All Those Snakes Bouncing

Tammy's Inspiration
Photo by Tammy Brierly

CHRYSANTHEMUMS
—Tammy Brierly, Tuolumne

I remember when you were small and pretty
but the seasons changed, covering
you in heavy snow smothering
you in a silent death,

so I replaced you.
And planted a circle of pansies
to adorn the bird bath.
Spring had arrived

playing it’s symphony in color
as the bulbs surfaced, like a delicate string,
and learning their song as they rose
I could hear,

the music beginning to tune in rhythm,
with tulips in purples and daffodils in
yellows, and the greens of grass all
together again.

Then I noticed,
unusual stalks of green that had no
song, but kept growing long past
the sounds of spring, smothering the
pansies and growing up the bird bath.

As fall arrived you were to be the final piece,
and as your stalks began to bloom, I remembered
your old song smothered in white.
You emerged triumphant and tall, your color sang
to me brilliantly, loud and clear,
a solo, to end the year.
Bravo.

______________________

Thanks, Tammy! Tammy Brierly is one of the many Manzanita poets from Tuolumne, Amador, Calavaras and other counties in that area who are sending me poetry for the Manzanita feature coming up in Snake 14, which will be out in June (deadline is May 15—hey, that's pretty soon!). Read more about Tammy on mylifeasawarrior.blogspot.com/


Also coming in May are two contests:

•••Artists Embassy International is proud to announce the opening of their new website, www.dancingpoetry.com. For information on the Dancing Poetry Contest and the Dancing Poetry Festival, visit this exciting new site. There are Grand Prize- winning poems from 2006, and photos from the 2006 Festival. Since this is a new site, visit us frequently and watch us grow. Contest information, Festival information, Dancing Poetry classes, poetic products related to various arts, reports on recent and upcoming events are all scheduled to be regularly updated. Mark your calendars for two important dates: May 15, 2007 is the deadline to submit your poems to the Dancing Poetry Contest. (See www.dancingpoetry.com for rules.) Then, on Saturday, September 29, 2007, come to the fabulous California Palace of the Legion of Honor to see and hear the premier dance performance of the three Grand Prize-winning poems, plus all Dancing Poetry Contest prize-winning poets are invited to read their poems at this prestigious podium. Dance troupes from around the world will offer an afternoon of performing to poetry in this spectacular theatrical setting. Check it out!

•••Calyx, a journal of art and literature by women, announces the May 31 deadline for its sixth annual Lois Cranston Memorial Poetry Prize ($300 plus publication). Final judge: Paulann Petersen. Fee: $15 per entry (three poems, six manuscript pages). Send to: Calyx, Lois Cranston Poetry Prize, PO Box B, Corvallis, OR 97339. Complete guidelines: calyx@proaxis.com or www.calyxpress.org/


Or get away from it all:

•••Donna Hanelin writes: The June 23rd-July 1st retreat in Teotitlan del Valle (25 km east of the city of Oaxaca) has one space available. Please let me know right away if you'd like to join that group; $50 discount for payments made in full by May 10! The experience of being and writing in this highland valley in Mexico is inadequately described by the word 'fantastic'. Please call for more info or paper brochures, 530-265-8799 or write me at donna@creativewritingclasses.us/

•••The Writing Life: June 8-10 at Esalen in Big Sur with Ellen Bass: This weekend will allow us to leave the rush of our busy lives and be still enough to hear the stories and poems that gestate within us. We'll write, share our writing, and hear what our work touches in others. We'll help each other to become clearer, go deeper, take new risks. With the safety, support, and inspiration of this gathering, you will have the opportunity to create writing that is more vivid, more true, more complex and powerful than you've been able to do before. Esalen fees cover tuition, food and lodging and vary according to accommodations—ranging from $320 to $605. The sleeping bag space is an incredible bargain. Some work-scholarship assistance is available, as well as small prepayment discounts and senior discounts. All arrangements and registration must be made directly with Esalen, but if you have questions about the content of the workshop, feel free to email me or call me at 831-426-8006. Please register directly with Esalen at 831-667-3005 or at www.esalen.org/


Tonight:

•••Thursday (4/26), 7 PM: Borders Books in Laguna (7215 Laguna Blvd., Elk Grove) presents An Evening of Poetry to celebrate National Poetry Month. Featured poets include Indigo Moor, Lawana Cager, Lisa Abraham and Emmanuel Sigauke. This is a joint event sponsored by the CRC English Dept. and Borders Books.

•••Thursday (4/26), 8 PM: Poetry Unplugged at Luna's Cafe, 1414 16th St., Sacramento presents D.R. Wagner and Neeli Cherkovski. Open mic before and after.


And save the date:

•••Sunday (6/3), 1-4 PM: Century House Poetry Series presents San Francisco Poet Laureate Jack Hirschman reading with Latif Harris. This will be Host Cynthia Bryant’s last gig as Pleasanton Poet Laureate. Open mic (one poem, up to 40 lines); refreshments. Free. 2401 Santa Rita Road, Pleasanton.

_____________________

MEDUSA LISTENS TO BAD POETRY
—Stephani Schaefer, Los Molinos

it's disconcerting to hear

when you try to share
your sincerely illuminating work

all those hisses

_____________________

MEDUSA ON A POGO STICK
—Stephani Schaefer

all those snakes bouncing
like Shirley Temple curls

it's the only time
I've ever seen her smile

_____________________

KEEPING COOL
—Stephani Schaefer

Medusa must have slept
on a pillow carved of ironstone
a smooth head cradle
to keep those serpents cool

otherwise she might have died
of self-accusation
that mirror she holds up to us

_____________________

—Medusa

Medusa encourages poets of all ilk and ages to send their POETRY, PHOTOS and ART, as well as announcements of Northern California poetry events to kathykieth@hotmail.com (or snail ‘em to P.O. Box 762, Pollock Pines, CA 95726) for posting on this daily Snake blog. Rights remain with the poets. Previously-published poems are okay for Medusa’s Kitchen, as long as you own the rights. (Please cite publication.)


SnakeWatch: Up-to-the-minute Snake news:

Journals: Rattlesnake Review #13 is available at The Book Collector; next deadline is May 15. The new VYPER #6 (for youth 13-19) has gone into the mail; next deadline is Nov. 1. Snakelets 9 (for kids 0-12) is available; next deadline is May 1.

Books/broadsides: April’s releases are SnakeRings SpiralChap #7 from D.R. Wagner: Where The Stars Are Kept, and littlesnake broadside #33: Swallowed By This Whale Of Time by Ann Menebroker. Both are now available at The Book Collector. SpiralChaps are $8; broadsides are free. Or contact kathykieth@hotmail.com for ordering information. Rattlesnake Interview Series #1 with Ann Menebroker and B.L. Kennedy is also available (free) at The Book Collector (or contact Kathy Kieth).

Next rattle-read: May's releases will be Ron Tranquilla’s Playing Favorites: Selected Poems, 1971-2006, plus a broadside by Julie Valin and a Rattlesnake Interview Broadside (#2) featuring Malik and B.L. Kennedy. Come check all these out on May 9 at 7:30 PM at The Book Collector, 1008 24th St., Sacramento. Refreshments and a read-around will follow; bring your own poems or somebody else’s.

Also: Check out the Rattlechaps Chapbook Series page on the ever-evolving rattlesnakepress.com website! We've started generating separate pages for each rattlechapper/spiralchapper; scroll down through the list of books we've published and click on the poets’ names that are in red. Each one of those should lead you to a separate page, including photos, bios, poems, contact info of the poet—and more to come, once we get them all up and running. Saa-weet!