Dawn DiBartolo, Sacramentotri-ternity
—dawn dibartolo
& as i carried
the sun on my back,
the moon of jealousy
began methodical cracks,
drew pixel portraits
to gain my favor.
craters stemmed
to resemble youth,
and desire, holding hands,
grew long in the tooth,
love, lifetime ~
held, and savored.
never one
to covet the rose,
i begrudged the earth,
dug in driven toes,
found soil, kind to bear
the weight.
planet, moon, & sun
in enigmatic tryst
bound together by a rope of stars
& a flick of my wrist,
became the bind, eternal
and all at once, too late.
Thanks, Dawn! Dawn DiBartolo lives in Sacramento, California with her three children, and works for the State as an analyst. She has been published in Rattlesnake Review, Green Silk Journal, and StrangeRoad.com. Her poetry has also appeared on the poetry blogs of Medusa's Kitchen, The Woodlands, and the Pink Palace. Dawn has previously published a collection of poetry entitled Love and Other Eternities, available at http://www.publishamerica.com/orderinginfo.htm/
Honoring James Wright: Guidelines
Robert Johnson, Founder of Melia Press in Minneapolis, seeks submissions for a book of poems in honor of James Wright. The book will be a standard trade edition of about 70 pages. Each contributor will receive two copies of the book, and a small number of poems in the book will also be printed in broadside format suitable for framing. Robert has had a distinguished career as an artist/printer and has crafted limited edition collections, in the livre deluxe tradition, of poems by William Stafford and by Robert Bly. Bruce Henricksen, a past editor of New Orleans Review and a fiction writer, will help in a secretarial capacity in the Wright project. Robert and Bruce both attended the University of Minnesota during the years that Wright taught there, and they have long been admirers of his work.
Submissions to the James Wright project should be no more than two pages of poetry in any form. Your name and contact information should appear in an upper corner. Poems may refer directly or indirectly to Wright’s work, to his themes, and to the regions he wrote about. It is not desirable that more than a few of the poems in the book mention Wright by name. No handwritten submissions, please. Limit your cover letter to one page. Identify yourself and describe your publishing background, if any. Say something about your relation to Wright’s work, and explain how your poem honors that work. Please include a SASE. E-mail submissions will not be read. Deadline is October 1, 2007. These guidelines are available at bhenricksen@charter.net/ Please type "James Wright" on the subject line.
Submissions should be sent to:
Bruce Henricksen
P.O. Box 3054
Duluth, MN 55803
_____________________
artless
—dawn dibartolo
draw an empty picture,
puzzle pieces
out of synch,
some sharp,
some round,
all one color.
you pick the color,
but it doesn't resonate
with mood,
so you choose
a softer hue,
wiping clean
any meaning not intended,
and end up
with basically
a blank slate.
_____________________
the messenger
—dawn dibartolo
he said
the hummingbird
is a soul-messenger ~
its up to the individual
to decipher what they hear.
i heard
a blur of wings
as suspended in flight, she
looked at me
and spoke the soft silence
of my longing ~
soul for skin
accepting the quiet sunshine
of mid-morning
~ despite ~
hustle/bustle spring clouds ~
stop
and smell the flowers.
_____________________
the leaves are red
—dawn dibartolo
there was a little girl
who saw her mother ~
with split lips
and blackened eyes ~
yet mother maintained
a deep love
for the beast
that consumed her.
the little girl feared
most, growling echoes
in the tree-tops ~
they always led back
to blood-shed ~
and she vowed never
to allow fear of the forest.
she walked into the woods,
once she was old enough
to love,
careful enough
to watch her step,
but stumbled upon the wild,
like an old tree root
jutting from the ground.
she promptly left the trees
for the clearing,
swearing never to return ~
_____________________
—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 (free publications): Rattlesnake Review #13 is available at The Book Collector; RR #14 will be out in mid-June. (Next deadline, for RR #15, is August 15.) The new VYPER #6 (for youth 13-19) is in The Book Collector; next deadline is Nov. 1. Snakelets #9 (for kids 0-12) is available; Snakelets #10 will be out this month. Next deadline is 10/1.
Books/broadsides: May's releases are Grass Valley Poet Ron Tranquilla’s Playing Favorites: Selected Poems, 1971-2006, plus a littlesnake broadside by Julie Valin (Still Life With Sun) and a Rattlesnake Interview Broadside (#2) featuring Khiry Malik Moore and B.L. Kennedy. All are now available at The Book Collector. Rattlechaps are $5; broadsides are free. Or contact kathykieth@hotmail.com or rattlesnakepress.com for ordering information.
Next rattle-read: Rattlesnake Press will present Sacramento Poet Tom Miner at The Book Collector, 1008 24th St., Sacramento, on Wednesday, June 20 from 7:30-9 PM to celebrate the release of his new chapbook, North of Everything. Also featured that night will be a new littlesnake broadside (Cominciare Adagio) from Stockton Poet/Publisher David Humphreys, plus #3 in the Rattlesnake Interview Series by B.L. Kennedy, this one featuring Sacramento Poet Jane Blue. Refreshments and a read-around will follow; bring your own poems or somebody else's. More info: kathykieth@hotmail.com/ NOTE: For June, and for June only, our monthly Rattlesnake reading will be on the THIRD Weds. instead of the second one. There will be no Snake readings/releases in July or August.
