The Imperative to Stash

 —Public Domain Art Courtesy of Medusa

* * *

—Poetry by Nolcha Fox, Stephen Kingsnorth,
Caschwa, Sayani Mukherjee, and Joe Nolan
—Public Domain Visuals Courtesy of
Joe Nolan and Medusa

 

 

STASHING
—Nolcha Fox, Buffalo, WY

Stashing is imperative
to survive the brutal
winter weather.
Ask any respectable
furry or feathered hoarder.
So ask me why I have to stash
boots and sweaters,
gloves and coats for
each new winter season.
I’m just a stashaholic
who needs to look different
every single year.

 

 

 

 —Public Domain Photo Courtesy of Medusa

SQUIRREL AWAY
—Stephen Kingsnorth, Coedpoeth, Wrexham, Wales

But should I write this stranger tale,
a theme to which I make no claim—
the hidden stash, drugs, fruit of crime—
or wider class across the pond?
I want, as fear my seventh age
cannot stretch too far out of sight,
to evidence what life I’ve lived
when my identity suspect.
A record in both sight and sound,
an album as biography,
for when the mind has lost its course,
a picture, note may prompt recall.

It is the means ancestors need
to understand what fell before,
as I could wish forefathers had,
an archive of things everyday.
For me, the instinct to preserve,
though children, grandkids, more to clear;
when comes that fulcrum, what the age,
sage wisdom outweighs frank despair?
But here’s no secret store involved,
some cache of arms or cash indeed—
no horde, but more a hoarding creed,
revealing, not concealing deeds.

But maybe stash is art to learn
when kids come knocking, mine-still door?
Retain control of what I will—
last testament, but not yet proved.
The floorboards, mattress, cavity,
to shout from rooftops, attic too,
all to be opened when of age
that binbags not the storage used.
But as for larder, freezer stock,
in winter prep while autumn’s good,
unless the memory improved
that menu served, sprouts, rite of spring.

 

 

 

 —Public Domain Art Courtesy of Medusa

EVERY YOUNG MAN’S DUTY
—Caschwa

growing up in a vast ocean of hormones
it was every young man’s duty to sport
some facial hair as soon as he could

thanks to television’s ability to broadcast
images right into one’s house, one didn’t
have to venture far and wide to find some
prime examples

Burt Reynolds
Charlie Chaplin
Freddy Mercury
Groucho Marx
Hulk Hogan
Salvador Dali
Sam Elliott
Tom Selleck

teen boys and their families alike were
immersed into a world of moustaches
that were featured so often and widely
a young man was expected to at least
give it a try, right alongside that army
uniform and fighting gear

straight, arched, curled, what would be
the future shape of your own moustache-
in-training?

 

 

 

 —Public Domain Photo Courtesy of Joe Nolan

MODERN WEIGHT LIFTING
—Caschwa

loosely following the old teachings
I started with a slice of bacon daily
then moved up to a slice of ham
muscles not yet bulging, went to pork chop
then to pork shoulder, then whole ham

somehow it didn’t work out for me
like it did for that guy from ancient times
enjoyed a lot of good food
but added more fat than muscle
next I’ll try taking the car to drive-ins 

 

 

 

 —Public Domain Photo Courtesy of Joe Nolan

UNLEARNING THE PAST
—Caschwa

human nature gave us the wonderful
tool of rote repetition to learn things:
ABC’s, tying one’s shoes, setting the
lawnmower blade higher or lower,
turning out lights when not in use, etc.,
until we compiled quite a toolbox of
learned tasks

today, while our brains may be the same,
the approach to learning is very different
and our brains have become surrogate parts
of computer networks that incorporate
many variables

all those times I appeared for blood tests
or other procedures at the medical facility,
and never have any staff approached me to
say they can tell just by looking at me that
I need to see a doctor in the near future,
but now the same institution wants me to
participate in a video appointment where
I am at home talking to my doctor on camera
where virtually no internal problems are
likely to betray themselves

the old method was, the physician would
make a house call, size up the apparent
medical issues, and prescribe remedies;
now the new way requires user name,
password, WiFi connection, buy and add
data to the Android, confirm one’s identity
in an infinity of ways, be excluded from
contact with any other human beings while
required to join in early only to be put on
hold, wait some more…

the doctor will still recite the obligatory
question “How do you feel?” as if it is
common for patients to have the requisite
medical training to provide a worthwhile
response.  Wait, didn’t I hire them to find
the answers?

 

 

 

 —Public Domain Art Courtesy of Medusa

VOTE FOR VJ
—Caschwa

tempers rose at the town hall
meeting, as one victim after
another spoke of how their
local laws were routinely and
unabashedly ignored, yielding
way to mountains of higher
authority being too soft on crime

we know these scoundrels, and
often cruel and unusual punishment
is the only thing that will modify
their behavior

don’t give a Damn about China
and Iran, and even Putin is not
here in our town lootin’

give us back our Vigilante Justice
because high and higher courts are
not feeling our pain, they instead
follow a public relations path of
putting out rules and laws that abide
by whatever the all-powerful land
owners want, leaving us at the mercy
of scoundrels who have none

you don’t kill a bear cub and expect
due process and protection of all
those fancy laws when its mama
comes after you; we will come after
you and make sure you get what you
deserve

our God loves life, liberty, and the
pursuit of happiness but will not
tolerate pure nonsense and abuse
if you kill, lie, steal, cheat, and
otherwise fail to respect our laws,
we intend to return the disrespect
many, many times over

 

 

 

 —Public Domain Photo Courtesy of Medusa

A PRECIOUS FRUIT
—Sayani Mukherjee, Chandannagar,
W. Bengal, India

Holding an apple is
History circulating in motion
The first fall,
The first digital revolution,
The doctors' one way.
It serves purposes of many.
But I hold an apple
With my pocket knife
Make art out of a fruit
A nice butterfly, smartly knitted
A map of my origin
It can be moulded in many
It can divide nations too
Wage a war
Genocide and what-not
An imaginative flair
Of so many realities.
Objects then are not objects
But a history
Fighting against the white crown
The sundown ruling
Tearing the flag with just
A pinch of writing.

An apple can do wonders—
It saved my neighbour's
Life
Sickening days of chewing
The flesh and the core
The lady is now walking fast.
Then I have heard
A boy of merely ten
Fell to a dark depth
A big precipice of high altitude
He was picking apples
An apple served his death.
A precious fruit, I thought
And stopped my pen. 

 

 

 

 —Public Domain Photo Courtesy of Joe Nolan

CICADAS, UNDERGROUND
—Joe Nolan, Stockton, CA

It’s just one day
In an endless chain
Of daily progressions.

Have you been
Down to the
Newsstand yet,
To get your
Daily paper?

There’s something there
On page fifteen,
That seems like it
Might interest you,
If you have the time
To read it,

But these days,
Things disappear
Before you have a chance
To know them

And cicadas bury
Themselves underground
Before you ever hear them,
If you are not near them.

The news is still
Whistling in the wind
Reporting on politicians
Who have surely sinned.
Some of them, arrested,
Others of them, impeached.

Surely, we interpret these
As signs of
Decline and corruption.

 

 

 

 —Public Domain Photo Courtesy of Joe Nolan

PUTIN’S WARNING
—Joe Nolan

I’m getting ready
To blow you up.

I will, one day,
If you keep this up.

It’s only a question of time
Until I lose my mind
And decide that
Universal conflagration
Is preferable to
Unending humiliation.

What was it
You wanted to do
By launching missiles
Into Russia?

Did you want
To provoke the Bear
Or simply start the
Mass annihilation
Of humanity
Across every shore?

You keep sending
More and more,
As if nothing
Would be
Returned,
But you will see—
It’s only a matter of time
Until you get
What you have earned.  

 

 

 

—Public Domain Photo Courtesy of Joe Nolan

SWAMPED IN ASHEVILLE
—Joe Nolan, Stockton, CA

Let me buy
A little slice
Of the
American Pie.

It’s gotten so
Expensive
Like they want
Us all to die.

Is there a seat
In the house
For hard-working
People
Or only ice?

Cold-shouldered,
Sent away,
Dead bodies
Left out on the streets
For days.

No one picked them up.
“Not a priority,” they’d say.
Katrina was a wake-up call
And Asheville is the answer.

Ringing on the telephone
No phone service,
All alone.
Welcome,
To our future age
Where people are abandoned—
So out there on your own.

 

 

 

 —Public Domain Art Courtesy of Joe Nolan

KEEPING ON
—Joe Nolan

Still going forth
Among the wounded
As a healthy man,

Despite the damage
You’ve endured,
Marching in the sun.

You are so proud
Of your ego-less-ness,
Grown high-horsed
In your holiness.

At least you can
Keep keeping on—
More than many
Others can say
Who’ve gone lame
And nearly crippled.

 

 

 

 —Public Domain Art Courtesy of Joe Nolan

CONFESSIONS OF A DEMON-SHOPPER
—Joe Nolan

I finally surrendered
And paid the higher price
I tried to avoid
By checking sales-ads thrice.

I was a demon-shopper
Buying only what’s on sale,
Shocking all the check-out girls
With how much I had saved,

But one day,
I just grew tired,
My firm resolve
Grew weak
And I just surrendered
To the “Special-of-the-Week,”
Alas, at nearly full price.

____________________

Today’s LittleNip:

Poetry is the lifeblood of rebellion, revolution, and the raising of consciousness.

—Alice Walker

____________________

Many thanks to today’s contributors for fine fotos and poetry! “The Imperative to Stash” was our Seed of the Week, in keeping with the season. Be sure to check each Tuesday for the latest Seed of the Week.

The October 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! And be sure to watch for upcoming Sacramento Poetry Week events—yes, this year it’s a whole week!—starting Oct. 20. Check for all that info at https://www.sacramentopoetryweek.com/.

Don’t be shy about helping Tahoe celebrate its first-ever Tahoe Literary Festival this coming weekend! See info at https://yourtahoeguide.com/2024/09/tahoe-literary-festival-schedule-tickets/?fbclid=IwY2xjawFke4RleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHXRzOcB-dGPYTrAqfYhJx5CIQytjKIXou5uKVdWRdgRRS8talUd_QGOfKA_aem_Ql_P1c1m91ou2aDkiOexwg/.
 

Congratulations to Stephen Kingsnorth for his Best of the Net Nomination 2025 by Lothlorien Poetry Journal for his poem, “Heroes’ Odyssey”, published Oct. 2023.

 

And Victor Kennedy of Maribor, Slovenia, sent us these photos, saying: "I was out for a walk yesterday and stumbled upon the Medusa Pizza Restaurant and Cafe in Celje, Slovenia."

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks, Victor! (Send poems!) And that goes for the rest of you! Send poems!

____________________

—Medusa

 

 

 

 —Public Domain Photo Courtesy of Medusa

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A reminder that
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Richard T. Garcia and Paul Aponte
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