—Photo by Ann Privateer, Davis, CA
KINDLY
—Ann Privateer
It's the first of the month
At the end of the year
People are thinking
About presents
About how to live
A good life
About family and friends
In the key of C
Christmas and Hanukkah
Here we come.
_________________
ALL THE WHILE
—Ann Privateer
Living well
Spells other people
Sharing and caring
Creatively
In a less is more
Way, linking up
Increasing enjoyment.
SHE
—Ann Privateer
Carries a baby
Holster style
Dangling in a sac
From her neck
He sobs and sobs
She coos and rocks
Back and forth
There there
If only he could speak!
DOUGHNUT HOLES
—Joseph Nolan, Stockton, CA
The world’s not flat
It’s round
With a hole
Right through the middle,
Engulfing me and you.
It’s why the sky is blue.
Something is sorely missing
We can feel it in our hearts.
Something from our middles
That was torn apart
From the rest of the dough
And we miss it, so!
It’s why we don’t mind paying
Through the nose
For doughnut holes.
DOG VACATIONS
—Joseph Nolan
Dogs never go on vacation.
Why should you?
Dogs honor you with their
Willingness to always be there
With you,
Their master.
They never take a break
Or feel the need to,
To head out to the local pub
For a few beers
With their fellow dogs,
To gather with their alternative pack.
Why should you?
Why do you?
Have you ever
Wondered why you need to?
Not that there’s anything wrong with that.
___________________
FINER POINTS
—Joseph Nolan
It’s hard to put a finer point on things.
Getting things half-sharp is easy,
Even routine.
A half-sharp knife is not hard to turn out,
An ax, analogy,
Simile, or metaphor.
It just gets hard when you make it more,
More precise, more perfect, more adroit,
When lacking all weakness,
It is hard to exploit.
CROWS MUST TRAVEL ON
—Joseph Nolan
A time will come for crows to fly,
When they are ready to leave,
When they are tired of being here
And they’d rather be over there,
Somewhere,
Maybe anywhere,
Other than here.
Time in one place can be so long!
Too long, for nearly any crow to take.
Crows appreciate a change of place
A change of pace
A place of grace in which to caw,
As they were meant to caw—
Out loud,
Loudly and in graveled tones
Without restraint
That comes from tired places,
Tired from too long.
As they sort their weary bones
Upon the wing again
They may not caw “Good-bye.”
DID YOU GET IT?
—Joseph Nolan
Did you get it?
That thing he said
About understanding the esoteric
As the lambasting of
Post-modernist impressionism?
I’m having a difficult time with that.
I feel I am being triggered!
Whatever happened to rows of crows
Waiting for corn to ripen
Until the rows are covered in snows?
When did that go away?
I just loved the old-style ambiguity there!
__________________
THE DISAPPEARANCE OF IMAGINATION
—Joseph Nolan
In a moment,
In a second,
Imagination
Disappears,
Like a rock
That falls from heaven
Into water
So clear!
The ripples spread
Throughout your head
And kiss
Surrounding ground,
When things go solid,
Like a rock that fell from heaven
Just missing your toe,
So you let go!
UNKNOWN
—Caschwa, Sacramento, CA
Hello there! I am
Bick Pentameter, please pay
attention closely
*****
Hold hands with the nice
lady standing to your right
the rest of the night
*****
Take her home, invite
her inside and offer her
the best TV seat
*****
Whatever you do,
just keep your lips closed tightly
and all will be fine
*****
If you two should take
a liking, or fall in love,
so much the better
*****
Now it is time to
stare at pictures on the wall
and write poetry
*****
Please ignore the high
coo of the doves dying from
oven-cleaning fumes
HISTORY LESSONS
—Caschwa
Creation or Darwin, take your pick
at some point Fire
a miraculous Exodus from Egypt
don’t forget the Ten Commandments
and those Old and New Testaments
the marvelous Printing Press
showcased an Industrial Revolution
the New World
our Democratic Experiment
the War to End All Wars, plus another
Nuclear Proliferation
The Cold War
Global Warming gets the cold shoulder
daily Armageddon forecasts
Jehovah’s Witness Protection League
The Cubs win the World Series
President Cofefe
STANDING ALONE
—Caschwa
On a green grassy knoll
quite bare of utility lines,
stands a playful structure
built of square roots and sines
Its yellow light shields the gray
of threatening clouds above,
inside dance seven turkeys
all madly in love
______________________
Today’s LittleNip:
ACCENTUATION
—Caschwa
There has been
forMIDible
conTROversy
calCUlated with
conTINental reach
to disrupt our
conCENtration from
kinDERgarten on.
______________________
Our thanks to today’s fine poets and photographers for today’s gathering in the Kitchen!
Poetry events in our area begin tonight at Sac. Poetry Center, 7:30pm, with readers from Kate Asche’s workshops, plus open mic. Joey Garcia will read at Poetry Unplugged at Luna’s Cafe on Thursday, plus open mic, 8pm.
On Sunday, Davis Arts Center Poetry Series will present readers from the new anthology, Fire and Rain: Ecopoetry of California, 2pm. Also on Sunday, Poetry in Placerville (changing its name to Poetry of the Sierra Foothills) will meet (this month only) at Caffe Santoro in Diamond Springs and will present Yuyutsu RD Sharma. 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
—Ann Privateer
It's the first of the month
At the end of the year
People are thinking
About presents
About how to live
A good life
About family and friends
In the key of C
Christmas and Hanukkah
Here we come.
_________________
ALL THE WHILE
—Ann Privateer
Living well
Spells other people
Sharing and caring
Creatively
In a less is more
Way, linking up
Increasing enjoyment.
—Photo by Ann Privateer
SHE
—Ann Privateer
Carries a baby
Holster style
Dangling in a sac
From her neck
He sobs and sobs
She coos and rocks
Back and forth
There there
If only he could speak!
—Photo by Ann Privateer
DOUGHNUT HOLES
—Joseph Nolan, Stockton, CA
The world’s not flat
It’s round
With a hole
Right through the middle,
Engulfing me and you.
It’s why the sky is blue.
Something is sorely missing
We can feel it in our hearts.
Something from our middles
That was torn apart
From the rest of the dough
And we miss it, so!
It’s why we don’t mind paying
Through the nose
For doughnut holes.
Dramatic Waves
—Photo by Katy Brown, Davis, CA
DOG VACATIONS
—Joseph Nolan
Dogs never go on vacation.
Why should you?
Dogs honor you with their
Willingness to always be there
With you,
Their master.
They never take a break
Or feel the need to,
To head out to the local pub
For a few beers
With their fellow dogs,
To gather with their alternative pack.
Why should you?
Why do you?
Have you ever
Wondered why you need to?
Not that there’s anything wrong with that.
___________________
FINER POINTS
—Joseph Nolan
It’s hard to put a finer point on things.
Getting things half-sharp is easy,
Even routine.
A half-sharp knife is not hard to turn out,
An ax, analogy,
Simile, or metaphor.
It just gets hard when you make it more,
More precise, more perfect, more adroit,
When lacking all weakness,
It is hard to exploit.
Sun, 3PM, Smoke-filtered
—Photo by Katy Brown
CROWS MUST TRAVEL ON
—Joseph Nolan
A time will come for crows to fly,
When they are ready to leave,
When they are tired of being here
And they’d rather be over there,
Somewhere,
Maybe anywhere,
Other than here.
Time in one place can be so long!
Too long, for nearly any crow to take.
Crows appreciate a change of place
A change of pace
A place of grace in which to caw,
As they were meant to caw—
Out loud,
Loudly and in graveled tones
Without restraint
That comes from tired places,
Tired from too long.
As they sort their weary bones
Upon the wing again
They may not caw “Good-bye.”
Shaking Off Spray
—Photo by Katy Brown
DID YOU GET IT?
—Joseph Nolan
Did you get it?
That thing he said
About understanding the esoteric
As the lambasting of
Post-modernist impressionism?
I’m having a difficult time with that.
I feel I am being triggered!
Whatever happened to rows of crows
Waiting for corn to ripen
Until the rows are covered in snows?
When did that go away?
I just loved the old-style ambiguity there!
__________________
THE DISAPPEARANCE OF IMAGINATION
—Joseph Nolan
In a moment,
In a second,
Imagination
Disappears,
Like a rock
That falls from heaven
Into water
So clear!
The ripples spread
Throughout your head
And kiss
Surrounding ground,
When things go solid,
Like a rock that fell from heaven
Just missing your toe,
So you let go!
Otters Pay Attention
—Photo by Katy Brown
UNKNOWN
—Caschwa, Sacramento, CA
Hello there! I am
Bick Pentameter, please pay
attention closely
*****
Hold hands with the nice
lady standing to your right
the rest of the night
*****
Take her home, invite
her inside and offer her
the best TV seat
*****
Whatever you do,
just keep your lips closed tightly
and all will be fine
*****
If you two should take
a liking, or fall in love,
so much the better
*****
Now it is time to
stare at pictures on the wall
and write poetry
*****
Please ignore the high
coo of the doves dying from
oven-cleaning fumes
What ARE They?
—Photo by Katy Brown
HISTORY LESSONS
—Caschwa
Creation or Darwin, take your pick
at some point Fire
a miraculous Exodus from Egypt
don’t forget the Ten Commandments
and those Old and New Testaments
the marvelous Printing Press
showcased an Industrial Revolution
the New World
our Democratic Experiment
the War to End All Wars, plus another
Nuclear Proliferation
The Cold War
Global Warming gets the cold shoulder
daily Armageddon forecasts
Jehovah’s Witness Protection League
The Cubs win the World Series
President Cofefe
Just Watching
—Photo by Katy Brown
STANDING ALONE
—Caschwa
On a green grassy knoll
quite bare of utility lines,
stands a playful structure
built of square roots and sines
Its yellow light shields the gray
of threatening clouds above,
inside dance seven turkeys
all madly in love
______________________
Today’s LittleNip:
ACCENTUATION
—Caschwa
There has been
forMIDible
conTROversy
calCUlated with
conTINental reach
to disrupt our
conCENtration from
kinDERgarten on.
______________________
Our thanks to today’s fine poets and photographers for today’s gathering in the Kitchen!
Poetry events in our area begin tonight at Sac. Poetry Center, 7:30pm, with readers from Kate Asche’s workshops, plus open mic. Joey Garcia will read at Poetry Unplugged at Luna’s Cafe on Thursday, plus open mic, 8pm.
On Sunday, Davis Arts Center Poetry Series will present readers from the new anthology, Fire and Rain: Ecopoetry of California, 2pm. Also on Sunday, Poetry in Placerville (changing its name to Poetry of the Sierra Foothills) will meet (this month only) at Caffe Santoro in Diamond Springs and will present Yuyutsu RD Sharma. 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
—Photo by Katy Brown
(Celebrate Poetry!)
Photos in this column can be enlarged by
clicking on them once, then clicking on the x
in the top right corner to come back to Medusa.