Dancing With Georgia O

Marie Riepenhoff-Talty of Roseville sends us this photo of
"my voluptuous white Phalaenopsis, that I nicknamed Georgia O"

UNCULTIVATED APRIL
—Taylor Graham, Somerset

In this derelict old lot
beyond what's left of a chainlink fence,
spring is pushing up waist-high
in golden mustard, feathery anise
laced with vetch, wild radish
a white-pink-purple I can’t quite
describe. Profitless profusion
of blooms that we call
weeds.

It’s 6 a.m. My dog sighs and sniffs
into the breeze. She's satisfied
with morning. I'll buy black coffee
at the first fast-food that’s open.
My dog lowers
herself and sighs again, as she
rolls in all these gloriously
unmarketable
colors.

____________________

THE WANTONNESS OF PEONIES
—Patricia Wellingham-Jones, Tehama

I have trouble
connecting your peonies
with Chinese paintings, Japanese silks,
where they are treated
with formal near-reverence.

The peonies you gather
and thrust into my eager hands
are the blowsy broads
in your garden—all double
frills and flirty petals
prancing in the wind.

Their reckless swirls
toss pink raptures,
rain purple at our feet.

Even in the blue glass vase
on my black walnut table
their air of abandon
tempts me to turn up the music—
I need to dance.

____________________

ONE SPRING MORNING
—Wayne Robinson, Lodi

I sit and ponder this one drying rose, she threw it
back at me

At me and my love, my caring, an extended possibility.

Red it was, burgandy, bloody on a white sheet of
paper

Through the window sunrise, a bright blurr on the
table.

Dried tears on my face, like afternoon dew, trying to
be stable.

The sweet smell calling for Cupid, only draws a few
flies

Must get up and go outside, see the blue of the
spring skies.

_____________________

SILENT FLOWERS
—Stephani Schaefer, Los Molinos

You know those
roadside shrines
of simple crosses
burdened by flowers?

I wish we could assign
each soldier to kneel down
and plant a shrine
for each civilian killed
at every silent spot
where their blood bloomed.

______________________

Thanks to those of you who jumped on the drive-by give-away yesterday, sending some wonderful flower poems to help us celebrate Earth Weekend.

—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 10 (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.

Something new: Rattlesnake Interview Series with B.L. Kennedy is also available (free) at The Book Collector (or contact Kathy Kieth). #1 is Ann Menebroker.

Also: Check out the Rattlechaps Chapbook Series page on the 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 names that are in red. That should lead you to a separate page for each of them, including photos, bios, poems, contact info—and more to come, once we get them all up and running. Saa-weet!