Placerville, CA
—And then scroll down for
Form Fiddlers’ Friday, with poetry by
Sue Crisp, Nolcha Fox,
Stephen Kingsnorth, and Joshua C. Frank
DREAM TRAILS
All night I rode down mountain
trails washed away by winter storms.
Trail of ravines and rock piles
dark by moon on a full-moon night.
Rider on a rough-trail horse
asphalt-shy of rush-hour traffic.
Where were we on schedule, how far
to hand-off the bag of mail?
In dream I remembered trails
from years ago before the floods.
Trails that dared riding, walking,
meditating those secret trails.
I woke and wished for wings
to ride forever the lonesome trail.
All night I rode down mountain
trails washed away by winter storms.
Trail of ravines and rock piles
dark by moon on a full-moon night.
Rider on a rough-trail horse
asphalt-shy of rush-hour traffic.
Where were we on schedule, how far
to hand-off the bag of mail?
In dream I remembered trails
from years ago before the floods.
Trails that dared riding, walking,
meditating those secret trails.
I woke and wished for wings
to ride forever the lonesome trail.
HISTORIC TRAILS
Beyond traffic noise,
rhythm of hooves approaching,
a horse bearing news
from the high mountain passes.
I’m lost in its deep brown eyes.
___________________
HEAT
Organs soar outside
by degrees, relentless in boxes
broiling away catastrophe,
exhaustion confined to circulation.
A cascade of body strain, rushing
to the heart running for a bus,
magnifies confusion
with age. Wind was the trouble.
Wet waves kill more than dry waves,
impact the ability to evaporate
in a water bucket; misters in armpits.
Running inside it isn’t visually
dramatic. Insistent, hidden.
from “How does heat kill? It confuses your brain. It shuts down your organs. It overworks your heart” by Seth Borenstein, AP, June 21. 2024
BELOW THE PASS
Fourteen months since you set out
on the last segment of this upward trail.
Today we’ve come to your favorite meadow—
a place your spirit must have passed over.
Landscape of granite and lava cliffs
and passes, meadow of paintbrush and tower-
delphinium. Willow thickets, snowmelt
creek, thunder showers and hail,
wind off the summit. Coyote howl at night,
with daylight proof of dark-time raids.
Place where we searched for a lost boy.
And here we fledged mountain chickadees
from our open hands,
letting them go to sky.
BEYOND BLOSSOMING
Salsify
its thistledown parachutes
defy gravity, rising
as if by their own power
of wishing.
WALKING THE FAIRGROUNDS
Good witch of the magic garden
must have blessed my Otis with a
sweetness spell if only for this
morning — O this arising day!
Today’s LittleNip:
LION-SIZE, FULL OF FUR
—Taylor Graham
Otis
and his shadow
inspect the droppings
of a suspected cat
he must not lust
to meet.
_____________________
Our thanks to Taylor Graham today; she’s talking about the recent Pony Express re-enactment, the AWFUL heat, and of course, Otis. Her poem, “Below the Pass”, is a nod to a favorite spot shared by her and her husband, Hatch, who passed away last year.
Forms TG has used this week include a Found Poem (“Heat”); a Badger's Hexastich which is also a response to our recent Seed of the Week, Lust (“Lion-Size, Full of Fur”); a Dream Poem which is also a Just 15s (“Dream Trails”); a Waka (“Historic Trails”); and a Dribble (“Walking the Fairgrounds”). The Dream Poem and the Dribble were two of last week’s Triple-F Challenges.
After a lot of dust-ups last week, we finally have a shined-up FORMS! OMG!!! page (http://medusaskitchen.blogspot.com/p/medusa-muses.html), with some dandy brush-ups and additions. I finally was able to list ALL the poem forms we’ve done over the years!
Coming up this week in El Dorado County Poetry: Poetic License read-around meets in Placerville Monday morning, 10:30am. For news about El Dorado County poetry—past (photos!) and future—see Taylor Graham’s Western Slope El Dorado Poetry on Facebook at www.facebook.com/ElDoradoCountyPoetry or see Lara Gularte’s Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/groups/382234029968077/. (Poetry is Gold in El Dorado County!) And of course you can always click on Medusa's UPCOMING NORCAL EVENTS (http://medusaskitchen.blogspot.com/p/wtf.html) for details about future poetry events in the NorCal area.
And now it’s time for…
FORM FIDDLERS’ FRIDAY!
Check out our recently-refurbed 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 and other ways of poetry. 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 Photo
This week, we received Ekphrastic poems from Sue Crisp, Nolcha Fox, and Stephen Kingsnorth. Sue is returning to the Kitchen after a hiatus during which her husband passed away and Sue needed some time:
SWEPT AWAY
—Sue Crisp, Shingle Springs, CA
For such a long time
I sent messages into the skies.
Are there truly other life out there
or is it all lies?
Then came the beam of light
whisking away the darkness of night.
The hover craft landed silently on the desert ground,
steps appeared from the craft without making a sound.
I watched in fascination
as alien beings descended
and into the landscape
they blended.
They spotted me with their large oval eyes.
That they were aliens, they could not disguise.
Yes, I nodded, I will come with you.
You’re the answer to my dream come true.
Over his shoulder, he lifted me,
in the background, I could see
where my new home was going to be.
Be careful what you wish for in this life,
you might end up an alien’s wife.
* * *
SOME THINGS NEVER CHANGE
—Nolcha Fox, Buffalo, WY
Under the
moonlight,
a caveman
stole a woman
for his mate.
Now ET
shows his love
by stealing
an earthling woman
for a hot date.
* * *
JUNGLE, GENDER
—Stephen Kingsnorth, Coedpoeth, Wrexham, Wales
An alien abduction scene,
but why wide eyed and always green?
Is that what’s seen as lore recalled?
For Torah Law with ‘stranger’ term—
and welcomes such to garner field.
Back then no one was borderline,
but all were children, worldly home.
This linocut or printing block
is cheeky with its shoulder fold,
or is it fireman’s hold, escape
from blazing planet’s gentle curve?
Perhaps it’s saucers’ take off, cause
of climate change in atmosphere?
What travel plan? Poor strategy?
This Moonfleet, far in time and place
from novel, journey here in space
reminds our culture influenced
by fantasies of many kinds.
This woodcut, tinted green indeed,
is jungle, gender, politics;
what is our message from this piece?
* * *
Here’s a Pantoum from the always-skillful Josh Frank:
THE VACANT PLAYGROUND
—Joshua C. Frank
The playground’s occupied no more
The wind blows sand against the slide
No playground chatter like before
The swings are swaying side to side
The wind blows sand against the slide
The ladder’s rusting bit by bit
The swings are swaying side to side
The wooden picket fence is split
The ladder’s rusting bit by bit
No hands now touch the sliding poles
The wooden picket fence is split
No balls are kicked through soccer goals
No hands now touch the sliding poles
No parents calling children’s names
No balls are kicked through soccer goals
The children won’t play screen-free games
No parents calling children’s names
No playground chatter like before
The children won’t play screen-free games
The playground’s occupied no more
(First published in The Society of Classical Poets)
* * *
And an Ars Poetica from Stephen. I hope you didn’t miss his Quadrilles yesterday:
CASTE
—Stephen Kingsnorth
Now what flows first, the art of verse,
or that derived from wider frame,
the visual in its fullest range,
so indeed poets, shape displayed?
Sure eye must feed the heart and mind,
to weave the tumbled words on page.
A complement, ekphrastic note,
Athena trumps Calliope—
though Ovid has latter, the chief,
my pupils’ discipline, first sight.
While both invite some questions posed,
I recognise superior,
the lingua franca of the streets,
a global image, unreached, speech.
So hear, I sit, perspective sure,
my skill in field, vanishing point,
unlike the coded words preferred.
ability restrained, terms poor—
but trifles of Autolycus
keep springing, prompt links to the fore.
I gather selfies de rigueur—
perhaps this workout but my own,
nothing to learn by wider read,
a monologue, bulimia,
a reader’s access, interest,
so limited, low neap tide reach.
So this selection, like the wrest,
a match, indifference, yet pen.
So laugh, or scorn, be overwhelmed,
the struggle to divest ourselves
of troubles, insights, insults too,
where confess, opportunity,
unless a hearing, courts provide,
at least some blog, some serviced guide.
So gratitude I, hear, record,
those students hoping for record,
the space afforded, voice to be
a laureate, proof virgin voice.
As preacher, intent similar,
some space for those deprived of tongue,
my style protest as hand on brain,
but that too allowed caste, remain.
___________________
Many thanks to today’s writers for their lively contributions! Wouldn’t you like to join them? 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!
•••Eintou: https://poetscollective.org/poetryforms/eintou
•••AND/OR tackle an Emmett:
•••Emmett: https://poetscollective.org/poetryforms/emmett
•••AND/OR maybe it’s time for an Egg Timer:
•••Egg Timer: https://poetscollective.org/poetryforms/egg-beater
•••See also the bottom of this post for another challenge, this one an Ekphrastic one.
•••And don’t forget each Tuesday’s Seed of the Week! This week it’s “Compromise”.
____________________
MEDUSA’S FORM FINDER: Links to poetry terms mentioned today:
•••Ars Poetica: www.poetryfoundation.org/learn/glossary-terms/ars-poetica
•••Badger’s Hexastitch: https://poetscollective.org/poetryforms/badgers-hexastitch
•••Dream Poem: https://www.bing.com/search?q=dream+poem+form&pc=cosp&ptag=C999N1234A316A5D3C6E&form=0A1010&conlogo=CT3210127&showconv=1
•••Dribble: https://poetscollective.org/poetryforms/dribble
•••Ekphrastic Poem: notesofoak.com/discover-literature/ekphrastic-poetry
•••Egg Timer: https://poetscollective.org/poetryforms/egg-beater
•••Eintou: https://poetscollective.org/poetryforms/eintou
•••Emmett: https://poetscollective.org/poetryforms/emmett
•••Found Poem: www.writersdigest.com/personal-updates/found-poetry-converting-or-stealing-the-words-of-others AND/OR poets.org/glossary/found-poem
•••Just 15s (devised by Sarah Harding): poem or stanza of 15 syllables
•••Pantoum: www.shadowpoetry.com/resources/wip/pantoum.html AND/OR https://poets.org/glossary/pantoum
•••Quadrille: 44 words (not counting the title) and includes one word the host provides to you
Today's Ekphrastic Challenge!
Make what you can of today's
picture, and send your poetic results to
kathykieth@hotmail.com/. (No deadline.)
* * *
—Public Domain Illustration
Make what you can of today's
picture, and send your poetic results to
kathykieth@hotmail.com/. (No deadline.)
* * *
—Public Domain Illustration
For info about
future 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?
Guidelines are at the top of this page
at the Placating the Gorgon link;
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!
future 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?
Guidelines are at the top of this page
at the Placating the Gorgon link;
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!
