RD "Raindog" Armstrong
JOHNNY
—RD Armstrong, Long Beach
four days in country
bawling in pain
AK-47 shrapnel
ricocheting through his torso
like a steel ball
in a pachinko machine
Johnny
in a war that he
didn't understand
Johnny with his gun
ready to kick some Gook ass
instead
getting his ass
kicked.
Johnny
a regular at the V.A.
keeps the bits of shrapnel
they continue to remove
in a jar
with the lid screwed down
tight.
Sometimes at night
the shrapnel calls to him
pleading with him
to finish the job
that was started
years ago.
He sucks on the muzzle
of his pretty blue gun
driving his girlfriend
crazy.
He is disabled
and has learned to live in that system
has learned to live
with his disability
with his pain
with his slow death
by surrender
Johnny is already dead
laying down
waiting for some
words
and
a handful of
dirt.
___________________
Thanks, RD! Raindog, AKA RD Armstrong, began his most recent incarnation as a poet in the early ‘90s. He has a number of chapbooks and has been published in over 100 poetry magazines and anthologies, including most recently, the Louisiana Review; Flash!Point #5; The Bukowski Review #1 & 2; and Unwound Magazine; and anthologies including An Eye For An Eye And The World Goes Blind—Poets on 9-11; Drinking With Bukowski; Incidental Buildings & Accidental Beauty; and Raising the Roof. His work has appeared online at Poetic Diversity; Poetz; Poetry Super Highway; SPAM and NYCityLit, to name but a few.
Raindog also publishes a variety of poets through his Lummox Press, which offers the Lummox Journal (a print magazine from ‘95 to ‘06 and now online), the Little Red Book series (with 55 titles so far), and several other titles such as The Wren Notebook by Rick Smith and LAST CALL: the Legacy of Charles Bukowski (anthology of essays, stories, poetry and drawings). All this can be viewed on RD’s website at www.lummoxpress.com where these books can be purchased, as well. RD writes: BTW I just put up a new issue of the Lummox Journal. Go to www.lummoxpress.com and click on the icon. [And while you’re there, hunt up the recent interview of Rattlechapper Patricia Wellingham-Jones http://www.lummoxpress.com/journal/j003/wellingham-jones.php/; another frequent Snake contributor, Ellaraine Lockie, also has an article in the issue.]
Watch for more of Raindog's poetry in the upcoming issue of Rattlesnake Review, deadline for which is TODAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!
___________________
—RD Armstrong, Long Beach
four days in country
bawling in pain
AK-47 shrapnel
ricocheting through his torso
like a steel ball
in a pachinko machine
Johnny
in a war that he
didn't understand
Johnny with his gun
ready to kick some Gook ass
instead
getting his ass
kicked.
Johnny
a regular at the V.A.
keeps the bits of shrapnel
they continue to remove
in a jar
with the lid screwed down
tight.
Sometimes at night
the shrapnel calls to him
pleading with him
to finish the job
that was started
years ago.
He sucks on the muzzle
of his pretty blue gun
driving his girlfriend
crazy.
He is disabled
and has learned to live in that system
has learned to live
with his disability
with his pain
with his slow death
by surrender
Johnny is already dead
laying down
waiting for some
words
and
a handful of
dirt.
___________________
Thanks, RD! Raindog, AKA RD Armstrong, began his most recent incarnation as a poet in the early ‘90s. He has a number of chapbooks and has been published in over 100 poetry magazines and anthologies, including most recently, the Louisiana Review; Flash!Point #5; The Bukowski Review #1 & 2; and Unwound Magazine; and anthologies including An Eye For An Eye And The World Goes Blind—Poets on 9-11; Drinking With Bukowski; Incidental Buildings & Accidental Beauty; and Raising the Roof. His work has appeared online at Poetic Diversity; Poetz; Poetry Super Highway; SPAM and NYCityLit, to name but a few.
Raindog also publishes a variety of poets through his Lummox Press, which offers the Lummox Journal (a print magazine from ‘95 to ‘06 and now online), the Little Red Book series (with 55 titles so far), and several other titles such as The Wren Notebook by Rick Smith and LAST CALL: the Legacy of Charles Bukowski (anthology of essays, stories, poetry and drawings). All this can be viewed on RD’s website at www.lummoxpress.com where these books can be purchased, as well. RD writes: BTW I just put up a new issue of the Lummox Journal. Go to www.lummoxpress.com and click on the icon. [And while you’re there, hunt up the recent interview of Rattlechapper Patricia Wellingham-Jones http://www.lummoxpress.com/journal/j003/wellingham-jones.php/; another frequent Snake contributor, Ellaraine Lockie, also has an article in the issue.]
Watch for more of Raindog's poetry in the upcoming issue of Rattlesnake Review, deadline for which is TODAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!
___________________
This weekend in NorCal poetry:
•••Friday (8/15), 7:30 PM: Writers of the New Sun/Escritores del Nuevo Sol presents Migrations, Loss, and Defiance, a public reading of new material by Poet Felicia Martinez. Felicia, who recently received her MFA from Mills College, is a poet and writer who has spent her career working with and reporting on the struggles and endurance of humans in distress—students, immigrants, and workers who use ingenuity, hard work and human dignity in defiance of fences and fear. La Raza Galeria Posada, 1024 – 22nd St., Sacramento. $5 donation, or as you can afford (no one turned away for lack of $$).
For information about Escritores del Nuevo Sol, established in 1993, contact Graciela B. Ramirez, 916-456-5323, or see the website: http://escritoresdelnuevosol.com/. Escritores is for those who want a support group for their writing practice and who appreciate Chicano/Latino/Native American culture and arts. It also holds writing groups/potlucks on the first Friday of each month.
•••Also Friday (8/15), 7 PM: Raven's Tale poetry reading features Visions And Views, poems in two voices by Susan and Joe Finkleman. A short poetry open-mic follows (signup before the featured program). Raven's Tale Bookstore (formerly Wild Mountain) is located at 352 Main Street, Placerville. There is no charge. [The new owners of Raven's Tale, John and Vicki Hamilton, were previously the owners of The Next Chapter bookstore in Woodland.]
•••Also Friday (8/15), Midnight: Deadline for Issue #19 of our flagship print publication, Rattlesnake Review; #19 is due out in mid-September. RR proudly sails (slithers?) forth on a quarterly basis with somewhere around 70 pages of poetry, articles and interviews about poetry, photos and artwork, and various other ophidian delights from mostly NorCal poets—the talent pool of which is apparently endless! (Bottomless?) Anyway, send 3-5 poems, plus photos, artwork, and other poet-phernalia to kathykieth@hotmail.com or P.O. Box 762, Pollock Pines, CA 95726. No cover letter or bio needed, but no previously-published work or simultaneous submissions, please.
•••Saturday (8/16), 7-9 PM: Underground Books poetry series presents Jock Smith, Yolanda Stevenson and Jamila Ali at 2814 35th St. (off 35th & Broadway), Sacramento. $3.00. Info: (916) 208-POET.
•••Also Saturday (8/16), 7:30: The Nevada County Poetry Series presents three of Northern California's All-Star Cowboy Poets: Larry Maurice, Karen Macy and Jim Cardwell. [See yesterday's post for bios.] Tickets can be purchased at the door for $10 general, seniors and students, and $1 for those under 18. Refreshments and open-mic included. The show will be in the main theater at the Center for the Arts, 314 W. Main St., Grass Valley, CA. For more information call (530) 432-8196 or (530) 274-8384.
If you're in the right county...
Deena Heath, Director of the Stockton Arts Commission, has alerted us to grants that are available for the arts in certain counties. She writes: The Creative Work Fund has scheduled three seminars to assist artists and organizations in the newly eligible counties with the application process. More seminars will be announced soon; check www.creativeworkfund.org for updates.
Stanislaus County: Monday, Sept. 8, 2:30-4 PM, McHenry Museum, 1402 I St., Modesto; co-sponsored with the Salinas Arts Council and McHenry Museum.
San Joaquin County: Monday, Sept. 8, 5:30-7 PM, Haggin Museum, 1201 North Pershing Avenue, Stockton; co-sponsored with the Stockton Arts Commission.
Marin County: Wednesday, Sept. 10, 5-6:30 PM, Marin Arts Council, First Floor Conference Room, 555 Northgate Drive, San Rafael; co-sponsored with the Marin Arts Council.
Applicants are not required to attend a seminar, but the seminars fill quickly. To reserve a spot, visit www.creativeworkfund.org (preferred method), or call 415-402-2794 at least two days before the event.
Questions may be directed to:
Deena Heath, Director
Stockton Arts Commission
City Hall Annex
6 Lindsay Street
Stockton, CA 95202-1997
209-937-7488
207-937-7489 (fax)
Deena.Heath@ci.stockton.ca.us
__________________
MOZART AT 22
—RD Armstrong
"My life sucks, man!"
He was 22
His hair was cut like the Dutch Boy
and dyed jet black
His overcoat covered
ragged jeans and jackboots
Leaning against the lamppost
bumming cigarettes from
passersby
A group of young men milled around him
muttering their agreement with
his wisdom and profound insight
he was 22 and life was
passing him by
He looked dejectedly at me
"Why can't I be like you, man?"
22 and he wanted to double his grief
In parts of Eastern Europe
old men of 22 were manning the barricades
right now even as we stood on a corner
in the midday sun
Mozart at 22
had already lived two thirds of his life
Rimbaud at 22 had given up poetry,
been shot by his ex-lover
and taken up gun-running
(better profit to cheap-thrill ratio, I guess)
"My whole life is totally fucked up, man!"
He lived in a small, neat, studio apartment just
down the street
When I was 22
I lived in a roach infested hole of an apartment
in Oakland
My girlfriend was two-timing me with
a baseball player
and booking herself on an all-expenses paid trip
around the bend
The Blue Meanies were gassing kids on Telegraph Ave.
whilst Nixon and Company
were looting Vietnam
raping our faith in authority
and pillaging the federal government
Now this kid
this 22 year-old
this angst-ridden lost soul
wants to be like me
living the "easy" life?
One tenth of my entire life
equals his "adult" life
His life is a little fart
compared to the brown
crusty foot-long floater of a turd
that is mine
22 years old
and its all over except for the
screaming and crying
"Rest easy kid, it's always darkest
right before it goes
completely black."
_________________
LOST SOUL
—RD Armstrong
A Mexican on a bike
is trying to proposition
the crazy girl
as she cowers in the corner
of the bus stop at Fourth
and Pacific
She walks with a limp
and one hand is not much good
just kinda hangs there
as if she had a stroke
or some type of palsy
She's certainly been damaged
by some facet of life
I've seen her before
around town
Once I saw her hitching
in front of my house
with two boxes of laundry soap
She was not doing too well
I would have given her a ride but
I'd heard that she was a hooker
of sorts
from some friends
and I just didn't want to
be so closely involved
in her life
Her hair is sometimes
really messed up as if something
had been sprayed on it
and left to dry
I pause to consider the dangers
but the thought of yielding
to my carnal desires
is easily tempered by imagining
her drooling mouth
poised over me and
me grabbing a handful of
dark hair
matted and crusty
This never fails
The Mexican gives up and rides away
The crazy girl extends her hand
thumb up
into traffic
as the light changes
I put the '54 in gear and lumber forward
into the wilderness
__________________
Today's LittleNip:
One of the dumbest things you were ever taught was to write what you know. Because what you know is usually dull. Remember when you first wanted to be a writer? Eight or ten years old, reading about thin-lipped heroes flying over mysterious viny jungles toward untold wonders? That's what you wanted to write about, about what you didn't know.
—Ken Kesey
_________________
—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 Thirteen Poems, a new chapbook from Patrick Grizzell; #2 in Katy Brown's series of blank journals (Musings2: Vices, Virtues and Obsessions); a littlesnake broadside (Wind Physics) from Jordan Reynolds; 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 and in-between! 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.
