Open the Door!

ON A NIGHT OF SNOW
—Elizabeth Coatsworth

Cat, if you go outdoors you must walk in the snow.
You will come back with little white shoes on your feet,
Little white slippers of snow that have heels of sleet.
Stay by the fire, my Cat. Lie still, do not go.
See how the flames are leaping and hissing low.
I will bring you a saucer of milk like a marguerite,
So white and so smooth, so spherical and so sweet.
Stay with me, Cat. Outdoors the wild winds blow.

Outdoors the wild winds blow, Mistress, and dark is the night.
Strange voices cry in the trees, intoning strange lore,
And more than cats move, lit by our eyes' green light,
On silent feet where the meadow grasses hang hoar—
Mistress, there are portents abroad of magic and might,
And things that are yet to be done. Open the door!

__________________

OZ
—Eve Merriam

Whoever discounts
the ounce
as one of the smallest amounts
has never met up with the ounce
that belongs to the cat family.

This jungle ounce
will pounce
you out of complacency.
If you try to trounce
this ounce,
you will be chastened hastily;
for this ounce
does more than flounce;
this ounce can bounce,
this ounce can pounce.

So if you meet up with an ounce,
announce yourself as a friend,
or it might be The End.

P.S. Better not take a chounce.

___________________

Time for a Halloween Seed of the Week/giveaway; let's talk about cats! Send me one or more poems that you wrote about cats and I'll send you a free copy of Moira Magneson's new rattlechap, He Drank Because. (After all, Moira has cats, so why not!) Deadline is midnight, Friday, Oct. 17. E-mail your poems to kathykieth@hotmail.com or snail them to P.O. Box 762, Pollock Pines, CA 95726. (This SOW was planted in me because Marie Ross sent two cat poems along with pix of Owie and Zena; see below.) Pix of cats are most welcome, too. Pix of ANYthing are most welcome, actually. And don't worry if your poems turn sentimental on you; that seems to go with the territory for poets throughout the ages. Hell, what's a little "cutesy" among friends...?

While you're waiting for the muse to pounce, though, here is a submission opportunity, along with a poem from Tom Goff, who took a mountain day-trip this weekend and writes: had we known it, we were probably within sight of Mount Ina Coolbrith...


Call for Submissions: Rattle: A Poetry Journal

Next summer’s issue, #31, will feature work by African-American poets. If you’re a poet of African-American descent, send us your poems and essays by February 1, 2009.

Next winter’s issue, #32 will be focusing on the sonnet in all its forms—perfect to ragged, Petrarchan to invented. Deadline August 1, 2009.

Less than half of the poetry in each issue is focused on the theme—the rest is open to any style, subject matter, or poet. We always enjoy reading submissions, and accept them by email and hardcopy, year-round, so never hesitate to send us work. Visit www.rattle.com/submissions.htm for guidelines.

Timothy Green, Editor
RATTLE
12411 Ventura Blvd
Studio City, CA 91604
tim@rattle.com

__________________

SIERRA VALLEY
—Tom Goff, Carmichael

Is it not strange that,
having invested our emotions

in largesse, word eminences,
daunting sky-reaches,

crags in a lexicon, we arrive
at the vista point overlooking

the Sierra Valley, close upon the place
of Jim Beckwourth’s crossing,

and find it soft, a prone lover
lying down to give and receive?

Rich soil, smooth, scored only by the yellows of drought
grass and the plucked inquisitions of cattle,

but that valley elevated, elongated to boot, so that
(from eagle vantage), peaks turn

humble, supine purple mounds at stoop
over a hollow, potters eyeing a vase bottom,

wheel mid-spin. Weather in the offing:
these caked, icy fingers still have it in them

to dictate shape, but the form simple,
calling forth the simple words,

easy thoughts: Look, look,
see it all lain before you in one saffron plain, so much

perfect saffron infusing ripe beads of rice, and don’t you dare
forget, not here, your own slow evolution from soil,

sunlight, and living tissue into compounds
of eye, nerve, and finger, nurtured in valleys,

fed by seething mountain rain
and swirling mountain wind.

__________________

LITTER BOX
—Marie J. Ross, Stockton

Rain trickles like tap dance;
I hear scratching in the litter
box.
Owie, my big black cat, swishes
furry white chaps
like king cowboy of the prairie.
His protocol:
Sniffs rim of plastic litter box;
fluffs mane, his fashionable
attire;
steps in and pushes mounds
of litter into layers; sits his big
rump down until satisfied;
shakes his booty rapidly and leaves
the premises.
Often times when the room is quiet, he
leaps to my lap; I feed him tidbits, turn
the radio on to soft music, stroke strands
of his thick black hair and settle down for
a cozy evening.
After all—
He mastered his kingdom,
conquered demon granules,
earned the right to wear
the royal crown—
prince of Tidy, and
king over the outhouse.

Owie

___________________

MY CAT PLAYS PEEK-A-BOO
—Marie J. Ross

Zena my cat:
a classy, sassy,
territorial, golorial,
feline beauty.
Demure and enchanting
princess of panting with a
captivating face I can't resist.
Cuddled under my favorite
down comforter, one cold night,
she pawed and purred her way
into my bedtime sanctuary,
I, ready for deep and dreamy sleep.
She couldn’t lay quietly, Oh No;
she wiggled like a dancing worm,
rubbed her little pink nose on mine,
preformed a fur ballet on my chest,
shaking her booty as she slid beneath
the comforter.
Miss Territorial, golorial;
played peek-a-boo, so late that night,
her eyes peeping at me from under the
comforter like a child wanting candy.
Zena my classy, sassy, calico, a panting
purring beauty I couldn’t resist.

Zena

__________________

Today's LittleNip:

Every life should have nine cats.

—Unknown

__________________

Lest we forget that they really are carnivores...

—Medusa


SnakeWatch: What's New from Rattlesnake Press:

October is Sacramento Poetry Month! October’s releases from Rattlesnake Press include a new rattlechap from Moira Magneson (He Drank Because) and a free littlesnake broadside from Hatch Graham (Circling of the Pack). Both are available at The Book Collector, 1008 24th St., Sacramento, or from me (kathykieth@hotmail.com), or—soon—from rattlesnakepress.com/. Rattlechaps are $6 by mail, $5 at The Book Collector.

Be sure to join us on Thursday, Oct. 30, 8 PM, when Rattlesnake Press will release not one, but 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??

And check out B.L. Kennedy’s interview with Art Luna in the latest Rattlesnake Review (#19)! Free copies are available at The Book Collector, or send me two bux and I’ll mail you one (address below). Next deadline, by the way, is November 15.

Coming in November: November will feature a new rattlechap from Red Fox Underground Poet Wendy Patrice Williams (Some New Forgetting); a littlesnake broadside from South Lake Tahoe Poet Ray Hadley; our 2009 calendar from Katy Brown (Beyond the Hill: A Poet’s Calendar) as well as Conversations, Vol. 4 of B.L. Kennedy’s Rattlesnake Interview Series. That’s Weds., November 12, 7:30 PM at The Book Collector.


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 SOWs; 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.