TALES
—B.Z. Niditch, Brookline, MA
You want to be
like Rapunzel
climbing ragged vines
or like the first people
crawling in caves
in ancient worlds
making declarations
on white sand
sailing like a slave
on a trading ship
withg Ulysses' exiled gestures
by the sea islands
not wanting to imagine
your espoused disaster.
___________________
Thanks, B.Z.! B.Z. Niditch is a frequent contributor to Rattlesnake Review; see more of his work in RR19, due out in mid-September. Deadline for submissions is August 15.
Meanwhile, make the most of the full moon and go to a poetry reading tonight—there are plenty of them going on around here!
This weekend in NorCal poetry:
•••Friday (7/18), 7:30 PM: A special Friday reading for Sacramento Poetry Center Poetry Contest Winners. Winners include Susan Wolbarst, Sally Wood and Mary Herrema Giudice; HMs include Sally Wood, H. Allen Blair, Merle Martin, Cynthia Linville, Marilyn Wallner, Nancy Wahl, Joyce Odam, Red Sliderr, Renee Marie, Susan Wolbarst, Lisa A. Jones, and Ray Hadley. HQ for the Arts, 25th & R Sts., Sacramento.
•••Friday (7/18), 7 PM: Raven’s Tale poetry reading features Brigit Truex and Kathy Kieth at Raven’s Tale bookstore, 352 Main St., Placerville, 530-622-4540, co-sponsored by Red Fox Underground. Free; open mic after (sign up before). Info: btrue@directcon.com/.
•••Friday (7/18), 7:30 PM: Going Public: Stories of Growing Up in the Projects: The public is invited to hear these tales and perhaps share some of their own at an evening of stories from these and other notable Sacramentans who grew up in public housing. La Raza Galleria Posada (1024 22nd St., Sacramento, between K and J Sts.). Admission is $5 ($3 for students and seniors). The event is co-sponsored by Los Escritores del Nuevo Sol [Writers of the New Sun], the resident writers group of LRGP, and Matrix Arts, a regional non-profit arts organization for which Maryellen Burns is the director. For information about Escritores del Nuevo Sol, established in 1993, contact JoAnn Anglin, or Graciela B. Ramirez, 916-456-5323, or see the website: http://escritoresdelnuevosol.com/.
•••Friday (7/18), 7:30 PM: This year marks the 18th annual benefit Squaw Valley poetry reading in San Francisco with nationally admired, award-winning poets, including Pulitzer Prize winner Robert Hass, Lucille Clifton, Sharon Olds, C.D. Wright and Dean Young. All proceeds benefit the Poetry Workshop Scholarship Fund which enables talented writers to attend the week-long Squaw Valley poetry writing workshop. The 39th Annual Community of Writers will convene again this July & August with workshops in Poetry, Fiction, Nonfiction & Screenwriting. Poets and writers meet each day in workshops, as well as attend presentations on the writing craft. Most of these afternoon and evening events are open to the public.
The San Francisco benefit (July 18) will be held at the First Unitarian Universalist Center of San Francisco, 1187 Franklin St. at Geary. Books by the poets will be available for purchase before and after the reading, and the poets will be available to sign books after the reading. Advance tickets are available for purchase from Brown Paper Tickets. If they do not sell out in advance of the reading, there will be tickets available at the door. Learn more about these events at www.squawvalleywriters.org/.
A second benefit, featuring the same poets, will be held on Thursday, July 24 at 8:15 PM at Squaw Valley, Olympic Village Lodge, 1901 Chamonix Place (off the SV Main Road near the Olympic Village Inn). $15/$5 student suggested donation.
•••Saturday (7/19), 7-9 PM: Underground Books presents Lori Jean Robinson, 2814 35th St., Sacramento. $3. Info: 916-208-7638.
•••Saturday (7/19), 7 PM: A reading of The Bridge Is Gone will be held by Monolin (Manny Moreno), a poet and life-long resident of Livingston, CA, at the Lazy S Ranch, 4255 Wellsford Rd. in Oakdale. This is a free event and open to all. Manny writes mainly of family and growing up in the valley. This is his first book, although he has been printed frequently in the poetry quarterly, Song of the San Joaquin. Yaqui/Tarascan, he participates in the Native American Church and the Sundance in South Dakota. His family settled in Livingston in the early 1900s, escaping persecution and widespread near-genocide of Yaquis in northern Sonora, Mexico. Info: Cleo Griffith, (209) 543-1776 or cleor36@yahoo.com
Directions to Lazy S Ranch: Claribel east past Claus, past Langworth to Wellsford Rd. (Oakdale). Turn right, follow the dead-end road into the ranch. You will see a large stable ahead with gravel parking. The reading will be on a stage inside the stable. Refreshments will be served.
•••Monday (7/21), 7:30 PM: The Sacramento Poetry Center is pleased to present a poetry reading by Yang Her as a benefit for My Sister's House. Some of the women from My Sister's House will also read, sharing their stories as victims and survivors. Refreshments will be served. HQ for the Arts, 25th & R Sts., Sacramento.
Yang Her will read from and sell copies of her new book, Paint Life With Colors of The World, filled with poems based on life, love, death, and domestic violence. Proceeds from the reading and book sales will be donated to My Sister's House, a program that helps victims and survivors of domestic violence. MSH is a non-profit organization and its program, called "Women to Work", is to help survivors of domestic violence to get back on their feet, to find the courage to move on with perseverance. MSH also has a 6-bed shelter for mothers and children escaping domestic violence and needs to maintain a monthly food budget. Please visit their website at http://www.my-sisters-house.org/.
Congrats to California Poet Kay Ryan!
Marin Country resident Kay Ryan, 62, has been chosen to be the next U.S. Poet Laureate. Kay grew up in various parts of the San Joaquin Valley, and now teaches at College of Marin in Kentfield. See yesterday's Sacramento Bee (p. A4) for the article which originally appeared in The New York Times, or go to www.nytimes.com/2008/07/17/books/17poet.html?em&ex=
1216440000&en=e5b030a79299e670&ei=5087%0A
Speaking of The Bee:
Bee staff writer Carlos Alcala has chosen to celebrate the upcoming Eppie's Great Race by issuing a call for what he's calling the "tri-ku", a "triathalon poem" in a form using the [sometimes used] 5-7-5 syllable pattern of a haiku. He says to submit one or two of your own by Monday (calcala@sacbee.com) and they'll run their favorites in the Bee's "Outbound" section next week. Here's his example:
EPPIE'S TRIATHALON
—Carlos Alcala
First leg short, next long,
Last is short. Just like haiku,
Only sweatier.
_________________
NEW BEDFORD
—B.Z. Niditch
When the motor mouth music
by the windshield
escapes each accidental note
we grieve our own morning secrets
in powerless unbelief
and all our news, logic
gestures, games, iinitials
drum along the highway
trying to get the better
of our own know-nothingness.
In the uncleaned mirror
a dilated time flashes
from rippled jazz
and we want to be somewhere
and invent our own gravity
here camouflaged
by the roadside
a rusty chrome radio
roars over long lines
on the highway
by your own map and key rings
you feel wrecked already
by threads of a losing dawn
passing an old mill town
somewhere among bundles
of daylight.
_________________
THE EDGE
—B.Z. Niditch
With the breath
of everything green
cicadas surround you
inspecting each random garden
consuming violets
scattering an eye of sunflowers
May's shadows stare
at outcropping tulips
the sun's limpid spark
towers over the earth
and here on the river's edge
by the deliberation of trees
spring appears
out of nowhere.
__________________
Today's LittleNip:
A computer lets you make more mistakes than any other invention in human history, with the possible exception of handguns and tequila.
—Mitch Ratcliffe
__________________
—Medusa
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.
