Discoveries

THE DISCOVERY
—Cleo Fellers Kocol, Roseville

Glimpsed in a hollow between
two ranges, the house perches
on the edge of a hill, Sierra

mountain folds opening up
before and beyond. Paint
gone, weathered siding shines

like silver, windows catch
the sun and flash gold. My
dog races to it. I follow.

Who lives in this Appalachian
look-alike, its front porch
like an engraving of Hatfield

and McCoy? Their feud lived
beyond years of gun-toting.
But no smoke pours from the

chimney, and no dogs rush to
challenge my pampered, pet-
shop pet. Drawing near I see

the house is a movie set as
false as generations and countries
keeping the warring past alive.

___________________

Thanks, Cleo! Cleo Fellers Kocol writes: You might mention on Medusa that my Valentine's Day column for the Sacramento Bee will feature love poems by David Anderson, Joel Fallon, Susan Finkleman, and Taylor Graham, as well as others. If one does not receive the print article, the column can be located on line under my name. At the same time, "Placer Poetry", which is always an online venue, will have poetry by Margaret Ellis Hill and others.

___________________

TOO FAR
—Cleo Fellers Kocol

His words last night still
smarting, an aftertaste of bitter
saturates my morning coffee.

We start our long-planned hike
before sun flares the sky,
that taste of night remaining.

I follow him across
shallow waters to
challenge a hill.

Words once buried in my
self-conscious leap to ford
streams of retribution.

They smash into a world
slowly regaining its
color. Too late

to pull a single, stupid
syllable back, I remain
locked in his footsteps,

waiting for
the final
word.

___________________

NEW MAN
—Cleo Fellers Kocol

He’s gone, and
I wonder, would I hurt less
if I had known him longer,
or feel better
if I had known
him less?

Meeting, admiring and
gravitating toward one another,
conversation deposited
us in an increasingly
warm place.

In photos, his eyes say
yes,
and I don’t know
what mine would have
replied.

Now, his image
burned into my memory,
his words still
cling to the interstices where
love and liking intersect.

I see again
the car—
hurtling toward us
the wrong way
on a one-way street, and
I blank out the crash.

___________________

Thanks, Cleo, for some other "takes" on Love. Watch for more of Cleo's poetry in Rattlesnake Review #17, due out in mid-March. (Deadline is 2/15.)

—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: February is Love Month!

Next week, on February 13, Rattlesnake Press will roar to life again after winter hibernation, with a new SnakeRings SpiralChap from Don and Elsie Feliz entitled To Berlin With Love, about their adventures in Germany during the building of the Berlin Wall. Also released that evening will be a new littlesnake broadside from Carlena Wike (Going the Distance), as well as Volume Two of Conversations, a new volume of B.L. Kennedy's Rattlesnake Interview Series—this one featuring interviews and poetry from Victoria Dalkey, Susan Kelly-DeWitt, Julia Connor, Ted Finn, Phil Weidman, Jose Montoya, Joyce Odam, Chris Olander, Josh Fernandez, Terryl Wheat, and B.L. Kennedy. In addition, Ann Wehrman, who gave us December’s littlesnake broadside, Notes From The Ivory Tower, but who was unable to read from it at December’s rattle-read will be there to read, as well.

But that’s not all!! In addition to the above, another of our area’s fun couples will be handing out a free special publication, and a third set of Sacramento’s sweethearts will be bringing wine… You REALLY don’t want to miss this grand Valentine’s return of the Snake! Join us at The Book Collector, 100 24th St. (between J and K) in Sacramento on Weds., February 13 at 7:30 PM. Refreshments and a read-around will follow; bring your own poems or somebody else's.

Rattlesnake Review: Up-coming deadline for Issue #17 (due out in mid-March) is Friday, February 15 (postmarked). Send 3-5 poems, plus photos, art, and other poet-phernalia to kathykieth@hotmail.com or P.O. Box 762, Pollock Pines, CA 95726. No cover or bio needed, but no simultaneous submissions or previously-published work, please. Issue #16 is still available for free at The Book Collector, or send me two bux and I'll mail you one. Or pick one up when you're at the reading next week!

February is Love Month!

Elsie and Don Feliz at The Great Wall of China, 2007

TAXIS IN BERLIN, 1961
—Elsie Whitlow Feliz, Sacramento

All taxis are black. All are Mercedes.
You must be careful of taxis in Berlin.

Take one with a solid line at the base
of its windows. Taxis with dashed

or broken lines can whisk you into
the Russian Sector from where you

might never return. Remember your
Russian family’s escape. You are

surrounded by the Red Star, and your
Babashka in California prays for you.

__________________

RENTED ROOMS
—Don Feliz, Sacramento

The landlady asks to see
a photo of my wife who’s
still at home in Mill Valley.

She says she wants to be
a second mother for us,
share her kitchen and

upstairs bathroom.
Lt. Williams approves
my move off post. I mail

a plane ticket costing
four months’ pay, then
wait for love’s arrival.

_________________

February is Love Month!

A week from today, on February 13, Rattlesnake Press will roar to life again after winter hibernation, with a new SnakeRings SpiralChap from Don and Elsie Feliz entitled To Berlin With Love, about their adventures in Germany during the building of the Berlin Wall. Also released that evening will be a new littlesnake broadside from Carlena Wike (Going the Distance), as well as Volume Two of Conversations, a new volume of B.L. Kennedy's Rattlesnake Interview Series—this one featuring interviews and poetry from Victoria Dalkey, Susan Kelly-DeWitt, Julia Connor, Ted Finn, Phil Weidman, Jose Montoya, Joyce Odam, Chris Olander, Josh Fernandez, Terryl Wheat, and B.L. Kennedy. In addition, Ann Wehrman, who gave us December’s littlesnake broadside, Notes From The Ivory Tower, but who was unable to read from it at December’s rattle-read (due to a band concert; she’s a music major at CSUS), will be there to read from it for a few minutes this month.

But that’s not all!! In addition to the above, another of our area’s fun couples will be handing out a free special publication, and a third set of Sacramento’s sweethearts will be bringing wine… You REALLY don’t want to miss this grand Valentine’s return of the Snake!

Elsie Whitlow Feliz was born and raised in San Francisco, where her mother’s family settled after fleeing Stalinist Russia. Surrounded by the magic of Potrero Hill, views of the Bay Bridge, ships coming and going into the harbor and always the lights of the City, she knew she’d travel, dreamed of Japan and China. Growing up in the 1940s, she learned about war from refugees and soldiers returning from war. War has been a lifelong study for her. She has studied French, German, Russian, and Japanese, looking for clues about war. In 1960, she married and followed Pfc. Don Feliz to West Berlin, where she attended the Goethe Institute and the Free University of Berlin. She saw how the Berlin Wall changed the lives of many. There were still shell marks on some buildings and some were still in ruins. She graduated from San Francisco State University with a major in Economics. Although she didn’t plan it this way, her family lives next-door, just the way her Russian Babashka thought things should be.

Elsie is a member of Zica Creative Arts and Literary Guild, Chaparral Poets, First Friday Poets, Sacramento Poetry Center and the River Park-Elk Grove Writers Group. Her poetry has been published in Rattlesnake Review, Brevities, Drumvoices, Poetry Depth Quarterly, Chrysanthemum, San Fernando Poetry Journal, The Poet's Guild, Inky Blue, Mediphors, Poetry Now and the anthologies, We Speak for Peace and The Gathering. She has two chapbooks: Cornered and Tea With Bunya. She is the founder and former co-editor of Free-Wheeling, an annual poetry journal published by the Towe Auto Museum.

Don Feliz was born in Santa Rosa and grew up in Fresno and various Bay Area counties. After graduating from San Francisco State University, he enlisted in the U.S. Regular Army in 1960 to serve in Germany, the only assignment area where he and Elsie could be together. He was selected for the Berlin Brigade before the Berlin Wall was built midway through his two-year overseas tour. He has lived in Sacramento since 1968 and started writing poetry in 1995. Don’s poems have been published in Brevities, Poet’s Forum Magazine, Rattlesnake Review, and The Gathering (the Ina Coolbrith Circle 2005 and 2007 Anthologies). He is a former co-editor of Free-Wheeling, an annual poetry journal published by the Towe Auto Museum in Sacramento.

__________________

Calendar additions for tonight and tomorrow:

•••Wednesday (2/6), 9 PM: Poetry Night hosts Andy Jones and Brad Henderson are pleased to announce that the esteemed poet, novelist and Sac State Professor Mary Mackey will be the featured performer at Poetry Night at Bistro 33. Mackey has published five volumes of poetry, a novella, and eleven novels. Her works have sold over a million copies and have been translated into eleven foreign languages, including Japanese, Hebrew, Greek, and Finnish.

Mackey’s nonfiction and memoirs have appeared in various anthologies. She has reviewed books for The San Francisco Chronicle, the San Jose Mercury News, the American Book Review, and a variety of other publications; has lectured at Harvard and the Smithsonian; and has contributed to such diverse print and on-line publications as The Chiron Review, Redbook, and Salon. [See B.L. Kennedy's Conversations, Vol. 1, for an interview of Mary Mackey.]

Poetry Night takes place on the first and third Wednesday of every month. After the featured performer, an open mic will give new and experienced poets and performers an opportunity to share their work. Admission is free, and all are welcome to join the evening of literary performance at 226 F St. in the old City Hall building. For more information, contact Bistro 33 at (530) 756-4556.

•••Thursday (2/7), 8 PM: The John Natsoulas Center for the Arts (521 1st St., Davis) welcomes Joe Wenderoth. The heralded author of the poetry collections, No Real Light, Disfortune, and It Is If I Speak; the epistolary novel, Letters to Wendy’s; and the collection of essays, The Holy Spirit of Life: Essays for John Ashcroft’s Secret Self, will perform his work—poems, songs, and short silent film clips—in the darkened third floor of Davis’s most majestic gallery. Viewer Discretion is Advised. No-host bar.

__________________

AN HOUR WITH THEE
—Sir Walter Scott

An hour with thee! When earliest day
Dapples with gold the eastern gray,
Oh, what can frame my mind to bear
The toil and turmoil, cark and care,
New griefs, which coming hours unfold,
And sad remembrance of the old?
One hour with thee.

One hour with thee! When burning June
Waves his red flag at pitch of noon;
What shall repay the faithful swain,
His labour on the sultry plain;
And, more than cave or sheltering bough,
Cool feverish blood and throbbing row?
One hour with thee.

One hour with thee! When sun is set,
Oh, what can teach me to forget
The thankless labours of the day;
The hopes, the wishes, flung away;
The increasing wants, and lessening gains,
The master's pride, who scorns my pains?
One hour with thee.

__________________

—Medusa (cark?)

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).

Secrets of the Day

Can you 'hang' with another icicle picture?
Photo by Kathy Kieth, Pollock Pines
(Add a couple of feet of snow to this
for an update...)
Note: All Medusa photos may be 'clicked on'
for a larger view.

ON THE CAMPAIGN CIRCUIT
—Margaret Ellis Hill, Wilton

But first let me say this
on a subject not to dismiss,
in answer to previous questions
I’m so glad you want my suggestions.

About the air we breathe and food we eat
I’m assured of their importance on a fact sheet—
the necessity of both, we must allow
for who can live without them. Anyhow

We must save our rivers and streams
from defilement. I hear the screams!
and I promise, oh yes, I will do my best,
to straighten them out as everyone dreams.

And you say there’s greed and there’s lies.
Now let me say before God and clear skies,
the perception may poke but just normal folk
really know the notion’s perceived is a joke.

About the revenues that we need
so much is taken indeed,
I promise to make penny’s count
Your needs foremost, paramount.

About this great land we have reason
to protect our young each season
for without their input and resolve
nothing can possibly evolve.

The brave defenders of our land—
I honor those who take this stand
and as I’ve said for many a year,
We need to make it perfectly clear.

And as a final thought to all,
before I throw out this baseball,
give me the reins, the chance to serve
and I will prove what you deserve.

__________________

Thanks, Peggy!

Submissions are rolling in for the next Rattlesnake Review, due out in mid-March; deadline is February 15—sooner than you think!

By now, most of you have received Snakebytes, our monthly e-letter, in which I indulged in a rant about submission etiquette. Below is a reprint of that; I decided I was not doing our beginning (or slacking-off advanced) submitters any favors by letting them make rookie mistakes that are mightily frowned upon in the biz. Plus, frankly, I'm trying to streamline my own life, and would greatly appreciate it if you would heed the following:

Be careful about double-submitting. Unlike some publications, the Snake does not accept poems that have been previously published. We also get pretty snarky if we find out that your poem(s) went out to another publisher at the same time you sent it/them to us. I know, I know; some publishers hang onto your work for months, even years, without letting you know if they want it, and that’s pretty darned annoying. Write to them and ask about it. Or send a letter withdrawing it from consideration. But make sure it's available before you send it to the Snake; technically, it's not yours to submit until you hear from the other place(s) you sent it. Other tips:

1. Try to submit your work in groups of 3-5 poems all at once, rather than one at a time, strung out over several weeks/months. If it’s intended as a submission, please mark it that way; otherwise, I’ll assume you’re just sharing—especially if I see in the e-address that it went to several other people as well.

2. If you snail and want a reply (and I’m sure you do), please include SASE. Let me know if you want me to return the poems I don’t use.

3. Ixnay on sending a poem (or article), then sending a revised version (no matter HOW much better it is), then another, then another… Please wait until you’re SURE your work is done (or at least, you’re letting go of it) before pushing the “send” button. (It’s even more annoying when you follow up with things like, “Please change the comma on the fourth line to a period and the semi-colon on line 12 to a colon and the question mark on line 87…”)

4. It’s always helpful to have a snail address on the front page of your work, even if it's e-mail, and even if you’ve submitted to us before.

Looking forward to your work! (I know; it's a jungle out there...)

___________________

Don't forget the SPC Contest deadline 2/15!

February 15 is also 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.


California Lecture Series

Subscriptions are on sale now for the next six-lecture series at the Crest Theater, Sacramento ($150). Subscribe and get more info at: (916) 737-1300 or visit www.californialectures.org/. The next series will include Geraldine Brooks.

___________________

CATCHING MY EYE ONE WINTER DAY
—Margaret Ellis Hill

A swirl of black birds
fly figure eights
outside my window. I listen
to animated discussions
when they stop briefly
to leaf the barren birch,
decorate telephone lines,
rest amid the red-berried bamboo.
My imagination lets me
spread my wings and join the flight
looping through air—
until they slip out of sight.

___________________

SECRETS OF THE DAY
—Margaret Ellis Hill

Chirps and chatter—
a flock of tiny birds find shelter
in a roadside oak. Nearly invisible,
they are as twilight: quick in passing.

Not before wings and beaks,
feathers and feet flit from limb to limb—
a gossip of ladies gathered
for evening tea and conversation.

The twitter dies; an unknown guest
enters the picture. Then, only
the evening breeze bids
goodbye and goodnight.

___________________

—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!

Also coming in February: On February 13, Rattlesnake Press will present 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. In addition, Ann Wehrman, who gave us December’s littlesnake broadside (Notes From The Ivory Tower), but who was unable to read from it at December’s rattle-read, will be there. But that’s not all!! In addition to all of the above, another of our area’s fun couples will be handing out a free special publication, and a third set of Sacramento’s sweethearts will be bringing wine… You REALLY don’t want to miss this grand Valentine’s return of the Snake! Come help us launch it all on Weds., Feb. 13 at The Book Collector, 1008 24th St., Sacramento, 7:30 PM.

Thinking Out of the Heart

Icicles at the Kieth house
Photo by Kathy Kieth
Pollock Pines, Groundhog Day, 2008
(And no, he wouldn't have seen his shadow up here!)

FOR PEN
—Robert Creeley

Think out
of the heart—

it's up,
it's down...

It's that time
of day light

echoes the sun
setting west

over mountains.
I want to come home.

__________________

This week in NorCal poetry:

•••Tonight (Monday, 2/4), 7:30 PM: Sacramento Poetry Center presents Francisco X. Alarcón and Eve West Bessier at The Book Collector, 1008 24th St., (916) 442-9295 or www.sacramentopoetrycenter.org/. PLEASE NOTE THE TEMPORARY LOCATION CHANGE. SPC events typically happen at their location at 25th & R Sts., inside HQ: Headquarters for the Arts.

Francisco X. Alarcón is an acclaimed poet and educator and author of ten volumes of poetry. Alarcón is the recipient of 1993 American Book Award, the 1993 PEN Oakland Josephine Miles Award, and the 1984 Chicano Literary Prize. In April 2002, he received the Fred Cody Lifetime Achievement Award from the Bay Area Book Reviewers Association (BABRA). He was one of the three finalists nominated for the State Poet Laureate of California. Alarcón was also awarded the 1997 Pura Belpré Honor Award by the American Library Association and the National Parenting Publications Gold Medal. He also received 2002 Pura Belpré Honor Award, Danforth and Fulbright fellowships and the 1998 Carlos Pellicer-Robert Frost Poetry Honor Award by the Third Binational Border Poetry Contest, Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua. Alarcón's most recent books are Sonnets to Madness and Other Misfortunes / Sonetos a la locura y otras penas (Berkeley: Creative Arts Book Company 2001) and From the Other Side of Night / Del otro lado de la noche: New and Selected Poems (University of Arizona Press 2002). He currently teaches at the University of California, Davis.

Eve West Bessier is an author of poetry, fiction and non-fiction. She was born in the Netherlands and has lived in Davis, California for the past two decades. She currently works as a Certified Life Coach and Vocal Coach, and teaches writing workshops and residencies. She worked for The University of California, Davis for eighteen years in educational research, program development and evaluation. She holds a Master's of Education from UC Davis and has done graduate course work in English and creative writing at California State University, Sacramento. She also holds a Bachelor of Arts in English and Creative Writing from San Francisco State University. Eve is a performing jazz vocalist, a visual artist and a promoter of community arts programs. She has received several literary awards, including The Kathryn Hohlwein (2000), First Place for Poetry in The California Focus on Writers Contest (2000), and Second Place in Sacramento News & Review's Short Story Contest (2001). Her poetry was nominated for a Pushcart Prize in 2003. She has two chapbooks, Roots Music and Splash, published by dPress, Sebastopol, 2002 and 2003.

Next Monday's readers (Feb. 11) will be Pat Grizzell and Alice Armstrong.

•••Interested in slam poetry? Check out Sol Collective on Del Paso Blvd. in Sacramento every Weds. night, 8 PM, $5.00. Hosted by Khiry Malik Moore.

•••Thursday (2/7), 8 PM: Poetry Unplugged at Luna's Cafe, 1414 16th St., Sacramento. Open mic before and after. Info: 916-441-3931.

•••Friday (2/8), 7 PM: Alex Escalante: Poet-Traits. Poet Portraits of Jose Montoya, Phil Goldvarg, Felicia McGee and others. Readings by selected poets. Complimentary wine and hors d'oeuvres will be served. Luna's Cafe, 1414 16th St., Sacramento. 916-441-3931.

•••Friday (2/8), 7-9:30 PM: Super Love Poem Competition at Underground Books, 2814 35th St. (off 35th & Broadway), Sacramento. $5 admission to watch and hear some of the best love poems ever! Competition rules are the same as regular slam rules. Winner gets $75, Runner-up gets $25, everybody else gets a kick in the pants! After the competition, hear some great love poetry by other poets not in the competition (open mic). Email Nate Lewis at info@fingerprintmedia.ws to sign up to compete.

•••Saturday (2/9), 2-4 PM: Culture Collection present Candy, vocalist Carla Fleming, Bene’ Bailey, Alicia Pratt and Supanova. 6391 Riverside Blvd., Sacramento. Free!

•••Interested in events from others areas of NorCal? Get your name on the mailing list of Pleasanton's poet laureate (m.meltzer@comcast.net). This is a replacement for Poet's Lane, which was closed down when Cynthia Bryant moved away from our area.

___________________

PLACE
—Robert Creeley

This is an empty landscape,
in spite of its light,
air, water—
the people walking the streets.

I feel faint here,
too far off, too
enclosed in myself,
can't make love a way out.

I need the old-time density,
the dirt, the cold,
the noise through the floor—
my love in company.

___________________

LOVE
—Robert Creeley

There are words voluptuous
as the flesh
in its moisture,
its warmth.

Tangible, they tell
the reassurances,
the comforts,
of being human.

Not to speak them
makes abstract
all desire
and its death at last.

____________________

END
—Robert Creeley

End of page,
end of this

company—wee
notebook kept

my mind in hand,
let the world stay

open to me
day after day,

words to say,
things to be.

__________________

—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!

Also coming in February: On February 13, Rattlesnake Press will present 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.

A Sudden Sunlit Hour

Photo by Stephani Schaefer, Los Molinos

INTO THE HOUR
—Elizabeth Jennings

I have come into the hour of a white healing.
Grief's surgery is over and I wear
The scar of my remorse and of my feeling.

I have come into a sudden sunlit hour
When ghosts are scared to corners. I have come
Into the time when grief begins to flower

Into a new love. I had filled my room
Long before I recognized it. Now
I speak its name. Grief finds its good way home.

The apple-blossom's handsome on the bough
And Paradise spreads round. I touch its grass.
I want to celebrate but don't know how.

I need not speak though everyone I pass
Stares at me kindly. I would put my hand
Into their hands. Now I have lost my loss

In some way I may later understand.
I hear the singing of the summer grass.
And love, I find, has no considered end,

Nor is it subject to the wilderness
Which follows death. I am not traitor to
A person or a memory. I trace

Behind that love another which is running
Around, ahead. I need not ask its meaning.

___________________

—Medusa

Blinking at the Sun

Pig with snow on the Kieths' back deck
(This was about twelve inches ago.
Right now this pig's completely buried.)
Photo by Kathy Kieth
(Well, okay, it's not a REAL pig...)

WINTER NEWS
—John Haines

They say the wells
are freezing
at Northway where
the cold begins.

Oil tins bang
as evening comes on,
and clouds of
steaming breath drift
in the street.

Men go out to feed
the stiffening dogs,

the voice of the snowman
calls the white-
haired children home.

__________________

POEM FOR A COLD JOURNEY
—John Haines

On the road of the self-
contained traveler I stood
like one to whom the great
announcements are made.

In one hand I held
a hard, ddry branch with
bitter, purple fruit;
in the other hand a small,
blue-and-yellow bird
whoe closed eyes stared inward
upon a growing darkness.

Listening, I could hear
within myself the snow
that was coming, the sound
of a loud, cold trumpet.

__________________

This Monday at SPC (actually, it's at The Book Collector for SPC):

•••Monday (1/4), 7:30 PM: Sacramento Poetry Center presents Francisco X. Alarcón and Eve West Bessier at The Book Collector, 1008 24th St., (916) 442-9295 or www.sacramentopoetrycenter.org/. PLEASE NOTE THE TEMPORARY LOCATION CHANGE. SPC events typically happen at their location at 25th & R Sts., inside HQ: Headquarters for the Arts.

Francisco X. Alarcón is an acclaimed poet and educator and author of ten volumes of poetry. Alarcón is the recipient of 1993 American Book Award, the 1993 PEN Oakland Josephine Miles Award, and the 1984 Chicano Literary Prize. In April 2002, he received the Fred Cody Lifetime Achievement Award from the Bay Area Book Reviewers Association (BABRA). He was one of the three finalists nominated for the State Poet Laureate of California. Alarcón was also awarded the 1997 Pura Belpré Honor Award by the American Library Association and the National Parenting Publications Gold Medal. He also received 2002 Pura Belpré Honor Award, Danforth and Fulbright fellowships and the 1998 Carlos Pellicer-Robert Frost Poetry Honor Award by the Third Binational Border Poetry Contest, Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua. Alarcón's most recent books are Sonnets to Madness and Other Misfortunes / Sonetos a la locura y otras penas (Berkeley: Creative Arts Book Company 2001) and From the Other Side of Night / Del otro lado de la noche: New and Selected Poems (University of Arizona Press 2002). He currently teaches at the University of California, Davis.

Eve West Bessier is an author of poetry, fiction and non-fiction. She was born in the Netherlands and has lived in Davis, California for the past two decades. She currently works as a Certified Life Coach and Vocal Coach, and teaches writing workshops and residencies. She worked for The University of California, Davis for eighteen years in educational research, program development and evaluation. She holds a Master's of Education from UC Davis and has done graduate course work in English and creative writing at California State University, Sacramento. She also holds a Bachelor of Arts in English and Creative Writing from San Francisco State University. Eve is a performing jazz vocalist, a visual artist and a promoter of community arts programs. She has received several literary awards, including The Kathryn Hohlwein (2000), First Place for Poetry in The California Focus on Writers Contest (2000), and Second Place in Sacramento News & Review's Short Story Contest (2001). Her poetry was nominated for a Pushcart Prize in 2003. She has two chapbooks, Roots Music and Splash, published by dPress, Sebastopol, 2002 and 2003.

___________________

SNOWY NIGHT
—John Haines

This is like a place
we used to know,
but stranger
and filled with the cold
imagination of a frozen
sea, in which
the moon is anchored
like a ghost
in heavy chains.

___________________

SOUTH WIND
—John Haines

I dreamed of horses in the night,
invaders with strong, sweating
bodies plunging through the cold.

The stars were suddenly hidden,
but dark manes flowed
with sparks, and on the black,
frozen hills the rushing air
soared like a forest on fire.

The thunder of their passage
broke down the walls of my dream.
I awoke in the ruined kingdom
of frost with a warm wind
blowing my hair, and heard about me
and in the distance
the heavy hoofs still pounding
as the wild, invisible army
overran the north.

__________________

THE MOLE
—John Haines

Sometimes I envy those
who spring like great black-
and-gold butterflies
before the crowded feet
of summer—
brief, intense,
like pieces of the sun,
they are remembered and celebrated
long after night has fallen.

But I believe also in one
who in the dead of winter
tunnels through a damp,
clinging darkness,
nosing the soil of old gardens.

He lives unnoticed, but
deep within him there is a dream
of the surface one day
breaking and crumbling:

and a small, brown-furred
figure stands there,
blinking at the sky,
as the rising sun slowly dries
his strange, unruly wings.

___________________

—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!

Also coming in February: On February 13, Rattlesnake Press will present 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.

Do Snakes See Their Shadows?

Prism Vision
Donald Anderson, Farmington

PRISM VISION
—Carol Louise Moon, Sacramento

Pink snuck up on Yellow
tapping her on the shoulder
with an orange triangular object.

Both peered cautiously
into the navy blue door
floating over blue ice water
in the Winter of 2007.

Suddenly rotating in tangerine, forest
and dark periwinkle
the Great Door gathered up both
Pink, Yellow and all
the intruders who had invited
themselves to tea

rolling them over a
turquoise cliff
into the chilling air and purple haze
of February 2008—
with no one asking why
and no one giving permission.

________________

Thanks, Don and Carol! Donald Anderson's computer piece, "Prism Vision" appeared in Rattlesnake Review #16, which came out in December, and Carol Louise Moon writes: I have written a little ekphrasis to Donald Anderson's "Prism Vision", page 30, which fascinated me. I just love his computer work. We got lots of other compliments on Donald's work, too.

And yes, it's about that time again: February 15, the next deadline for Rattlesnake Review, is coming up in just a couple of weeks! Send 3-5 poems, art, photos, or ideas for reviews and interviews and other articles to kathykieth@hotmail.com or P.O. Box 762, Pollock Pines, CA 95726. No cover letter, bio, previously-published work or simultaneous submissions, please.

Today, February 1, brings the Snake out of hibernation; his winter vacation is officially over. We got six or eight inches of snow yesterday up here in Pollock Pines, and more before that, so it sure looks like winter around here. And today the sun is out—but hopefully the lazy Snake won't see his shadow when he wakes up, use that as an excuse to go back to bed...

__________________

A weekend with Neeli Cherkovski:

Coming in March: A Writer’s Weekend: Poetry and Prose with Neeli Cherkovski. Explore your writing mind with Neeli Cherkovski, recipient of a PEN Josephine Miles Award for Excellence in Literature. Participants will write in class, read from their own work, and will begin writing a spiritual autobiography. Cherkovski is also a 2006 Friends of the San Francisco Public Library Literary Laureate. The SF Chronicle says in a review, “What stamps Cherkovski's poetry as unique is its unbounded lyricism, a lyrical gift easily greater than that of any other poet of his generation.” Among his books are Animal, Leaning Against Time, Whitman’s Wild Children, and Bukowski: A Life. He is currently completing a memoir and a new collection of poems.

A Writer’s Weekend will be held in San Francisco (Bernal Heights) on Sat.-Sun., March 1-2 or Sat.-Sun., March 29-30. Class is limited to eight participants; please call or write for information: 415-215-8190 or cherkovski@earthlink.net/.

____________________

This weekend in NorCal poetry:

•••Tonight (Friday, 2/1), 7:30-9 PM: The Other Voice, sponsored by the Unitarian Universalist Church of Davis, 27074 Patwin Road presents an award-winning husband and wife poetry team: Carol and Laverne Frith. They are the founders and Co-Editors of the poetry journal, Ekphrasis, and both have been widely published. Carol Frith has three chapbooks: Moving Like a Blue Flame (winner of the 2001 Medicinal Purposes chapbook competition), In and Out of Light (Bacchae Press 2002), and Never Enough Zeros (Palanquin Press 2002). Her poetry has appeared in Midwest Quarterly, Eclipse, Seattle Review, Clackamas, Cutbank, Sow’s Ear, Chariton Review, Cumberland Review, Measure, Poetry New York, Baltimore Review, Maryland Poetry Review, Interim, Phoebe (NY), Switched-On Gutenberg, Spillway, Asheville Poetry Review, The Literary Review, Smartish Pace, & others. A poem of Carol’s received Special Mention in the 2003 Pushcart Prize Anthology.

Laverne Frith has chapbooks from Talent House and White Heron Press, and Drinking The Light was recently released from Finishing Line Press. In addition to a Pushcart Prize nomination, Laverne was runner-up for the 2004, 2005, & 2006 Louisiana Literature Prize In Poetry. His poetry has been accepted or appeared in Poetry New York, Christian Science Monitor, Sundog, Comstock, Montserrat, California Quarterly, Song of the San Joaquin, Dalhousie, Perihelion, Architrave, Maryland Poetry Review, Sonoma Mandala, New Laurel Review, Permafrost, Main Street Rag, New Zoo Poetry Review, Blue Unicorn, Kimera, etc. He has won honors and awards in a number of poetry competitions.

The reading will be held in the library of the Church. Refreshments and Open Mike follow, so bring along a poem or two to share.

•••Saturday (2/2), 11 AM: Monthly writing/meeting/potluck for The Writers of the New Sun/Escritores del Nuevo Sol at La Raza Galeria Posada, 1022 – 22nd St., Sacramento. Los Escritores del Nuevo Sol/Writers of the New Sun is a literary community that was established in 1993, primarily to foster and honor the literary arts of the cultures & traditions of Chicano, Native American and Spanish-language communities. Members write in English, Spanish, or both, and the group has published an anthology, Voces del Nuevo Sol/Voices of the New Sun. Info: 916- 456-5323. The public is welcome to all activities. Website: www.escritoresdelnuevosol.com/.

__________________

IN MEMORY OF THE SPANISH POET FEDERICO GARCIA LORCA
—Thomas Merton

Where the white bridge rears up its stamping arches
Proud as a colt across the clatter of the shallow river,
The sharp guitars
Have never forgotten your name.

Only the swordspeech of the cruel strings
Can pierce the minds of those who remain,
Sitting in the eyeless ruins of the houses,
The shelter of the broken wall.

A woman has begun to sing:
O music the color of olives!
Her eyes are darker than the deep cathedrals;
Her words come dressed as mourners,
In the gate of her shadowy voice,
Each with a meaning like a sheaf of seven blades!

The spires and high Giraldas, still as nails
Nailed in the four cross roads,
Watch where the song becomes the color of carnations,
And flowers like wounds in the white dust of Spain.

(Under what crossless Calvary lie your lost bones, Garcia Lorca?
What white Sierra hid your murder in a rocky valley?)

In the four quarters of the world, the wind is still,
And wonders at the swordplay of the fierce guitar:
The voice has turned to iron in the naked air,
More loud and more despairing than a ruined tower.

(Under what crossless Calvary lie your lost bones, Garcia Lorca?
What white Sierra hid your murder in a rocky valley?)


(Today, Thomas Merton would've been 92 years old.)


__________________

—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!

Also coming in February: On February 13, Rattlesnake Press will present 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.