Vagabonds of the Season

Stormfront
Art by Donald R. Anderson, Stockton

CITY AUTUMN
—Joseph Moncure March

The air breathes frost. A thin wind beats
Old dust and papers down gray streets
And blows brown leaves with curled-up edges
At frightened sparrows on window ledges.
A snow-flake falls like an errant feather:
A vagabond draws his cloak together.
And an old man totters past with a cane
Wondering if he'll see Spring again.

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HandyStuff Quickies: Two opportunities for October:

Maggi H. Meyer Memorial Poetry Contest, 2008: Bay Area Poets Coalition's 29th Annual Contest will be open for entries from Oct. 1-Nov. 15. See guidelines on BAPC website (www.bayareapoetscoalition.org). SnakePal Claire J. Baker of Pinole will be serving as Contest Chair for the second year in a row.

River Styx Games Issue: In October, River Styx will consider poems, essays, fiction, and art for their next themed issue: Games. Sports, gambling, mind games, wild game, board games—the interpretation is yours. Please send only during the month of October and address all submissions to: River Styx Games Issue, 3547 Olive St., Suite 107, St. Louis, MO 63103.

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ANOTHER ODYSSEY
—B.Z. Niditch, Brookline, MA

Somewhere a child
unskilled in language
except for a pocket diary
energized by song
holds onto a piece of sky,
devouring kaleidoscopes
yet knowing nature
as an older companion
he walks in fevered rain
hearing the erratic thunder;
somewhere in the town
the sated bell whistles
and morning lights up
touching the earth;
he knows the abyss
even in his life,
dazzled by the waking sun
taking off his sneakers
to feel the dawn sinking
and making red ink signs
on the wooden bridge
girds his initials
to the distant wind.

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IN THE CELLAR
—B.Z. Niditch

Growing down to size
you were not allowed
sunlight even to dust
off the grand piano,
It might spoil
the furniture, Mother Cold
said when you muzzled
a carnation
in a buttonhole
behind the cellar's
threadbare curtain.

You hid smoking pipes
red boas
and a pirate's earring
in perfumed boxes
above execution living rooms
of untouchable sofas
full from blanketed kitsch
licked stamps and copper coins
to address and uncover,
to send you away.

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LISTENING TO THE NEWS
—Taylor Graham, Placerville

Our nation’s in a crisis. No, a rush
to ruin, banks in freefall or collapse—
collapse, like something shattered in the crush
of worshipers who panicked, a stampede
like Wall Street yesterday. A total lapse
in confidence, our leaders cease to lead
and we to follow. No, we plunge through gaps
we’ve torn in guardrail. Lemmings never heed
the warnings. Everything’s a downward pitch
like stocks in Asia, like that chopper crash
back East. The world is headed for the ditch,
more likely the abyss. We’re out of cash.
And who’s in charge to flip the fatal switch
and bomb this planet into smoke and ash?

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LISTENING FOR MORNING
—Taylor Graham

Let’s turn the volume down a bit. What if
nobody talked? Instead, let’s open wide
the windows. Look, it’s fall—a fall of light
and shadow, drift of winnow, spiral down
of leaves. Breathe deeply. Do you catch a whiff
of smoke? somebody’s woodstove down the road.
That crash? an acorn on the deck. A squirrel,
survivor of hawk-season, flicks his curl
of tail and fills his cheeks. And what’s that flit
of crimson—spot of blood—among the trees?
Look closer, it’s the woodpecker’s red crown.
The leaves are all aflame, and no one lit
a match. No promises this season sows,
just prospects, if only we could see.

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Thanks to TG (Taylor Graham) for responding to TG's (Tom Goff's) Seed of the Week: Two poems that present two sides of an argument.

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PELICANS AND ALBATROSSES
—Michael Cluff, Highlands, CA

Throw the words
to Ellis Island,
a deserted place
where turnstiles freeze
with shoes in between.

A hubbub here,
not theirs
like it should be again
not only then,
goes nowhere
with a mockingbird's song
slipping toward water
flowing in from the east.

Vlad patches his tired soul
with a ployglot tympani
that never sounds so symphonious
as a 'crude folk' Ukrainian pastoral ode
that melts a crying truculent child
to a less-troubled sleep.

__________________

C,H, L, and I
knew each other before
I knew A and D in a similar situation
although D is not I's favorite
since J came into the picture
halfway through.

E and T stay neutral
but B has too many opinions
like D's
for V and I's taste.

R is too impatient with A
for siding with L and C
in the controversy
in promoting J or S
who now works
with M at TRW
instead of us
something she decided on PDQ
for Y
and I's sakes.

H just hangs out at the YMCA
hoping to dodge the FBI and CIA
and 1040s by the way.

G
I thinks
U and I
C and P
on the sidewalk
wishing Zs would catch up
with O
I feels
in his DDTs
and now missing BVDs.


—Michael Cluff

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Today's LittleNip:

A LAZY THOUGHT
—Eve Merriam

There go the grownups
To the office,
To the store.
Subway rush,
Traffic crush;
Hurry, scurry,
Worry, flurry.

No wonder
Grownups
Don't grow up
Any more.

It takes a lot
Of slow
To grow.

__________________

—Medusa

SnakeWatch: What's New from Rattlesnake Press:

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??

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.......!

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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.