Dreaming of Acorns

 —Poetry and Photos by Taylor Graham,
Placerville, CA
—And then scroll down for
Form Fiddlers’ Friday, with poetry by
Nolcha Fox, Lynn White,
Stephen Kingsnorth, and Caschwa

 

 

DUA 6

entering the fire-scar, verdant new life

young oak, deerbrush, kitkitdizze for tea

*

one trail leads to meadow healing

one trail leads to river’s unburnable gold

*

from dark of the barn looking out

the meadow’s a world gone green

*

snowmelt’s just winter’s whisper

through summer willows

 

 

 

 Mural, Rescue School

THE FIRST ACORN

The
first
live-oak
acorn in
a dry arroyo
on an early Sunday picnic
makes me dream—a weekend never
truly ends if I
plant it in
my dreams
each
night.

 

 

 

TARWEED                   
    Madia elegans

Drab
brittle-
dry August
along the trail,
my dog trots head-high,
leading. What do I see?
Dead-weed field sparked by yellow tarweed—
Earth’s galaxies of tiny sun-flowers.

 

 

 

CONSIDERING CIRCUMSTANCES

That old tractor rusting in the ancient barn
has lost its compass, zip & zoom, its quest.
In out-to-pasture fields the grass grows wild.
Maybe we can readjust the steering wheel.

 

 

 

 Mural, Rescue School

LOOSE CHANGE

That jingling in my pocket
(forgotten vest I discovered in a drawer
the other day) ring of metal on metal
might be an old-fashioned
choke-chain—I don’t use those anymore—
we’ve got new, more humane
ways of telling a dog what’s what
and what we want him to do.
How things keep changing.
Or the jingle might be my keys—
who knows where
I’ll stick them when I walk the trail.
Pockets are a trick to launch
a game of find ‘em— too much stuff
for too many pockets. Change?
Stuff is always changing from where
I thought I put it to somewhere
else. My sunglasses? Oh!
they’re on my face.

 

 

 

 Otis

OTIS & OBEDIENCE
    53.5% GSD, 46.5% Siberian Husky
 
I have him on a down-stay. Exquisite!
But is it sustainable? I’m counting
seconds. He could erupt in a moment.
The wild’s in him despite months of training—
call of the wild, instinct bred into him
from his extinct wolf forebears & nurtured
by his feral Husky mother. His “look
of eagles” —German Shepherd heritage,
biddable eyes, attentive ears. What is
the subconscious driver inside my dog?
Whose command is he ready to obey?

____________________

Today’s LittleNip:

NEW CONSTRUCTION
—Taylor Graham

“No Trespassing” fence
“Road Not Open to Public”—
Raven sailing thru

____________________

Taylor Graham and the intrepid Otis continue to explore the wild country with fine poetry and photos, and our thanks to them for that! Forms TG has used this week include some Duas (“Dua 6”); a Bell Curve Fibonacci (“The First Acorn”); a Haiku (“New Construction”); an Etheree (“’Tarweed)”; a Jueju that is a Response to Medusa’s Ekphrastic photo last week (“Considering Circumstances”); and some Blank Verse that is also a Word-Can Poem (“Otis & Obedience”). The Fibonacci and the Jueju were last week’s Triple-F Challenges, and “The First Acorn” was our Tuesday Seed of the Week.
 
Head on up to Georgetown today to hear TG read with the Thursdays at Two Poetry Group tonight, 5-7pm. Then, this Sunday, Poets and Writers of the Sierra Foothills will feature readers from Cold River Press’s 2025 anthology, Voices (with open mic), in Camino, 2pm. Plus, info about El Dorado Country’s regular workshops is 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 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 were Nolcha Fox, Lynn White, and Stephen Kingsnorth:


LEFT BEHIND
—Nolcha Fox, Buffalo, WY

My new house was a run-down barn
that needed lots of work.

My friends thought I was crazy
and too old for such a project.

Yet in my dreams, this barn appeared
and gave me so much comfort.

I painted and installed new floors,
new wiring and new plumbing.

But I could never figure out
why this barn was important.

I cleared the land of overgrowth
so I could grow a garden.

Hidden in the weeds, I found
a beat-up, rusted tractor.

I began to cry because this is
where I left my childhood behind.

* * *

STARDUST
—Lynn White, Blaenau Ffestiniog,
North Wales


I saw stardust
in your eyes.
I caught it,
breathed it in
and felt its magic
transform me,
light me up,
give me wings
release my spirit.

I exhaled
to give something back
and watched
as your beard turned white,
I watched
as the paper grew blank.

My portrait was no more.
I was no more,
blown away
flown away
into blankness.

* * *

UNSCENE
—Stephen Kingsnorth, Coedpoeth, Wrexham, Wales

Marooned and wounded marine beast,
once lunar module fairground ride
long past its prime, more frank, deceased;
or desiccated insect, eyes?
Adopt what stance—such mangled steer?

Patina read, a ruddy gloss—
contrast hard metal ’gainst tangled web—
straw scattered round old axle rods,
bleached planks as backdrop, knots so screened,
a palisade still timber framed.

Why were those tractors aways red,
avoiding rust e’en in old age,
rare fare for oxide seeking bed,
smoothed coatings, sweat through hard borne wear,
thick calloused flesh that treated it?

Did corns transfer from field to feet?
Was he amazed by columns, cobs,
wear wry smile at stretched spreading wheat,
pay peanuts as his workforce slogged,
make hay while watching barley, oats?

A blanket view where weevils grew,
were bolls nurtured from cotton buds;
soy sold for candy, milk, tofu,
tried sorghum for the celiacs,
exported rough, brown, long-grain rice?

Some traction from a laboured past,
the clapped out dumped with no applause,
machine outlasting working life,
a grave sight for those losing drive.
Here’s parking lot where scene forgot.

* * *

Caschwa (Carl Schwartz) writes: “Here is an experiment:  I tried combining elements of Blank Verse, Golden Shovel, Response, and Bell Curve Fib in one poem.”

 

 

 

BLANK, GOLDEN, RESPONSE BELL
—Caschwa, Sacramento, CA

Hawk
soars
above
the cars
carefully
reflecting
but not acting
in response to
all those awful stares
except that awkward
polar bear skating
in circles on air
we’ll call him
Mr. Chuckles
and see
if that
takes
hold

* * *

And here is a Response Poem from Stephen Kingsnorth, in answer to Dan Brook’s recent photo:

 

 

 Poet Trees
—Photo by Dan Brook, San Francisco, CA,
Medusa’s Kitchen, Aug. 10, 2025, “Sharing”
(https://medusaskitchen.blogspot.com/2025/08/sharing.html/)

POETREE
—Stephen Kingsnorth

A pinup drawing xylem sap—
unlike that fridge door magnet view—
attached to living cambium,
awaiting cork removal, tap,
release of proof in lively brew.

Thus is the verse rehearsed out loud
our words allowed with timbre sound,
each byte with bark, mark of our style,
a host, recorded, stored in cloud,
alone in crowd as wandered, bound.      

A weeping willow suited some,    
the diseased elm which shook my hand,
an alder, elder knew my age,
when needled, pine, plumbed sadness numb,
but oak, as acorn thoughts the brand.

These trees too know how spirit prompts,
their routes through phloem to canopy,
a stump when writers’ block prevails,
bough low to kowtow till cleared swamps,
and begging bole to write when free.

__________________

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.) Let’s honor daisies before their season is done:

•••Daisy Chain: poetscollective.org/poetryforms/daisy-chain

•••AND/OR another flower, the wee Florette:

•••Florette: www.shadowpoetry.com/resources/wip/essence.html

•••AND/OR its longer sister, the Florette 2:

•••Florette #2: http://www.shadowpoetry.com/resources/wip/florette2.html

•••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 “Moving Day”.

____________________

MEDUSA’S FORM FINDER: Links to poetry terms mentioned today:

•••Blank Verse: literarydevices.net/blank-verse AND/OR www.masterclass.com/articles/poetry-101-what-is-the-difference-between-blank-verse-and-free-verse#quiz-0
•••Dua (devised by Ai Li): a two-line poems with two spaces between each line, no periods and no titles
•••Ekphrastic Poem: notesofoak.com/discover-literature/ekphrastic-poetry
•••Etheree: http://www.shadowpoetry.com/resources/wip/etheree.html
•••Fibonacci (Fib) Poem: https://www.writersdigest.com/write-better-poetry/fibonacci-poetry-a-new-poetic-form AND/OR https://www.poetryfoundation.org/articles/68971/1-1-2-3-5-8-fun
•••Fibonacci (Fib), Bell Curve: a Fib which is on top of another Fib where the original Fib pattern is reversed; see https://www.writersdigest.com/write-better-poetry/fibonacci-poetry-a-new-poetic-form
•••Golden Shovel: www.writersdigest.com/write-better-poetry/golden-shovel-poetic-form
•••Haiku: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/learn/glossary-terms/haiku-or-hokku AND/OR www.shadowpoetry.com/resources/haiku/haiku.html
•••Jueju: https://poetsonline.org/prompt.html
•••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/.
•••Word-Can Poem: putting random words on slips of paper into a can, then drawing out a few and making a poem out of them

__________________

—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

 
 
 
 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Don’t forget
Forces of Nature, the reading
in Georgetown today, 5pm.
For info about this 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!