—Public Domain Illustration
Courtesy of Medusa
* * *
—Poetry by Nolcha Fox, Stephen Kingsnorth,
Caschwa, Sue Crisp, Sayani Mukherjee,
and Joe Nolan
—Hunky and Dory Photo by Sue Crisp
—Public Domain Photos Courtesy of
Joe Nolan and Medusa
ALAS
—Nolcha Fox, Buffalo, WY
We went to both
restaurants in town.
All the seats were taken.
Alas, we parted company.
I ate breakfast at home alone.
—Nolcha Fox, Buffalo, WY
We went to both
restaurants in town.
All the seats were taken.
Alas, we parted company.
I ate breakfast at home alone.
—Public Domain Illustration Courtesy of Joe Nolan
LOSE TO WIN
—Stephen Kingsnorth, Coedpoeth, Wrexham, Wales
The face we wear has consequence,
so fear the folly, worn all costs;
but if we dare, bear losing it—
a warning to those set in stone.
How many wars, their genesis,
cause can’t be seen in loss of it?
Perhaps masked ball in masquerade,
or plastered creams, paints, make up glass,
the mutton wanting to be lamb,
a bald statement, another’s hair?
Why then and there would we loose face,
yet doing that cause threat of war?
How many headlines must I read—
they can’t afford be seen find grace?
Yet robbers mask, to make disguise,
as children do at Halloween.
The faces of warworn parade,
all moisturised, the dial awry.
A promise, shared, community,
the price, communal wellbeing,
that worth, while peace prized above all,
though not at cost of common good.
So what the front of our display?
Do we envisage turning cheek?
—Public Domain Photo Courtesy of Joe Nolan
LOTS OF DOTS
In response to our current SOW, Compromise
—Caschwa, Sacramento, CA
hair.styling.comb
Russia.communism
graduation.commencement
luxury.comfort
internal.combustion
goods.commodity
opinion.commentary
proletarian.commoner
together.communal
contract.compromise
window.shop.compare
payback.compensation
multiple.compound
cold.compress
jet.compulsion
—Public Domain Photo Courtesy of Joe Nolan
WE NEED JOHN WAYNE AGAIN
—Caschwa
It is time for dreaming, due to
all the dire consequences
threatening to end our
Democracy
So let’s pull up John Wayne’s
1963 portrayal of George
Washington McLintock, an
aging rancher who was forced
once again to defend his possessions
so he dusted off his trusty firearms
and whooped the rear ends of those
who sought to deny him his just due
This is fiction, but we need Biden to
step into those shoes and show ‘em
all who’s boss, not softly crumble
away into history surrounded only by
soft-spoken logic and good reasoning
he has the position, top of everything
the big guns, the most feared prisons
can’t just give away votes because you
claimed to serve all the people, some of
those people are enemies of the State!
Lock ‘em up! Throw away the key!
It is time for dreaming…
—Public Domain Illustration Courtesy of Joe Nolan
PLEASE DONATE
—Caschwa
to the orphan adverbs
sad-to-be-alive fund
born with such hope
and plans for fulfillment
now cast aside with utter
indifference and brutal
apathy, forced to hit the
ground “fiercer” and kept
totally away from any
act that looks anything
like modifying verbs or
adjectives, by God! they
don’t even have a place
or following in Target
aliens to the entire universe
of written and spoken words
with the rare exception of
some excerpts from classical
grammar school textbooks
now banned from the shelves
try looking at Walmart’s big,
locked glass enclosures, where
you have to wait for a sales
associate to unlock the case
and retrieve your purchase…..
no adverbs, anywhere! you
can’t even buy one.
—Public Domain Photo Courtesy of Joe Nolan
LUST
—Sue Crisp, Shingle Springs, CA
I have this lust for life
since the love of my life's passing.
Who could know the loneliness
and feelings of loss amassing.
It seems like only yesterday
we had this incredible lust for life.
How were we to know I would
soon be a widowed wife.
The years flew by
with the zest of a hurricane.
Now, only the endless
days of loneliness remain.
Yes, I lust for once
what was mine,
that feeling of completeness
and security so divine.
This lust I feel
is not unreal,
it's for the completion of my journey
here, until we meet again in eternity.
since the love of my life's passing.
Who could know the loneliness
and feelings of loss amassing.
It seems like only yesterday
we had this incredible lust for life.
How were we to know I would
soon be a widowed wife.
The years flew by
with the zest of a hurricane.
Now, only the endless
days of loneliness remain.
Yes, I lust for once
what was mine,
that feeling of completeness
and security so divine.
This lust I feel
is not unreal,
it's for the completion of my journey
here, until we meet again in eternity.
Hunky and Dory
—Photo by Sue Crisp
—Photo by Sue Crisp
WORD OF THE DAY: HUNKY-DORY
—Sue Crisp
My two horses Hunky, Dory, are quite the pair.
They go together, everywhere.
Their days are in a pasture of green
Behind them a forest of native trees can be seen.
A trough of water, pure and clean.
All is hunky-dory, as far as they’re concerned
in the forever home they’ve earned.
—Public Domain Photo Courtesy of Joe Nolan
GREEN
—Sayani Mukherjee,
Chandannagar, W. Bengal, India
A slowly cacophonous morning
Screaming of faultless surprises
I call back at the ruinous evening
The way the sea chanters will sing
And mourn the last evening
The soil of earth-soaked happiness
The numbness, the choice of green fragility
The bemoaning madness of survival of green moist
Is this a new horizon of tumultuous ocean?
I sign and beck a call of happiness
The night knows a thousand epiphanies
A fireglow at the tail end
Till I lose my breath for the sky-line wine.
—Public Domain Photo Courtesy of Joe Nolan
TELL ME ABOUT FUKUSHIMA
—Joe Nolan, Stockton, CA
Tell me about
Fukushima—
About how the poison
Has spread
Away from nuclear reactors,
Waiting for the living
To become
The dead.
Tell me about
Fukushima
About how the
Living are dead.
Tell me about
How reactors
Went poof!
When they’d
Run out of steam.
Tell me about
The strange
Shapes of fish
From the ocean
Surrounding
The sore.
—Public Domain Photo Courtesy of Joe Nolan
MOM LOVED YOU BEST!
(Said Tommy Smothers)
—Joe Nolan
Everybody wants his Mom
To say she loves him best.
Even though
There’s so
Little to go
Around to all
The rest—
Starving from deprivation,
Control slipped out of wrest,
Some hungry feeder
Pushed away
From its primal
Time at the breast.
—Public Domain Photo Courtesy of Joe Nolan
REACHING FOR GOLD
—Joe Nolan
There are many ways
A soul can reach for gold—
A selfless annexation,
An ego-less prostration,
Subsuming all that’s youth
Into old
Or getting a dog.
A dog will take
Its signal
From your cue.
If your dog
Is bad,
It’s all on you.
Nefertiti
Was very fond of cats.
It’s all right
If anyone’s
Like that,
But I,
For one,
Take pleasure
In letting a
Dog run.
—Public Domain Photo Courtesy of Joe Nolan
STAR WONDER
—Joe Nolan
The brilliance of a star
That makes, caress—
Light from distant galaxies
Faint, but obsessed—
Somehow,
With coming here.
We feel the fall of
Nature
To the false-oppressed,
Who wander in gardens,
Praying for someone to
Free them,
From religion,
Blessed.
___________________
Today’s LittleNip:
LOVE IS IN THE AIR
—Sue Crisp, Shingle Springs, CA
I feel your gentle touch
as you nuzzle my cheek.
It puts that far-away look in my eyes,
I have no words I can speak.
The look on my face
should tell the story.
His touch and warm breath
speaks of new Love’s Glory.
____________________
Thanks to our snake whisperers today for sending their work to calm Medusa’s restless reptiles. In some cases, recent Seeds of the Week are at play, either our current one (Compromise), or our most recent one, Lust. Lust! We’re all lusting for fine poetry, and here it is, by gum…
The July issue of Sacramento Poetry Center's Poet News is now available at https://www.sacpoetrycenter.org/poetnews/. Check it out for area poetry events (including the Bay Area), poetry, submissions, workshops and more!
Note that the deadline for submissions to the Sacramento Poetry Center’s upcoming exhibit of visual poetry, curated by Michelle Lynn Dyrness, has been extended to JULY 31. Info: https://www.sacpoetrycenter.org/events/.
____________________
—Medusa
tune in next Wednesday…
—Public Domain Illustration Courtesy of Medusa
A reminder that
Poetic License meets in Placerville
this morning, 10:30am; and
Sacramento Poetry Center hosts
Youth Open Mic tonight, 7:30pm.
For info about these and other
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!
Poetic License meets in Placerville
this morning, 10:30am; and
Sacramento Poetry Center hosts
Youth Open Mic tonight, 7:30pm.
For info about these and other
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!
