Thinking
—Photo by Robin Gale Odam, Sacramento
HEALING
—Rhony Bhopla, Sacramento
—Rhony Bhopla, Sacramento
Take this lotus bloom
Hold it over your eyes,
Your nose, your lips
Its mist will provide
A salve for those grooves
That your tears have made
Nothing will take away
The shadows that come
In the blanketing night
Nothing will solve the mystery
Of what it means to be alive
What it means to be true
You are a particle of the nature
And your weight in this world
Is counted by each breath you take
Breathe out the song of your pain
Let the rhythms of life intoxicate you
Hold all memories inside your chest
Don’t let the salve seep into the earth
Let it thrive in your cells
And nourish the blossoms of healing.
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HWY 99 DOG-STOP
—Taylor Graham, Placerville
On the long, hot drive north,
this vacant lot—unmown patch
of grass, an olive tree; ground
littered dark with fruit
that no one wants—wild mustard,
and a strange, tall weed
with spreading fans for leaves.
It waves
an invitation to the breeze.
__________________
BENIGHTED'S NIGHT SONG
—Taylor Graham
I've walked out under stars, until
I'm lost—the land so dark and still;
the sky, the mountains scowling down
with that wordless, primeval frown. They wish me ill.
Be silent now, and wait.
How would you master Fate?
I see no road, no sign to guide
me home. No meteor to ride
across the treetops. Where to sleep
in a wilderness-dark so deep? On every side….
Don't move. Be still, just wait.
See how stars blaze the gate.
___________________
yes, we got no bananas
—charles mariano, sacramento
have a habit
of scotch-taping a cartoon
at the beginning of every
journal day,
right before i note
the date and time
not sure why,
guess it’s to lead-off
with a light touch,
an amusing visual,
‘steada just reading
my ugly handwriting
this morning,
strangely enough
couldn’t find one
that spoke to me
no cartoon
is like driving
without a seatbelt
finding the perfect
cartoon
one that slays me,
is critical
it’s how i begin, burst through
seed to sapling,
gasping for air, first light
should write a disclaimer
for today,
Big-Ass Bump in the Road,
Proceed With Caution
have a habit
of scotch-taping a cartoon
at the beginning of every
journal day,
right before i note
the date and time
not sure why,
guess it’s to lead-off
with a light touch,
an amusing visual,
‘steada just reading
my ugly handwriting
this morning,
strangely enough
couldn’t find one
that spoke to me
no cartoon
is like driving
without a seatbelt
finding the perfect
cartoon
one that slays me,
is critical
it’s how i begin, burst through
seed to sapling,
gasping for air, first light
should write a disclaimer
for today,
Big-Ass Bump in the Road,
Proceed With Caution
______________________
Thanks to today's chefs! About her photo, Robin Odam says: I’ve been thinking—crisscross, intersecting, overlapping
thoughts. Taylor Graham writes:
Oh, the unexpected pleasures of overlooked & derelict
places! As for the floressence, can there be pleasure in being lost? well,
maybe in retrospect—after one is safely found. She's talking about our Seed of the Week: Unexpected Pleasures, and the floressence is the poetry form invented by Brigit Truex that we're fiddling with this week (see the green board at the right of this).
Speaking of unexpected surprises, Carl Schwartz noticed that yesterday's cat photo by Frank Graham has a mug of a dog on the cat's chest—unexpected! In addition to your poems, don't hesitate to send us photos or even artwork of your surprises. The snakes of Medusa are always hungry!
And speaking of photos, we have a new photo album on Medusa's Facebook page, this one featuring D.R. Wagner's recent trip to Bolinas—Surf's Up! Check it out!
_____________________
Today's LittleNip:
You can’t stop the waves, but you can learn to surf.
—Jon Kabat-Zinn
_____________________
—Medusa
Bolinas Graffiti
—Photo by D.R. Wagner