Sinsationally Sinful

 Mirrormask

 

* * *

—Poetry and Visuals by Smith, Cleveland, OH
—Guest Poet: Marc Mannheimer

 

 

Sin is scintillating
sin is sine qua non

Sin is singularity
sin quantum's dawn

There's sin in single
sin in sing

Sin snake wiggle
long since singed

Sinning in, and out about
and of course sin in devout

Also looters of the looney bins
their lawyers and loathsome louts

It's not so much original sin
as seedy second-hand doubt

Sincere as Satan's sire
sinsational sin in search of fire

 

 

 

 Train Track Coming

Rich old white man heavy hand
bloody runs the land

Greed's graft sets trap
of life of rat

O sacred pipe this naked night
lay on me some light

Must no this lack of glow
brighten better sight

 

 

 

Morse Code

The wolf is at the door
filling up on breaths
we hide our heads in sheep

 

 

 

 Equal Rites

ONE SOUP TO RULE THEM ALL

I don't cook
though I played one for six months
in County Jail lockup 1970
but wife is stressed and stretched and strung
with work hell so I've begun
making one large Dutch oven soup a week
to help feed and ease my she.

I'm good at it, find it fun.

My one recipe fits all
(basic scaffold, embellish at will)

For today's chili
pour 1/4 cup olive oil in Dutch oven pan
finely chop 4 medium onions
4 carrots
4 stalks celery
3 segments garlic
11 sprigs parsley
6 strands thyme
add to pan
sauté over medium flame with lid on
stirring frequently
add 1 pound real or fake meat
cook and stir 20 minutes
add 2 small cans kidney beans
1 small can black beans
1 large can diced tomatoes
couple shakes MSG, salt, black pepper
4 capfuls cream sherry
bit of water
cup small black beluga lentils
2 tablespoons miso
pack of chili mix
bring to boil
lower flame and simmer 50 minutes
fill a blender with cooked beans and veggies
purée
pour back in
add frozen corn
6 strands thyme
chopped green onions
simmer 30 minutes
eat.

Same basic flow for black bean soup
but replace chili mix with cumin
and fake meat with nothing
or navy bean soup with bay leaf and thyme
and smoked salt
or potato soup with spice of choice.

Soon I'll can the cans
cook dry beans
cut and cook tomatoes.

Best navy bean soup I've had.
Pretty good chili.
Fine black bean.

Secret is simple—
more finely chopped veggies than you'd think
and slooooooow cooking.

Nature and chemistry do the rest.

 

 

 

Greetings

PONDERING THE INEFFABLE . . .

Do titmice have nipples?
Is a gift a manifested if?

If time is relative
where are its in-laws?

Does now start now
or do we wait for later?

If there's no beginning, no end
what are we doing here?

Since no normal's the new normal
I now drive an ambiance

Welcome to love em or lingam

 

 

 

 Yellow Brick Road

CATscan PETscan X-Ray MRI
in and out fast and slow
to see what of me stays
what me goes

They shoot me full of dye
and radiation juice
weighing what remains
what's to lose

 

 

 

 Almost

Doctor going in
taking bad stuff out
hope there's some me left over

 

 

 

2nd Nature

for Smith
—Marc Steven Mannheimer

observe the bent bone man
the cracked frame
the bowed vertical suspension
he might know, if anyone
the way of poetry
the way to walk around the block
to feed the bird, the bee, the knee, the dog
please the lady, be the benefactor
his ways, strange
but his being neutralizes karma
the noxious fumes we consume
achy bakey man
sizzling wisdom wonton, fortune cookie man
his time sublime, no lock-stop flock
bides the Earth on patient clock

 

 

 

 Your Future

Today’s LittleNip:

You want the truth?
the truth is there ain't no truth
and that's the truth

—Smith

__________________

Our thanks to Smith (Steven B. Smith) for today’s fine poetry and visuals. Since he sent these, he has undergone brain surgery which was—thanks be—successful. So he is home again and back to his old feisty self, despite excruciating pain which is now, thankfully, beginning to subside.

Smith has brought a guest poet to us today: Marc Mannheimer, who says he writes as honestly as he can, although psychological nearsightedness means his honesty isn’t always accurate. A memoir of his first year with depression, The Overwhelmed, was published by Alien Buddha Press in 2020. Welcome to the Kitchen, Marc, and don’t be a stranger!

__________________

—Medusa

 

 

 

 

 Afterlife
—Visual by Smith

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Choices today for NorCal Poetry:
•••3rd Thurs. at noon, Sac.Main Library;
•••Ursula K. Le Guin online workshop starts;
•••Cameron Park workshop, 5:30pm;
•••Poetry in Davis: Joe Wenderoth
& Spencer Rice, 7pm;
•••Poetry Unplugged in Sacramento, 8pm;
•••The Roux Open Mic/Feature Series, 8pm.
For info about these and other
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!

 

LittleSnake is making soup!