Hawk Tower, Tor House
—Photo by Jessica Malikowski
TOR HOUSE
—Kevin Jones, Fair Oaks
“You know, dear,
I’d really like to have
A tower to go with it.”
Jeffers grimaces
(Maybe smiles,
Maybe not: hard
To tell), rolls and
Smokes a cigarette
Takes a shot
Of Una’s Old Bushmills,
Walks down
To the beach,
Begins hauling back
The boulders.
____________________
JEFFERS' TOR HOUSE
—Kevin Jones
It’s a little
Cottage, and
A fairly large
Tower,
Both
Built of stones
He
Dragged up
From the sea.
Big Rocks,
Much dragging.
No wonder
In photos
He looks pained:
Really big rocks,
Must be ruptures,
A whole lot
Of straining going
On, serious
Hernias there.
No wonder
He looks up
At the hawks
Envies them.
____________________
THE SIGN ON JEFFERS' GATE
—Kevin Jones
“No visitors before
Four p.m.”
At which time
He’d turn it
Around:
“Not at Home.”
I want one;
I need one.
_____________________
ON NOT VISITING CARMEL
—Kevin Jones
Coming up from
Big Sur,
Jack and Neal
Think about
Robinson Jeffers
And stopping by
To pay homage.
Closer they
Get to Carmel,
They begin to think
About his poems—
He’s not a happy man;
He doesn’t like
People,
Visitors especially;
He won’t like
Us; he’ll kick
Our asses.
Most of which
Is probably
True.
Wisely,
For once
They make
A right turn
And head into
Monterey instead.
_____________________
TOR HOUSE/HAWK TOWER TOURIST
—Kevin Jones
Atop Hawk Tower
At Jeffers’
Tor House
You can look
Straight out
Past the beach
And into the poet’s
Hawk-haunted
Vision of infinity.
To the right
You see
The blue and gold
Visqueen roof
Of a cottage
That will probably
Never
Be restored.
To the left,
Day I was there,
Was a
Paunchy guy
Wandering
Past the windows
Of a house
Rumored
To have been
Designed by
Frank Lloyd Wright.
“Eeugh,” said my
Tour companions.
“At least he’s
Sort of dressed
This time,” said
The docent.
“Nice boxers,”
I thought.
_____________________
PRIMAL YELLOW
—Carol Louise Moon, Sacramento
This night the amber autumn moon
rolls along atop my garden wall.
Night bugs stir. A gray cat basks
in primal yellow with a knowing
in her soul. Her walk along the wall,
an easy saunter, leads her to the
selfsame spot where she, the night
before, sat mesmerized by twin stars—
just above the moon that rolls along
atop my garden wall.
____________________
RHYMING RAIN DROPS (a rap)
—Carol Louise Moon
It's fun when rain drops rhyme.
Getting wet on both ears with tears
from the sky—that you didn't cry.
The proverbial drops in the ol' rain bucket—
take-a-violin-and-pluck-it... sort of sound.
Harmony, melody, tragedy, comedy—
anything to bounce off a sounding board,
just so you're not so bored.
Just think of Ben rappin' and men tappin'
their toes. Anything goes, 'til the tune stops.
'Cause it's fun when it's raining rhyme drops.
____________________
QUAGGA
—Carol Louise Moon
Qaugga, zebra-like. Extinct.
Quick as that, he’s here and gone—
Quivering on the world’s edge.
Quarantined from the gene pool:
Quotient zero. I dream of
Quicksilver eyes as he melts.
Questions remain; quench my thirst.
___________________
HER BICYCLE
has carried her many miles. She is here now,
this sacred place where leaves are falling.
She is there now, settling near my heart.
Pan flute notes float mid-air, then settle on
the path. Her warmth, a warm autumn day;
her voice a picnic of words; her presence a
gathering of doves.
She ascends now: swirling spokesperson
is gone. I love her comings, her goings.
Her bicycle carries her many miles.
—Carol Louise Moon
___________________
Today's LittleNip:
Shiva... is the only hunter that will ever catch the wild swan;
The prey she will take last is the wild white swan of the beauty of things.
Then she will be alone, pure destruction, achieved and supreme,
Empty darkness under the death-tent wings.
She will build a nest of the swan's bones and hatch a new brood,
Hang new heavens with new birds, all be renewed.
—Robinson Jeffers
___________________
—Medusa
Thanks to Carol Louise Moon and Kevin Jones for today's poetry, and to Kevin for reminding us that this is Tor House Festival weekend; for more about that, see www.torhouse.org
Monika Rose writes that she and her husband, Gary, will be having their own Art and Poetry festival on Friday, Oct. 14 at the Mountain Ranch Resource Center, 7867 Whiskey Slide Rd. in Mountain Ranch, CA. (See www.mranchcc.org/YouthAlliance.htm for details about MRRC.) Gary’s art is hard-edge abstract design on canvas and wood. He will be having a chat with participants about the art forms of minimalist design and iconic representation in art. Monika, founding editor of Manzanita, will be holding a free writing-about-art workshop (for beginners to advanced) from 3-4 pm, and reading from her book of poetry, River by the Glass. Refreshments, too! RSVP Monika at mrosemanza@jps.net to let her know you're coming.
And Cleo Griffith, Song of the San Joaquin Editor, asks you to join the Modesto poets for the “On-Line Book Launch” on Saturday, Oct. 22, 2011. She writes that you don’t have to “go” anywhere except to Amazon.com, where you will search for MORE THAN SOIL MORE THAN SKY. This is an historic anthology of The Modesto Poets, poets and portraits from Quercus Review Press. Fifty-one area poets are included, each with photograph by Doug Holcomb. $14.95 is the so-reasonable price for this marvelous book. We need to have everyone possible order books on Oct. 22, as that is what gives Amazon an estimate of the popularity of the book and pushes it up to the top of the best-seller list, at which time all of the poets will appear on “Good Morning, America” and…well, that might be a little too much (can there be a “little” too much??). Anyway, be sure to order the anthology on Amazon.com Oct. 22!
Robinson Jeffers
(For more about Jeffers, go to
