Paper Magic

—Photo by Ann Privateer, Davis, CA

INFLUENCE
—Ann Privateer
 
Integral in betweens
Indivisible in awhile
Incalculable in college
Invariable in music
Infrequent in fear
Inclement in love
Included in Lou of
Insolvable in mass
Instantaneous in flavor
Inverse in flux
Interior in in between
Invigorating in awhile
Instead of in memory
Insolvent in honor.

 —Photo by Ann Privateer

FOUR
—Ann Privateer

Sung melodies
Make mundane words
Memorable

 —Photo by Caschwa, Sacramento, CA

HUMP DAY
—Caschwa

The new raised bed fit in a rental truck
should’ve picked a much thicker wood
floor to avoid all this bad luck
just had to save a buck if I could

now there are holes in the soil
of the raised bed beautiful
and below, a pyramid quite royal,
well more than a shovel full

“pay me now or pay me later”
it hurts to know what could have been
beside each veggie a growing crater
in a nice wood floor that was just too thin

 —Photo by Caschwa

PAPER MAGIC
—Caschwa

They are infants, really, hardly
old enough to participate in a
classroom setting, sponging up
all the shapes, colors, sounds,
and smells of the day.

A few boxes of 3-dimensional
letters, sorted to form the alphabet
using upper case, lower case,
printed, or cursive.  Don’t put them
into your mouth, but shape your
mouth to say their names.

When you are much older, like
next week, we will put letters
together in little groups to form
words, just like major auto makers
put thousands of little parts together
to form all kinds of cars.

It will look less like magic when we
put words on paper, knowing as
we now do all the names of all
the letters, big or small.  And relax,
there’s no need to worry if some
of the letters get separated from

their words because we are now
big enough to know exactly which
ones belong in which places, so
any one of us can easily take a
missing letter out of the box and 

put it back in a word.  All good now!

 —Photo by Caschwa

ALL THINGS CONSIDERED
—Caschwa

I have never, ever been
more scrutinized than when
I attended Junior High School
(and if that doesn’t date me,
I later taught junior high!).

A boy who dared set foot on
campus not wearing shoes that
were on a certain, exclusive short
list of top-dollar brands and styles,
would forever be profiled as a class-
mate of some lower, despicable,
order.

And that was me, exactly. Maybe,
if my folks had adorned my feet
with the same footwear that the
most highly regarded professional
athletes were using, I would have
set and met higher goals for myself.

And maybe, if I had only put on that
super cape, I could have exhibited
super powers…

 —Photo by Caschwa

FOREVER LOST
—Caschwa

Had it right in my hands
intention firmer than grasp
then it sailed its own course
straight (?) to the kitchen floor

where it quickly sought refuge
in the great darkness under
the stove, so bring out the yardstick
swing it around on a fetch mission

and what have we here?

grease encrusted dust, a chip from
a plate that broke last month, the
remains of a clear plastic ring that
once held a pill bottle secure, one

black olive, some of the best laid
plans for a wonderful weekend
outing, put on hold due to the crisis
of our pet needing immediate,

expensive medical treatment, the
hopes and dreams of our founding
fathers who united diverse colonies,
giving birth to a nation that would

inherit a brilliant scheme of checks
and balances, a flexible Constitution,
freedom from those petty tyrants of
monarchial rule, and some more dust.

 —Photo by Caschwa

TRICKLE DOWN
—Caschwa

It starts with little,
un-purposed
babbling brooks
of revenue

that gently feed
into larger,
swifter
streams

that energize
large,
powerful
rivers

where
at some spot
every collected drop
is harnessed to

run some kind of
patented machine
whose performance is
measured on the big board

 —Photo by Caschwa

MEGA PACKAGE OF TOILET TISSUE
—Caschwa

Make
Enemas
Great
Again

 —Photo by Caschwa

BUILDING SOMETHING
—Caschwa

We the people of the United States
in order to form a more perfect union
promote the general welfare
ordain and establish this Constitution

We the global corporate monopolies
in order to blend business and bias
promote our private profits
#money matters

_________________

Today’s LittleNips:

TWO CLEVELAND HAIKU
—Michael Ceraolo, S. Euclid, OH

Cleveland Haiku #530

Mowing the lawn—
wing of a dead bird
up ahead


Cleveland Haiku #531

New wing in progress—
aluminum skeleton
not yet covered

_________________________

Our thanks to today’s fine poets and photographers as July flies past, and we launch into another week! Head over to Fremont Park, 1515 Q St., Sacramento, as Sac. Poetry Center presents Hot Poetry in the Park tonight, with Will Staple and Marilyn Souza (plus open mic), 7:30pm. That’s instead of the Monday reading at Sac. Poetry Center.

Wednesday is Poetry Off-the-Shelves from 5-7pm in Placerville at the El Dorado County Library. Then Thursday is busy, with Wellspring Women’s Writing Group at noon (3414 4th Av., Sacramento), then Genelle Chaconas plus open mic at Luna’s Cafe, 8pm, in Sacramento. Also on Thursday, in Old Sac. at Laughs Unlimited, Summer Heat spoken word takes place from 8:30-10pm.

Saturday is the Second Sat. Art Opening Reception for the Women’s Wisdom Art Show at Sac. Poetry Center, with a Wisdom Writers’ reading from 2:30-4pm, then a reception from 4:30-8pm with refreshments, an art project for all ages, and a raffle. On Sunday you have a choice of Poetry in Placerville at 1pm with Penny Kline and Tim Kahl (plus open mic) at Love Birds Coffee and Tea Co. on Broadway; or the Davis Arts Center Poetry Series on F St. and Covell in Davis at 2pm, featuring Susan Kelly-DeWitt and Carol Lynn Stevenson Grellas. Scroll down to the blue column (under the green column at the right) for info about these and other upcoming poetry events in our area—and note that more may be added at the last minute.

—Medusa

 Be careful how you run today—Mondays can be treacherous!
—Anonymous Photo
(But celebrate poetry, of course!)

Photos in this column can be enlarged by clicking on them once,
then click on the X in the top right corner to come back
to Medusa.