Samuel Taylor Coleridge
INSCRIPTION FOR A FOUNTAIN ON A HEATH
—Samuel Taylor Coleridge
This Sycamore, oft musical with bees,—
Such tents the Patriarchs loved! O long unharmed
May all its agèd boughs o'er-canopy
The small round basin, which this jutting stone
Keeps pure from falling leaves! Long may the Spring,
Quietly as a sleeping infant's breath,
Send up cold waters to the traveller
With soft and even pulse! Nor ever cease
Yon tiny cone of sand its soundless dance,
Which at the bottom, like a Fairy's Page,
As merry and no taller, dances still,
Nor wrinkles the smooth surface of the Fount.
Here Twilight is and Coolness: here is moss,
A soft seat, and a deep and ample shade.
Thou may'st toil far and find no second tree.
Drink, Pilgrim, here; Here rest! and if thy heart
Be innocent, here too shalt thou refresh
Thy spirit, listening to some gentle sound,
Or passing gale or hum of murmuring bees!
____________________
Thanks, Sam! Last Sunday, Samuel Coleridge would've been 235 years old.
Submissions: More chances to publish:
Ellen Bass occasionally sends around an e-mail with various opportunities listed for writers; here are a few that might be of interest to SnakePals:
•••Coming Anthology: Deadline: February 29, 2008: Poems wanted from women poets over 60. Looking for work that gives full and honest voice to women's lives. Submit up to 5 poems (33-line maximum), a three-line bio, and SASE to Robin Chapman & Jeri McCormick, Editors, 205 N. Blackhawk Ave., Madison, WI 53705.
•••Jewish Feminists and Our Fathers: Reflections Across Gender and Generations. A special issue of Bridges: A Jewish Feminist Journal. Deadline: July 15, 2008. Guest edited by Rebecca Alpert and Laura Levitt. We welcome poetry, fiction, creative non-fiction and artwork as well as essays. We are also interested in review essays on films, books, and websites that address these issues. We welcome submissions of personal essays (8000 words or less), art (black and white only), and review essays about Jewish feminist daughters and fathers for the Spring 2009 issue of Bridges. We imagine that there are many Jewish feminists who have important things to say about their own complicated relationships to their fathers. We hope these contributions will build on the legacy of Jewish feminist writing about fathers that began with Adrienne Rich's now classic essay, "Split at the Root." Info: Laura Levitt and/or Rebecca Alpert at llevitt@temple.edu and ralpert@temple.edu/. For more information on Bridges: A Jewish Feminist Journal go to http://bridgesjournal.org or email clare@bridgesjournal.org/.
•••Sacred Fools Press: Americana Poetry deadline: January 15, 2008. Send us your poems about American icons and experience. Drive down that road in that classic car. Retell the tales of Johnny Appleseed and Paul Bunyan. Deconstruct American Gothic. Get nostalgic. Get bitter. Show us humor. Political poems given consideration, but should have a general audience appeal. Submit poems as text in email and 20-word-or-less bio to: sacredfoolspress@yahoo.com/.
•••Speaking of classic autos, don't forget The Towe Auto Museum's Fourth Annual Automotive Poetry Contest for poems related in some way to the automobile or some form of personal land transportation. Deadline is November 10, 2007. First prize winner receives $200, second prize is $100 and third prize is $50. Chapbooks of past years' submissions are available in the Museum’s Gift Shop, or post-paid for $7.00. Info on how to submit: PoetryContest@ToweAutoMuseum.org or (916) 442-6802. The winning poems will be posted on the Towe website at www.toweautomuseum.org by February 1st, 2008.
•••Taj Mahal Review wants submissions for publication in December, 2007. Currently reviewing poems/short stories for the 12th Issue of Taj Mahal Review, International Literary Journal (Print Journal). http://cyberwit.net/taj.htm/ or http://cyberwit.net/praise.htm/. Karunesh Agrawal, Dy. Managing Editor (TMR), 4/2B, L.I.G., Govindpur Colony, Allahabad-211004 (U.P.), India.
•••2008 New Women’s Voices Chapbook Competition. Deadline: Feb. 15, 2008 (postmark). A prize of $1,000 and publication will be awarded by Finishing Line Press for a chapbook-length poetry collection. Open to women who have never before published a full-length poetry collection, although previous chapbook publication does not disqualify. All entries will be considered for publication. The top-ten finalists will be offered publication. Submit up to 26 pages of poetry, plus bio, acknowledgments, SASE and cover letter with a $15 entry fee. Judith Montgomery will be the final judge. Winner will be announced on our website: www.finishinglinepress.com/. Send to 2008 New Women’s Voices Chapbook Competition, Finishing Line Press, P.O. Box 1626, Georgetown, KY 40324.
•••Contrary accepts submissions of commentary, fiction, poetry, and especially work that combines the virtues of those categories through our online submission form only. They pay upon publication. Please familiarize yourself with the work they have published and review the submission guidelines before deciding whether to submit. Info: www.contrarymagazine.com/. Contrary is a quarterly literary journal founded at the University of Chicago and operated independently on the South Side of Chicago.
•••Bob Fenster’s Interesting Book Project: His book is called Notes on the Day, and it works like this: Bob is asking a lot of interesting people to tell him the three most interesting things that happen to them on Friday, November 16, 2007. These could be things that happen to you, something you’re told, you overhear, you observe, an adventure or misadventure, or something you think about. It’s really wide open. The idea behind the book is that insights into the everyday can be fascinating. By putting together notes from different people, we’ll draw a group portrait of what would be an ordinary day in our lives, except that we’re all taking notes. Take a day or two after November 16 to write up your notes. Or just send him your notes as you write them on that day to Bob at: notes@baymoon.com/. Please use cut-and-paste, no attachments. Or put your notes on paper and mail them to: Bob Fenster, 323 Martin Drive, Aptos, CA 95003. Please include your name, occupation and what part of the world you were in on that day. Bob would appreciate your sending this request on to friends, family, co-workers and others you think would be interested in taking part in the project. He’s really looking forward to it, and he thinks it will make a fascinating book. So mark your calendar for November 16, 2007. He will send out a reminder early that week. Bob Fenster, notes@baymoon.com or (831) 685-1717. (Bob is a writer and has several books, calendars, etc. out there. He wrote Duh! and Stupid Things That Famous People Do — and more...)
____________________
FRAGMENT 10: THE THREE SORTS OF FRIENDS
—Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Though friendships differ endless in degree ,
The sorts, methinks, may be reduced to three.
Acquaintance many, and Conquaintance few;
But for Inquaintance I know only two—
The friend I've mourned with, and the maid I woo!
____________________
FRAGMENT 2: I KNOW 'TIS BUT A DREAM, YET FEEL MORE ANGUISH
—Samuel Taylor Coleridge
I know 'tis but a Dream, yet feel more anguish
Than if 'twere Truth. It has been often so:
Must I die under it? Is no one near?
Will no one hear these stifled groans and wake me?
______________________
FRAGMENT 5: WHOM SHOULD I CHOOSE FOR MY JUDGE?
—Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Whom should I choose for my Judge? the earnest, impersonal reader,
Who, in the work, forgets me and the world and himself!
Ye who have eyes to detect, and Gall to Chastise the imperfect,
Have you the heart, too, that loves, feels and rewards the Compleat?
What is the meed of thy Song? 'Tis the ceaseless, the thousandfold Echo
Which from the welcoming Hearts of the Pure repeats and prolongs it,
Each with a different Tone, compleat or in musical fragments.
_____________________
—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.) Medusa cannot vouch for the moral fiber of other publications, contests, etc. that she lists, however, so submit to them at your own risk. For more info about the Snake Empire, including guidelines for submitting to or obtaining our publications, click on the link to the right of this column: Rattlesnake Press (rattlesnakepress.com).
SnakeWatch: Up-to-the-minute Snake news:
Journals: The latest issue of Rattlesnake Review (#15) is available for free at The Book Collector, 1008 24th St., Sacramento, or send $2 to P.O. Box 762, Pollock Pines, CA 95726. Next deadline is November 15. The two journals for youngsters, Snakelets and Vyper, are on hiatus; no deadlines this Fall.
New in October: Rattlesnake Press celebrated Sacramento Poetry Month on Wednesday, October 10 with the release of Spiral, a rattlechap by Kate Wells; Autumn on My Mind, a free littlesnake broadside by Mary Field; and #5 in the free Rattlesnake Interview Series by B.L. Kennedy, this one featuring Sacramento Poet Laureate Julia Connor. Also released that night was Conversations, Volume One of the Rattlesnake Interview Anthology Series (a collection of B.L.'s conversations with eleven Sacramento poets), as well as a free broadside tribute to poet/publisher Ben L. Hiatt, commissioned by Rattlesnake Press and designed by Richard Hansen from poetry by B.L. Kennedy and artwork by Patrick Grizzell. All of these are available at The Book Collector, 100 24th St., Sacramento, or from rattlesnakepress.com, or write to kathykieth@hotmail.com/.
Coming in November: The Snake is proud to announce the release of Among Neighbors, a rattlechap from Taylor Graham; Home is Where You Hang Your Wings, a littlesnake broadside from frank andrick; and A Poet's Book of Days, a perpetual calendar featuring the poetry and photography of Katy Brown. Come celebrate the release of all of these on Wednesday, November 14, 7:30 PM at The Book Collector.
