Santa Cruz Boardwalk
SANTA CRUZ BEACH BOARDWALK
—Cynthia Linville, Sacramento
As we wind down 680 and 17
we three talk work and relationships
offering solace and perspective
as only friends of twenty years can:
bankruptcy, divorce, and thorny coworkers
shrink in size
when viewed beside
well-worn college stories
of delectable sins
(for a while, we are twenty again).
We catch up
on the death and success
of people we knew
until the sea comes into view.
After twelve summers
of annual visits
we know the route by heart:
turn left to buy the wrist bands
ride the Tsunami
the Tornado
the Crazy Surf twice
(for Joy, once will suffice)
our nostrils assaulted
by smells that grow stronger
as the day wears on:
sticky funnel cakes, Coppertone,
garlic fries, diesel fumes,
rank fish, and vomited beer.
Sally, the cultural critic,
points out amusing signage
("Condiments" on an arrow
pointing to a trash can)
while Joy, the naturalist,
examines the multicolor geraniums
unfurling ferns, perfect spider webs
and I, the hedonist,
lose myself in teenage memories
of boys' fumbling mouths and hands
out on the sand.
__________________
Thanks, Cynthia! Never got to actually live in Santa Cruz, myself (is there still time?), but after hundreds of pilgrimages there of my own, such poems and photos still pull all sorts of feelings/memories out of me. So I've taken the liberty of adding a couple of Santa Cruz poems of my own. (See below.)
Time for a giveaway! Send me a poem of yours about Santa Cruz and I'll send you Julia Connor's new rattlechap, Oar, or any other rattlechap of your choosing. Deadline is quick: Monday night at midnight. Send 'em to kathykieth@hotmail.com or P.O. Box 762, Pollock Pines, CA 95726. If you've never been to Santa Cruz, well, fake it...
Cynthia Linville's work is represented in the new WTF (stop by The Book Collector for your free copy, or order one on rattlesnakepress.com), as well as in recent and future Rattlesnake Reviews, and she was featured on Medusa's Kitchen (click on July, 2008 at the right and scroll down to July 30). She serves as Poetry Editor of Poetry Now and hosts The Vox reading series, which is about to move to the new Vox gallery in West Sac where, together with Rattlechapper James Lee Jobe (see his blog in Medusa's links), many new/old/always exciting poets will be featured in the months to come!
A FORMAL AFFAIR
—Cynthia Linville
High heels click a slow careful step over frozen pavement.
A rustle of perfumed silk swirls about the ankles
and shoulders shiver under an inadequately warm wrap.
A man in black tie, solicitous at the elbow—
the two encircled by a golden lamplight.
Just for one second
I smell White Shoulders,
feel the warmth of your arm about my waist.
Then I’m back, alone in my car,
watching a couple cross an icy street.
___________________
This weekend in NorCal poetry:
•••Sat. (2/28), 7-9 PM: "The Show" at the Guild Theater, 2828 35th St., Sacramento. $7.00. Poetry, dance and comedy, and more!
•••Monday (3/2), 7:30 PM: Sacramento Poetry Center presents Richard Loranger at HQ for the Arts, 1719 25th St., Sacramento. Richard Loranger is a writer, performer, and visual artist who wandered back to San Francisco last fall after fifteen years in less savory climes. He is the author of Poems for Teeth (We Press, 2005), which Bob Holman calls “one of the most extraordinary and virtuosic poetic feats since Francis Ponge took on Soap,” as well as The Orange Book and eight chapbooks, including Hello Poems and The Day Was Warm and Blue. He is a recent and very happy escapee from The Big Mean Dirty City (New York). Free; donations accepted. Open mic following the feature.
Coming Up at SPC:
Tuesday, March 3: Brian Turner
Monday, March 9: Dobby Gibson and Matt Hart
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SANTA CRUZ
—Kathy Kieth, Pollock Pines
Sharp white spires on either end of town: one a postcard-
pristine church watching over tourists, the other a sword
of a lighthouse guarding surfers and ships.
One week each summer in a house on Ocean
Street, under the arms of a dark cypress
that was even taller than my dad.
Saltwater taffy dancing on its machine to the tune
of pinball played hard by strutting sailors.
Walking to the beach each day, where my dad and I
played gingerly at the edge. His legs, white
from a year buried under heavy work pants, always
burned to pink.
Middle-aged mansions and their palm trees turning up
noses at hitchhikers who thumbed along the cliffs.
My mother, who never sunburned, planted
in the sand in a lawn chair, far from the water.
Out on the pier: shrimp Louies with too much lettuce, then
tossing overpriced fishheads to greedy seals and seagulls.
Grandma coming with us every year (my mother’s
in-law). They hated each other, and Grandma never
went down to the beach.
Boardwalk brawlers wolfing cotton candy and flirting with
under-age girls who came over from San Jose for some risky
Saturday night adventure.
Spending the end of my money on musty motel rooms
with orange-and-avocado sofas. Two honeymoons,
at opposite ends of town. I brought my dog along
on the second one—the one that survived.
__________________
WHEN PEOPLE FLY—
kite-surfing, maybe, off the coast
of Santa Cruz: thin fabric of rainbow
skiing you up the face of a wave: flip
and dive and somersault as you pretend
those thin arms are wings: pretend for
half a breath that you are the float
of a gull or the broad soar of the pelican:
flip away from those mortal waves just
for a second or two: kite-surfing, maybe:
gift of an hour’s grand illusion that
those thin arms are wings, that flimsy
rainbows of fabric can turn you into
an angel, just because you say it’s so:
strap on a sliver of a board and dive in
somewhere off the coast of lazy,
good-for-nothing Santa Cruz…
—Kathy Kieth
__________________
Today's LittleNip:
Roar, lion of the heart,
and tear me open!
—Rumi
_________________
—Medusa
SnakeWatch: What's New from Rattlesnake Press:
Rattlesnake Review: The latest issue (RR20) is currently available at The Book Collector, or send me four bux and I'll mail you one. Deadline for RR21 was Feb. 15; the issue will appear in mid-March. Next deadline is May 15 for RR22: 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/.
WTF is out!
Be sure to stop by The Book Collector to pick up your free copy of Rattlesnake Press's latest spawn, WTF—our new quarterly journal which premiered last night in a rousing event hosted by frank andrick which ran into the wee hours at Luna's Cafe. WTF #1 features 22 poets, artists and photogs from the Poetry Unplugged scene; next deadline is April 15 (oooo...tax day!). Guidelines are pretty much the same as the RR ones listed below, except that frank wants three poems (instead of 3-5), and you must be over 18 to submit. Send poems, artwork, and photos to fandrickpub@hotmail.com or the RPress snail address. If you can't get to The Book Collector, send me two bux and I'll mail you one, or I suspect they're available at Luna's.
What's the difference between Rattlesnake Review and WTF? The over-18 thing should give you a clue. WTF is leaner (smaller), meaner, and more geared to the "Luna's voice", if there is such a thing—and if you ever go to Poetry Unplugged on Thursday nights at Luna's Cafe, 1414 16th St., Sacramento, you'll see what I mean. Its material also tends to be more X-rated. The Review is big and fat, has articles and other features, and represents a wide variety of styles and genres. But if you're over 18, you're welcome to submit to either one. I edit the Review; frank andrick edits WTF.
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.......!
_________________
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.
