Bromeliads
—Photo by Michelle Kunert, Sacramento
FIRST TAP
STEPS
—Patricia
Hickerson, Davis
two
little girls in blue
onstage
in organdy side by side
puffed
sleeves and swelling skirts
black
patent leather shoes
black
grosgrain ties
pale blue
socks
silver
taps under the toes
taps
power the sound
pale legs
flail
before
them a dark crowd watches
swathed
in darkness from seats row on row
to the
back of the great arena
arena of
dance
where
people clap
when they
hear first taps
the time
step tapped and tapping
to the
piano rhythm
fever of spotlight on small girls
five year
old girls singled out
smaller
than anyone else
looking
out on the big people
a swarm
of watchers
watch
them dance the time step
the first
routine learned at the studio
when it
ends a wave of applause
reaching
to the far back row
watchers
clap
fever of
clapping
fever of
first taps
contagious
fever of tapping
never
ends
________________
UNCLE
BILL’S REBEL LEGACY XV
—Patricia
Hickerson
say
goodbye to Uncle Bill
he taught
you all you know
it wasn’t
much; he never preached
he told
you dance is good
can’t get
enough
go for it
that’s the way
let it
ride in and out
over and
under
feel the
pain feel the glory
in the
cabin out of the cabin
under the
trees
over the
bridge
across
the water
in the
snow
in the
rain
now
you’ve got it
never
stop
it’s all
about dance
okay,
kid?
_______________
LAST TIME
I SAW MOSCOW
—Patricia
Hickerson
don’t know
what it’s like now
from 40
years ago
still
drunks sprawled along Nevsky Prospekt?
cops
throwing them into paddy wagons?
midnight
New Years Eve
toasting
with vodka the everyday drink
red
velvet hotel’s long tables crowded
next
morning what a layout of breakfast
hot
cereal, eggs, sausage, golden caviar
for lunch
borscht in a workers’ restaurant
later
sitting in a crowded cafė
across
the table from an elderly WWII soldier
honor
medal on his lapel dark-eyed blonde at his side
Beatles’
music, dancing
hot with
vodka and loud voices
stamping
of feet on Red Square bricks
St.
Basil’s cathedral onions
catercornered
to the Kremlin
Lenin
finally serene in his glass coffin
guards at
the ready
yanked my
hand out of my pocket
cold air
and snow
babishkas
sweeping the streets
their
raggedy straw brooms
Nicole dances Dracula, Sacramento Ballet
—Photo by Michelle Kunert
INITIAL
—Michael Cluff, Corona
In July 1967
the first beach sunset
seen with adolescent eyes
marked me until
the present
and, I know,
into my limited future.
The star dashed
into the emerald
tossing sea
minutely turning itself
and the waves
into hues of henna
a tide of tans
and an ocean of orange
organza.
I sat until the sea and
sky
became one
the line between
a deep purple
that had no definition
like my life
back then.
__________________
INITIAL II
—Michael Cluff
The first day
of teaching
at the start
of the semester
demands:
an extra four swipes
of deodorant
under each arm,
a sharper razor,
the freshest of breath
that
a plastic bottle can
evoke,
a better polished
pair of brown wingtip
shoes
and the perfection of
dimpled knots
in the middle price range
of not-quite-so-outdated
paisley ties.
After the third day
old ways reassert
a reality of their own
that I will defy
sporadically
on my own impulse
until the middle of
December
or early weeks in March,
when they
expire in their own
natural ways.
______________________
WHERE AM I?
—Taylor Graham,
Placerville
My dog has led me to a
useless place.
Deserted street of houses;
bungalow
with peeling paint, front
yard a disgrace
of weedy lawn. My dog goes
sniffing, slow
and thoughtful, as if
anything could grow
here. Side gate's hanging
by a hinge, the fence
leans to block my
passage—but childhood-bright
with honeysuckle, mint,
remembered scents
from—where? My dog still
leads me, eyes a-light
with seeking. Memory is a
second sight.
_____________________
Thank you to today's contributors! Don't forget to check out Medusa's Facebook page for Michelle Kunert's beautiful photos of orchids.
Congratulations to Sacramento City College Professor Jeff Knorr for being appointed Sacramento Poet Laureate for 2012-2014! There is more info about Jeff on our green board at the right of this column.
____________________
Today's LittleNip:
INITIAL PERCEPTION
Today's LittleNip:
INITIAL PERCEPTION
—Michael Cluff
The sky is above
the evil red sea
sage brushes both
and does not care
which is right
or will win.
____________________
—Medusa
Sleeping White Lion
McKinley Park, Sacramento
—Photo by Michelle Kunert
McKinley Park, Sacramento
—Photo by Michelle Kunert