of Joe Nolan, Stockton, CA
COMING TO GRIPS WITH IT ALL
I am walking to the Cherokee path.
The road is rutted and winding
as it goes up the hill.
Settlers followed.
Halfway up is a clearing
where wagons coming up or down
could pass each other.
When I was younger,
my father tried to take the tractor
to the top to bring down
a bundle of cut logs.
He didn’t make it.
These days, I have to rest
and hydrate at the clearing.
My legs groan and perspiration
comes much too quickly.
Soon like the Cherokee,
this passage
will just be part of a series
of what used to be.
I am walking to the Cherokee path.
The road is rutted and winding
as it goes up the hill.
Settlers followed.
Halfway up is a clearing
where wagons coming up or down
could pass each other.
When I was younger,
my father tried to take the tractor
to the top to bring down
a bundle of cut logs.
He didn’t make it.
These days, I have to rest
and hydrate at the clearing.
My legs groan and perspiration
comes much too quickly.
Soon like the Cherokee,
this passage
will just be part of a series
of what used to be.
AUDITORY DETOURS
The all-night
disc jockey
is working his magic
like a tent-show barker
selling elixir
that will cure anything
that has the shape
of movement
as she drives
along Route 72
outside of town
at 3:00 a.m.
Eastern Standard Time.
She is leaving
before it’s too late.
She wants to embrace
tomorrow’s dawn
on her own terms.
And she almost has it
until
she slows
for road construction
and the DJ
plays
the one song
the causes her emotional engine
to seize up.
The all-night
disc jockey
is working his magic
like a tent-show barker
selling elixir
that will cure anything
that has the shape
of movement
as she drives
along Route 72
outside of town
at 3:00 a.m.
Eastern Standard Time.
She is leaving
before it’s too late.
She wants to embrace
tomorrow’s dawn
on her own terms.
And she almost has it
until
she slows
for road construction
and the DJ
plays
the one song
the causes her emotional engine
to seize up.
AVOIDING TOLL ROADS
Walking slowly along
the dusty back road
of my last few years
I notice
the twists and turns
of immediate indecision;
the wide wheel ruts
common to my fastidious routine;
the gully dips
where I was swept away;
the flash flood rantings;
the strewn rubble
that cluttered my every move;
the overgrown shoulders
that bore the unskilled labor
until I reach
this dead end—
where I got off.
Walking slowly along
the dusty back road
of my last few years
I notice
the twists and turns
of immediate indecision;
the wide wheel ruts
common to my fastidious routine;
the gully dips
where I was swept away;
the flash flood rantings;
the strewn rubble
that cluttered my every move;
the overgrown shoulders
that bore the unskilled labor
until I reach
this dead end—
where I got off.
THE DAILY YOU
Forever is a per diem occurrence.
You’re the front page.
It may not be world news
but see that people keep paging through
your business and financial sections.
Please find some space for comics.
Beware the obituary disappointments!
Otherwise—
meet your deadlines
and keep the price of your daily labor
at a level everyone can afford.
_____________________
Today’s LittleNip:
NO DEPOSIT — NO RETURN
—R. Gerry Fabian
The beer can
on the side of the road
is crushed and discarded.
Once highly sought
for its intoxicating beverage;
there's nothing left.
I've been that can
and so have you.
No matter what happens—
let's not toss it out
the window.
______________________
—Medusa, with thanks to R. Gerry Fabian for today’s fine poetry! (Ironically, he sent us a beer can poem before it was even Seed of the Week!)
A reminder that the
MoSt Autumn Nature
Poetry Reading and Walk
takes place in Modesto
this morning, 9am.
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!
MoSt Autumn Nature
Poetry Reading and Walk
takes place in Modesto
this morning, 9am.
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!