Bye-Bye, Persephone

—Public Domain Illustration Courtesy of Medusa
* * *
—Poetry by Nolcha Fox, Stephen Kingsnorth,
Caschwa, and Joe Nolan
—Public Domain Visuals Courtesy of
Joe Nolan and Medusa

 

 

HINTS OF AUTUMN
—Nolcha Fox, Buffalo, WY

I pull out the comforters,
and set the thermostat to heat.

The morning chill reminds the trees
to kiss their leaves goodbye.

Darkness chases daylight
to an early snooze with me.

I rise to moon instead of sun
and stumble through the house.

Cooler mornings, longer nights
mean autumn will be here.

 

 

 

 —Public Domain Photo Courtesy of Joe Nolan

ALARM
—Stephen Kingsnorth, Coedpoeth, Wrexham, Wales

This seasonal non sequitur—
heats, length, like an athletics track—
at least in these Welsh hills about,
as nights grow longer by the hour,
light timers are set earlier.

Soon dimmer sight brings switches on,
and central heating prices rise;
by Christmas cactus, window closed,
and as dusk gathers, school-gate kids
fall victim, autumn, charcoal skies.

But thus the cycle, hands on clock,
a pointed change to what occurs,
plane angle pose around our star,
at least for those midst hemispheres,
meantime observing Greenwich zone.

Confused when night and sleep equate—
for older age keeps shorter sleeps,
effects insomnia, awake,
those daily dozes claiming space,
reducing need for pillow bed.

I fool myself this cool is not,
though duvet raised around my neck;
or else this slot’s for grandkids’ ‘cool’,
another morn, or eve more like,
though know not how define that mood.

Their cooler mornings quite, in tents,
some new events, experience,
chill factor, naught to do with cold,
a festival in muddy field,
discomfort duly certified.

So is it season, attitude—
or even pillow altitude,
persuades me that the time is nigh,
a change in pattern is required,
behaviour changed for what befalls.

I am relieved that nature sends
these formulae for earthly health;
a stealthy axis, planetary,
in universal mystery;
alarm if I’m to face the day. 

 

 

 

 —Public Domain Photo 

Courtesy of Joe Nolan

ROPE LADDER
—Caschwa, Sacramento, CA

One tree house ready
for cooler mornings
while dew is busy
dripping from awnings

climb up, settle in
soon you’ll feel stronger
it won’t even matter
that nights become longer

trees are really libraries
open through the eve
lots of books for all to read
oh the stories that they weave!

 

 

 

 —Public Domain Photo Courtesy of Joe Nolan

THE BIG LIE
—Caschwa

(Poets Lie)

There are whoppers and then there
are bald-faced, evil as the Devil, lies
which are so brazen and sharp they
make the Poet’s Lie look like truth
not quite dressed for dinner

Cable TV for a fee, such charges once
cited as sufficient to forego many of
those pesky commercial advertisements
that totally interrupt the flow of action
making viewing our favorite shows now
a nasty chore

Hey marketing whizzes, you don’t have
to ask me more than once if I’d like to
enter a purchase contract for a luxury
car I could never afford on my wages

Lower your price to real world, lower
your tone to a Poet’s lie, lower your
expectations to fit the aspirations of
working folk, erase your presumption
that your lovely car for sale is exactly
the one of my dreams, you’re are NOT
EVEN CLOSE. I need a vehicle that fits
in my small garage, not one that could
hold all the baggage in Grand Central
Station and light up the entire neighborhood
for fun and games. 

 

 

 

 —Public Domain Photo Courtesy of Joe Nolan

TIME FOR NEW SOLUTIONS
—Caschwa

America’s War for Independence
    We’re still dealing with old
    laundry with the same stains
    on it

War on Drugs
    Who’s kidding whom? The
    Cartels have this completely
    bought and paid for

War on Crime
    Just more losers, no winners

Jewish Holocaust
    Killing 6 million was just the
    opening move

Israel’s War on Hamas
    Until the world holds Hamas
    accountable for the war crime
    of using human shields, Israel’s
    military defense feels no need to
    stand alone in following the rules 

 

 

 

—Public Domain Photo Courtesy of Medusa

SERENE MEDITATION GARDEN
—Caschwa

(The Self-Realization Fellowship Lake Shrine lies
a few blocks from the Pacific Ocean, on Sunset
Boulevard in Pacific Palisades, California. It was
founded and dedicated by Paramahansa Yogananda,
on August 20, 1950, and is owned by the Self-
Realization Fellowship.)

Six decades ago my main means of transportation
was a noisy motorcycle, which I rode all around
town. One of my favorite places to visit was a Self-
Meditation Center at the edge of Santa Monica,
less than 10 miles from my home. There I could 

park, kill the engine, and immerse myself into the 

endless beauty of undisturbed silence. I and my 

ears much preferred this instead of the barrage of 

sounds that emit from big city venues.

In the ensuing years, I faced daily challenges to
silence: UCLA, always tearing down old, or
building new, structures; working in downtown
Los Angeles; commuting to work on the light rail;
living next to noisy neighbors; the noise of endless
household responsibilities and the constant re-
minders to complete them; shopping in humongous
stores nestled closely together in giant shopping
malls; the harsh sounds and lights of police activity,
both ground and air; political rallies with mega-
phones, shouting, and screaming; family gatherings
where all relations, near and far, gathered to 

sharpen their swords on judgmental mandates.

Now I am retired, surrounded by dust and weeds
that overstay their welcome; urns of ashes to r

emind me of lives that ended; cable TV that 

assumes I would just love to pay additional 

monthly fees for programming that used to be free; 

and here I am in Sacramento, hundreds of miles 

away from that Self-Meditation Center. 

 

 

 

 —Public Domain Photo Courtesy of Medusa

PURIFICATION BY ANNIHILATION
—Joe Nolan, Stockton, CA

We shall have Heaven on Earth
By going through Hell
Every twenty years
With another war.

Really, you don’t have to
Count that long—
Wars occur more frequently
Than that.

From the War to End All Wars
And make the world safe for
Democracy, ah, democracy,
A banner we wave to overthrow
All the dictators of the world,

To the Sands of Iwo Jima,
Where 6,800 Marines died
To wipe out 18,000 dug-in
Japanese,
In February of ‘45,
Six months before
The bombs were dropped,
Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

It just goes on and on—
Korea, Vietnam, Iraq,
Afghanistan, Iraq, again,
With 500,000 dead Iraqi children
Between the two Iraq wars,
Dead, because of sanctions,
And Madeleine Albright
Said it was justified.  

 

 

 

 —Public Domain Photo Courtesy of Medusa

I HAVE TO LAUGH
—Joe Nolan

I have to laugh!
Oh, yes, I do.

Every little thing
Your Mother do.

She’s able and
She’s strong.
She knows so many ways
To get along.
She’s wise and
She’s shrewd.

Don’t get me started
On her last dark plan
About how to crucify
A man
Who didn’t really deserve it
But couldn’t withstand the scam,

So he went in flames
Like many others.

 

 

 

 —Public Domain Photo Courtesy of Medusa

ONYX AT PLAY
—Joe Nolan

Onyx doesn’t listen to the sea.
Minerals in the desert
Can be had for free
When you clear Arabs
And Muslims away.

Onyx is deaf
To human pleas.
It cares not a whit
For you and me.

It’s all about feeding a machine
With rare-earth minerals
With which cell-phones are made
While Onyx is at play
In the toys we use
And throw away.

 

 

 

 —Public Domain Illustration Courtesy of Joe Nolan

READY FOR LIFT-OFF
—Joe Nolan

It’s getting close to lift-off
So we add a little fuel
To the major thruster
To make sure we can blow
Gravity behind.

Lift-off is a state of mind.

It’s about being willing,
Ready and able
To disable gravity
And all that holds you down,
As though you were
Part of the ground,
Like an over-ripe apple
Fallen from a tree,
Left to rot.

Flip the switch
On the dashboard
That says, “Lift-off.”
Add a little fuel,
Look at your watch and scoff.

Let them know
You’ve been here, before,
Before the Garden of Eden,
Well before the Fall,
You’ve got it
Under control
And you’re ready
To blast off
Without taking a bite of the apple
That caused the downfall.

___________________

Today’s LittleNip:

Words are, of course, the most powerful drug used by mankind.

—Rudyard Kipling

___________________

—Public Domain Illustration Courtesy of Medusa

Our thanks to today’s contributors, some of whom wrote about our Seed of the Week (Cooler Mornings, Longer Nights). Today we celebrate the Autumn Equinox, as Persephone heads off to hang out with Hades for six months. Brrrrr…

 

 

 

 —Public Domain Photo Courtesy of Medusa

Straight Out Scribes are a poetic phenomenon, and they have a new book out: Spirals, Spirits and Spells, available on Amazon and Kindle. You go, girls!

 

 

 

 

_____________________

—Medusa

 

 

 

—Public Domain Photo Courtesy of Medusa

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A reminder that
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