Sitting Woman With Legs Drawn Up
Painting by Egon Schiele, 1917
AFTER THE MASSACRE AT VIRGINIA TECH
—Carlene Wike, Elk Grove
I want to know that someone,
expecting horror, got love;
that someone else, armed with love,
burst in and sprayed big bouquets of it
around an unsuspecting room
full of ho-hum people
flat-footing it through life
unresponsive, unaware,
unprepared for the sheer magnitude
of that emotion.
I want to unleash
a barrage of kindness
bowling people over,
stopping them in their tracks,
making them wonder,
“What’s up?
How’d she get in here?
Is she nuts?”
I want every bullet hole
in every man, woman, child,
every soldier on every side,
every door, window, homeboy,
fat buck elk, every rabbit, crow,
magpie, hawk, clay pigeon,
measured—and a price exacted.
I want every person
holding a bullet
in a gun,
in a case,
in a wound,
in a dream at night,
or in dread that death
might ride one through his heart
to trigger the heft of that bullet’s
awful possibility in love.
Have each take careful aim—
fight to be the first to rage
with this new weapon
snuffing out insanity, stupidity,
and the helpless stupor
we find ourselves in
as our children are being
slaughtered because
there is not enough love
to raise them without violence.
Painting by Egon Schiele, 1917
AFTER THE MASSACRE AT VIRGINIA TECH
—Carlene Wike, Elk Grove
I want to know that someone,
expecting horror, got love;
that someone else, armed with love,
burst in and sprayed big bouquets of it
around an unsuspecting room
full of ho-hum people
flat-footing it through life
unresponsive, unaware,
unprepared for the sheer magnitude
of that emotion.
I want to unleash
a barrage of kindness
bowling people over,
stopping them in their tracks,
making them wonder,
“What’s up?
How’d she get in here?
Is she nuts?”
I want every bullet hole
in every man, woman, child,
every soldier on every side,
every door, window, homeboy,
fat buck elk, every rabbit, crow,
magpie, hawk, clay pigeon,
measured—and a price exacted.
I want every person
holding a bullet
in a gun,
in a case,
in a wound,
in a dream at night,
or in dread that death
might ride one through his heart
to trigger the heft of that bullet’s
awful possibility in love.
Have each take careful aim—
fight to be the first to rage
with this new weapon
snuffing out insanity, stupidity,
and the helpless stupor
we find ourselves in
as our children are being
slaughtered because
there is not enough love
to raise them without violence.
____________________
Thanks, Carlena, for this tribute to those who were killed at Virginia Tech a year ago yesterday. Carlena Wike's littlesnake broadside, Going the Distance, is available for free; just gimme a holler and I'll mail you one.
Today, Constantine Cavafy would've been 145 years old.
DESIRES
—C.P. Cavafy
Like beautiful bodies of the dead who had not grown old
and they shut them, with tears, in a magnificent mausoleum,
with roses at the head and jasmine at the feet—
that is how desires look that have passed
without fulfillment; without one of them having achieved
a night of sensual delight, or a moonlit morn.
__________________
Today is Poem in Your Pocket Day!
•••Thursday (4/17), all day: Poem in Your Pocket Day: The Academy of American Poets launches the first annual national "Poem in Your Pocket Day". The idea is simple: select a poem and carry it with you (poem in your pocket) and unfold it with family friends and co-workers throughout the day. More details are available at their website: poets.org/pocket/. Also throughout the day, the largest selection of Poems-For-All booklets ever made available for distribution will be at The Book Collector (1008 24th St., Sacramento) for people to take and use as part of "Poem in Your Pocket Day". Other activities during the day at the bookstore are in the works to help celebrate and promote this new national tradition.
B.L.'s Drive-By: Micro-review for the week
DUMA KEY
by Stephen King
Scribner, Inc.,
1030 Avenue of the Americas
New York, NY 10020
Okay, so Stephen King has a new book on the shelves… what’s new? King is new—with this departure from his regular macabre fiction, for here is a classic ghost story. Duma Key is indeed one of King’s best works, and I highly recommend it. You won’t go wrong with this enjoyable read.
__________________
Thanks, B.L. for your weekly review! Bari Kennedy will be reading at Poetry Unplugged at Luna's Cafe tonight (1414 16th St., Sacramento) at 8 PM. And this Saturday, April 19, he will be hosting a special reading at Luna's at 8 PM which will feature Phil Weidman, D.R. Wagner, and nila northSun.
Watch, also, for Conversations Vol. 3, the third installment of Kennedy's Rattlesnake Interview Series, coming May 14.
__________________
UNDERSTANDING
—C.P. Cavafy
The years of my young manhood, my sensual life—
how plainly I see their meaning now.
What needless repentances, how futile...
But I did not grasp their meaning then.
Deep in the dissolute life of my young manhood
the designs of my poetry took shape,
the scope of my art was being plotted.
This is why even my repentances were never stable.
And my resolutions to restrain myself, to change,
lasted for two weeks at the very most.
___________________
BODY, REMEMBER
—C.P. Cavafy
Body, remember not only how much you were loved,
not only the beds on which you lay,
but also those desires for you
that glowed plainly in the eyes,
and trembled in the voice—and some
chance obstacle made futile.
Now that all of them belong to the past,
it almost seems as if you had yielded
to those desires—how they glowed,
remember, in the eyes gazing at you;
how they trembled in the voice, for you, remember, body.
____________________
AT THE FOOT OF THE HOUSE
—C.P. Cavafy
Yesterday while walking in an outlying
neighborhood, I passed below the house
I used to frequent when I was very young.
There love with his marvelous strength
had possessed my body.
the shops, the sidewalks, the stones,
walls balconies, and windows
were made beautiful at once by the enchantment of love;
nothing unbeautiful remained there.
And as I stood there, and looked at the door,
and stood, and lingered below the house,
all of my being gave back
the delightful stored-up sensual emotion.
____________________
Today's LittleNip: A wee poem for your pocket:
A little madness in the Spring
Is wholesome even for the King.
—Emily Dickinson
____________________
—Medusa
Here's Medusa's weekly menu of features. Contributors are welcome to submit to any and all of these!
Monday: Weekly NorCal poetry calendar
Tuesday: Seed of the Week: Tuesday is Medusa's day to post poetry triggers such as quotes, forms, photos, memories, jokes—whatever might tickle somebody's muse. Pick up the gauntlet and send in your poetic results; and don't be shy about sending in your own triggers, too! All poems will be posted and a few of them will go into Medusa's Corner of each Rattlesnake Review. Send your work to kathykieth@hotmail.com or P.O. Box 762, Pollock Pines, CA 95726. No deadline for SOW; respond today, tomorrow, or whenever the muse arrives. (Print 'em out, maybe, save 'em for a dry spell?) When you send us work, though, just let us know which "seed" it was that inspired you.
Wednesday: HandyStuff Quickies: Resources for the poet, including whatever helps ease the pain of writing and/or publishing. Favorite journals to read and/or submit to; books, etc., about writing; organizational tools—you know—HandyStuff! Tell us about your favorites.
Thursday: B.L.'s Drive-Bys: Micro-reviews by our irreverent Reviewer-in-Residence, B.L. Kennedy
Friday: NorCal weekend poetry calendar
Daily (except Sunday): LittleNips: SnakeFood for the Poetic Soul: Daily munchables for poetic thought, including short paragraphs, quotes, wonky words, silliness, little-known poetry/poet facts, and other inspiration—yet another way to feed our ever-hungry poetic souls.
And poetry! Every day, poetry from writers near and far! The Snakes of Medusa are always hungry.......!
_________________
SnakeWatch: News from Rattlesnake Press
New in April: Ann Menebroker’s new chapbook (Small Crimes); Ted Finn's SnakeRings SpiralChap of his poetry and art (Damn the Eternal War); and Katy Brown's blank (well, not really) journal of photos and prompts, MUSINGS (For Capturing Creative Thought). All of these are now available at The Book Collector and will soon be available through rattlesnakepress.com.
Coming in May: Join us on May 12 for the release of Among Summer Pines by Quinton Duval; a littlesnake broadside, Before Naming, by Stephani Schaefer; and Volume Three of Conversations, our third book of interviews by B.L. Kennedy. That's at The Book Collector, 1008 24th St., Sacramento, 7:30 PM.
Also in May: Deadline for Issue #18 of Rattlesnake Review is May 15. Free copies of Issue #17 are available at The Book Collector, or send me two bux and I'll mail you one.
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). And be sure to sign up for Snakebytes, our monthly e-newsletter that will keep you up-to-date on all our ophidian chicanery.
Thanks, Carlena, for this tribute to those who were killed at Virginia Tech a year ago yesterday. Carlena Wike's littlesnake broadside, Going the Distance, is available for free; just gimme a holler and I'll mail you one.
Today, Constantine Cavafy would've been 145 years old.
DESIRES
—C.P. Cavafy
Like beautiful bodies of the dead who had not grown old
and they shut them, with tears, in a magnificent mausoleum,
with roses at the head and jasmine at the feet—
that is how desires look that have passed
without fulfillment; without one of them having achieved
a night of sensual delight, or a moonlit morn.
__________________
Today is Poem in Your Pocket Day!
•••Thursday (4/17), all day: Poem in Your Pocket Day: The Academy of American Poets launches the first annual national "Poem in Your Pocket Day". The idea is simple: select a poem and carry it with you (poem in your pocket) and unfold it with family friends and co-workers throughout the day. More details are available at their website: poets.org/pocket/. Also throughout the day, the largest selection of Poems-For-All booklets ever made available for distribution will be at The Book Collector (1008 24th St., Sacramento) for people to take and use as part of "Poem in Your Pocket Day". Other activities during the day at the bookstore are in the works to help celebrate and promote this new national tradition.
B.L.'s Drive-By: Micro-review for the week
DUMA KEY
by Stephen King
Scribner, Inc.,
1030 Avenue of the Americas
New York, NY 10020
Okay, so Stephen King has a new book on the shelves… what’s new? King is new—with this departure from his regular macabre fiction, for here is a classic ghost story. Duma Key is indeed one of King’s best works, and I highly recommend it. You won’t go wrong with this enjoyable read.
__________________
Thanks, B.L. for your weekly review! Bari Kennedy will be reading at Poetry Unplugged at Luna's Cafe tonight (1414 16th St., Sacramento) at 8 PM. And this Saturday, April 19, he will be hosting a special reading at Luna's at 8 PM which will feature Phil Weidman, D.R. Wagner, and nila northSun.
Watch, also, for Conversations Vol. 3, the third installment of Kennedy's Rattlesnake Interview Series, coming May 14.
__________________
UNDERSTANDING
—C.P. Cavafy
The years of my young manhood, my sensual life—
how plainly I see their meaning now.
What needless repentances, how futile...
But I did not grasp their meaning then.
Deep in the dissolute life of my young manhood
the designs of my poetry took shape,
the scope of my art was being plotted.
This is why even my repentances were never stable.
And my resolutions to restrain myself, to change,
lasted for two weeks at the very most.
___________________
BODY, REMEMBER
—C.P. Cavafy
Body, remember not only how much you were loved,
not only the beds on which you lay,
but also those desires for you
that glowed plainly in the eyes,
and trembled in the voice—and some
chance obstacle made futile.
Now that all of them belong to the past,
it almost seems as if you had yielded
to those desires—how they glowed,
remember, in the eyes gazing at you;
how they trembled in the voice, for you, remember, body.
____________________
AT THE FOOT OF THE HOUSE
—C.P. Cavafy
Yesterday while walking in an outlying
neighborhood, I passed below the house
I used to frequent when I was very young.
There love with his marvelous strength
had possessed my body.
And yesterday
as I passed by along the old road,the shops, the sidewalks, the stones,
walls balconies, and windows
were made beautiful at once by the enchantment of love;
nothing unbeautiful remained there.
And as I stood there, and looked at the door,
and stood, and lingered below the house,
all of my being gave back
the delightful stored-up sensual emotion.
____________________
Today's LittleNip: A wee poem for your pocket:
A little madness in the Spring
Is wholesome even for the King.
—Emily Dickinson
____________________
—Medusa
Here's Medusa's weekly menu of features. Contributors are welcome to submit to any and all of these!
Monday: Weekly NorCal poetry calendar
Tuesday: Seed of the Week: Tuesday is Medusa's day to post poetry triggers such as quotes, forms, photos, memories, jokes—whatever might tickle somebody's muse. Pick up the gauntlet and send in your poetic results; and don't be shy about sending in your own triggers, too! All poems will be posted and a few of them will go into Medusa's Corner of each Rattlesnake Review. Send your work to kathykieth@hotmail.com or P.O. Box 762, Pollock Pines, CA 95726. No deadline for SOW; respond today, tomorrow, or whenever the muse arrives. (Print 'em out, maybe, save 'em for a dry spell?) When you send us work, though, just let us know which "seed" it was that inspired you.
Wednesday: HandyStuff Quickies: Resources for the poet, including whatever helps ease the pain of writing and/or publishing. Favorite journals to read and/or submit to; books, etc., about writing; organizational tools—you know—HandyStuff! Tell us about your favorites.
Thursday: B.L.'s Drive-Bys: Micro-reviews by our irreverent Reviewer-in-Residence, B.L. Kennedy
Friday: NorCal weekend poetry calendar
Daily (except Sunday): LittleNips: SnakeFood for the Poetic Soul: Daily munchables for poetic thought, including short paragraphs, quotes, wonky words, silliness, little-known poetry/poet facts, and other inspiration—yet another way to feed our ever-hungry poetic souls.
And poetry! Every day, poetry from writers near and far! The Snakes of Medusa are always hungry.......!
_________________
SnakeWatch: News from Rattlesnake Press
New in April: Ann Menebroker’s new chapbook (Small Crimes); Ted Finn's SnakeRings SpiralChap of his poetry and art (Damn the Eternal War); and Katy Brown's blank (well, not really) journal of photos and prompts, MUSINGS (For Capturing Creative Thought). All of these are now available at The Book Collector and will soon be available through rattlesnakepress.com.
Coming in May: Join us on May 12 for the release of Among Summer Pines by Quinton Duval; a littlesnake broadside, Before Naming, by Stephani Schaefer; and Volume Three of Conversations, our third book of interviews by B.L. Kennedy. That's at The Book Collector, 1008 24th St., Sacramento, 7:30 PM.
Also in May: Deadline for Issue #18 of Rattlesnake Review is May 15. Free copies of Issue #17 are available at The Book Collector, or send me two bux and I'll mail you one.
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). And be sure to sign up for Snakebytes, our monthly e-newsletter that will keep you up-to-date on all our ophidian chicanery.
