Waiting
Photo by Carl Bernard Schwartz
Photo by Carl Bernard Schwartz
URBAN SOLACE XVIII
At the Party
—Mitz Sackman, Murphys
Well it was her party
Her apartment
But she had had enough
The laughing the talking the drinking
She stepped outside
Onto the narrow balcony
Away from the noisy happy horde of friends
Laughing and talking
She needed to be alone
Looking out over the city
By herself with the moon for company
To be alone
Waiting for the guests to begin to leave
She breathed softly
__________________
Medusa’s bulletin board continues to grow! We now have another new feature: “Getting it Out There”. Scroll down past this week’s events (including Saturday’s NCPS “Rent Party” fundraiser with Neeli Cherkovski and David Meltzer) to the flying pig—and notice the new postings there—then onward to the armadillo for what I hope is a complete listing of current publications in our area (and a few in the Bay Area) which are accepting submissions. Hey—it’s time to get your work out into the world, if you aren’t already submitting it to publishers around the globe, and you might as well start locally. And please send me info for any publications in our general area that I may’ve missed.
This week’s Seed of the Week is Trees, even as we post more poems about last week’s Waiting. Send poetry/art/photos about our arboreal buddies to kathykieth@hotmail.com or P.O. Box 762, Pollock Pines, CA 95726. No deadline on SOWs.
Manzanita Writers Press Contest for Wine, Cheese, and Chocolate: A Literary Anthology
MWP is looking for submissions of art, essays, photos or poetry for its contest/anthology. Deadline is December 31, 2010, 11:30pm. Go to www.manzanitacalifornia.org/page3_C9EF.html for details/guidelines. Entry fee: $10.00 for 2 flash fiction or 2 creative nonfiction essays, or 2 poems, or 2 photos, or 2 art pieces. Prizes include 1st and 2nd prizes in all five genres: $200 First, $100 Second. Honorable mentions will be published in the publication and payment will be in 2 copies. Competition open to US writers. Other entries may be included in the publication.
__________________
WAITING TILL THE PRICE IS RIGHT
—Carl Bernard Schwartz, Sacramento
Some
Hold that
The purpose
Of money is
To generate more
And more money so that
You do not have to worry
About just how much things will cost
In these times when dollars are shrinking,
Which leads us to thinking we bought too much.
__________________
NOVEMBER
—Carl Bernard Schwartz
The end of autumn
pairs redundant consonants,
and on the bi-polar ballot
for the governor’s race,
if you believe their claims
it is fecund vs. feckless.
The opposing candidate is always ochre:
their iron now fatigued and impure,
colored by the slipping saddle
of someone unable to face the true
challenges of the office.
The snow is piling up fast
but there is a shortage of shovels,
since they are all tied up
throwing political dirt.
__________________
DIFFERENT KINDS OF WAITING
—Carl Bernard Schwartz
A small circle of
established and aspiring poets
are eagerly awaiting the Ophidian,
while a son does what he must
to take care of his mother.
Two hundred thousand
state workers, and a plethora of
business enterprises that provide
them products and services
are eagerly awaiting a
balanced budget, while the
legislature and governor take
expensive vacations.
A gambler takes the rent and food money
and puts it on a bet,
believing that he is due.
then eagerly awaits his winning moment.
A parachutist jumps from a plane
and waits as long as he can before
pulling the cord to open his chute,
then he eagerly awaits what must
transpire in the next few seconds.
__________________
Today's LittleNip:
WAITING
—Carl Bernard Schwartz
Waiting can take forever…
Procrastination, even longer.
__________________
—Medusa
At the Party
—Mitz Sackman, Murphys
Well it was her party
Her apartment
But she had had enough
The laughing the talking the drinking
She stepped outside
Onto the narrow balcony
Away from the noisy happy horde of friends
Laughing and talking
She needed to be alone
Looking out over the city
By herself with the moon for company
To be alone
Waiting for the guests to begin to leave
She breathed softly
__________________
Medusa’s bulletin board continues to grow! We now have another new feature: “Getting it Out There”. Scroll down past this week’s events (including Saturday’s NCPS “Rent Party” fundraiser with Neeli Cherkovski and David Meltzer) to the flying pig—and notice the new postings there—then onward to the armadillo for what I hope is a complete listing of current publications in our area (and a few in the Bay Area) which are accepting submissions. Hey—it’s time to get your work out into the world, if you aren’t already submitting it to publishers around the globe, and you might as well start locally. And please send me info for any publications in our general area that I may’ve missed.
This week’s Seed of the Week is Trees, even as we post more poems about last week’s Waiting. Send poetry/art/photos about our arboreal buddies to kathykieth@hotmail.com or P.O. Box 762, Pollock Pines, CA 95726. No deadline on SOWs.
Manzanita Writers Press Contest for Wine, Cheese, and Chocolate: A Literary Anthology
MWP is looking for submissions of art, essays, photos or poetry for its contest/anthology. Deadline is December 31, 2010, 11:30pm. Go to www.manzanitacalifornia.org/page3_C9EF.html for details/guidelines. Entry fee: $10.00 for 2 flash fiction or 2 creative nonfiction essays, or 2 poems, or 2 photos, or 2 art pieces. Prizes include 1st and 2nd prizes in all five genres: $200 First, $100 Second. Honorable mentions will be published in the publication and payment will be in 2 copies. Competition open to US writers. Other entries may be included in the publication.
__________________
WAITING TILL THE PRICE IS RIGHT
—Carl Bernard Schwartz, Sacramento
Some
Hold that
The purpose
Of money is
To generate more
And more money so that
You do not have to worry
About just how much things will cost
In these times when dollars are shrinking,
Which leads us to thinking we bought too much.
__________________
NOVEMBER
—Carl Bernard Schwartz
The end of autumn
pairs redundant consonants,
and on the bi-polar ballot
for the governor’s race,
if you believe their claims
it is fecund vs. feckless.
The opposing candidate is always ochre:
their iron now fatigued and impure,
colored by the slipping saddle
of someone unable to face the true
challenges of the office.
The snow is piling up fast
but there is a shortage of shovels,
since they are all tied up
throwing political dirt.
__________________
DIFFERENT KINDS OF WAITING
—Carl Bernard Schwartz
A small circle of
established and aspiring poets
are eagerly awaiting the Ophidian,
while a son does what he must
to take care of his mother.
Two hundred thousand
state workers, and a plethora of
business enterprises that provide
them products and services
are eagerly awaiting a
balanced budget, while the
legislature and governor take
expensive vacations.
A gambler takes the rent and food money
and puts it on a bet,
believing that he is due.
then eagerly awaits his winning moment.
A parachutist jumps from a plane
and waits as long as he can before
pulling the cord to open his chute,
then he eagerly awaits what must
transpire in the next few seconds.
__________________
Today's LittleNip:
WAITING
—Carl Bernard Schwartz
Waiting can take forever…
Procrastination, even longer.
__________________
—Medusa
Photo by Frank Dixon Graham, Sacramento