MY SON
—Rhony Bhopla, Sacramento, CA
It seems that my son is at my door again,
this time it’s a young man named Aiden
who is the surprise worker here to dismantle
a door that is adjacent to the window
the burglar broke through to ransack
my house. He says his mother is a teacher
after I apologize about the old 1st grade VCR
tapes withering in a box, which will likely
end up as an assemblage in the webby museum
I’m creating in my garage. He does not balk
at the black widow on the wall. He yells, it’s dead!
Yet, I stomp its shiny bulb against the stucco.
I understand mothers who will do anything
for their sons. I was willing to kill to save us.
WHAT DO WE HAVE HERE?
—Caschwa, Sacramento, CA
you may have seen tempers flare
over whether to call tomatoes fruits
or vegetables, but it doesn’t stop there
all kinds of mayhem are in cahoots
- beware that alkaloid, solanine
builds up calcium, causes inflammation
+ known for its anti-inflammatory properties
- potassium may not fit guidelines of a renal diet
+ good source of potassium
- malic and citric acid cause acid reflux
+ includes the anti-oxidant lycopene, to help reduce gastric acid
+ one of the best things you can do for your body
+ lowers elevated blood pressure
home grown tastes great and
the only side effect is
wanting another
SKATE BOARD TRICK, ETC.
could I do it? sure!
and live through it? not at all
but I could do it
***
walking over to
the other end of the pier
a pigeon gets lost
***
do we really have
two thousand five hundred troops
in Afghanistan?
what is in one troop?
up to two-hundred soldiers,
three or four platoons
so that is half a
million soldiers, all in all
counting every troop
***
Smoky the whale says
help prevent kelp forest fires
let us all pitch in
***
look in the mirror
do you see an idiot,
or glass and silver?
THEY PULL THE BIG BROTHER ALARM
—Caschwa
· Big Pharma (sales over health)
· Big insurance (sales over life)
· Big End-of Life industry (sales over prevention)
· Big advocates of The South Will Rise Again (macho over weakness)
· Big Real Estate developers (sales over green)
· Big Oil (sales over air quality)
· Big Tobacco (sales over agonizing death)
· Big Alcohol (sales over safety)
· Big Fashion (sales over budget)
· Big Fat Lie (and everyone knows it)
THE NEED TO CONQUER
—Caschwa
Muhammad Ali said it best:
“You gotta whoop the champion.”
it had absolutely nothing to do with art,
poetry, or any of the humanities, but
was more like the last step in blending
the elements to make epoxy, quite resilient
to compassion, Haiku, or patriotism
so we had a big, f***ing Civil War to bring
an end to slavery, which left the winners
appeased with a few administrative remedies
on paper, while the losers didn’t ever admit
defeat, and that is the foundation of our
government today, same way
so on January 6 this year we had a big,
f***ing Insurrection to try to alter the voting
results of the last election, which left the
prevailing side with videos of the violence,
plans for a thorough investigation, and again
the losers would neither admit defeat nor
back off on their fiery passion to vanquish
anyone who stands in their way
or as seen through another lens, January
6 was an attempt to have a big, f***ing
Resurrection to rise up from the ashes of
past failures, which explains why there is
no way to convince these people that what
they did was wrong, why they remain so
steadfast in burying that dead horse named
Restoration once and for all
screw our nation of laws, and points of order,
the whole notion of co-equals has been off
the table for two centuries, leaving us stuck
in the epoxy of the culture of slave plantations,
until we can finally figure out a new, different
approach that can actually work…..dream on
MISSED HITS
—Joseph Nolan, Stockton, CA
Which were the mega-hits
That never made the charts?
Invalids
On walking-sticks,
Doomed to fall apart?
Because of ancient injuries,
Never overcome,
Warmth,
Just left to wishes,
Internally undone.
You could have seen it coming
From a long way up the track,
The daily, steaming roller,
With its whistle for the dark.
DESCARTES AND THE MIND-BODY PROBLEM
—Joseph Nolan
Descartes
Could not connect
With anything
Below his neck,
Since he
Identified
With his mind
And thought bodies
Were just machines.
“I think,
Therefore I am!”
Or, rather,
“I doubt,
Therefore a doubter
There must be!”
Thus, concluded he,
In his sophistry.
That there might be
An evil-deceiver,
Forcing falsehoods
Into his mind,
Was a matter of
Great contemplation.
Nevertheless,
His salvation,
To prove he even existed,
Was considering
How doubt persisted,
Despite the negations of “I,”
With nothing left behind,
Save doubt and indecision.
Yet we,
Who live inside our bodies,
Demand freedom
For desire and pleasure,
That we might not fizzle out,
Like Alka-Seltzer,
After lugubrious parties,
Where laughter and delight,
Encompass all
They might,
Meet, forever-after,
With brains,
Unslain,
By depression and doubt,
As if any
Philosopher
Knew what about
Recitation of poems
Was for,
Save Kant.
CARPE NOIR
—Joseph Nolan
Come dancing,
Come dancing!
The music’s
Playing fast.
Our pleasured love
Is fleeting.
Nothing sweet
Can last!
Our evening,
But a moment,
Sparking in the dark,
Over which
Dawn’s light will pass,
Depriving us of privacy,
Exposing us in light.
Brilliant,
Also painful,
Since daylight is too bright
To slumber love
So lovely,
That lies throughout the night.
WRITING POEMS IN CODE
—Joseph Nolan
Can you learn
To write
Poems in code?
So no-one
Understands them,
Whether they’re
Sonnet or ode?
Twist things
To their opposites,
Let shadow
Stand for light,
Let daydreams
Mean
Enlightenment
And deepest sorrow,
Bright?
No-one writes
Like Shakespeare,
These days,
And no-one
Even tries.
They’d rather
Nip at
The edges
Of fine writing
Than scale the cliffs
And die!
_____________________
Today’s LittleNip:
LIKE PLUTO
—Joseph Nolan
I know you want
Me out there,
Somewhere,
Like Pluto,
Which is so cold!
Circling
Off in space,
Somewhere,
So far away,
Out in
The outer-darkness,
Along an
Orbital trace.
_____________________
Welcome to the last week of July, as we finish up the hottest month of the year in this area—and thanks to our contributors for bringing us their poetry, and for the photos that Joseph Nolan found for us.
Today (7/26), 7:30pm: Sac. Poetry Center presents Ryk McIntyre, Dennis Hock online at Zoom: us04web.zoom.us/j/7638733462/. Password: r3trnofsdv; Meeting ID: 763 873 3462. Host James Fox. Info: www.facebook.com/events/420244285871928/?acontext={"event_action_history"%3A[{"mechanism"%3A"search_results"%2C"surface"%3A"search"}]%2C"ref_notif_type"%3Anull}/.
Next Sat. (7/31), 1pm: Online MoST Summer Poetry Workshop with Karen Baker: “Time Travel Through Poetry”, exploring past and future through poetry. Zoom link: us02web.zoom.us/j/87665048170/. Meeting ID: 876 6504 8170. Info: www.mostpoetry.org/event/summer-poetry-workshop-time-travel-through-poetry/.
Also next Sat. (7/31), 2pm: Poetry in the Sierra Foothills will feature readers from the anthology, California Fire and Water: A Climate Crisis Anthology, with Taylor Graham, Lara Gularte, Moira Magneson, Tim Kahl, Katy Brown, Wren Tuatha (plus open mic) at Love Birds Coffee & Tea Co., 411 Hwy 49, Ste. 100, Diamond Springs, CA (where Hwy 49 meets Pleasant Valley Rd.). Bring a poem, a short musing, or be audience. Host: Lara Gularte.
______________________
—Medusa
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!
