Many Mysteries

Where Will It Take Me?

—Photo by Chris Moon

MYSTERY
—Kevin Jones, Elk Grove, CA

Got my
Trenchcoat,
Got my fedora.
All I need
Is something
To solve.
 

 —Photo by Ann Privateer, Davis, CA

A HAIKU
—Ann Privateer

What can be food for deep thought
When someone gets stumped
Who knows the answers?

_________________

PHISHING
—Ann Privateer

too much data spills
from my boss, the giant bell
pepper, who prepares to be ill,
ambles the quai near the mill
until lunch hour ends, sells
my polka passes on ebay, hell
dancers dance farmer-in-the-dell
direction unimportant,

too much data
from my boss, the giant bell
pepper, I shall prepare to be ill
amble along the quai near the mill
until lunch hour ends then sell
my polka passes on ebay, hell
dancers move to any farmer-in-the-dell
direction unimportant, well...

 —Photo by Ann Privateer

If you listen to the mainstream radio
      You’d think for Memorial Day
      that America’s soldiers died for retail sales
      So many kids nowadays probably think consumerism is what it’s about
      My Dad when he was young had to “perform” in ceremonies for the fallen dead—
      (such as play a musical instrument in a band or sing in a choir)
      he didn’t just “get the day off” from school as children do today
      In the ’50’s they didn’t want kids to forget what our fallen soldiers fought for—
      including that America's “freedom wasn’t for free"
      and Americans sacrificing their lives freed Western Europe from fascist tyranny too      

—Michelle Kunert, Sacramento, CA

 Little Rocks, Not in Arkansas

—Photo by Michelle Kunert

WAKING UP
—Joseph Nolan, Stockton, CA
 
Somewhere in the middle
Of a daydream
Was a nightmare.

It didn’t last too long.
I woke up.

Nightmares are
At least good for that:
To make you wake up.

_______________

ALLERGIES AND SNEEZING
—Joseph Nolan

I sneeze like a machine!
Pistons up and busting,
Every five seconds,
Like metal, always rusting.

Where comes from, this?
A horror, awkward,
On a slant-board,
On a downhill slide,

My Mother
One time
Told me
Allergies
Are for the
Maladjusted.

In her word
I trusted,
At least
Until today,
When sneezing
Will not go away.

So I lay a wager
That an evening stranger
Who sneezes
Relentlessly
Will not get laid.

 —Photo by Michelle Kunert

PLAYING CARDS
—Joseph Nolan

The problem with our relationship
Is that we are dealing from different decks.
We are also dealing with different decks.
Some cards are sadly missing from each.

In mine, every third-numbered card has been removed.
Thus, the impossibility of obtaining a straight.
In your deck, many hearts and diamonds are gone.
It’s hard to get a red flush
Or to blush.

We strive for a full-house.
Royal cards
Are very hard
To find
In our line
Or lineage.
Spending nights
In badinage,
We miss the thrust
Of something more lush.
We fear
What calling brings:
Suicide Jacks and Kings.

_______________

MUSIC AND DANCE
—Joseph Nolan

There’s so much noise around music
It seems it’s hard to hear,
But when music knows
It’s time to move in
It will,
Immediately—
Straight into the dance.
Music is the dance of life!

—Photo by Michelle Kunert

DREAMS
—Joseph Nolan

Let your dream
Be-loft and hover
Over your chosen land
Your life, your dream,
Your children’s playing,
All that you have planned
And carry all
Your daydreams, calling,
Echoes, faint, command—

Mercy is
That any are still beside you;
Your dream,
Still inside you. 

 Mel Silva Weaves

—Photo by Michelle Kunert

THAT WINNING FEELING
—Caschwa, Sacramento, CA
 
the waste cans are emptied
the flour is milled
the bread is sliced
the wine is chilled

all bills are paid
all deadlines are met
all bedbugs are absent
all blood, tears, and sweat

powerful love is ours
powerful emotions free
powerful hormones do their trick
powerful as the tallest tree

Ospreys catch trophy fish, while
Ostrich eggs sit in the rough
Ostensibly waiting until that time
Osmosis will say it’s enough

_________________

DON’T CARE NO MORE
—Caschwa

I used to get ridiculed daily
for being too thin
before thin was in

by the time skin-tight pants
were making the rounds
I had put on some pounds

lately I sport unsightly bulges
in all the places that draw the eye
I’ll be ridiculed daily until I die

Now I spout the ridicule
and make others kneel
because it’s all about how I feel 

 —Photo by Michelle Kunert

JUST IN CASE
—Caschwa

May my worst misfortune be
fleet enemies every day
who dash in to cleanse me of
all that stands in their way

may they steal the treasured peanuts
from my box of caramel corn
or pick the raisins right out of my bran
that fortifies me each morn

or swipe away my dinner plate
piled high with griddled fish
but leave me a small bottle of iodine
to rub and make a wish

_________________

$MILE
—Caschwa

It could be just me, or maybe I’m not alone
in this point of view, BUT

after decades of propaganda suggesting
that a good, bright smile was indicative of
a daily personal regimen emphasizing good
oral hygiene

today’s mass marketing of implants on my
HD TV presents so many perfect smiles
that when I see a mature adult step out of
their luxury car and sport a flawless 32

The first thought that comes to mind is:

Where did you buy your teeth?

_________________

Today’s LittleNip:

CAN’T QUITE SEPARATE
—Caschwa

Volumes and volumes of
chapter and verse
boil down to one sentence
hearing: legal format for curse

________________

A Memorial Day thank-you to today’s memorable poets and photographers for starting off the last Monday in May for us. What?? Where did all those months of 2019 go???

Our poetry week starts at Sac. Poetry Center tonight, 7:30pm, with the End of the World Project Anthology, featuring readers and a short film by Chip Lord, plus open mic.
 

SPC workshops this week include Tuesday Night Workshop for critiquing of poems at the Hart Center (27th and J Sts.) on Tuesday, 7:30-9pm (call Danyen Powell at 530-681-0026 for info), and MarieWriters Generative Writing Workshop at SPC for writing poems, 6-8pm on Wednesday.

And on Friday, Speak Up: The Art of Storytelling presents a performance evening on the theme of Summertime, at The Avid Reader on Broadway in Sacramento. 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, celebrating the men and women in the past and present U.S. Armed Forces for all they have given for our country

 —Anonymous Photo
For “44 Facts About the US Armed Forces”, see 

www.factinate.com/things/44-facts-us-armed-forces/.

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