—Poetry and Photos by Taylor Graham, Placerville, CA
—And then scroll down to FORM FIDDLERS’ FRIDAY!!
NIGHT DELIVERY
from Frank O’Hara’s “Having a Coke with you”
The moon was half and dark, partly
shadow hidden, and cold because
it was so late, the 10th of
winter as we descended the
driveway lit only by cellphone, secrecy
of footsteps on gravel, our
acres of woods under distant smiles
of stars. This is the route we take
for late package delivery on
this evening trek, before
we’re back indoors like other people
bundled up day-done and
soon to be dreaming still as statuary.
from Frank O’Hara’s “Having a Coke with you”
The moon was half and dark, partly
shadow hidden, and cold because
it was so late, the 10th of
winter as we descended the
driveway lit only by cellphone, secrecy
of footsteps on gravel, our
acres of woods under distant smiles
of stars. This is the route we take
for late package delivery on
this evening trek, before
we’re back indoors like other people
bundled up day-done and
soon to be dreaming still as statuary.
TOO QUICK FOR A PHOTO
I always thought the farm’s center was the pond—
eye to which both sky and earth respond;
where living creatures converge
at blue water’s urge.
This chill day—
verge
where sun, clay
and new grasses merge—
here is one white moth, a surge
of expectations flitting beyond…
I always thought the farm’s center was the pond.
BLACK WINGS
Black wings overhead, ravens or crows.
It’s a collective murder of crows.
They say corvids collect shiny things;
my lost car keys—lifted by the crows?
Parking lot blackbirds peck for crumbs while
one crow stares down as sentry of crows.
Van Gogh’s last painting? menacing sky
over wheatfield and a flight of crows.
At Covid’s dawn you called it Corvid.
Must we always denigrate the crows?
When wildfire came so close, the shadows
crossed over, beckoning west: three crows.
The poet wishes her words take wings,
taking inspiration from the crows.
Black wings overhead, ravens or crows.
It’s a collective murder of crows.
They say corvids collect shiny things;
my lost car keys—lifted by the crows?
Parking lot blackbirds peck for crumbs while
one crow stares down as sentry of crows.
Van Gogh’s last painting? menacing sky
over wheatfield and a flight of crows.
At Covid’s dawn you called it Corvid.
Must we always denigrate the crows?
When wildfire came so close, the shadows
crossed over, beckoning west: three crows.
The poet wishes her words take wings,
taking inspiration from the crows.
WINTER CALLS
I carry out the ashes iron-cold
to edge of lawn. The Wolf Moon’s running west.
And owls calling mortal hungers. How long
till dawn? Mendicant monks in worn cowls. Owls—
a call that magnifies winter silence
hollowing spaces of an unlit house
where morning waits for a woodstove spark and
early TV news—the word of the year,
of the day; flashing images against
the dark. Owls call a hunger that never
goes away. The silence that is winter.
OUR OLD HOUSE ON MIWOK LAND
I wonder if city-folks camped
on that ridge with bedrock mortars
above the winter chills that damped
a hollow where the willows grow—
the ridgetop where you built our home.
We left it thirteen years ago,
human hold being frail as foam.
WHAT THE WEATHER
Sun backlighting cloud casts a fairy light.
These days, we don’t dare say what weather means,
whether swelter in March or freeze in May.
I plant chilly footprints aslant the hill
where oaks are bare and everything is green
pushing up, choking the way. Grasses gay as I pass by, and as I sleep they keep
on growing. In my garden—surrendered
last year to ground-squirrel hunger—all around
I find henbit deadnettle, shepherd’s purse,
lowly growth that seems averse to our names
but thrives by nature all the same, and makes
good greens for my salad. May I survive
on what’s given, alive under weather.
Today’s LittleNip:
UNSOLVED DREAM QUESTIONS
—Taylor Graham
Egg fried on toxic black sheet.
How to bind it in
a chapbook?
Driving to school at ninety.
Middle of the night,
where’s the brake?
This maze of painted flowers.
Which is my matching
_b#?!_ passcode!
_____________________
Here is Taylor Graham today, her words taking wings as she talks about the weather and winter on the Western Slope of the Sierra. TG sends us poetry in forms, including a Golden Shovel (“Night Delivery”); some Blank Verse (“Night Calls”); a never-easy Ghazal (“Black Wings”); a Saraband (“Our Old House on Miwok Land”); a Quinzaine (“Unsolved Dream Questions”); an Andaree, our recent Form Fiddlers’ Challenge (“Too Quick for a Photo”); and—something new for us—a Lannet form of the Sonnet (“What the Weather”).
UNSOLVED DREAM QUESTIONS
—Taylor Graham
Egg fried on toxic black sheet.
How to bind it in
a chapbook?
Driving to school at ninety.
Middle of the night,
where’s the brake?
This maze of painted flowers.
Which is my matching
_b#?!_ passcode!
_____________________
Here is Taylor Graham today, her words taking wings as she talks about the weather and winter on the Western Slope of the Sierra. TG sends us poetry in forms, including a Golden Shovel (“Night Delivery”); some Blank Verse (“Night Calls”); a never-easy Ghazal (“Black Wings”); a Saraband (“Our Old House on Miwok Land”); a Quinzaine (“Unsolved Dream Questions”); an Andaree, our recent Form Fiddlers’ Challenge (“Too Quick for a Photo”); and—something new for us—a Lannet form of the Sonnet (“What the Weather”).
For Frank O'Hara's "Having a Coke with you", go to poets.org/poem/having-coke-you/.
And now it’s time for . . .
FORM FIDDLERS’ FRIDAY!
And now it’s time for . . .
FORM FIDDLERS’ FRIDAY!
Joe Nolan sent this poem this week; I told him that I liked the way it rock ’n rolled along on the page and took on its own shape, rhyme-wise. Sometimes forms develop themselves without having “official” names, yes?
GOING HOME WITH PTSD
—Joe Nolan, Stockton, CA
I booked a room
In the asylum,
For time
To count my tears,
Waiting for
My relatives,
To visit me
Through the years,
In a place I
Called my hometown,
With my memories,
Through the ages.
Someone recommended
My return,
So I could
Display my rages,
That came upon
My midnight dreaming,
When I was all alone,
Half-awake,
Devoid of meaning,
Weary, to the bone.
Last week’s Ekphrastic Challenge
—Public Domain Photo
—Public Domain Photo
About last week’s photo challenge, Stephen Kingsnorth writes: "I have been struggling with that darned chimp for hours... version four isn't any better than the first, so I may have given up on him/her for good. I suppose I have learnt something, travelling from Rodin to Darwin, via Scopes, Dewey Decimal shelving, genre-bending, London Zoo and the Planet of the Apes!
"So I took 10 minutes off: I did like your pic of the poetic licenses [see below]... and ended up with this nonsense trifle rather than Rodin or Darwin!"
DRIVING IT HOME
—Stephen Kingsnorth, Coedpoeth, Wrexham, Wales, UK
He wanted to see my licence—
no problem showing that—
but even when he looked at it,
I saw it wasn’t plain.
He pointed out the spelling,
claimed that was not the same;
I knew to try, explain the hitch,
like change to married name.
I did see, second reading,
a glimmer in his eye,
as though a passing thought had struck
an elbow in his ribs.
With neither rhyme nor reason,
but chiming distant bells,
he knew how transatlantic
could cast a spell in check.
And now he read the accent,
a metaphor, a change
came over him as realised
my license might make sense.
It’s me who fights spell-checker,
that wizard, wonky wand,
which thinks that it knows better,
prose lexicon at hand.
So I just overrule it,
a third strike and it’s out,
for all poets need licence,
and justify to write.
Nonsense, Stephen! Your poem is neither nonsense nor a trifle! And it ended up being Ekphrastic after all—except that it’s about a different photo. So. Mission accomplished. These challenges are, after all, mere suggestions. [Did he say Planet of the Apes?] The 10 min. off is a good idea, though.
* * *
Caschwa (Carl Schwartz) ended up combining two challenges into one poem: the Chimp and the Andaree. (Sounds like a movie title.)
Caschwa (Carl Schwartz) ended up combining two challenges into one poem: the Chimp and the Andaree. (Sounds like a movie title.)
ALL OPPOSABLE
—Caschwa, Sacramento, CA
first find and hold the comb, then start with the part
remember, mirror image is art
subject to dictates of taste
time unused will waste
do it post
haste
get the most
before it’s erased
above all else, remain chaste
there’s only one way to prove you’re smart
first find and hold the comb, then start with the part
—Caschwa, Sacramento, CA
first find and hold the comb, then start with the part
remember, mirror image is art
subject to dictates of taste
time unused will waste
do it post
haste
get the most
before it’s erased
above all else, remain chaste
there’s only one way to prove you’re smart
first find and hold the comb, then start with the part
Then Carl took the Andaree and turned it into am Andaree Chain:
WHAT A FINE MESS WE’RE IN NOW
—Caschwa
watch out! will all of the slaves be running free?
won Civil War, cost pretty penny
failed to vanquish losing side
gave them place to hide;
no hanging
tree
displaying
winner’s well earned pride
losers woke and then espied
big resistance opportunity
watch out! will all of the slaves be running free?
the losers redefine liberty:
exclude black women and males
Reconstruction fails
has no spine
we
cry and whine
march on the same trails
justice sets up brand new scales
unleashing a terrible crime spree
watch out! will all of the slaves be running free?
stand your ground, aim and shoot, remedy
blue or gray does not matter
red blood will splatter
all day long
the
heart of song
the stuff of chatter
raise the flag and look at her
it’s all of us, consanguinity
watch out! will all of the slaves be running free?
—Caschwa
watch out! will all of the slaves be running free?
won Civil War, cost pretty penny
failed to vanquish losing side
gave them place to hide;
no hanging
tree
displaying
winner’s well earned pride
losers woke and then espied
big resistance opportunity
watch out! will all of the slaves be running free?
the losers redefine liberty:
exclude black women and males
Reconstruction fails
has no spine
we
cry and whine
march on the same trails
justice sets up brand new scales
unleashing a terrible crime spree
watch out! will all of the slaves be running free?
stand your ground, aim and shoot, remedy
blue or gray does not matter
red blood will splatter
all day long
the
heart of song
the stuff of chatter
raise the flag and look at her
it’s all of us, consanguinity
watch out! will all of the slaves be running free?
And here is a List Poem from Caschwa:
THAT PERNICIOUS PATH FROM SQUARE ONE
—Caschwa
Avant-garde: everything new, untried
Cradle: soothing as is, let’s stay here
Derive from: merger of logic and paperwork
Experimental: try again
First time: learn as you go
Genesis: all trust and faith
Impute: collect data, in no particular order
Infantile: crying works
Nucleus: keep pushing the envelope
Owing to: discovery of portals to paths unknown
Pilot program: report to a higher command
Practice: resolve flaws
Provisional: constraints and prerequisites
Root: the route of nourishment
Tentative: we might as well try this one
____________________
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 forms, and send your results to kathykieth@hotmail.com! (No deadline.) This week's challenges:
•••Lannet (Sonnet Form): www.writersdigest.com/write-better-poetry/lannet-poetic-forms AND/OR www.shadowpoetry.com/resources/wip/lannet.html AND/OR poetscollective.org/everysonnet/lannet (and see Taylor Graham’s example above):
And/or try your hand at this:
•••Octameter: www.shadowpoetry.com/resources/wip/octameter.html AND/OR poetscollective.org/poetryforms/octameter
See also the bottom of this post for another challenge, this one an Ekphrastic one!
_____________________
MEDUSA’S FORM FINDER: Links to poetry terms mentioned today:
•••Andaree: poetscollective.org/poetryforms/andaree
•••Blank Verse: literarydevices.net/blank-verse AND/OR www.masterclass.com/articles/poetry-101-what-is-the-difference-between-blank-verse-and-free-verse#quiz-0
•••Ekphrastic Poem: notesofoak.com/discover-literature/ekphrastic-poetry
•••Ghazal: poets.org/glossary/ghazal AND/OR poetryschool.com/theblog/whats-a-ghaza AND/OR
www.poetryfoundation.org/learn/glossary-terms/ghazal AND/OR
www.shadowpoetry.com/resources/wip/ghazal.html
•••Golden Shovel: www.writersdigest.com/write-better-poetry/golden-shovel-poetic-form
•••Lannet (Sonnet Form): www.writersdigest.com/write-better-poetry/lannet-poetic-forms AND/OR www.shadowpoetry.com/resources/wip/lannet.html AND/OR poetscollective.org/everysonnet/lannet
•••List Poem: clpe.org.uk/poetryline/poeticforms/list-poem
•••Octameter: www.shadowpoetry.com/resources/wip/octameter.html AND/OR poetscollective.org/poetryforms/octameter
•••Quinzaine: www.shadowpoetry.com/resources/wip/quinzaine.html
•••Saraband: poetscollective.org/poetryforms/saraband
______________________
—Medusa
•••Quinzaine: www.shadowpoetry.com/resources/wip/quinzaine.html
•••Saraband: poetscollective.org/poetryforms/saraband
______________________
—Medusa
Today's Ekphrastic Challenge
See what you can make of the above
photo, and send your poetic results to
kathykieth@hotmail.com/. (No deadline.)
***
—Public Domain Photo
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.
