Seeing Through Cracked Glass

Junk Yard, I
Photo by Katy Brown, Davis

CHETNIK POSITIONS

—Semezdin Mehmedinovic

First the excavator arrived: It dug trenches in the ground, and a lorry brought concrete slabs to line them with. Tanks were dug in at the sides, so that only their cannon protruded. Guns as well. Our rifles cannot reach them. Perhaps they could spend the winter in such trenches? It is August now; they get tobacco from Nis, brandy from Prokuplje. I don't know where their women come from, but I have seen them through binoculars. One of them has placed an inflatable mattress by the trench and is sunbathing in a swimsuit. She lies there for hours. Then she gets up, goes to the cannon, pulls the cord and fires a shell on the town at random. She listens briefly for the explosion and watches for its source. She even stands on tiptoe, innocently. Then she goes back, coats her body with suntan lotion, and surrenders herself to serenity.

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This weekend in NorCal poetry:

•••Friday (3/7), 7:30 PM: The Other Voice, a poetry reading series sponsored by the U.U. Church of Davis, presents Nancy Bodily and Suzanne Roberts in the library of the church located at 27074 Patwin Road. Nancy Bodily, a mother and student, lives with her husband and daughter in Davis. Her poetry has been published in Poetry Now, Ash Canyon Review, Banyan Review, The Kokanee and Real Eight View. Her favorite pastimes are learning poetry from 6th graders, walking in the fields with Bogey and Ginger, and fumbling towards Zen in her weekly radio program: Earth Mama's Mountain Music Hour. Suzanne Roberts is the author of two books of poems, Shameless (Cherry Grove Collections, 2007) and Nothing to You (Pecan Grove Press, March 2008), which was a finalist in the Zone 3 Book Award and the Blue Lynx Poetry Prize. Her work has been published in many literary journals and anthologies. She is currently finishing a PhD in Literature and the Environment at the University of Nevada, Reno. She lives, writes, and teaches in South Lake Tahoe. Refreshments and Open Mike follow the reading, so bring along a poem or two to share.

•••Saturday (3/8), 2-4 PM: Culture Collection presents Larry Ukali Johnson-Redd, vocalist Carla Fleming and Fuh Shang & the Jalapen. 6391 Riverside Blvd., Sacramento. Free. 916-208-7638.

•••Sunday (3/9), 7 PM: Marie Ross will be reading at Barnes & Noble in Stockton at Weberstown Mall on March Lane. Info: birchtree33@hotmail.com


Heading to Mexico?

Donna Hanelin writes:

I'll be teaching a Course on Story Writing (July 12 -18) and conducting a Writers' Retreat (July 20 - 26) at Casa Sagrada (www.casasagrada.com) in Teotitlan del Valle, Mexico, 15 miles due east of the city of Oaxaca. This is my 3rd year teaching at Casa Sagrada and my 11th offering retreats in Oaxaca. The retreat is limited to twelve participants with an active interest in writing (non-writing roommate guests also invited). This year I'm very excited at the prospect of focusing my teaching on Story, both fictional and autobiographical, long and short; though some of you may know me as a poet, I've been writing stories and teaching story writing for twenty years.

As part of the Writers' Retreat, I will read your manuscript (up to 60,000 words) in advance and offer private consultation during the week at Casa Sagrada. Aside from optional evening readings, the time is unscheduled for you to work on your manuscript or to start from scratch or to experiment with new forms and ideas discussed at the Course. Your time will be as uninterrupted as you need or want it to be. Story writers, poets, essayists and non-fiction writers are welcome at the Retreat.

The Course and Retreat can be attended separately or combined into a two-week experience with a weekend break at Casa Sagrada with time to relax, tour the area or simply continue with your writing. The Casa also offers horseback riding, cooking classes, traditional Mexican healing, massage and guided hiking and bird watching. And you can wander down into Teotitlan, the world renown village of rug weavers or up into the surrounding hills-there's lots to explore and to enjoy!

The cost ($1,060 for Course or Retreat/$195 Weekend Break/or $1,925 for all 14 days) is very reasonable and includes room, all meals, Course and/or Retreat and airport transfers. You can fly direct to Oaxaca from Houston on Continental. By the way, the weather is temperate, not humid—80s day/60s night, 5500’ elevation. Visit the web site for details and photos: http://www.creativewritingclasses.us/Writing-Retreats-Oaxaca-Mexico.html/ And please contact me directly for more Information and Registration: Donna Hanelin (530-265-8799) or donna@creativewritingclasses.us/ A paper brochure is available on request.

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GLASS
—Semezdin Mehmedinovic

I go to the window and look at the cracked glass panels of the 'Jugobanka' building. I could stand there for hours. A blue glass facade. One floor above the window from which I watch, a professor of aesthetics is out on his balcony: he adjusts his glasses and combs his beard with his fingers. I see him reflected in the blue facade of 'Jugobanka', in the cracked glass panels which turn the scene into a living cubist painting on a sunny day.

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HERO
—Semezdin Mehmedinovic

He's a hero, says the soldier in fatigues, pointing at the kid kneeling on the parquet floor. Killed a Chetnik, he says. The boy put the ammunition belt and the old M48 down on the floor: he smiles, completely carried away, as he plays with plastic cars and makes the sounds of an engine. On Vraca, he says, after agreeing to tell the story, my friends took some shots with a Kalashnikov and nothing. Then I let go twice and the Chetnik just rolled over. My rifle kills at five kilometres, he said, scratching his forehead with a toy car.

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Today's prose poems are from Scar on the Stone: Contemporary Poetry from Bosnia, ed. by Chris Agee, Bloodaxe Books, 1998. These three poems were translated by Ivana Djordjevic.


—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: News From Rattlesnake Press:

Coming March 12: Rattlesnake Press will be releasing a chapbook from Ann Privateer (Attracted to Light), a littlesnake broadside from Jeanine Stevens (Eclipse), Conversations Vol. 2 of B.L. Kennedy's Rattlesnake Interview Series, and a brand-new issue of Rattlesnake Review (#17—next deadline is May 15). Join us to celebrate all of this at The Book Collector, 1008 24th St., Sacramento, on March 12 at 7:30 PM.