—Poetry by Sayani Mukherjee, Keith Snow,
Stephen Kingsnorth, Joe Nolan, Caschwa,
Michael Ceraolo, and Nolcha Fox
—Public Domain Photos Courtesy of
Joe Nolan and Stephen Kingsnorth
FREE
—Sayani Mukherjee, Chandannagar,
W. Bengal, India
Kites run away
The vast blue torpedo
Summer's wintry song
The spring zest
All nonchalantly blue
Sometimes reddish in a murky way
Long roads lead to nowhere
Petals lose their appetite
Keep the token in a sugarcane
A safebox to point out my fault lines
Where do I reside after giving up all my springs
Gigantic metropolis and a narrowed
Necromancy
Truth hides in volumes
Still adrift in the world sky
National treasure too pointy to mark out
My locked treasure-map
Feathered pigeons know the truth
Nature is brave enough
It wears the heart out loud
My simplicity is a facade
Murmuring safety pins amongst ruins
Tobacco pink promised land
The utopia of crime and punishment
A beaded paradox
Maya dipped my simple smile
She knows how to be brave enough
My feathers are free.
—Sayani Mukherjee, Chandannagar,
W. Bengal, India
Kites run away
The vast blue torpedo
Summer's wintry song
The spring zest
All nonchalantly blue
Sometimes reddish in a murky way
Long roads lead to nowhere
Petals lose their appetite
Keep the token in a sugarcane
A safebox to point out my fault lines
Where do I reside after giving up all my springs
Gigantic metropolis and a narrowed
Necromancy
Truth hides in volumes
Still adrift in the world sky
National treasure too pointy to mark out
My locked treasure-map
Feathered pigeons know the truth
Nature is brave enough
It wears the heart out loud
My simplicity is a facade
Murmuring safety pins amongst ruins
Tobacco pink promised land
The utopia of crime and punishment
A beaded paradox
Maya dipped my simple smile
She knows how to be brave enough
My feathers are free.
—Public Domain Photo Courtesy of Joe Nolan
RELATIVE
—Keith Snow, Harrisburg, PA
—Keith Snow, Harrisburg, PA
To twenty somethings
old, country music
means when they were 13
heard Garth Brooks
being covered at the county fair
To my Dad
it was called Country Western
and there were 48 states
being covered at the county fair
To my Dad
it was called Country Western
and there were 48 states
—Public Domain Photo Courtesy
of Stephen Kingsnorth
of Stephen Kingsnorth
OUR COMMONWEAL
—Stephen Kingsnorth, Coedpoeth, Wrexham, Wales
It’s said we know not freedom lost
until it’s missed, a mourning mist;
but do we recognise the cost—
assuming norms fulfill the list
of all required to satisfy?
For one’s free speech may rage, vent hate;
some rewrite privilege for rights,
seek commonweal of commonwealth,
communal freedom earned, my loss,
pursuing rites of whole, for I?
And if, for aye, in global mood—
accused no doubt of leftist woke—
may see as neighbour everyman
and woman, child of every race,
then winning tape comes near, abreast?
I care not motivating force
when state or faith, philosophies
have much to answer for in past;
and even fear may serve the cause,
self-preservation of the globe?
Is it that ageless, being well,
society in complement,
of hungry, thirsty, prisoners,
the naked, sick, unsheltered folk
who hold our future in their grasp?
—Public Domain Photo Courtesy
of Stephen Kingsnorth
of Stephen Kingsnorth
BOUND BREAKS FREE
—Stephen Kingsnorth
Spilling volumes, strapped leather case,
how could the raven be contained,
enclosed in baggage, papers, page,
bursting, such larger life than he?
Poe returning, ghosts break free,
homeward, bound like trail of texts
left in his train, from station walk,
marking steps since he first left.
Adoptive, in short story form,
consumptive for child cousin bride;
patina, Verdigris of bronze,
once journeyman, now set apart.
It’s no tea party, reading fear—
a nevermore. Finality.
—Stephen Kingsnorth
Spilling volumes, strapped leather case,
how could the raven be contained,
enclosed in baggage, papers, page,
bursting, such larger life than he?
Poe returning, ghosts break free,
homeward, bound like trail of texts
left in his train, from station walk,
marking steps since he first left.
Adoptive, in short story form,
consumptive for child cousin bride;
patina, Verdigris of bronze,
once journeyman, now set apart.
It’s no tea party, reading fear—
a nevermore. Finality.
—Public Domain Photo Courtesy of Joe Nolan
WICKED SPIDERS
—Joe Nolan, Stockton, CA
Giant, wicked spiders,
Amok, across our land,
Cocoon our dearest cattle,
To eat upon demand.
They plan to
Overtake us,
Devour us,
Forsake us,
Once they’ve drained us
Of our blood.
Such is the way of spiders
Who spin their prey in webs.
Wicked, evil spiders
Roam across the land,
Devouring our dear cattle
On demand.
We are next
On their menus,
Though they’d never tell us
The depths of their evil plans.
—Public Domain Photo Courtesy of Joe Nolan
INTERACTIVE ENTERTAINMENT
—Joe Nolan
Maybe I am on a spectrum.
Somewhere?
Depending on who’s listening,
Measuring, watching
And delivering
My data to a C.P.U.,
Trained to analyze
Bullet-shots between the eyes
Of the Lone Ranger
Or Robin Hood
By Crazy Horse or
Sitting Bull
Who rode without benefit
Of saddle.
What does it take to addle
The brains of viewers
Across the land?
Brains must surely turn to sand
In front of bright TV’s
That keep us up
Throughout the night.
Networks are forever!
Slip into the matrix
Of an evening program—
A set of shows
That,
Depending on your choices,
Define your needs and desires
Like bright, sharp notes
Ringing out the throats
Of boys’ choirs.
—Joe Nolan
Maybe I am on a spectrum.
Somewhere?
Depending on who’s listening,
Measuring, watching
And delivering
My data to a C.P.U.,
Trained to analyze
Bullet-shots between the eyes
Of the Lone Ranger
Or Robin Hood
By Crazy Horse or
Sitting Bull
Who rode without benefit
Of saddle.
What does it take to addle
The brains of viewers
Across the land?
Brains must surely turn to sand
In front of bright TV’s
That keep us up
Throughout the night.
Networks are forever!
Slip into the matrix
Of an evening program—
A set of shows
That,
Depending on your choices,
Define your needs and desires
Like bright, sharp notes
Ringing out the throats
Of boys’ choirs.
—Public Domain Photo Courtesy of Joe Nolan
THE PAIN IMPOSED BY FORGIVENESS
—Joe Nolan
When you go down in the hole
You will feel gravity,
Within.
You will feel the threat of darkness
And the burden of your
Sin.
You will wish you
Had confessed and
Repented.
You will bleed a bloody sweat.
But that’s far from the worst of it—
You’d shudder to hear the rest—
The pain imposed by forgiveness!
—Joe Nolan
When you go down in the hole
You will feel gravity,
Within.
You will feel the threat of darkness
And the burden of your
Sin.
You will wish you
Had confessed and
Repented.
You will bleed a bloody sweat.
But that’s far from the worst of it—
You’d shudder to hear the rest—
The pain imposed by forgiveness!
—Public Domain Photo Courtesy of Joe Nolan
BEAUTY’S MEANING
—Joe Nolan
Beauty has its meaning.
Surely, this, you know.
But how to give it feeling?
How to better know,
The flow, the overflow—
The one you can’t let go,
The one for whom
A thousand dreams
You’d easily let go?
Beauty
Sleeps in dreaming
To dream of love
And be
Absorbed in its completion—
A dream of you and me.
—Joe Nolan
Beauty has its meaning.
Surely, this, you know.
But how to give it feeling?
How to better know,
The flow, the overflow—
The one you can’t let go,
The one for whom
A thousand dreams
You’d easily let go?
Beauty
Sleeps in dreaming
To dream of love
And be
Absorbed in its completion—
A dream of you and me.
—Public Domain Photo Courtesy of Joe Nolan
YOUR TAXES AT
—Caschwa, Sacramento, CA
For those of us who are working,
taxes are deducted from our wages
and then what happens after that?
There are many fine public service
programs that are funded by our
taxes, somehow, once the money
is collected, counted, deposited,
and finally set aside to go to some
worthwhile enterprise.
But just how much goes where,
and who is making sure it really does?
consider for a moment the scenario
where your mom gives you school
lunch money and then sends you
off to school. Forget that you are the
teacher and should know better, but
what plan is in place that your school
lunch money is used for that purpose?
We need to demand full transparency
from our government, because that is
a lot of dough deducted from our gross
earnings each month, and we still don’t
see many urgent needs being answered.
—Caschwa, Sacramento, CA
For those of us who are working,
taxes are deducted from our wages
and then what happens after that?
There are many fine public service
programs that are funded by our
taxes, somehow, once the money
is collected, counted, deposited,
and finally set aside to go to some
worthwhile enterprise.
But just how much goes where,
and who is making sure it really does?
consider for a moment the scenario
where your mom gives you school
lunch money and then sends you
off to school. Forget that you are the
teacher and should know better, but
what plan is in place that your school
lunch money is used for that purpose?
We need to demand full transparency
from our government, because that is
a lot of dough deducted from our gross
earnings each month, and we still don’t
see many urgent needs being answered.
—Public Domain Photo Courtesy of Joe Nolan
cheMOTHERapy
—Caschwa
this may not feel good, but
follow my directions to the
letter
we love you and want to
keep you, so you need to
work extra hard to beat this
your feelings may be a lot
of baggage with no reliable
handles, hold on anyways
—Public Domain Photo Courtesy
of Joe Nolan
THREE FREE SPEECH CANTOS
—Michael Ceraolo, South Euclid, Ohio
Free Speech Canto LXVI
Who: one hundred twenty-five authors
(from one source alone),
and
probably hundreds
if not thousands of others
if a complete accounting
could ever be made
What: banned books
(over one hundred fifty titles
in the United States
from that one source),
and
the no-doubt numerous others
who met a similar fate,
to say nothing of the others
not written due to self-censorship
Where: in libraries,
though
in extreme cases
even publication of the book
was banned
Why: ah, the why:
race
religion
sex
sexual orientation
violence
drugs and alcohol
bad behavior
Usually, but not always,
something that offended the professionally
offended
And,
of course,
to protect the children,
which,
as has been mentioned before,
is the first refuge of those who would
censor
Mark Twain once said
"censorship is telling a man
he can't have a steak just because
a baby can't chew it"
* * *
Free Speech Canto LXVII
Attempted federal censorship started
almost simultaneously
with the showing of the first fight films,
though
it was a decade and a half
before it was finally enacted
And
the reason for such legislation
was Jack Johnson
Johnson beat Tommy Burns in Australia
on Boxing Day, 1908,
to win the heavyweight crown,
and
the movement to ban films of the bout
began immediately,
though
such efforts were slowed somewhat
when Jim Jeffries came out of retirement
to try to dethrone Johnson
and reclaim the title for the white race;
many were those who hoped Jeffries would
kill Johnson
figuratively, and probably literally too
But
after July 4, 1910,
in Reno, Nevada,
where
Johnson toyed with Jeffries
in easily defeating him,
attempts to ban fight films
began again in earnest
State and local banning of the film
was too hit-or-miss for those
who wanted complete suppression;
something would have to be done
on the federal level,
and something was:
the banning of interstate transport
of fight films was now a crime,
to go into effect
July 31, 1912,
because,
as one representative said,
"no man descended from the old Saxon race
can look upon that kind of contest
without abhorrence or disgust"
(ignoring
all those who weren't from the old Saxon race)
And though the law wasn't repealed
until 1940,
vigorous enforcement of it
lasted only until 1915,
when Johnson was dethroned as champion
* * *
Free Speech Canto LXVIII
Steve Brodner described a radio host thusly:
"Anybody in public life
who blames victims and tries to turn
public opinion against victims
is a low-life scumbag"
and
one would have thought the editors
of the liberal magazine, Mother Jones,
would have heartily agreed
Maybe they did,
maybe they didn't,
we can never know for sure
But
when Brodner drew a cartoon
of said host, Rush Limbaugh,
with two ass-cheeks for his face,
they killed it,
for
reasons known only to themselves
_______________________
Today’s LittleNip(s):
GRANDMA’S COMFY SITTING CHAIR
—Joe Nolan
Grandma’s comfy
Sitting chair,
In her living-room,
Overstuffed and
Dressed in floral-print,
Was a fixture,
There for years,
In front of her TV.
* * *
MORE COOKIES
—Caschwa
it is not the candle
that is burning at
both ends, it’s those
irresistible cookies
that not only add
weight and inches
but also raise
the sugar level
promoting cavities
and diabetes
and of course
the price has
gone up, too
* * *
FREE
—Nolcha Fox, Buffalo, WY
I stick my foot
in my mouth
and nibble on my toes.
I don’t taste good,
but I don’t have to pay
to eat.
_______________________
Good March morning to readers everywhere, as our poets celebrate/cogitate/masticate (among other things) our Seed of the Week, “Free”. Thanks to them, and to Joe Nolan for contributing some photos from public domain. Be sure to check each Tuesday for the latest Seed of the Week.
This morning at 10:30am, Poetic License read-around takes place in Placerville at the Sr. Center. Tonight, Sac. Poetry Center hosts An Evening with William O’Daly, 7:30pm. Thursday at 12noon, Third Thursdays at the Library happens on Zoom; contact Amanda Jacobs for info. At 5:30pm on Thursday, there will be another Writing Our Words workshop with Lara Gularte in Cameron Park; Classy Hippie Tea Co. in Sacramento presents Anna Marie at 7pm; Poetry Night Reading Series in Davis presents Dana Gioia, also at 7pm; and Poetry Unplugged at Luna’s Cafe takes place in Sacramento at 8pm. Then on Saturday at 2pm, Avid Reader in Sacramento features Jodi Angel and Josh Fernandez. Click UPCOMING NORCAL EVENTS at the top of this column for details about these and other future poetry events in the NorCal area—and keep an eye on this link and on the Kitchen for happenings that might pop up during the week.
_____________________
—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—
and collaborations are welcome.
Just remember:
the snakes of Medusa are always hungry—
for poetry, of course!
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—
and collaborations are welcome.
Just remember:
the snakes of Medusa are always hungry—
for poetry, of course!
