Photo by Patricia Wellingham-Jones
KEYS
—Patricia Wellingham-Jones, Tehama
In those last months you forgot
where you were
to eat lunch
how to find the bathroom
that you were dressed
or not
You forgot my name
then your own
even the parts of your body
But you never forgot
to put keys in your pocket
patted your pants to check
fretted if they were gone
Those keys
you no longer used
that would not gain
entrance to heaven
Those keys
unlocked the vault
of comfort
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Thanks, Patricia! Patricia Wellingham-Jones was inspired by yesterday's Seed of the Week (keys) to not only write her poignant poem, but to take a photo as well. And here's one from Taylor Graham, too; thanks, TG!
CLOCK MASTER
Pocket full of keys, owns nothing.
—Stephen Dobyns
He’s got the key to everybody’s clock
in his pocket. Just look at all the gears,
the springs and falls. Just listen to
the orchestra of chiming, pulsing, ticks
all synchronized to passing seconds.
He can’t afford shirt-sleeves but he’s got
a pocket full of brass steel iron keys,
any kind of metal that outlasts flesh.
He’ll tell you, none of this is his. He
can’t even give you the time.
(inspired by Dobyns and Vladimir Bitkovsky’s “Clock Master”)
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This week's HandyStuff Quickie: Walking on Alligators
Do you know about Walking on Alligators: A Book of Meditations for Writers by Susan Shaughnessy (HarperCollins, 1993)? The opening sentence of this little book is, "The only way to write is to write today", but Susan Shaughnessy knows all about those gremlins that haunt/tease/block some of us whenever we sit down to work. She has put together a series of quotes from famous writers (and you'll see some of these in future LittleNips) and then written a page or so expanding on these in meditation form, applying the essence of each quote to the writing life and concerns of all of us. Quotes like, "A writer should value his blockages. That means he's starting to scale down, to get close" (Robert Pirsig) or "You know, you don't always have a choice of what you're going to write. You're not like a cow that can give cream with one udder and milk with another" (Bruce Duffy). These meditations aren't direct images for particular poems like a poetry trigger would be; instead, they're designed to clear away the cobwebs that block our writing—little (or not-so-little) devils like restlessness and insecurity. There are lots of "encouragement" books out there, but I like this more digestible page-a-day format, something quick and to-a-point that doesn't take a lot of time to read. Some of us don't need encouragement or inspiration to get started, but if you do, even just sometimes, this little book is 'way cool. Gets your head in the right place before you pick up your pencil.
Speaking of inspiration, if this quote from the New York Times doesn't spur you on, I don't know what will: Rejected by 121 houses before its publication in 1974, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance thrust Robert M. Pirsig into stardom, selling more than three million copies in paperback alone. [Yes, that's right—121!! And you think you've been rejected...]
Hey—got any favorite resources? Books, websites, or other tools you can tell us about? Send 'em along! We need all the help we can get!
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LINGUAGGIO
—David Humphreys, Stockton
Language is a fence at which neighbors meet
to discuss the passing day.
Language is a tree branching
from one thing to the next searching for a way
or a field furrowed for a harvest coming in the fall,
bricks stacked high with mortar to build a standing wall.
Language is a river running to the far off distant sea,
words like silver raindrops to grow things perfectly.
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Thanks, David! Here are two more, these from Los Feliz:
NIGHTMARE
—Don Feliz, Sacramento
The crowd shuffles downhill over the
broken pavement, past cracked tunnel walls,
toward a point of light ahead.
Leaders ignore the smooth side passages.
Hunger weakens us. The light grows,
but the tunnel shrinks and the air stagnates.
We wade in putrid pools, finally squeeze
free into stifling heat on an endless beach.
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THE DAY I WAS BORN AND AFTER
—Elsie Whitlow Feliz, Sacramento
The doctor slapped me hard
to get me breathing in this world
of green rooms and ether.
My mother’s dreams ended—
no movie star career for her.
I want to say she forgave me for
intruding, that her life was better
than before my arrival, but it wasn’t.
She didn’t like motherhood much
until my brother was born at the
same hospital two years later.
But even he brought her grief. She
wanted to go back to the time before
marriage, before children. Radio,
movies, and TV took her away from
us, letting her live on air waves,
in her own electric heaven.
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Today's LittleNip:
A burro once, sent by express,
His shipping ticket on his bridle,
Ate up his name and his address,
And in some warehouse, standing idle,
He waited till he like to died.
The moral hardly needs the showing:
Don't keep things locked up deep inside—
Say who you are and where you're going.
—Walker Gibson
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—Medusa
MEDUSA'S WEEKLY MENU:
(Contributors are welcome to cook something up for 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 favorite tools.
Thursday: B.L.'s Drive-Bys: Micro-reviews by our irreverent Reviewer-in-Residence, B.L. Kennedy. Send books, CDs, DVDs, etc. to him for possible review (either as a Drive-By or in Rattlesnake Review) at P.O. Box 160664, Sacramento, CA 95816.
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.......!
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SNAKEWATCH: NEWS FROM RATTLESNAKE PRESS
New for May: Rattlesnake Press is proud to announce the release of Among Summer Pines by Quinton Duval and a littlesnake broadside, Before Naming, by Stephani Schaefer. Both of these are now available at The Book Collector, 1008 24th St., Sacramento, and will soon be available at rattlesnakepress.com/.
Coming June 11: Two Moons in June: Join us at The Book Collector for the premiere of Day Moon, a new chapbook by James DenBoer, and Mindfully Moon, a littlesnake broadside by Carol Louise Moon, as well as Volume Three of Conversations, our third book of interviews by B.L. Kennedy, featuring Art Beck, Olivia Costellano, Quinton Duval, William S. Gainer, Mario Ellis Hill, Kathryn Hohlwein, James Jee Jobe, Andy Jones, Rebecca Morrison, Viola Weinberg and Phillip T. Nails. All this PLUS a brand-new edition of Rattlesnake Review! That's at The Book Collector, 1008 24th St., Sacramento, 7:30 PM, June 11.
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.
