Medusa's Kitchen: You With Your Feathered Scales

Monday, May 30, 2005

You With Your Feathered Scales

In case you missed it, Sac Bee Metro section had a big article yesterday (5/29) about Sac poet and reed man Gene Avery; check it out. Every inch of space that poetry gets in The Bee is—well, another inch of space...

Meanwhile, I'm typing Snake 6, who will be slamming out of his den in time for the Zeppa reading June 8 (a week from Wednesday) at The Book Collector. This issue is bursting at the seams with poems about snakes, as the last gaggle of poets slips under the wire for the Fangs I deadline. Here is one heckuva fine sample from our lovely Carol Frith. Look up Quetzal on the Net, admire his beautiful tail:

Quetzal
by Carol Frith

A snake? I've forgotten how to write
a serpent. Quetzal, with your feathered scales
and brother to the moon? A god, not quite
a snake. And I've forgotten how to write
about the moon, who slept with you, her light
a memory that all light somehow fails.
Bright snake, I've forgotten how to write
about you...Quetzal with your feathered scales.

(First person to identify the form of "Quetzal", either by e-mail or otherwise, gets a free copy of debee loyd's new rattlechap, noon, twilight, midnight.)

Manana—

Medusa (aka the Wrangler)

THE REST OF THE B-BOARD! Enter at your own risk; NorCal poetry is SMOKIN'!

Watch Medusa's UPCOMING NORCAL EVENTS page on a daily basis for what cooks in NorCal poetry! (Like everything else, it keeps on changing...) Other sites to check for poetry news and area events include: •••www.facebook.com/sacpoetry.center

•••SPC's Community Calendar of Lit. Events: www.facebook.com/groups/SPCgroup/?notif_t=group_name_change&notif_id=1468146125061336

•••poetryindavis.com/archive/2016/10/2812

•••www.facebook.com/El-Dorado-Poetry-1237910429583182 for news about what's going on in El Dorado County poetry

•••sacramento365.com (go to Poetry & Literature under Performance)

•••Want to learn about some Bay Area events? Debralee Pagan (debralee@astoundnet) publishes an e-newsletter called "Strictly East" (Poetry Past the Caldecott Tunnel)—email her for a free subscription. See also www.poetryflash.org/.

Don't see your reading event listed on Medusa? That's probably because you didn't send it to us! It's such a shame to invite poets to read for you, and then fail to advertise them. So try to get your message out in a timely manner.

Online and otherwise—

Here are some journals and other publications that are local-ish (okay, there are some Bay Area ones in here, too). If we've left anybody out, let us know!

Plus, keep an eye on the college scene. Some of those journals accept submissions from non-students, though they usually have more limited (mostly annual) deadlines. Go to Medusa's Hot Links for Calaveras Station, Penumbra, Suisun Valley Review, Cosumnes River Journal, but be aware that college journals come and go in this time of tight funding.