How to Stay Sane?

Rattlesnake Press is as proud as can be of its two latest rattlechaps, both of which will be released at a reading at 7:30 pm this WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 10 at The Book Collector, 1008 24th Street, Sac. One is Victoria Dalkey's In the Absence of Silver, and the other is Susan Kelly-DeWitt's The Land. Susan has been a magnificent force on the local scene with her USC Extension workshops and her wonderful poetry, and she publishes widely on the national level, as well. Here is a sample from Susan's new book:


DOGWOOD, SPRING, 2003
—Susan Kelly-DeWitt, Sacramento

How to stay sane in such a heartbroken spring
when the dogwood blossoms fly apart, a shrapnel of white petals,
when bodies fester in a blistering dune far away
and bread has run out and oil fires smolder,
when the Archer shrouds his bowstring in a black cloud
and hundreds of flares mimic lethal night suns,
when lizards carry the only grains of news across vast deserts
and stories creep like ants out of the scorched gardens.

You open your eyes to the morning brilliance
and even the ordinary flowering of April seems like a lie
by men in command, who manipulate the repulsive puppet
strings of absolute power deep inside the earth,
just as you feared.

___________________

Thanks, Susan! (More about Victoria's book later.) Also premiering on August 10 will be VYPER!—the journal for teen poetry, on which Asst. Wrangler Robbie Grossklaus has done a very fine job.

The 19th annual Focus on Writers Contest, which is sponsored by the Friends of the Sacramento Public Library, awards cash prizes for short stories, poems, articles, first chapters of novels and young-adult books. Submit up to five unpublished manuscripts ($5 per manuscript); deadline is AUGUST 31. Info: www.saclibrary.org or 916-264-2880.

PWJ Publishing presents the Skyway Poets, featuring Joy Harold Helsing and her new book, Confessions of the Hare and other old tales, in a reading on AUGUST 13—that's next Saturday—at 7 p.m. at Art, Etc., 122 W. Third Street, Chico, California. 530-895-1161. Other poets include Patricia Wellingham-Jones, Audrey C. Small, Sally Allen McNall, Lara Gularte, Ann Doro and Kathleen McPartland. Take a ride up that way and check into what our north-Valley friends are up to...

Jane Blue has sent me a terrific picture of a local Medusa! Don't forget that the Snake prints photographs, too. Next deadline is 8/15.

—Medusa

Medusa encourages poets of all ilk and ages to send their poetry and announcements of Northern California poetry events to kathykieth@hotmail.com for posting on this daily Snake blog. Rights remain with the poets.