—Poetry and Photos by Taylor Graham, Placerville, CA
—And scroll down for Form Fiddlers’ Friday!
PURSUIT
Time? He asks the hour again,
the minute, the year—a clock
that could ground him when
tempus fugits. No way to lock
illusive time running away,
it’s never the same as it was.
Impermanent as yesterday,
impervious to what he does.
Life’s like that of course—
little or great, short or long,
less or more, a course
laid out whether right or wrong
its direction and its end.
Is it time yet? he wants to know
again, as if Time were his friend.
It goes along as he must go.
Time? He asks the hour again,
the minute, the year—a clock
that could ground him when
tempus fugits. No way to lock
illusive time running away,
it’s never the same as it was.
Impermanent as yesterday,
impervious to what he does.
Life’s like that of course—
little or great, short or long,
less or more, a course
laid out whether right or wrong
its direction and its end.
Is it time yet? he wants to know
again, as if Time were his friend.
It goes along as he must go.
THANKS, CHARLES BONNET
Every morning’s a surprise
instigated as by dream—
eyesight failing leads to eyes’
illusions, so real they seem.
O hallucinations by the ream.
STILL LIFE: A DREAM
Old trunks recalling travel. Typewriter
to record the trip—click click its heartbeat
bated, waiting. 3-wheel scooter, helmet
perched on seat. All-weather boots
on behalf of feet. Radio, TV, phone
for keeping in touch. Guitar
to pluck the nerve-strings and Victrola horn
to broadcast tunes. A clock, of course,
for everything moves on Time. And Space?
a globe to spin in one’s hands:
meditation ball for fidgety fingers.
Stuffed bear sits atop the pile: Patience
LAND OF STONE
I’d find those gravestones, pioneer hill of bones.
Road crew said my AWD would not survive
the rocky rutted track and then get me back
again. I left my car—I could walk that far.
Out of sight, a shot. Rifle? warning or not,
it triggered an on-guard on route to graveyard.
Quite close, an unseen snick—a homesteader’s trick
to get me gone? Who owns the graveyard of stones?
GEE-WHO? GOLD RUSH WHIP UNMASKED
Stagecoach driver Charley Parkhurst
Stagecoach driver Charley Parkhurst
would leave stage-robbers unpursed.
Eye-patch and 6-in-hand fit to a T,
the best of the jehus was (s)he.
TRAVELS WITH TEDDY
He rides shotgun, you snap his picture
at every stop, with props. Here he is, aviator
of some by-gone day, so you’ll remember
Kitty Hawk. He chronicled a country music
jam in some small town whose name
you’ve long forgot. You keep close track
of him. How else can you preserve the years
flying faster than his wind-up clock?
Today’s LittleNip:
VEGETATION MANAGEMENT 3
—Taylor Graham
“We’ll trim
some trees,” the chainsaws say.
They came before, and left a mess—
a dozen stumps of oak, I guess—
and “have a happy day.”
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Friday-thanks to Taylor Graham for a fine set of poetry and photos to wrap up the week! Today she has sent us some forms, including a Clerihew (“Gee-Who?…”)—last week’s Form Fiddlers’ Challenge; a Masnavi (or Mathnawi, “Land of Stone”); a Trolaan (“Pursuit”); an EIEIO (“Thanks, Charles Bonnet”); an Argonelle (“Vegetation Management 3”); plus two poems based on last week's Ekphrastic (“Still Life: A Dream” & “Travels with Teddy”). See Medusa’s Form Finder at the end of this post for links to definitions of the forms used this week.
For more about Charles Bonnet Syndrome, see www.charlesbonnetsyndrome.org/index.php/12-latest-news/99-cbs-in-poetry/. For more about Charley Parkhurst, go to www.legendsofamerica.com/charley-parkhurst/.
This Sunday, 3pm: Lincoln Poets Club presents an online open mic, hosted by David Anderson. Please RSVP at dcajla80@gmail.com/. Zoom: us02web.zoom.us/j/82816858339?pwd=VHdhYU1aeS96Mkh6MWdQbWhyVnZBUT09 Meeting ID: 828 1685 8339; Passcode: 401798.
And don’t forget Fridays (tonight!), 7:30pm: Video poetry readings on Facebook by Davis Poet Laureate James Lee Jobe at james-lee-jobe.blogspot.com or youtube.com/jamesleejobe. Tonight James will post a reading of Boris Pasternak.
And now it’s time for Form Fiddlers’ Friday!
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FORM FIDDLERS’ FRIDAY!
And now it’s time for Form Fiddlers’ Friday!
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FORM FIDDLERS’ FRIDAY!
Both Taylor Graham and Carl Schwartz (Caschwa) responded to last week’s Form Fiddlers’ Challenge, the Clerihew. See above for Taylor’s example; here is Carl’s:
EGGLAND’S BEST
—Caschwa
The Clerihew poet Edmund Bentley
stamped his initials ever so gently
on some eggs we bought at the store
poems or eggs, one leads to more
***
infirmary blues at St. James
the diseases all had long names
thank goodness for that Dixieland
easy harmonies hand in hand
***
Woe to Alfred, Lord Tennyson
stricken with gout, no medicine
save sitting from dawn till night
at Farringford, Isle of Wight
Carl also sent us a Golden Shovel, a Sicilian Octave, and a Trois-par-Huit (Three-by-Eight):
TOGETHER
—Caschwa
(Golden Shovel on a line from
Siddhartha, by Hermann Hesse)
You, a violinist, ran low on ledger lines for
notes well above the staff and came to me, but I,
a tuba player, had no spares to offer, and said we must
join together as a collective bargaining unit, pray tell
to get better prices on those ledger lines for you
and me, as it is most certainly true that
both of us are low on our inventory and I
will soon face an urgent need to have
more ledger lines for below the staff, where no
normal lines dare to follow, for any amount of money
therefore, it will be in our best interests to
set up a mutual fund that we can each pay
into and maybe get a better deal buying lines for you
and me together; thank you most sincerely for
bringing this concern to my attention and taking
the time to enable me
to get my point across
so our music can flow like the
most beautiful river
TOGETHER
—Caschwa
(Golden Shovel on a line from
Siddhartha, by Hermann Hesse)
You, a violinist, ran low on ledger lines for
notes well above the staff and came to me, but I,
a tuba player, had no spares to offer, and said we must
join together as a collective bargaining unit, pray tell
to get better prices on those ledger lines for you
and me, as it is most certainly true that
both of us are low on our inventory and I
will soon face an urgent need to have
more ledger lines for below the staff, where no
normal lines dare to follow, for any amount of money
therefore, it will be in our best interests to
set up a mutual fund that we can each pay
into and maybe get a better deal buying lines for you
and me together; thank you most sincerely for
bringing this concern to my attention and taking
the time to enable me
to get my point across
so our music can flow like the
most beautiful river
ERUPTING (Sicilian Octave)
—Caschwa
no lie too big to leave his mouth and hunt
for gullible ears too distracted to
see the ball put in front of them to punt
was lava from a volcano’s hot spew
that would eat them whole with its massive brunt
and leave them hexed to be a cockatoo
serving the purpose of this shameless stunt
forever swirling in the witch’s brew
THE NUPTIAL (Trois-par-Huit)
—Caschwa
Soft chorus
of a charming forest
sweeping away all paranoias
The Mariposa Grove of Giant Sequoias
lovers together shout and sing hallelujahs
wedding place for a beaming couple
life ever so supple
the nuptial
—Caschwa
Soft chorus
of a charming forest
sweeping away all paranoias
The Mariposa Grove of Giant Sequoias
lovers together shout and sing hallelujahs
wedding place for a beaming couple
life ever so supple
the nuptial
And today we’ll close off with this charming Nonet from Joyce Odam, hoping her ancient golden fish will find a suitable companion:
THE LAST GOLDEN FISH
—Joyce Odam, Sacramento, CA
Somewhere an ancient golden fish
survives in the icy moonlight
of winter in a lake as
wide and deep as lost time
where it still searches
for another
as golden
and as
old.
(prev. pub. in Medusa’s Kitchen, 2011)
_____________________
Many thanks to our SnakePals for their brave fiddling! Would you like to be a SnakePal? All you have to do is send poetry—forms or not—and/or photos and artwork to kathykieth@hotmail.com. We post work from all over the world, including that which was previously-published. Just remember: the snakes of Medusa are always hungry—for poetry, of course!
_____________________
THE LAST GOLDEN FISH
—Joyce Odam, Sacramento, CA
Somewhere an ancient golden fish
survives in the icy moonlight
of winter in a lake as
wide and deep as lost time
where it still searches
for another
as golden
and as
old.
(prev. pub. in Medusa’s Kitchen, 2011)
_____________________
Many thanks to our SnakePals for their brave fiddling! Would you like to be a SnakePal? All you have to do is send poetry—forms or not—and/or photos and artwork to kathykieth@hotmail.com. We post work from all over the world, including that which was previously-published. Just remember: the snakes of Medusa are always hungry—for poetry, of course!
_____________________
NEW FEATURE: Fiddlers’ Challenge!
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MEDUSA’S FORM FINDER: Links to poetry forms mentioned today:
•••Argonelle: poeticsonline.com/glossary/argonelles
•••Clerihew: www.shadowpoetry.com/resources/wip/clerihew.html
•••Ekphrastic: notesofoak.com/discover-literature/ekphrastic-poetry
•••EIO (or EIEIO): a five-line poem where the ends of lines rhyme in the scheme of A,B,A,B,B. The beginning words of each line begin with E,I,E,I,O. (Carol Louise Moon)
•••Golden Shovel: www.writersdigest.com/write-better-poetry/golden-shovel-poetic-form
•••Joseph’s Star: www.shadowpoetry.com/resources/wip/josephsstar.html
•••Masnavi (or Mathnawi): www.writersdigest.com/write-better-poetry/masnavi-or-mathnawi-poetic-forms
•••Nonet: www.writersdigest.com/write-better-poetry/nonet-poems-poetic-form
•••Sicilian Octave: www.writersdigest.com/write-better-poetry/sicilian-octave-poetic-forms
•••Trois-par-Huit: www.shadowpoetry.com/resources/wip/troisparhuit.html
•••Trolaan: shadowpoetry.com/resources/wip/trolaan.html
_____________________
—Medusa
MEDUSA’S FORM FINDER: Links to poetry forms mentioned today:
•••Argonelle: poeticsonline.com/glossary/argonelles
•••Clerihew: www.shadowpoetry.com/resources/wip/clerihew.html
•••Ekphrastic: notesofoak.com/discover-literature/ekphrastic-poetry
•••EIO (or EIEIO): a five-line poem where the ends of lines rhyme in the scheme of A,B,A,B,B. The beginning words of each line begin with E,I,E,I,O. (Carol Louise Moon)
•••Golden Shovel: www.writersdigest.com/write-better-poetry/golden-shovel-poetic-form
•••Joseph’s Star: www.shadowpoetry.com/resources/wip/josephsstar.html
•••Masnavi (or Mathnawi): www.writersdigest.com/write-better-poetry/masnavi-or-mathnawi-poetic-forms
•••Nonet: www.writersdigest.com/write-better-poetry/nonet-poems-poetic-form
•••Sicilian Octave: www.writersdigest.com/write-better-poetry/sicilian-octave-poetic-forms
•••Trois-par-Huit: www.shadowpoetry.com/resources/wip/troisparhuit.html
•••Trolaan: shadowpoetry.com/resources/wip/trolaan.html
_____________________
—Medusa
Charley Parkhurst
—Public Domain Sketch
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