—Photo by Shiva Neupane
* * *
—Poetry by Devyanshi Neupane, Nolcha Fox,
Stephen Kingsnorth, Joe Nolan,
Claire J. Baker, and Caschwa
—Public Domain Visuals Courtesy of
Shiva Neupane, Nolcha Fox, Joe Nolan,
* * *
—Poetry by Devyanshi Neupane, Nolcha Fox,
Stephen Kingsnorth, Joe Nolan,
Claire J. Baker, and Caschwa
—Public Domain Visuals Courtesy of
Shiva Neupane, Nolcha Fox, Joe Nolan,
Medusa, and Victor Kennedy
KINDERGARTEN
—Devyanshi Neupane (Age 5),
Melbourne, Australia
I finished
Kindergarten.
Now,
I’m going to school.
—Devyanshi Neupane (Age 5),
Melbourne, Australia
I finished
Kindergarten.
Now,
I’m going to school.
—Illustration Courtesy of Nolcha Fox
WEATHERING THE WEATHER
—Nolcha Fox, Buffalo, WY
The weather is a box with locks,
no keys to pry the puzzle clean.
The box devours the hours,
no pledges made or kept.
Although we do our best
to guess intentions, that black
box ignores our divinations.
We think we can control the box
with forecasts, but it’s the box
controlling how we live and die.
—Public Domain Photo Courtesy of Joe Nolan
ELEMENTAL
—Stephen Kingsnorth, Coedpoeth, Wrexham, Wales
Olduvai gorge, where clan thought born—
our story worn on strata screen—
here’s grinding, overlap, abut,
tectonic plates rejecting stack,
so quaking shifts crust’s calm above
with chasms, mounts, uprisings, falls.
Volcano valves spew spouts of flame,
founts pyroclastic lava rocks,
stored pressure cooker, magma melt
at heart of planet, pulsing core—
so faithful geysers shoot aboil
their water cannon fusillade.
That flood, essential for all life,
its cyclic weeping, vapour cloud,
unfairly’s spread across the lands;
tiered paddies through to desert dunes,
antediluvian each year
before the deltas wash anew,
While wind blows where its spirit wills,
some garnered, harvest farming blades,
by Beaufort scaled, but never stayed,
we only know by what it moves,
its presence felt on flyblown skin
and poorly anchored whizzing by.
See water spouts, dust devils’ twist,
our firestorms fuelled at flypast—
by billow gusts their patterns skewed,
as firebreaks futile in its path;
earth, air, fire, water’s, interchange
leaves humans helpless, powerless.
The rainbow prism, scene from here,
of sun and rain in atmosphere,
reminds, creation’s covenant;
because essential elements
though here within our stewardship,
all move beyond our prone control.
—Public Domain Photo Courtesy of Joe Nolan
SOURCE
—Stephen Kingsnorth
Resounding echoes, Babel noise,
a hush required to reassure,
that still small voice, within, without,
persuading one that’s in control.
Which one in self, communion,
in common cause, companions,
as god contracted to a span,
scandal, particularity,
in Palestine, some score and ten?
Redemption through that weaker one,
incarnate as the powerless,
for godly might is scene as hung,
all-powerful as cannot lose,
My sea of faith drifts cynical,
religion, church, and priestly garb,
authority, less weakly borne—
for who defeated, losing wins,
reversal all that is assumed.
For most there’s instinct to survive,
of such the fittest in that drive;
but there is too self-sacrifice,
not only in the human kind—
as prompted impulse, reproduce.
Folk think that being loved, the source,
salvation through our troubled lives;
but is it not someone to love
that turns our hearts to fuller truth?
—Public Domain Photo Courtesy of Joe Nolan
ABOVE THE HAGUE . . .
—Claire J. Baker, Pinole, CA
for winter solstice
There’s the sound of a small plane
plying the blue, exhaust left open,
leaving a cloudy line
across an amazingly fresh view.
Above the line I envision
physicists with calculus, trig,
and that string-theory math
fashioning a bomb to end all . . .
Below the line I see hoards of migrant
children from all over the world
holding makeshift signs that read
in every language
NO MORE WAR.
—Public Domain Photo Courtesy of Joe Nolan
CONQUERING JERUSALEM
—Joe Nolan, Stockton, CA
Out of control—
The blood-lust of the wicked
Who prey upon the weak
Who slaughter helpless children
Shouting, “Amalek! Amalek!
Death to all—a blood-red sun.
Thus, we conquer
Jerusalem.”
—Public Domain Visual Courtesy of Medusa
OUT OF CONTROL
—Caschwa, Sacramento, CA
Genocide was practiced against the Jews
in Germany effectively killing 6 million
over a relatively short span of time
then Jews were given statehood in Israel,
their own sovereign nation, nested alongside
Jew haters, recently led by Hamas, who
regularly send warriors and bombs across the
border to punish and eradicate more Jews,
publicly announcing their intention to
continue the genocide
lately, the Jews fought back, poking gaping
holes in Gaza buildings and tunnels, where
Hamas took refuge behind Palestinian human
shields. It was public knowledge that Hamas
did this, though using human shields was
clearly listed among other heinous war crimes,
and the United Nations stuck its head in the sand
and doled out no consequences of substance to
deter Hamas, so Hamas continued then and to
this day to use human shields
Israel should not and will not stop defending
itself against these attacks by whatever means
necessary. America, of all people, should
know about this: we send police to bash in
doors and intrude on places where criminals
are suspected of hiding both themselves and
their loot; if innocent people are there and
get injured or killed, that is considered just
collateral damage, doesn’t count.
But if Israel replicates this practice in the Gaza
Strip, all kinds of Hell break loose accusing
Israel of genocide. Maybe America and Israel
need armored robots to knock on the door and
confirm who is inside? And if there is no
response, level the place.
—Public Domain Photo
Courtesy of Joe Nolan
HOW IT IS
—Caschwa
If it works for me, and
the color is olive drab
it is real, not totally fab
real like the bite of a crab
or a very nice ride in a cab
neighbors with sabers
far from enablers
stirring the embers
of attention grabbers
it was written in stone
that men shouldn’t hone
murder, and it was not alone
ten commandments known
Crusades and witch burnings ended all that
kill others at the drop of a hat
capital crimes, swat like a gnat
we now hang upside down with the most
wicked bat
—Caschwa
If it works for me, and
the color is olive drab
it is real, not totally fab
real like the bite of a crab
or a very nice ride in a cab
neighbors with sabers
far from enablers
stirring the embers
of attention grabbers
it was written in stone
that men shouldn’t hone
murder, and it was not alone
ten commandments known
Crusades and witch burnings ended all that
kill others at the drop of a hat
capital crimes, swat like a gnat
we now hang upside down with the most
wicked bat
—Public Domain Photo
Courtesy of Joe Nolan
MOST DESERVING COFFEE
—Caschwa
(based on a recent MK Seed of the Week,
“My Only Indulgence”)
Try every coffee shop
Search high and low
Follow every highway
Every path you know
Ooh, yeah
Try every coffee shop
Ford every stream
Follow every rainbow
Till you find real cream
A dream that will need
All the love you can give
Every day of your life
For as long as you live
Try every coffee shop
Ford every stream
Avoid powder substitutes
'Till you find that place
Try every coffee shop
Ford every stream
Follow every barista
Try every coffee shop
There's a brighter day on the other side
Follow every rainbow
Till you find real cream
___________________
Today’s LittleNip:
And now we welcome the new year. Full of things that have never been.
—Rainer Maria Rilke
___________________
Happy New Year from SnakePal Victor Kennedy
in Portorož, Slovenia!
in Portorož, Slovenia!
Many thanks to today’s contributors, and congratulations to Devyanshi for graduating from kindergarten! Our Seed of the Week was “Out of Control. Here's to a new year full of many good things , , ,
. . . not the least of which are many poetry events! Already, the 2025 camera is starting to fill up. For example, sign up for MoSt’s (Modesto-Stanislaus Poetry Center) New Year Poetry Challenge at https://www.mostpoetry.org/2024/11/29/get-ready-for-nypc-16/. And save Feb. 1 for the 13th Annual MoSt Poetry Festival, with Michael Meyerhoffer and his Pulling Up the Floorboards. Info: https://www.mostpoetry.org/event/2025festival/.
For more about NorCal poetry, make a resolution to check out UPCOMING NORCAL EVENTS (http://medusaskitchen.blogspot.com/p/wtf.html) every day!
____________________
—Medusa
—Public Domain Cartoon Courtesy of Medusa
A reminder that
Sacramento Poetry Center
will be closed until Jan. 13.
For 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
clicking on them once, then clicking on the x
in the top right corner to come back to Medusa.
Poets’ bios appear on their first MK visit.
To find previous posts, type the name
of the poet (or poem) into the little
beige box at the top left-hand side
of this column. See also
Medusa’s Rapsheet at the bottom
of the blue column on the right
side of this column to find
any date you want.
Miss a post?
You can find our most recent ones by
scrolling down under this daily one.
Or there's an "Older Posts" button
at the bottom of this column.
(Please excuse typos in older posts!
Blogspot has been through a lot of
incarnations in 20 years!)
Would you like to be a SnakePal?
Guidelines are at the top of this page
at the Placating the Gorgon link;
send poetry and/or photos and artwork
to kathykieth@hotmail.com. We post
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!
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
clicking on them once, then clicking on the x
in the top right corner to come back to Medusa.
Poets’ bios appear on their first MK visit.
To find previous posts, type the name
of the poet (or poem) into the little
beige box at the top left-hand side
of this column. See also
Medusa’s Rapsheet at the bottom
of the blue column on the right
side of this column to find
any date you want.
Miss a post?
You can find our most recent ones by
scrolling down under this daily one.
Or there's an "Older Posts" button
at the bottom of this column.
(Please excuse typos in older posts!
Blogspot has been through a lot of
incarnations in 20 years!)
Would you like to be a SnakePal?
Guidelines are at the top of this page
at the Placating the Gorgon link;
send poetry and/or photos and artwork
to kathykieth@hotmail.com. We post
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!
