Yearnings and Mysteries

 —Poetry and Photos by Taylor Graham,
Placerville, CA
—And then scroll down for
Form Fiddlers’ Friday, with poetry by
Joe Nolan, Stephen Kingsnorth,
Nolcha Fox, and Caschwa 

JOY OF THE TRAIL

Joy is
walking the trail
in a light rain—my dog
leading, the creek singing,
and one happy
bullfrog.

 

 

 

JOURNEYER’S BALLADE

The trail’s in shadow up ahead,
the railroad track silvered with sun,
could there be something here to dread,
shadows who thru the woodland run?
bear or cougar on hunt for deer,
tangled warnings in thicket caught
down ages, mankind’s living fear?
sun and shadow weaving the thought.

 

 

 

BLUE ON GRAY

this gray-drizzle day
a triptych of blue herons
in our bird-blessed field

 

 

 

LOVE AMONG THE FUNGI

one golden mushroom
rising from a winter field—

this one soft as skin
variegated as flesh-tones—

this one’s called the Deceiver
I can’t tell you why

this one looks like dark chocolate
Valentine candy?

the yearnings of underground
mysteries I dare not touch

 

 

 

DRESS CODE?

Is this life just its sum
of pains? Oh, how they thrum
the catchword: must wear these heels—
to work all day? She thinks
of how the sunlight slinks
to dark from its workday deals.
These iron arches lurk
longer than eight hours’ work
until each tortured foot heals.

 

 

 

 
 

STORM OVER SCHOOLYARD

whirligigs spinning
as the wind picks up, this is
rainbow jubilee

at tip of bare oak
Crow repeats 4-notes—warning?
into growing storm

tethered to post by
one leg, scarecrow flaps in wind,
loose arm waving Help!

windchime Hummingbird
lies grounded lest the wind blow
her far far away

what is the Corvid’s message
on this day consigned to sky?

____________________

Today’s LittleNip:

LOVE OF ITS LIFE
—Taylor Graham

An old, narrow street—
ancient oak died years ago,
its ivy still twines.

____________________

Misty or even rainy, Taylor Graham and her dog, Loki, continue to walk the foothills, churning up wonderful images and poetry for us every week and checking out what Raven has to say. Forms TG has used this week include two Haiku (“Love of Its Life”; “Blue on Gray”); a Haiku Sonnet (“Storm Over Schoolyard”); a Dividita (“Love Among the Fungi”); a Badger's Hexastitch (“Joy of the Trail”); a Balassi Stanza that is also an Ekphrastic poem based on last week’s Ekphrastic Challenge [see below] (“Dress Code?”); and a Ballade Stanza (“Journeyer's Ballade”). The Balassi and the Ballade Stanza were last week’s Triple-F Challenges.

This week in El Dorado County, Poetry in Motion has been cancelled this Monday due to Presidents’ Day. For news about El Dorado County poetry—past (photos!) and future—see Taylor Graham’s Western Slope El Dorado on Facebook at www.facebook.com/ElDoradoCountyPoetry or see Lara Gularte’s Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/groups/382234029968077/. (Poetry is Gold in El Dorado County!) And of course you can always 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 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 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

This week we received responses to last week’s Ekphrastic photo from Joe Nolan, Stephen Kingsnorth, and Nolcha Fox, all about stilettos. Or is it stiletti?


STILETTOS
—Joe Nolan, Stockton, CA

It’s all about curves and beauty,
Black leather, white skin, sharp heels,
Spiky, jabbing stilettos
To remind you who’s boss
When we go out dancing
And after
Have a toss?

* * *

BARRED, BARED, SCARRED, SCARED;
—Stephen Kingsnorth, Coedpoeth, Wrexham, Wales

Behind bars propped—not serving drinks—
think prohibition speakeasies—
is this where mafiosi rule?
Sicilian, Stiletto styled,
as if nail torture is afoot,
sharp pointy tool for making holes,
toe curling pain to wrack sole soul,
with shiv, pick, spike, spine shiver drill?
How roll out bail if goal for gaol?

Flamingo Club, one standing leg,
for hoary men who crawl the kerbs,
snubbed, stubbed by weight of evidence,
heel trapped, while flesh and bone build up,
as dawn, after long night wait drawn.
She’s unprotected out on street,
despite the clout he holds inside.

Though elegant on counter shelf,
as black as jet-slick, oily hair,
oh now to sit, flick heels in air;
when kick boxing is self-aware,
it sees so meta-tarsal termed—
these foot-bound-Chinese-women shoes.

Bare knuckles thrust to toebox, vamp,
from topline, heel breast, top piece shank,
knot in the wood, plank slits a threat,
here’s pock-marked timber where she’s walked,
sense cat on hot tin roof maybe,
this jailed bird serving time again.

* * *

Nolcha Fox writes that “the best I could do today was a Haiku. Or maybe it's a nearku or a fauxku”. Falsie-ku?

What I enjoy most
about stiletto heels
is taking them off.

—Nolcha Fox, Buffalo, WY

* * *

Caschwa (Carl Schwartz) has also taken liberties with the Haiku; I suppose this could also be called an Ars Poetica:

 

 

 

 HORSEPLAY
—Caschwa, Sacramento, CA

my typewriter is
so old, it has a horse drawn
carriage return bar

* * *

And an Ars Poetica from Stephen Kingsnorth:

 

 

 

THE AGONIST
—Stephen Kingsnorth

Now turn the common into gold,
by panning, undermining earth,
and tapping veins from older seams,
our waste, the soil, left detritus?
How métamorphose from the norms,
the lingua franca into bold
storms of passion, lava flow,
a pyroclastic river, fire.
Can we shift orbit of the eye,
from cold bone hole to solar ring
that sees and learns, as pupils should,
the global whole beyond just I?
As tears are lost in fall of rain,
unique crystals in blizzard drive—
surrounded by a treasure trove
but scene as rust, deep buried junk,
till minimal is magnified,
our focal length right justified.
And there, shut flat in oyster clamp,
or even, pilgrim, scallop shell
is due reward for journey, dive,
a pearl more trampled under foot.
Where is that agonist, the key?

___________________

Many thanks to today’s writers for their lively contributions! Wouldn’t you like to join them? 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!

 

See what you can make of these challenges, and send your results to kathykieth@hotmail.com/. (No deadline.) Check out the Bina, a quickie when you’re in a hurry:

•••Bina: https://poetscollective.org/poetryforms/bina

•••AND/OR in honor of Lent and in recognition that we all need blessings by the bushel, try the Benison:

•••Benison: https://poetscollective.org/poetryforms/bennison

•••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 “One Day At School”.

____________________

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

•••Ars Poetica: www.poetryfoundation.org/learn/glossary-terms/ars-poetica
•••Badger’s Hexastitch: https://poetscollective.org/poetryforms/badgers-hexastitch
•••Balassi Stanza: https://poetscollective.org/poetryforms/balassi-stanza
•••Benison: https://poetscollective.org/poetryforms/bennison
•••Bina: https://poetscollective.org/poetryforms/bina
•••Dividita (Steve Brisendine—Esperanto for "divided," because it's based on the 5-7-5-7-7 Tanka form, doubled and then divided into couplets): Ten lines, 5-7 5-7 7-5 7-5 7-7. Only proper nouns and "I" are capitalized in either title or text, the whole thing must be an unbroken sentence, and there is no closing punctuation.
•••Ekphrastic Poem: notesofoak.com/discover-literature/ekphrastic-poetry 
•••Haiku: www.shadowpoetry.com/resources/haiku/haiku.html
•••Haiku Sonnet (four Haiku followed by two lines of seven syllables each): www.writersdigest.com/whats-new/haiku-sonnet-poetic-form
•••Normative Syllabics: hellopoetry.com/collection/108/normative-syllabic-free-verse AND/OR lewisturco.typepad.com/poetics/normative-syllabic-verse

___________________

—Medusa

 

 

 

 When you flip your flivver~

 Today's Ekphrastic Challenge!
 
 
 Make what you can of today's
photo, and send your poetic results to
kathykieth@hotmail.com/. (No deadline.)

* * *

—Public Domain Photo



















 
 
 

NorCal Poet Molly Fisk and others 

will be reading online today
from the Dear Human anthology
as part of the Soul Bone Literary Festival.

For info about this and other
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.

Find previous four-or-so posts by scrolling down
under today; or there's an "Older Posts" button
at the bottom of this column; or find previous poets
by typing the name of the poet or poem
 into the little beige box at the top
left-hand side of today’s post; or go to
Medusa’s Rapsheet at the bottom of
the blue column at the right
 to find the date you want.