No Drooling, Please

American River

—Photo by Caschwa, Sacramento, CA

BEEN THERE, WENT AROUND THAT
—Caschwa

(response to Jame Lee Jobe’s
“flooded roadway” comment,
Medusa’s Kitchen, Dec. 21, 2019) 


This was about 20 years ago when it
was just another daily commute home
from Torrance to Long Beach, but it
wasn’t at all just another day, it was
torrential rains and flooding

so I approached an intersection I had
gone through with no issue every prior
day, and paused to gauge whether the
depth of the water in the middle was in
fact safe to cross

no, not at all

it was easy to conclude this rather
quickly because right there in the middle
of the intersection was a stranded pickup
truck that clearly had a higher suspension
than my little sedan

despite it being so tempting to take the
very much shorter route straight across
the intersection, I was forced to detour
many miles out of my way to get home

I found a bar and grill on my extended
way back that made for a pleasant pit stop,
and telephoned home to explain my delay

__________________

WHAT IT FEELS LIKE XVIII
—Caschwa

when you volunteer again to go
pick up other peoples’ trash at

the beach or the parkway and
both the volume and hideous

nature of discards has grown
since the last time, as if your

noble efforts only cleared the
path for litterers

to litter
even

more
and

more 

 —Photo by Caschwa

REGRIFTING AMERICA
—Caschwa

only one letter
editors say
is worth 200 voices

there is none better
to brag or sway
our great nation of choices

grift one letter
just take it away
regift it to a swindler

pass on to a debtor
unable to pay
add to the list of Schindler

Hey, ho, the merry-o
jolly and gay
welcome to America

happy two-O two-O
a brand new day
sis-bang-boom, oom pah pah!

____________________

A HAPPY MOMENT
—Caschwa 
 
once in a while I make a purchase
from a vending machine, and when
I reach for my change, there is
obviously more there than from my
purchase alone,

but I would be ashamed if I let this
define me

finally, a female candidate for
President of the United States wins
the popular vote by a 3 million count,

but we know what happened next

maybe happy moments are only
meant to be enjoyed like a snowflake
on the tongue 

 —Photo by Caschwa

SEVEN EPIGRAMS
—Michael Ceraolo, S. Euclid, OH
 
He was a politician hearty
Not of the Anti-Bullshit Party

* * *

He wears his pants way down on his butt
I hope his ass crack does not freeze shut

* * *

He was an exemplar of the dictum,
of which there has been many a victim:
there's very little chance of your being found out
if you sound like you know what you're talking about

* * *

Anti-ineffectual
is not anti-intellectual

* * *

You say that
opinions are like assholes:
everybody has one
If that's indeed the case,
then yours are hemorrhoids

* * *

He need not have wondered or worried
about people coming to his funeral
His grave would make the Guiness Record Book
as the world's largest outdoor urinal

* * *

Well, things could always be worse
An adage meant to console,
not a personal challenge
to attempt to make them so

 —Anonymous Photo Courtesy of Joseph Nolan, Stockton, CA

IN RE: DROOLING ON THE SHOE-TOPS
OF ANOTHER, FROM AFAR
—Joseph Nolan

I wrote a poem
Of and for a
Very nice lady
Who is also a poet,
Whose poems I have heard
Her read a number of times,
And she did so quite nicely,
I thought,

But when I mentioned
In my own writings,
How she had moved me,
And she found out
I wrote about her,
She reproved me,
And rebuked me,

Explaining how inappropriate it was
To drool
On the shoe-tops of another, from afar,
And that it was a waste of
Otherwise fine saliva,
And that I should save it
For some other lady
Who might appreciate it more.

___________________

QUESTIONING POETRY
—Joseph Nolan

Is poetry
More flower or weed?
Filled with inner beauty
Or overgrowing need?

Is it just kvetching?
Strange literary breed,
Out of beat, rhyme, and meter,
Just another theater,
To show how much we bleed?

___________________

DREAM-FLIGHTS
—Joseph Nolan

To be able to fly
In a dream,
One needs a heart
That somehow sings.

To judge whether
You can make it
Over the telephone wires,
With a single, floating flight,
You must check
The purring motor
In your chest
To see if it is
Humming, afire,
To make a night-time
Jumping right.

It’s not always the case
That you can fully trace
Your course in a night-time flight
From the murmuring in your chest.

Sometimes, you can’t be sure,
And stepping off,
Sometimes, land short
Of where you planned to go
When you run out of heart. 

 —Anonymous Photo Courtesy of Joseph Nolan

ABUSIVE RELATIONSHIPS
—Joseph Nolan
 
I make myself feel taller
By cutting off friends’s legs,
Just how this might better me,
A harder question begs:
What is wrong with me?
What is it I have to prove?

Lovers get a twisted arm
Or lump to wear
Beneath their hair
Or some discoloration
At which others stare.

It really is embarrassing
To be a friend of mine.
Best to call a taxi
And have another wine.

________________

A PLACE FOR YOU AND ME
—Joseph Nolan

Some believe
The world is evolving;
Others, that it’s
Just revolving.

Some see political revolution
As evolution.

Others feel involution
Offers no solution
And that the world
Is lost in space.

If we had a picture
Of the Milky Way Galaxy,
And wanted to find the Earth,
We would need a large-drawn arrow
To help us connect the dot
We see on the map
With our field of vision,
Because it’s
Oh-so small!
Barely noticeable, at all.

But a cosmos
Always cares
And draws its arrows
Here and there
To help us
Know a way

To uncover, discover, recover,
A place for you and me.

_________________

Today’s LittleNip:

FOR YOUR SAFETY
—EG Ted Davis, Boise, ID
 
Shall we arise one morning;
to a hammering of
fists upon our doors,
to commanding voices
demanding the guns we own...

stating it is for
our own protection.

__________________

Many thanks to our contributors today for starting off our week in fine fashion, and welcome to newcomer EG Ted Davis, all the way from Boise! Poetry in our area begins tonight with Poetry in Motion poetry read-around in the Placerville Sr. Center lobby, 6-7pm, Spring St. in Placerville. Then in Sacramento at 7:30pm, there will be a reading at Sac. Poetry Center featuring Camille Norton, Barbara Swift Brauer, and open mic.

On Thursday at 8pm, Ike Torres will be featured at Poetry Unplugged at Luna’s Cafe & Juice Bar, 1414 16th St. in Sacramento. Lots of open mic, too, but get there early to sign up. 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.

Interested in workshops? Check the green box at the right for a listing of local ones which will be held this week and/or later. And here are some annual doozies coming up:

•••Thurs. (2/13), 9am-10pm: San Francisco Writers Poetry Summit, hosted as part of the 4-day SF Writers Conference. A day to focus on writing/publishing of poetry. Hyatt Regency SF, 5 Embarcadero Ctr., SF. Tickets ($195) and info (including speakers) at www.sfwriters.org (scroll down to the Poetry Summit box).

•••Sat. (4/18), 9am-5pm: 2020 Sierra Poetry Festival w/readings, workshops, music—preceded by a month of pop-up performance events. Miners Foundry Cultural Center, 325 Spring St., Nevada City, hosted by Nevada County Arts Council & Miners Foundry Cultural Center. Info: www.facebook.com/events/267917587479628/.

•••Sat. (4/4/2020): Sac. Poetry Center’s Spring Writing Conference, 25th & R Sts., Sac. More info to come…

—Medusa, hoping to “…uncover, discover, recover/A place for you and me.”

 Morning Yoga, Anyone?
—Anonymous Photo

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