In Bas Relief
—Photo by Robert Lee Haycock, Antioch
WE WILL BURY YOU
—Caschwa, Sacramento
So proclaimed Nikita Khrushchev
Of course we will not bury you with a shovel. Your own working class will bury you.
So explained Nikita Khrushchev
Now China is telling us
We will buy you
No explanation needed.
Of course we will rise to the occasion
like when we defeated King George
or did we just delay him a little?
after throwing royalty out of our
governing classes we then
fully embrace it in our culture
we raise our flags and
celebrate our colors
just like royalty
we extend full honors to
people born of royal blood
and offer children that rare hope
that they might really be
a member of the royal family
the kind we put behind us
when we defeated King George
except at the box office
where he is still King
______________________
—Caschwa, Sacramento
So proclaimed Nikita Khrushchev
Of course we will not bury you with a shovel. Your own working class will bury you.
So explained Nikita Khrushchev
Now China is telling us
We will buy you
No explanation needed.
Of course we will rise to the occasion
like when we defeated King George
or did we just delay him a little?
after throwing royalty out of our
governing classes we then
fully embrace it in our culture
we raise our flags and
celebrate our colors
just like royalty
we extend full honors to
people born of royal blood
and offer children that rare hope
that they might really be
a member of the royal family
the kind we put behind us
when we defeated King George
except at the box office
where he is still King
______________________
CHILD SOLDIER
—B.Z. Niditch, Brookline, MA
Some days seem
as nights,
you may lose an arm
when you first stumble
on a land mine
far from the port city
where you were taken away,
eight years on earth
when cruelty in war
was decided for you
by foreign militias,
told to slay your parents
for initiation,
your face now covered
with sea town sores
and blinded in the blood-heat
of death back home
but you will not be forgotten.
_____________________
AMDIAR
—Caschwa
I had tried everything else
and nothing helped until
someone recommended
a special French lotion
Amdiar
it was said to be the secret
to personal accomplishment
self confidence and
incredible good fortune
Amdiar Emerald
available in many fragrances
it smoothly bonds naturally
to absolutely any skin type
inseparable as Romeo and Juliet
Amdiar Cologne
now I am at the top of my game
in the winner's circle
rolling in the dough
always one step ahead
Amdiar Admiral
people who used to question
my motives or intentions
withdraw like frightened mice
squeaking pleas of mercy
Amdiar Just Deserts
oh how good it feels
to face the entire world
knowing that I can easily handle
whatever comes my way
Amdiar Assurance
at the end of the day
when old memories return
I shall bathe in the delightful
knowledge that I have
All My Ducks In A Row
—Caschwa
I had tried everything else
and nothing helped until
someone recommended
a special French lotion
Amdiar
it was said to be the secret
to personal accomplishment
self confidence and
incredible good fortune
Amdiar Emerald
available in many fragrances
it smoothly bonds naturally
to absolutely any skin type
inseparable as Romeo and Juliet
Amdiar Cologne
now I am at the top of my game
in the winner's circle
rolling in the dough
always one step ahead
Amdiar Admiral
people who used to question
my motives or intentions
withdraw like frightened mice
squeaking pleas of mercy
Amdiar Just Deserts
oh how good it feels
to face the entire world
knowing that I can easily handle
whatever comes my way
Amdiar Assurance
at the end of the day
when old memories return
I shall bathe in the delightful
knowledge that I have
All My Ducks In A Row
There and Back Again
—Photo by Robert Lee Haycock
ROBERT FROST'S BIRTHPLACE
—B.Z. Niditch
It's March all in place
winter is depleted
the courage on your page
as a poem is completed.
We pass your white house
with a dog who won't bite
Mr. Frost you are needed
as a poem is completed.
They called you "indiscreet'"
because you were outspoken
readers are rarely cheated
as a poem is completed.
You are really not dead
just like the ready ice
under your feet
as a poem is completed.
Born on 24th of March
in a New England bed
your house was unheated
as a poem is completed.
You were not discreet
when your poetry is heeded
your dialogue is scorned
as a poem is completed.
—B.Z. Niditch
It's March all in place
winter is depleted
the courage on your page
as a poem is completed.
We pass your white house
with a dog who won't bite
Mr. Frost you are needed
as a poem is completed.
They called you "indiscreet'"
because you were outspoken
readers are rarely cheated
as a poem is completed.
You are really not dead
just like the ready ice
under your feet
as a poem is completed.
Born on 24th of March
in a New England bed
your house was unheated
as a poem is completed.
You were not discreet
when your poetry is heeded
your dialogue is scorned
as a poem is completed.
______________________
NEWS SONNET 11
—Caschwa, Sacramento
She would not have done anything indiscreet
had she just been left to her own devices
but nature called when she was caught in the street
suddenly she was very skilled in vices
lifted her skirt up ever daintily so
shouting delight as from favorite spices
twirled and swirled as rapidly as one could go
all eyes keenly watched her upper body move
what happened lower down nobody would know
it was Medusa's hair displayed in the Louvre
time action photos of goldfish in a bowl
watching the needle skip over a groove
not entirely wholesome but damn sure whole
she peed in public without baring her soul
______________________
—Caschwa, Sacramento
She would not have done anything indiscreet
had she just been left to her own devices
but nature called when she was caught in the street
suddenly she was very skilled in vices
lifted her skirt up ever daintily so
shouting delight as from favorite spices
twirled and swirled as rapidly as one could go
all eyes keenly watched her upper body move
what happened lower down nobody would know
it was Medusa's hair displayed in the Louvre
time action photos of goldfish in a bowl
watching the needle skip over a groove
not entirely wholesome but damn sure whole
she peed in public without baring her soul
______________________
INDISCREET
—B.Z. Niditch
You are all born
by March's sleet
Lowell, Hass and Frost
each be indiscreet.
Hass in San Francisco
he came East
Laurence Ferlinghetti
liked North Beach.
Whether in lyric
or translator or Beat
all unique
each be indiscreet.
March wants poets
to sing of its season
pre-spring has a reason
each be indiscreet.
______________________
Today's LittleNip:
WAITING
—B.Z. Niditch
Waiting for steel lungs
to play the sax
for smoldering words
to set poetry on fire
for violets connecting
to the snow
for a metamorphosis
of words, time, love
to move the world
dissolve nightmares
and bring consolation.
—B.Z. Niditch
Waiting for steel lungs
to play the sax
for smoldering words
to set poetry on fire
for violets connecting
to the snow
for a metamorphosis
of words, time, love
to move the world
dissolve nightmares
and bring consolation.
_____________________
—Medusa
—Photo by Robert Lee Haycock