Faith of Ladders

 

—Poetry and Photos by Taylor Graham,

Placerville, CA

—And then scroll down for

Form Fiddlers’ Friday!!

 

 

 

FOR THANKS-GIVING

an owl calls through the dark when I go for firewood,


seasoned cordwood, gift of one trunk of a live-oak fallen in storm—
at bedtime, Capella Goat-Star hazy-bright smiles at our backdoor;
at get-up time Polaris has taken her place, orienting a new day—
hug of warmth when I walk back inside our walls,
mug of hot black coffee holds both my hands—
turn on TV, there’s still a world out there past what I can see—
and outside, embers-&-char sunrise on the horizon,
and high in the west, Mars still bright in the dimming dark—
faith and hope keep me going in spite of the news—
soon, daylight—small birds gathering at the feeder,
thanks for this morning scattering its seeds for a poem—

 

 

 

 

NOVEMBER RESOLUTIONS

After getting up in bitter black dregs
of night, finding the woodstove as cold as
the ash-heap, as stones of the outer wall—
after getting fire to catch, and turning
on the TV morning news which was more
bitter than cold, and louder, harder to
make sense of—after cracking eggs in my
skillet like dawn cracking over the east
ridge—I watched Sunday lighten to resolve
faith in a new possibilities day.
Time to refill feeder for winter birds.

 

 

 

TO SPARK A POEM       

Internet prompts me to make a full pot
of coffee in my glass carafe then pour
milk in. Watch white swirl into dark. What for?
To spark a verse. I like my coffee hot
and black. No milk-swirling for me. Instead
I’ll watch my heat-power fan on woodstove—
its blades a swirl of light, a halo trove
of muted glory rising from the bed
of burning oakwood, warmth in ripple waves
extending to far corners of the room.
Forget the milky coffee. Notions bloom
on spinning gleam of fan that saves
on our electric bill—a spirit-glow,
a faithful silence in the predawn dim.
I sit and meditate, and sip the rim
of hot black joe, and wait for words to flow.

 

 

 

 


DARK PLUME

On crisp blue sky a sudden cloud—
from business park
eruption dark
as if a toxic morning shroud.
What does it mean?
A peaceful scene
and all that smoke arising there.
And does it stink?
It could be ink
a-wash in our clear breathing air.

 

 

 

 

FAITH OF LADDERS

Was it hallucination or dream—
or did I simply misunderstand?
Ladders in the sky, upper reaches
pearly as dawn; by gradations down
through afternoon to gloaming to dark
earth at your feet. Could you climb as you
used to, hammer, broom, or chimneysweep
brush in hand? you who built the house from
foundation to wood shake roof; who climbed
the ladder from second-story deck
to overhanging ponderosa
limb to return a baby robin
to its nest; you who still have visions
that might set you climbing rung by rung
to somewhere higher and out of sight?

 

 

 

 

LIGHT ACROSS THE DARK

The moon was full, you might say at max
inflation, a silver ball predictably skimming the sky,
never showing its backside, never turning cartwheels.
Without a glance it passed over the graveyard’s
deceased dreamers, and gave no answer to the sighs
and hopes and moody plunges of living lovers.
You and I listened to a breeze play piccolo
faith of budding through bare branches; and gazed
at the moon, as full of wonder as it’s ever been.

 

 

 

 

Today’s LittleNip:

QUESTION OF USAGE
—Taylor Graham

In farm pasture, a cow slow-motion
chases a large white bird. Is she
playing Goose the Egret? If
cows happen on a geese-
gaggle would it be
Goose the Goose? Whence
did that odd
usage
come?

________________________

Our thanks to Taylor Graham on this early December morning for her crisp poems and photos! Forms she has used include a Word-Can Poem (“Light Across the Dark”); a Nonet (“Question of Usage”); some Normative Syllabics (“Faith of Ladders”); a List Poem (“For Thanks-Giving”); an Amphion, one of our Triple-F Challenges from last week (“Dark Plume”); and another of our challenges, a Kirsch's Sonnet (“To Spark a Poem); plus some Blank Verse (“November Resolutions”). Some of her poems are responses to last Tuesday's Seed of the Week, Faith.

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 challenges. Whaddaya got to lose… If you send ‘em, I’ll post ‘em! (See Medusa’s Form Finder at the end of this post for resources and for links to poetry terms used in today’s post.)

There’s also a newly dusted-off page at the top of Medusa’s Kitchen called, “FORMS! OMG!!!” which expresses some of my (take ‘em or leave 'em) opinions about the use of forms in poetry writing, as well as listing some more resources to help you navigate through Form Quicksand. Got any more resources to add to our list? Send them to kathykieth@hotmail.com for the benefit of all man/woman/poetkind!

 

 

 

 Last Week’s Ekphrastic Challenge

Nolcha Fox responded to last week’s Ekphrastic Challenge:


The suspects

have long left the scene,
leaving proof of revel.
The victim met
a violent end, a knife
thrust to the breast.
One would think
the suspects could have

Eaten.
All.
The.
Turkey.


—Nolcha Fox, Buffalo, WY

 

* * *

 

 

 

 Week-Before-Last’s Ekphrastic Challenge (11/18), 

and Nolcha Fox’s response to it:

DISTORTION
—Nolcha Fox

I wander, bewildered
in parched dryness.
Desert heat haze
bewilders me, translucent
waves shimmering,
distorting the road,
mirage of water.
Intoxication of being
blurs my vision.
Rhymes sing
between my ears,
an acoustic haze.
I grope through
vapor, sticking
to my skin.
Perplexed, uncertain,
dazed.

 

 

—Public Domain Photo Courtesy of Nolcha Fox

* * *

 

 

 

 This graphic appeared on Facebook, and  

Stephen Kingsnorth responded to it, with photos:

 

 

 

 

 —Public Domain Photo Courtesy of

Stephen Kingsnorth

 

HIRAETH
—Stephen Kingsnorth, Coedpoeth, Wrexham, Wales

As Rome built sin and hierarchy,
the Celts saw what to Europe fell,
for lost lead, wayward coracle,
though mission launched on nature’s waves.
Saint Aiden set for Holy Isle,
called Lindisfarne, Northumbria;
Columba sailed, Iona Isle
the shingle crunch, beach pebble reach.
There I have stood, stooped, picked a stone,
reminder that there was a day
when air was clear, that place was thin.
They knew God in his fashioned world,
where chaos formed in giant leaps,
the Causeway columns, organ loft,
spew molten seas, new granite cliffs,
the howling heathlands, spirit spare.
So Celtic crews stretched Ireland, Wales,
under milk wood, as bards spoke forth,
from Cornwall, known for Arthur’s seat;
while Whitby Synod saw cause lost—
judged safer throned, authority.
Out west we heard creation’s groans,
more ocean, earth, as planet waves;
the artists need must tidings read,
so Celts preached boulders, chasms, rifts,
thrown boat in Galilean storm—
he calmly cushioned in the stern.
Whatever way of crashing foam,
it’s there we feel creator’s grace,
as world rejects religion’s claim,
its stewardship beyond the pale.
So forged, like Arthur’s fantasy—
his Camelot, Tintagel mount—
we dream, incarnate in a span,
and hanker, Welsh, what might have been,
before dark knights, like priestly garb.
Can hiraeth ever sound rebound,
with crwth or harp, the Male Voice Choir,
when those, who crucified, ascend,
their credal formulae, unbent,
for Petrine rock thought safer ground? 

 

 

 

 —Public Domain Photo Courtesy of

Stephen Kingsnorth

___________________

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!

___________________


TRIPLE-F CHALLENGES! 

See what you can make of this week’s poetry forms, and send them to kathykieth@hotmail.com! (No deadline.) This first one, the Cadence, is in Viola Berg’s book, Pathways for the Poet:

•••Cadence: www.poetrymagnumopus.com/topic/1882-syllabic-forms-found-in-pathways-for-the-poet/#veltanelle

AND/OR in the same resource, right below the Cadence, is the Cinquetun:

•••Cinquetun: www.poetrymagnumopus.com/topic/1882-syllabic-forms-found-in-pathways-for-the-poet/#veltanelle

•••See also the bottom of this post for another challenge, this one an Ekphrastic Photo.

•••And don’t forget each Tuesday’s Seed of the Week! This week it’s “Cats”. 


____________________

MEDUSA’S FORM FINDER: Links to poetry terms mentioned today:

•••Amphion: poetscollective.org/poetryforms/amphion
•••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
•••Cadence: www.poetrymagnumopus.com/topic/1882-syllabic-forms-found-in-pathways-for-the-poet/#veltanelle
•••Cinquetun: www.poetrymagnumopus.com/topic/1882-syllabic-forms-found-in-pathways-for-the-poet/#veltanelle
•••Ekphrastic Poem: notesofoak.com/discover-literature/ekphrastic-poetry   
•••Kirsch’s Sonnet: https://blog.prepscholar.com/types-of-sonnets
•••List Poem: clpe.org.uk/poetryline/poeticforms/list-poem
•••Nonet: www.writersdigest.com/write-better-poetry/nonet-poems-poetic-form
•••Normative Syllabics: hellopoetry.com/collection/108/normative-syllabic-free-verse AND/OR lewisturco.typepad.com/poetics/normative-syllabic-verse
•••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.


For more about meter, see:

•••www.studiobinder.com/blog/what-is-iambic-pentameter-definition-literature
•••www.pandorapost.com/2021/05/examples-of-iambic-pentameter-tetrameter-and-trimeter-in-poetry.html 
•••nosweatshakespeare.com/sonnets/iambic-pentameter
•••www.thoughtco.com/introducing-iambic-pentameter-2985082
•••www.nfi.edu/iambic-pentameter

____________________


—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.)

***

—Photo Courtesy of Public Domain





 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For upcoming poetry happenings in
Northern California and otherwheres,
click on
UPCOMING NORCAL EVENTS
in the links at the top of this page.

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.