—Poetry and Photos by Taylor Graham,
Placereville, CA
—And then scroll down for
Form Fiddlers’ Friday, with poetry by
Nolcha Fox, Stephen Kingsnorth,
and Caschwa
LATCHES AT WORK
He used to be lanky and quick
with his paws, opening kitchen cabinets,
dragging sponges from under the sink;
never had the decency to put things
back where he found them.
He earned no praise for his sense
of balance, hanging the bedside lamp
between headboard and chest of drawers
and turning it on with the pull-chain.
He’s traded his lankiness for a paunch
but keeps his other attributes.
We keep him anyway.
We have no alternative. He
chose us.
He used to be lanky and quick
with his paws, opening kitchen cabinets,
dragging sponges from under the sink;
never had the decency to put things
back where he found them.
He earned no praise for his sense
of balance, hanging the bedside lamp
between headboard and chest of drawers
and turning it on with the pull-chain.
He’s traded his lankiness for a paunch
but keeps his other attributes.
We keep him anyway.
We have no alternative. He
chose us.
RODENT?
You hear a gnawing in the kitchen?
That’s why we have a cat (imprisoned
in our house so the owl won’t get him,
or a hawk, coyote, cougar, bear).
When let outside, the family dog
is leashed against rocketing traffic
on the two-lane road. We humans walk
outside freely, aware of dangers
lurking everywhere beyond our walls.
Safety is a function of the house.
You needn’t worry about the mouse.
OTIS ON THE TRAIL
We stop, take a break
and he rolls in dead dry weeds,
grinning at my NO!s.
Festooned with summer’s stickers,
what a blessed mess he is!
SECRET MESSAGES
secret messages
canary warnings
or optical trickery
between rusting rails
left along the railroad track
my dog sniffing inch
by inch what passed in the dark
without our knowing
summer’s fallen leaves
delphic aftermath
this ossuary just one
kind of existence
VIDEO PROOF
Why do
you need
a trail cam if
each
step you take is
laid bare
for
the beast
you
see in your mind,
envisioning
it there?
BETWEEN PARK & HIGH SCHOOL
These proofs of passage:
one blue & white striped plastic straw;
a few red- & black-berries still on the vine;
one Wrigley chewing gum wrapper;
one fragment of candy wrapper ripped open;
bits of branches broken off old blue oak;
one black banana peel with Del Monte sticker;
one tattered length of hemp rope, knotted;
three low skeins of wild geese honking south;
one empty Harder Blood-Orange can;
one segmented, blood-black dropping: cougar.
__________________
Today’s LittleNip:
SUNBURNED FIELD
—Taylor Graham
star thistle
golden as mica
but prickly
___________________
Our thanks to Taylor Graham and her critters today for fine subjects and fine poetry, some of it on our Seed of the Week, Work. Forms she has used include a Word-Can Poem (“Latches at Work”); a Tanka (“Otis on the Trail”); a Miku (“Sunburned Field”); a Split Sequence (“Secret Messages”); a Golda (“Video Proof”); an response to last week's Ekphrastic Challenge that also uses Normative Syllabics (“Rodent?”); and a List Poem (“Between Park & High School”). For the Split Sequence, her partner was random words. The Split Sequence and the Golda were two of our Triple-F Challenges for the week.
Writers whose mailing address is within El Dorado County are encouraged to submit to the new Slope and Basin literary journal before its Oct. 1 deadline. Info may be found at https://artsandcultureeldorado.org/slope-and-basin/.
El Dorado County’s regular workshops are listed if you scroll down on http://medusaskitchen.blogspot.com/p/wtf.html), For more news about EDC 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!
These proofs of passage:
one blue & white striped plastic straw;
a few red- & black-berries still on the vine;
one Wrigley chewing gum wrapper;
one fragment of candy wrapper ripped open;
bits of branches broken off old blue oak;
one black banana peel with Del Monte sticker;
one tattered length of hemp rope, knotted;
three low skeins of wild geese honking south;
one empty Harder Blood-Orange can;
one segmented, blood-black dropping: cougar.
__________________
Today’s LittleNip:
SUNBURNED FIELD
—Taylor Graham
star thistle
golden as mica
but prickly
___________________
Our thanks to Taylor Graham and her critters today for fine subjects and fine poetry, some of it on our Seed of the Week, Work. Forms she has used include a Word-Can Poem (“Latches at Work”); a Tanka (“Otis on the Trail”); a Miku (“Sunburned Field”); a Split Sequence (“Secret Messages”); a Golda (“Video Proof”); an response to last week's Ekphrastic Challenge that also uses Normative Syllabics (“Rodent?”); and a List Poem (“Between Park & High School”). For the Split Sequence, her partner was random words. The Split Sequence and the Golda were two of our Triple-F Challenges for the week.
Writers whose mailing address is within El Dorado County are encouraged to submit to the new Slope and Basin literary journal before its Oct. 1 deadline. Info may be found at https://artsandcultureeldorado.org/slope-and-basin/.
El Dorado County’s regular workshops are listed if you scroll down on http://medusaskitchen.blogspot.com/p/wtf.html), For more news about EDC 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 photo of a wascally wodent brought response-poems from Nolcha Fox and Stephen Kingsnorth:
GRIEF STARTS SMALL
—Nolcha Fox, Buffalo, WY
She is a tiny thing at first,
a mouse that crawls
through holes in walls,
eluding baits of midnight
phone calls that
I know will vanish
as the distance
grows between us.
I know she’s there,
that little mouse.
She leaves footprints
through distraction,
drops shoes in rooms
I’ve long abandoned
because they once
contained your shadow.
Sleep eludes me
as that mouse
starts munching
crackers in my ear.
I awake, no breath,
to find her sitting,
snorting on my chest.
And she’s an elephant.
TIM’ROUS BEASTIE
—Stephen Kingsnorth, Coedpoeth, Wrexham, Wales
Why watch wee mouse and less the hole,
those black jet eyes, quivering snout,
a squeezy turn without three-point
whose sight and smell with whiskers tell
where threat and pest controllers pout?
Despite its name, toad in the hole
is scrumptious, but, not mouse the same.
There’s Tom and Jerry, Christie’s Trap
(which people watch for record run
and not for plot, if there is one)—
the stage is full of mice, some caught,
Of Men they write, with lonesome dreams;
or elephants, though wherefore, why
should they take fright at shrew-light feet?
My cottage home has sonic booms
that we can’t hear but mousies fear
(more homely mousies, mousys, yet,
than mice that hints infested nests,
while, mousy sounding like a pet)—
though they’ve not read instruction book;
though plugged in, one runs over feet.
In school lab they dissected one;
I watched it scrabble, upturned jar,
prefilled with gas from Bunsen tap,
confirming me in reading Arts.
Reign cats and dogs, with Teddy’s bear,
I guess its tales near top the list,
with tail as long as body bit.
I’ve seen a few in nestled scene,
but never skirting, duly chewed.
This rodent with incising teeth
would rather nibble tidbit food
and make its home in prefab flat
than work at newbuild on estate;
the rental nowt, no mortgage fee.
Free Bed and Board in skirting, bored,
thus living quarters underfloor
with passage through to dining room
bears resonance, realtor’s blurb.
Leave Burns evicting mice with plough
for best-laid schemes go oft awry,
so focus mouse, and less the whole?
* * *
Carl Schwartz (Caschwa) was busy this week! First, he sent a Miku Chain (alternating 3/5/3, 7/2, and 2/3/2). The Miku, also known as an Abbreviated Haiku, was one of our Triple-F Challenges for this week:
—Stephen Kingsnorth, Coedpoeth, Wrexham, Wales
Why watch wee mouse and less the hole,
those black jet eyes, quivering snout,
a squeezy turn without three-point
whose sight and smell with whiskers tell
where threat and pest controllers pout?
Despite its name, toad in the hole
is scrumptious, but, not mouse the same.
There’s Tom and Jerry, Christie’s Trap
(which people watch for record run
and not for plot, if there is one)—
the stage is full of mice, some caught,
Of Men they write, with lonesome dreams;
or elephants, though wherefore, why
should they take fright at shrew-light feet?
My cottage home has sonic booms
that we can’t hear but mousies fear
(more homely mousies, mousys, yet,
than mice that hints infested nests,
while, mousy sounding like a pet)—
though they’ve not read instruction book;
though plugged in, one runs over feet.
In school lab they dissected one;
I watched it scrabble, upturned jar,
prefilled with gas from Bunsen tap,
confirming me in reading Arts.
Reign cats and dogs, with Teddy’s bear,
I guess its tales near top the list,
with tail as long as body bit.
I’ve seen a few in nestled scene,
but never skirting, duly chewed.
This rodent with incising teeth
would rather nibble tidbit food
and make its home in prefab flat
than work at newbuild on estate;
the rental nowt, no mortgage fee.
Free Bed and Board in skirting, bored,
thus living quarters underfloor
with passage through to dining room
bears resonance, realtor’s blurb.
Leave Burns evicting mice with plough
for best-laid schemes go oft awry,
so focus mouse, and less the whole?
* * *
Carl Schwartz (Caschwa) was busy this week! First, he sent a Miku Chain (alternating 3/5/3, 7/2, and 2/3/2). The Miku, also known as an Abbreviated Haiku, was one of our Triple-F Challenges for this week:
UNTENDED
—Caschwa, Sacramento, CA
weeds too high
too tall for mower
string trimmer
summer heat prevents lawn work
oh my
I got
too sore to
bother
relentless
weeds grow anyhow
Nature’s way
calendar said Fall is near
it lied
my old
machete
too dull
active ants
climb all over plants
day and night
everyone likes strawberries
uneaten
I took
pictures of
new blooms
watering
plants and weeds alike
they share it
fresh fruit says to keep up the
good work
AC
keeps me well
inside
* * *
Carl also sent us a Ghazal:
—Caschwa, Sacramento, CA
weeds too high
too tall for mower
string trimmer
summer heat prevents lawn work
oh my
I got
too sore to
bother
relentless
weeds grow anyhow
Nature’s way
calendar said Fall is near
it lied
my old
machete
too dull
active ants
climb all over plants
day and night
everyone likes strawberries
uneaten
I took
pictures of
new blooms
watering
plants and weeds alike
they share it
fresh fruit says to keep up the
good work
AC
keeps me well
inside
* * *
Carl also sent us a Ghazal:
HISTORY
—Caschwa
learned that my last name is German for black,
it is not white or yellow, and/or black
my grandfather had to change his last name
to truly answer in all candor black
so he could promptly flee from Germany
with the impending war, its dander black
and started a new family right here
his careful choice to make a gander black
arisen from this was Caschwa, who was
a very first, not second-hander black
* * *
About his next poem, Carl says that, "in general terms, this is a Dizain in Reverse Pyramid format. It is 10 lines, which closely follows the pattern of a Nonet, just adding one 10-syllable line."
—Caschwa
learned that my last name is German for black,
it is not white or yellow, and/or black
my grandfather had to change his last name
to truly answer in all candor black
so he could promptly flee from Germany
with the impending war, its dander black
and started a new family right here
his careful choice to make a gander black
arisen from this was Caschwa, who was
a very first, not second-hander black
* * *
About his next poem, Carl says that, "in general terms, this is a Dizain in Reverse Pyramid format. It is 10 lines, which closely follows the pattern of a Nonet, just adding one 10-syllable line."
SCORING
—Caschwa
got a perfect ten on my assignment!
it has a straight line underneath it
and just below that one hundred
maybe that’s not very good
back to the drawing board
will work much harder
make it look fine
as perfect
as a
ten
* * *
—Caschwa
got a perfect ten on my assignment!
it has a straight line underneath it
and just below that one hundred
maybe that’s not very good
back to the drawing board
will work much harder
make it look fine
as perfect
as a
ten
* * *
Here is a Shakespearean Sonnet from Carl, based on a past Seed of the Seek, Compromise, which he found in Medusa’s link, Calliope’s Closet:
MEET YOU HALFWAY
—Caschwa
I met a man with 30 wives to sell
he’d had enough he said, eyes full of tears
alas they did not meet his plans to dwell
together, they conspired to hurt his ears
his music faves were classical and jazz
with instruments that featured lower brass
the wives were all released from Alcatraz
where they would sing like poison clouds of gas
an auction sale might clear the place of wives
whose register was in the stratosphere
he knew he’d best avoid the blood of knives
which was the top of his most dreaded fears
I’ll bid ten quid for those who stand quite tall
I’ll double that if you will take them all!
* * *
And we close with a whiff of Halloween from Carl, who says he “got into that du-DUM du-DUM stuff and came up with this poem based on The Addams Family theme song”:
—Caschwa
I met a man with 30 wives to sell
he’d had enough he said, eyes full of tears
alas they did not meet his plans to dwell
together, they conspired to hurt his ears
his music faves were classical and jazz
with instruments that featured lower brass
the wives were all released from Alcatraz
where they would sing like poison clouds of gas
an auction sale might clear the place of wives
whose register was in the stratosphere
he knew he’d best avoid the blood of knives
which was the top of his most dreaded fears
I’ll bid ten quid for those who stand quite tall
I’ll double that if you will take them all!
* * *
And we close with a whiff of Halloween from Carl, who says he “got into that du-DUM du-DUM stuff and came up with this poem based on The Addams Family theme song”:
THE SCHWARTZ COUPLE
—Caschwa
my wife knew how to jump rope
I tried there just was no hope
at best I looked like a dope
at least I gave a try
she did some down home cooking
while no one else was looking
I couldn’t get a booking
at least I gave a try
Peep
weep
Asleep
we shopped together always
had lots of fun on sale days
we’d love to cruise the aisle ways
at least we gave a try
I got to know her better
as time passed since I met her
she knitted me a sweater
at least she gave a try
Strange
Deranged
At least we gave a try
___________________
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!
—Caschwa
my wife knew how to jump rope
I tried there just was no hope
at best I looked like a dope
at least I gave a try
she did some down home cooking
while no one else was looking
I couldn’t get a booking
at least I gave a try
Peep
weep
Asleep
we shopped together always
had lots of fun on sale days
we’d love to cruise the aisle ways
at least we gave a try
I got to know her better
as time passed since I met her
she knitted me a sweater
at least she gave a try
Strange
Deranged
At least we gave a try
___________________
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!
•••Guzzanelle: https://poetscollective.org/poetryforms/guzzanele
•••AND/OR an Alphabet Haiku:
•••Alphabet Haiku: https://poetscollective.org/poetryforms/alphabet-haiku
•••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 “Shifting Gears”.
____________________
MEDUSA’S FORM FINDER: Links to poetry terms mentioned today:
•••Abbreviated Haiku (Miku): https://poetscollective.org/poetryforms/abbreviated-haiku
•••Alphabet Haiku: https://poetscollective.org/poetryforms/alphabet-haiku
•••Dizain: https://www.writersdigest.com/write-better-poetry/dizain-poetic-form
•••Ghazal: poets.org/glossary/ghazal AND/OR poetryschool.com/theblog/whats-a-ghaza AND/OR www.poetryfoundation.org/learn/glossary-terms/ghazal AND/OR www.shadowpoetry.com/resources/wip/ghazal.html
•••Golda: https://poetscollective.org/poetryforms/golda
•••Guzzanelle: https://poetscollective.org/poetryforms/guzzanele
•••List Poem: clpe.org.uk/poetryline/poeticforms/list-poem
•••Nonet: www.writersdigest.com/write-better-poetry/nonet-poems-poetic-form
•••Normative Syllabics: hellopoetry.com/collection/108/normative-syllabic-free-verse AND/OR lewisturco.typepad.com/poetics/normative-syllabic-verse
•••Sonnet, Shakespearian: www.masterclass.com/articles/poetry-101-what-is-a-shakespearean-sonnet-learn-about-shakespearean-sonnets-with-examples AND/OR
lewisturco.typepad.com/poetics/normative-syllabic-verse
•••Split Sequence: http://www.hsa-haiku.org/frogpond/2022-issue45-1/essay.html
•••Tanka: poets.org/glossary/tanka
•••Word-Can Poem: putting random words on slips of paper into a can, then drawing out a few and making a poem out of them
___________________
—Medusa
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 Photo
Courtesy of Joe Nolan,
Stockton, CA
Make what you can of today's
picture, and send your poetic results to
kathykieth@hotmail.com/. (No deadline.)
* * *
—Public Domain Photo
Courtesy of Joe Nolan,
Stockton, CA
For 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!
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!
