Astra inclinant (The stars incline us),
sed non obligant (they do not bind us).
Carpe diem (seize the day)
Carpe noctem (seize the night)
Flore (bloom)
sed non obligant (they do not bind us).
Carpe diem (seize the day)
Carpe noctem (seize the night)
Flore (bloom)
—Photo and Poem by Ronald Edwin Lane, Colfax
A LOVER’S INVENTORY
—William S. Gainer, Grass Valley
How many shooting stars
are we supposed to count
before the sky
goes dark?
____________________
LOVING ARMS
(for NOLA)
—William S. Gainer
Someone said,
they’ll love you now
and it rained
and someone heard,
they’ll pray to you now
and it rained
and someone said,
come back children
and it rained
and someone heard
do you believe in him now
and it rained
and the skies turned black,
and the flood waters came
and it rained
and the houses washed away
and the snakes squirmed from their holes
and it rained
and the dogs took to the roofs
and the old men cried
and it rained
and they brought out the boats
to save what they could
and it rained
and the clouds cracked
and the sun winked a tired eye
and someone heard
do you love him now
and someone said,
he holds all of his children
in loving arms
and they believed
and they prayed
and they smiled
and they loved him
and it rained...
____________________
AFTER THE RAIN
—William S. Gainer
The leaves
in the dark
scattered
across the drive
silver coins
in the moon light.
___________________
LEFTOVERS
—William S. Gainer
They were really
just drunken brawls—
Bettie and Arthur's
(mom and her second husband's)
little get-togethers.
Something else broken,
a new stain,
the half-naked
lady on the couch
in the morning—
stumbling through
her hung-over getaway,
trying for the door
before anymore
of us kids showed up.
Sometimes they'd ask
how many of us were there
or if we'd help find
a shoe, a stocking,
a missing purse.
One time
my little sister
fell asleep
curled up
on the hall chair.
Someone covered her
with a jacket.
As people came in
they kept piling their
coats and sweaters
on the chair
until she was gone.
My brothers and I
searched.
The revelers had
other
concerns.
The next morning
we found her
still asleep,
among the leftovers.
There were always
leftovers.
______________________
Thanks to Bill Gainer, Ron Lane, and Carl Schwartz for today's daily specials in the Kitchen! Tonight is the premiere of the latest issue of Rattlesnake Press's WTF at Luna's Cafe, 8pm, to which Bill Gainer and Carl Schwartz (Caschwa) are contributors. Be there!
A new issue of Poetry Now from Sac. Poetry Center is available online at sacpoetrynow.wordpress.com, this week featuring Jennifer Pickering and Tom Pescatore. Check it out!
______________________
Today's LittleNip:
BIG CITY
—Caschwa
By her evil twin Animosity, who had the
Audacity to test the university's sagacity
By causing a scarcity in the electricity
During the Homecoming game.
It was only the varsity's tenacity
That exposed the transparency of
This atrocity.
_____________________
—Medusa
“It CRACKED!”
What?
“Another pane of glass.”
Oh, settle yer petals.
“But two have collapsed and this makes three with cracks.”
So?
“The glass affects our atmosphere?”
A theory.
“It may get cold.”
Will not, or imperceptibly so, that is, if you believe such left leafed rot.
“But it’s a fact.”
Theory.
“Fact. And more may crack, they will, that and collapse.”
What?
“Another pane of glass.”
Oh, settle yer petals.
“But two have collapsed and this makes three with cracks.”
So?
“The glass affects our atmosphere?”
A theory.
“It may get cold.”
Will not, or imperceptibly so, that is, if you believe such left leafed rot.
“But it’s a fact.”
Theory.
“Fact. And more may crack, they will, that and collapse.”
—Photo and Poem by Ronald Edwin Lane