Message in a Bottle

—Anonymous Photos Courtesy of Joseph Nolan, Stockton, CA

MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE
—Joseph Nolan

At issue
Was a message
From a bottle.

It said
Someone
Was stranded
On a desert isle.

It might have been
From Gilligan,
The Captain,
Or Professor,

But I was holding out
For Mary-Anne or Ginger
And threw the bottle
Back into the sea!

___________________

IN MARINARA, TOGETHER!
—Joseph Nolan

In another
Marinara,
Where sauces
Do not climb,
Up to the top
Of the rim
Of the bowl,
Pasta Festival,
So divine!

Imagine
Us together!
Pasta strands
Do us entwine,
Together at
The table,
Talking,
Feeling fine.

MAMA FISH-FRY!
—Joseph Nolan
 

Hello,
Mama fish-fry!
I am here
To lick your batter
And eat your
Fried
Fish.

Might you
Like to make
A wish,
Before we
Begin?

Extra salt
Or vinegar?
Or plain
As the wages
Of sin?

Pleasure,
A virtue,
We struggle
To win!

________________

WANDERING CHILD
—Joseph Nolan

Born
With a traveler’s heart,
With feet that
Were meant to wander,
With a constant, burning wonder—
What’s over
The next hill.

Come what will,
She’ll be on the road, tomorrow
Or the next day.
There isn’t any way
To hold her here,
When grace
Will take her away.

Born
To roam,
Made
To ramble,
Grown
With two strong legs
And a will to amble
Over hill and dale,
Even through the brambles,
She’s a wandering child,
Free and wild! 

WHAT IT FEELS LIKE XXVII
—Caschwa, Sacramento, CA

when you are short on cash
and all the best sales prices
only offer a savings in
Rewards Points.

__________________

WHAT IF FEELS LIKE XXVIII
—Caschwa

when your tax dollars are spent to
hire and pay good wages and benefits
to full-time legislators to create laws
that direct full-time law enforcement
staff to arrest, detain, and impose very,
very large fines against full-time homeless
individuals who were somehow pushed
into retirement without a golden parachute,
and who now clutter and foul the space
they are in because they have no access
to housing or restrooms.

oh wait!  the pioneers we celebrate
roughed it without housing or restrooms,
but that was before all territory became
someone’s property…

what a fine mess we have here today

WHAT IT FEELS LIKE XXIX
—Caschwa

when you wake up in a jail cell
and realize that your whole world
is a power struggle, like it was when
you were on the outside, like it will
be again when you get released

forget about your skills
sharpen your shivvie

____________________

WHAT IT FEELS LIKE XX
—Caschwa

when one’s best excuse was that
they didn’t have the opportunities
necessary to thrive, and then they
are presented those opportunities
and have no idea what to do with
them

maybe the public school curriculum
should be giving as much weight to
teaching how to reap the benefits of
opportunities as it already does to
teaching all the negatives that arise
from disobedience, to better mold
the minds of our future voters

____________________

Today’s LittleNip: 
 

VICTIMS OF A STORM!
—Joseph Nolan

Creaky, aging branches
Moan into the wind,
Fearing they might break.

It’s been known to
Take a few:
The weaker ones
Who’ve sinned.

At least
That’s what
Some trees say
About the ones
Who’ve blown away,
Victims of a storm!

__________________

Merry Monday and thanks to Joseph Nolan and Carl Schwartz (Cashwa) for stirring up things in the Kitchen today!

Check out these poetry events in our area this week. 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.

•••Tonight in Placerville, Poetry in Motion poetry read-around meets from 6-7pm at the Placerville Sr. Center on Spring St.

•••Also tonight, at 7:30pm, Sac. Poetry Center presents Hugh Behm-Steinberg and Lucy Corin plus open mic, 25th & R Sts., Sac.

•••Thursday, 8pm: Poetry Unplugged at Luna’s Cafe & Juice Bar features readers and open mic, 16th St., Sacramento.

•••Friday: Speak Up: The Art of Storytelling and Poetry meets at 7pm at The Avid Reader on Broadway in Sac., with readers on the subject of “Magic”.

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.

____________________

—Medusa, still thinking about that angler fish thing…

 Spring is on the Wing!

—Anonymous Photo

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.