Hold On, Let Go

AUTUMN VIEW
—Allegra Jostad Silberstein, Davis

Red in the west
bleeds through the branches
of the valley oak

lights the scattering
of russet and gold
from the Chinese Pistache.

Gray wooly clouds
glow with inner
illumination

angle of departure
sending light upward
from the setting sun.

Shadows crowd
the house where a woman
sits pencil in hand.

Darkness covers quietly
like valley dust
on bookshelves.

Each year her sight
diminishes but the heat of
autumn color still holds.

_________________

Thanks to Allegra Silberstein for today's poems celebrating autumn. Also thanks to Marie Ross, who slipped in right under last night's deadline.

The last of the latest Rattlesnake Review contributor and/or subscription copies went into the mail yesterday. Let me know if you don't receive one in the next week or so.


AUTUMN EVOLUTION
—Marie J. Ross, Stockton

Over logged fenced valleys
of the Mother Lode, autumn
injects her pale hues.
Color of beige blotches and mocha
lace through green grass decorating
the rolling hills.
She steps from her throne in rays of
soft sun and semi-warm nights, swirling
over earth like a barn dancer’s skirt.
She sashays up tree trunks in a pair of pointed
heels, perforates bark, and fuses vital color to
the subtle leaves.
Vermillion like shiny apples, yellow like bananas
hung on sun, and orange, the shy, passive face on
faded limbs.
Skeletal dances drop in her pail of breeze, she the
breather of sleep to oncoming frost.

___________________

AUTUMN FIRE
—Allegra Jostad Silberstein

When endless questions will not give me peace,
when failures haunt the rest of present place
and satisfactions of good service cease
as if my life had lost all sense of grace,
when I struggle for some better way
search with fading sight another road
and wait through restless dreams the light of day
to bring me fortitude to bear this load.
Even when good friends reach out to me
I feel unworthy of their gracious care
until a vision helps to set me free:
Balloons bind me, floating in autumn air:
like them in questing heat I’ll find new birth
through fire, loose stern tying to this earth.

___________________

SEPTEMBER AFTERNOON
—Allegra Silberstein

Blue gray slant
of afternoon light
dimples through the leaves.

Young jay dabbles
in a new pool
watering my walnut tree.

Days end too quickly.

___________________

TOO SOON
—Allegra Jostad Silberstein

At seven o’clock the sun
thrusts through the olive trees
into my bedroom window.

A dream half remembered
lures me back
to mirrored sleep.

The turning world
brings sun above the olive trees.
Light angles in

wrestling consciousness
on a reluctant riser
into upright resolve.

By two in the afternoon
the horizon is veiled
in pale purple mist.

Nearby buildings
and trees outlined
with edges soft as peach fuzz.

Before seven, darkness
undresses the day.
Too soon, the night—

I close my fist,
open my hand.
Hold on, let go.

___________________

Today's LittleNip:

Good

Poetry

Makes the universe admit a

Secret:

"I am

Really just a tambourine,

Grab hold,

Play me

Against your warm

Thigh."

—Hafiz
(translated by Daniel Ladinsky)

__________________


—Medusa


SnakeWatch: What's New from Rattlesnake Press:

Now available at The Book Collector in Sacramento and also from rattlesnakepress.com/: Thirteen Poems, a new chapbook from Patrick Grizzell; #2 in Katy Brown's series of blank journals (Musings2: Vices, Virtues and Obsessions); a free littlesnake broadside (Wind Physics) from Jordan Reynolds; plus Issue #19 of Rattlesnake Review (also free!). Contributor and subscription copies of RR19 will be going into the mail this week. If you're neither one and can't get to The Book Collector for your free copy, send me two bux and I'll mail you one. Next deadline for submissions, by the way, is November 15.

Coming in October: October’s release at The Book Collector on Weds., Oct. 8, will feature a new rattlechap from Moira Magneson (He Drank Because) and a littlesnake broadside from Hatch Graham (Circling of the Pack). That's at the Book Collector, 1008 24th St., Sacramento, 7:30 PM. Refreshments and a read-around will follow; bring your own poems or somebody else’s.

Then, on Thursday, Oct. 30, 8 PM, Rattlesnake Press will release two SpiralChaps to honor and celebrate Luna’s Café, including a new collection of art and poetry from B.L. Kennedy (Luna’s House of Words) and an anthology of Luna’s poets, artists and photographs (La Luna: Poetry Unplugged at Luna’s Café) edited by Frank Andrick. Come travel with our Away Team as we leave the Home of the Snake for a brief road trip/time travel to Luna’s Café, 1414 16th St., Sacramento to celebrate Art Luna and the 13 years of Luna's long-running poetry series. Who knows what auspicious adventures await us there??


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.