—Poetry and Photos by Taylor Graham, Placerville, CA
—And scroll down for FORM FIDDLERS’ FRIDAY!!
VERGING THE LAKE
We set out on this walk not asking where?
the way the path went beckoning along,
and unseen birds with one repeating song,
the wanderlust of blue November air.
A kingfisher was fishing, and one duck
created light-struck splashing on the deep.
The egret skimmed lake-skin before a steep
ascent to try a leaning oak-tree’s luck.
We walked & looked & listened, and what for?
like pen on paper opening a door.
We set out on this walk not asking where?
the way the path went beckoning along,
and unseen birds with one repeating song,
the wanderlust of blue November air.
A kingfisher was fishing, and one duck
created light-struck splashing on the deep.
The egret skimmed lake-skin before a steep
ascent to try a leaning oak-tree’s luck.
We walked & looked & listened, and what for?
like pen on paper opening a door.
THANKSGIVING BIRDWALK
Hooded Merganser, rusty-headed dream floating
on a mirror of water
Bufflehead, white spots racing across the pond
Ring-neck Duck, you won’t see its ring in the wild
Western Bluebird, neon-blue blaze above the field
Red-tail Hawk, too high for field-marks, take it on faith
Belted Kingfisher, hovering, stooping for a fish-strike
Duck (no ID), sprays of pond-bubbles as she bathes
Red-shafted Flicker, flash of luminous red wings
Turkey Buzzard, most gracefully tilted on high
Kildeer, a pair on pebble-sand at shoreline
Double-crested Cormorant—sunning on a wire
Common Egret, renamed Great, pond’s sentinel
to make our walk complete—
as if a bird-list could ever be finished….
Hooded Merganser, rusty-headed dream floating
on a mirror of water
Bufflehead, white spots racing across the pond
Ring-neck Duck, you won’t see its ring in the wild
Western Bluebird, neon-blue blaze above the field
Red-tail Hawk, too high for field-marks, take it on faith
Belted Kingfisher, hovering, stooping for a fish-strike
Duck (no ID), sprays of pond-bubbles as she bathes
Red-shafted Flicker, flash of luminous red wings
Turkey Buzzard, most gracefully tilted on high
Kildeer, a pair on pebble-sand at shoreline
Double-crested Cormorant—sunning on a wire
Common Egret, renamed Great, pond’s sentinel
to make our walk complete—
as if a bird-list could ever be finished….
Pink-Purple Trumpet Flower (Penstemon)
HUNGRY FOR NAMES
in the native herb garden
I’ve known these plants in passing on the trail,
or in the distance mingled in mountain meadow.
But how to be cognizant of their names? Now
I’ve got just the trick, my new plant-ID app
which always knows the answer. This pink-purple
trumpet flower—I’ll take its picture, try to navigate
the so-called keyboard on my phone. Alas,
my fingers are too big to batten down a password.
I’ll have to call it “pink-purple trumpet flower,”
with its photo in my phone as if it were family,
some distant relative whose name I’ve forgotten.
in the native herb garden
I’ve known these plants in passing on the trail,
or in the distance mingled in mountain meadow.
But how to be cognizant of their names? Now
I’ve got just the trick, my new plant-ID app
which always knows the answer. This pink-purple
trumpet flower—I’ll take its picture, try to navigate
the so-called keyboard on my phone. Alas,
my fingers are too big to batten down a password.
I’ll have to call it “pink-purple trumpet flower,”
with its photo in my phone as if it were family,
some distant relative whose name I’ve forgotten.
Wishing Tree, Wakamatsu Farm, Placerville, CA
TURQUOISE
Color of a stranger’s daypack
as she ties a strip of turquoise paper
to the Wishing Tree with copper-
colored yarn to complement
the strip of paper with its carefully
penned words—inky inspiration
as the paper’s inspirited
with wind, and flaps its turquoise
words mixing sky with oak leaves,
a Blue Oak just beginning
to let loose its leaves to November
wind—this blue-green morning
where sky and earth are mingled
in turquoise poems on a wishing-tree.
___________________
MEMORIES THAT STING
What bonds us so close?
Mosquitos are remembrance.
What feeds our lifeblood?
From the highest mountain flows
water that sleeps in the bog.
Those were days running
back decades like bush-campers
far from other warm-
blood prey, suddenly beset
by clouds of stinging thunder—
those Alaska mosquitos.
After years we share
gathered memories:
a micro lichen-forest
you carried home; a photo:
you in mosquito-net hat.
Alder thicket shorn
to matchsticks where Moose met
Grizzly; one hoof remained.
The creek runs almost silent
except for mosquito whine.
A mountain rises
in memory out of cloud—
below, mosquitos.
Color of a stranger’s daypack
as she ties a strip of turquoise paper
to the Wishing Tree with copper-
colored yarn to complement
the strip of paper with its carefully
penned words—inky inspiration
as the paper’s inspirited
with wind, and flaps its turquoise
words mixing sky with oak leaves,
a Blue Oak just beginning
to let loose its leaves to November
wind—this blue-green morning
where sky and earth are mingled
in turquoise poems on a wishing-tree.
___________________
MEMORIES THAT STING
What bonds us so close?
Mosquitos are remembrance.
What feeds our lifeblood?
From the highest mountain flows
water that sleeps in the bog.
Those were days running
back decades like bush-campers
far from other warm-
blood prey, suddenly beset
by clouds of stinging thunder—
those Alaska mosquitos.
After years we share
gathered memories:
a micro lichen-forest
you carried home; a photo:
you in mosquito-net hat.
Alder thicket shorn
to matchsticks where Moose met
Grizzly; one hoof remained.
The creek runs almost silent
except for mosquito whine.
A mountain rises
in memory out of cloud—
below, mosquitos.
BRIEF STATUE
I thought it was a fake, the buck
couchant at east beside your gate,
his regal antlers chancing fate
that’s bound by hunting season’s luck.
And then he turned his head away,
distrusting of my shutter-eye.
And in a wink he seemed to fly
on hooves as fleeting as the day.
How real is such a moment’s glimpse
where wish and vision dance like imps?
I thought it was a fake, the buck
couchant at east beside your gate,
his regal antlers chancing fate
that’s bound by hunting season’s luck.
And then he turned his head away,
distrusting of my shutter-eye.
And in a wink he seemed to fly
on hooves as fleeting as the day.
How real is such a moment’s glimpse
where wish and vision dance like imps?
Loki's selfie with his step-sister, Heather
Today’s LittleNip:
LOKI’S FAMILY PORTRAIT
—Taylor Graham
I took this selfie
to keep her forever—our
Heather from afar.
Humans tell me cyberspace
is forever everywhere.
____________________
Today Taylor Graham writes to us of autumn and falling leaves and memories of mosquitos swarming in Alaska. And she uses poetry forms: a Tanka (“Loki's Family Portrait”); a List Poem (“Thanksgiving Birdwalk”); an Ekphrastic Poem (“Turquoise”); a Word-can Poem (“Hungry for Names”); a Paradigm (“Memories That Sting”); and two Poet's Portals (“Verging the Lake” & “Brief Statue”). “Memories That Sting” is also Ekphrastic on last Friday’s Ekphrastic Challenge, the mosquito photo.
And now it’s time for …
FORM FIDDLERS’ FRIDAY!
It’s time for more contributions from Form Fiddlers, in addition to those sent to us by Taylor Graham! Each Friday, there will be poems posted here from our readers using forms—either ones which were sent to Medusa during the previous week, or whatever else floats through the Kitchen and the perpetually stoned mind of Medusa. If these instructions are vague, it's because they're meant to be. Just fiddle around with some forms and get them posted in the Kitchen, by golly! (See Medusa’s Form Finder at the end of this post for resources and for links to poetry terms used today.)
Last week’s Ekphrastic Challenge was a photo of a mosquito, and some of our poets responded to it, including Taylor Graham’s poem [above], Stephen Kingsnorth, and Caschwa (Carl Schwartz). Here is the photo, and Stephen and Caschwa’s replies:
Last week’s Ekphrastic Challenge was a photo of a mosquito, and some of our poets responded to it, including Taylor Graham’s poem [above], Stephen Kingsnorth, and Caschwa (Carl Schwartz). Here is the photo, and Stephen and Caschwa’s replies:
NETT WORTH
—Stephen Kingsnorth, Coedpoeth, Wrexham, Wales, UK
They call it bite,
that needle point—
but then the nurse lies, terms it scratch
(gnat irritant made worse, of course)
when no such synonym exists—
uncounted thread (you follow mine?),
embroidery of misery,
beyond the canvas stretcher frame.
Borne of a raft—
no halcyon—
paludal swamp to water, butt—
I net the larvae, fish tank food—
but stagnant, standing,
breeding plant.
A squadron from the darker side,
mosquitoes, pulsing others’ blood,
that spit fire as they draw mine up,
alien vampires, my backyard,
each launched or landing, angle poise,
flit lamps, yet black, cloud out back,
some wayward drones,
equipment hum.
The nit, that gnat,
bed-over net,
a threnody from filmy lace,
all wing and mesh and hanging legs
that flicker past my sweaty lobe;
how can this single
fill whole space?
But I have trapped it by my face,
Calcutta, just as Grandpa did
in Africa, Great War—‘the last’.
Never that, the last great war.
—Stephen Kingsnorth, Coedpoeth, Wrexham, Wales, UK
They call it bite,
that needle point—
but then the nurse lies, terms it scratch
(gnat irritant made worse, of course)
when no such synonym exists—
uncounted thread (you follow mine?),
embroidery of misery,
beyond the canvas stretcher frame.
Borne of a raft—
no halcyon—
paludal swamp to water, butt—
I net the larvae, fish tank food—
but stagnant, standing,
breeding plant.
A squadron from the darker side,
mosquitoes, pulsing others’ blood,
that spit fire as they draw mine up,
alien vampires, my backyard,
each launched or landing, angle poise,
flit lamps, yet black, cloud out back,
some wayward drones,
equipment hum.
The nit, that gnat,
bed-over net,
a threnody from filmy lace,
all wing and mesh and hanging legs
that flicker past my sweaty lobe;
how can this single
fill whole space?
But I have trapped it by my face,
Calcutta, just as Grandpa did
in Africa, Great War—‘the last’.
Never that, the last great war.
MASKING GALLIWOPPERS
—Caschwa, Sacramento, CA
only a few of the nearly
70 species found in New
York State spread disease,
but just to be dead sure, we
need to mask them all
maybe just cloak the whole
North American continent
by engaging the saturation
advertising techniques so
pompously employed by
Madison Avenue, until every
single billboard, bus bench,
visor cap, tee shirt, coffee
mug, and voraciously visited
social media spot presently
offering free dance lessons
with Latin, Spanish, or
Portuguese lovers, is blacked
out
—Caschwa, Sacramento, CA
only a few of the nearly
70 species found in New
York State spread disease,
but just to be dead sure, we
need to mask them all
maybe just cloak the whole
North American continent
by engaging the saturation
advertising techniques so
pompously employed by
Madison Avenue, until every
single billboard, bus bench,
visor cap, tee shirt, coffee
mug, and voraciously visited
social media spot presently
offering free dance lessons
with Latin, Spanish, or
Portuguese lovers, is blacked
out
Last Friday’s other challenge was the Poet’s Portal, and here is Caschwa’s response:
THE SKY HAS SPOKEN
—Caschwa
it wasn’t s’posed to be like this
the weather forecast off so much
some angry gods have lost their touch
no confidence in hit and miss
we cloak the Earth with stories wild
there’s open Mike and hermit Joe
they’re here to tell us all they know
be sure to let them see you’ve smiled
egads! it’s getting awful late
take out the cans and shut the gate
Caschwa sent us some other forms this week, including this Abhanga:
BIG HURRY
—Caschwa
multiple trains arrive
doors open, not for long
hurry to beat the gong
you made it, good!
found a seat by window
train lunges with a jerk
quick ride, short walk to work
you’ll be on time
something looks not quite right
destination: next stop
hurry up, out you hop
on time, wrong place
BIG HURRY
—Caschwa
multiple trains arrive
doors open, not for long
hurry to beat the gong
you made it, good!
found a seat by window
train lunges with a jerk
quick ride, short walk to work
you’ll be on time
something looks not quite right
destination: next stop
hurry up, out you hop
on time, wrong place
And here is Caschwa’s EIEIO:
ADVANCE OF THE ACROMYMS
—Caschwa
End of Escrow (EOE) celebration
Introduces incremental tax liabilities
Early Onset Alzheimers (EOA) revelation
Imposes an unstoppable growth of frailties
Online Dating (OLD) is not a vacation
____________________
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!
___________________
FIDDLERS’ CHALLENGE!
See what you can make of this week’s poetry form, and send it to kathykieth@hotmail.com! (No deadline.) This week's challenge:
•••The A L’Arora: www.shadowpoetry.com/resources/wip/alarora.html
And see the bottom of this post for another challenge, this one an Ekphrastic one!
____________________
MEDUSA’S FORM FINDER: Links to poetry terms mentioned today:
•••Abhanga: poetscollective.org/poetryforms/abhanga
•••A L’Arora: www.shadowpoetry.com/resources/wip/alarora.html
•••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)
•••Ekphrastic: notesofoak.com/discover-literature/ekphrastic-poetry
•••List Poem: clpe.org.uk/poetryline/poeticforms/list-poem
•••Paradigm: lewisturco.typepad.com/poetics/2007/06/paradigm.html
•••Poet’s Portal: 10 lines of Iambic Tetrameter or Iambic Pentameter, with 2 envelope quatrains, and one couplet, Rhymed: a b b a c d d c e e
•••Tanka: poets.org/glossary/tanka
•••Word-Can Poem: putting random words on slips of paper into a can, then drawing out a few and making a poem out of them.
RESOURCES:
•••Shadow Poetry: www.shadowpoetry.com/resources/wip/types.html
•••Poets’ Collective: poetscollective.org/poetryforms/example-index
•••Poets.org: poets.org/glossary
•••Poetry Foundation: www.poetryfoundation.org/learn/glossary-terms?category=209
•••Bob’s Byway: www.poeticbyway.com/glossary.html
•••Desolation Poems by Sacramento’s Jan Haag: janhaag.com/PODesIntro.html
•••Baymoon: www.baymoon.com/~ariadne
•••The Poets Garret: thepoetsgarret.com/list.html
•••Lewis Turco: www.amazon.com/Lewis-Turco/e/B001K7LAUQ%3Fref=dbs_a_mng_rwt_scns_share
•••Writer’s Digest: www.writersdigest.com/?s=poetry&submit= (just type in the form you want in the search bar at upper right) OR www.writersdigest.com/whats-new/list-of-50-poetic-forms-for-poets
ALSO:
•••Annie Finch: "Listening to Poetry": www.poetryfoundation.org/harriet/2009/03/listening-to-poetry
•••"What is Poetic Form?" by Emily Jarvis, a short description of how/why poetry is structured into forms: penandthepad.com/poetic-form-8726589.html/. Also by the same author: “Examples of Musical Devices in Poetry”: penandthepad.com/examples-musical-devices-poems-20170.html/.
•••The Guardian Poem of the Week: www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2017/nov/20/poem-of-the-week-yoga-for-leaders-and-others-by-philip-fried/.
_____________________
—Medusa
•••Ekphrastic: notesofoak.com/discover-literature/ekphrastic-poetry
•••List Poem: clpe.org.uk/poetryline/poeticforms/list-poem
•••Paradigm: lewisturco.typepad.com/poetics/2007/06/paradigm.html
•••Poet’s Portal: 10 lines of Iambic Tetrameter or Iambic Pentameter, with 2 envelope quatrains, and one couplet, Rhymed: a b b a c d d c e e
•••Tanka: poets.org/glossary/tanka
•••Word-Can Poem: putting random words on slips of paper into a can, then drawing out a few and making a poem out of them.
RESOURCES:
•••Shadow Poetry: www.shadowpoetry.com/resources/wip/types.html
•••Poets’ Collective: poetscollective.org/poetryforms/example-index
•••Poets.org: poets.org/glossary
•••Poetry Foundation: www.poetryfoundation.org/learn/glossary-terms?category=209
•••Bob’s Byway: www.poeticbyway.com/glossary.html
•••Desolation Poems by Sacramento’s Jan Haag: janhaag.com/PODesIntro.html
•••Baymoon: www.baymoon.com/~ariadne
•••The Poets Garret: thepoetsgarret.com/list.html
•••Lewis Turco: www.amazon.com/Lewis-Turco/e/B001K7LAUQ%3Fref=dbs_a_mng_rwt_scns_share
•••Writer’s Digest: www.writersdigest.com/?s=poetry&submit= (just type in the form you want in the search bar at upper right) OR www.writersdigest.com/whats-new/list-of-50-poetic-forms-for-poets
ALSO:
•••Annie Finch: "Listening to Poetry": www.poetryfoundation.org/harriet/2009/03/listening-to-poetry
•••"What is Poetic Form?" by Emily Jarvis, a short description of how/why poetry is structured into forms: penandthepad.com/poetic-form-8726589.html/. Also by the same author: “Examples of Musical Devices in Poetry”: penandthepad.com/examples-musical-devices-poems-20170.html/.
•••The Guardian Poem of the Week: www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2017/nov/20/poem-of-the-week-yoga-for-leaders-and-others-by-philip-fried/.
_____________________
—Medusa
See what you can make of the above
photo, and send it to
kathykieth@hotmail.com/. (No deadline.)
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.
clicking on them once, then clicking on the x
in the top right corner to come back to Medusa.
