Cranky Lion (It Must be Monday)
—Public Domain Photos Courtesy of Joseph Nolan, Stockton, CA
—Public Domain Photos Courtesy of Joseph Nolan, Stockton, CA
LITTLE MONSTERS
—Kevin Jones, Elk Grove, CA
Worse than
The big ones, they
Fit better
Under the bed.
*
And when they wake
Up, they're hungry.
Extra Spam and
Wonder Bread works.
And thirsty too,
Going after
The best imports
In the fridge.
“You got no
Carlsberg Elephant? "
"No. You're
A monster. You're
not even Danish."
"Neither are you."
"Here's the Guinness,
Now shut up."
*
After, they want
To go outside
And fight
The trolls.
And
Always
Win.
*
Then they come
Back in
To water
The plants.
Watch carefully:
They're enthusiastic
By now.
*
Set them to dusting
And vacuuming, but
Don't let them clean
The mirrors or
The toilets. Don't ask.
*
They're winding down.
Time for porridge.
And if it's Thursday,
More butter.
Much more.
*
Time for bed.
Hum something
Calming, kiss
Then goodnight,
And put them
Back under
The bed.
*
Don't bother
To count.
It will never
Be the same.
ENDLESS EVERYTHING
—Charles Mariano, Sacramento, CA
the forest,
the trees,
blind alleys,
thick walls,
gigantic mountains,
the air
we breathe,
and oceans
lots of oceans
to drown in…
still here
YOUR SOLITARY DUNGEON
—Joseph Nolan
It’s time to run away,
But there’s no place left to go.
The borders have been closed
And they’ve told us to stay home.
Keep away from others!
Into distance stare,
Bless your isolation,
As a gem beyond compare.
Think about a monastery,
Where you,
A lonely monk,
Give handouts
To hungry monkeys,
To relieve
Your solitary dungeon.
________________
CAR FOR SALE
—Joseph Nolan
The check-engine light is on.
It says there is no engine
And no transmission.
It used to drive just fine
But these days
There’s a problem,
I wish it were not mine.
If you’d like to buy it,
You will need a tow,
So for a
Reasonable price,
I will let it go.
THE RICKETY BRIDGE
—Joseph Nolan
The rickety bridge
Was bound to fail.
It shook in the wind
And lost a nail.
And when the nail
Fell to the ground,
The bridge let out
A terrible sound,
Something like a moan.
A feeble old man
With his walking stick
Walked across,
Lickety-split!
When he heard
The old bridge groan.
It’s a good, thing, too,
Since it went down quick,
Just like that,
All for want of a nail!
_________________
BOARDING-HOUSE HALLWAY AT NIGHT
—Joseph Nolan
Echoes, footsteps
Rattle down hallways,
Calling into question
A neighbor’s cobbler,
A fine sound of soles,
Rhythm astride
Just outside
A thin hallway-door
In this
Boarding house,
Where people
Come and go,
Come, go,
Enter and leave,
Depart with hellos
Into oblivion,
Back and forth,
Forth, backtrack
Into the black
Of night
From the dim
Yellow bulb,
Hallway light.
TOO DARKLY
—Joseph Nolan
I have lived
On the back of
A lizard
And jumped across
A deafened sea
On the
Back of a martyred flea;
I have
Acted quite preposterously
On the back of a grey rhinoceros,
While a giraffe
Was summarizing me
And for this,
For none of this,
Was I the wiser!
I,
Who had been
A despiser
Of fools like me,
Who arbitrarily
Divide this
Into that
In a process
By which
Everything looks
Much darker
Than it
Should seem
To be,
If our construction
Were closer
To reality.
Too darkly!
________________
PAPER IT OVER AND LET IT ROT
—Joseph Nolan
Paper it over
And let it all rot.
I don’t care
How much fraud
You’ve got,
Paper it over
And let it all rot!
It’s all the same to me
If the world collapses
Under my tree.
It’s all about what I’ve got.
So, paper it over,
And let it all rot.
Watch the new sensation
Of free-fall across the nation.
Ponzi had the right plot!
So paper it over
And let it all rot!
T.P. Essentials
VARIABLE
—Caschwa, Sacramento, CA
looked out the window
this windy-wet morn
and couldn’t tell you
if it was raining
surely raindrops were blowing
from the rooftops and the trees
audible splattering drops
but twice-fallen rain won’t count
then a heavier sound made me peek
out the window again and see hail,
real precipitation, by golly!
closed the book on nerd analysis
_________________
TALL AND TALLER
—Caschwa
I limit my coffee to
a few tall mugs a day
OK, I start with a few
then add a few too many
OK, coffee is my krill
I just can’t stop consuming it
standing up is fine
if there’s just no place to sit
a refill is the same
as breathing in some air
I do this on my own
it wasn’t from a dare
coffee is my everything
my very best romance
it found me sad and lonely
my life it did enhance
I limit my stories to
a few tall tales a day…
SYMPTOMS
—Caschwa
my breathing is fine
but I do experience
some shortness of thought
my attention span
is not a Texas mile, or
Grand Canyon chasm
within normal range
the forehead thermometer
reading does proclaim
my old treasure chest
does suffer persistent pain
or pressure from the feds
here is a new test:
let’s quantify confusion
oops! everyone fails
ON THE WALL
—Caschwa
a moose head with elongated snout
and generous antlers
eternal eyes
a Jesus with paucity of clothing
not even one molecule
of condemnation
we have partaken from both
all we can eat
now they are trophies on the wall
along with the antique telephone,
cat clock with pendulum tail
all triggers for bragging rights
Bird's Nest built on car in Malasia
while it was in lockdown
DREAMERS
—Caschwa
he stood at the water’s edge
and dreamt about taking a swim
if only that paper drinking cup
were an Olympic pool
she fondled her newborn baby
and spoke softly of high hopes
college for sure, maybe public office
once they admit puppies
the bicyclist knew he could soar
downhill faster than anybody!
staying seated on the bike,
now that’s another problem
home of the brave, and
land of the buy one, get one
on approved credit
if we like you
____________________
Today’s LittleNip(s):
JUST ANOTHER BRIEFING
—Caschwa
thanks to my gut feelings
we’ve got this pandemic
thing under control and
we’ll be back to business
as usual before you know
and there is reassuring news
about global warming also,
they’ve found that there is
plenty of spare water on
Mars….I’m going to christen
the project: “Buckets in Orbit”
* * *
LET THINGS GO!
—Joseph Nolan
Absolute abstraction
Convinces astute intellects
Ideas are more important than things,
That ideas are the only things
We shall ever know.
So just let things go
And keep your head
Screwed on straight!
_________________________________
Good advice, Joseph—to keep our heads screwed on straight! Thanks to Joseph Nolan for finding us these photos today, cheering up our Monday, and thanks to our other contributors, too. “Little Monsters” is our current Seed of the Week; seems like we’re stomping them out left and right these days. As Kevin Jones says, “Don’t bother to count. It will never be the same...”
The sound of crickets permeates our reading arenas in this area, as our community observes the stay-away-from-each-other order—although some people are exploring virtual readings and events, such as Davis Poet Laureate James Lee Jobe’s readings on Fridays at 7:30pm (www.facebook.com/jamesleejobe/), and the conversion to online of the 2020 Sierra Poetry Festival this coming Saturday in Grass Valley, beginning at 9am (see www.sierrapoetryfestival.org/ to register).
Sacramento Poetry Center has also converted several events this week to Zoom; see the list with instructions below. This list may also be seen at www.sacramentopoetrycenter.com/.
SPC Online Poetry Events – Week of April 13, 2020
•••Mon. (4/13), 10am: Writers on the Air, led by Todd Boyd. Please RSVP in advance via email to writersontheair.message@gmail.com/. Zoom link: us04web.zoom.us/j/358106078?pwd=YzdvelcxOW1CNWg2YnBuc05ZYUJaQT09/. Meeting ID: 358 106 078; Password: 025674.
•••Mon. (4/13), 7:15pm: SPC Monday night poetry reading of “Socially Distant Verse” on Zoom, hosted by Stuart Canton at us04web.zoom.us/j/7638733462/. Meeting ID: 763 873 3462 ("P O E T R E E I N C”); Password: spcsdv2020.
•••Tue. (4/14), 7:30pm: SPC Tuesday night workshop facilitated by Danyen Powell; bring a poem for critique. (Note: Zoom link not available yet; watch for updates.)
•••Wed. (4/15), 6pm: MarieWriters facilitated by Laura Rosenthal. Write to a prompt and share your poem. Register in advance for this meeting at zoom.us/meeting/register/u5Msc-2rpzIsRx8Qd4a8kJQz0Kdn5rH44A/. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting. (If you have registered before, just use the same link.)
•••Fri. (4/17), 4pm: Writing from the Inside Out weekly workshop writing to prompts, facilitated by Nick LeForce. Info/reg. in advance for this meeting at
zoom.us/meeting/register/upwkde-opjkpnyQECAVBKolY4hKCdl61uA/. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting. (If you have registered before, just use the same link.)
Stay tuned in the coming weeks for more such offerings which artfully use the technology of our times—and please let me know about virtual readings and workshops so I can post them and increase your audience!
For more up-coming poetry events in our area, including those which are being cancelled due to COVID-19, scroll down to the blue column (under the green column at the right) for info—and note that more may be added at the last minute.
_______________________
—Medusa, considering the concept of virtual snakes (which do what you tell them to do!) . . .
Look who ELSE is cranky!
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