Photo by Jane Blue, Sacramento
BOSTON
—Patricia Hickerson, Davis
I followed him to Boston on the train
Although he didn't know it at the time
I saw him kiss a woman in the rain
I understood the reason and the rhyme.
Although he didn't know it at the time
I'd feared another woman in his heart
I understood the reason and the rhyme
I guess our love was doomed right from the start.
I'd feared another woman in his heart
Someone he'd known from many years ago
I guess our love was doomed right from the start
I wept to see their kiss was long and slow.
Someone he'd known from many years ago
Would now the mistress of his thoughts remain
I wept to see their kiss was long and slow
I followed him to Boston on the train.
__________________
Thanks to Pat Hickerson for the pantoum and to Jane Blue for the photo!
The Sacramento Poetry Center has exploded with activity this National Poetry Month. Not only have they continued their weekly reading series, the weekly Hart Center workshop and the bi-weekly South Natomas workshop, but they also sponsored a weekend workshop as well, plus released the first book from their new press (Sometimes in the Open, an anthology of poets laureate from cities around the state), and sponsored a release party for the anthology. Now this week they have two readings scheduled, an additional workshop on Weds., and Weds. is the deadline for the high school poetry contest (see below for details on all these events)! Way to go, SPC!
•••Monday (4/13), 7:30 PM: Sacramento Poetry Center (HQ for the Arts, 1719 25th St., Sacramento) presents Lisa Dominguez Abraham and Dennis Hock. Lisa Dominguez Abraham's work has appeared in a number of journals. She has more work appearing in Tule Review, The Suisun Valley Review and Prairie Schooner, and a forthcoming issue of North American Review. Her chapbook, Low Notes, was released by Red Wing Press in Fall 2007.
Dennis Hock, who teaches at Cosumnes River College, has been an English professor for over 30 years. He also works in hospitals and retreat centers with grief therapy groups that use expressive writing as a healing process. He is editor and contributing author of Looking Outward, Looking Inward: A Social Ethics Reader. His first poetry collection is entitled The Secret Cup.
•••Tues. (4/14), 7:30 PM: Sacramento Poetry Center presents Pam Houston and UC Davis students at HQ for the Arts, 1719 25th St., Sacramento. Pam Houston is the author of two collections of linked short stories: Cowboys Are My Weakness (W.W. Norton), which was the winner of the 1993 Western States Book Award and has been translated into nine languages, and Waltzing the Cat (W.W. Norton) which won the Willa Award for Contemporary Fiction. Her stories have been selected for the Best American Short Stories, the O. Henry Awards, the Pushcart Prize, and the Best American Short Stories of the Century. A collection of essays, A Little More About Me, was published by W.W. Norton in the fall of 1999. Her first novel, Sighthound, was published by W.W. Norton in January, 2005. Houston is the Director of Creative Writing at U.C. Davis and she teaches at many summer writers’ conferences and festivals in the U.S. and abroad.
•••Weds. (4/15), 4-5 PM: Sacramento Poetry Center presents a Poetry Workshop with Sandra Senne, South Natomas Library, 2901 Truxel Rd., Sacramento.
•••Weds. (4/15) is the deadline for Sacramento Poetry Center's Third Annual High School Poetry Writing Contest! Entry is free; prizes include $100 for our Grand Prize winner, free books and swag for finalists, and publication in Poetry Now, the monthly journal of the Sacramento Poetry Center. Grand Prize winner will receive an invitation to read his or her work at SPC in the Summer. Be sure to include an SASE (self-addressed, stamped envelope) if you want notification of winners. Note: poems should not have your name on them; include a separate cover letter with your name, address, phone and email address, and the titles of your poems. Also indicate the name of your school. Limit of 3 poems per student.
Send your original poems to:
High School Poetry Contest
Sacramento Poetry Center
P.O. Box 160406
Sacramento, CA 95816
email submissions will be accepted: send to tulereview@sacramentopoetrycenter.org/. Put "SPC HS CONTEST" in the subject line. Include above information sheet as the body of the email, and send each individual poems as an attachment (MS Word documents only).
Questions? tulereview@sacramentopoetrycenter.org/.
__________________
Also this week in NorCal poetry:
•••Weds. (4/15) is the deadline for the second issue of WTF, Rattlesnake Press's 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 (see below), 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 two bux to the Pollock Pines address and we'll mail you one.
•••Thurs. (4/16), 8 PM: Poetry Unplugged at Luna's Cafe, 1414 16th St., Sacramento. Featured readers with open mic before and after. Free.
—Patricia Hickerson, Davis
I followed him to Boston on the train
Although he didn't know it at the time
I saw him kiss a woman in the rain
I understood the reason and the rhyme.
Although he didn't know it at the time
I'd feared another woman in his heart
I understood the reason and the rhyme
I guess our love was doomed right from the start.
I'd feared another woman in his heart
Someone he'd known from many years ago
I guess our love was doomed right from the start
I wept to see their kiss was long and slow.
Someone he'd known from many years ago
Would now the mistress of his thoughts remain
I wept to see their kiss was long and slow
I followed him to Boston on the train.
__________________
Thanks to Pat Hickerson for the pantoum and to Jane Blue for the photo!
The Sacramento Poetry Center has exploded with activity this National Poetry Month. Not only have they continued their weekly reading series, the weekly Hart Center workshop and the bi-weekly South Natomas workshop, but they also sponsored a weekend workshop as well, plus released the first book from their new press (Sometimes in the Open, an anthology of poets laureate from cities around the state), and sponsored a release party for the anthology. Now this week they have two readings scheduled, an additional workshop on Weds., and Weds. is the deadline for the high school poetry contest (see below for details on all these events)! Way to go, SPC!
•••Monday (4/13), 7:30 PM: Sacramento Poetry Center (HQ for the Arts, 1719 25th St., Sacramento) presents Lisa Dominguez Abraham and Dennis Hock. Lisa Dominguez Abraham's work has appeared in a number of journals. She has more work appearing in Tule Review, The Suisun Valley Review and Prairie Schooner, and a forthcoming issue of North American Review. Her chapbook, Low Notes, was released by Red Wing Press in Fall 2007.
Dennis Hock, who teaches at Cosumnes River College, has been an English professor for over 30 years. He also works in hospitals and retreat centers with grief therapy groups that use expressive writing as a healing process. He is editor and contributing author of Looking Outward, Looking Inward: A Social Ethics Reader. His first poetry collection is entitled The Secret Cup.
•••Tues. (4/14), 7:30 PM: Sacramento Poetry Center presents Pam Houston and UC Davis students at HQ for the Arts, 1719 25th St., Sacramento. Pam Houston is the author of two collections of linked short stories: Cowboys Are My Weakness (W.W. Norton), which was the winner of the 1993 Western States Book Award and has been translated into nine languages, and Waltzing the Cat (W.W. Norton) which won the Willa Award for Contemporary Fiction. Her stories have been selected for the Best American Short Stories, the O. Henry Awards, the Pushcart Prize, and the Best American Short Stories of the Century. A collection of essays, A Little More About Me, was published by W.W. Norton in the fall of 1999. Her first novel, Sighthound, was published by W.W. Norton in January, 2005. Houston is the Director of Creative Writing at U.C. Davis and she teaches at many summer writers’ conferences and festivals in the U.S. and abroad.
•••Weds. (4/15), 4-5 PM: Sacramento Poetry Center presents a Poetry Workshop with Sandra Senne, South Natomas Library, 2901 Truxel Rd., Sacramento.
•••Weds. (4/15) is the deadline for Sacramento Poetry Center's Third Annual High School Poetry Writing Contest! Entry is free; prizes include $100 for our Grand Prize winner, free books and swag for finalists, and publication in Poetry Now, the monthly journal of the Sacramento Poetry Center. Grand Prize winner will receive an invitation to read his or her work at SPC in the Summer. Be sure to include an SASE (self-addressed, stamped envelope) if you want notification of winners. Note: poems should not have your name on them; include a separate cover letter with your name, address, phone and email address, and the titles of your poems. Also indicate the name of your school. Limit of 3 poems per student.
Send your original poems to:
High School Poetry Contest
Sacramento Poetry Center
P.O. Box 160406
Sacramento, CA 95816
email submissions will be accepted: send to tulereview@sacramentopoetrycenter.org/. Put "SPC HS CONTEST" in the subject line. Include above information sheet as the body of the email, and send each individual poems as an attachment (MS Word documents only).
Questions? tulereview@sacramentopoetrycenter.org/.
__________________
Also this week in NorCal poetry:
•••Weds. (4/15) is the deadline for the second issue of WTF, Rattlesnake Press's 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 (see below), 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 two bux to the Pollock Pines address and we'll mail you one.
•••Thurs. (4/16), 8 PM: Poetry Unplugged at Luna's Cafe, 1414 16th St., Sacramento. Featured readers with open mic before and after. Free.
•••Friday (4/17), 7:30 PM: The Other Voice (sponsored by the U.U. Church of Davis) presents Hannah Stein. She was born in Brooklyn, grew up in rural upstate New York, and (fortunately for us) moved with her husband, Sherman, to Davis. Their first home, which was on F Street, is now the Wells Fargo parking lot. Hannah is a widely published poet whose poems and essays on contemporary poetry have recently appeared or are forthcoming in Poetry Flash, Nimrod, Hunger Mountain, Sow’s Ear, and American Literary Review. Her poetry collection, Earthlight, was published by La Questa Press and her chapbooks include Schools of Flying Fish and Greatest Hits. Refreshments and Open Mike follow the reading, so bring along a poem or two to share. Free.
•••Friday (4/17), 7 PM: Poetry at Raven's Tale bookstore, 352 Main St., Placerville. Featured reader is Molly Fisk. A short poetry open-mic follows (signup before the feature). Free.
•••Deadline is Friday, April 17 for nominations to the Stockton Arts Commission for individuals, organizations and patrons in the Stockton area who have made major contributions to arts and culture in the community. Categories include the STAR Award (Stockton’s Top Arts Award Recognition), the Patron Award, the Volunteer Award and the Career Achievement Award. Other categories may be designated if appropriate. Recipients will be honored at a celebration on September 11. Criteria and nomination forms can be downloaded at www.stocktongov.com/arts or by email to deena.heath@ci.stockton.ca.us/. Info: 209-937-7488.
•••Sat. (4/18), 7-8:30 PM: Poetry at The (new) Vox , 4th and F in West Sac, just over the I Street Bridge from downtown (Old Union Hall). Readers: Rachel Leibrock, Joe Atkins, Lytton Bell, Genelle Chaconas, James Benton, Jen Jenkins, Matt Veazey, and Crystal Anderson. Hosted by Cynthia Linville. Benefit for the Sacramento Homeless; donations welcome. Info: clinville@csus.edu or VoxSac.com/.
•••Sat. (4/18), 7:30 PM: Six Ft. Swells Press presents Poems from the Night Shift featuring Matt Amott, Julie Valin, Todd Cirillo & Will Staple—an evening to celebrate the Ridge release of Will's newest chapbook (published by Six Ft. Swells Press), The One That Got Away. The evening also celebrates the Six Ft. Swells release of Poems from the Night Shift featuring, for the first time ever, the co-founders, publishers, pirates and poets of Six Ft. Swells: Matt Amott, Julie Valin & Todd Cirillo, who say: You have all been working so hard all winter,slaving away dog-tired each night trying to make ends meet, dreaming up scenerios of "giving that motherfucker of a boss what's coming to them." Well, the worker bees here at Six Ft. Swells are with you..Solidarity...let's kick out the jams, brothers and sisters!! Let's celebrate springtime proper with a Six Ft. Swells party. It is truly one of those rare evenings when the stars will shine, the moon will be a bit closer than usual and the bar will be open for as long as we choose. The reading will be held at the North Columbia Schoolhouse Cultural Center, 17894 Tyler Foote Rd. (on the San Juan Ridge), Nevada City. Info: 265-2826 or 277-4379, sixfootswells@yahoo.com www.myspace.com/sixftswells/.
•••Sunday (4/19), 7 PM: Time Tested Books presents Traci Gourdine and Quinton Duval, 1114 21st St., Sacramento. Quinton Duval is the author of four collections of poems: Guerrilla Letters, Dinner Music, Joe’s Rain, and, from Rattlesnake Press, Among Summer Pines. He teaches English and Creative Writing at Solano Community College and is the editor and publisher of Red Wing Press. Dennis Schmitz has called Duvall's poems "buoyant and smart, full of feeling,
suddenly deep—I think they are marvelous in every way." Traci Gourdine is a terrific poet whose work has appeared in Calliope, ZYZZYVA, and other small magazines. She is the co-editor of Night is Gone, Day is Still Coming, a collection of work by young American Indian writers. Her letters to poet Quincy Troupe have been anthologized in the book, Letters to Poets. She currently teaches English at American River College. A donation (which goes to the poets) is requested. Info: Time Tested Books, Peter Keat or Scott Soriano, (916) 447-5696, books@timetestedbooks.net/ or timetestedbooks.net/.
__________________
SPRING
—Edna St. Vincent Millay
To what purpose, April, do you return again?
Beauty is not enough.
You can no longer quiet me with the redness
Of little leaves opening stickily.
I know what I know.
The sun is hot on my neck as I observe
The spikes of the crocus.
The smell of the earth is good.
It is apparent that there is no death.
But what does that signify?
Not only under ground are the brains of men
Eaten by maggots.
Life in itself
Is nothing,
An empty cup, a flight of uncarpeted stairs.
It is not enough that yearly, down this hill,
April
Comes like an idiot, babbling and strewing flowers.
__________________
THE FAMILY
—Mary Oliver
The dark things of the wood
Are coming from their caves,
Flexing muscle.
They browse the orchard,
Nibble the sea of grasses
Around our yellow rooms,
Scarcely looking in
To see what we are doing
And if they still know us.
We hear them, or think we do:
The muzzle lapping moonlight,
The tooth in the apple.
Put another log on the fire;
Mozart, again, on the turntable.
Still there is a sorrow
With us in the room.
We remember the cave.
In our dreams we go back
Or they come to visit.
They also like music.
We eat leaves together.
They are our brothers.
They are the family
We have run away from.
___________________
BEING COUNTRY BRED
—Mary Oliver
Being country bred, I am at ease in darkness;
Like everything that thrives
In fields beyond the city's keep, I own
Five wooden senses, and a sixth like water.
These things I know
Before they set their mark upon the earth:
Chinook and snow,
Mornings of frost in the well, of birth in the barns.
Sweet world,
Think not to confuse me with poems or love beginning
Without a sign or sound:
Here at the edge of rivers hung with ice
Spring is still miles away, and yet I wake
Throughout the dark, listen, and throb with all
Her summoning explosions underground.
__________________
Today's LittleNip:
THE TELL
—William Bronk
I want to tell my friends how beautiful
the world is. Not but what they know
it is terrible too—they know as well as I;
but nevertheless, I want to tell my friends.
Because they are. And this is what they are;
and because it is and this is what it is.
You are my friend.
The world is beautiful.
Dear friend, you are. I want to tell you so.
_________________
—Medusa
SnakeWatch: What's New from Rattlesnake Press:
Rattlesnake Review: The latest Snake (RR21) is now available (free) at The Book Collector, 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, and please—only one submission per issue.
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 APRIL: A SpiralChap of poetry and photos from Laverne Frith (Celebrations: Images and Texts); a (free!) 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. Now available from the authors, or The Book Collector, or (soon) rattlesnakepress.com/.
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.......!
_________________
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.
