Every issue of Mezzo Cammin: An Online Journal of Formalist Poetry by Women is an event for me. The mix of poetry and graphic art is always exciting. Take a look at the Table of Contents for the Summer 2026 issue and you’ll see what I mean. And I am especially happy that a pair of sonnets of my own are included: “Sonnets Before the Sixth Extinction.” I suppose it is an ars poetica of my own, sparked by environmental concerns surrounding climate change, and containing a volta (or turn) between the two sonnets.
I would love to know what you think about my own poem, and about the other fine poems in this issue.
LESLIE
“Eco Warrior Outside the Armory” Northfield, Minnesota, April 2018 (Leslie Schultz)McNally’s Landing, Mississippi River, Winona, Minnesota, 2026 (Leslie Schultz)
Edited by Literary Arts students at Appomattox Regional Governor’s School for the Arts and Technology in Petersburg, Virginia, Appomattox River Review is a new online publication. I am honored that the editors chose my poem, “Antaea,” to include in their second issue.
As I read the other contents of this issue, I was impressed by the clear editorial vision, by this gathering of diverse works from very different literary artists that each examine the intersections of memory, mystery, and the natural world. The editors state “We appreciate obscurity and strangeness.” I feel happy to have one of my own poems in this company.
Word play takes many forms. From bon mots to nursery rhymes to crossword puzzles to acronyms and new lingo to ballades and poems.
Recently I was trying to locate the source for an expression Tim and his work colleagues used to describe the temporary rosy glow surrounding a whiz-kid new hire: the ‘Pink Poodle.”( They would say, “Oh, well, he’s the Pink Poodle now. Later, he’ll be the Grey Poodle. Someday, he’ll be the Dead Poodle.” ) I could not find any reference for this expression, so it must have been a sui generis moment. I did, however, stumble into a meeting with an artist who, until last week, was only a name to me: Weird Al.
Weird Al Yankovic was a nerdy kid whose parents were convinced that by taking accordian lessons he would change the course of rock ‘n roll. Well, they were right! After he graduated from high school at age 16 (named valedictorian of his class and founder of the Volcano Worshippers Club–who had no other raison d’être than to be in the yearbook) he launched his first quirky parody on the niche Dr. Demento’s Radio Show in 1976. Since then, he has followed his own harmonic trail to create and record 150+ parodies and original songs, sold more than 12 million albums, and performed more than 2,000 live shows. Here is the image to his 2003 release, his 11th studio album, Poodle Hat. Lowbrow? High hat? Or some kind of chapeau sandwich? You decide!
My favorite track is “Ode to a Superhero.” Now, I am not a fan of comic books or animated films, either, but I am completely taken with this catchy rehash of Billy Joel’s “Piano Man” that exalts Spiderman. I liked the original, back in the day. I love the pastiche! And I find myself humming the first iteration of the refrain,
Winchester Mystery House (Leslie Schultz 2003)
“Sling us a web, you’re the fighter man, Sling us a web tonight.
‘Cause we’re all in the mood for a hero now, and there’s evil-doers to fight.”
A close second favorite is “eBay”–oh, heck! I love them all.
Weird Al is reconnecting me with my childhood loves of the parodies of Tom Lehrer, Mad Magazine, George Carlin. In the waning days of Stephen Colbert‘s The Late Show, I need a reliable new source of laughter. Thankfully, I stumbled, at last, over the oeurve and have fallen down the rabbit hole into the Madder-than-Hatters Wonderland of Weird Al.
Context for Poem “Farewells ” :
Just this, saying goodbye and good luck to us all!
Cafe Balloons, Northfield (Leslie Schultz, 2020)
Last year, after posting the final April poem, I received this delightful surprise from my friend and writing buddy Mark Kronholm. I share it here this year with his permission.
In Praise of Thirty Days of Inspiration
Thirty days hath September,
April, June, and November.
But it’s April we remember
For the elegant creative ember
In Leslie, the poetic assembler.
Congratulations on a month well spent!
Mark
Flower Initials (Leslie Schultz 2016)
Thank you, everyone who let me know you wanted to receive an April poem each day this year. Knowing that you were there cheered me on through this poetic marathon! (For those of you who have been with me this past decade, since my first NaPoWriMo Challenge in April 2016–you know who you are!–I am in your debt.)
Do you ever wake up to the sound of the surf echoing in your ears? Sometimes, I do.
Today, I awoke not only with that primodial soundtrack but with the image of the classic metaphor of a message in a bottle floating around in my brain. As a little girl in Oregon, I had hoped quite hard to find one but I never did–only a few sand-polished shards of beach glass.
As the sun came up, I started thinking about a recent journey back to the Pacific coast a couple of years ago. After I wrote today’s poem, I spent a pleasant hour looking again at photographs from that trip.
Context for Poem “Intuition”:
I suppose the question encasing the metaphor of the message in the bottle trope is: who is the message meant to reach? And…then what?
Perhaps that is what all poems do for me, both send and receive–whether they come to me or come through me, whether I understand them or simply accept their mysterious presence.
On Saturday morning, Tim created a painterly bouquet of tulips and daffodils cut from our garden. Watching it slowly unfold and evolve has been like watching a ballet. I thought I would share a few images of this quiet 72-hour extravaganza with you.
Context for Poem “Allegiance to Language”:
This morning, I dipped in again to one of my favorite books, The Lost Words: A Spell Book, a multi-layered collaboration by wordsmith Robert MacFarlene and painter Jackie Morris. First published in 2017 to protest the excizing of natural words from the Oxford Junior Dictionary.
I wrote about this five years ago, HERE but today became enchanted with it afresh, and wanted to share it again with you. I was interested to learn that in both 2022 and 2024, Robert MacFarlane was named as an outside contender for the Nobel Prize in Literature (had I been on the selection committee, he would have won.) I see that his first book, Mountains of the Mind, which I have not yet read, takes its title from a poem by Gerard Manly Hopkins and explores the fascination that mountains hold for humans. Indeed, he is a true Renaissance artist–inventor, librettist, critic, and philosopher and explorer of inner and outer landscapes.
As I compose this, I am confirmed in my dawning realization this year that, for me, rereading can be even more rewarding than reaching for a new release. Though the siren’s song of new work, especially by an author I like can be impossible to resist…! Would you rather reread an old favorite or dive into something new? Or do you, too, seek to balance old and new in the all-too-fleeting moments available for reading?
