KEEPING TIME
—Kate Wells, Placerville
This old heart
has been buried
in sand for how long?
Sand in its gold links
graining away gold.
Grit against crystal.
How long?
Not enough to grind
the inscription
off the back—
To M, From B, 1950.
Wind it.
Do you remember how?
Listen to it beat.
Tend it.
_____________________
Thanks to Kate, a member of Red Fox Underground, for this. Kate Wells and Susan Kelly-DeWitt will be reading at Our House Gallery and Framing in El Dorado Hills tonight (11/16) at 7 PM. From Highway 50, take the Latrobe exit south and then turn left into the shopping center. Our House is on the northern edge of the shopping center.
Other NorCal poetry events this weekend:
•••Tonight in Sacramento (Friday, 11/16), 7:30 PM: Escritores del Nuevo Sol/Writers of the New Sun presents Luz Maria Gama, [rattlechapper] JoAnn Anglin, and Manuel Pickett, Theater Professor at Sac State and Diane Martinez, who will present a brief dramatic arrangement of selected items from Cantos y Cuentos, Poems & Stories of the Writers of the New Sun/Escritores del Nuevo Sol. La Raza Galeria Posada, 1022 22nd St., Sacramento. Free-will donation as you can afford. Info: Graciela Ramirez, 916-456-5323. Website: www.escritoresdelnuevosol.com/.
See last Tuesday's post for some of JoAnn Anglin's beautiful poems, and check out her page on rattlesnakepress.com, under "Rattlechaps".
•••Saturday (11/17), 7:30 PM: The Book Collector, 1008 24th St., Sacramento, presents Jeff Knorr, reading from his forthcoming book, The Third Body. Info: 916-442-9295. Free! Jeff Knorr is the author of the three books of poetry, Standing up to the Day (Pecan Grove Press), Keeper (Mammoth Books), and The Third Body (forthcoming from Cherry Grove Collections, 2007). His other works include the co-authored Mooring Against the Tide: Writing Poetry and Fiction (Prentice Hall); the anthology, A Writer's Country (Prentice Hall); and the newly released, The River Sings: An Introduction to Poetry (Prentice Hall). His poetry and essays have appeared in numerous literary journals and anthologies including Chelsea, Connecticut Review, Red Rock Review, Oxford Magazine, and Like Thunder: Poets Respond to Violence in America (University of Iowa, 2002). Jeff has also edited, presented, and been an invited judge for various awards. He was the founding co-editor and poetry editor of the Clackamas Literary Review. He has also been an invited reader and judge at such venues as University of Pennsylvania's Kelly Writer's House, The Des Moines Festival of Literary Arts, and for contests such as the Willamette Award in Poetry and the Red Rock Poetry Award. He currently directs the River City Writer's Series at Sacramento City College, where he currently teaches, and also serves on Sacramento Metropolitan Arts Commission's Poet Laureate committee.
•••Also Saturday (11/17), 6:30 PM: “Words, Music, and Motion”, an evening of storytelling, spoken word, music and dance. Free family event at Cafe Refugio, 1901 Del Paso Blvd., Sacramento.
•••Also Saturday (11/17), 7-9 PM: Underground Poetry Series presents Aushanti Pierce, plus a combined reading of Black Men Expressing Tour & Black Women Expressing Tour, plus open mic. $3.00. Underground Books, 2814 35th St. (35th and Broadway). Hosted by La-Rue, 916-737-3333.
•••Monday (11/19), 7:30 PM: Sacramento Poetry Center presents Donald Anderson, Nikki Quismondo and others to celebrate the release of Sun Shadow Mountain, their collection of poetry, art and photography at HQ for the Arts, 1719 25th St., Sacramento. Open mic will follow. See below for two poems from Marie Ross of Stockton, one of the contributors to the anthology and a frequent contributor to Rattlesnake Review. Thanks, Marie!
Sing for the Canary!
Nevada City poet and publisher Gail Entrekin (watch for B.L. Kennedy’s interview of her in Volume 4 of Rattlesnake Presses on-going interview anthology, Conversations) is the editor of a new online literary magazine, Canary, which is currently accepting submissions of poetry, short fiction and short essays on environmental topics. She says, Let’s spread the word about the deteriorating environment and global warming! Beginning Dec. 1, the Canary can be heard singing online at www.hippocketpress.org/. Please e-mail submissions to gailentrekin@hotmail.com/.
_____________________
AUTUMN'S PORTIONS
—Marie J. Ross, Stockton
Autumn accelerates,
stripping leaves
caught in the slice
of wind.
Cranberry jackets
wallow in the moist sod,
hiding among gnarly
stumps and brittle bush.
Autumn
unseals furrows in readiness
for frost, breathes the
soil limp for curl of foliage.
Indigenous birds flare
their wings, fly under smock
of sky to their nests,
as summer's fruits shrivel
on matted turfs.
Winter aligns,
turns breeze to wayward wind,
sun into driving rain, the
mistress of leaves betraying her
seasonal pastures.
_____________________
CHARTREUSE FLARE
—Marie J. Ross
Chartreuse flares
in sunlight along tilted
branches and limb dresses
that ruffle in the breeze.
A train whistle cuts silence,
weaving in and out,
dark colored crags crust
the bank of the lake like
a rotted trestle,
as flurries of beige splinter
in reflection of ripple.
A young girl, pigtails tied
with ribbon,
watches chartreuse climb light,
extend like yellow glass through
leafy limbs,
as murky water carries wood chips
down the loch's lazy current.
This day is Autumn,
a crisp rendition of change,
of falling leaves on matted grass,
tepid air in circular waiting for winter's
joining.
And
she savors the blast of chartreuse
that illuminates along the tilting branches
as she listens to breeze shifting song to the
wavering silence.
_____________________
—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:
Rattlesnake Review: 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. Issue #16 will be out in mid-December; its deadline of Nov. 15 has passed. Next deadline (for Issue #17, due out in mid-March) is February 15.
New in November: On November 14, Rattlesnake Press released Among Neighbors, a rattlechap from Taylor Graham; Home is Where You Hang Your Wings, a free littlesnake broadside from frank andrick; and A Poet's Book of Days, a perpetual calendar featuring the poetry and photography of Katy Brown. These are now available at The Book Collector, from kathykieth@hotmail.com, or on rattlesnakepress.com/ (in a day or two).
Coming December 12: The Snake is proud to announce the release of Metamorphic Intervals From The Insanity Of Time, a SnakeRings SpiralChap from Patricia D'Alessandro; Notes From An Ivory Tower, a littlesnake broadside from Ann Wehrman; and a brand new issue of Rattlesnake Review (#16). Come celebrate all of these on Wednesday, December 12, 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.
