Placerville, CA
—And then scroll down for
Form Fiddlers’ Friday, with poetry by
Stephen Kingsnorth, Joe Nolan, Nolcha Fox,
and Caschwa
EARLY TO BED TO RISE
Suddenly you woke. The radio clock said 8:33. How could you so oversleep, 4 hours late. You jump up, dress in gloom. Close windows to keep out rising heat, the cloudy dim. Why isn’t it bright summer daylight? Phone says 8:53, Thursday. But that was yesterday. This is Friday, poetry day, imagination’s free day—but it’s still Thursday. You went to sleep Thursday evening and woke an hour later in its twilight murk. Go back to bed. Tuck in your imagination and sleep thru your dreams.
Waning moon staggers
across sky leaving false light
for us to follow.
Suddenly you woke. The radio clock said 8:33. How could you so oversleep, 4 hours late. You jump up, dress in gloom. Close windows to keep out rising heat, the cloudy dim. Why isn’t it bright summer daylight? Phone says 8:53, Thursday. But that was yesterday. This is Friday, poetry day, imagination’s free day—but it’s still Thursday. You went to sleep Thursday evening and woke an hour later in its twilight murk. Go back to bed. Tuck in your imagination and sleep thru your dreams.
Waning moon staggers
across sky leaving false light
for us to follow.
I LOST MY EAR
on the trail somewhere
who knows, listening to birds
I couldn’t name but
how they lifted my spirits
my footsteps, my ears.
It was so sweet, my right ear
has stayed behind to listen.
CHIMERA ON THE NATURE TRAIL
An antlered deer head with a long snakelike
body on countless insufficient legs.
How did it get here? What manner of tree
sacrificed itself in the creation
of such a huge, peaceable monster posed
before a summer's worth of oaks and brush
and stiffly feathered dead golden grasses?
HIGH HOPES
Last night my dog ran ahead with all the others
as we handlers walked a dream-field—a test
of getting along together. What do dreams know?
Our subconscious possibilities. Hope.
The morning news is pitfalls, tragedies, fear.
But the dream—relief, jubilation, walking
together toward a goal. High hopes.
Like the dream that visited just a week before
the great quake—dog handlers of all nations, all
persuasions working together, finding a way
thru the deep dark tunnel to save ourselves
and others. The journal recording that dream
is lost—its image stored in memory safe as hope.
Last night my dog ran ahead with all the others
as we handlers walked a dream-field—a test
of getting along together. What do dreams know?
Our subconscious possibilities. Hope.
The morning news is pitfalls, tragedies, fear.
But the dream—relief, jubilation, walking
together toward a goal. High hopes.
Like the dream that visited just a week before
the great quake—dog handlers of all nations, all
persuasions working together, finding a way
thru the deep dark tunnel to save ourselves
and others. The journal recording that dream
is lost—its image stored in memory safe as hope.
Otis
A QUIET NATURE WALK
Follow my dog along railroad track—
history’s train dreaming a distant past.
There’s hush of birds, the breeze is slack.
Someone has lost a lavender jacket.
Follow my dog along railroad track.
He shows me, camo’d among gray rocks,
critter scat full of gray fur. Attack
of cougar on jackrabbit? Not a sound
disturbs the silence. No turning back
until we reach the big creek trestle.
Follow my dog along railroad track.
Follow my dog along railroad track—
history’s train dreaming a distant past.
There’s hush of birds, the breeze is slack.
Someone has lost a lavender jacket.
Follow my dog along railroad track.
He shows me, camo’d among gray rocks,
critter scat full of gray fur. Attack
of cougar on jackrabbit? Not a sound
disturbs the silence. No turning back
until we reach the big creek trestle.
Follow my dog along railroad track.
IN MY FUNGUS LOG-BOOK
Hedwigia ciliata
I find, listed here, Medusa moss
among our rocks and trees and fungi
of all sorts in their seasons. Which moss
is it? I’ve been wandering among
black Grimmia anchored as sure as
skin to great dark boulders that had their
birth on an ancient ocean bed. Just
imagine our Sierra foothills
underwater. But how about this
Medusa moss? Why can’t I find it
now, in late June? It’s the wrong season.
I discovered it three Octobers
ago, it had a different common
name. I’ll have to wait till pumpkin time,
when rains turn Medusa moss’s dry
straggly stringy locks into something
more vibrant, more stunning. All these stones....
Hedwigia ciliata
I find, listed here, Medusa moss
among our rocks and trees and fungi
of all sorts in their seasons. Which moss
is it? I’ve been wandering among
black Grimmia anchored as sure as
skin to great dark boulders that had their
birth on an ancient ocean bed. Just
imagine our Sierra foothills
underwater. But how about this
Medusa moss? Why can’t I find it
now, in late June? It’s the wrong season.
I discovered it three Octobers
ago, it had a different common
name. I’ll have to wait till pumpkin time,
when rains turn Medusa moss’s dry
straggly stringy locks into something
more vibrant, more stunning. All these stones....
Today’s LittleNip:
DON’T FORGET
DON’T FORGET
—Taylor Graham
It’s not a joke—
it’s poison oak!
Hedge-parsley sticks
like sixty ticks.
Better not shake
that rattlesnake!
Tales of this rock
I can’t unlock.
_____________________
Many thanks to Taylor Graham for today’s fine photos and poems on this 4th of July, 2025! Forms TG has used this week include a Haibun (“Early to Bed to Rise”); a Chōka (“I Lost My Ear”); an Ekphrastic Poem based on the photo (“Chimera on the Nature Trail”); a Response to the Tuesday Seed of the Week (“High Hopes”); a For-Get-Me-Not chain (“Don't Forget”); a Fold (“A Quiet Nature Walk”); and some Normative Syllabics (“In My Fungus Log-Book”). The Fold and the For-Get-Me-Not were last week’s Triple-F Challenges.
TG writes: Happy Independence Day (let's have high hopes for independence!)
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 such 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 not a joke—
it’s poison oak!
Hedge-parsley sticks
like sixty ticks.
Better not shake
that rattlesnake!
Tales of this rock
I can’t unlock.
_____________________
Many thanks to Taylor Graham for today’s fine photos and poems on this 4th of July, 2025! Forms TG has used this week include a Haibun (“Early to Bed to Rise”); a Chōka (“I Lost My Ear”); an Ekphrastic Poem based on the photo (“Chimera on the Nature Trail”); a Response to the Tuesday Seed of the Week (“High Hopes”); a For-Get-Me-Not chain (“Don't Forget”); a Fold (“A Quiet Nature Walk”); and some Normative Syllabics (“In My Fungus Log-Book”). The Fold and the For-Get-Me-Not were last week’s Triple-F Challenges.
TG writes: Happy Independence Day (let's have high hopes for independence!)
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 such 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!
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!
* * *
Arakawa River in May Rain
—Painting by Hasui Kawase
Poets who sent responses to last week’s Ekphrastic photo were Stephen Kingsnorth, Joe Nolan, and Nolcha Fox:
TREE SUBTLETY
—Stephen Kingsnorth, Coedpoeth, Wrexham, Wales
It’s subtlety, the judgement passed
on Hasai Kawase, Japanese,
in nature’s drama, poetry,
expressed in woodblocks, and their print,
as if tree guards identity.
Revered for fusing culture zones,
a timeless spirit, with modern—
the sensibilities, his age—
or thus the auction house, for sales,
creates an oeuvre blurb address?
But know, I think not, seeing work,
though much destroyed, quake, twenty six;
engrained by cherry, natives would
reflect the nation’s story book,
its history in fine art form.
The viewers drawn into serene,
transient seasons of Japan,
snow swirling through the quiet towns,
rainfall’s glisten. stone-gentle paths,
the river, there, for ever been.
Then sunlight flickers through the trees
as we, in calm, are mesmerised;
though I note slash of glyph-strike rain,
the common pelt of June, named May
in calendar of lunar sphere.
Review those nearer, clearer marks
may be the masts of craft in fact;
the sympathetic fallacy
enacted by the riverside,
or is trompe l’oeil mind trickery?
But block sounds harsh, too angular,
as if would mock fine detail sought,
that gentle tonal gradient
both sky and placid river wash,
from grey to light with undulate.
A woman strolls, blue brolly holds;
an anchored houseboat, man bedecked—
these are the casual causal themes,
delicate colour palette dreams,
exquisite master of technique.
* * *
PLACID RIVER
—Joe Nolan, Stockton, CA
Gently sails
A boat on
Placid river.
Umbrella shades
An Asian lass
From sun that’s
Far too strong.
Down here in the tropics,
It’s easy to get burned
In the mid-day sun.
Everything is lush
Along a river.
* * *
Nolcha Fox made a play on the boat known as a “junk”:
TOO MUCH TOO LATE
—Nolcha Fox, Buffalo, WY
When Mother died, she willed to me
a trunk I couldn’t open.
The locksmith had to break the lock
so I could see the contents.
Cracked cups and dishes all wrapped up
were of no use to me.
The photo album stuffed with
strangers faces was a mystery.
Costume jewelry, feather boas
not my style at all.
I realized she was offloading
junk that people gave her.
If she were here, I’d lecture her
to dump useless mementos.
I have enough junk of my own.
I don’t need more from others.
* * *
And here is a Haiku of Wisdom from Caschwa (Carl Schwartz):
BEATS DIETING
—Caschwa, Sacramento, CA
How to keep weight off:
put no more than one foot on
the scale at a time
—Caschwa, Sacramento, CA
How to keep weight off:
put no more than one foot on
the scale at a time
__________________
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!
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!
See what you can make of these challenges, and send your results to kathykieth@hotmail.com/. (No deadline.) Poetry loves fours, and here it is, July 4! Have a go at one or more of these forms which loves its fours:
•••Quadrilew: http://www.shadowpoetry.com/resources/wip/quadrilew.html
•••Quatern: www.shadowpoetry.com/resources/wipquatern.html AND/OR www.masterclass.com/articles/how-to-write-a-quatern#what-is-a-quatern
•••Quatrain: www.masterclass.com/articles/poetry-101-what-is-a-quatrain-in-poetry-quatrain-definition-with-examples
•••Quatrina (devised by Ruth Harrison): form of Sestina using end-word order 1, 2, 3, 4 | 4, 1, 3, 2 | 2, 4, 1, 3 | 3, 4, 2, 1 (envoy: 1–2, 3–4)
•••AND/OR take a walk on the wild side (Dark Secrets!) with some Forbidden Desires from Carl Schwartz. Even Carl loves fours. Maybe this should be Fourbidden Desires...
•••Forbidden Desires (devised by Carl Schwarz): 4 stanzas of 3 tercets; syllables for each tercet 7, 6, 8; rhymes xxa, xxa, xxa, xxa
•••See also the bottom of this post for another challenge, this one an Ekphrastic one.
•••And don’t forget each Tuesday Seed of the Week! This week it’s “Dark Secrets”.
____________________
MEDUSA’S FORM FINDER: Links to poetry terms mentioned today:
•••Chōka: poetscollective.org/poetryforms/choka AND/OR https://girlgriot.wordpress.com/tag/choka
•••Ekphrastic Poem: notesofoak.com/discover-literature/ekphrastic-poetry
•••Fold: https://poetscollectivepoetryforms.wordpress.com/2013/03/05/fold
•••Forbidden Desires (devised by Carl Schwarz): 4 stanzas of 3 tercets; syllables for each tercet 7, 6, 8; rhymes xxa, xxa, xxa, xxa
•••For-Get-Me-Not: www.poetrymagnumopus.com/topic/1882-syllabic-forms-found-in-pathways-for-the-poet/#veltanelle
•••Haibun: www.writersdigest.com/write-better-poetry/haibun-poems-poetic-form
•••Haiku: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/learn/glossary-terms/haiku-or-hokku AND/OR www.shadowpoetry.com/resources/haiku/haiku.html
•••Normative Syllabics: hellopoetry.com/collection/108/normative-syllabic-free-verse AND/OR lewisturco.typepad.com/poetics/normative-syllabic-verse
•••Quadrilew: http://www.shadowpoetry.com/resources/wip/quadrilew.html
•••Quatern: www.shadowpoetry.com/resources/wipquatern.html AND/OR www.masterclass.com/articles/how-to-write-a-quatern#what-is-a-quatern
•••Quatrain: www.masterclass.com/articles/poetry-101-what-is-a-quatrain-in-poetry-quatrain-definition-with-examples
•••Quatrina (devised by Ruth Harrison): form of Sestina using end-word order 1, 2, 3, 4 | 4, 1, 3, 2 | 2, 4, 1, 3 | 3, 4, 2, 1 (envoy: 1–2, 3–4)
•••Response Poem: creativetalentsunleashed.com/2015/11/18/writing-tip-response-poems
•••Tuesday Seed of the Week: a prompt listed in Medusa’s Kitchen every Tuesday; poems may be any shape or size, form or no form. No deadlines; past ones are listed at http://medusaskitchen.blogspot.com/p/calliopes-closet.html/. Send results to kathykieth#hotmail.com/.
__________________
—Medusa
Today's Ekphrastic Challenge!
Make what you can of today's
picture, and send your poetic results to
kathykieth@hotmail.com/. (No deadline.)
* * *
—Artwork Courtesy of Public Domain
Make what you can of today's
picture, and send your poetic results to
kathykieth@hotmail.com/. (No deadline.)
* * *
—Artwork Courtesy of Public Domain
For info about
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!
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!
