Sacramento, CA
(Photos were first posted in Medusa’s Kitchen
in 2018)
WAY OUTSIDE THE BOX
when the normal conventions of
logical reasoning don’t quite fit to
explain why something is happening,
it may be handy to offer Astrological
references
Geminis are known to march to a
different drum than Capricorns, so some
of those loose ends might be corralled in
this correlation
my late wife would have me read to her
the daily horoscopes of our family members
and a number of prominent people in the news,
because it really did make more sense to track
the orbits of planets and other celestial objects
in order to try to explain why certain words were
uttered by certain people at a certain time
marketing surveys don’t need to know why, only
when people may be more disposed to purchase
high-ticket items; after that, the whole scenario of
ringing up a sale can take shape for no stated
reason at all
when the normal conventions of
logical reasoning don’t quite fit to
explain why something is happening,
it may be handy to offer Astrological
references
Geminis are known to march to a
different drum than Capricorns, so some
of those loose ends might be corralled in
this correlation
my late wife would have me read to her
the daily horoscopes of our family members
and a number of prominent people in the news,
because it really did make more sense to track
the orbits of planets and other celestial objects
in order to try to explain why certain words were
uttered by certain people at a certain time
marketing surveys don’t need to know why, only
when people may be more disposed to purchase
high-ticket items; after that, the whole scenario of
ringing up a sale can take shape for no stated
reason at all
ALMOST THE SAME
Honey, get the flashlight
Yes I know it’s the middle
Of the day, bright outside
But there are a couple of
Points that are evading
My grasp, as if hiding in
Dark shadows, too feeble
To break out and declare
The message they have
Been trusted to carry
Too low in the pecking order
To have any voice at all…
(prev. pub. in Medusa’s Kitchen, 8/09/13)
GOING TO MISS YOU, BABE
on the first cars I owned, parts would
fatigue and wear out, and one would
just replace them like light bulbs
and then we got a holiday parade of
new and improved cars on which, when
a headlight or driving light burned out,
you couldn’t just buy another fresh bulb
and switch it out, they forced you to buy
a new bulb that was part and parcel of a
brand-new housing unit around the bulb,
jacking up the price through the roof
on a larger scale, we may lose one set of
childhood friends and toys, replace them
with yet another set, but when one who is
very close and dear to us dies, they cannot
simply be replaced. Even if one cloaks the
replacement in the exact same housing that
had enveloped the original loved one, their
severed roots will not allow those bulbs to
ever shine as brightly as before
FOREVER LOST
Had it right in my hands
intention firmer than grasp
then it sailed its own course
straight (?) to the kitchen floor
where it quickly sought refuge
in the great darkness under
the stove, so bring out the yardstick
swing it around on a fetch mission
and what have we here?
grease encrusted dust, a chip from
a plate that broke last month, the
remains of a clear plastic ring that
once held a pill bottle secure, one
black olive, some of the best laid
plans for a wonderful weekend
outing, put on hold due to the crisis
of our pet needing immediate,
expensive medical treatment, the
hopes and dreams of our founding
fathers who united diverse colonies,
giving birth to a nation that would
inherit a brilliant scheme of checks
and balances, a flexible Constitution,
freedom from those petty tyrants of
monarchial rule, and some more dust.
(prev. pub. in Medusa’s Kitchen, 7/09/18)
I COULDN’T STOP HER PAIN
lots of scarring, but not on the outside;
badgered by older family and a law
enforcement system dedicated to the routine
denial any claims of harm
when 9ish, she was molested and stalked by
an in-law, to the point where her family had
to move nearly 2 dozen times
raped at work back in an era when a young
lady had to present fully documented proof
of any such criminal actions, while the usual
response of the typically all-male police force
was that the female willingly made herself too
attractive, so she had no standing to complain
about the outcome
after spending time doing door-to-door sales
there was pain in her feet, not at all responsive
to over-the-counter remedies, then after some
professional, medical imaging was done, it was
revealed to be lots of little broken bones
she didn’t use alcohol or tobacco, but was
diagnosed with NASH (technical abbreviation
for the non-alcoholic presence of liver or kidney
problems); of course, subsequent medical
examinations included the question of her abuse
of alcohol
my wife and baby son and I were all properly
secured in my 1966 Mustang, waiting for the
traffic light to change, when the sleeping
driver behind us slammed into our car from the
rear so hard it also put large dents on the car
ahead of us
I got a punctured lip, our son was just shaken
and stunned, and my wife got a bad pain in her
neck; our cut-rate.health coverage had her visit
a local clinic to receive Tens treatments, which
proved to be wholly inadequate
At a later point, we secured an attorney, who sent
her to a real doctor who ordered an MRI which
(surprise!) showed she in fact had 2 slipped disks
in her neck; to make matters worse, we were
informed that the risk of surgical intervention was
possible severe nerve damage along the entire
spinal cord
this did not end our marriage, our powerful devotion
to one another, but sure did pave a trail of tension
every step forward we attempted to take; even the
bond of our mutual love could provide her no refuge
from the collective baggage of pain she had sustained
all her life.
POMP AND CIRCUMSCRIBE
War brings us heroes,
Torture brings us martyrs,
which in turn brings us spelling bees
Each year we highlight the bombastic
nature of our glorious Revolution and
celebrate with huge, fiery explosions
as if that is the key to making things
better for anyone who’s had insufferable
grievances to bear
In His infinite wisdom, God gave us
the Ten Commandments as traffic
signals to guide us on the path of life
Then Man, in his infinite pomposity,
embellished those rules etched in stone
as if it was soft dough, ready for us
to shape and squeeze into millions of
laws, bylaws, rules, ordinances, statutes,
codes, regulations, canons, mandates, etc.
God’s revenge will be swift and ironic: He
will simply replace all of our color-coded
traffic signals with rainbows…just watch.
(prev. pub. in Medusa’s Kitchen, 11/26/18)
WATCHING THE MENORAH
all candles lit and
flaming brightly
until one just
burns out
dies
like
one tire
blowing out
gone forever
while all the others
look just fine, thank you
like a memory that started
out as one thread of a
wonderful image on
quilted fabric that
somehow got
pulled out
unseen
one
seed
for poetic
expression
that took off
like a frightened
bird, gone in an instant
(prev. pub. in Medusa’s Kitchen 10/07/22, exactly
one year before Jo Lynn died)
_____________________
Today’s LittleNip:
DISPLACED
—Caschwa
Displaced
too stunned to feel
or to cry for help
one grain of sand
in the celestial hourglass
blind to time
(prev. pub. in Medusa’s Kitchen, 12/06/12)
_____________________
—Medusa, with thanks to Carl Bernard Schwartz for today’s fine poetry-musings upon the passing of his wife, Jo Lynn, in 2023.
Jo Lynn and the beloved Chica
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.
Poets’ bios appear on their first MK visit.
To find previous posts, type the name
of the poet (or poem) into the little
beige box at the top left-hand side
of this column. See also
Medusa’s Rapsheet at the bottom
of the blue column on the right
side of this column to find
any date you want.
Miss a post?
You can find our most recent ones by
scrolling down under this daily one.
Or there's an "Older Posts" button
at the bottom of this column.
(Please excuse typos in older posts!
Blogspot has been through a lot of
incarnations in 20 years!)
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.
Poets’ bios appear on their first MK visit.
To find previous posts, type the name
of the poet (or poem) into the little
beige box at the top left-hand side
of this column. See also
Medusa’s Rapsheet at the bottom
of the blue column on the right
side of this column to find
any date you want.
Miss a post?
You can find our most recent ones by
scrolling down under this daily one.
Or there's an "Older Posts" button
at the bottom of this column.
(Please excuse typos in older posts!
Blogspot has been through a lot of
incarnations in 20 years!)
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!
Jo Lynn and the beloved Chica
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.
Poets’ bios appear on their first MK visit.
To find previous posts, type the name
of the poet (or poem) into the little
beige box at the top left-hand side
of this column. See also
Medusa’s Rapsheet at the bottom
of the blue column on the right
side of this column to find
any date you want.
Miss a post?
You can find our most recent ones by
scrolling down under this daily one.
Or there's an "Older Posts" button
at the bottom of this column.
(Please excuse typos in older posts!
Blogspot has been through a lot of
incarnations in 20 years!)
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!
couples/couples/heart
