The ideal Christmas gift—
All-purpose shoe with Mp3 player
for listening to music before
the throwing begins...
SANTA CLAUSAll-purpose shoe with Mp3 player
for listening to music before
the throwing begins...
—Dunya Mikhail
With his beard long like war
and suit red like history
Santa Claus came smiling
He asked me to take something
You are a good girl, he said
so you deserve a game
He gave me something like poetry
As I hesitated, he encouraged me
—Don't be afraid, baby
I am Santa Claus
I distribute beauty to children
Haven't you seen me before?
—But Santa Claus whom I know
comes in military uniform
and every year distributes to us
some red swords
toys for orphans
artificial legs
and photos of absentees
to be hung on the walls.
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A CHILD’S VIEW
—Mitz Sackman, Murphys
Days
Drag by
Just waiting
For Santa to
Come with his bag
From roof to chimney down
Bringing Christmas joy to us
Merry Christmas morning surprises
On everyone’s smiling face
When will my Christmas finally be here?
__________________
TIME WILL TELL
—Donald R. Anderson, Stockton
Reading in-between the lights
of a department store like a football field
rushing towards the end zone
dodging bullets and working through blockades.
There is a no loitering sign.
Yet beyond it extends the line.
A little holiday play makes its way
through the corridors, a holiday carol.
Inside, lovers snuggle,
and Knights in White Satin plays.
A festive nutmeg eggnog—
no liquor for me by choice and circumstance.
A little reminder of holidays past,
as I slog through the present looking into windows.
In our future,
promises of peace on Earth,
hope against a heavily weighted planet of apathy.
And still a joy
that we have survived this far.
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Thanks to Donald Anderson and Mitz Sackman for their responses to our Seed of the Week: Waiting, and to Michael Cluff for Today's LittleNip—his comment on Tom Goff's etheree yesterday about The Shoe Incident.
Rattlechapper and Snake Columnist Shawn Pittard has another job as columnist for the online journal about poetry and poetics, The Great American Pinup, in which yesterday he said many nice things about our Snake and about me as well as about rattlechappers Moira Magneson and Wendy Patrice Williams. Check it out at http://greatamericanpinup.blogspot.com/2008/12/other-voice-
rattlesnake-press-humble.html/.
Shall we head to Oaxaca?
Donna Hanelin writes: Greetings from Oaxaca, Mexico! Here the Christmas season is in full bloom—poinsettias are indigenous to Mexico so the countryside is splashed with red and also the white blossoms of the guaje tree, the tree after which Oaxaca is named. We have our fair share of Christmas lights and dressed up arboles though I tend to be more enchanted by the flowering bushes and leave the electric sparkle to others. In addition, important Saints Days march across the landscape bringing great bangs of fireworks, all-night brass bands, blessings for the children and blessed saints on parade. I'm at home here spending part of the day writing a novel and part of the day enjoying whatever happens to walk, drive, clop, trot or whirr near my window.
A reminder: February 11-18, I'm offering Removing Obstacles, a restorative retreat for writers. The focus for this retreat is on the healing power of language, story and poetry. I'm teaching with Alejandro Beltrán Cordero, traditional Mexican healer as well as acupuncturist, musician, theatre director, dancer who has worked extensively with artists to remove obstacles and to construct the bridges necessary to continue on our true way. We will both give group sessions and private consultation for each participant. If you are feeling stuck with your writing or wanting extra insight and guidance or simply a solid support for the development of a project or idea, you are invited to join us in Oaxaca. The retreat takes place at Casa Sagrada, a 12-room country guesthouse in Teotitlan del Valle, 15 miles east of the city of Oaxaca; Teotitlan is world renown as a center for hand-loomed weaving. Optional activities at the Casa include horseback riding, cooking classes, massage, and guided hiking. Though I have worked for many years with the idea of writing as healing, Removing Obstacles is a new and fascinating retreat concept for me—I very much look forward to this meeting of language and healing arts, of words and wonder.
For more detailed information about the retreat, visit:http://www.creativewritingclasses.us/WritingRetreats.html Please feel free to email or call if you have further questions. My USA phone and voicemail is 559-840-3527. Skype: donnapoem or Email: donna@creativewritingclasses.us
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B.L.'s Drive-Bys: A Micro-Review by B.L. Kennedy
LISTENING TO WINTER
by Molly Fisk
50 pp, trade paperback, $12.50
Over the years, I have encountered the poems of Molly Fisk in various poetry anthologies and other like publications. However, it wasn’t until a recent meeting with the poet at a reading in Grass Valley, when she gave me a copy of her book, Listening to Winter, that I had the opportunity of investigating on a larger scale the fullness of her work as a poet. Here is the pure lyric voice of an accomplished and dedicated poet, a voice filled with both darkness and humor. I have to admit that I am now a fan. So, if you have the chance to dive into the world of Molly Fisk through any of her books or audio-recordings—or just the miscellaneous poem floating around in some anthology—do so.
—B.L. Kennedy, Reviewer-in-Residence
__________________
THE JEWEL
—Dunya Mikhail
It no longer overlooks the river
No longer is in the city
No longer on the map
The bridge that we used to cross every day
The bridge
The war tossed it into the river
Just as that lady aboard the Titanic
Tossed her blue diamond
__________________
CHRISTMAS
—Dunya Mikhail
1
Somebody is knocking at the door
How sad
It is Christmas and not you
2
I don't know how to add your absence to my life
I don't know how I subtract myself from it
I don't know how to divide it
in the communicating vessels.
3
The time stopped
at twelve o'clock
The watchmaker got confused
Nothing wrong with the watch
The whole matter is
that the hands remained in an embrace
and forgot the world.
(Dunya Mikhail's Iraqi poetry was translated from the Arabic by Salaam Jousif and Liz Winslow.)
__________________
Today's LittleNip:
I would never waste
my old wingtips or loafers
on President Bush
—Michael Cluff, Highlands
__________________
—Medusa (what is it about our country that brings out the shoes? Remember Khruschev pounding his on the table?)
SnakeWatch: What's New from Rattlesnake Press:
Rattlesnake Review: The latest issue (#20) is currently available at The Book Collector, or send me two bux and I'll mail you one. Contributors' and subscribers' copies will go into the mail this week. Deadline for RR21 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 December: A second chapbook from Danyen Powell (Blue Sky Flies Out); a free littlesnake broadside from Kevin Jones (Low-Rent Dojo), and a brand-new (free) issue of Rattlesnake Review (#20)! Stop by The Book Collector and pick up Christmas gifts such as Katy Brown's calendars and blank journals and all our other books—give the gift of poetry! We even have two books that are appropriate for kids: Poems in a Seashell by Kathy Kieth (a children's approach to writing poetry), and SpiralChap #1: The Heart of a Poet, poetry and art by Ashley Redfield and her brother when they were wee ones. While you're there, of course, you'll want to pick up a book or two for your own Christmas tree. And hey—TBC is even open on Sundays!
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. Pick up a copy at TBC or write to me and I'll send you one. Free!
Coming in January: Other than the ever-restless Medusa, the Snake will be snoozing during January; no releases or readings. But our October road trips inspired a new Rattlesnake publication, WTF, to be edited by frank andrick. This 30-page, chapbook-style (free) quarterly will primarily showcase the talents of readers at Poetry Unplugged at Luna’s Café, but anyone over 18 is welcome to submit. Deadline is Jan. 15 for a Feb. 19 premiere at Luna’s. Submission guidelines are the same as for the Snake, but please send three poems (each one page or less in length), photos, smallish art or prose pieces (500 words or less) to fandrickfabpub@hotmail.com (attachments preferred) or, if you’re snailing, to P.O. Box 762, Pollock Pines, CA 95726. And be forewarned: this publication will be for adults only! so you must be over 18 years of age to submit.
Coming February 11: A new rattlechap from Sacramento's Poet Laureate, Julia Connor (Oar); a littlesnake broadside from Josh Fernandez (In The End, It’s A Worthless Machine); and the premiere of our new Rattlesnake Reprints, featuring The Dimensions of the Morning by D.R. Wagner, which was first published by Black Rabbit Press in 1969. That’s February 11 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.
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.
