Reassembling a Mirror

WHITE SLEEP
—Sadiq al-Saygh

White sleep
Led me to a white dream
To something mysterious, white

I thought I touched gossamer
Or a bone
A coffin, or a white cloud

When I woke up
I found my hand
Had touched your face,
Oh death.
Who appears now
Distant
Nebulous
And cannot be recalled.

(Translated from the Arabic by Saadi A Simawe, Salaam Yousif,
Emily Howard and Ralph Savarese)

___________________

POETRY
—S'adi Yusuf

Who broke these mirrors
and tossed them
shard
by shard
among the branches?
And now...
shall we ask L'Akhdar to come and see?
Colours are all muddled up
and the image is entangled
with the thing,
and the eyes burn.
L'Akhdar must gather these mirrors
on his palm
and match the pieces together
anyway he likes
and preserve
the memory of the branch.

(Translated from the Arabic by Khaled Mattawa)

_________________

A POET'S FATE
—Awad Nasir

My country does not belong to me
nor I to it.
For five millennia my country has been no more than imminent exile.

It is my destiny to steal away like a thief
and enter like a thief
I am the one who steals fire from the creator.

But it's my destiny,
that of an ear of wheat,
which when it grows tall
is threatened by the one who wields a sickle.

(Translated from the Arabic by Saadi A Simawe with Daniel Weissbort and Ralph Savarese)

Today's poetry is from Iraqi Poetry Today, Ed. by Saadi Simawe. Kings College London, 2003.
_________________

—Medusa

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).

SnakeWatch: Up-to-the-minute Snake news:

Rattlesnake Review: The latest issue of Rattlesnake Review (Sweet 16) is available for free at The Book Collector, 1008 24th St., Sacramento, or send $2 to P.O. Box 762, Pollock Pines, CA 95726 and I'll mail you one. Next deadline (for Issue #17, due out in mid-March) is February 15—sooner than you think!

Coming in February: The Snake is still in winter hibernation for January: no readings, no books, no broadsides. Then, on February 13, Rattlesnake Press will roar to life again with a new SnakeRings SpiralChap from Don and Elsie Feliz (To Berlin With Love), plus a new littlesnake broadside from Carlena Wike (Going the Distance), as well as Volume Two of Conversations, B.L. Kennedy's Rattlesnake Interview Series. Come help us launch all of this on Weds., Feb. 13 at The Book Collector, 1008 24th St., Sacramento, 7:30 PM.

Looks Like Spring is Still Just a Daydream...

Photo by Stephani Schaefer, Los Molinos

FLIRTATION

at dawn, breath clouds cold,
but by midday’s walk
pre-spring breezes kiss my cheeks,
latent celadon aura shimmers
through bare, brown branches—
sun, now warm enough for me
to strip off and pocket winter gloves

—Ann Wehrman, Sacramento

___________________

RUNNING TO YOU
—Ann Wehrman

wake from dreaming of you,
open the door,
explode into warm, spring morning
fragrant with flowers

resting between rain,
willows drip into rushing creek
under gray-white sky

taking hill after hill, I run
imagine you inside
behind shuttered windows
watching me

I almost forgive your reticence
my own
in this soft, new day

_________________

Thanks, Ann! Be sure to pick up a free copy of Ann Wehrman's littlesnake broadside, Notes From The Ivory Tower, at The Book Collector, or send an SASE to P.O. Box 762, Pollock Pines, CA 95726 and I'll mail you one. Ann was unable to read for us in December, when her broadside was released, so she'll be joining us February 13 at the next rattle-read.

Be sure to take a look-see at rattlesnakepress.com. Almost all the rattlechapper and spiralchapper poets' pages are up now, plus a new feature under "Snake Faves": Things We Wish We'd Published But Didn't.

Today in NorCal poetry:

•••Wed. (1/23), 6-7 PM: Upstairs Poetry Reading at The Upstairs Art Gallery, 420 Main St (2nd floor), Placerville. It's an open-mike read-around, so bring your own poems or those of a favorite poet to share, or just come to listen. No charge.

___________________

Wayne Robinson reminds us of another blessing of this season:

WHALES
—Wayne Robinson, Lodi

I see their spouts in the distance
The grays, traveling north again.
Monterey, before the romance
Before the break in the rain.

I love to see the whales come through
Soon the days will grow longer
Monterey monarchs, fly away too
The cold bloom into warmer.

The whales bring it with them
Persuade spring to follow in their wake
Hummingbirds ride their hem
And love sprouts on the waves they take.

___________________

Thanks, Wayne!

—Medusa

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).

SnakeWatch: Up-to-the-minute Snake news:

Rattlesnake Review: The latest issue of Rattlesnake Review (Sweet 16) is available for free at The Book Collector, 1008 24th St., Sacramento, or send $2 to P.O. Box 762, Pollock Pines, CA 95726 and I'll mail you one. Next deadline (for Issue #17, due out in mid-March) is February 15—sooner than you think!

Coming in February: The Snake is still in winter hibernation for January: no readings, no books, no broadsides. Then, on February 13, Rattlesnake Press will roar to life again with a new SnakeRings SpiralChap from Don and Elsie Feliz (To Berlin With Love), plus a new littlesnake broadside from Carlena Wike (Going the Distance), as well as Volume Two of Conversations, B.L. Kennedy's Rattlesnake Interview Series. Come help us launch all of this on Weds., Feb. 13 at The Book Collector, 1008 24th St., Sacramento, 7:30 PM.

Persephone's Falsies

Photo by Stephani Schaefer

FALSE SPRING
—Stephani Schaefer, Los Molinos

Down the dark passage
Persephone comes toward you
with an armful of paperwhites.

Still you must wait.
Patience!
She is humming a springtime song.

__________________

Today is the last day of Medusa's Spring/flowers/renewal/resurrection poetry give-away (and don't forget the shy Persephone and her false starts!). Send your poems and/or photos to me at kathykieth@hotmail.com or P.O. Box 762, Pollock Pines, CA 95726 by midnight tonight and I'll send you any rattlechap of your choosing, or Katy's calendar.


Sacramento Poetry Center contests:

February 15 is the deadline for this year’s Sacramento Poetry Center contest. This year's entry fee is $4 per poem. First, second and third prizes will be awarded [$100, $50, $25]. In addition, 10 honorable mentions will receive $10 gift certificates. Please send two copies of each poem, one with your name and contact info, another without any identifying information on it. No restrictions on length, subject or style. Judging will be done by a suitably notable area poet whom SPC will announce [in other words, a poet to be named later]. Send poems to: Sacramento Poetry Center Poetry Contest, The Sacramento Poetry Center, 1719 25th St., Sacramento, CA 95816.

The Sacramento Poetry Center also presents its Second Annual High School Poetry Contest. Winners will receive prizes including a $100.00 Grand Prize, books, scholarships to the SPC Writers’ Conference (April 5, 2008), and publication in The Tule Review, Sacramento Poetry Center's literary journal, or in Poetry Now, the official monthly newsletter of The Sacramento Poetry Center. Winners and Honorable Mentions will also be invited to perform their work on April 14, 2008 at The Sacramento Poetry Center’s venue at the HQ for the Arts, 1719 25th St. in Sacramento. No entry fees required. Deadline: March 15, 2008. (3 poems maximum per student, please.) Send poems to: High School Poetry Contest, The Sacramento Poetry Center, 1719 25th St., Sacramento, CA 95816.

___________________

STRAY CUSHION
—JoAnn Anglin

Incongruous: there in the budding oleander
the couch cushion resting in the median
its owner already miles away
its brother cushions mourning their triplet.
They look across the emptiness feel
abandoned after the single cushion flung
itself out from the borrowed pickup to
nestle in the spiky green leaves.
They are like a mouth with a tooth missing,
in dark silence of the palpable dissatisfaction.
It will be replaced, but cannot be matched.
It will fade and rot in sun and rain,
its decay of its own choosing.

____________________

POST-IT NOTES
—Margaret Ellis Hill, Wilton

packaged layers of color:
two-toned furrowed fields
pasture and new-bud green,

sand verbena and clover pinks,
larkspur and lupine purple,

Indian Paintbrush and sage red
wild poppy orange and buttercups,

fiddleneck and filaree yellows,
winding among baby blue eyes,

cobalt columbine and forget-me-nots,
topped with white Queen Anne’s lace.

Each sheet a remembrance of spring.

__________________

OUT OF MOURNING
—Margaret Ellis Hill

It’s February and no disappointment—
cold and gloom give way to warmth.

From the window, the sun finds clusters of red
berries cascading from Heavenly Bamboo;

from another direction, I discover more red fruits
hiding in a hedge of Burford holly

and I have to smile; they look like a wide-eyed
brood of birds peeking out to see if it’s safe.

Around the corner, the almonds bloom bright white.
Soft fur peeks from burgundy cocoons. Flowering

Quince shines like rosy cheeks. Redwoods
show new chartreuse; pasture grasses green.

Ah, Spring, you surprise me every time, coming after rain
clears pale days. The world turns another year—

and so have I. It’s just that this year the colors
make me feel alive with their welcoming faces.

___________________

Thanks, Steph, JoAnn and Peggy!

—Medusa

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).

SnakeWatch: Up-to-the-minute Snake news:

Rattlesnake Review: The latest issue of Rattlesnake Review (Sweet 16) is available for free at The Book Collector, 1008 24th St., Sacramento, or send $2 to P.O. Box 762, Pollock Pines, CA 95726 and I'll mail you one. Next deadline (for Issue #17, due out in mid-March) is February 15—sooner than you think!

Coming in February: The Snake is still in winter hibernation for January: no readings, no books, no broadsides. Then, on February 13, Rattlesnake Press will roar to life again with a new SnakeRings SpiralChap from Don and Elsie Feliz (To Berlin With Love), plus a new littlesnake broadside from Carlena Wike (Going the Distance), as well as Volume Two of Conversations, B.L. Kennedy's Rattlesnake Interview Series. Come help us launch all of this on Weds., Feb. 13 at The Book Collector, 1008 24th St., Sacramento, 7:30 PM.

Dreams

Martin Luther King, Jr.

I, TOO, SING AMERICA
—Langston Hughes

I, too, sing America.

I am the darker brother.
They send me to eat in the kitchen
When company comes,
But I laugh,
And eat well,
And grow strong.

Tomorrow,
I'll be at the table
When company comes.
Nobody'll dare
Say to me,
"Eat in the kitchen,"
Then.

Besides,
They'll see how beautiful I am
And be ashamed—

I, too, am America.

___________________

This week in NorCal poetry:

•••Tonight (Monday, 1/21), 7:30 PM: Sacramento Poetry Center presents Michael Cluff and Michael Garbarini (“All Mike Night”—get it?) who will provide interpretive readings of plays, poetry and philosophy at HQ for the Arts, 25th & R Sts., Sacramento. Free, open mic, refreshtments. Michael Cluff is a full-time English and Creative Writing Instructor as well as being the Assistant Chair of the Communications Department at Riverside Community College, Norco Campus in Southern California. He has been published in Epicenter, Dissident Editions, Pudding, Mosiac, Interpoetry, Muse, Rattlesnake Review, ZamBomba and Poetry Superhighway. He has also published several chapbooks: Bones to Pick, Treacherous Pauses, Duck 'N' Cover, Moraines and Political Prisms. He also acts and directs in the Inland Empire area of So Cal as well as co-teaching an adult improv class for the Rancho Cucamonga Parks and Recreation Department. Michael Garbarini is a professor of literature, philosophy, history, communications, drama, etc., at several universities in the Sacramento area. For the Actor's Studio of Sacramento, he directed Endgame, which was voted best play of the year by The Sacramento Bee.

Next Monday's SPC reading (1/28) will feature Frank Graham.

•••Wed. (1/23), 6-7 PM: Upstairs Poetry Reading at The Upstairs Art Gallery, 420 Main St (2nd floor), Placerville. It's an open-mike read-around, so bring your own poems or those of a favorite poet to share, or just come to listen. No charge.

•••Thursday (1/24), 8 PM: Poetry Unplugged at Luna's Cafe presents Suzanne Roberts, Charlene Ungstad, and Noel Kroeplin, plus open mike to follow. 1414 16th Street. Info: 916-441-3931 or lunascafe.com/.

•••Friday (1/25), 7:30 PM: Poems-for-All presents Burns Night: A Poetic Celebration of Scotland with Arturo Mantecon and Rebecca Morrison at The Book Collector, 1008 24th St., Sacramento. Free. Every January, Scots celebrate their national bard, Robert Burns, with an evening in his honor. Our take on the traditional Burns Night expands the tribute into a celebration of Scottish Poets, past and present. The evening will include a reading of Burns' poems in Spanish by Poet and Translator Arturo Mantecon. Poet Rebecca Morrison will present a collection of poems from various Scottish poets. An open mic will follow the featured programme. Sign up to read a poem of your own and one from your favorite Scot. Any attempt to read a Burns poem will be rewarded with a dram! RSVP a slot on the open mic programme via the email above, or sign up at the event. Poems-for-All special edition miniature chaplettes will be dispensed. The event is free. Info: (916) 442-9295 or richard@poems-for-all.com or www.poems-for-all.com/.

•••Also Friday (1/25), 7:30 PM: The sizzling hot poetry of Terry Moore (www.terrymoore.info), winner of the 2007 Hub Choice Award (Best Poet), plus Simoetry, Mario Ellis Hill, R & B artist Remy, Musician and gospel vocalist Calvin Lymos, and poet Claudia Epperson. Inside the new TIGER THEATRE, on the campus of Inderkum High School, 2500 New Market Drive. Located just one block from Arco Arena. From Sacramento, take Interstate 5 to Del Paso Rd. exit, turn right, left on Truxel Rd, left on New Market drive. Park in the first lot and walk toward the flag pole and enter the front atrium. The theatre is located to the left. $5. Info: (916) 271-8202 or www.parkersplay.com/. This event is being brought to you by Inderkum High School Drama Department & Parker's Place.

•••Sat. (1/26), 7-9 PM: “The Show” poetry series (the only family-oriented 'clean mouth' poetry event in town!) presents Kafiah from Phoenix and Khiry Malik Moor, plus Candy, house band LSB, house vocalist Chris Bush and comedian emcee KJ, plus open mic for “all talents and all ages”. Wo'se Community Center (Off 35th & Broadway), 2863 35th Street, Sacramento. $5.00. Info: T-Mo (916)208-POET.

__________________

DREAMS
—Langston Hughes

Hold fast to dreams
For if dreams die
Life is a broken-winged bird
That cannot fly.

Hold fast to dreams
For when dreams go
Life is a barren field
Frozen with snow.

__________________

Today's "dreaming" in honor of Martin Luther King, Jr. notwithstanding, we're still having a give-away here on Medusa. Send your poems and/or photos of flowers, Spring, renewal—all that good stuff—to me at kathykieth@hotmail.com or P.O. Box 762, Pollock Pines, CA 95726 by midnight, Tuesday, Jan. 22—that's tomorrow!—and I'll send you any rattlechap of your choosing, or Katy's calendar.

—Medusa

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).

SnakeWatch: Up-to-the-minute Snake news:

Rattlesnake Review: The latest issue of Rattlesnake Review (Sweet 16) is available for free at The Book Collector, 1008 24th St., Sacramento, or send $2 to P.O. Box 762, Pollock Pines, CA 95726 and I'll mail you one. Next deadline (for Issue #17, due out in mid-March) is February 15—sooner than you think!

Coming in February: The Snake is still in winter hibernation for January: no readings, no books, no broadsides. Then, on February 13, Rattlesnake Press will roar to life again with a new SnakeRings SpiralChap from Don and Elsie Feliz (To Berlin With Love), plus a new littlesnake broadside from Carlena Wike (Going the Distance), as well as Volume Two of Conversations, B.L. Kennedy's Rattlesnake Interview Series. Come help us launch all of this on Weds., Feb. 13 at The Book Collector, 1008 24th St., Sacramento, 7:30 PM.

The Fortunate Year

SUBMERGED DRAGON
—Thomas Merton

Clear green stars
Rise and set:
Peaceful dragon

He works and swims.
It is cool
His fragrant cauldron
The bright hieratic sea

Emerald fires appear
Wet lights
New stars without names
Is this the fortunate year?

His work is cosmic play
(O careless one!)
His water spout, his worship
His knowledge
Need no concern

He lives deep down
His thoughts no longer crease
The quiet water

Until the sea wakes up
In sunshowers of blazing spray.
His daily birth:
How free!

____________________

The submerged dragon of Spring is just around the corner. Send your poems and/or photos of flowers, Spring, renewal—all that good stuff—to me at kathykieth@hotmail.com or P.O. Box 762, Pollock Pines, CA 95726 by midnight, Tuesday, Jan. 22, and I'll send you any rattlechap of your choosing, or Katy's calendar.

—Medusa

Exploding Begonias

Paperwhites

ALMOST FEBRUARY
—Taylor Graham, Somerset

He says he came here
for the wilderness:
pines and scrub-
lilac in its time,
ephemeral grasses, sky.
Since he settled in
it’s turned
wild on him.

The cabin burned.
Three dry years,
bugs are brushing the pines
brown. Cloud
sets down, snow
so the roads won’t run.
Things go wrong.
He says
he’s leaving for town.

Before last night’s
fall of snow
just yesterday
the first green spades
of lily
shoveled up
from under.

(First appeared in Poetalk)

___________________

Thanks, TG! Taylor Graham sent us a poem and wrote to ask what paperwhites are. They're just one of the many forms the narcissistic Narcissus takes, one of the smaller daffodils, with several heads on each stem. They stand out for me because they're among the earliest to appear, and because of their strong scent.

Send your poems and/or photos of flowers, Spring, renewal—all that good stuff—to me at kathykieth@hotmail.com or P.O. Box 762, Pollock Pines, CA 95726 by midnight, Tuesday, Jan. 22, and I'll send you any rattlechap of your choosing, or Katy's calendar.

__________________

SEASONS
—Czeslaw Milosz

Transparent tree, full of migrating birds on a blue morning,
Cold because there is still snow in the mountains.

__________________

GIFT
—Czeslaw Milosz

Fog lifted early, I worked in the garden.
Hummingirds were stopping over honeysuckle flowers.
There was no thing on earth I wanted to possess.
I knew no one worth my envying him.
Whatever evil I had suffered, I forgot.
To think that once I was the same man did not embarrass me.
In my body I felt no pain.
When straightening up, I saw the blue sea and sails.

___________________

BEGONIAS EXPLODE

into pastel fireworks at the feet
of the stone Buddha who sits
by the pond. Five-legged

polliwogs still have their
tails: in morning sun they
rise to the surface: watch

the pyrotechnics with under-
water eyes: float on green rafts
of lily pads: drift through pink

and white reflections: wait
to turn truly amphibious—emerge
from one fluid into another—crawl

out and over the roots of the land-
plants into the cool, deep lap
of the Buddha. . .

—Kathy Kieth, Pollock Pines

__________________

—Medusa

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).

SnakeWatch: Up-to-the-minute Snake news:

Rattlesnake Review: The latest issue of Rattlesnake Review (Sweet 16) is available for free at The Book Collector, 1008 24th St., Sacramento, or send $2 to P.O. Box 762, Pollock Pines, CA 95726 and I'll mail you one. Next deadline (for Issue #17, due out in mid-March) is February 15—sooner than you think!

Coming in February: The Snake is still in winter hibernation for January: no readings, no books, no broadsides. Then, on February 13, Rattlesnake Press will roar to life again with a new SnakeRings SpiralChap from Don and Elsie Feliz (To Berlin With Love), plus a new littlesnake broadside from Carlena Wike (Going the Distance), as well as Volume Two of Conversations, B.L. Kennedy's Rattlesnake Interview Series. Come help us launch all of this on Weds., Feb. 13 at The Book Collector, 1008 24th St., Sacramento, 7:30 PM.

Dignity of Entrance

Marcel Proust as a young man, along with the Cattleya,
the orchid that Odette, Swann's mistress,
wore in Du Coté de Chez Swann, or Swann's Way

THE SMALLER ORCHID
—Amy Clampitt

Love is a climate
small things find safe
to grow in—not
(though I once supposed so)
the demanding cattleya
du côté de chez Swann,
glamor among the faubourgs,
hothouse overpowerings, blisses
and cruelties at teatime, but this
next-to-unidentifiable wildling,
hardly more than a
sprout, I've found
flourishing in the hallows
of a granite seashore—
a cheerful tousle, little,
white, down-to-earth orchid
declaring its authenticity,
if you hug the ground
close enough, in a powerful
outdoorsy-domestic
whiff of vanilla.

__________________

This weekend in NorCal poetry:

•••Friday (1/18), 7:30 PM: The Writers of the New Sun/Escritores del Nuevo Sol presents a book signing and reading by Luke Breit and Patrick Grizzell at La Raza Galeria Posada, 1022 – 22nd St. Sacramento. $5 or as you can afford.

•••Also tonight (Friday, 1/18), 7-8 PM: Our House Poetry Reading presents well-known Sacramento area poets Crawdad Nelson and Rebecca Morrison at the reading's temporary location at El Dorado Dance Academy. The Academy is located at 3921 Sandstone Dr. Suite 4, El Dorado Hills. From Hwy 50, go south on Latrobe Rd. past the signals at White Rock Rd., Golden Foothill Pkwy, and Suncast Ln. The next signal is Golden Foothill Pkwy again (it's a loop). Turn right, follow Golden Foothill around a curve; make a left on Sandstone and go to the dead-end. Park in the parking lot on the right. Open mic to follow. No charge.

•••Saturday (1/19), 7-9 PM: Underground Poetry Series presents LaRue and Yoke Breaker, plus open mic. $3. Underground Books, 2814 35th St., Sacramento (35th and Broadway).


Stockton Arts Commission contest:

Deena Heath, director of the Stockton Arts Commission, writes to alert us about the Stockton Writing Contest, deadline March 8. Check out the details on the Arts Commission website, www.stocktongov.com/arts/. (And what a shame that Stockton's only independent bookstore, Bookland, is closing in early February.)

__________________

from SPRING AND ALL
—William Carlos Williams

By the road to the contagious hospital
under the surge of the blue
mottled clouds driven from the
northeast—a cold wind. Beyond, the
waste of broad, muddy fields
brown with dried weeds, standing and fallen

patches of standing water
and scattering of tall trees

All along the road the reddish
purplish, forked, upstanding, twiggy
stuff of bushes and small trees
with dead, brown leaves under them
leafless vines—

Lifeless in appearance, sluggish
dazed spring approaches—

They enter the new world naked,
cold, uncertain of all
save that they enter. All about them
the cold, familiar wind—

Now the grass, tomorrow
the stiff curl of wildcarrot leaf
One by one objects are defined—
It quickens: clarity, outline of leaf

But now the stark dignity of
entrance—Still, the profound change
has come upon them: rooted, they
grip down and begin to awaken

___________________

Medusa muses about Spring and other stuff, including panties:

Out of the corner of my eye, I caught a beautiful group of paperwhites by a freeway entrance. I'm always shocked and pleasantly surprised to see flowers emerging this time of year, but 'tis the season for the bulbs. Even up here, the days are lengthening, and I expect to see some of the hundreds of bulbs I planted pop through any day. I know this is just pseudo-spring (we have it every year in January) and that there will be more storms—maybe as late as June. But the quality of light is already different; the sun doesn't shy away from the cold the way it did, and mating season is here for the foxes...

Write to me about flowers. About Spring, or new love, or—heck—mating foxes! I know; this is a wide-open category, yes? Who cares—send me your poems!—whatever triggers your Spring muse. Enough wintry doom and gloom! Let's banish it for another year! Send your poems and/or photos to me at kathykieth@hotmail.com or P.O. Box 762, Pollock Pines, CA 95726 by midnight, Tuesday, Jan. 22, and I'll send you any rattlechap of your choosing, or Katy's calendar. And while you're sending your poems, don't forget the next deadline for Rattlesnake Review, which is February 15. Sooner than you think!

By the way, I've had a raft of simultaneous submissions lately. Some of them were accidental, some I found out too late to change, and some were off-the-cuff ("Oh, does that matter to you?"). This is one of the things that gets Lola's panties in a bunch. Please be aware that, once you submit a poem to ANYbody, unless they say they accept simultaneous submissions, they OWN it until they decide whether to publish it or not. Unless you've checked on their policy, it's not yours to submit to me or anyone else until they decide and get back to you. (I know, I know; this can take months and sometimes even years, but that's part of the biz. I always check if I haven't heard in six months.)

And even if it's okay with THEM if you submit the same poem to me, you need to be aware of the Snake's policy, which is NO SIMULTANEOUS SUBMISSIONS. So please be careful about that. I have enough panty-bunchers in my life as it is... :-)

Yesterday's post included information about Tiger's Eye, which operates partly out of Sacramento and partly out of Eugene, Oregon. Speaking of Oregon, yesterday would also have been William Stafford's 94th birthday: US Poet Laureate, Oregon State Poet Laureate, conscientious objector...


WHEN I MET MY MUSE
—William Stafford

I glanced at her and took my glasses
off—they were still singing. They buzzed
like a locust on the coffee table and then
ceased. Her voice belled forth, and the
sunlight bent. I felt the ceiling arch, and
knew that nails up there took a new grip
on whatever they touched. "I am your own
way of looking at things," she said. "When
you allow me to live with you, every
glance at the world around you will be
a sort of salvation." And I took her hand.

William Stafford

___________________

—Medusa (may you meet your Muse TODAY and send poems!)

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).

SnakeWatch: Up-to-the-minute Snake news:

Rattlesnake Review: The latest issue of Rattlesnake Review (Sweet 16) is available for free at The Book Collector, 1008 24th St., Sacramento, or send $2 to P.O. Box 762, Pollock Pines, CA 95726 and I'll mail you one. Next deadline (for Issue #17, due out in mid-March) is February 15—sooner than you think!

Coming in February: The Snake is still in winter hibernation for January: no readings, no books, no broadsides. Then, on February 13, Rattlesnake Press will roar to life again with a new SnakeRings SpiralChap from Don and Elsie Feliz (To Berlin With Love), plus a new littlesnake broadside from Carlena Wike (Going the Distance), as well as Volume Two of Conversations, B.L. Kennedy's Rattlesnake Interview Series. Come help us launch all of this on Weds., Feb. 13 at The Book Collector, 1008 24th St., Sacramento, 7:30 PM.