It's All Compost

DREAM INSCAPE
—Denise Levertov

Mycelium, the delicate white threads
mushrooms weave in their chosen earth
(or manure or leafmold) to grow from

and milkweed silk orioles knit
into hammock nests their eggs
lilt in

and silver timbers
of old barns near salt water—

all of these
dreamed of, woven, knit, mitered
into a vision named 'A Visit Home'
(as if there were a home I had,
beyond the houses I live in, or those
I've lived in and hold
dimly in mind)

that waking

shook apart, out of
coherence, unwove, unraveled, took
beam by beam away, splintered.

_________________

This week in NorCal poetry:

•••Tonight (Monday, 7/28), 7:30 PM: Sacramento Poetry Center presents Susan Palwick and Ellen Klages for a night of Science Fiction and Fantasy at HQ for the Arts, 1719 25th St., Sacramento. Open mic afterward. Susan Palwick began her career by publishing "The Woman Who Saved the World" for Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine in 1985. She currently teaches as an associate professor of English at the University of Nevada, Reno. Palwick's work has received multiple awards, including the Rhysling Award (in 1985) for her poem, "The Neighbor's Wife". She won the Crawford Award for best first novel with Flying in Place in 1993, and The Alex Award in 2005 for her second novel, The Necessary Beggar. Her third novel, Shelter, was published by Tor in 2007. Another book, The Fate of Mice (a collection of short stories), has also been published by Tachyon Publications. Susan Palwick is a practicing Episcopalian and a licensed lay preacher. She also administrates a blog called "Rickety Contrivances of Doing Good" [http://improbableoptimisms.blogspot.com/].

Ellen Klages is a science fiction writer who lives in San Francisco. Her novelette, Basement Magic, won the 2005 Nebula Award for Best Novelette. She had previously been nominated for Hugo, Nebula, and Campbell awards. Her first (non-genre) novel, The Green Glass Sea, was published by Viking Children's Books in 2006. It won the 2007 Scott O'Dell Award for Historical Fiction. Portable Childhoods, a collection of her short fiction, was published by Tachyon Publications this April. A sequel to The Green Glass Sea will be published in Fall 2008. She has also written four books of hands-on science activities for children (with Pat Murphy, et al.) for the Exploratorium museum in San Francisco. When she's not writing fiction, she sells old toys and magazines on eBay, and collects lead civilians.

Coming Monday, August 4 at SPC: Mary Mackey and Brad Henderson.

•••Thursday (7/31), 8 PM: Poetry Unplugged at Luna's Cafe, 1414 16th St., Sacramento. Featured readers; open mic before and after.

•••Friday (8/1): Last day to register for the Cal. State University, Sacramento Writers' Conference to be held August 16-17. Call 916-278-4433 (ext. 0) or log onto www.cce.csus.edu/writersconference.

•••Saturday (8/2), 11 AM: Los Escritores del Nuevo Sol monthly potluck and writing workshop at La Raza Galeria Posada, 1024 – 22nd St., Sacramento. For information about Escritores del Nuevo Sol, established in 1993, contact Graciela B. Ramirez, 916-456-5323, or see the website: http://escritoresdelnuevosol.com/. Los Escritores is for those who want a support group for their writing practice and who appreciate Chicano/Latino/Native American culture and arts.

__________________

THE WAY IT IS
—Denise Levertov

More real than ever, as I move
in the world, and never out of it,
Solitude.

Typewriter, telephone, ugly names
of things we use, I use. Among them, though,
float milkweed silks.

Like a mollusk's my hermitage
is built of my own cells.
Burned faces, stretched horribly,

eyes and mouths forever open,
weight the papers down on my desk.
No day for years I have not thought of them.

And more true than ever the familiar image
placing love on a border
where, solitary, it paces, exchanging
across the line a deep attentive gaze
with another solitude pacing there.

Yet almost no day, too, with no
happiness, no
exaltation of larks uprising from the heart's
peat-bog darkness.

__________________

WHAT SHE COULD NOT TELL HIM
—Denise Levertov

I wanted
to know all the bones of your spine, all
the pores of your skin,
tendrils of body hair.
To let
all of my skin, my hands,
ankles, shoulders, breasts,
even my shadow,
be forever imprinted
with whatever of you
is forever unknown to me.
To cradle your sleep.

___________________

CANCION
—Denise Levertov

When I am the sky
a glittering bird
slashes at me with the knives of song.

When I am the sea
fiery clouds plunge into my mirrors,
fracture my smooth breath with crimson sobbing.

When I am the earth
I feel my flesh of rock wearing down:
pebbles, grit, finest dust, nothing.

When I am a woman—O, when I am
a woman,
my wells of salt brim and brim,
poems force the lock of my throat.

__________________

Today's LittleNip(s):

Adam was the only man who, when he said a good thing, knew that nobody had said it before him. —Mark Twain

Immature artists imitate. Mature artists steal. —Lionel Trilling

Good swiping is an art in itself. —Jules Feiffer

It has come to be practically a sort of rule in literature, that a man, having once shown himself capable of original writing, is entitled thenceforth to steal from the writing of others at discretion. —Ralph Waldo Emerson

Next o'er his books his eyes began to roll,
In pleasing memory of all he stole. —Alexander Pope

__________________

—Medusa

P.S. Be sure to check out the wonderful two-page spread about Brad Buchanan's new Roan Press in yesterday's (Sunday's) Sacramento Bee, Ticket section.


SnakeWatch: What's Up With Rattlesnake Press

The Snake will be snoozing through July and August, leaving Medusa to carry on alone. Then on September 10, we shall burst back onto the scene with Ten Poems, a new chapbook from Patrick Grizzell; #2 in Katy Brown's series of blank journals (Musings Two: Vices, Virtues and Obsessions); plus Issue #19 of Rattlesnake Review (deadline is August 15). Meanwhile, look in on Medusa every day, and, for heaven's sake, keep sending stuff! The snakes of Medusa are always hungry...


Medusa's Weekly Menu:

(Contributors are welcome to cook up something 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 (sometimes): 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 future issues of 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 ravenous poetic souls.

And poetry! Every day, poetry from writers near and far! The Snakes of Medusa are always hungry.......!

_________________


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.