; a a x, b b x (etc.) where x is no rhyme
•••AND/OR try the Stevenson:
•••Stevenson: https://poetscollective.org/poetryforms/the-stevenson
•••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 “Picnic”.
____________________
MEDUSA’S FORM FINDER: Links to poetry terms mentioned today:
•••Decannelle: darksideofthemoon583.com/2018/01/26/10-line-poem-challenge-15-decannelle
•••Ekphrastic Poem: notesofoak.com/discover-literature/ekphrastic-poetry
•••Gwawdodyn Byr: https://www.writersdigest.com/poetic-asides/gwawdodyn-byr-poetic-forms
•••Kimo: www.writersdigest.com/write-better-poetry/kimo-poetic-form AND/OR poetscollective.org/poetryforms/kimo
•••Pearlette (Poet’s Choice Magazine/Joyce Odam): 7/7/2; a a x, b b x (etc.) where x is no rhyme
•••Stevenson: https://poetscollective.org/poetryforms/the-stevenson
•••Tanka: poets.org/glossary/tanka
•••Word-Can Poem: putting random words on slips of paper into a can, then drawing out a few and making a poem out of them
____________________
—Medusa
Today's Ekphrastic Challenge!
Make what you can of today's
photo, and send your poetic results to
kathykieth@hotmail.com/. (No deadline.)
* * *
—Photo Courtesy of Public Domain
photo, and send your poetic results to
kathykieth@hotmail.com/. (No deadline.)
* * *
—Photo Courtesy of Public Domain
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’s Glimmer of Hope:
under the house:
freeloading skunk
shows us who’s boss~
clicking on them once, then clicking on the x
in the top right corner to come back to Medusa.
under the house:
freeloading skunk
shows us who’s boss~
