Shadows & Snakes

 

—Poetry by Julie A. Dickson, Exeter, NH
—Public Domain Photos Courtesy of
Julie Dickson

 

 

SNAKES
 
Her braided hair
snakes entwined
I’ve seen her before
tattooed on many
 
Do they choose her
to fend off suitors,
love-immune, that
closed-off heart?
 
Stay away you,
lest I turn you to stone
and soon you’ll be cold
as my wounded heart
 
hand extended
a warning to any 

brave to come near,
yet it is I who fear you.

 

 

 

 

Does a babe
 
swaddled tight
in a burnt-out house
lie in wait
 
for its mother
to rouse from sleep
not knowing
 
death
has torn through
their village
 
her cries
too weak to be heard
over gunfire
 
mortar blasts
like the one that destroyed
the roof
 
moonlit sky
illuminates mother’s still face
she cries
 
eyes closed shut
against bursts of light,
acrid smoke
 
exhausted
she sleeps near the corpse
that will never wake

 

 

 

 

CIRCLES
 
Sun eclipses pasture,
dark shadows the field,
covers livestock grazing;
none stop to gaze up.
 
Arial view, celestial crop
circles mingle, crisscrossed
lines delineate cart paths,
plow marks like scratches.
 
Rows of bright yellow,
whether tulips or daffodils,
loaded wagons to market
run between cow corn carts
 
headed to silo conveyor—
wheat sways, gentle rustle
symphony of fragrant farm
adds to late summer song.

___________________

Tonight’s LittleNip:

Concentrate on what you want to say to yourself and your friends. Follow your inner moonlight; don’t hide the madness. You say what you want to say when you don’t care who’e listening.

 

—Allen Ginsberg

___________________

—Medusa, with thanks to Julie Dickson for stopping by with today’s fine poetry and photos!

 

 

 

Medusa discovers she has a grey hair!

 

 

 

 

 

A reminder that
Amatoria Fine Art Books presents
Oswaldo Vargas, Miqo Anang, & Patrick Grizzell
plus open mic tonight, in Sacramento,

5:30pm; and Mahogany Urban Poetry 

meets tonight in Sacramento, 7pm.
For more info about these and other
future 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—
and keep an eye on this link and on
the daily Kitchen for happenings
that might pop up
—or get changed!—
 during the week.

Photos in this column can be enlarged by
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Find previous four-or-so posts by scrolling down
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Would you like to be a SnakePal?
Guidelines are at the top of this page
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send poetry and/or photos and artwork
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work from all over the world—including
that which was previously published—
and collaborations are welcome.
Just remember:
the snakes of Medusa are always hungry—
for poetry, of course!