Exhale Some Odes For Us

SMALL MAN DOWNTOWN
—Clarence Wolfshohl, Fulton, MO

his pockets are empty
pulled inside out and left surrounded
by a gray canyon
lint hanging to ravelled threads
his mustache droops
frazzled into small curls
over his tight mouth
he does not know what to do
with his hands . . . .
all his pockets have
deserted him.

__________________

GIRL WITH PILL BUG
—Clarence Wolfshohl

At first, she opened
her hand wide.
The bug opened and crawled
off the edge of this small world.

She stooped at the hips,
clumsily grasped the bug
between grains of sand,
rolled it back in her secret palm

and opened her fingers wide again.
The inner-petaled bug unfurled,
spun to the sand
in crustaceous shell ball.

Now she opens her hand slowly,
peering into its dark grotto,
cautiously rolls the bug
into the crease of her palm and fingers,

peels back her fingers
in a timelapse motion
like a lily revealing its secrets
to the sun.

__________________

AUGURIES OF PLUM BLOSSOMS
—Clarence Wolfshohl

(In memory of Leslie Duston)

Japanese plum petals litter the sill—
deckled edge purple softening to a ghost
gray with faint pink veins, a white almost
ivory, a radiant pink–all mute until
whirled across gardens by these gusts of April,
and they float to earth, become women
shuffling like orient maidens against the wind.
Still here on the ledge, one delicate petal
awaits its own time to pirouette to earth
in the silks of the wind, to land in rebirth
as one who strides with unbounded mettle
to realms where only her feet dare the dance
among the temples of fate, of chance,
of questions auguries of plum blossoms cannot settle.

__________________

FOR EVERY DOOR
—Jeff Dutko, West Hartford, CT

Over coffee, with imitation silk tie in hand
still in use, but not as supportive as once the case
I thumb through the weekends want ads
for available ways to augment my irons

Looking for the windows of opportunity
forced open by the back draft of thousands
pressing shut the doors of down economics
looking for the perfect product to match these times

Independent of my brain, my fingers
presciently weave this new widget
as they work out the complexities
of the noose with my tie

(As I fold the paper closed
I can not help but think
about shutting that open window too

Depending upon its proximity to the penthouse
it could cut into the profits of my new
and entangling entrepreneurial venture).

__________________

PAINTBRUSH AND BROOM
—Jeff Dutko

For years, I painted words
into the corner of the page
and held them at bay with a fine-haired trim brush
making them heel in unnatural poses
for so long that when I turned my back
they began to snarl at readers
who, after recoiling their hands
gently back pedaled away
afraid of a mark left on the skin

When no visitors returned to the room of the poem
I retired the paintbrush to its easel home
and with a worn-handled broom
began sweeping up the page
nudging outside the dusted words
that long ago settled down
at first obediently, than obstinately
leashed to an antiquated idea of order

With the room now scattered clean
morning finally falls on the page
the work is done and it is time to leave
but before I do, I slide open a window
and prop the broom against the door to keep it ajar
inviting your return
inviting you to breathe in the air of the poem
offering you a chance to exhale your own ode

__________________

VANGUARD
—Jeff Dutko

Gazing at the rain speckled asphalt
its now deeper black space flecked with sand
mirroring a motionless interplanetary mural
it all looks so imaginable
from this vantage point on the leading edge

And then as gravity pulls me into its orbit
I think, oh shit
we are the advanced alien beings
the prototype that first leapt into space
just as we once first climbed out
of the primordial swamps

The higher life form, if you will
the first to fill the empty ether
with oddly blinking and tilting spaceships
flying in wait for our evolutionary understudies
to advance to an age or tenderness
or a usefulness that we find appealing

In the near future
it will be us mysteriously circling night skies
while below the horizon huddled in doorways
mothers will use their heavenly bodies
to shield their awestruck children

__________________

Today's LittleNip:

leaves like bird shadows
desolate—
the winter moon

—Chiyo

__________________

Thanks to our out-of-town guests, Clarence Wolfshohl and Jeff Dutko, for their poems today! Both Clarence and Jeff have previous and up-coming work in Rattlesnake Review.


—Medusa

SnakeWatch: What's New from Rattlesnake Press:


RATTLESNAKE REVIEW:

RR23 is now available free at The Book Collector,
and contributor and subscription copies
have gone into the mail—you should've received yours;
let me know if you haven't.
You may also order a copy through rattlesnakepress.com/.
Deadline is November 15 for RR24: 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 add all contact info,
including snail address. Meanwhile, the snakes of the on-going Medusa
are always hungry; keep that poetry comin', rain or shine!
Just let us know if your submission is for the Review or for Medusa,
or for either one, and please—only one submission packet
per issue of the quarterly Review.
(More info at rattlesnakepress.com/.)

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 likelihoodof getting your poetry published.
Pick up a copy at The Book Collector or
write to me (include snail address) and I'll send you one. Free!


NEW FROM RATTLESNAKE PRESS:

Now available at The Book Collector, 1008 24th St., Sacramento:
A new chapbook from Brad Buchanan (The War Groom)
and a new Rattlesnake LittleBook from
William S. Gainer: Joining the Demented.

Now available from SPC or at The Book Collector:
Our new anthology,
Keepers of the Flame:
The First 30 Years of the Sacramento Poetry Center.
Editor-in-Chief Mary Zeppa and her helpers have put together
many, many documents and photos
from SPC's 30-year history.

WTF!!: The third issue of WTF, the free quarterly journal from
Poetry Unplugged at Luna's Cafe that is edited by frank andrick,
is now available at The Book Collector,
or send me two bux and I'll mail you one.
Deadline for Issue #4 was Oct. 15;
it'll be released at Luna's on Thursday, Nov. 19.
Next deadline (for Issue #5) is Jan. 15.
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 (clearly marked for WTF).
And be forewarned: this publication is for adults only, so you must be
over 18 years of age to submit. (More info at rattlesnakepress.com/.)


COMING IN NOVEMBER:

Join us on Wednesday, November 11
for a new chapbook from Dawn DiBartolo
(Secrets of a Violet Sky);
Rattlesnake Reprint #2 from frank andrick
(PariScope: A Triptyche);
plus our 2010 calendar from Katy Brown
(Wind in the Yarrow)!
That's 7:30 PM at The Book Collector. Be there!

_________________

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.

Black River Of Loss

Photo by Katy Brown

NINE CROWS
—Katy Brown, Davis

Nine crows tumble against an inky sky,
tossed by a wind carrying thunder.
Icy rain sweeps in from the north.

The world does not pause to watch the birds:
economies crash, children suffer and
nine crows tumble against an inky sky.

Near an upper window of a government building
calls come in from elders asking for help.
Icy rain sweeps from the north.

Services will have to be cut:
the safety-net is in jeopardy.
Nine crows struggle against an inky sky.

There are many more struggling today:
crows and elders, families and the forgotten.
Icy rain advances from the north.

The phone rings all day in the small office
with requests for help, reports of abuse.
Outside, nine crows tumble against an inky sky
And rain like ice sweeps from Washington.

_________________

Thanks, Katy, for a more unsettling take on money (or lack of it), our Seed of the Week. "Nine Crows" is from Katy's new 2010 calendar.

Katy Brown is a Social Work Supervisor with Adult Protective Services in Sacramento. She is a columnist for Rattlesnake Review and a very frequent contributor of poetry and photos to Medusa’s Kitchen. Her poems have appeared in the Song of the San Joaquin, Harp Strings Review, and Brevities. She has won awards in the International Dancing Poetry Contest and the Ina Coolbrith, Berkeley Poets’ Dinner and Chaparral Poets contests. Her workbook for children, Poetry Potions, is being reissued in digital format.

Katy has published several books of poetry and photography for Rattlesnake Press, including seven calendars and journals for our Rattlesnake HandyStuff series. Join us on Wednesday, November 11 for the release of her 2010 calendar, Wind in the Yarrow! That's 7:30 PM at The Book Collector. Be there!


Recognizing Mary Zeppa:

The Sacramento Metropolitan Arts Commission established the Resolution Initiative Program in an effort to honor artists for lifetime achievements and to honor arts advocates and arts organizations for outstanding achievements in their field. Through the Resolution program, SMAC wishes to honor Sacramento poet Mary Zeppa on Tuesday, November 10, 2009. Mary's achievements are many and SMAC wishes to honor her for a lifetime of valuable contributions and accomplishments in the field of poetry, including her outstanding work to bring poetry to the Sacramento community. A resolution will be presented to Mary in a brief ceremony by the City Council at 6 PM in their chambers at 915 I St., Sacramento. Please join us promptly at 6 PM on November 10 at the Council chambers to witness this honor bestowed on Mary Zeppa.


This weekend in NorCal poetry:

•••Sat. (11/7 and every 1st Sat.): Rhythm and Rhyme readings at Butch N’ Nellies near 19th & I Sts., Sacramento. Televised music, open mic. Info: myspace.com/RNRshow/.

•••Sunday (11/8), 4 PM: The Book Collector presents Donald Sidney-Fryer, Do Gentry and Kathryn Hohlwein in a reading to celebrate the publication of The Outer Gate: The Collected Poems of Nora May French, from Hippocampus Press. Free. The Book Collector, 1008 24th St., Sacramento. Nora May French published only a dozen or so poems before her death in Carmel in 1907, but she was widely admired by California Romantic poets such as George Sterling, Clark Ashton Smith and Mary Austin. This volume includes substantial biographical information as well as her work. [See also Tom Goff's bio of French in Rattlesnake Review #21.]

Donald Sidney-Fryer is particularly suited to the task of editing this collection of Nora May French’s poems: he is not only an accomplished poet himself, but has edited and performed works by various of the California Romantics, including Smith and Sterling. His friendship with Nora May French’s sister, Helen French Hunt, has given him additional insight into the poet’s life and work.

•••Sunday (11/8), 1 PM: In a rare West Coast appearance, poet, playwright, essayist and political activist Amiri Baraka delivers a historic speech on our first African-American President, Barack Obama at the San Francisco Public Library Main Branch (Koret Auditorium), 100 Larkin St., SF. Free and open to the public. One of the true giants of international poetry, Amiri Baraka is a towering presence in the history of the United States and throughout the Americas. A transitional figure in both the Beat Generation and Civil Rights Era, Baraka is also known as the father of the Black Arts Movement. In 2008, during the primary and general election cycles, Baraka continued to surprise, delight and provoke his friends and enemies with a series of rigorous, inventive, and powerfully deciphering essays on then candidate Barack Obama. With this unique, once in a lifetime, event Amiri Baraka will revisit those essays, and bring his keen, always original, interpretation of the Obama Presidency in its first year. The talk will be immediately followed by a discussion with Justin Desmangles, and continue with a question and answer period with the audience.

•••Monday (11/9), 7:30 PM: The Farallon Review will host a creative prose reading at the Sacramento Poetry Center. Monday, November 9, gathering at 7:00, reading 7:30 to 8:30. Sacramento Poetry Center, HQ for the Arts, 1719 25th Street (at R Street) in midtown Sacramento. Featuring Jodi Angel, Valerie Fioravanti, Joey Garcia, Paul Mann, Lynka Adams. Free admission, with copies of the new issue of The Farallon Review for sale! Info: http://www.farallonreview.com/.

__________________

MONEY'S BURDEN
—Mitz Sackman, Murphys

You need it
You love it
You hate it
But you still need it
You hate the groveling
The need inspires in you
Job is security, right?
But what about your soul?
Sold for those thirty pieces
That keep the wolf from the door
Money is just an illusion
They say
But one necessary to getting by
In this hard cold world

__________________

IN BLACKWATER WOODS
—Mary Oliver

Look, the trees
are turning
their own bodies
into pillars

of light,
are giving off the rich
fragrance of cinnamon
and fulfillment,

the long tapers
of cattails
are bursting and floating away over
the blue shoulders

of the ponds,
and every pond,
no matter what its
name is, is

nameless now.
Every year
everything
I have ever learned

in my lifetime
leads back to this: the fires
and the black river of loss
whose other side

is salvation,
whose meaning
none of us will ever know.
To live in this world

you must be able
to do three things:
to love what is mortal;
to hold it

against your bones knowing
your own life depends on it;
and, when the time comes to let it go,
to let it go.

__________________

Today's LittleNip:

When I get a little money, I buy books; and if any is left, I buy food and clothes.

—Desiderius Erasmus

__________________

Katy Brown reading at The Book Collector
Photo by Alan Satow

—Medusa

SnakeWatch: What's New from Rattlesnake Press:


RATTLESNAKE REVIEW:

RR23 is now available free at The Book Collector,
and contributor and subscription copies
have gone into the mail—you should've received yours;
let me know if you haven't.
You may also order a copy through rattlesnakepress.com/.
Deadline is November 15 for RR24: 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 add all contact info,
including snail address. Meanwhile, the snakes of the on-going Medusa
are always hungry; keep that poetry comin', rain or shine!
Just let us know if your submission is for the Review or for Medusa,
or for either one, and please—only one submission packet
per issue of the quarterly Review.
(More info at rattlesnakepress.com/.)

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 likelihoodof getting your poetry published.
Pick up a copy at The Book Collector or
write to me (include snail address) and I'll send you one. Free!


NEW FROM RATTLESNAKE PRESS:

Now available at The Book Collector, 1008 24th St., Sacramento:
A new chapbook from Brad Buchanan (The War Groom)
and a new Rattlesnake LittleBook from
William S. Gainer: Joining the Demented.

Now available from SPC or at The Book Collector:
Our new anthology,
Keepers of the Flame:
The First 30 Years of the Sacramento Poetry Center.
Editor-in-Chief Mary Zeppa and her helpers have put together
many, many documents and photos
from SPC's 30-year history.

WTF!!: The third issue of WTF, the free quarterly journal from
Poetry Unplugged at Luna's Cafe that is edited by frank andrick,
is now available at The Book Collector,
or send me two bux and I'll mail you one.
Deadline for Issue #4 was Oct. 15;
it'll be released at Luna's on Thursday, Nov. 19.
Next deadline (for Issue #5) is Jan. 15.
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 (clearly marked for WTF).
And be forewarned: this publication is for adults only, so you must be
over 18 years of age to submit. (More info at rattlesnakepress.com/.)


COMING IN NOVEMBER:

Join us on Wednesday, November 11
for a new chapbook from Dawn DiBartolo
(Secrets of a Violet Sky);
Rattlesnake Reprint #2 from frank andrick
(PariScope: A Triptyche);
plus our 2010 calendar from Katy Brown
(Wind in the Yarrow)!
That's 7:30 PM at The Book Collector. Be there!

_________________

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.

Nothing I Own

Painting by Wendy Rivara, Sacramento

Mysterious ? Today ?
—frank andrick, Sacramento

I feel Mysterious today
Everything is humming loudly
I feel mysterious today

Stellectric in Sacra-Paris
it takes touch to erase
the grace on your face
outside the vapors take new shapes
dreaming becomes episodic
god is not the name of god

I feel mysterious today

Saquarra is a state of mind
anima anubis sistered soul
sensation and contemplation
are my favorite drugs
what name a sin that takes two to do
god is not the name of god

I feel mysterious today
Everything is humming loudly
I feel mysterious today


(originally published in WTF)

__________________

Thanks, frank! A Sac-Franciscan experimental mythologist whose work spans poetry, prose, story writing and telling; a Poet who loves mixing it up w/music and movies while still holding the solo voice high, frank andrick is the producer and host of “The Pomo Literati”, a monthly two-hour spoken word program broadcast on KUSF San Francisco which features live reading performances, contemporary recordings, and archival rarities from pre-beat to post-modern. He also co-hosts Poetry Unplugged @ Luna's Café in Sacramento, an open mic, featured-reader series which is Sacramento News & Review’s People’s Choice for Best Open Mic Venue. frank also creates word-driven, multi-media events and poetry/performance tours.

In 2008, frank edited La Luna, an anthology of work from Luna's poets, for Rattlesnake Press. He currently edits WTF, a quarterly journal of Luna’s poets, also for Rattlesnake Press. In addition, frank is the author of Soluna, a collection of his poems and prose, and three Rattlesnake Press littlesnake broadsides. Now RP is releasing PariScope: A Triptyche, a reprint of his three previous broadsides, plus some new material besides. Join us for the release party this coming Weds., November 11 at The Book Collector, 7:30 PM.

Speaking of Luna's Cafe, the feature tonight is Forword, a poet who has taken Sacramento by storm! Besides being a fine-tuned wordsmith, he is also a member of the 2008 Sacramento Poetry Slam Team. This is his first time featuring at Poetry Unplugged, so come out and show your support. Open-mic poetry will also occur before and after the feature. That's 1414 16th St., Sacramento, 8 PM.

Meanwhile, our talk of lucre, filthy or otherwise, continues...


Once upon a time
apart from the fairy tales of love
Fathers needed for their daughters "dowries"
for why else than for money would brides be taken
since such wives were merely collected as trophies
Their possessors would see either "mistresses" or "prostitutes"
whom these men paid dearly, instead, for their company
Such is the story of money and patriarchy
that still affects otherwise-educated women over thirty today
For proclaimed younger lover-men of such women with "experience"
still want to see some pocket money up front
Oh what's such a gal to do
if her savings are spent and she has no dowry?

—Michelle Kunert, Sacramento

___________________

BIG MONEY
—Richard Zimmer, Sacramento

Madame St. Claire, an astrologist, greets her
customer, Larry Dibble. It’s all in the stars,
she says, all in the stars. What are your in-
terests…love, your health, finances?

Dibble, excited, spurts out, Big money…the
Lottery numbers…is that asking too much?

Madame smiles, saying, That would be num-
erology. I am also a licensed numerologist.
That will be another twenty dollars.

Dibble shrugs, Okay, here’s the money, but
You’d better be right.

Madame grins, saying, The numbers I give
Are meant especially for you.

Later…Dibble plays the numbers, doesn’t
win, and goes back for a refund.

Madame shakes her head, and says, You
must understand this about numerology...
the numbers have powers over our lives.
They must have decided that if you won,
it would have brought trouble, with every-
one hounding you for money.

__________________

STRICT ECONOMY
—Tom Goff, Carmichael

We bottle the freshwater wild-free-clear,
canister the oozings, the now see here,
turn the ferment to froth and booze.
We take the right now fruit,
cook it and sugar and seal it in jars.
We husband, we housewife; we ply
a strict economy.

As we drink of life, so we repay life,
we brace ourselves to fork it over,
parkway dust, river, and oak.
Each pitted moon a ground-scarred apple,
each flown hawk a dropped feather.

That fugitive bone flute the owl-hoot—
we distill it, distill it, we near the far
far. Each syllable ours,
the glassed-in preserve passing hand to hand
to hand while the savor, the mystery,
lasts.

Do you talk to us of money? Must we
convert word-wisps to billable hours?
Are we to expect payment for what
we sniff, flavor a tad with spice
and pass on,

leaving only our
hymn, our hum?

Come,
come.

__________________

frank andrick and Kathy Kieth at Luna's Cafe, 2008
(That's Chris Olander in the foreground...)

__________________

Today's LittleNip:

BEING AS UNPERSON
—William Bronk

On the bridge, four trolls stood like
the Burghers of Calais. I remember trolls warm
spring nights in the fields, giggling in love.
I slip beside life: nothing I own.

__________________


—Medusa

SnakeWatch: What's New from Rattlesnake Press:


RATTLESNAKE REVIEW:

RR23 is now available free at The Book Collector,
and contributor and subscription copies
have gone into the mail—you should've received yours;
let me know if you haven't.
You may also order a copy through rattlesnakepress.com/.
Deadline is November 15 for RR24: 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 add all contact info,
including snail address. Meanwhile, the snakes of the on-going Medusa
are always hungry; keep that poetry comin', rain or shine!
Just let us know if your submission is for the Review or for Medusa,
or for either one, and please—only one submission packet
per issue of the quarterly Review.
(More info at rattlesnakepress.com/.)

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 likelihoodof getting your poetry published.
Pick up a copy at The Book Collector or
write to me (include snail address) and I'll send you one. Free!


NEW FROM RATTLESNAKE PRESS:

Now available at The Book Collector, 1008 24th St., Sacramento:
A new chapbook from Brad Buchanan (The War Groom)
and a new Rattlesnake LittleBook from
William S. Gainer: Joining the Demented.

Now available from SPC or at The Book Collector:
Our new anthology,
Keepers of the Flame:
The First 30 Years of the Sacramento Poetry Center.
Editor-in-Chief Mary Zeppa and her helpers have put together
many, many documents and photos
from SPC's 30-year history.

WTF!!: The third issue of WTF, the free quarterly journal from
Poetry Unplugged at Luna's Cafe that is edited by frank andrick,
is now available at The Book Collector,
or send me two bux and I'll mail you one.
Deadline for Issue #4 was Oct. 15;
it'll be released at Luna's on Thursday, Nov. 19.
Next deadline (for Issue #5) is Jan. 15.
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 (clearly marked for WTF).
And be forewarned: this publication is for adults only, so you must be
over 18 years of age to submit. (More info at rattlesnakepress.com/.)


COMING IN NOVEMBER:

Join us on Wednesday, November 11
for a new chapbook from Dawn DiBartolo
(Secrets of a Violet Sky);
Rattlesnake Reprint #2 from frank andrick
(PariScope: A Triptyche);
plus our 2010 calendar from Katy Brown
(Wind in the Yarrow)!
That's 7:30 PM at The Book Collector. Be there!

_________________

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.

Bracelets & Cheap Wine

Dawn DiBartolo

murder by syllables
—Dawn DiBartolo, Citrus Heights

“let’s kill some time,” he said,
and drew down on my words
as if to murder or memorize every one,
tied my thoughts up
in his temporal expressions,
dimensionalizing
coexisting
conversations
familiar, yet somehow new.
he raped my mind,
taking ponderance without permission,
though consensual tones were implied.
the hour got away from us,
bleeding minute after minute
into never-more,
and i grieved each precious departure,
each syllable a testament
to the era of him.


(from Love & Other Eternities)

___________________

frayed bond
—Dawn DiBartolo

bitter tongue,
acid speech dripping
from sharpened teeth ~
why? angels kissed

your feet, and you
walked on beds of glass
ignoring the stains left
behind, haphazard blood
spotting memory’s childhood.
you are life,

given to the creation
of beautiful things ~
why then? contaminant

of angel wing,
find flight toward
purpose and love,
i pray.

__________________

the knee incident
—Dawn DiBartolo

at a night-club in the humid recesses
of Texas, once, when i was young,
i had a whiskey-slurred debate
indulgent of the spinning lights
and loud shake-your-ass beats.

one side of me said,
“caution! you’ve only
seen this done, on t.v.,
no less, you are not
a doctor!” the other said,

“if you don’t at least try
to help her, the night
will be shot, and you’ll spend
the next six hours
in emergency.”
well, i tried…
tried to realign her
dislocated knee
with my desired
freaky-sweaty fate …and

spent six hours
in emergency ~ possibly
because i tried; after all,
i’m not a doctor.

i was so simple then ~
young, hot and barely clothed;
the world hinged, that night, on
another amber drink from the guy
with the wicked green eyes;

donna
retained…
sustained complexity ~
permanent damage;

i’ll always wonder
if she wonders…
and hates me for it.

__________________

Thanks, Dawn, for the poetry! Dawn DiBartolo is the happy mother of three, currently residing in Citrus Heights. She has been previously published in several local and online venues and served as guest editor for Poetry Now. Her book, Love & Other Eternities, is available online, and her littlesnake broadside, Blush, is available through Rattlesnake Press. Join us on Wednesday, November 11
for Rattlesnake Press's new chapbook from Dawn DiBartolo (Secrets of a Violet Sky). That's 7:30 PM at The Book Collector. And for more poetry from Dawn-D, go to Medusa's archives at the right and click on May, 2007 and scroll down to May 29, or to Sept. 2007 and scroll down to Sept. 11.

This week we're talking about money. Here are some thoughts on the same by Patricia Hickerson, Taylor Graham, and Kevin Jones. Join in the fray; send your poetic thoughts about money to kathykieth@hotmail.com or P.O. Box 762, Pollock Pines, CA 95726.

__________________

bring me a bracelet
—Patricia Hickerson, Davis

on stiletto heels
she stalks her easel, brush in hand
excuse me, Jin says, but I am no artist

her crowded studio
her sheer blouse
her gold chain

what is she? all of 20? making money
oh I’d rather be in Guangzhou, Jin says
I like the big city life
it’s so boring here in Old Dam Art Town
I might as well be on the farm again
she laughs hoarsely
brush never wavers

it has to be perfect she says
this painting of Water City (needs more N-3GI)
she gazes at a postcard of Venice
or they’ll send it back

I know nothing about art
I don’t know how to paint, she laughs
I hate painting

bring me a bracelet she tells her boyfriend
he’s a copyist, too,
he brings their copies to an agent in the city
I want a bracelet from Guangzhou, she says

a bracelet

__________________

FOREIGN SERVICE
—Taylor Graham, Placerville

Elihu Burritt, Consular Agent at Birmingham, England 1868

For once in your life, Elihu, you have a steady
job. No more piecework at the smithy,
where you starve if no one needs a hoe-head
or a plough. Better yet, it’s government
employment; Congress sets your pay.

Of course, you’ve got expenses:
printing, postage, envelopes, a clerk; rent,
coal and gas, taxes; charities, subscriptions,
public dinners and occasions. Food.

Now—with Mr. Lincoln dead—
Congress cuts your modest pay, and
retroactively! Once again, you may starve,
or sell your rocky farm back home
to subsidize your service.

But Congress will have its say.
You know how it goes:
the government giveth
and the government taketh away.

__________________

PAYING THE FARE
—Taylor Graham

A madhouse on the near shore
as pale travelers jostle in the mists
of underground. Once-men
now angular as if hollow wish
and bone, or cut so short in life
you’d think them dwarves
or infants—all mill and stumble
on the mucky shore, and
search their pockets. Some souls
so poor they can’t afford
Hades. Who has a token
for the ferry? Who can ratchet up
courage for the ride? Each one
is worn from striving, wants
the dread river’s washing of hand
and mind. And thrice-famished
Cerberus on the other side.

__________________

Today's LittleNip:

THE FINAL PERFORMANCE REVIEW
—Kevin Jones, Fair Oaks

“You come in late,
You dress badly, you’re
Surly and
You reek of cheap wine,”
The supervisor said.

“That’s because
You don’t
Pay me
Enough to reek
Of expensive wine.”

__________________


—Medusa

SnakeWatch: What's New from Rattlesnake Press:


RATTLESNAKE REVIEW:

RR23 is now available free at The Book Collector,
and contributor and subscription copies
have gone into the mail—you should've received yours;
let me know if you haven't.
You may also order a copy through rattlesnakepress.com/.
Deadline is November 15 for RR24: 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 add all contact info,
including snail address. Meanwhile, the snakes of the on-going Medusa
are always hungry; keep that poetry comin', rain or shine!
Just let us know if your submission is for the Review or for Medusa,
or for either one, and please—only one submission packet
per issue of the quarterly Review.
(More info at rattlesnakepress.com/.)

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 likelihoodof getting your poetry published.
Pick up a copy at The Book Collector or
write to me (include snail address) and I'll send you one. Free!


NEW FROM RATTLESNAKE PRESS:

Now available at The Book Collector, 1008 24th St., Sacramento:
A new chapbook from Brad Buchanan (The War Groom)
and a new Rattlesnake LittleBook from
William S. Gainer: Joining the Demented.

Now available from SPC or at The Book Collector:
Our new anthology,
Keepers of the Flame:
The First 30 Years of the Sacramento Poetry Center.
Editor-in-Chief Mary Zeppa and her helpers have put together
many, many documents and photos
from SPC's 30-year history.

WTF!!: The third issue of WTF, the free quarterly journal from
Poetry Unplugged at Luna's Cafe that is edited by frank andrick,
is now available at The Book Collector,
or send me two bux and I'll mail you one.
Deadline for Issue #4 was Oct. 15;
it'll be released at Luna's on Thursday, Nov. 19.
Next deadline (for Issue #5) is Jan. 15.
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 (clearly marked for WTF).
And be forewarned: this publication is for adults only, so you must be
over 18 years of age to submit. (More info at rattlesnakepress.com/.)


COMING IN NOVEMBER:

Join us on Wednesday, November 11
for a new chapbook from Dawn DiBartolo
(Secrets of a Violet Sky);
Rattlesnake Reprint #2 from frank andrick
(PariScope: A Triptyche);
plus our 2010 calendar from Katy Brown
(Wind in the Yarrow)!
That's 7:30 PM at The Book Collector. Be there!

_________________

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.

Art & Commerce

MONEY
—Richard Armour

Workers earn it,
Spendthrifts burn it,
Bankers lend it,
Women spend it,
Forgers fake it,
Taxes take it,
Dying leave it,
Heirs receive it,
Thrifty save it,
Misers crave it,
Robbers seize it,
Rich increase it,
Gamblers lose it...
I could use it.

_________________

Money! Tell us about money this week, or other forms of exchange and commerce. What does money/absence of same do to you/for you? Is it the root of all evil, or does it make the world go 'round? What are some of the seminal events in your life that have to do with money? Losing a job? Winning the lottery? What does money have to do with abundance, poverty, security? What would your life be like if you didn't have to work? Or tell us about being retired. Send your Seeds of the Week: Money to kathykithy@hotmail.com or P.O. Box 762, Pollock Pines, CA 95726. No deadline on SOWs.


EVEN THE CATS ARE RICH

in this neighborhood of exact
lawns and faceless gardeners. Sleek

Burmese and Chartreux flash
collars of faux diamonds, tell them-

selves they will bring down big
game as they prowl between the day-

lilies . . . But then the summer sun
climbs clear to the top of the gabled

roofs; then hot concrete burns tender
footpads; then the nodding daylilies

seem better-suited for a nap than for
such a strenuous, mid-day kill . . .


—Kathy Kieth, Pollock Pines

__________________

CALLS FOR SUBMISSIONS

•••PERMANENT VACATION: LIVING AND WORKING IN OUR NATIONAL PARKS: Bona Fide Books seeks literary essays for a collection about life and work in our national parks. Diverse park experiences desired. Although we enjoy tree-hugging epiphanies, we also want to read about day-to-day life, and the societal, environmental, and existential implications of living in the park. What happened there, and how did it influence your life? Writers will receive $100 for their essay and one copy of the collection. Deadline: January 5, 2010. Info/guidelines: Kim Wyatt, Editor & Publisher, editor@bonafidebooks.com/, 530-573-1513.

•••Monika Rose, Editor of Manzanita, writes: Volume 6 of Manzanita is inviting your original, unpublished work for inclusion in the new publication slated for spring 2010 release. Deadline is Dec. 15, 2009 by electronic submission only—see the web site for submission guidelines at www.manzanitacalifornia.org/.

__________________

ART
—Anonymous

The hen remarked to the mooley cow,
As she cackled her daily lay,
(That is, the hen cackled) "It's funny how
I'm good for an egg a day.
I'm a fool to do it, for what do I get?
My food and my lodging. My!
But the poodle gets that—he's the household pet,
And he never has laid a single egg yet—
Not even when eggs are high."

The mooley cow remarked to the hen,
As she masticated her cud,
(That is, the cow did) "Well, what then?
You quit, and your name is mud.
I'm good for eight gallons of milk each day,
And I'm given my stable and grub;
But the parrot gets that much, anyway,—
All she can gobble—and what does she pay?
Not a dribble of milk, the dub!"

But the hired man remarked to the pair,
"You get all that's coming to you.
The poodle does tricks, and the parrot can swear,
Which is better than you can do.
You're necessary, but what's the use
Of bewailing your daily part?
You're bourgeois—working's your only excuse;
You can't do nothing but just produce—
What them fellers does is ART!"

__________________

Today's LittleNips:

LITTLE LYRIC
(of GREAT IMPORTANCE)
—Langston Hughes

I wish the rent
Was heaven sent.


INTROSPECTIVE REFLECTION
—Ogden Nash

I would live all my life in nonchalance and insouciance
Were it not for making a living, which is rather a nousciance.


FATIGUE
—Hilaire Belloc

I'm tired of Love: I'm still more tired of Rhyme.
But Money gives me pleasure all the time.

__________________


—Medusa

SnakeWatch: What's New from Rattlesnake Press:


RATTLESNAKE REVIEW:

RR23 is now available free at The Book Collector,
and contributor and subscription copies
have gone into the mail—you should've received yours;
let me know if you haven't.
You may also order a copy through rattlesnakepress.com/.
Deadline is November 15 for RR24: 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 add all contact info,
including snail address. Meanwhile, the snakes of the on-going Medusa
are always hungry; keep that poetry comin', rain or shine!
Just let us know if your submission is for the Review or for Medusa,
or for either one, and please—only one submission packet
per issue of the quarterly Review.
(More info at rattlesnakepress.com/.)

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 likelihoodof getting your poetry published.
Pick up a copy at The Book Collector or
write to me (include snail address) and I'll send you one. Free!


NEW FROM RATTLESNAKE PRESS:

Now available at The Book Collector, 1008 24th St., Sacramento:
A new chapbook from Brad Buchanan (The War Groom)
and a new Rattlesnake LittleBook from
William S. Gainer: Joining the Demented.

Now available from SPC or at The Book Collector:
Our new anthology,
Keepers of the Flame:
The First 30 Years of the Sacramento Poetry Center.
Editor-in-Chief Mary Zeppa and her helpers have put together
many, many documents and photos
from SPC's 30-year history.

WTF!!: The third issue of WTF, the free quarterly journal from
Poetry Unplugged at Luna's Cafe that is edited by frank andrick,
is now available at The Book Collector,
or send me two bux and I'll mail you one.
Deadline for Issue #4 was Oct. 15;
it'll be released at Luna's on Thursday, Nov. 19.
Next deadline (for Issue #5) is Jan. 15.
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 (clearly marked for WTF).
And be forewarned: this publication is for adults only, so you must be
over 18 years of age to submit. (More info at rattlesnakepress.com/.)


COMING IN NOVEMBER:

Join us on Wednesday, November 11
for a new chapbook from Dawn DiBartolo
(Secrets of a Violet Sky);
Rattlesnake Reprint #2 from frank andrick
(PariScope: A Triptyche);
plus our 2010 calendar from Katy Brown
(Wind in the Yarrow)!
That's 7:30 PM at The Book Collector. Be there!

_________________

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.

Poultry & Other Laying of Eggs

JUMBO EGGS ON SALE
AT TRADER JOE'S
—Claire J. Baker, Pinole

Which came first
and pray tell when—
the jumbo egg
or the jumbo hen?

__________________

Thanks, Claire! Claire J. Baker writes: Once I placed in a poetry contest. At a bar I told a new friend of my good fortune. Her response: "A poultry contest?"

Well, it's not hard to lay an egg in poetry...


This week in NorCal poultry:

•••Mon. (11/2), 7:30 PM: Sacramento Poetry Center presents Richard Spilman, SPC Book Manuscript Winner for 2009 [Judge: Dennis Schmitz] at HQ for the Arts, 1719 25th St., Sacramento. Richard Spilman was born and raised in Normal, IL and holds a BA from Illinois Wesleyan, an MA from San Francisco State and a PhD from the State University of New York at Binghamton. His collection of short stories, Hot Fudge, was a New York Times Notable Book in 1990. He has published poetry in over thirty journals, most recently in New Letters, Oxford Magazine, The Southern Review, and DoubleTake.

•••Tuesdays, 7:30 PM: Sacramento Poetry Center Workshop at the Hart Center, 27th & J Sts., Sacramento. Free; bring 13 copies of your one-page poem to be read/critiqued. Info: Danyen Powell at 530-756-6228.

•••Wednesdays, 9 PM: Mahogany Urban Poetry Series at Queen Sheba's Restaurant, 1704 Broadway (17th and Broadway), Sacramento. $5 cover, all ages.

•••Weds. (11/4), 9 PM: Poetry Night at Bistro 33 is proud to welcome Rae Gouirand and Melissa Stein. The yearly anthology titled Best New Poets is edited this year by past Poetry Night featured performer Kim Addonizio, and for the 2009 edition Ms. Addonizio has chosen to include two Northern California poets who have direct connections to the City of Davis: Rae Gouirand lives here, and Melissa Stein graduated from the UC Davis MA Program in Creative Writing. Both poets will be joining us as featured readers at Poetry Night this coming Wednesday!

Rae Gouirand’s poems have appeared most recently in American Poetry Review, Boston Review, Columbia: A Journal of Literature and Art, jubilat, Spinning Jenny, MAKE Magazine, Bellingham Review, Tarpaulin Sky, Bateau, Forklift Ohio and mint: poetry trading cards. She is the winner of a Meijer Fellowship, a Hopwood Award, as well as an award for outstanding work by emerging poets from the Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Foundation in 2008. Recent fellowships include the Vermont Studio Center and the Santa Fe Art Institute. She currently teaches at UC Davis, UC Davis Extension, and through numerous community programs and private workshops. At present, she is at work on One by One, a micro poetry press inspired by real mail, vintage rock posters, and stolen moments. Rae was one of the first poets that we featured at Poetry Night at Bistro 33 in 2006.

Melissa Stein’s poems have appeared or are forthcoming in Southern Review, American Poetry Review, New England Review, Indiana Review, Gulf Coast, North American Review, Cimarron Review, and The Journal, among other journals and anthologies. She has received artist residency fellowships from Yaddo, the MacDowell Colony, the Djerassi Foundation, the Montalvo Center for the Arts, the Ragdale Foundation, and the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts. She has also received awards from Spoon River Poetry Review, Literal Latté Poetry Awards, and Robert Penn Warren Awards, as well as two Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Awards and two Barbara Bradley Awards. She is currently a freelance writer and editor in San Francisco.

•••Wednesdays, 5 PM: Dr. Andy’s Technology and Poetry Hour, KDVS radio station (90.3 FM) or http://www/kdvs.org/.

•••Thurs. (11/5), 4-5 PM: CSUS creative writing students read their work in "The Collective Reading Series" in the Library Gallery. Info: Host Joe Montalbo at crsatcsus@yahoo.com/. Save the following dates for other readings by these students:
Tues. (11/17), 4-5pm: Multicultural Center (across from the Library entrance)
Tues. (12/1), 4-5pm: Multicultural Center (across from the Library entrance)

•••Thursdays, 8 PM: Poetry Unplugged at Luna’s Café, 1414 16th St., Sacramento. Featured readers, with open mic before and after.

•••Thursdays, 7 PM: “Life Sentence” reading at The Coffee Garden, 2904 Franklin Blvd., Sacramento. Open mic.

•••Thursdays, 10-11 AM (replayed Sundays 10-11 AM): Mountain Mama’s Earth Music with Nancy Bodily on 95.7 FM. Music/poetry woven around a central theme deeply tied to mountains/earth.

•••Sat. (11/7 and every 1st Sat.): Rhythm and Rhyme readings at Butch N’ Nellies near 19th & I Sts., Sacramento. Televised music, open mic. Info: myspace.com/RNRshow/.

•••Sunday (11/8), 4 PM: The Book Collector presents Donald Sidney-Fryer, Do Gentry and Kathryn Hohlwein in a reading to celebrate the publication of The Outer Gate: The Collected Poems of Nora May French, from Hippocampus Press. Free. The Book Collector, 1008 24th St., Sacramento. Nora May French published only a dozen or so poems before her death in Carmel in 1907, but she was widely admired by California Romantic poets such as George Sterling, Clark Ashton Smith and Mary Austin. This volume includes substantial biographical information as well as her work. [See also Tom Goff's bio of French in Rattlesnake Review #21.]

•••Sunday (11/8), 1 PM: In a rare West Coast appearance, poet, playwright, essayist and political activist Amiri Baraka delivers a historic speech on our first African-American President, Barack Obama at the San Francisco Public Library Main Branch (Koret Auditorium), 100 Larkin St., SF. Free and open to the public. One of the true giants of international poetry, Amiri Baraka is a towering presence in the history of the United States and throughout the Americas. A transitional figure in both the Beat Generation and Civil Rights Era, Baraka is also known as the father of the Black Arts Movement. In 2008, during the primary and general election cycles, Baraka continued to surprise, delight and provoke his friends and enemies with a series of rigorous, inventive, and powerfully deciphering essays on then candidate Barack Obama. With this unique, once in a lifetime, event Amiri Baraka will revisit those essays, and bring his keen, always original, interpretation of the Obama Presidency in its first year. The talk will be immediately followed by a discussion with Justin Desmangles, and continue with a question and answer period with the audience.

_________________

FOR THE POET WHO SAID POETS
ARE STRUCK BY LIGHTNING
ONLY TWO OR THREE TIMES
—Peter Klappert

One is so seldom struck by
lightning, so seldom struck by
everything beautiful.

Oh, sometimes a butane fuel
truck intercepts you enroute
to a new supermarket;
if you even get a toot
out of that, you're lucky
to find a place to park it.

Or some guy stops, his car key
still plugged in his ignition,
hits you with a tire iron
(not even a fire arm) and
—what kind of inspiration
is that?

And the impression
I get on occasions when
I am struck by the sidewalk
is something I will not talk
about. How pedestrian
can you get. (Though each upset
makes me considerably more
concrete than I was before.)

_________________

EINE KLEINE SNAILMUSIK
—May Sarton

The snail watchers are interested in snails from all
angles...At the moment they are investigating the
snail's reaction to music. "We have played to them
on the harp in the garden and in the country on the
pipe," said Mr. Heaton, "and we have taken them
into the house and played to them on the piano."
—The London Star

What soothes the angry snail?
What's music to his horn?
For the "Sonata Appassionata,"
He shows scorn,
And Handel
Makes the frail snail
Quail,
While Prokofieff
Gets no laugh,
And Tchaikovsky, I fear,
No tear.
Piano, pipe, and harp,
Dulcet or shrill,
Flat or sharp,
Indoors or in the garden,
Are willy-nilly
Silly
To the reserved, slow,
Sensitive
Snail,
Who prefers to live
Glissandissimo,
Pianissimo.

_________________

MOTHER DOESN'T WANT A DOG
—Judith Viorst

Mother doesn't want a dog.
Mother says they smell,
And never sit when you say sit,
Or even when you yell.
And when you come home late at night
And there is ice and snow,
You have to go back out because
The dumb dog has to go.

Mother doesn't want a dog.
Mother says they shed,
And always let the stranger in
And bark at friends instead,
And do disgraceful things on rugs,
And track mud on the floor,
And flop upon your bed at night
And snore their doggy snore.

Mother doesn't want a dog.
She's making a mistake.
Because, more than a dog, I think
She will not want this snake.

__________________

Today's LittleNip:

Dying is easy; comedy is hard.

—Edmund Gwenn (or George Bernard Shaw, or...?)

__________________


—Medusa

SnakeWatch: What's New from Rattlesnake Press:


RATTLESNAKE REVIEW:

RR23 is now available free at The Book Collector,
and contributor and subscription copies
have gone into the mail—you should've received yours;
let me know if you haven't.
You may also order a copy through rattlesnakepress.com/.
Deadline is November 15 for RR24: 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 add all contact info,
including snail address. Meanwhile, the snakes of the on-going Medusa
are always hungry; keep that poetry comin', rain or shine!
Just let us know if your submission is for the Review or for Medusa,
or for either one, and please—only one submission packet
per issue of the quarterly Review.
(More info at rattlesnakepress.com/.)

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 likelihoodof getting your poetry published.
Pick up a copy at The Book Collector or
write to me (include snail address) and I'll send you one. Free!


NEW FROM RATTLESNAKE PRESS:

Now available at The Book Collector, 1008 24th St., Sacramento:
A new chapbook from Brad Buchanan (The War Groom)
and a new Rattlesnake LittleBook from
William S. Gainer: Joining the Demented.

Now available from SPC or at The Book Collector:
Our new anthology,
Keepers of the Flame:
The First 30 Years of the Sacramento Poetry Center.
Editor-in-Chief Mary Zeppa and her helpers have put together
many, many documents and photos
from SPC's 30-year history.

WTF!!: The third issue of WTF, the free quarterly journal from
Poetry Unplugged at Luna's Cafe that is edited by frank andrick,
is now available at The Book Collector,
or send me two bux and I'll mail you one.
Deadline for Issue #4 was Oct. 15;
it'll be released at Luna's on Thursday, Nov. 19.
Next deadline (for Issue #5) is Jan. 15.
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 (clearly marked for WTF).
And be forewarned: this publication is for adults only, so you must be
over 18 years of age to submit. (More info at rattlesnakepress.com/.)


COMING IN NOVEMBER:

Join us on Wednesday, November 11
for a new chapbook from Dawn DiBartolo
(Secrets of a Violet Sky);
Rattlesnake Reprint #2 from frank andrick
(PariScope: A Triptyche);
plus our 2010 calendar from Katy Brown
(Wind in the Yarrow)!
That's 7:30 PM at The Book Collector. Be there!

_________________

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.

Spilling Into Life

Photo by Ann Privateer

IF IT’S YOUR BIRTHDAY TODAY
—Ann Privateer, Davis

A cat named Spike delivered
a gift to me today; he slept
on my mat at yoga, left
only once when my heavy leg rested
across his back. My opened
hand close by balanced
for the triangle and he placed
a paw over it then rested
his head across my outstretched

fingers, as lovely as a baby's
unthinking, reminding me of you
spilling into life many years ago.

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Thanks to Ann Privateer for the poem and photo! Today is Cat Lover Carol Frith's birthday—Watch for a new rattlechap from Carol this December (The Thread of Dreams), and her full-length book of poetry coming from David Robert Books (two for a journey) this spring.

Did you set your clocks back an hour?

—Medusa