* * *
—Poetry by Nolcha Fox, Stephen Kingsnorth,
Caschwa, Joe Nolan, Sayani Mukherjee,
and Devyanshi Neupane
—Public Domain Visuals Courtesy of
Joe Nolan and Medusa
PARTY HEARTY
—Nolcha Fox, Buffalo, WY
A party to celebrate my life surprises me in the kitchen. Time and Death place bets on who will get me first. My dead grandfather and dead mother argue about her poor choices. At least they’re not talking about mine. The dogs bake a cake, but are too small to reach the dial to turn off the oven. The oven explodes, showering pieces of sweet over all the guests. The guests drink and dance around the fire that used to be an oven. They don’t care if the house burns down. It’s my life after all, not theirs.
Better to slink
down the back staircase
for a glass of wine.
—Nolcha Fox, Buffalo, WY
A party to celebrate my life surprises me in the kitchen. Time and Death place bets on who will get me first. My dead grandfather and dead mother argue about her poor choices. At least they’re not talking about mine. The dogs bake a cake, but are too small to reach the dial to turn off the oven. The oven explodes, showering pieces of sweet over all the guests. The guests drink and dance around the fire that used to be an oven. They don’t care if the house burns down. It’s my life after all, not theirs.
Better to slink
down the back staircase
for a glass of wine.
—Public Domain Photo
Courtesy of Medusa
BACKSTAIRS AFFRONTED
—Stephen Kingsnorth, Coedpoeth, Wrexham, Wales
I’ve been descending back staircase,
then up, back down, to meet the cast,
in image, notes, my history,
both folk and stories of my past.
The back suggests not in front line,
a rearguard action in defence,
full frontal not in best of taste—
here’s rich man’s castle, poor man’s fence.
And as I search, each storey through,
recall back story, each I peek,
I smile, cry out, name, signature,
those folk I had forgot, still speak.
The front steps carpeted and plush
in contrast to bare climbing stair,
where butler, maids and housekeeper
must bear their trays and silverware.
Relations that had passed, renewed,
each case reopened to inspect,
to tread where they themselves had stepped,
the paths of friendship, labour trekked.
They’re cobblers, blacksmiths, governess.
from census records, sheaves ‘ag lab’,
who laboured daily in the fields,
and poorhouse, ‘destitute’, as tab.
Of them, the backstairs, privilege,
a decent meal, below-stairs food,
unlike the weavers, chimney sweeps,
with little cash to feed their brood.
As class predominated passed,
I’m schooled through learning in this class—
belief, estate, ordered by God—
backstairs affronted, if trespass.
—Public Domain Illustration Courtesy of Medusa
ON THE LEVEL
—Caschwa, Sacramento, CA
While attending UCLA I got
daily exercise ascending and
descending the numerous
stairways and stone steps
topping the Hills of Westwood
Now I have a 1-story house with
no basement and only a hint of a
crawl space to access the attic
So for me, the notion of a back
staircase requires formation of
some kind of metaphor or symbolic
expression
maybe that is the route taken by all
those multitude of things I have been
told but can’t remember, which have
succeeded in reaching the Welcome
Mat only to be ushered away down
the back staircase
Or is it those semi-annual medical tasks
I am expected to initiate on my own?
Could be dance steps, how to tie an
apron behind my back, or how to do in
a hundred years what a computer whiz
can do in a few seconds
I used to be prolific riding a 10-speed
bicycle, operating both a foot pedal and a
hand lever to change gears on a motorcycle,
and driving a stick shift automobile
now my time is taken up with pushing the
Up or Down button to remotely raise or lower
the footrest on my recliner, and all of those
elusive things, thoughts, memories, instructions,
facts, jokes, comments, etc. have obediently
stayed put somewhere down the back staircase
—Public Domain Photo
Courtesy of Joe Nolan
NO VACANCY
—Caschwa
If you want to park your
great idea in my head I
will have to charge you
a rental fee
Things are already pretty
crowded up there where
useless ideas are blocking
avenues of clear thinking
And don’t try double-parking
your great idea alongside my
precious and dear memories
or you will also pay towing
and impound charges
Here is my graduated fee schedule:
review your great idea $150/hr
edit your great idea $200/hr
if it offends me $300/hr
if it puts me to sleep $400/hr
research and fact check $1,000/hr
if it requires legal counsel $1,500/hr
agree not to harm you, flat fee $5,000
There is also a failed-to-graduate,
dropped-out fee schedule that can
best be described as “mob rule”
—Public Domain Photo Courtesy of Medusa
SENIOR, FIXED INCOME
—Caschwa
cannot sponsor a pro athletic team
I’m barely making ends meet
they want a subscription
****
the cars always race so very fast here
and we post speed limit signs
which might as well read: Speed
****
I’m ready to celebrate every day
birthday comes just once a year
so I stretch it out some
—Public Domain Photo Courtesy of Medusa
THIS N’ THAT
—Caschwa
(in response to MK SOW: “In nature there is darkness as well as light, and all shades
in between . . .")
sticks and stones
may break my bones
but I’ll take big bites
out of cheese sticks
*****
Boxer briefs
(name any dog breed briefs)
Dog wood
(any and all timber)
Chimney sweep
(getting all the presents left by Santa)
DOGE
(Dept. of Genital Exuberance)
*****
I’m not prejudiced.
(foreign food is a regular on my menu)
sticks and stones
may break my bones
but I’ll take big bites
out of cheese sticks
*****
Boxer briefs
(name any dog breed briefs)
Dog wood
(any and all timber)
Chimney sweep
(getting all the presents left by Santa)
DOGE
(Dept. of Genital Exuberance)
*****
I’m not prejudiced.
(foreign food is a regular on my menu)
—Public Domain Illustration Courtesy of Medusa
OH YEAH, THAT TOO
—Caschwa
A Walk in the Woods
Some people experience memories triggered
by sensory stimuli, such as seeing, hearing, or
smelling something that suddenly takes them
back many years to another event when that same
sensory stimulus was present
I prepare a shopping list before visiting the grocery
store, and might forget to add an item to the list,
but once in the store, literally surrounded by
groceries, my mind can be triggered to remember
that missing item.
Adept trial lawyers find ways to employ such
memory triggers when questioning a witness,
painting a picture with all the triggers of sights,
sounds, smells, tastes, and textures.
My mind follows that pattern to the point of
often requiring some sort of trigger to bring to
mind what I need to remember; probably why I
failed History class, because I didn’t have triggers
to retrieve all those recorded facts and data from
centuries before I was born that would later be
the crux of questions appearing on a test. Who
am I to know details about what famous pioneer
influenced what other famous pioneer?
Oh sure, rote repetition can be very useful for
things like practicing Bach 2-part Inventions, but for
someone to remember certain un-named islands of
knowledge peering out from oceans of words, that
trigger is sure helpful
someone to remember certain un-named islands of
knowledge peering out from oceans of words, that
trigger is sure helpful
—Public Domain Illustration Courtesy of Joe Nolan
THAT’S THAT
—Joe Nolan, Stockton, CA
It doesn’t take much.
We’ve got it down, pat
How to play
A game of
Tit-for-tat.
You do this thing.
I’ll do that.
Eventually,
It ends with a spat
And that’s that.
—Public Domain Photo Courtesy of Medusa
NOT IN THAT CUP
—Joe Nolan
....and the cup overflowed
because it was too full
and the water drained away
and ran back up the hill
all the way to glacier
from which the water came
and turned itself
back into ice
because it would not be tamed
Or contained
In that cup.
—Public Domain Photo Courtesy of Medusa
AIDS QUILTS
—Joe Nolan
We couldn’t quite remember
How all the stricken died
So we sewed together
Patchwork quilts
We hung against the sky.
We couldn’t quite remember
Who were the stricken-died
So we patched together
Tufts of cloth
With all the knots we tied.
We tried.
We really tried.
Tried to remember
And tried to forget
Tried to forgive ourselves,
Try to not be bereft
When we watch our quilts
All waving
In the burning rays of the sun.
—Public Domain Photo Courtesy of Medusa
BURDEN
—Sayani Mukherjee, Chandannagar,
W. Bengal, India
There's burden in the smiling
Like raindrops it flinches
Like yesterday the ghosts come true
My flickering plastic summer days
The yellow bird is near me
The shortness of the very minute
The roses of short summer afternoon
Afterwards it was the darling summer
The garlands of birdsong days
My glory of new-edged sorrow
A pink promise of cut-throat spring
As the memories cut open the morning sun.
___________________
Today’s LittleNip:
THE SKY
—Devyanshi Neupane, Age 5,
Melbourne, Australia
I see sky
It is very high
Where the eagles fly
I see with my eyes.
__________________
—Medusa, with thanks to today’s contributors, some of whom responded to our Seed of the Week, “Down the back staircase”. Be sure to check each Tuesday for the latest Seed of the Week.
SnakePal Joe Nolan will be reading at Mosaic of Voices in Lodi next Saturday, 2/8.
The February 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!
The Poetry Box Chapbook Contest is now open for submissions. Go to ThePoetryBox.com/chapbook-prize for details.
And now for something completely different and, well, thought-provoking:
—Public Domain Photo Courtesy of Joe Nolan
A reminder that
Poetic License meets in
Placerville today, 10:30am;
and Sacramento Poetry Center
presents
Anthony Xavier Jackson
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.
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!
Poetic License meets in
Placerville today, 10:30am;
and Sacramento Poetry Center
presents
Anthony Xavier Jackson
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.
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!
