Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Cinquain-o-Rama!

Adelaide Crapsey


ADELAIDE CRAPSEY
—Carl Sandburg


Among the bumble-bees in red-top hay, a freckled field of brown-eyed Susans dripping yellow leaves in July,
I read your heart in a book.

And your mouth of blue pansy—I know somewhere I have seen it rain-shattered.

And I have seen a woman with her head flung between her naked knees, and her head held there listening to the sea, the great naked sea shouldering a load of salt.


And the blue pansy mouth sang to the sea:

Mother of God, I’m so little a thing,

Let me sing longer,
Only a little longer.

And the sea shouldered its salt in long gray combers hauling new shapes on the beach sand.

___________________

Adelaide Crapsey
(September 9, 1878–October 8, 1914) was an American poet. Born in Brooklyn, New York, she was raised in Rochester, New York, daughter of Episcopal priest Algernon Sidney Crapsey, who had been transferred from New York City to Rochester, and Adelaide T. Crapsey. She attended public school in Rochester, and then Kemper Hall, an Episcopal girls' preparatory school in Kenosha, Wisconsin, before entering Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, New York, where she was class poet for three years and editor-in-chief of the Vassarion in 1901, the year she graduated.

That same year, her sister Emily died, and Adelaide delayed starting her teaching career for a year. In 1902 she took a position at Kemper Hall, where she taught until 1904. She then spent a year at the School of Classical Studies at the American Academy in Rome and taught for two years at Smith College in Northhampton, Massachusetts.
Crapsey was in poor health starting in 1908, following her eldest brother's death in May 1907, and her father's trial for heresy in 1906, after which he was dismissed from the ministry. In 1911, she was diagnosed with tuberculosis, but she withheld the news from her family and continued to teach at Smith until she collapsed in the summer of 1913. She then moved to a private cure cottage in Saranac Lake, New York, where she stayed for a year. In August, 1914, Crapsey returned to Rochester, where she died on October 8, 1914, at the age of 36.

In the years before her death, she wrote much of the verse on which her reputation rests. Her interest in rhythm and meter led her to create a variation on the cinquain (or quintain), a 5-line form of 22 syllables influenced by the Japanese haiku and tanka. Her cinquain has a generally iambic meter and consists of 2 syllables in the first and last lines and 4, 6 and 8 syllables in the middle three lines.


The year following her death, Claude Bragdon published
Verses, a posthumous selection of her cinquains and other verse forms. Revised editions were published in 1922 and 1934 and contain earlier unpublished work. Also published posthumously in 1918 was the unfinished A Study in English Metrics, a work she began during her three-year stay in Europe. She is buried in Mount Hope Cemetery in Rochester, and her papers are at the University of Rochester Library archives. Poet Carl Sandburg was partly responsible for the continued interest in the cinquain and in keeping Crapsey from obscurity through his poem, "Adelaide Crapsey" [see above].

Here are some of Adelaide’s cinquains:


NOVEMBER NIGHT
—Adelaide Crapsey

Listen . . .
With faint dry sound,
Like steps of passing ghosts,
The leaves, frost-crisp’d, break from the trees
And fall.

____________

SNOW
—Adelaide Crapsey

Look up . . .
From bleakening hills
Blows down the light, first breath
Of wintry wind . . . look up, and scent
The snow!

_____________

TRAPPED
—Adelaide Crapsey

Well and
If day on day
Follows and weary year
On year . . . and ever days and years . . .
Well?

_____________

NIGHT WINDS
—Adelaide Crapsey

The old
Old winds that blew
When chaos was, what do
They tell the clattered trees that I
Should weep?

________________

THE WARNING
—Adelaide Crapsey

Just now,
Out of the strange
Still dusk . . . as strange, as still . . .
A white moth flew . . . Why am I grown
So cold?

___________________

Got it? Let’s take on the
cinquain this week as our Seed of the Week! Here again is the summary of the form, this from Bob’s ByWays (see Snake Faves on rattlesnakepress.com for a link to that invaluable website). Technically, in French it would be san-KEN. “Bob’s” has it sing-KANE; around here, I hear it pronounced sin-KWANE. And by the way, it has nothing to do with the haiku form, which has many more rules and requires an a-HA or reveal (kensho, epiphany) at the end.

CINQUAIN (sing-KANE):
A five-line stanza of syllabic verse, the successive lines containing two, four, six, eight and two syllables.

Betcha can’t write just one…



In the mood for a little Bass?


Ellen Bass
will appear at two area venues this weekend:

•••Sat/Sun (4/4-5):
Pleasanton Poetry, Prose and Arts Festival. Keynote Speaker: Dana Gioia. Workshop presenters: Ellen Bass, Toby Bielawski, Susan Browne, Sandra Kay, Alison Luterman, Elizabeth Rosner, Floyd Salas, Penny Warner, Al Young. Info: 925-417-0262, email Poetgal2@aol.com or visit www.pleasantonarts.org/.

•••Sat. (4/4):
Poetry Workshop (1-3 PM) and reading (3:30 PM) by Ellen Bass at the Milpitas Public Library, 160 N. Main St., Milpitas. Info: 408-262-1171 ext. 3621 or lteixeir@library.sccgov.org/.


More ways to celebrate National Poetry Month:


Margaret Bell
reminds us to check out Poetry.org for plenty of ways to celebrate National Poetry Month, which starts tomorrow. To celebrate National Poetry month, Citrus Heights Area Poets will have a "pocket full of poems" on the community table at Barnes & Noble (Sunrise Boulevard in Citrus Heights). Drop by and pick up a poem to put in your pocket.


"Taining" things:

Heck, if you're into the syllabic thing (some people out there are still hooked on etherees), you don't need to stop at five lines, right? Here's a form I ran across a while ago: a septain, which uses the same principle for seven lines instead of the five of Adelaide's cinquain. And, I suppose, eight lines would be... you guessed it—high octain!

TORTURE BY RAIN (A Septain)
—Kathy Kieth

Drip drip . . .
water faucet
leaks out of the gray sky . . .
steady torture. No other sound
breaks the monotony
of this gruesome
tapping . . .

_________________

Today's LittleNip:

A leaf falls;
Totsu! a leaf falls,
on the wind.

—Hattori Ransetsu (1654-1707)

_________________

—Medusa



SnakeWatch: What's New from Rattlesnake Press:


Rattlesnake Review: The latest Snake (RR21) is now available 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!

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.......!

_________________


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.

Monday, March 30, 2009

Scaring The Jackals Off


Candy Canes
Photo by D.R. Wagner



PAWNED

—dawn di bartolo, citrus heights

the old guitar
of fine-glossed aspiration
rests out of tune
with life’s many worries
against the white-
washed walls.
faced with daycare for
the latch-key child
afraid of his own shadow,
the mother, with
salt in her eyes,
touches tenderly
to inevitability,
says her goodbyes:
the choice
is without question.
things change,
she tells herself,
and time will allow
for dream.

the glass doors are
cold and uninviting,
the name of the pawnshop
chipping away
in degrees of desperation,
quick fixes sticky
on the door handle,
yet she grips it tightly
to steady herself.
songs she’s never sung
blow thru her hair
in new and acoustic breezes.
inside, the agitated few
echo her indecisive melody,
and she pushes thru
to barter with the
bearded man behind the counter.

forty bucks,
he says with detachment.
so little, dreams are worth.

tonight, she’ll sing
the children lullabies
in the key of G, unaccompanied.
she’ll sing them truth:
that dreams aren’t always the
songs we sing, but
love is beautiful music.

_________________

This week in NorCal poetry:

•••Monday (3/30), 7:30 PM: Sacramento Poetry Center presents Sacramento City College !X Ethnic Theatre at HQ for the Arts, 1719 25th St. (at R), Sacramento. Original poetry/monologues/scenes/music/dance by The Sacramento City College Ethnic Theatre Workshop, which integrates various forms of art (playwriting, poetry, music, dance, visual art) with race, ethnic and gender studies. It is led by Angela-Dee Alforque.

Coming next week to SPC:

•••Mon. (4/6), 7:30 PM: Sacramento Poetry Center presents poets laureate from Sacramento (and elsewhere in California) reading from Sometimes in the Open, SPC Press's first release. Featured readers are: Dennis Schmitz, Julia Connor, Terry Ehret, Sam Pierstorff, Kevin Patrick Sullivan, Carolyn Wing Greenlee. Sometimes in the Open is an anthology of 65 poets laureate from around California. The reading will take place at California Stage, 2509 R St., Sacramento. Info: 916-979-9706.

NOTE: SPC's website has recently undergone a wonderful refurb, thanks to Richard Hansen of The Book Collector fame. Click on the Sacramento Poetry Center link to the right of this column and check it out!

•••Weds. (4/1), 9 PM: Poetry Night at Bistro 33 in Davis celebrates its first Poetry Night of National Poetry Month with a performance by Drew Dellinger: spoken word poet, teacher, writer, activist and founder of Poets for Global Justice. Drew has spoken at hundreds of events in many countries, performing poetry and keynoting on justice, ecology, cosmology, activism, democracy and compassion and sharing podiums and stages with luminaries such as Alice Walker, Cornel West, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Danny Glover, Ani DiFranco, Eve Ensler, Chuck D, Paul Hawken, Van Jones and many others. His work has appeared on radio, in films, books, anthologies, and in magazines, from The New York Times magazine to YES! magazine. His collection of poems, love letter to the milky way—now in its third printing—has sold thousands of copies in North America, South America, Europe, Africa and Australia.

From 2006-2007 Dellinger was Associate Professor and Director of the Program in Social Ecology at John F. Kennedy University. He has taught at colleges, graduate schools and learning centers, including Prescott College, Naropa University-Oakland, Esalen Institute, and Sophia Center. Dellinger has studied cosmology and ecological thought with Thomas Berry since 1990 and is finishing his Ph.D. at the California Institute of Integral Studies. He is currently writing his dissertation on Martin Luther King Jr. and the connections between cosmology, ecology and social justice. Dellinger lives in the San Francisco Bay Area. (www.drewdellinger.org/)

Poetry Night at Bistro 33 occurs every first and third Wednesday of the month at 226 F Street in Davis. Andy Jones is the host and Brad Henderson the executive producer of Poetry Night. After brief preludes, the featured poet begins reading about ten minutes after 9 PM. The open mic begins at 10 PM. Come early to reserve a table or to add your name to the open mic list. Poetry Night events are free and open to the public.

•••Thurs. (4/2), 8 PM: Poetry Unplugged at Luna's Cafe, 1414 16th St., Sacramento. Features, with open mic before and after. Free.

•••Friday (4/3) and Sat. (4/4): Sacramento Poetry Center Writers Conference at HQ for the Arts, 1719 25th St. (at R), Sacramento. FREE FREE FREE! Friday night (7:30-9 PM) features William O’Daly, Libby Kovacs and Susan Kelly-DeWitt. Saturday features coffee and muffins at 9 AM, followed by workshops from 10-12 and 1-3; panel discussion til 4, and then a reading by Camille Dungy, Matthew Zapruder, Camille Norton. For more details, including presenter bios, or to pre-register for specific workshops, go to www.sacramentopoetrycenter.org [click on the new link at the right of this column and check out the spiffy new site!] and click on the blue box.

•••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. The cost for the day, including lunch, is $15. REGISTRATION DEADLINE IS APRIL 1. More info or register at www.sanjoaquinwritersworkshop.org or send a check to Writers’ Guild, San Joaquin Delta College, 5151 Pacific Av., Stoctkon, CA 95207. (Please put "San Joaquin Writers’ Workshop" in the memo line.)


Some deadlines this week, too!

•••Get your money in TODAY (March 30) for the early rate on the 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 historic 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 which 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/.

•••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 on the right for more info.

•••Deadline is tomorrow (Tuesday, March 31), for the Sacramento Poetry Center's First Annual Poetry Book Contest. The winning poetry book manuscript (48-70 pages) will be published by the 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. For more info, plus submission guidelines, see the current issue of Poetry Now or go to www.sacramentopoetrycenter.org/.

_________________

Her quick eyes
and animated mouth
unsettle me.
So, of course,
her lifted breasts, full lips—
soft fruits of desire.
But why should a
single wisp of hair,
stroked beneath her
navel like
some unforgettable
line of poetry,
reduce me to such
anguish?


—Bhartribari

__________________

On makeshift
bedding in the cucumber
garden, the hilltribe
girl clings to
her exhausted lover.
Limbs still chafing
with pleasure, dissolving
against him she
now and again with
one bare foot
jostles a shell necklace
that hangs from a
vine on the fence—
rattling it
through the night,
scaring the jackals off.


—Vidya

_________________

Now that the rainy
season is on us,
restless wild mountain tribe couples
no longer descend
the paths to make love here.
The bamboo thickets
flanking these hillside
creeks have grown quiet.
Along the banks, fresh
shoots are emerging,
tips clad in soft bark,
black as the skin
on a kid-goat's ear.


—Anonymous

_________________

A snatch of dream,
a juggler's contrivance—
making love to her
lasts a flickering instant,
then disillusion.
A hundred times
I tell myself this
but still can't forget
those antelope eyes.


—Dharmakirti

(These poems were translated from the Sanskrit by Andrew Schelling in Dropping the Bow: Poems from Ancient India, Broken Moon Press, 1991.)

_________________

Today's LittleNip:

Poetry is the art of using words charged to their greatest intensity.

—Dana Gioia

_________________

—Medusa



SnakeWatch: What's New from Rattlesnake Press:


Rattlesnake Review: The latest Snake (RR21) is now available 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.

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!

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.......!

_________________


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.

Sunday, March 29, 2009

The Flavor of Appreciation



APPRECIATION
—Deng Ming-Dao

The sun rose and set today in twelve hours.
We plucked golden pears from arching branches.
Climbing a thousand steps to a rustic temple,
We made our offerings to the gods.

At nightfall, we sat in warm companionship.
A crescent moon joined our circle.
Dipping water from the silver-braided stream,
We set it bubbling in an earthenware pot.

It's not easy to brew good tea,
But this teapot has a venerable history:
A scholar once pawned all his books for it.
Now it imparts the flavor of antiquity.

___________________

—Medusa


The appreciation of life does not require wealth or plenty. It requires only gratitude for the beauty of the world. —Deng Ming-Dao

Saturday, March 28, 2009

Naked, With Strawberries


Photo by Frank Dixon Graham, Sacramento


AWAKENING SONGS
—Allegra Jostad Silberstein, Davis

A crow calls
then others join
the caw-caw
cacophony.

A scrub jay
yaps its presence.
Chickadees chirp
chi-chi-chi.

Traffic
from 80
makes a constant
basso continuo.

A pale quarter moon
is poised like a fermata
at the end-line
of the pine tree

where a crow alights
and with a castanet-
flick of his beak,
checks for food.

Wakening
to the day
I play
my song-flute.

_________________

Thanks, Allegra, for the aubade! Join Allegra Silbertstein and James Lee Jobe at the Unitarian-Universalist Church of Sacramento tomorrow at 1:15 PM for a forum on "What is the Point of Poetry?" [See yesterday's Medusa for details.] The forum will be hosted by Poem Spirits Tom Goff, Nora Staklis, and JoAnn Anglin. Below is a poem by Tom. As for the rest of today's poems, well, looks like the season has Medusa feeling frisky...


BRAIN SKIN
—Tom Goff, Carmichael

(on the finding that depression may be related to a thinner
than normal outer layer of the brain)


The axiom “to have a skin too few”:
what does it mean? Have we been peeled like onion?
What durable defensive layer is gone,
what inward quivering-livid nerves laid bare?
Onionskins: they weep when separated;
their parting is the reason others weep.
But in the compact center, tougher wafers,
stronger, more pressed-together fabrications.
And yet we learn that the brain relies on skin,
that hope and rallying force and optimism
don’t just shine through some glassy mental prism;
these generate from, originate in, mind skin
several plies deep, just as a stronger liquor
comes once the distillable substances are thicker.
Let Whitman claim that souls are like quahogs,
quiverable skins, electrical conductors
imbedded in, surging through, thin shells of us.
We touch, but are we transcendentalist?
Or are the hardest hats the happy caps?
If domains as isolated as roadkill possum
more mutually quicken the thicker the corpus callosum,
now, sensitives, let’s firm up our cerebral callus,
the radiant outworks to our spirit-palace.

_________________

THE CUSTOM OF THE WORLD
—Louis Simpson

O, we loved long and happily, God knows!
The ocean danced, the green leaves tossed, the air
Was filled with petals, and pale Venus rose
When we began to kiss. Kisses brought care,
And closeness caused the taking off of clothes.
O, we loved long and happily, God knows!

'The watchdogs are asleep, the doormen doze...'
We huddled in the corners of the stair,
And then we climbed it. What had we to lose?
What would we gain? The best way to compare
And quickest, was by taking off our clothes.
O, we loved long and happily, God knows!

Between us two a silent treason grows,
Our pleasures have been changed into despair.
Wild is the wind, from a cold country blows,
In which these tender blossoms disappear.
And did this come of taking off our clothes?
O, we loved long and happily, God knows!

Mistress, my song is drawing to a close.
Put on your rumpled skirt and comb your hair,
And when we meet again let us suppose
We never loved or ever naked were.
For though this nakedness was good, God knows,
The custom of the world is wearing clothes.

__________________

WE DID IT
—Yehuda Amichai

We did it in front of the mirror
And in the light. We did it in darkness,
In water, and in the high grass.

We did it in honour of man
And in honour of beast and in honour of God.
But they didn't want to know about us,
They'd already seen our sort.

We did it with imigination and colours,
With confusion of reddish hair and brown
And with difficult gladdening
Exercises. We did it

Like wheels and holy creatures
And with chariot-feats of prophets.
We did it six wings
And six legs

But the heavens
Were hard above us
Like the earth of the summer beneath.


(Translated from the Hebrew by Harold Schimmel)

_________________

A THUNDERSTORM IN TOWN
—Thomas Hardy

(A Reminiscence: 1893)

She wore a new 'terra-cotta' dress,
And we stayed, because of the pelting storm,
Within the hansom's dry recess,
Though the horse had stopped; yea, motionless
We sat on, snug and warm.

Then the downpour ceased, to my sharp sad pain
And the glass that had screened our forms before
Flew up, and out she sprang to her door:
I should have kissed her if the rain
Had lasted a minute more.

___________________

STRAWBERRIES
—Edwin Morgan

There were never strawberries
like the ones we had
that sultry afternoon
sitting on the step
of the open french window
facing each other
your knees held in mine
the blue plates in our laps
the strawberries glistening
in the hot sunlight
we dipped them in sugar
looking at each other
not hurrying the feast
for one to come
the empty plates
laid on the stone together
with the two forks crossed
and I bent toward you
sweet in that air
in my arms
abandoned like a child
from your eager mouth
the taste of strawberries
in my memory
lean back again
let me love you
let the sun beat
on our forgetfulness
one hour of all
the heat intense
and summer lightning
on the Kilpatrick hills

let the storm wash the plates

_________________

Today's LittleNip:

Cat sits in the sun.
Dog sits in the grass.
Turtle sits on the rock.
Frog sits on the lily pad.
Why aren't people so smart?

—Deng Ming-Dao

_________________

—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 contributor and subscription copies will go into the mail this week and next—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 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.......!

_________________


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.

Friday, March 27, 2009

Just Point Your Nose


FLYING HIGH

On a wing between stratosphere and land
Higher than an eagle soars
Much higher than a robin
Up there
Anywhere you stare
You see a broad horizon
And you can go anywhere you care
Just point your nose and go there

—Photo and Poem by Ronald Edwin Lane, Weimar


__________________


This weekend in NorCal poetry:

•••Friday (3/27), 8:15 PM: A poetry reading entitled Nature of Poetry, located at the Garden Terrace space at Yosemite Lodge at the Falls. This program follows the regular DNC Interpretive Services program of Ansel Adams: A Film from 7-8 PM across the courtyard in the Cliff Room. Local poets Joy Downs, Tim Lopez and James Downs will join guest poet Molly Weller of Portland, Oregon in an evening of poetry about the nature of nature and of human relationships. Info: e-mail James Downs (jamespeakdowns@yahoo.com).

•••Friday (3/27), 8-10:30 PM: Poetry Jam at Sacramento’s new and hot Spoken Word venue, The Upper Level Lounge (located inside of Fitness Systems Heathclub, by Cal State Skating Rink). Open mic, too. $5; 26 Massie Ct., Sacramento (exit Mack Rd. East to Stockton Blvd, left on Massie). Info: 916-208-POET (T-Mo).

•••Sat. (3/28), 10 AM: Writers of the New Sun/Escritores del Nuevo Sol have a new meeting date: the 3rd Saturday of each month. Coming dates are: March 28, April 18, May 16, June 20. The 10 AM potluck meetings are at La Raza Galeria Posada, 1024 22nd St., midtown Sacramento. Call ahead to confirm: 916-456-5323. Members of all skill levels support each other via readings, exercises, critiques and information, writing in English, Spanish, or both. To request information, call 916-456-5323.

•••Saturday (3/28), 7-9 PM: The Show Poetry Series, with live band LSB and house singer Chris J. Features Rod-zilla, Sacramento's own Khiry Malik Moore and the Spirit of Excellence Praise Dancers, as well as the NeverBeenDonedanceCo. Hosted by Charmaine Bassett. Wo-se Community Center, 2863 35th St., Sacramento (off 35th & Broadway). $5.00. Info: Terry Moore at (916) 208-POET.

•••Sunday (3/29), 1:15 PM: As a preview of National Poetry Month in April, the Unitarian-Universalist Society of Sacramento will present a public forum entitled, “What is the Point of Poetry?” UUSS PoemSpirits (Tom Goff, Nora Staklis, and JoAnn Anglin) will address this issue in a meaty discussion and Q/A from those attending, followed by a rich dessert of poem readings by regional poets James Lee Jobe and Allegra Silberstein, both rattlechappers and members of the UU Church of Davis. In the grand old tradition of poetry readings, we’ll invite audience members to share favorite poems, written by them or another. UUSS is located at 2425 Sierra Blvd., Sacramento (between Fulton and Howe, one block off Fair Oaks Blvd.). Info: 916-483-9283 or www.uuss.org/Home/Contact/. [For more info on Allegra Silberstein and James Lee Jobe, see their web pages on rattlesnakepress.com—click on “RattleChaps” on the menu and scroll down to find their Rattlesnake Press chapbooks; click on their names in red.]

•••Monday (3/30), 7:30 PM: Sacramento Poetry Center presents Sacramento City College !X Ethnic Theatre at HQ for the Arts, 1719 25th St., Sacramento. Original poetry/monologues/scenes/music/dance by The Sacramento City College Ethnic Theatre Workshop, which integrates various forms of art (playwriting, poetry, music, dance, visual art) with race, ethnic and gender studies. It is led by Angela-Dee Alforque.


Poem in Your Pocket Day, April 30:

Kevin Jones writes to remind us that April 30 is Poem in Your Pocket Day: Join the Academy of American Poets in celebrating National Poetry Month by selecting a poem, carrying it with you and passing it along to family, friends, and coworkers throughout the day. (Heck—why confine it to just that day, I say....!)

_________________

THE HARLEM DANCER
—Claude McKay

Applauding youths laughed with young prostitutes
And watched her perfect, half-clothed body sway;
Her voice was like the sound of blended flutes
Blown by black players upon a picnic day.
She sang and danced on gracefully and calm,
The light gauze hanging loose about her form;
To me she seemed a proudly-swaying palm
Grown lovelier for passing through a storm.
Upon her swarthy neck black shiny curls
Luxuriant fell; and tossing coins in praise,
The wine-flushed, bold-eyed boys, and even the girls,
Devoured her shape with eager, passionate gaze;
But looking at her falsely-smiling face,
I knew her self was not in that strange place.

__________________

THE TROPICS IN NEW YORK
—Claude McKay

Bananas ripe and green, and ginger-root,
Cocoa in pods and alligator pears,
And tangerines and mangoes and grape fruit,
Fit for the highest prize at parish fairs,

Set in the window, bringing memories
Of fruit-trees laden by low-singing rills,
And dewy dawns, and mystical blue skies
In benediction over nun-like hills.

My eyes grew dim, and I could no more gaze;
A wave of longing through my body swept,
And, hungry for the old, familiar ways,
I turned aside and bowed my head and wept.

__________________

THE ISLANDS
—Robert Hayden

For Steve and Nancy, Allen and Magda

Always this waking dream of palmtrees,
magic flowers—of sensual joys
like treasures brought up from the sea.

Always this longing, this nostalgia
for tropic islands we
have never known and yet recall.

We look for ease upon these islands named
to honor holiness; in their chromatic
torpor catch our breath.

Scorn greets us with promises of rum,
hostility welcomes us to bargain sales.
We make friends with Flamboyant trees.

Jamaican Cynthie, called alien by dese lazy
islanders—wo'k hahd, treated bad,
oh, mahn, I tellin you. She's full

of raucous anger. Nevertheless brings gifts of
scarlet hibiscus when she come to clean,
white fragrant spider-lilies too sometimes.

The roofless walls, the tidy ruins
of sugar mill. More than cane
was crushed. But I am tired today

of history, its patina'd cliches
of endless evil. Flame trees.
The intricate sheen of waters flowing into sun.

I wake and see
the morning like a god
in peacock-flower mantle dancing

on opalescent waves—
and can believe my furies have
abandoned for a time their long pursuit.

_________________

Today's LittleNip:

Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog it's too dark to read.

—Groucho Marx

_________________


—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 contributor and subscription copies will go into the mail this week and next—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 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.......!

_________________


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.

Thursday, March 26, 2009

Saccharine Spring


Photo by Barbara March


IS IT A SIN

to say saccharine sweet spring cloys me?
I trudge between barn and corral
forced to step over cheeky green tourists
here just in time for the fashionable season.
Look at their puny limbs, goofy, green,
could they pull their weight in 10 below?
Galls me no end, their total disregard
for the hidebound ways of winter.
Each day more arrive, foolishly
poking their heads into
our serious business with clichéd
breaths of spring, fresh as daisies
pollyanna this
pollyanna that.


—Barbara March, Cedarville

__________________

Poetry from the people:

Nancy Moody writes from Eugene, OR: April is National Poetry Month, and several poet friends (Lydia Foster, Quinton Hallett, Vicki Harkovich, Be Davison Herrera, Colette Jonopulos, Susan Kenyon, Laura LeHew, Karen Lindley, Cathy McGuire) and I would like all of you to participate in a project we're developing for April and beyond. Our idea stems from a desire to bring poetry closer to the public, a step toward encouraging others to discover the pleasures of the art.

Erik Muller (Traprock Books, Eugene) keeps a poetry box in his front yard. He fills it monthly with a new poem for neighbors and passers-by to take and enjoy. We've appropriated Erik's delightful idea, and we hope you will want to join in with us.

The concept is simple. Anyone who's interested mounts a brochure box (such as the ones real estate agents use to display house information) at home, near the sidewalk or street, somewhere easily accessible to the public. At the beginning of each month copies of a new poem are placed in the box for others to enjoy. We'd like to keep this a vital, ongoing project. A list of locations will be kept and distributed at readings and similar events; one will even be posted on the Internet.

Nothing is standardized. The monthly poem as well as the format would be the choice of the participant. The type of box used, they way it’s mounted, the location: all are at the discretion of the participant. Green metal "U-Posts" are available at hardware stores for about $4 and make good stakes. Or check your sheds and garages for a scrap length of board. We encourage creativity and think that interesting displays will just enhance the experience for everyone. For example, I'm temporarily using a U-Post, but I plan to create a mosaic on a wood mounting post.

We have already begun to put boxes in our yards, and at this moment, the weather looks ideal for a small outdoor project. We hope you will join with us in being part of a poetry treasure hunt in your neighborhood. E-mail Nancy Carol Moody at poetryeugene@gmail.com for more info about the Oregon project.

Linda Gelbrich replies: Another small idea we’ve discussed in Corvallis, OR, is the notion of Random Acts of Poetry. Poems on paper for bookmarks or whatever— left in libraries, pinned on bulletin boards, etc and poems in trees, a poem in the back window of your car, or poems left wherever they might be noticed. Maybe it's the idea of “changing the world one poem at a time.”

________________

Calendar addition for this Sunday:

•••Sunday (3/29), 1:15 PM: As a preview of National Poetry Month in April, the Unitarian-Universalist Society of Sacramento will present a public forum entitled, “What is the Point of Poetry?” UUSS PoemSpirits (Tom Goff, Nora Staklis, and JoAnn Anglin) will address this issue in a meaty discussion and Q/A from those attending, followed by a rich dessert of poem readings by regional poets James Lee Jobe and Allegra Silberstein, both rattlechappers and members of the UU Church of Davis. In the grand old tradition of poetry readings, we’ll invite audience members to share favorite poems, written by them or another. UUSS is located at 2425 Sierra Blvd., Sacramento (between Fulton and Howe, one block off Fair Oaks Blvd.). Info: 916-483-9283 or www.uuss.org/Home/Contact/. [For more info on Allegra Silberstein and James Lee Jobe, see their web pages on rattlesnakepress.com—click on “RattleChaps” on the menu and scroll down to find their Rattlesnake Press chapbooks; click on their names in red.]

__________________

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

THE MAN ON THE CEILING
by Steve Rasnic Tem and Melanie Tem
Discoveries
366 pp, paperback, $14.95
ISBN: 978-0-7869-4858-1

Of The Man on the Ceiling, master short story writer Harlan Ellison referred to the book as “exquisitely compelling”. Both Steve Rasnic Tem and Melanie Tem have re-imagined and expanded, on their own, the novella’s surreal tone by creating what they call “a [maybe] novel”. It’s hard to explain why I so like this book, for there is a thin line here that blurs memoir and myth, as well as a thin line that divides story and reality. Some people call this The Truth; all I can tell you about The Man on the Ceiling, winner of the World Fantasy Award, the Bram Stoker Award, and the International Horror Guild Award (all at the same time) is that you should READ IT—because this is one fucking fine book! If I had to rate this book on a scale of one to ten, with ten being the highest rating you could possibly get and one being the lowest, I'd give it a rating of 57-and-three-quarters! Buy it!

—B.L. Kennedy, Reviewer-in-Residence

________________

LOVE IN THE WEATHER'S BELLS
—Jay Wright

Snow hurries
the strawberries
from the bush.
Star-wet water rides
you into summer,
into my autumn.
Your cactus hands
are at my heart again.
Lady, I court
my dream of you
in lilies and in rain.
I vest myself
in your oldest memory
and in my oldest need.
And in my passion
you are the deepest blue
of the oldest rose.
Star circle me an axe.
I cannot cut myself
from any of your emblems.
It will soon be cold here,
and dark here;
the grass will lie flat
to search for its spring head.
I will bow again
in the winter of your eyes.
If there is music,
it will be the weather's bells
to call me to the abandoned chapel
of your simple body.

________________

MY GRANDFATHER WALKS IN THE WOODS
—Marilyn Nelson

Somewhere
in the light above the womb,
black trees
and white trees
populate a world.

It is a March landscape,
the only birds around are small
and black.
What do they eat,
sitting in the birches
like warnings?

The branches of the trees
are black and white.
Their race is winter.
They thrive in cold.

There is my grandfather
walking among the trees.
He does not notice
his fingers are cold.
His black felt hat
covers his eyes.

He is knocking on each tree,
listening to their voices
as they answer slowly
deep, deep from their roots.
I am John, he says,
are you my father?

They answer
with voices like wind
blowing away from him.

__________________

EMILY DICKINSON'S DEFUNCT
—Marilyn Nelson

She used to
pack poems
in her hip pocket.
Under all the
gray old lady
clothes she was
dressed for action.
She had hair,
imagine,
in certain places, and
believe me
she smelled human
on a hot summer day.
Stalking snakes
or counting
the thousand notes
in sunlight
she walked just
like an Indian.
She was New England's
favorite daughter,
she could pray
like the devil.
She was a
two-fisted woman,
this babe.
All the flies
just stood around
and buzzed
when she died.

_________________

Three LittleNips:

QUIPLASH

"Remember the Alamo."
And don't forget Las Alamos!

ON GOVERNMENT SPENDING

I'm worried that Uncle Sam
may marry Auntie Maim!

QUIPLASH

It doesn't matter how many hats we wear,
so long as we wear our own head.

—Claire J. Baker, Pinole

_________________


Thanks to Katy Brown for finding us this photo.
Did you know that March 22 was

World Water Day
?



—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.......!

_________________


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.