—Poetry and Photos by Taylor Graham, Placerville, CA
—And then scroll down for FORM FIDDLERS' FRIDAY!!
BEER CANS & PAPER PLATES
Surreptitious one-night camping spots
we had a knack for discovering—
so way-out somewhere, there’d be no trace
of humankind but some beer cans plugged
for target practice. We liked places
that folks couth enough to use paper
plates and disposable niceties
wouldn’t find. Cans—rusty or shiny—
we bagged for recycling. Where we liked
to camp, silence was ours, except for
coyote serenade. No streetlight,
no neon, just stars and moon. They kept
our secrets—or maybe we were their
secrets. Like them, on our way by dawn.
Surreptitious one-night camping spots
we had a knack for discovering—
so way-out somewhere, there’d be no trace
of humankind but some beer cans plugged
for target practice. We liked places
that folks couth enough to use paper
plates and disposable niceties
wouldn’t find. Cans—rusty or shiny—
we bagged for recycling. Where we liked
to camp, silence was ours, except for
coyote serenade. No streetlight,
no neon, just stars and moon. They kept
our secrets—or maybe we were their
secrets. Like them, on our way by dawn.
ALONG THE GOLD TRAIL
This place has changed by years,
just driving past this hill—
a chance trip going where?
this range of winter grass
and blue uncluttered air.
This place has changed by years,
native bedrock mortars
and earthmovers, here still—
but what’s that new stratum
lying aslant the hill?
This place has changed by years—
geologic, human—
is that stratum is cut-
bank for some rancher’s road?
Boulders keep their mouths shut.
This place has changed by years
but still it greens with rain
then dries to tinder-grass,
and overhead the hawk
flies clockwise as I pass.
CHANGEABLE WEATHER
Daffodils who raised
golden trumpets yesterday
bow down this morning,
as if they’re genuflecting
to the night’s hard frost.
Just wait, you tell me, watch them
rise back up to praise the sun.
INTO THE MIDDLE FORK
This road from crest to river bridge
it seems to wind forever down
with not a thought of reaching town.
The map shows tangled contour lines
beyond the road-edge sudden drop
no chance to turn around or stop.
No guardrail brake lights hairpin curves
road-bed devised by carving knives
reminder of our fragile lives.
At last the bridge between rock cliffs
this canyon like a river’s cup
the far side leads as steeply up.
The current under us is swift
the constancy of murmur-flow
is but a blink of melting snow.
This road from crest to river bridge
it seems to wind forever down
with not a thought of reaching town.
The map shows tangled contour lines
beyond the road-edge sudden drop
no chance to turn around or stop.
No guardrail brake lights hairpin curves
road-bed devised by carving knives
reminder of our fragile lives.
At last the bridge between rock cliffs
this canyon like a river’s cup
the far side leads as steeply up.
The current under us is swift
the constancy of murmur-flow
is but a blink of melting snow.
HIGH RISE
How these sheets of plated glass yearn to be free sky
and water, ever shifting shades floating through
cloud ephemeral on endless aqua blue—
not tethered down to earth like us passersby.
How these sheets of plated glass yearn to be free sky
and water, ever shifting shades floating through
cloud ephemeral on endless aqua blue—
not tethered down to earth like us passersby.
UNASKED
Sara tells me the name of God
is spoken by breath taken in
and given back, as gracefully
a hawk sails on the gift of air.
Today’s LittleNip:
WORDS AROUND THE TABLE
—Taylor Graham
5 poets draw words—
5 words to spark their poems
these words taking flight.
_______________________
“…a hawk sails on the gift of air” and the poets' “words taking flight.” It must be Friday, as the smooth poetry of Taylor Graham tells us about spring daffodils and graceful hawks and she and her husband, Hatch, once upon a time picking up "beer cans and paper plates" (the recent Seed of the Week in Medusa's Kitchen) to leave their camp site as pristine as her poetry. Forms that TG has sent us today include the Senryu (“Words around the Table”); a Constanza (“Into the Middle Fork”); a Monchielle (“Along the Gold Trail”); Normative Syllabics (“Beer Cans & Paper Plates” and “Unasked”); a Choka (“Changeable Weather”); and a Cuarteto, last week’s Fiddlers’ Challenge that is also last week’s Ekphrastic challenge (“High Rise”).
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
Here is Stephen Kingsnorth's response to last week's Ekphrastic Challenge, packed with description and rockin' rhythms as always. Thanks, Stephen!
GLASS STOREYS
—Stephen Kingsnorth, Coedpoeth, Wrexham, Wales, UK
How tastes change as the years mount up—
tomato hated as a child—
those brutal concrete slabs, cement,
protected now, as zeitgeist work;
sloped rooves sinking to the flat,
breeding pools for gnats and leaks;
and glasshouse, architecture prize,
brought office workers’ boil or freeze.
So winter brought some aches with panes,
spring some swing from mad March winds,
the summer, sunstroke of midday,
in autumn, desk books turning leaves.
Is glass for light, or sights as scene,
is outside decorating plain,
is washing windows left to rain,
or walking plank, men entertain?
With much recycling underway,
is my window formed from waste,
nightjars, pipettes, kestrel beer,
sparrowcork, screw-top wine,
leaded, stained, in the clear,
tumbler from the circus ring,
mirror, lens as magnified,
convex, concave man in woad?
And is glass blown or made from dune,
same skyscraper, sandpaper grain,
test-tube, shopfront, globe crystal ball,
jewel fake, grass snake, splintered flask?
Here I see hints of colour tints—
those in greenhouses, don’t throw stones—
but watch those birds, flight overhead;
is it a bank, deposits made?
______________________
Caschwa (Carl Schwartz) sent what he calls a “reverse Haiku”, using Tercets in the form 7/6/5, with a rhyme scheme of axa. (More about the Haiku later; see below.) Up in which I grew?
BEFORE SMART PHONES
—Caschwa, Sacramento, CA
the world up in which I grew
had questions aplenty
good answers but few
libraries, the finest tool
to cultivate the facts
determine the rule
prepositions: don’t end with
one never will grow up
is that true or myth?
grammar school teachers gave us
adverbs to modify
adjectives with lust
turned us loose with “l” and “y”
to quickly enhance words
grade was do or die
humps, bumps, and undulations
regulate traffic speed
testing our patience
internment camps, built to hold
Japanese poetry
emotions untold
backyard, wringer washer and
incinerator to
burn away the bland
* * *
Carl’s “Batpow” is what he calls a “pungent Acrostic”—read the first word of each line, going down, for a secret message:
—Caschwa, Sacramento, CA
the world up in which I grew
had questions aplenty
good answers but few
libraries, the finest tool
to cultivate the facts
determine the rule
prepositions: don’t end with
one never will grow up
is that true or myth?
grammar school teachers gave us
adverbs to modify
adjectives with lust
turned us loose with “l” and “y”
to quickly enhance words
grade was do or die
humps, bumps, and undulations
regulate traffic speed
testing our patience
internment camps, built to hold
Japanese poetry
emotions untold
backyard, wringer washer and
incinerator to
burn away the bland
* * *
Carl’s “Batpow” is what he calls a “pungent Acrostic”—read the first word of each line, going down, for a secret message:
BATPOW
—Caschwa
(how others may see us,
until we fix things better)
blacks have been freed from slavery, or
are they only running around loose with
the false idea that they are equal? whose
property is a government based on consent
of the people, that was founded by
whites, but oh, those Amendments!
* * *
And here is Carl’s Haibun about graupel. You may’ve already written about graupel, actually, without using such a fancy name—especially if you live in the Mid-West. (How much graupel is a "surfeit of graupel"?) Joy-riding on snowflakes!
—Caschwa
(how others may see us,
until we fix things better)
blacks have been freed from slavery, or
are they only running around loose with
the false idea that they are equal? whose
property is a government based on consent
of the people, that was founded by
whites, but oh, those Amendments!
* * *
And here is Carl’s Haibun about graupel. You may’ve already written about graupel, actually, without using such a fancy name—especially if you live in the Mid-West. (How much graupel is a "surfeit of graupel"?) Joy-riding on snowflakes!
SURFEIT OF GRAUPEL
—Caschwa, Sacramento, CA
chilling in the sunlight, joy-
riding on snowflakes, sharing
radiant whiteness all around
embodying all the glorious
magnificence of a holiday sale
that clusters freshly scrubbed
shoppers together a bit too
closely next to rapidly erected
displays of merchandise along
aisles and aisles of pleasant
images with not so subtle cheery
suggestions evoking the heartfelt
comment “just what I’m looking for!”
the shopping cart soon filled with
glittering me-to-you feelings which
more than transcend mere material
measurements that attempt to
quantify a surfeit of graupel
the smile is greater
than the sum of little grins
happy, healthy folks
____________________
Many thanks to our SnakePals for today's 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!
____________________
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:
•••Cascade: www.shadowpoetry.com/resources/wip/cascade.html
See the bottom of this post for another challenge, this one an Ekphrastic one! And our Resource of the Week (below) has a hidden challenge in it, too…
____________________
MEDUSA’S FORM FINDER: Links to poetry terms mentioned today:
•••Acrostic: literarydevices.net/acrostic
•••Cascade: www.shadowpoetry.com/resources/wip/cascade.html
•••Choka: poetscollective.org/poetryforms/choka AND/OR poetscollective.org/poetryforms/choka
•••Constanza: www.shadowpoetry.com/resources/wip/constanza.html
•••Cuarteto: poetscollective.org/poetryforms/cuarteto
•••Ekphrastic Poem: notesofoak.com/discover-literature/ekphrastic-poetry
•••Haibun: www.writersdigest.com/write-better-poetry/haibun-poems-poetic-form
•••Haiku: www.shadowpoetry.com/resources/haiku/haiku.html
•••Monchielle (moan-SHELL): www.shadowpoetry.com/resources/wip/monchielle.html
•••Normative Syllabics: hellopoetry.com/collection/108/normative-syllabic-free-verse AND/OR lewisturco.typepad.com/poetics/normative-syllabic-verse
•••Senryu: www.masterclass.com/articles/how-to-write-senryu-poems#quiz-0
•••Cascade: www.shadowpoetry.com/resources/wip/cascade.html
See the bottom of this post for another challenge, this one an Ekphrastic one! And our Resource of the Week (below) has a hidden challenge in it, too…
____________________
MEDUSA’S FORM FINDER: Links to poetry terms mentioned today:
•••Acrostic: literarydevices.net/acrostic
•••Cascade: www.shadowpoetry.com/resources/wip/cascade.html
•••Choka: poetscollective.org/poetryforms/choka AND/OR poetscollective.org/poetryforms/choka
•••Constanza: www.shadowpoetry.com/resources/wip/constanza.html
•••Cuarteto: poetscollective.org/poetryforms/cuarteto
•••Ekphrastic Poem: notesofoak.com/discover-literature/ekphrastic-poetry
•••Haibun: www.writersdigest.com/write-better-poetry/haibun-poems-poetic-form
•••Haiku: www.shadowpoetry.com/resources/haiku/haiku.html
•••Monchielle (moan-SHELL): www.shadowpoetry.com/resources/wip/monchielle.html
•••Normative Syllabics: hellopoetry.com/collection/108/normative-syllabic-free-verse AND/OR lewisturco.typepad.com/poetics/normative-syllabic-verse
•••Senryu: www.masterclass.com/articles/how-to-write-senryu-poems#quiz-0
RESOURCE OF THE WEEK:
•••Matsuo Bashō ~ Selected Haiku: (haikuoftheforest.wordpress.com/2014/08/13/matsuo-basho-selected-haiku): Such wonderful use of words to describe the natural world around us, even in English! Pick some and write Haiku responses to them.
__________________
—Medusa
•••Matsuo Bashō ~ Selected Haiku: (haikuoftheforest.wordpress.com/2014/08/13/matsuo-basho-selected-haiku): Such wonderful use of words to describe the natural world around us, even in English! Pick some and write Haiku responses to them.
__________________
—Medusa
See what you can make of the above
photo, and send your 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.
