—Poetry by Joseph Nolan, Michelle Kunert,
Caschwa (Carl Schwartz)
—Public Domain Photos Courtesy of Joseph Nolan
AT SEASHORE BEFORE DAWN
—Joseph Nolan, Stockton, CA
We have wandered, amiss,
In the fog, in the mist,
That has drifted
In from shore.
Beauty, in the early dawn,
Escapes the ones
Who linger on,
In bed, after the sunrise.
Meanwhile, down by the sea,
Things are always happening.
Sea lions and seals
Brave the waves
To find some fish to feed
Their early-morning’s hunger.
Come, the ones who wonder,
What the sea might mean to thee,
When sun has not yet risen,
When waves drift to eternity,
Unburdened by the brilliance of our
Mother star!
—Joseph Nolan, Stockton, CA
We have wandered, amiss,
In the fog, in the mist,
That has drifted
In from shore.
Beauty, in the early dawn,
Escapes the ones
Who linger on,
In bed, after the sunrise.
Meanwhile, down by the sea,
Things are always happening.
Sea lions and seals
Brave the waves
To find some fish to feed
Their early-morning’s hunger.
Come, the ones who wonder,
What the sea might mean to thee,
When sun has not yet risen,
When waves drift to eternity,
Unburdened by the brilliance of our
Mother star!
Wave: 1/1000 of a second
COWBOYS IN SALOONS
—Joseph Nolan
It’s time for us
To rendezvous
With the ghosts of
Saloons past,
Drinking shots
We buy
With gold dust,
As long as
Gold dust lasts.
And when all the
Gold is gone,
We’ll saunter to the street,
Winking at some honeys
We cannot pay to meet.
FAMILY DIASPORA
—Joseph Nolan
In a desperate scramble to avoid each other,
A cacaphonous concatenation of
Discordant harmonies
Stumbled over each other
In a rucksack rhythm,
Seeking escape from the bag,
A variation on a theme
Of a consistent meter that said,
“You are no better than me!”
We all fell from the same tree!
You can’t get away
From what we all are.
You’ll never be free from the tree!”
ROWING OVER SILKY POND
—Joseph Nolan
The contentment of
A broken dream
May be resignation—
Quiet sighs, unheard.
Whispers follow
Spoken words
To try to pull them back
Down stifled throats.
If wishes were boats
The poor would sail the open seas
Wherever they might wish to go,
But we all know
Reality’s not that easy.
Still, you can’t deny,
Even over a silky pond,
How sweet it is to row!
I couldn’t stand the T.V. news presidential election coverage this year
I mean it could be like, “War has broken out among ‘red’ and ‘blue’ states",
where people would even be shooting at each other.
Then they would say, “But here is the weather…”
—Michelle Kunert, Sacramento, CA
I mean it could be like, “War has broken out among ‘red’ and ‘blue’ states",
where people would even be shooting at each other.
Then they would say, “But here is the weather…”
—Michelle Kunert, Sacramento, CA
Transition Team
SUDDENLY DISQUIET
—Caschwa, Sacramento, CA
the Chihuahua disappears on the
doggy run
soft paws touching clipped lawn
having fun
head craning upward to scout the fence
no squirrels to chase
pausing, waiting, as if in a long line
this is not a race
and then something happens
with all four feet
the quiet disappears in a crackle
then a repeat
over and over and over and over
big crunch times four
every little step is as loud as can be
and then there’s more
the dry leaves of Autumn
have gotten underfoot
right around the waste can
into which they will be put
—Caschwa, Sacramento, CA
the Chihuahua disappears on the
doggy run
soft paws touching clipped lawn
having fun
head craning upward to scout the fence
no squirrels to chase
pausing, waiting, as if in a long line
this is not a race
and then something happens
with all four feet
the quiet disappears in a crackle
then a repeat
over and over and over and over
big crunch times four
every little step is as loud as can be
and then there’s more
the dry leaves of Autumn
have gotten underfoot
right around the waste can
into which they will be put
No, this is not a Chihuahua...
DOG DAYS FOREVER
—Caschwa
just imagine the size of the uproar if an
increasing number of dog owners who
shouted orders at their dogs, took out a
gun and shot the dog dead right there
for failing to comply with the order
now consider if the police did that with
suspects, making it the overriding priority
to kill a disobedient soul above bringing
them in alive to face charges…
in this land of liberty and justice for all,
there should be no problem whatsoever
securing ample funding for law enforcement
departments who use their incredible
powers to advance the cause of justice,
and not just to beat the drum of obedience
—Caschwa
just imagine the size of the uproar if an
increasing number of dog owners who
shouted orders at their dogs, took out a
gun and shot the dog dead right there
for failing to comply with the order
now consider if the police did that with
suspects, making it the overriding priority
to kill a disobedient soul above bringing
them in alive to face charges…
in this land of liberty and justice for all,
there should be no problem whatsoever
securing ample funding for law enforcement
departments who use their incredible
powers to advance the cause of justice,
and not just to beat the drum of obedience
THE NEED TO HEAL
—Caschwa
open
heavily salted wounds
will not quickly heal; no matter
how softly we speak, our chatter
is arrows to balloons
***
because
you and I don’t support
the same approach to leadership
what mine includes, then yours will skip,
where mine’s long, yours is short
***
don’t try
to test me on a book
that you have read and digested
and know which parts are protested
just to give me the look
***
let time
heal our distant visions
of how we want this country run
there’s room on Earth to let the sun
highlight each of our decisions
(Argonelle Chain poetry form)
YOU’RE OUT!!
—Caschwa
the season-ticket holders luxuriated
with food and drink and good seats
as the players and officials took the field
high in the grandstand broadcaster’s
booth was Mike Pence, who noted,
“We think there is a miracle around the corner.”
home plate umpire Lindsey Graham insightfully
stated, “I am trying to give a pretty clear signal,
I have made up my mind. I’m not trying to
pretend to be a fair juror here.”
the first baseman was old Mitch McConnell, the
Grim Reaper, minding the Senate graveyard and
eager to preserve his reputation for not letting
anything get past him
the pitcher with his famous orange-peel skin took
the mound and readied himself to fascinate the
crowd with a bevy of slick, swift, sales pitches
then rain clouds blew in, buckets of rain fell, and
all those players, officials, and broadcasters melted
into yesterday’s headlines
BUT IF…
—Caschwa
We love the game of baseball,
the teams, the players, the action
but if a professional, major league
pitcher intentionally throws a fast
ball straight to the head of the batter,
there should be severe consequences
for that misdeed, and if the organization
encourages or enables such actions,
there should be severe consequences
for them as well
We love our law enforcement, the
skill, the sacrifice, the contribution
but if…
—Caschwa
We love the game of baseball,
the teams, the players, the action
but if a professional, major league
pitcher intentionally throws a fast
ball straight to the head of the batter,
there should be severe consequences
for that misdeed, and if the organization
encourages or enables such actions,
there should be severe consequences
for them as well
We love our law enforcement, the
skill, the sacrifice, the contribution
but if…
Today’s LittleNip:
THE DUNCE CAP PHILOSOPHER
—Caschwa
he thought himself quite worldly
when in fact it was only
from experience
gained most narrowly,
sophistication
self-praised verily
which served to taper
the sphere of knowledge he’s known
into the shape of a cone
(Sandwiched by Sevens poetry form)
____________________
Monday thanks to Joseph Nolan, Michelle Kunert and Caschwa (Carl Schwartz) for starting off another autumn week for us here in the Kitchen! Speaking of Carl, I messed up last Friday's posting of two of his Form Fiddlers' Friday poems—got them jumbled up, dang it. I corrected them later that day, but I'm sorry for the snafu.
Several events are coming up in our area this week on Zoom. For more info about those at Sac. Poetry Center, go to www.sacramentopoetrycenter.com/. Area online poetry events this week include:
•••Mon., 6pm: SPC Annual Meeting to elect a new Board of Directors. If you’d like to “attend”, the Zoom link is us02web.zoom.us/j/7638733462. Meeting ID: 763 873 3462. Passcode: spcsdv2020.
•••Mon. 7:15pm: SPC Monday Night Socially Distant Verse online. Zoom: us02web.zoom.us/j/7638733462?pwd=YVltWXFFa2Rid2pZQ3pWaVordmZ5UT09/. Meeting ID: 763 873 3462 ("P O E T R E E I N C”); password: spcsdv2020.
•••SPC Tuesday night workshop hosted by Danyen Powell. Bring a poem for critique. Contact mostoycoff@gmail.com for availability and Zoom info.
•••Wed., 6pm: MarieWriters workshop (prompts) hosted by Ann Michaels: zoom.us/j/671443996
•••Thurs., 7:30pm: SPC Literary Lecture Series features Dr. Steve Cirrone on Shakespeare’s Sci-Fi, Macbeth. Info: www.facebook.com/groups/literarylectures/. Registration required prior to attending your first session of Literary Lecture Series; go to us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZYldOCrrTIsGd3zdcXdxMayV4fVqsEXFc8Y. Zoom ID: 828 3933 9639.
•••Fri., 4pm: Writing from the Inside Out workshop led by Nick LeForce. Reg. in advance 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, use the same link.)
* * *
Also this week:
•••Wed., 7:30-8:30pm: Poets’ Theatre of No. Cal. presents An Evening of Poetry with Tzynya Pinchback, Neil Silberblatt, Diana Medina. Info: www.facebook.com/groups/1904641973008289/.
•••Fri., 7:30pm: Video poetry reading on Facebook by Davis Poet Laureate James Lee Jobe at james-lee-jobe.blogspot.com/ or youtube.com/jamesleejobe/.
•••Sun., 3-4:30pm: Lincoln Poets Open Mic through a Zoom Room. If you wish to read or just listen, RSVP David Anderson, dcajla80@gmail.com/.
•••For more about El Dorado County poetry events, check Western Slope El Dorado poetry on Facebook: www.facebook.com/ElDoradoCountyPoetry/.
__________________________
—Medusa
For more about the platypus, go to
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.
Would you like to be a SnakePal?
All you have to do is send poetry 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!
clicking on them once, then clicking on the x
in the top right corner to come back to Medusa.
Would you like to be a SnakePal?
All you have to do is send poetry 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!
