Rumors From The Sea

 

—Poetry by Joyce Odam and Robin Gale Odam,
Sacramento, CA
—Photos by Robin Gale Odam

MORNING’S EAST WINDOW
—Joyce Odam  

on the sill
a crystal cat
throwing frenetic rainbows
everywhere
                           

(prev. pub. in Brevities, February 2020)

__________________                                   

CHOCOLATÉ DE NOIR
—Robin Gale Odam  

The väz of normal flowers,
thoughtfully arranged, and the
dark chocolate nowhere to be seen . . .

The silky melt of rich and deep, just
under the tongue, to hide and keep . . .

The flowers . . . thoughtfully fixed.

                           
(prev. pub. in Brevities, February 2020)

________________

A PITY UPON THE WORLD
—Joyce Odam

i heard a rumor from the sea
today . . . it was lost and worried,
it was turbulent beyond real . . . it
tried to resist but the worlds were bro-
ken, too . . . i worry so . . . when the
waters find balance and there is
nothing below, where will
the waters, and the
swimmers, and
the sea
crea-
tures find
themselves
in such a dream . . . i worry so . . .

 

 

 

 Shadowland

 

 

flocks in shadowland
at the tick of memory
chatter of worry

—Robin Gale Odam


(prev. pub. in Brevities,  January 2020)

__________________

HOMESICKNESS  

—Joyce Odam

the way to hold against sunshine
no matter how real the
passing of hours

old beaks pecking in the rain
not that we have ever lost the sea
we keep the hunger clean                                  


(prev. pub. in Contemporary Quarterly, 1980;
Medusa’s Kitchen, October 9, 2018;

Brevities No. 192, February 2020)

 

 

 

Phantom

 

 

chroma by sunrise
seraphim—a paradigm
phantom in stained glass

interlude of fallen leaves
paragon of memories

—Robin Gale Odam
            

(prev. pub. in Brevities, January 2020)

__________________

FULL MOON IN DARK WATER
—Joyce Odam

This full moon—low enough
to pluck from the reeds
of the small stream
that settles
into evenings
the heavy day
dragging itself down—down—
through the rising reflection
                               

(prev. pub. in Brevities, February 2020)

 

 

 

For the Silence of Compromise

 

 

INSOMNIA XXXIX
—Robin Gale Odam

twilight at the heel of the sky : the deep of
night is just ahead : I would describe this
but I’ve retired the commas & placed the
greater number onto a page of their own—

flecks of interference for the ruin of
time or the holding of the breath or the
clutter of latitude or the pause just before
the casting of the line—

curves of insight for the shiver of
reflection—for the arc of imagination—
for the silence of compromise—for the
glance back at the cue—

I regard the caesura     the deepening
sky     hold the thought
                                

(prev. pub. in Brevities, February 2020)

 

 

 

 The Difference-of-Where

 

 

THE SMALL GREEN TREE
—Joyce Odam

Where will I go when I leave the
small green tree . . . when summer
is over and I am gone to another

difference-of-where . . . it told me so
much about green, and a tree, so much
about green and the tree when the winds

were angry with woe and . . . this is where
I would go, when my moods were far away,
or too near—I sought the tree because it gave

me wisdom, so much wisdom and I will not
be named “green tree” as it calls itself “itself”
—as I did when watching the tree. 

 

 

 

 Silver to the Troll

 

Today’s LittleNip:

for the faint of heart
now the garden gate is locked
silver to the troll

—Robin Gale Odam


(prev. pub. in Brevities, January 2020)

__________________

The Odams, Joyce and Robin Gale, are bringing us phantoms and worried waters today in the dark imagery of their poetry. We are most grateful for these weekly conversations between them!

Our new Seed of the Week is “Sunflowers”. Send your poems, photos & artwork about this (or any other) subject to kathykieth@hotmail.com. No deadline on SOWs, though, and for a peek at our past ones, click on “Calliope’s Closet”, the link at the top of this column, for plenty of others to choose from. And see every Form Fiddlers’ Friday for poetry form challenges, including those of the Ekphrastic type.

__________________

—Medusa

 

 

 

 Flocks From Shadowland

—Photo Courtesy of Public Domain









 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Poets and Writers Workshop
takes place at the Cameron Park Library
tonight, 5:30pm.
For more about this and other
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.

 

LittleSnake's Glimmer of Hope:
narrow bathroom shelf:
I’ve got all my
ducks in a row~