THE EXACT SHADE OF RED
—Taylor Graham, Somerset
Is it the gold-scarlet of liquid amber,
mid-October when neighbors
are raking the leaves already fallen,
smoke drifting in cold sky?
No, that’s not quite right. It’s more
the pink-orange-salmon of sunset
just glimpsed through pines;
or a scarlet-saffron I can’t find
in the color charts; seashell-
crimson of cohos surging upstream,
wild to spawn in silver-
carmine water. Or perhaps carnelian —
no, that’s too hardrock-unchanging.
Rather, the color young girls try on,
and blush, that shade too brief
to have a name.
_____________________
TERMS FOR THE MANY
—Taylor Graham
A pod of whales, a pride of lions,
a colony of frogs, a memory
of elephants — are they just
a memory now, those hundreds of
thousands passing before our human
eyes — our explosion of explorers,
hordes of trophy hunters, surplus of
suburbanites, not to mention metastases
of manufacturers with their passel
of pollutants?
How many frogs have you heard
this spring, thrumming the edges
of a pond? What shall we call the last
of an exaltation of larks,
when there’s only one of them left?
_____________________
INTERROGATION AT MIDNIGHT
—Taylor Graham
Her eyes unblink
slow as a single light
left burning.
She escorts me to a chair.
Where were you gone
so long? she doesn’t have
to ask out loud. And why?
She doesn’t need to say
a word. The room
is cold as a dead furnace,
the only sound a half-
rumble, a purr waiting
to be satisfied. She curls
around my ankle
then gathers
for the spring
eye-level staring
at me electric-
yellow. What
should I confess?
I reach to stroke black
fur, she responds
in static
against my wrist
a thousand tiny shocks.
She settles in my lap
with claws. You won’t ever
leave me again?
_____________________
Thanks, TG! Be sure to watch for Taylor Graham's new chapbook, Among Neighbors, coming to The Book Collector on November 14!
—Medusa
Medusa encourages poets of all ilk and ages to send their POETRY, PHOTOS and ART, as well as announcements of Northern California poetry events, to kathykieth@hotmail.com (or snail ‘em to P.O. Box 762, Pollock Pines, CA 95726) for posting on this daily Snake blog. Rights remain with the poets. Previously-published poems are okay for Medusa’s Kitchen, as long as you own the rights. (Please cite publication.) Medusa cannot vouch for the moral fiber of other publications, contests, etc. that she lists, however, so submit to them at your own risk. For more info about the Snake Empire, including guidelines for submitting to or obtaining our publications, click on the link to the right of this column: Rattlesnake Press (rattlesnakepress.com).