—Poetry by Charles A. Perrone, Santa Cruz, CA
—Artwork Courtesy of Public Domain
—Artwork Courtesy of Public Domain
FROM MY NEW CELL COMPLETE WITH
DESK CALENDAR
The tigers in colour photos look at me
as if something ultra-feline were at stake,
and I fake a fee-fearful response just to be
accommodating and an overall nice guy.
But then I think of the others who thought
that sending me pictures would make a dif-
ference in the conjuncture of feral beings.
I, after all, am not striped nor too sure, sorry...
DESK CALENDAR
The tigers in colour photos look at me
as if something ultra-feline were at stake,
and I fake a fee-fearful response just to be
accommodating and an overall nice guy.
But then I think of the others who thought
that sending me pictures would make a dif-
ference in the conjuncture of feral beings.
I, after all, am not striped nor too sure, sorry...
DISCOVERY AND DECISION
My dear spouse sent me on a mission
to the guest room to open the storage
to look for old robes with tattered hems
that she had deposited there long ago
I did not think to question my assignment
though she herself could easily have gone
The space had not been occupied in a while
so it was a bit dusty but the closet door was
closed and the interior was somewhat less
untidy
The robes were nowhere to be seen on
hangers
But there on the shelf they were: folded
garments
Inside the tatters and folds I found a silver
spoon
and a locket with snippets of hair and
threads
and an engraved inscription: H e m l o c k.
Here I am still working on vetting that
DREAMED VS. DREAMT
dreams are dreamt and meant to occur
dreams are dreamed and deemed to be
dreams are dreamt to justify oneiric activity
dreams are dreamed to unleash imagination
dreams are dreamt to enjoy spatial disorient-
ation
dreams are dreamed to so go with aerial
flotation
dreams are dreamt to let logic lose its few
bearings
dreams are dreamed to allow illogic to gain
steams
dreams are dreamt to compare cool compari-
sons
dreams are dreamed daily and nightly to be
sure
dreams are dreamt to be fertile fodder in
jovial journals
dreams are dreamed to be folly filler in
frightful freefall
dreams are dreamt / dreamed as participles
participating in practical parcels of time
travel
dreams are dreamt and dreamed over and
over
in endless ceaseless unyielding consistent
rotations....
FURTHER CONTEMPLATIONS OF DOGS
How would you dare to compare
this pair of opinionated creatures?:
the reliable for-prey howling wolves
and the playful hunter hooting owls.
Naught at all chime in the local canines.
Our guaranteed responses to loud sirens–
be they of ambulances, cops or firetrucks–
are, as long expressive sustained notes,
better than both and bother no one.
Or so we are told by our dear guardians.
How would you dare to compare
this pair of opinionated creatures?:
the reliable for-prey howling wolves
and the playful hunter hooting owls.
Naught at all chime in the local canines.
Our guaranteed responses to loud sirens–
be they of ambulances, cops or firetrucks–
are, as long expressive sustained notes,
better than both and bother no one.
Or so we are told by our dear guardians.
HARD HAT MAN
Their instructions were so perfectly
clear: if I were to enter the feared
restricted area I would have to wear
a colorless hard hat. Of course, I
assumed this rule was universal, de-
signed to ensure cranial protection
for all. However, after a while in
the zone of danger I was able to
come to an alternate conclusion: the
tough heavy lid was actually to pre-
vent so many rebellious and infect-
ious ideas from drifting out of my
ownknowingly loud skull and into the
lull of the place where they keep all
these others on the edge of dull, in
abeyance, captive and silent.
D-DAY OF RECKONING
The time has come to recognize the need to
reconcile this wreck of a body of knowledge
with the silo of grains of wisdom
that has become available to me
should I wish to avail myself of it
before pesky alternative versions
of my self re-emerge on the ledge
of the whirled stage of auto-configuration
and the surface reconnaissance missions
I am forced to endure during the play the
wright has finished penning to send along
to the duly determined diviners of destinies
___________________
Today’s LittleNip:
DIVINE TITLE: SEE BELOW
—Charles A. Perrone
God (aka The Supreme Deity
or Being, He/She can decide)
surely knows how to avoid
all sorts of self-assignation
as well as long appellations
lest listeners be distracted
by the pomp and then let
their imaginations allow
them to romp in fronted
fields of fruitless fantasy
___________________
Kitchen Newcomer Charles A. Perrone was born in the Empire State of New York, grew up in the Golden State of California, last studied in the Lone Star State of Texas, finished his working days in the Sunshine State of Florida, and has returned to the West Coast to enjoy retirement between the seashore and the redwoods. His not-so-secret-anymore life as a published poet spans the Americas and the oceans, as well as the Internet; his poetry has appeared in books and journals (print and digital) in USA, Canada, UK, Mexico, Brazil and Australia. Three of his chapbooks were published by moriapoetry, and his volume, Designs: Blueprints of Floorplans of a Provisional Residence, was released by cyberwit in 2022. Welcome to the Kitchen, Charles—don’t be a stranger—and those of us who live inland do love Santa Cruz, and we envy you for living there!
____________________
—Medusa
Charles A. Perrone
For upcoming poetry happenings in
Northern California and otherwheres,
click on
UPCOMING NORCAL EVENTS
(http://medusaskitchen.blogspot.com/p/wtf.html)
in the links at the top of this page—
and keep an eye on this link and on
the daily Kitchen for happenings
that might pop up
—or get changed!—
during the week.
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.
Find previous four-or-so posts by scrolling down
under today; or there's an "Older Posts" button
at the bottom of this column; or find previous poets
by typing the name of the poet or poem
into the little beige box at the top
left-hand side of today’s post; or go to
Medusa’s Rapsheet at the bottom of
the blue column at the right
to find the date you want.
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!
Northern California and otherwheres,
click on
UPCOMING NORCAL EVENTS
(http://medusaskitchen.blogspot.com/p/wtf.html)
in the links at the top of this page—
and keep an eye on this link and on
the daily Kitchen for happenings
that might pop up
—or get changed!—
during the week.
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.
Find previous four-or-so posts by scrolling down
under today; or there's an "Older Posts" button
at the bottom of this column; or find previous poets
by typing the name of the poet or poem
into the little beige box at the top
left-hand side of today’s post; or go to
Medusa’s Rapsheet at the bottom of
the blue column at the right
to find the date you want.
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!
(A cookie from the Kitchen for today)
ant trail of cars
slowly creeps
along the highway—
another damn
traffic jam…
