Pizza and Beer

—Public Domain Debauchery Photo Courtesy of Medusa

 

* * * 

—Poetry by Nolcha Fox, Stephen Kingsnorth,
Caschwa, Devyanshi Neupane, Shiva Neupane,
Sayani Mukherjee, Michael Ceraolo,
and Joe Nolan

—Photos by Shiva Neupane
—Public Domain Visuals Courtesy of Joe Nolan,

Stephen Kingsnorth, and Medusa

 

 

TOO DANGEROUS
—Nolcha Fox, Buffalo, WY

I’m such a slug.
I have no ambition.
I prefer pizza and beer
at the stadium
to playing the field,
being jeered as a loser,
or getting knocked out
by the ball.

 

 

 

 Biles Bows
—Public Domain Illustration Courtesy
of Stephen Kingsnorth

THE DANGERS OF WINNING
—Stephen Kingsnorth, Coedpoeth, Wrexham, Wales

The answer, most dread, ‘Wouldn’t know’,
pathetic truth or moaning mind;
though fact, for most, survival mode—
which is a win of certain kind,
to live when much around has died.

It is the art of losing well,
the prize for which a winner waits;
though not so long, as silver Biles
to gold one, bowed on podium—
both dancing feat and supple back,
so gaining face and keeping track.

To win against a challenge set,
to overcome despite a threat
if perseverance, once again,
then laud it, though brings self-reward.
Distinction lies as ‘If’ describes.

 

 

 

 —Public Domain Photo Courtesy of Joe Nolan

CODGER
—Stephen Kingsnorth

Use codger, cadger, take your pick,
but is their heritage the same?
All old boys thieves, beggars belief,
for pocket pickers dip, their aim;
say what you mean—mean what you say,
but true, or just mean-spirit blame?

 

 

 

Brooms For Sale

 —Public Domain Photo Courtesy of Stephen Kingsnorth

CLEARING UP AFTERWARDS
—Stephen Kingsnorth

Used coffee cups for washing up,  
detritus after folk met, sup,  
we leave a scatter, chairs to stack,  
assorted cushions, plastic mac,  
forgotten stick, a hanging gamp,  
but quick to clear up afterwards.

A point of view, but blunt remark,  
on cue, the prejudicial mark,  
some battered pride, discourtesy,  
a foot in mouth while drinking tea,  
invective, unintentional,  
all slow to clear up, afterwords.

Unwarranted verbal attacks,  
defensive talk, then tongues relax,  
soft chewy nougat, nugget nuts,
ensure vociferous mouth shuts
for feedback while their teeth stuck fast,
so much to clear up, afterwords.

Much pride in this community,
where folk want to belong, to be,
but willing hands and brooms deployed
confirm that vile, hate speech seen void,  
make clear this place is space for all,
means fun to clear up afterwards. 

 

 

 

—Public Domain Photo Courtesy of Medusa

 

 

READY, WILLING, AND SKEPTICAL
—Caschwa

(Inspired by a recent SOW, Perseverance)

phoned the pizzeria
placed my order
left my name
arrived on time
order was announced ready
paid for it, plus tip
received my order
opened the lid
this was not my order
told the employee
she looked at it, confirmed,
went back, got the right one
yes, this is right
will it happen again?
likely so, that road is full of detours
so I took it home and enjoyed it
desire was now compulsion
my cravings cannot be ignored
 

 

—Public Domain Photo Courtesy of Joe Nolan

HIRE THE BEST
—Caschwa, Sacramento, CA

Lotto officials say that
jackpot winners need the
advice of a tax expert, an
attorney, and a financial
professional, and none
should answer to the same
boss

to those among us for whom
those winnings would represent
new money, good advice is a
good start, except when all one
knows are people from other
middle-income households, it
is quite possible that no strong
bonds of trust have developed
between them and experts who
serve the richy-rich

an old college friend lived with his
parents in a mansion in Beverly Hills;
through the ensuing years he would
talk of his “hit and miss” financial
ventures presenting a learning curve
scenario I do not wish to simulate

it is not as if one can go through
the Yellow Pages cold-calling
these kinds of professionals and
have a proven, trusty way of
evaluating whether they will live
up to their claims or not

how easy it would be to be taken
in by a con artist when one is
making these choices before the
winnings have been distributed
and before one has surplus finds
on hand to find expert help 

 

 

 

—Public Domain Photo Courtesy of Joe Nolan

THE WORD OF THE LORD OF MONEY
—Caschwa

Recent Supreme Court rulings are
setting a new precedent, whereby
once we accept all their infinite list
of mandates on what we cannot do
to terminate a fertilized egg at that
or any later stage, we are left with
only one option, provided to us by
the Word of the Lord of Money:
let it continue.

if this must be our new precedent,

we may see cars and trucks and
other vehicles with no braking
systems, because by the Word of
the Lord of Money: let it
continue.

viewing TV programs will be on a
binge watching or nothing basis
because by the Word of the Lord of
Money: let it continue.

it will be illegal to put out fires,
regardless of likely risk, harm, or
fatal outcomes, because by the
Word of the Lord of Money: let
it continue.

ending war will be strictly forbidden
because by the Word of the Lord of
Money: let it continue.

if someone begins to utter a really
terrible pun, they have to finish it
because by the Word of the Lord of
Money: let it continue.

It appears that the only way to change
this dilemma is to bring forth someone
with far more money than the Lord of
Money that is influencing our Justices. 

 

 

 

 —Public Domain Photo 

Courtesy of Medusa

UNDERWATER WEDDING
—Caschwa

rehearsal had a slow start because
all the bridesmaids were named
Misty

the blushing bride tosses a sprig
of seaweed for the next unwed
girl to catch

and it casually descends through
the obscure, crowded, waters to
reach an unsuspecting bottom feeder

everyone swirls in circles in
celebration

the wedding photographer
is quickly snapping pictures
then retreating out of sight like
a Lamprey Eel, ready to catch
more images

abundant adulations for the cake,
just the right amount of moisture

the new couple announced plans
to cross the ocean and honeymoon
in Paris, allowing time for motel
rooms to clear after the Olympic
Games are finally over

Let us all wish them well

 

 

 

 —Public Domain Poster Courtesy of Joe Nolan

THANKS TO THE HMO
—Caschwa

(Inspired by the SOW, Perseverance)

I’m 75, not all my parts work
as well as before, but my HMO
has high regard for my health

that’s how they put it, anyway
sometimes it feels like they are
panning for gold

“it’s gotta be
there somewhere!”

Ultrasound, CT scan, biopsy,
surgical intervention, more
samples to the lab, no gold yet

“it’s gotta be
there somewhere!”

feels like they will keep trying
till I reach 275, maybe name
some rich mines after me 

 

 

 

 Devyanshi Neupane, Age 4

—Photo by Shiva Neupane

BIRD
—Devyanshi Neupane, Melbourne, Australia

I love bird
It is beautiful
And colourful.
Bird can fly in the sky
I love bird. 

 

 

 

 Shiva Neupane’s New Book

—Photo by Shiva Neupane 

A BOOK
—Shiva Neupane, Melbourne, Australia
 
A poet
Is the authority
of imagination.
I’m the in-charge
of my book of poetry,
The Mantra of
Curiosity, which has unveiled
my inner-self more glaringly.
The perpetual curiousness
has slaked my poetic thirst
in my book of poetry.  

 

 

 

 —Public Domain Illustration Courtesy of Medusa

PIANO
—Sayani Mukherjee,
Chandannagar, W. Bengal, India

The faint piano desk at my back
The church prayers of oblong halt
Numerous passengers thronged through
It came a virtuous glance
The rain smelled of Picadilly
The London traffic, the Paris rainbow
All imbued on a harmonic tribe
I came and saw the victorious mansions
The fairy tale chiaroscuro of uncharted lamps
It is a place of folly of penmanship and a little
trinket
I perched on the jammed trampoline
The loneliness ever growing on
As the peace was costlier than love. 

 

 

 

—Public Domain Poster Courtesy of Joe Nolan

THREE FREE SPEECH CANTOS
—Michael Ceraolo, South Euclid, OH

Free Speech Canto LXXXIV

The portion of Ex parte Jackson
that said letters would not be inspected
did not ban entrapment by postal officials
One such official, Robert W. McAffee,
had written, under assumed names,
to William Grimm, seeking lewd pictures
Grimm sent a letter indicating
he had such pictures for sale
Though Grimm's letter was deemed not obscene,
merely giving "information as to
whether obscene material could be obtained"
violated the law, and the Court
unanimously upheld the entrapment

* * *

Free Speech Canto XCV

From the Internal Revenue Code:

"The exempt purposes set forth
in section 501 (c) (3) are
charitable,
                religious,
educational,
                   scientific,
                                  literary,
testing for public safety,
fostering national or international amateur sports
competition,
and preventing cruelty to children or animals"
And all you have to do to get the exemption
is to give up some of your rights:
you cannot be "an action organization"
you "may not attempt to influence legislation"
as a "substantial portion" of your activities
and you "may not participate in any campaign"
either "for or against political candidates"

And,
        in Regan v. Taxation with Representation . . .
the Supremes agreed,
                                 unanimously:
"Congress has not infringed
any First Amendment Rights
or regulated any First Amendment activity"

* * *

Free Speech Canto XCVI

The People's Republic of California
had mandated the magic word, Inclusion,
as a requirement for recognizing student groups
But the law went beyond banning discrimination,
saying that a group's recognition was to be
"regardless of their status or beliefs"
A clear-cut contravention of free speech, right?
Not so fast, said the great Ginsburg:
"we affirm the Court of Appeals' ruling
that the all-comers policy is constitutional"
The Christian Legal Society's
free-speech rights remain abridged.

 

 

 

 —Public Domain Photo Courtesy of Joe Nolan

CARNIVORE CONTROL
—Joe Nolan, Stockton, CA

Let us set
The carnivores
Upon each other

To reduce
The population.

They live by lust
For each others’ blood
And kill by hate.

Let us let
The carnivores
Devour
Each other

Before,
For us,
It is
Too late.

 

 

 

 Eagles waiting for the salmon run
—Public Domain Photo Courtesy of Joe Nolan

MONEY OWNS BOTH SIDES
—Joe Nolan

The only reason
We have not
All died,
Already,
Is that
Money owns
Both sides.  

 

 

 

 —Public Domain Illustration 

Courtesy of Joe Nolan

WE ARE ALL AMALEK
—Joe Nolan     

Of course,
We listen
To each other,
In our
Human condition.

We watch
And learn.
So much to discover—
Intuition earns.

Flat-out
Bombast,
We complain,
Far more often
Than we should,
Into each others’
Brains.

We run amok,
Attributing good fortune
To another’s luck.

We pray for rain,
While in our secret hearts
We wish each other pain
And annihilation—
We are all
Amalek—
Set across horizons
To be annihilated,
One by the other,
Stranger against brother.

Kill or be killed
And so remain
To populate this planet,
As though there
Was some virtue
In this game.    

 

 

 

 —Public Domain Cartoon Courtesy of Medusa

SYMPATHY FOR TIM GREEN
—Joe Nolan

[Tim Green is Editor of Rattle Poetry; this is
a meditation on his possible state of mind]


Too many poems to read—
Gone from licking pearls
To chewing sawdust.
Too much of a good thing?

Where is a little raisin,
Something sweet and yummy
On which I can chew?

I hear you,
I feel you,
By your words,
I know you.
It’s the real you
Coming through.

I feel for you—
Your sorrow and your grief,
Your state of doubt,
Your lost belief,
Your lack of faith,
Your deep despair,
It’s all floating through the air
On poems’ wings,
Surprisingly strong,
Much more-so
Than most people know.
Did you know
Poems carry
Part of a poet’s soul?

I hope for a sensual description
To validate a sense of joy of living,
Something that’s not suffering,
But reflects enjoyment of life,
Life in its human condition,
Such as we are
As humans, here on Earth.

Here I am
Digesting all your karma.
How did I get here?
I almost
Didn’t apply
For this job.

_____________________

Today’s LittleNip:

POETRY AS A CLEARING FORCE
—Joe Nolan
 
If we only knew
How poetry
Can undo,
Whatever it is
We need
To dispose of,
We would be renewed.   

_____________________

Our thanks to today’s contributors: some have written their concerns about the politics of the day, and others have riffed on our Seed of the Week, “The Dangers of Winning”. Our Monday Kitchen is, as always, a potpourri and plethora of poetry.

Shiva Neupane’s new book, The Mantra of Curiosity, is available in Kathmandu, Nepal, and will soon be available elsewhere. For info about it, contact him at Falang_socialwelfare@yahoo.com/. And thanks to his wee daughter, Devyanshi, for her fine poem today!

_____________________

—Medusa

 

 

 

 —Public Domain Cartoon 

Courtesy of Medusa

A reminder that Poetic License
meets in Placerville today, 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!

 

Gear required for
underwater weddings~