Stone Soup Croutons, 12-6-18, It's Up to Your Knees

Stone Soup Croutons is a weekly poem I write using lines and impressions picked up from poems overheard from Stone Soup's open mic readers and features. I figure out a title (and sometimes the rest of the poem) later. You can read the other ones I've done since 2015 here. To paraphrase Lorne Michaels, this poem doesn't go up because it's ready, it goes up because it's Friday morning.

We had a great night of poetry with Gordon Marshall, who presented the Jack Powers Stone Soup Savor Poetry Prize to Jan Rowe and James Van Looy. This week's poem started with reference to a certain controversial holiday song, but hearing Gordon's stream of consciousness poetry really helped me write in a similar vein, which gave me some lines I couldn't have thought up otherwise. I appreciate when that happens. Thanks for reading.


It's Up to Your Knees

Ray Charles and Betty Carter
have thoughts about #metoo.
It's just too cold out here
for them to rise.

This is a different game,
one you can't wax over
with nostalgia.

Pilgrims turn pedophile
between innings,
us blinder than umpires.

Diocese sneak dragons
in their directories
and newsletters.

Tar cooled and paved
still hide terrible beasts.
They erupt with the surprise
of a jazz musician's laughter.

Vermilion orbs watch us,
vet our vespers
for cries of help.

The world's a diaper pail
holds what should never 
surprise, but does.

Black pools grow on blue water
under a yellow sun,
too far away to be angry.

Gordon Marshall presents Jan and James the Jack Powers Stone Soup Savor Poetry Prize.

Laurel Lambert passed for this week and Karen Vickerman thought it was just an attendance sheet.

Special thanks to Chris Fitzgerald, Lee Varon,Jan Rowe, Martha Boss, James Van Looy and Gordon Marshall.