STREET WINDOW
—Carl Sandburg
The pawn-shop man knows hunger,
And how far hunger has eaten the heart
Of one who comes with an old keepsake.
Here are wedding rings and baby bracelets,
Scarf pins and shoe buckles, jeweled garters,
Old-fashioned knives with inlaid handles,
Watches of old gold and silver,
Old coins worn with finger-marks.
They tell stories.
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This week's Seed of the Week is the Pawn Shop. Browse among the goods there and tell us your stories: things left behind, things in transit, things sorely missed. And thanks to Katy Brown for finding the piggy in the scale photo. Watch for her Musings3: An English Affair, her third blank journal of photos and poetry prompts which will be released at The Book Collector on April 8 at our Fifth Annual Birthday Bash/Buffet. And thanks to Jeanine Stevens for more circus poems, our SOW from last week. Remember—there is never a deadline for SOWs!
Some deadlines coming up:
•••May 1-3: Gold Rush Writers Retreat, founded by Antoinette May. The reasonable rate, $135.00, if paid by March 30, includes a full weekend of workshops, two dinners, and a brunch—all at the Leger Hotel in Mokelumne Hill. Al Young, California Poet Laureate, jazz musician, and fiction writer, will be leading a workshop Saturday and reading at the Friday poetry night that follows the picnic supper at Antoinette's lovely Victorian home. There's something for everyone, including a great flash fiction workshop with Sally Ashton. There is a laptop technology class with Tom Johnson, which will open worlds for you in researching for your books or articles. Lucy Sanna, Indigo Moor, Kevin Arnold, Helen Bonner, Donna Peck, and Antoinette May will all hold workshops and talks. Info: http://www.goldrushwriters.com/ or http://www.goldrushwriters.com/registration_2009.html/.
•••The Sacramento Poetry Center is now accepting submissions for its First Annual Poetry Book Contest. The winning poetry book manuscript (48-70 pages) will be published by the new SPC Press, and the winner will also receive the Cathy Washington Prize of $1000 and 50 free copies of the book. SPC will also consider publishing additional manuscripts. Deadline is March 31. For more info, plus submission guidelines, see the current issue of Poetry Now or go to www.sacramentopoetrycenter.org/.
•••Deadline for the Tiger's Eye Annual Poetry Contest has been changed from Feb. 28 to March 31! Send 3 of your finest, short bio, SASE, and $10 to Tiger's Eye 2009 Contest, P.O. Box 2935, Eugene, OR 97402. Judge will be Thomas D. Patterson. First prize is $500, 2nd is $100, 3rd is $50. Click to the link to the right of this column for more info.
•••Sat. (4/4), 8 AM-5 PM: Every writer, high school age and older, is welcome to the first San Joaquin Writers' Workshop at Delta College in Danner Hall (and adjacent rooms), 5151 Pacific Av., Stockton. This inaugural year, the focus is poetry. Each subsequent year will feature a specific genre. The day-long event is being organized by the SJDC Writers' Guild with support from the President's office, Delta's Associated Student Body Government, the Stockton Arts Commission and Friends of the Library (Stockton).
The day will begin at 8 AM with coffee and pastries. After a welcoming address, we'll break into morning workshops with instruction and writing time. "Lunch with a Poet" will showcase a known poet/publisher at each table in the Student Chef Restaurant. Following afternoon sessions, there will be a reading by the presenters, an open mic and a culminating reception, closing at 5 PM.
The presenters are Pulitzer nominee poet/songwriter Michael C. Ford; local poets Roger Naylor, Mabel "Jimi" Choice, and Poets on the Roof; from Delta College are Michael Duffett, Monika Rose, and retired poet/Puente mentor Richard Rios. The day-long event includes morning and afternoon sessions, Lunch with a Poet, and a concluding reading, open mic and reception. There will also be vendor tables, featuring the works of the presenting poets and books and supplies of interest to writers.
The cost for the day, including lunch, is $15. Registration deadline is APRIL 1. Register at www.sanjoaquinwritersworkshop.org or send a check to Writers’ Guild, San Joaquin Delta College, 5151 Pacific Av., Stockton, CA 95207. (Please put "San Joaquin Writers’ Workshop" in the memo line.)
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BLUE CIRCUS
(After Marc Chagall)
—Jeanine Stevens, Carmichael
This must be a poor circus,
no large animals, just a green horse
more like a mule, an emerald chicken
beating a drum—keeping time,
a sickly blue fish, perhaps a gar.
No elephants, bears,
or big cats on this program.
The audience far below in a half-circle,
the horse stupidly plodding,
kicking up sawdust, the hooped
dancer teasing some unseen partner.
Curved foundations and dark corners
frame this foreign entertainment.
High above, the lady swings
her escape, a ruby red costume
with black jeweled hearts
on ankles and knees. Hair heavy,
topsy-turvy, stage make-up
chalky and bright in primary colors
—complete her existence.
Sadly, she belongs here. Her visions
in flight are her life. They only
hold a faded bouquet, more like
cotton wads than flowers, and a new
moon with one eye hanging
on a hook next to a sun halfway
through an eclipse.
A brief glimpse
through the cracked canvas
narrowly illuminates places
unknown to her. She began too young,
this vocation. She cannot change,
too late to train
for something else besides
her teeth are missing.
It doesn’t matter, no one will notice.
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BOOKS OF THE BIBLE
—Jeanine Stevens
We memorized the sequence: Genesis,
Leviticus, Romans, Acts—each section
awarded a satin ribbon: peach, lemon, spring
green, and last—royal purple for Revelations.
We didn’t know what the prize would be.
Our Sunday School teacher was well-meaning.
I trusted her. When I got teased about
the black stain on my pink pinafore
(from plums I wasn’t supposed to eat)
she took me to the drugstore for a chocolate soda.
Two of us won! We rode the bus to the circus,
the other girl anticipating the chameleon
she would pin on her jacket. But the clowns
were threadbare, a pale, gaunt-looking
“Mr. Sensation,” swung on the high bars,
and the over-salted popcorn, in a red cellophane cone,
full of kernels. Later, all I remembered—
dust, famine, locusts, and a small lizard hanging
limp. I lived with the stain all summer.
________________
Today's LittleNip:
Clothing: another of anxiety's disguises.
—Stephen Dobyns
_________________
—Medusa
SnakeWatch: What's New from Rattlesnake Press:
Rattlesnake Review: The new Snake (RR21) is out! The issue is now available at The Book Collector, and the last of the contributor and subscription copies will go into the mail this week—or send me four bux and I'll mail you one. 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 MARCH: Rattlesnake Press is proud to present a new chapbook from Norma Kohout (All Aboard!!!); a free littlesnake broadside from Patricia Hickerson (At Grail Castle Hotel); and a new issue of Rattlesnake Review (the Snake turns 21)!
COMING IN APRIL: Wednesday, April 8 will be our FIFTH ANNUAL BIRTHDAY PARTY/BUFFET at The Book Collector, featuring a SpiralChap of poetry and photos from Laverne Frith (Celebrations: Images and Texts), a littlesnake broadside from Taylor Graham (Edge of Wildwood), and Musings3: An English Affair, a new blank journal of photos and writing prompts from Katy Brown. That’s at The Book Collector, 1008 24th St., Sacramento, 7:30 PM.
And April 15 is the deadline for the second issue of WTF, the free quarterly journal from Poetry Unplugged at Luna's Cafe that is edited by frank andrick. Submission guidelines are the same as for the Snake, but send your poems, 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 is for adults only, so you must be over 18 years of age to submit. Copies of the first issue are at The Book Collector, or send me two bux and I'll mail you one.
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.
