Poets Salon: Ordinary/Extraordinary

POETS SALON

– 3/20/19

Hosted by Kathabela Wilson

A vista from the mesa, down ordinary stairs, the extraordinary Ocean. The lane that leads to it has already turned into a poem. Debris of wood and stone along the shore, they wait restlessly or leap into my arms with their wild eyes.

twenty years later
twirling on our rooftop
a driftwood swan

~ Kathabela

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Peter Jastermsky

the end of its travels

a mystery box that moves
but never opens

under its flaps
the cancelled stamps
of my childhood

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midnight camping

almost asleep
when nature calls…

above the nearest tree
one shooting star
then another

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Roy Kindelberger

5:30. Rush hour. A typical day north of Seattle. After teaching, I join my daughter, Emily, for coffee. We chat, sip our drinks, and read over resume stuff. I look up from our conversation and two ducks peer into the window at us. We laugh and join them outside.

city center mall
outside a café window
two ducks wander
a retention pond
behind the grocery store

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Neal Whitman

Someday we’ll find it
The Rainbow Connection
The lovers, the dreamers and me
“The Rainbow Connection” by Kermit the Frog, The Muppets Movie (1979)

Washing dishes is my job. Am glad to do it after my wife, Elaine, has prepared and served our meals. Sunday supper is cheese omelettes. I am hand-washing the cast iron skillet with a soft sponge in soapy water. My view out the kitchen window is our street circle. Elaine scampers out the front door and calls back to me: RAINBOW ALERT!

Yes, it had been a rainy day and the sun in the low winter sky had just popped out. Living on the Monterey Peninsula we have acquired a sixth sense for when this spectrum of light will appear in the sky. I join her in the middle of our quiet street and holding hands we share the magic of the moment.

Our Town
Thornton Wilder’s prized drama
is a reminder–
realize life while we live it
who does? maybe poets

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Michael H. Lester

I’ve been worried about the moon lately. It hasn’t come around. I look for it every night for the comfort it brings, and last night I found it—shining brightly above my home, almost full, like my heart, telling me I can sleep soundly this night.

ordinarily
I would consider an eclipse
extraordinary
but I prefer your smiling face
to the super blood wolf moon

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Gayle Sweeper

The extraordinary always exists in nature I think, if we are willing to see it.

Lorikeets are excessively noisy, colourful, and acrobatic. They fly at very high speed, always in pairs.

An ordinary gumtree becomes extraordinary in the evening with the presence of around 25,000 lorikeets all screeching at once!

lorikeets transform
an ordinary gum tree
rollicking disco

consider the tree
offering strength, beauty
and resources
I love them—the ordinary
and extraordinary

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Ordinary/Extraordinary: Quotes and Credits

Peter Jastermsky says: “See the extraordinary in the ordinary…endless material for poems. what is haiku and its related forms but plucking gold flecks from the ever-flowing stream? Opening one of those boxes that I hauled from place to place, I became the boy with the world atlas, magnifying glass, and the envelopes stuffed with stamps…” In three short years, Peter Jastermsky’s haiku-based writing has appeared in an extraordinary number of print and online journals and anthologies. He is grateful and forever on the lookout for the extraordinary hidden in the ordinary. Peter lives in Morongo Valley, California.

Michael H. Lester is currently transitioning from workaholic to tankaholic, researching local treatment centers (there is rumored to be one in Pasadena), and gathering grist for the tanka mill. Michael recently self-published an illustrated children’s book, Cassandra and the Strange Tale of the Blue-footed Boobies which is available directly from Michael for autographed copies.

Elaine and Neal Whitman live in Pacific Grove, California, one mile down the street from the Asilomar Conference Center where their Yuki Teikei Haiku Society holds its annual meeting. Whether looking out their front door or walking along Asilomar Beach and the Monterey Bay rec trail, they find inspiration for poetry and photography. They especially love to collaborate by combining both those two arts.

Roy Kindelberger is a poet, writer, and teacher from Edmonds, WA. He lives with his finance Jaci and has two daughters, Emily and Hailey. He says: “Emily, my daughter, was home for spring break. She and I went for coffee. Emily shared her resume and cover letters for the summer with me. While reading them with her, these ducks walked right up to the window and peered inside. I thought that was the best. So unexpected. I missed that picture but got one of the two ducks walking down the sidewalk and later a picture of the two walking in the middle of the parking lot.”

Gayle Sweeper, Brisbane, Australia, has been writing Japanese forms of poetry on and off since 2010.In her early life’s career she was a child health nurse, enjoying quilting, pottery, and school volunteering when possible. She has now retired. She says: “My husband Pete took photos on our recent holiday to Noosa on the Sunshine Coast. We were there for our first break away in three years and it was very overdue, especially for him. Beauty there is hard to resist.”

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♣ We welcome and encourage your response, especially in the form of a short poem, by leaving a comment below.

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