Placerville, CA
—And then scroll down to
Form Fiddlers’ Friday, with poetry by
Lynn White, Nolcha Fox, Stephen Kingsnorth,
Lauren McBride, Mitali Chakravarty,
Caschwa, and Joyce Odam
THE RED CAP
So much depends
on a red cap hanging
from a ceanothus bush
beside the trail—
red winter cap with earmuffs
it gets very cold at night—
who lost it, who picked it up
above a dropoff
where our homeless camp
in better weather
their illegal fires—
so much depends
on the warmth of red
cozying the heart
so far from any home
So much depends
on a red cap hanging
from a ceanothus bush
beside the trail—
red winter cap with earmuffs
it gets very cold at night—
who lost it, who picked it up
above a dropoff
where our homeless camp
in better weather
their illegal fires—
so much depends
on the warmth of red
cozying the heart
so far from any home
IN THE MEADOW
Here’s a bone—
it’s not known
whose it was,
disjointed
as the grass
lets life pass
by time’s glass
appointed.
Here’s a bone—
it’s not known
whose it was,
disjointed
as the grass
lets life pass
by time’s glass
appointed.
UNDER COVER
Sometimes You Can Hear Them Singing
—Gemma Benton, mixed media
Hints of line and color
not quite obscured by paint—
a pale melding of pastels as over-coat.
Who? what are they, and what is
their song?
Does the artist know?
Shade, tone, form, language of its own,
perceptible to
which of the senses, or the soul?
Pussy Willows
QUESTIONS OF ECONOMY
Time being money,
is it too expensive to dawdle
along the trail, admiring
how honeysuckle
even in winter, without the sweet
of its flowers,
can hold the cutbank slope
together? and annual-honesty
so lushly vibrant green
when it isn’t even spring?
Should it keep me
from veering off the trail
to look over the edge
down toward the creek
that bears the city’s litter away,
and just above its flood-line,
the homeless camp of someone
for whom the cheapest
shelter was too expensive?
ECONOMICS 2025
Is’t too expensive
for a planet’s billionaires
to make earth better?
Is’t too expensive
for a planet’s billionaires
to make earth better?
MEETING ROOM
Too much talk.
Think of hawk.
Get up, fly
quietly.
Hear its call,
leave the hall
words and all
joyfully.
___________________
Today’s LittleNip:
MARCH KATAUTA
—Taylor Graham
Why does the wind blow?
Change is sure as death, taxes.
___________________
Our thanks to Taylor Graham for today’s fine poetry and photos, ushering in the merry month of March. Around here, we’re all waiting with bated breath to see whether March comes in like a lion or a lamb tomorrow—I’m suspecting the latter, given our weather report. TG reminds us, though, that, even with the lamb, March brings us wind—kite weather!
Forms TG has used this week include two Snam Suads (“Meeting Room” & “In the Meadow”); an Ekphrastic poem (“Under Cover”) from the recent “Atelier on Main Street” exhibition at Switchboard Gallery in Placerville; a Response poem to Katy Brown’s “The Red Chair” (“The Red Cap”); a Senryu (“Economics 2025”); and a Katauta (“March”). “The Red Chair” can be found in Medusa’s Kitchen on 1/20/25 (https://medusaskitchen.blogspot.com/2025/01/those-wacky-winds-of-warning.html). The Snam Suad was one of last week’s Triple-F Challenges, and “In the Meadow” makes reference to last week’s Ekphrastic Challenge, the colored glass. And TG had some things to say about last week’s Tuesday Seed of the Week, “Too Expensive”. ..
El Dorado County’s regular workshops are listed on Medusa’s calendar (if you scroll down on http://medusaskitchen.blogspot.com/p/wtf.html/). For more news about these events and 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/. And you can always click on Medusa's UPCOMING NORCAL EVENTS (http://medusaskitchen.blogspot.com/p/wtf.html). Poetry is Gold in El Dorado County!
And now it’s time for…
FORM FIDDLERS’ FRIDAY!
Too much talk.
Think of hawk.
Get up, fly
quietly.
Hear its call,
leave the hall
words and all
joyfully.
___________________
Today’s LittleNip:
MARCH KATAUTA
—Taylor Graham
Why does the wind blow?
Change is sure as death, taxes.
___________________
Our thanks to Taylor Graham for today’s fine poetry and photos, ushering in the merry month of March. Around here, we’re all waiting with bated breath to see whether March comes in like a lion or a lamb tomorrow—I’m suspecting the latter, given our weather report. TG reminds us, though, that, even with the lamb, March brings us wind—kite weather!
Forms TG has used this week include two Snam Suads (“Meeting Room” & “In the Meadow”); an Ekphrastic poem (“Under Cover”) from the recent “Atelier on Main Street” exhibition at Switchboard Gallery in Placerville; a Response poem to Katy Brown’s “The Red Chair” (“The Red Cap”); a Senryu (“Economics 2025”); and a Katauta (“March”). “The Red Chair” can be found in Medusa’s Kitchen on 1/20/25 (https://medusaskitchen.blogspot.com/2025/01/those-wacky-winds-of-warning.html). The Snam Suad was one of last week’s Triple-F Challenges, and “In the Meadow” makes reference to last week’s Ekphrastic Challenge, the colored glass. And TG had some things to say about last week’s Tuesday Seed of the Week, “Too Expensive”. ..
El Dorado County’s regular workshops are listed on Medusa’s calendar (if you scroll down on http://medusaskitchen.blogspot.com/p/wtf.html/). For more news about these events and 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/. And you can always click on Medusa's UPCOMING NORCAL EVENTS (http://medusaskitchen.blogspot.com/p/wtf.html). Poetry is Gold in El Dorado County!
And now it’s time for…
FORM FIDDLERS’ FRIDAY!
It’s time for more contributions from Form Fiddlers, in addition to those sent to us by Taylor Graham! Each Friday, there will be poems posted here from our readers using forms—either ones which were sent to Medusa during the previous week, or whatever else floats through the Kitchen and the perpetually stoned mind of Medusa. If these instructions are vague, it's because they're meant to be. Just fiddle around with some challenges— Whaddaya got to lose… ? If you send ‘em, I’ll post ‘em! (See Medusa’s Form Finder at the end of this post for resources and for links to poetry terms used in today’s post.)
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 Ekphrastic Photo
Poets who sent responses to last week’s Ekphrastic photo included Lynn White, Nolcha Fox, Stephen Kingsnorth, and Lauren McBride:
TREASURE
—Lynn White, Blaenau Ffestiniog, North Wales
On each beach they’ve been different,
washed up gently by lapping waves
or thrown by high seas
to a new home.
Pretty shells from a bay in Minorca,
where I swam when the sea was freezing
and the sun bright hot above.
Oysters so decorated with barnacles and wormy
fossils
they looked as if they had tried to swallow stones.
Smooth sea-glass pebbles from the day-trips
of childhood shining bright like jewels
in every colour I could imagine.
All captured memories now
treasures plated
cordon-bleu
style
here,
in my home.
* * *
BAUBLICIOUS
—Nolcha Fox, Buffalo, WY
A walk with waves that sing my steps,
I come across an ornament
the sea coughed up, not good to eat.
I pick it up, translucent gold,
an inner shine caught from the sun.
I pocket it, continue on.
Another bauble on the sand, this
one turquoise, shimmering.
A few more steps, and there I find
a pink, a red, a green desire,
all glowing, waiting for my hand.
When I get home, a treasure trove
of colored glass pours from
my clothes, a radiating
pile of bright to decorate
my neck and arms.
* * *
GRAINS OF TRUTH
—Stephen Kingsnorth, Coedpoeth, Wrexham, Wales
Weigh gravel, boulders—pebbles, light,
on balance, in compare it’s right.
though dusted, sand (one, kidney stones?),
they glower, phosphorescence site.
As if a nest egg, phoenix-wise,
but stolen, gathered, prior rise,
their latent flame in pastel tones
tells inner blaze disguises prize.
But fired imagination done,
the artist says she’s had her fun;
it’s paint, asserted, to my groans,
but brighter, imitating sun.
I recognise by lie of shade
the source of brighter, surface laid;
prefer myself, what fancy owns.
How else can fantasy be played?
* * *
GATHERING GLASS
—Lauren McBride, Texas
Nestled among round pebbles—
sea-washed scraps of glass
surf-smoothed and frosted,
their former shine and purpose
lost and forgotten.
Green, white and brown
now stashed in pockets around
colors more rare: turquoise,
pink, two cobalt, one purple;
still seeking red. Pieces plain
and unremarkable, but then,
half buried, a bottle bottom.
And just once, a sand-filled vial,
the stopper missing.
These my favorite finds—
fragments ridged or imprinted,
worn letters and numbers
a clue to their origin.
If pieced back together,
what stories could they tell?
(prev. pub. in Songs of Eretz Poetry Review, 1/27/15)
* * *
Lauren also sent us a poem about the dame with the unruly hair:
beside the broken mirror
one strand of Medusa's hair—
a severed snake
fangs embedded
in a stone hand
still clutching a sword
—Lsuren McBride
(prev. pub. in Scifaikuest, November 2016)
* * *
Here are two Limericks from Mitali Chakravarty, all the way from Singapore! Watch for more poetry from Mitali in the Kitchen tomorrow:
TWO LIMERICKS
—Mitali Chakravarty, Singapore
1
A hen goes—cluck, cluck, cluck.
Holding a feathered pen for luck,
She writes in her flight
Which really lacks in height,
And then she waddles her words to ducks!
2
A llama went for a ride in a car
Wearing shiny garters with one star.
As he stuck his neck out,
People began to shout.
The llama laughed in glee: ‘Har, Har!’
* * *
Caschwa (Carl Schwartz) sent us a poem with a 7-letter title, seven lines, and seven syllables per line—a Nonce, it is, based on an old Tuesday Seed of the Week, “Movin’ On”. But I'm declaring it to be a "Triple-7", a new form devised by CS:
COASTAL BEAUTY SHOP
—Caschwa. Sacramento, CA
Waves come in sets of 7,
Curls are more spontaneous
Each nanosecond is a
New permanent, receding
Tides gather energy to
Shatter mirrors, reflect the
Immense charm of the ocean
* * *
—Caschwa. Sacramento, CA
Waves come in sets of 7,
Curls are more spontaneous
Each nanosecond is a
New permanent, receding
Tides gather energy to
Shatter mirrors, reflect the
Immense charm of the ocean
* * *
Here is a Haiku for March from Carl:
OOPS
—Caschwa
thought I heard critters
then saw that it was only
little bits of wind
* * *
And Joyce Odam has sent us a fine Ghazal today, saluting the end of February. Note how neatly each stanza can stand on its own, in keeping with the true Ghazal form:
GHAZAL FOR FEBRUARY
—Joyce Odam, Sacramento, CA
Grief is too much to know.
Time is how long it takes to know it.
Time and its addictions
is also time and its starvations.
All the hungers
know how to wait.
Time is not in waiting,
though waiting is in time.
“And yet,” I say to some malingering
afterthought, “and yet . . . .”
Time, you old ghost,
when have you touched my shoulders?
Time is the last thing to want when
there is no more to want.
Let us hold the moment and slide under
eternity’s pale shadow.
Time when it is precious is time that is
gone. Only the farewell has no echo.
(prev. pub. in Medusa’s Kitchen, 1/29/13; 7/19/22)
____________________
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!
—Joyce Odam, Sacramento, CA
Grief is too much to know.
Time is how long it takes to know it.
Time and its addictions
is also time and its starvations.
All the hungers
know how to wait.
Time is not in waiting,
though waiting is in time.
“And yet,” I say to some malingering
afterthought, “and yet . . . .”
Time, you old ghost,
when have you touched my shoulders?
Time is the last thing to want when
there is no more to want.
Let us hold the moment and slide under
eternity’s pale shadow.
Time when it is precious is time that is
gone. Only the farewell has no echo.
(prev. pub. in Medusa’s Kitchen, 1/29/13; 7/19/22)
____________________
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!
•••Triple-7 (devised by Carl Schwartz): 7-letter title, seven lines, seven syllables per line
•••AND/OR: write a response to Taylor Graham's Katauta question: Why does the wind blow?
•••Katauta: www.writersdigest.com/whats-new/katauta-poetic-form
•••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 “Spiders”.
____________________
MEDUSA’S FORM FINDER: Links to poetry terms mentioned today:
•••Ekphrastic Poem: notesofoak.com/discover-literature/ekphrastic-poetry
•••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
•••Haiku: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/learn/glossary-terms/haiku-or-hokku AND/OR www.shadowpoetry.com/resources/haiku/haiku.html
•••Katauta: www.writersdigest.com/whats-new/katauta-poetic-form
•••Limerick: poets.org/glossary/limerick
•••Nonce Poetry Forms: www.writersdigest.com/editor-blogs/poetic-asides/nonce-forms-what-they-are-and-how-to-write-them
•••Response Poem: creativetalentsunleashed.com/2015/11/18/writing-tip-response-poems
•••Senryu: www.masterclass.com/articles/how-to-write-senryu-poems#quiz-0
•••Snam Suad: https://www.writersdigest.com/write-better-poetry/snam-suad-poetic-forms
•••Triple-7 (devised by Carl Schwartz): 7-letter title, seven lines, seven syllables per line
•••Senryu: www.masterclass.com/articles/how-to-write-senryu-poems#quiz-0
•••Snam Suad: https://www.writersdigest.com/write-better-poetry/snam-suad-poetic-forms
•••Triple-7 (devised by Carl Schwartz): 7-letter title, seven lines, seven syllables per line
__________________
—Medusa
Today's Ekphrastic Challenge!
Make what you can of today's
picture, and send your poetic results to
kathykieth@hotmail.com/. (No deadline.)
* * *
—Photo Courtesy of Public Domain
Make what you can of today's
picture, and send your poetic results to
kathykieth@hotmail.com/. (No deadline.)
* * *
—Photo Courtesy of Public Domain
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!
