Sleep, That Faithless Lover!

Mary Kay Miller

CHOICES
—Mary Kay Miller, West Virginia

Since arthritis has embraced me
I measure every choice I make
By the number of steps it will take.

How many times today will I have to take the stairs?
How many tasks can I accomplish seated in my chair?

I do not want help, or accommodations, or special consideration.
Especially if it means I owe someone an explanation.

I have learned that pain is only on the surface, my soul knows solace,
And my heart still loves to laugh.
That’s how I deal with pain, and the cane, and the electric cart at the shopping mart...

What I can’t handle is the ribald prying and sidelong glances
That imply this is some deserved comeuppance.

I still get to work every day even if I haven’t slept.
Pain is something you can learn to accept.

A mind at peace can control the physical,
And a heart filled with love can still find the lyrical.
Arthritis is only an embrace, not a decree!

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Thanks, Mary Kay! Mary Kay Miller lives in a small town in the mountains of West Virginia, which saw its first snowflurries of the winter in late October. She is a public school speech pathologist. She finds that time spent with those who can't command words for their own use is a catalyst for her own writing. Mary Kay and her husband of nearly 31 years have three sons. She is hoping for grandchildren some day.

B.L.'s Drive-Bys: A Micro-Review from B.L. Kennedy:

TWILIGHT
By Stephenie Meyer
Little Brown Books
498 pp, Trade Paperback, $10.99
ISBN-10: 0-316-01584-9

I have written before of Stephenie Meyer who is currently doing time on most Bestseller Lists with her first Adult novel entitled Host—A Love Story. But she is really the cat’s pajamas for the ‘tween scene. Her first book, Twilight, is now at your local cinema, released just in time for Halloween and that other fright-fest, Election Day.

Look at it this way: The woman gets kids to read, and that is not a bad thing—plus, Vampires are fun. So, if you have the extra $$ and you want to make a kid happy, or if you just want to indulge yourself, buy the book. You’ll enjoy it, you’ll discover a new writer, and you’ll have fun, and that cannot be a bad thing.

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AWAKE
—Mary Kay Miller

I open my eyes to half-light
My thoughts are lax, and my joints so stiff I fear they’ll crack.

Did I sleep, or merely fade in and out of consciousness?
It seems I only skimmed sleep’s surface
When I ached to dive beneath REM’s sweet depths.

Day’s duty calls my name and I force myself to rise
Leaving my bed the way I entered it—

Exhausted

__________________

RESTLESS
—Mary Kay Miller

I slide beneath my sheets and glide upon the mattress.
Nestled amongst downy pillows I close my eyes and summon Sleep.

Immersed in tranquil twilight I beckon, but am rebuffed.
Sleep, you faithless lover! I wait, but you refuse.

Rejected, I roll on waves of wakefulness all the while aching to soothe my fatigue in the somnolent deep.

Precious Sleep, return to me! Let me float above my dreams enveloped in layers of slumber.

Bathe me in rest, until I awake—

Refreshed!

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Marie Ross was inspired by Election Day to write the following poem, and she was also a winner at the recent Ina Coolbrith Circle contest (see Monday's post). Congrats, Marie! And thanks to Mitz Sackman and Taylor Graham for responding to our Seed of the Week: Fishing. Remember, it's never too late to respond to the Seed of the Week for this week or any one in the past!


AT THE POLES
—Marie J. Ross, Stockton

A dark black ink pen
a sample ballot already
marked;
heads of city and state
propositions vying for
position.
A new president
to lead our country;
our pen to speak his destiny.
We stand between two silent
cardboard partitions:
the booth that keeps secret
the mark of our pen.
We breath pride of patriotism,
freedom to choose and speak out.
Election Day Tuesday:
every fours years, in November,
we walk, take a bus, ride in cars
to the poles;
feel free, we our own voice,
we voice of the people, we with black
pen between fingers marking a ballot.
Long Live Election Day,
Long Live The Voting Booth.

__________________

CATCHING POEMS
—Mitz Sackman, Murphys

The red book sits
Beside my chair
Waiting to hold
Those thoughts
Those future poems
That lie in wait
In the waters of the mind
Bait of life lies quietly
Trolling in the deeps
Poems pounce
At their convenience
Not mine
Catching them
On my line
Brings the songs of my life
The songs of my heart
Into my world
Of solid ground

_________________

LATE-NIGHT TELLING
—Taylor Graham, Placerville

Around the fire, so many
stories of dead fishermen,
the ones who found a mis-step
on the South Fork trail
and it’s forever. The ones
who jumped in to save a dog,
a fly-rod, a string of fish.

You can see them in spring
run-off when the water shivers
shock-images of upstream ice
against your wrist; in August
they’ll be seeking pools
and riffles, striking brief silver
like rainbow scales,
as cool as cloud. By noon
they’re sleeping under banks,
just dreaming.

But mostly, nights, they walk
the water. Weightless now,
they’re trying for a lighter
touch, cast, footstep. Trying
for the fin of fish.


(originally published in South Dakota Review)

__________________

Today's LittleNip:

There are times in people's lives when the changes they require are so radical that even the realization itself is a radical change.

—Stephen Dobyns

__________________

—Medusa


SnakeWatch: What's New from Rattlesnake Press:

Next deadline for Rattlesnake Review is November 15!!! Send 3-5 poems, smallish art pieces and/or photos (no bio, no cover letter, no simultaneous submissions or previously-published poems) to kathykieth@hotmail.com or P.O. Box 762, Pollock Pines, CA 95726. E-mail attachments are preferred, but be sure to include all contact info, including snail address.

Also coming in November: On November 12, Rattlesnake Press will release a new rattlechap from Red Fox Underground Poet Wendy Patrice Williams (Some New Forgetting); a littlesnake broadside from South Lake Tahoe Poet Ray Hadley (Children's Games); 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.