Dear Titanic

—Photos by Caschwa, Sacramento, CA

DEAR TITANIC
—Joseph Nolan, Stockton, CA

Dear Titanic,
I loved you
Since before
You were born!
I loved you
Before you were torn
By an iceberg
I sent your way,
To punish
Those who would say,
That you were
Unsinkable.

I,
Who love the snow
And the Arctic cold!
And know the power
Of frozen things
To tear apart
The Workings of Kings
Who labor,
Down below
Where greener grasses
Grow,

Oh, yes!
This I know!

________________

I DON’T WANT TO BE ALONE
AT HOME!
—Joseph Nolan

I don’t want
To waste my life
Trying to be
Accepted
In a house
Where I
Have already
Been rejected!

I’ve a diamond
Up my sleeve:
I know
That I
Can leave,
Anytime
I choose,
And that
I have
Nothing
To lose,

To venture out,
A free
Boy-Scout,
Into the
Pouring rain!

No matter
What my pain,
It won’t be
Worse
Than the permanent
Curse
Of being alone,
At home!

LOST AND FOUND
—Caschwa

There’s a special place
where correct answers are squirreled
away till too late

*** ***

A minimum of
coffee made you one hundred
percent, and content

(from text found on a Starbucks napkin)

*** ***

Truth be damned, when a
person is eager to tell
what is on their mind

*** ***

The librarian
kicked me out just for reading
in between the lines

*** ***

Missing in action:
detergent that leaves stains, and
the sun when it rains

*** ***

“Fresh Daily” could be
a good newspaper name, or
some kind of excuse

*** ***

Factory slashed their
packages open too low,
now tools cannot last


(from words found on a Harbor Freight
“Tool Disposal Notice”) 

THIS STINKS!
—Caschwa

Rotten in Denmark
it’s a new Watergate clone
reeking of silence

a normally live
Congress is gagged by the
fear of speaking out

as if their kinfolk
risk the most brutal death
by foreign powers

or their investments
have been held hostage until
they raise the white flag

sure fishy how the
most valuable aspects
of democracy

the very pillars
of our patriotism
are suddenly gone

ZOOKEEPER FOR PREZ
—Caschwa

It makes perfect sense
if a person can run a zoo
successfully for years,
it is a lateral transfer to
step into the shoes of
the person taking over
running our government.

Love all creatures, keep
everyone safe, well fed,
clean, healthy, happy,
elephants and donkeys
alike.   Put the Trumps
in a gilded cage, visitors
will pay to toss them
peanuts.

Must speak English, but
recognize it is not the
primary language spoken
by the inhabitants.

IN A NUTSHELL
—Caschwa

It is daylight, and visibility is ten miles.  A
large car is motoring down the street and
encounters a family of people crossing
the street, but failing to utilize the marked
crosswalk. 

There is plenty of time and space to just
pause and let them pass, but the duly
licensed driver stomps on the accelerator
pedal and mows them down. 

Persons to whom drivers licenses are
issued are expected to be fully capable of
the simple act of discerning right from
wrong, as a prerequisite to making choices
that affect the life and safety of others.

Now let’s crank that up several notches to
the individual that the nation has entrusted
with the nuclear codes. 

When the president pompously issues
certain statements as facts, then fact
checks later undeniably contradict those
statements and his press secretary just
dismisses these falsities on the basis that
the president was fed misinformation, it
sure looks like our Commander in Trouble,
whether alone or surrounded by competent
help, is not fully capable of performing the
simple act of discerning good information
from misinformation.

AMATEUR NIGHT
—Caschwa

This evening I mounted the
camera atop a tripod and
aimed it at the crescent moon,
low in the horizon.  Zoomed
the lens to maximum and
snapped the shutter.  So far,
so good.

Packed everything up and
came inside, where I linked
the camera to my desktop
computer and viewed the
results:  a banana.

TRUMP ECONOMICS: TOO UPBEAT FOR ITS OWN GOOD
—Rhony Bhopla, Sacramento, CA

snapshot of US economics boasts a feverish need
for raging confetti, candidates in money-filled sleeves

false to project the economy is on a trajectory
for wages sit stagnant, farmers in state of perplexity

bleak Friday will show where the economy stands
get TV, batteries, and stuff before it spirals out of hand

escalation of tariff tactics are causing nations
to leave the US out in the cold, in its masturbations

international leaders watch as Trump tries to show
his bullying works, how to skirt rules of the WTO

disruption in decades-long developed rules
that guide the international trade system
do not just effect politicians and TV moguls
they destroy hope, and make all a victim

hiding behind a racist core, and using protectionism
to push a political agenda is Trump’s single weapon

his voters don’t mind his appalling sexist behavior
but, when the American economy trips
         he will no longer be their savior

CONSPIRACY TO RAISE WAGES
—Michael Ceraolo, S. Euclid, OH

Despite the American Revolution
that had ended less than a quarter-century ago,
despite the fact that English common law
had not been enacted by the legislature
during that interval,
                             despite the fact
that the Pennsylvania constitution
and the United States Constitution both
guaranteed the right to peaceably assemble,
in 1806,
             in Philadelphia,
                                    in the case of
Commonwealth v. George Pullis, et al.,

Underl Barnes
John DuBois
John Harket
John Hepburn
George Keimer
Peter Pollen
George Pullis,
and George Snyder,
                              members of
the Federal Society of Journeyman Cordwainers;

the workers were convicted by a jury,
three-quarters of whom were employers,
of a crime that didn't exist
except in the minds of a minority

They were each fined eight dollars
(about one week's wages),
                                       plus
the costs of the trial
(which had been borne by the employers,
not the government)
An observer summed it up neatly:

"they are not at liberty to associate together
for the purpose of fixing the price of their labor"

_____________________

Today’s LittleNip:

BLACK AND BLUE
—Caschwa

My usual fall
colors, unless I fall from
great height, then add red.

_____________________

Our thanks to today’s saucy contributors, and to Caschwa (Carl Schwartz) for his fine photos! Michael Ceraolo writes that his poem today is from American Labor: An Episodic Epic, a new work-in-progress on the history of American labor. And Michael Brownstein sends us a link to his first book (from Cholla Noodles): A Slipknot Into Somewhere Else: A Poet's Journey To The Borderlands Of Dementia. I’m always happy to post links and info about new books, but I’m sorry—I don’t do reviews.

And Sacramento’s Jane Blue has a new book out, too: Obsession with the Dogwood (Flowstone Press 2018). The Amazon link is www.amazon.com/Obsession-Dogwood-Jane-Blue/dp/1945824174/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1537718821&sr=1-1fkmr0&keywords=obsession+with+the+dogwood+tree+jane+blue/. More from Jane next Sunday.

Now available online is the latest issue of the Bay Area literary journal, Ginoska, at ginoskoliteraryjournal.com/. Check it out!

Poetry events in our area begin tonight with Poetry-in-Motion at the Placerville Sr. Center in Placerville, 6-7pm, then continue in Sacramento at Sac. Poetry Center with Susan Gubernat and Len Germinara (plus open mic), 7:30pm. Cal. Lawyers for the Arts presents a copyright workshop for creative types Tuesday night, 6:30pm, at The Urban Hive on Alhambra Blvd. in Sac. On Friday, Speak Up returns to The Avid Reader on Broadway in Sac. on the subject of “Rendezvous”, 7pm.

Then on Saturday, the release of this year’s Sacramento Voices Anthology (from Cold River Press) will take place at Sac. Poetry Center in conjunction with 100K Poets for Change and a potluck BBQ. Readings will be from 3-5pm, followed by the BBQ at 5. 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

 —Anonymous

Celebrate poetry!

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