Santa Pup

Retail Pet

Dogs sleep on the bed

chickens hatch in kitchen

plan in my head

listen pup

shoe you chewed up?

new retail spanking

 sizes back in racks

purses are absurd

Chloe YSL  Vuitton

sit in Saks

puppies for loves

Ducati or Blackbird

don't wear gloves

fly like lightening

wear Santa hat

run in

no sin

give away

silly morning poem for the pup who eats shoes
Copyright December 6 2016 Caroline Gerardo

Why

be kind life is short

Why

Why 

Americans open potty mouth 
Elections bring out worst 

unfriend them on Facebook, but

eat their homemade cookies;

but curse their mother-

 your freedom words online

let loose your filter. 

Century wood stove flings

burning shit on their name.

Why?

Car cut you off Nürburgring?

Hail horn, pull out a 22 bought

from rude Cabela's clerk.

You said "go fuck hell."

Okay, your grammar faults,

ask for a case for the gun 

because you're entitled.
Clerk goes home hungry from his
minimum wage job.

Why?

Dog on internet snuggles a baby, 

makes tears come out; but a child 
flooded, homeless, kidnapped, 
orphaned by bombs...

skepticism stops you from typing, 
"What do you need?
Give 50 cents to corrupt Red Cross.

Why ?

Dog has a heart.

Your core has love let it out,

empathy grows aching,

no-one taught chase 
a ball with 'fever love:

clean water, education, safe.

You know answers

 ready to show,

not cop out, say, "I'm

voting and reading words," 
because every step

 we Must ask:

WHY?

Golden Retriever Smile Recipe

 Smile recipe:

1 dog

1 ball

1 lake

watch her swim

 water shakes off

wild laughter.

Caroline Gerardo October 2016 copyrights reserved

Baths 5 Cents

Baths Five Cents

Water off last night

River drys up, you crave more.

No cheese for Lent, dream of cream.

Fortunately the weather is cooler.
Fog in the morning for the rodeo.

Jackie is pregnant, again...
Promise puppy photograph

Hadn't heard from him a month
text arrives plans made and fail

Am I better off not missing  
tub soaks to drain cares away?
je crains la rivière
nettoie votre chanson

Caroline Gerardo  Baths Five Cents Poem Copyright August 27, 2016

Sepia Dust

Sepia

Compost builds soil

Sepia tones in potted succulents

Earth structure

Rock sifter for road to ranch this machine is 30 feet tall and three trucks long

Dust to dust

 dust you shall become

Sepia tones cuddle fish grisalle 

Moved to the ranch.

debt free 

Life turn

No more $7568. monthly mortgage.

No more Homeowner Association. 

Arboreal lights in the sunset?

Painted a future.

can be

Hips burn

Now a cow bell announces guests.

Now miles pf dirt road driveway. 

Is Pinterest homesteading easy?

Buried beloved dog,

under tree.

Times turn

Today peanut butter rat traps.

Today haul huglekultur logs

I washed chicken baby butts?

Dust to dust

dust you shall become

Sepia tones cuddle fish grisalle 

horse shoes, antique iron

Ancient mortar pestle found in riverbed where I now live

Copyright June 20, 2016 Caroline Gerardo
Images taken on my iphone 4

Honey is Gone

Moved, down sized, changed compass.

Wild.

National Forest, mountains, ranches are home.

Goodbye nightly aroma of beach fires- 

pallets burning... 

Flecks touch the surf.

Visit ocean.

It's ours.

Last night a friend left.

Loss of a family member, though

you saw her as a pet.

Goodbye tides.

Farewell cosmos.

Fifteen years of love.

Nanny to my children.

Checked safety, fixed covers,

never hated or distrusted;

but she stole underpants.

We laughed with her.

Snort at Honey jokes.

Her spirit soars.  

Swim the sea.

She's not gone.

Miss dust bunny fluffer-

nutter hair in corners.

Sounds of her toenails on

the kitchen floor, no more. 

Vacuum nose sniffing

specs of dinner gone astray,

now silent.

Golden Retrievers are from Heaven

Honey is up there, running.

When you see Honey she is kind.

A dog with truest form of love.

I wish 

I gave more treats,

paw rubs, kisses and

told her more often: 

"You are the best. 

You are beautiful.

You are my sweet."

more and more...

Sun sets,

slips behind landscape.

A gold color of Honey. 

Her tail flows in the clouds.

You are ocean.

Not a dog.

You are sea.

Swim in the kelp like when

you were young. 

Ride waves with surfers and Carson.

Dive for balls.

We love you too.

See you in Heaven mermaid pup.

Caroline Gerardo copyright May 26, 2016

Jam Recipe

The nights cool.
Bad dog ate a winter melon on Saturday.
The melon was larger than her four pound body.
I brought the last one to my sister - my nephews
ate it in their driveway without a napkin.
Juice running down their arms
Alex says, "I've never had one."
Every year I give them a few.
I hadn't planned on sharing with the dogs.

The last sunflowers
Gave to a friend diagnosed with cancer.
She asked me to talk about the
pros and cons of pursuing aggressive treatment.
The Japanese have an intense chemo and radiation that
either the treatment kills you or you recover.
Transfusions, lethargy, days by the toilet bowl are things
I never discussed before.
Surprised how open I could be.

The French plums
Mosquito netting over trees
Unattractive but effective - or
songbirds steal my crops.
I make balls of peanut butter and millet,
fill the feeders with black niger
and elaborate tricks to keep the mice away.
Funny there is barely enough to make jam.
I'll share the recipe with you below.

winter melon from the garden

French plums, perhaps they are Italian the first seed came from NONI

Wash then Cut in half and toss pits 12 lb of ripe plums
4 cups sugar
box pectin
tablespoon almond extract
8 pint jars - sterilized ( boil for 5 minutes jar and lid)

Put plum and sugar in large pot medium heat.
Allow to slow bubble for ten minutes.
Don't let it roll boil- stir to keep from getting a scummy top of bubbles.
Don't let it stick to bottom.
Use a pot with a thicker bottom.
Allow to cool
You are going to cook four times.
This may require a glass of wine and music
The last cooking add the almond extract.
Examine how thick the mixture is.
If it is dense as toothpaste you may not need the pectin.
There is natural pectin in the fruit -
all depends on the scientific qualities
of your soil, sun and water.
I'm an organic gardener.
I suggest you add half the box of sure jell
for the last bubbling to be certain the jam sets correctly.
Read about sterilization and keeping the jars and lids free of any bacterium or
molds.
(The complete jars can be placed back into near boiling water to super
seal them BUT sometimes they break and there you have claret colored glass
shards and sticky explosion...)
Label the jars and share the rich taste of homemade jam.

You can strain the skins with a colander on the second cook, (sounds
like Walter White lol)
but I prefer to leave them in. By the time you heat the plums the
fourth time the skins are tiny flecks of burgundy.

Win The Pulitzer Fiction Prize

"Writer as Circus Dog Howling Stories"


No one wins in fiction?
It seems Un-American.

As a writer, I sometimes feel the marketing, competitions,

and ranking is contrary to creating art.

Winning a Pulitzer is after all, big business. A Pulitzer sells through your next couple of books, aligns paid speaking engagements and lines up the glory of tenured professorship. Thank you very much Columbia.

All three are shortlisted books are five stars.  However, I am going to speculate on why none of the front runners actually "won." My opinions here are as from the mind of a judge, wringing their hands on making the right decision. I believe failing to make choice is wrong, bad and flawed .

Three books were "shortlisted" Swamplandia by Karen Russell, Train Dreams by Denis Johnson, and The Pale King by David Foster Wallace. It is not that there were no good books to read in this past year, I believe the problem is in the three choices. 

First, Russell's (I loved it- the southern topic and the dazzle of her writing) -but book is quirky right from the cover. It is an American story, but a tad too contrapuntal with the ordinary and the bizarre the first person narrative jumping to third. The Pulitzer for fiction is ultimately supposed to represent the best American telling a great American tale. Second, Johnson's Novella though beautiful and moving is just too short to win. I can only fault the number of pages as the reason why it cannot stand in history with some of the other big boys  (save two exceptions) And finally The Pale King, Wallace's look into the dull soul of the IRS and the lonely secrets of mindful moments. It is a wonder. Again I add my hat on head as Pulitzer judge, it is unfinished and I dare say having met the man and read the other works some of the voice is "over-edited," (may not all be his ?).

Pony who leads the show

In the light that no choice was made I ask all my writer, reader, and friends with opinions to vote for the Pulitzer. You may nominate your own work, you may vote as many time as your little heart desires. Open your heart and your brain to vote in my comments section. Vote for one of the three above.

You ask - Prizes?

Winner with most votes (comments) will be mailed the Not a Pulitzer trophy ( being created from duct tape as you read this), $20 Amazon gift Certificate hopefully you will be buying books, and some nice brain cactus ( if your country of origin allows me to ship).  

Copyright ©2012 Caroline Gerardo

All photographs are Caroline Gerardo's and not to be used in any format without written permission