(with Microsoft Designer)
* * *
—Poetry by Nolcha Fox, Claire J. Baker,
Stephen Kingsnorth, Caschwa, Joe Nolan,
and Sayani Mukherjee
—Public Domain Photos Courtesy
of Stephen Kingsnorth and Medusa
* * *
—Poetry by Nolcha Fox, Claire J. Baker,
Stephen Kingsnorth, Caschwa, Joe Nolan,
and Sayani Mukherjee
—Public Domain Photos Courtesy
of Stephen Kingsnorth and Medusa
YOU LINGER
—Nolcha Fox, Buffalo, WY
Fresh roses bloomed in every room.
You filled each vase we had.
Diptyque Eau Rose was your perfume
that wafted in your wake.
Alas, you left, the roses
withered, longing for your touch.
Diptyque Eau Rose still lingers
in my nostrils, may it bring you to my arms.
—Nolcha Fox, Buffalo, WY
Fresh roses bloomed in every room.
You filled each vase we had.
Diptyque Eau Rose was your perfume
that wafted in your wake.
Alas, you left, the roses
withered, longing for your touch.
Diptyque Eau Rose still lingers
in my nostrils, may it bring you to my arms.
—Public Domain Photo Courtesy of Medusa
ROSE BUD ON SMALL BUSH
—Claire J. Baker, Pinole, CA
Seeing all stems in bloom
except one tight-fisted bud
on an upper branch,
I perform a fingertip Caesarian.
And, hello, a petal tip
peeks out at the world.
As a dreamer,
I know well of nature—
that sometimes life
only needs
a little nudge and a sky
full of yesses.
After full growth and color,
fragrance lingers, even as
the rose dries and withers.
—Public Domain Photo Courtesy of Stephen Kingsnorth
FOILED
—Stephen Kingsnorth, Coedpoeth, Wrexham, Wales
Black Magic lingers in my mind,
combined, I find, with Roses’ scent;
though less boxed-in, sealed in a tin.
The fans still stir in current streams
those favoured flavours of our dreams,
ingredients’ unique appeal.
By wrappings foiled, yet somehow seep,
like pheromones of cacao love,
those wafts for tastebuds, salivate.
With nostrils flared how fare the whiffs
of hazel whips and toffee crisps,
montélimar and fondant crème?
Crunch finger chip of honeycomb,
soft centres, clingers onto teeth—
a stinger, come to dentist fees—
as crystalised in ginger bite,
that zinger type of boxing match,
this bringer of exotic tastes.
That industry was all wrapped up
by chocolate Quakers, Friends indeed,
this Cadbury, as Fry before.
The favourite bloom of Bournville beds,
or packers of those first produced,
what lingers yet is name of brand.
As boy I thought it made good sense
to soak rose petals, jammed in jar,
concoction soon both brown and sour.
It preserved, faint, that first jar full,
black, blue, strawberry, rasp and goose,
as linger flavours stronger rose.
—Public Domain Photo Courtesy of Stephen Kingsnorth
THE THORNS OF PROGRESS
—Caschwa, Sacramento, CA
We need to be very careful to recognize
that when progress is thought to have
been achieved by tiny, incremental steps,
it may better take on the characteristics
of regression.
We are proudly a nation of laws and more
laws, with prisons beyond capacity, telling us
something is not working
The Mueller Report, big hype going in, with
all the positive assurance of the lingering scent
of roses, then nothing at all of consequence
The January 6th Insurrection, we all saw the
brazen violations, but the key figures escape
going to jail, because they are cast in the same
mold as giant industrial corporations: too big to fail
—Public Domain Photo Courtesy of Medusa
THE TATTOO OF LIBERTY
—Caschwa
The World Wide Web will reveal
quite a few poses of our Lady Liberty
covering her face to conceal
violations of Her puberty
can’t we just leave this gal alone
to sleep off encounters with evil
and not pick her face to the bone
unbalancing those scales once level
gifted from France to a great new world
promising righteousness and peace
now the object of sticks and stones hurled
by a Congress openly for lease
there is no ink on her skin so dark
as to obscure her intentions of good
now reduced to an image quite stark
of an ornament out on the hood
—Public Domain Illustration Courtesy of Medusa
MAYBE DON’T OPEN THAT DOOR
—Caschwa
(Dark Secrets)
Listing “attention to detail” on the resume may
sound good, but that could also mean safe cracker
or micro manager, or hacker, or con artist
—Public Domain Illustration Courtesy of Medusa
PROTECTED PASSWORDS
—Caschwa
I keep my passwords in a cavern
several miles below the Earth’s crust,
and faithfully reset the passwords on
a schedule which I will not disclose.
If you ask me to complete a survey,
fine, as long as that doesn’t lead to
you then asking me to log in to some
website to share with more people.
Ain’t gonna happen! No freebies for
paid marketers.
—Public Domain Illustration Courtesy of Medusa
DIY
—Caschwa
Thank me, I’m welcome
Don’t forget to lock the door
and give me the key
—Public Domain Illustration Courtesy of Medusa
BAD KING
—Joe Nolan, Stockton, CA
A poisonous association
With a king who wore a crown,
Promising salvation,
But he brought everybody down
Into a pit filled with demons,
Fire walls, all around
And the screams of the burning victims
Filled the air with pain—
Prayers of the living-faithful,
Everywhere surround,
But they just can’t seem
To break in
Through the walls of suffering
Through the fate of sin.
—Public Domain Illustration Courtesy of Medusa
DOMINATOR SEEKING AFFIRMATION
—Joe Nolan
It’s hard to be on top
With no one underneath.
Few remain who believe
In Divine Right of Kings,
The perquisite of prima nocta,
Primogeniture and
Inheritance of thrones.
If none below,
Who’s above?
You really can’t call it love
What happened at the Pimp’s Palace
On Little Saint James
In the “Virgin Islands”
With teenage girls and boys
Under the age of eighteen,
But it substituted
For the depredations of nobility
Subverting the common man
Into chattels to ruling classes.
It’s hard to be on top
When no one’s on the bottom
Over whom you can rule.
—Joe Nolan
It’s hard to be on top
With no one underneath.
Few remain who believe
In Divine Right of Kings,
The perquisite of prima nocta,
Primogeniture and
Inheritance of thrones.
If none below,
Who’s above?
You really can’t call it love
What happened at the Pimp’s Palace
On Little Saint James
In the “Virgin Islands”
With teenage girls and boys
Under the age of eighteen,
But it substituted
For the depredations of nobility
Subverting the common man
Into chattels to ruling classes.
It’s hard to be on top
When no one’s on the bottom
Over whom you can rule.
LIGHT TOO BRIGHT, CLOSE TOO CLOSE
—Joe Nolan
Those who like to be known
But not too well
Might slip away
Soon after
You tell
Them
Exactly
How you see them.
Unflattering
As it may be
To taste the salt,
Reality,
Their clothing,
Quite invisible,
The conversation,
Unrestrained,
Delved into
A curtained-brain,
Preferring
To be concealed.
Thus,
Psychological-
Visibility
Presented challenges
To the managed
Imago
That preferred
Strongly
To not be
Revealed
Too well,
By light
Too bright
And close
Too close.
It hoped you’d never tell.
—Public Domain Photo Courtesy of Medusa
FLY
—Sayani Mukherjee, Chandannagar,
W. Bengal, India
I remember the day nights
The cycle of season and rain
Night with its feathers of death
I remember the twilight
Of sun rising and setting to the West.
The girl at the walk of flying dreams
Cuckoo's nest with flying spree
Remembering all the time of day
And night of heavenly muse.
The little saplings at the gates of rainbow
Music and dance of earthly paradise
Flying with roaring laughter of twentieth spring.
___________________
Today’s LittleNip:
Roses are red, violets are blue. I’m schizophrenic, and so am I.
—Oscar Levant
___________________
Our thanks to today’s contributors for poems and pix of fine quality, indeed—some of them about our Seed of the Week, The Lingering Scent of Roses. It all makes scents to me…
SnakePal Freya Pickard will be dedicating a post to Medusa's Kitchen on her poetry blog, Pure Haiku, next Wednesday, 23 July 2025, at around 2pm UK time. That’s at Pure Haiku, https://purehaiku.wordpress.com/?p=8530/. Thanks, Freya!
___________________
—Medusa
The Perfume Makers
—Painting by Rudolf Ernst
—Painting by Rudolf Ernst
A reminder that
Poetry in Motion meets
in Placerville today, 10:30am;
and Sacramento Poetry Center
presents readers from the book,
Winter in America (Again,
tonight at 7:30pm.
For 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
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!
Poetry in Motion meets
in Placerville today, 10:30am;
and Sacramento Poetry Center
presents readers from the book,
Winter in America (Again,
tonight at 7:30pm.
For 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
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!
