Lytton Bell
EXCESS AS AN ACTION PLAN
A Ghazal
—Lytton Bell, Sacramento
Single celled plant and animal organisms that drift with the currents are called plankton. Although each organism produces
millions of offspring each year, only one or two will survive to adulthood; most will be eaten.
Zipped in an evidence bag at 935 Pennsylvania Avenue waits Monica Lewinsky’s blue dress.
Clinton’s semen, white life preserver on that sea of blue, is bigger than a fingerprint.
My neighbor the used car salesman once told me: the best defense is a good offense.
The magician wills the rabbit out of the hat. He does not try to lure it with a limp carrot.
Much of modern living is a disappearing act:
division and subtraction, account balances, aging and death.
Do you admit or deny that you had a conversation with Richard "Dick" Morris in which he stated
that the polling results regarding the Monica Lewinsky matter suggested that
the American people would forgive you for adultery but not for perjury or obstruction of justice?
Sixteen years ago in Nadine’s barn I watched a spider’s sac burst open, spilling forth a frenzy of many-legged life.
Mother Nature does not believe in moderation.
The fossil record still shows species persisting unaltered for eons before giving rise to new species in the blink
of an eye, geologically speaking.
Gould argued that those apparent sudden changes should be taken at face value.
Tupperware™:
Fresh Just Got Smarter.
Leibniz says that Descartes' rules amount to saying,
"Take what you need, and do what you should, and you will get what you want."
The spider can use this special claw to swing from strand to strand without having to touch the sticky part of the web.
Come; leave your legacy all over the blue dresses of your days.
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Thanks, Lytton, for the poems! Lytton Bell has published two chapbooks (A Path Before Winter, 1998, and The Book of Chaps, 2002), won five poetry contests (Sacramento Public Library, 2002; Tickled by Thunder, 2003; Laughing Frank, 2003; the Brodine/Brodinsky/Connecticut Poetry Society, 2004 and Wergle Flomp, 2008) and performed at many local venues, including the Sacramento Poetry Center, Luna’s Café and The Book Collector, to name a few. Her work has appeared in over two dozen poetry journals, web sites and e-zines. Ms. Bell earned a poetry scholarship to the Pennsylvania Governor’s School for the Arts in 1988, where she studied with Deb Burnham and Len Roberts. She graduated Magna Cum Laude from Bryn Mawr College in 1993 and went on to study poetry with the legendary Molly Fisk. She is currently hard at work on a biography of celebrated local poet, B.L. Kennedy. Ms. Bell can be reached at lytton_bell@hotmail.com.
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B.L.'s Drive-Bys: A Micro-Review from B.L. Kennedy
Blasphemy
By Douglas Preston
Forge Books
413 pp, Hardcover, $25.95
ISBN 978-0-7653-1105-4
Yeah, well, I have a hard-on for almost anything that Douglas Preston writes. True, I think that he is much more entertaining an author when he shares the title with his writing buddy, Lincoln Child, because together they can do no wrong. It’s when they fly solo that shit happens! Look, if you just want a flat-out entertainment that will keep you glued to the seat of your pants, give Blasphemy a go. But remember what I said about flying solo.
—B.L. Kennedy, Reviewer-in-Residence
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BLOOD
—Lytton Bell
There it was on page 116
of my Lady Chatterly’s Lover.
You are dead, but here it is—a dark red drop of your blood.
I remember the day that it fell there.
We were in the woods behind your house.
You were reading aloud to me how
Connie hid, spying on the bathing gamekeeper,
when suddenly your nose began to bleed
'Now you’ll always remember this moment,' you said.
I read in the paper that they couldn’t even recognize you
when they pulled you from the wreck seven years ago.
Your blood had spilled out all over the seat of your smashed
Camaro, onto the highway,
pooling beneath the boots of cops and EMTs.
But not this blood.
This blood is mine.
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FOR ABELARD
—Lytton Bell
We hurt in places we could not undress
I’d spurn Augustus to be hanged your whore
And every day my heart is with me less
And every day my heart is with you more
We hurt in places Heaven would not bless:
the fetal heart, the tender twist of throat
We hurt for sins that we do not confess
Injustice slew their sacrificial goat
I hurt for letters I cannot address
for words that won’t be spoken into life
What moves you, Abbott, now I cannot guess
although my blood still screams I am your wife
My love for you now holds you double-scarred
May God protect and keep you, Abelard
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This week's Seed of the Week is Thanksgiving: Send me a Thanksgiving poem and I'll post it. But send me a Thanksgiving etheree, and I'll mail you Katy Brown's new 2009 calendar, Beyond the Hill. What's an etheree? See the fine examples below; I think you can figure out the form from them. (Hint: count the syllables in each line.) This Seed of the Week has a deadline, though: to get your free calendar, your etheree(s) must be sent by midnight (e-mailed or postmarked) Monday, November 24. Addresses are below.
TO THE AIR!
—Tom Goff, Carmichael
Go,
go to
work, school, love,
and once you’re there,
be loved, learn, labor;
how else give our thanks but
be the cloud we hold within:
You—make like fur tugged from beasts by
the wind, little shreds on sky wire. Hey
there—you: bleed rain. Sacrifice to the air!
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thankful
—dawn dibartolo, citrus heights
food
and love
overflow.
bloated, we moan
how we’ve eaten too
much but must eat some more
because leftovers abound,
as do family and close friends;
when the evening ends, sweet yams and
ham will be divided amongst all.
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feast
—dawn dibartolo
love
and food
to which this
day is given
flow like honey-yams
and gratitude for aunt
pat’s stuffing ~ evidence that
God answers prayers; we’re thankful
that she’s a fighter, a survivor,
grateful, another year under our belts.
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READY, SET, EAT!
—Donald R. Anderson, Stockton
Eggs,
devilled.
Carved turkey.
Tender roast beef.
A house full of kids.
Ten minutes on the phone
with a grandma missed so much.
Frantic cooking, place silverware.
Prepare for one huge thanksgiving feast!
Collapse satisfied on living room couch.
__________________
Lytton Bell (and Dan)
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Today's LittleNip:
At first, form is needed.
Then doubt and inhibition must be dispelled.
Eventually, form is celebrated with joy,
And expression becomes formless.
Take dance, for example. The novice student must drill constantly on the basics, isolating each step and movement with meticulous attention. Although the emphasis on structure may add to the beginner's inhibition, it must be done. Eventually, the dancer will learn to let go. The steps will have become a natural part of movement. Then dance can be celebrated joyously. Our now-mature dancer may even dance in a way that seems so spontaneous, so magical, that it will seem formless—or more precisely, the form will re-emerge with fluidity, grace, originality, and beauty.
—Deng Ming-Dao, 365 Tao: Daily Meditations
__________________
—Medusa
SnakeWatch: What's New from Rattlesnake Press:
Rattlesnake Review: Deadline for the current issue (#20) has passed (it was Nov. 15); the issue is currently rattling around in the SnakePit and will be released at The Book Collector reading on December 10, then mailed to contributors and subscribers in mid-December. Next deadline is February 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. Meanwhile, the snakes of Medusa are always hungry!
New for November: Now available at The Book Collector, or from the authors, or through rattlesnakepress.com (or—heck—just write to me and I'll send 'em to you): 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, featuring conversations with Luke Breit, Gail Rudd Entrekin, Traci Gourdine, Taylor Graham, Noel Kroeplin, Rob Lozano, Crawdad Nelson, Monika Rose, Will Staple, Mary Zeppa and nila northSun. And don't forget to pick up your copies of B.L. Kennedy's new SpiralChap of his poetry and art, Luna's House of Words, as well as the anthology of poets, art and photos, La Luna: Poetry Unplugged from Luna's Cafe, edited by frank andrick.
Also available (free): littlesnake broadside #46: Snake Secrets: Getting Your Poetry Published in Rattlesnake Press (and lots of other places, besides!): A compendium of ideas for brushing up on your submissions process so as to make editors everywhere more happy, thereby increasing the likelihood of getting your poetry published. Write to me and I'll send you one. Free!
Coming in December: Join us at The Book Collector on Wednesday, December 10, for the release of a new chapbook from Danyen Powell (Blue Sky Flies Out); a littlesnake broadside from Kevin Jones, and a brand-new issue of Rattlesnake Review (#20)! That's at 7:30, 1008 24th St., Sacramento. Refreshments and a read-around will follow; bring your own poems or somebody else's.
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.
