Undone, Possessed

200 years today!
Happy Birthday, Abe!

You are young, and I am older;
You are hopeful, I am not—
Enjoy life, ere it grow colder—
Pluck the roses ere they rot.

Teach your beau to heed the lay—
That sunshine soon is lost in shade—
That now's as good as any day—
To take thee, Rose, ere she fade.

—Abraham Lincoln

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FALLING IN LOVE
—William S. Gainer, Grass Valley

Dark hair,
dark eyes
and that skin—

yeah, I fall in love,
at lot,
she’s just the latest
not to know.

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PRELUDE TO MISSING YOU...
—William S. Gainer

Two kisses
and a long
goodbye...
then gone.

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THE FOREVER LOVE...

takes you to the point
where it’s just
a soft cheek,
a few warm kisses
and no more goodbyes
to strangers—


—William S. Gainer

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Thanks to Abraham Lincoln, Bill Gainer and the other poets who sent us today's love poems. Our SOW is Love is Heaven, Love is Hell. Keep 'em coming. You know you have a tale to tell...

For instance, Tom Goff writes: This here's a little piece about my maternal granddad, who died long before I was born. An Irish-American Catholic, he married a strait-laced lady, my grandmother, to be sure. But the fact that she was a Methodist marrying a Catholic at all, in Kentucky of that time...interesting undercurrents that my mom, though a little girl, seems to have been aware of...


CARVER
—Tom Goff, Carmichael

John C. Ronan carved tombstones for his living.
We don’t know if he shaped raw slabs into tablets
—stoic stela-tongues, earth-utterances wagless?
Or obelisks? Low-linteled anterooms, given
on to grottos? Was this crude, unshriven
Irish person consonant with sweet solaces
dinned into headstones? County-famed for fastballs,
this perhaps analphabetic hurler’d fling them,
oven-round loaves, hot to the strikeout mitt. What
kinetic impulses might quicken moods into thoughts?
A daily knuckler, blackening eyes…yet calm,
docile-shouldered, sitting beside his ex-mate:
her unwived fingers would glove in his Sunday palm.
His daughter (my mother) far Irish earths, he brought.

He lived all song and scent within her heart
whatever misshapen motto his last gravestone might impart.

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And these, from Patricia Wellingham-Jones and Mitz Sackman:


MAYBE THE LAST TIME
—Patricia Wellingham-Jones, Tehama

Now that the house has settled down again
Roy and I have had conversations.
Yes, he's demented
and doesn't know my name,
but these are heart-talks
not mind-talks
and we are both very clear
on what we are saying.
I sit on the floor by his wheelchair,
his fingers stroke my hand,
we both know his days
are now counted in hours.


(Published in The League of Laboring Poets, 2007)

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TWO HUSBANDS
—Mitz Sackman, Murphys

Your gifts to me
Are too many to count
Trust that someone has my back
Laughing conversations when I am close to tears
That re-frame the situation
Helping hands
Always there
Never demanding
Comfort of touch
Sweetness of love
Creating a secure base
For me to live my dreams
You to live yours

His gifts to me
Were a realization of my strength
Growth of my independence
I learned how to stand alone
Against life’s storms
To help my children grow to strength
To see a larger world

While his gifts were useful
Yours have made for a happier life!

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Dairl Helmer, Editor of Sacramento ‘zine, Broccoli, Cheese and Crackers, writes: I've just updated the website again, adding a few extra YouTube videolinks and making a few other changes. If you're interested, or if you've never checked out the BC&C website before, please have a look: http://www.broccolicheese.net/. One of my favorite parts of the website is the series of humorous videos. For those who are interested, I've just added a third video in my series of stupefyingly bad music videos, which you'll find toward the bottom of the webpage. Don't say I didn't warn you, though... :) BC&C No. 12 will be coming out sometime this spring. Updates will follow.

And don't forget that Sunday is the next deadline for Rattlesnake Review! Get on it; help us celebrate Snake 21!! (Guidelines are in the long blurb below Today's LittleNip.)

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B.L.'s Drive-bys: A Micro-Review by B.L. Kennedy

I SAW IT ON TV
BY Terry McCarty
LRB # 56
Lummox Press
PO Box 5301
San Pedro, CA 90733
40pp, chapbook, $5.00

I am a sucker for poems about TV and the odd celebrity profiles that one often encounters on supermarket lines. Now our friends at Lummox Press bring us the poems of Terry McCarty, and I have to admit that I had a joyfully fun time reading them. From Steve Martin to Tom Cruise to why we should fear Dennis Miller, this was one hella’ fun read. So yeah, better order this book; it will creep under your skin when you’re not looking. Terry McCarty is a fine, fun poet to read, and if you send Lummox Press your hard-earned $5, I’m sure you will feel much the same way.

—B.L. Kennedy, Reviewer-in-Residence

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I, being born a woman and distressed
By all the needs and notions of my kind,
Am urged by your propinquity to find
Your person fair, and feel a certain zest
To bear your body's weight upon my breast:
So subtly is the fume of life designed,
To clarify the pulse and cloud the mind,
And leave me once again undone, possessed.
Think not for this, however, the poor treason
Of my stout blood against my staggering brain,
I shall remember you with love, or season
My scorn with pity,—let me make it plain:
I find this frenzy insufficient reason
For conversation when we meet again.


—Edna St. Vincent Millay

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Today's LittleNip:

Goes to the whorehouse to sprinkle his dreams with glitter.

—Stephen Dobyns

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—Medusa


SnakeWatch: What's New from Rattlesnake Press:

Rattlesnake Review: The latest issue (#20) is currently available at The Book Collector, or send me four bux and I'll mail you one. Deadline for RR21 is this Sunday, 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; let us know if your submission is for the Review or for Medusa, or for either one.

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 The Book Collector or write to me and I'll send you one. Free!

New for February: Now available! A new rattlechap from Sacramento's Poet Laureate, Julia Connor (Oar); a free 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. Available from the poets or at The Book Collector (1008 24th St., Sacramento) or (soon) from rattlesnakepress.com/.

And on February 19, the premiere of our new, free Poetry Unplugged quarterly, WTF, edited by frank andrick, will be celebrated at Luna's Cafe, 1414 16th St., Sacramento, 8 PM. (For those of you just tuning in, Poetry Unplugged is the long-running reading series at Luna's Cafe.)

Coming in March: On Wednesday, March 11, Rattlesnake Press will be releasing a new chapbook from Norma Kohout (All Aboard); a littlesnake broadside from Patricia Hickerson (At Grail Castle Hotel); and a new issue of Rattlesnake Review (the Snake turns 21)! Join us at The Book Collector, 1008 24th St., Sacramento, 7:30. 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, or any other day!): 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.