Wardrobe Malfunctions

YOU CARRY THE WEIGHT OF HEAVY BUTTOCKS
—Yehuda Amachai

You carry the weight of heavy buttocks,
but your eyes are clear.
Around your waist a wide belt that won't protect you.

You're made of the kind of materials that slow down
the process of joy
and its pain.

I've already taught my penis
to say your name
like a trained parakeet.

And you're not even impressed. As if
you didn't hear.
What else should I have done for you?

All I have left now is your name,
completely independent,
like an animal:

it eats out of my hand
and lies down at night
curled up in my dark brain.


(translated by Chana Bloch)

__________________

Janet Jackson has been cleared of her "wardrobe malfuntion", so for today's Seed of the Week, let's write about sex! Not about love—all that mushy stuff—but about sex itself: silly, awkward, beautiful, profound, secretive, joyous, clumsy, illicit—use your discretion about what will/won't get us arrested and tell us about SEX! There's certainly no dirth of material that has come before you, as today's poets will show... Send me a poem (kathykieth@hotmail.com, no deadline) and, for your troubles, I'll send you a free copy of my Sex—For Animals. Just because...

TIME FOR RICH SILENCE
—May Sarton

Time for rich silence,
The passionate season,
For the present tense
Beyond speech, outside reason.

Time now to explore
These intricate cages,
Two bodies aware,
Two equipages.

Find the way to unlock
A mysterious door
At the threshold of shock
With the impact of war.

Then gentle fierce joys
On the wave's rising curve
Till it reaches it poise,
Tumbles, touches the nerve.

And all tumult is done—
Two equipages
In silent communion
Released from their cages.

__________________

A VIRGINAL
—Ezra Pound

No, no! Go from me. I have left her lately.
I will not spoil my sheath with lesser brightness,
For my surrounding air hath a new lightness;
Slight are her arms, yet they have bound me straitly
And left me cloaked as with a gauze of aether;
As with sweet leaves; as with subtle clearness.
Oh, I have picked up magic in her nearness
To sheathe me half in half the things that sheathe her.
No, no! Go from me. I have still the flavour,
Soft as spring wind that's come from birchen bowers.
Green come the shoots, aye April in the branches,
As winter's wound with her sleight hand she staunches,
Hath of the trees a likeness of the savour:
As white their bark, so white this lady's hours.

__________________

TO MY LOVE, COMBING HER HAIR
—Yehuda Amachai

To my love, combing her hair
without a mirror, facing me,

a psalm: you've shampooed your hair, an entire
forest of pine trees is filled with yearning on your head.

Calmness inside and calmness outside
have hammered your face between them to a tranquil copper.

The pillow on your bed is your spare brain,
tucked under your neck for remembering and dreaming.

The earth is trembling beneath us, love.
Let's lie fastened together, a double safety-lock.


(translated by Stephen Mitchell)

__________________

LOSING MY VIRGINITY
—Kathy Kieth, Pollock Pines

It wasn’t like a grainy old movie: bad sound
and worse music, him six inches taller, bending
me over backwards on the dance floor; it wasn’t

like the magazines: latest lipstick shade on top
of proper vamping, cruise ship to Bermuda;

it wasn’t like my girlfriends said: long sips of
hootch, fumbles in the backseat, waiting for
the phone to ring the next morning; it wasn’t

like my aunt said: a few quick kisses, then a life-
time behind a stove, canning August peaches
in between castrating barn cats; it wasn’t like

my mother said: a man is a dark shadow—don’t
let him get between you and the sun; and it

wasn’t like I expected: fuzzy blankets and sass-
afras tea, every morning Christmas Day. It

wasn’t like any of that. . .


(originally appeared in Urban Spaghetti)

___________________

Today's LittleNip:

GOOD MORNING, BROWNING
—Samuel Hoffenstein

God's in his heaven
Painting things blue;
I'm on the thorn,
The snail is too.

__________________



—Medusa


SnakeWatch: What's Up With Rattlesnake Press

The Snake will be snoozing through July and August, leaving Medusa to carry on alone. Then on September 10, we shall burst back onto the scene with Ten Poems, a new chapbook from Patrick Grizzell; #2 in Katy Brown's series of blank journals (Musings Two: Vices, Virtues and Obsessions); plus Issue #19 of Rattlesnake Review (deadline is August 15). Meanwhile, look in on Medusa every day, and, for heaven's sake, keep sending stuff! The snakes of Medusa are always hungry...


Medusa's Weekly Menu:

(Contributors are welcome to cook up something for any and all of these!)

Monday: Weekly NorCal poetry calendar

Tuesday: Seed of the Week: Tuesday is Medusa's day to post poetry triggers such as quotes, forms, photos, memories, jokes—whatever might tickle somebody's muse. Pick up the gauntlet and send in your poetic results; and don't be shy about sending in your own triggers, too! All poems will be posted and a few of them will go into Medusa's Corner of each Rattlesnake Review. Send your work to kathykieth@hotmail.com or P.O. Box 762, Pollock Pines, CA 95726. No deadline for SOW; respond today, tomorrow, or whenever the muse arrives. (Print 'em out, maybe, save 'em for a dry spell?) When you send us work, though, just let us know which "seed" it was that inspired you.

Wednesday (sometimes): HandyStuff Quickies: Resources for the poet, including whatever helps ease the pain of writing and/or publishing: favorite journals to read and/or submit to; books, etc., about writing; organizational tools—you know—HandyStuff! Tell us about your favorite tools.

Thursday: B.L.'s Drive-Bys: Micro-reviews by our irreverent Reviewer-in-Residence, B.L. Kennedy. Send books, CDs, DVDs, etc. to him for possible review (either as a Drive-By or in future issues of Rattlesnake Review) at P.O. Box 160664, Sacramento, CA 95816.

Friday: NorCal weekend poetry calendar

Daily (except Sunday): LittleNips: SnakeFood for the Poetic Soul: Daily munchables for poetic thought, including short paragraphs, quotes, wonky words, silliness, little-known poetry/poet facts, and other inspiration—yet another way to feed our ravenous poetic souls.

And poetry! Every day, poetry from writers near and far! The Snakes of Medusa are always hungry.......!

_________________


Medusa encourages poets of all ilk and ages to send their POETRY, PHOTOS and ART, as well as announcements of Northern California poetry events, to kathykieth@hotmail.com (or snail ‘em to P.O. Box 762, Pollock Pines, CA 95726) for posting on this daily Snake blog. Rights remain with the poets. Previously-published poems are okay for Medusa’s Kitchen, as long as you own the rights. (Please cite publication.) Medusa cannot vouch for the moral fiber of other publications, contests, etc. that she lists, however, so submit to them at your own risk. For more info about the Snake Empire, including guidelines for submitting to or obtaining our publications, click on the link to the right of this column: Rattlesnake Press (rattlesnakepress.com). And be sure to sign up for Snakebytes, our monthly e-newsletter that will keep you up-to-date on all our ophidian chicanery.

Tap Dancing For Our Lives

Pat's Dogwood
Photo by Stephani Schaefer, Los Molinos

SWEAT
—Patricia Wellingham-Jones, Tehama

Sweating women
tend their gardens
run after children
hang sheets and towels
After their jobs in town
they work hard at home
all summer
Despite what Victorian
grandmothers said
these women know well
that ladies don't glow
They sweat just as hard as men

__________________

Thanks, PWJ, and thanks, Steph, for the photo of PWJ's dogwood blossoms. Both Steph Schaefer and Patricia Wellingham-Jones have published broadsides for Rattlesnake Press; Pat is also a rattlechapper, as well as head of PWJ Publishing. Both poets are frequent contributors to Rattlesnake Review.


This week in NorCal poetry:

•••Monday (7/21), 7:30 PM: The Sacramento Poetry Center is pleased to present a poetry reading by Yang Her as a benefit for My Sister's House. Some of the women from My Sister's House will also read, sharing their stories as victims and survivors. Refreshments will be served. HQ for the Arts, 25th & R Sts., Sacramento. [See last Friday's post for more information.]

Next week's SPC reading (7/28) will feature Susan Palwick and Ellen Klages.

•••Weds. (7/23), 7:30 PM: Roan Press will present its first Book Launch Party at the Book Collector (1008 24th St., Sacramento). Roan Press is a new Sacramento publisher with an interest in poetry, fiction, books of essays and other genres. We particularly welcome submissions from Northern California writers, but are open to work from anyone, anywhere. Please also watch for our website, www.roanpress.com, which is coming soon.

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

•••Thurs. (7/24), 8 PM: Poetry Unplugged at Luna’s Café, 1414 16th St., Sacramento, presents Monika Rose and Phillip T. Nails. Monika Rose is editor of the beautiful journal, Manzanita, and Phillip T. Nails will be releasing his new Sexological Asylum CD. (See also philliptnails.com). Open mic before and after.

If you miss Phillip on Thursday, he will also be performing and releasing his new CD Friday (7/25), 9-11 PM, at the Red Poppy Art House, 2698 Folsom St. (at 23rd) in SF. $10 suggested donation.

And be sure to check out both of these poets in Conversations, B.L. Kennedy’s Rattlesnake Interview Series. Phillip is in the most-recently released volume, #4, and Monika will be in #5, due out in November.

•••Thurs. (7/24), 8:15 PM: Benefit Squaw Valley poetry reading with nationally admired, award-winning poets, including Pulitzer Prize winner Robert Hass, Lucille Clifton, Sharon Olds, C.D. Wright and Dean Young. Squaw Valley, Olympic Village Lodge, 1901 Chamonix Place (off the SV Main Road near the Olympic Village Inn). $15/$5 student suggested donation. Email brett@squawvalleywriters.org to reserve a seat, or call Executive Director Brett Hall Jones at 530-581-5200. All proceeds benefit the Poetry Workshop Scholarship Fund, enabling talented writers to attend the week-long Squaw Valley poetry writing workshop; the 39th Annual Community of Writers will convene again this July & August with workshops in Poetry, Fiction, Nonfiction & Screenwriting. Poets and writers meet each day in workshops, as well as attend presentations on the writing craft; most of these afternoon and evening events are open to the public. Learn more at www.squawvalleywriters.org/.

•••Friday (7/25), 7:30 PM: Open Mic Nights are back July 25, August 27, and September 24, 7:30 PM at the Valhalla Grand Hall in Tahoe, just north of Camp Richardson on Hiway 89. Travel Hiway 50 to the "y" then take 50 north about 5 miles. The second edition of writings from the Lake Tahoe Writing Club is out, by the way. It's been renamed The Edge, and it’s very attractive: 73 pp, perfect-bound with colored photographs. They are now accepting submissions for the next edition. Go to TahoeWritingClub.com or info@LakeTahoeWritingClub.com/.

•••Sunday (7/27), 11 AM-1 PM: El Camino Poets meet to workshop poems. All poets are welcome to bring ten copies of your one-page poem for critique. Hart Sr. Center, 27th & J Sts., Sacramento.

__________________

TWO FIGURES
—Patricia Wellingham-Jones

(from the painting, "It's You", by Caitlin Schwerin)

Greyed, two figures
walk out of the frame,
across the frayed writing,
their history fading behind.
They stroll through a meadow
into a gold haze.
The large figure tilts his head
as if listening.
It's not the companion's
voice he hears.
His ears catch
the sound of the sun.
Feet skimming lush green grass
they wander into their new world,
sun behind their shoulders
warming their gaunt forms,
their long bones.
The writing, the writing,
the story of lives
left behind.
They amble,
arms empty,
faces blank,
out of the jumble of their broken lives
forward
propelled by the sun.

__________________

BUTCHER KNIFE
—Patricia Wellingham-Jones

The butcher knife lay on the table.
Her grandmother made her mad.
The nine-year-old
certainly knew better.

In a flare of rage
her hand grabbed the knife,
whirled it around her head.

The tiny woman
in stark black dress, old-lady shoes
ran around the table,
banshee-child in pursuit.

The child's eyes widened,
rage fell away,
she dropped the knife.

Hurling herself
into her grandmother's arms,
she sobbed, I'm sorry, I'm sorry.

__________________

One last poem, this one from Marie Ross of Stockton, who was inspired by last week's Medusa pic of the bird flying against the image of the moon:

MOON ON BLACK SWATCH
—Marie J. Ross

Silhouette approaches its cloth,
feathered hawk sails like leaf
in wind; across its pale yellow
fabric.
He glides with nimbus of back
drop, wings dipped in the buttery
glaze.
From dawn to dusk he lunges for
morsels, fights the sun; pine scent
skimming ribs of cones hidden beneath
moist sod.
Hence the fleshy maps on moon prevails,
with sporadic exoduses toward earth: he
his caw vibrating solitude; in the society
of the yellow fabric glide.

__________________

Today's LittleNip:

THE POET
—Lucille Clifton

I beg my bones to be good but
they keep clicking music and
I spin in the center of myself
a foolish frightful woman
moving my skin against the wind and
tap dancing for my life.

__________________

—Medusa


SnakeWatch: What's Up With Rattlesnake Press

The Snake will be snoozing through July and August, leaving Medusa to carry on alone. Then on September 10, we shall burst back onto the scene with Ten Poems, a new chapbook from Patrick Grizzell; #2 in Katy Brown's series of blank journals (Musings Two: Vices, Virtues and Obsessions); plus Issue #19 of Rattlesnake Review (deadline is August 15). Meanwhile, look in on Medusa every day, and, for heaven's sake, keep sending stuff! The snakes of Medusa are always hungry...


Medusa's Weekly Menu:

(Contributors are welcome to cook up something for any and all of these!)

Monday: Weekly NorCal poetry calendar

Tuesday: Seed of the Week: Tuesday is Medusa's day to post poetry triggers such as quotes, forms, photos, memories, jokes—whatever might tickle somebody's muse. Pick up the gauntlet and send in your poetic results; and don't be shy about sending in your own triggers, too! All poems will be posted and a few of them will go into Medusa's Corner of each Rattlesnake Review. Send your work to kathykieth@hotmail.com or P.O. Box 762, Pollock Pines, CA 95726. No deadline for SOW; respond today, tomorrow, or whenever the muse arrives. (Print 'em out, maybe, save 'em for a dry spell?) When you send us work, though, just let us know which "seed" it was that inspired you.

Wednesday (sometimes): HandyStuff Quickies: Resources for the poet, including whatever helps ease the pain of writing and/or publishing: favorite journals to read and/or submit to; books, etc., about writing; organizational tools—you know—HandyStuff! Tell us about your favorite tools.

Thursday: B.L.'s Drive-Bys: Micro-reviews by our irreverent Reviewer-in-Residence, B.L. Kennedy. Send books, CDs, DVDs, etc. to him for possible review (either as a Drive-By or in future issues of Rattlesnake Review) at P.O. Box 160664, Sacramento, CA 95816.

Friday: NorCal weekend poetry calendar

Daily (except Sunday): LittleNips: SnakeFood for the Poetic Soul: Daily munchables for poetic thought, including short paragraphs, quotes, wonky words, silliness, little-known poetry/poet facts, and other inspiration—yet another way to feed our ravenous poetic souls.

And poetry! Every day, poetry from writers near and far! The Snakes of Medusa are always hungry.......!

_________________


Medusa encourages poets of all ilk and ages to send their POETRY, PHOTOS and ART, as well as announcements of Northern California poetry events, to kathykieth@hotmail.com (or snail ‘em to P.O. Box 762, Pollock Pines, CA 95726) for posting on this daily Snake blog. Rights remain with the poets. Previously-published poems are okay for Medusa’s Kitchen, as long as you own the rights. (Please cite publication.) Medusa cannot vouch for the moral fiber of other publications, contests, etc. that she lists, however, so submit to them at your own risk. For more info about the Snake Empire, including guidelines for submitting to or obtaining our publications, click on the link to the right of this column: Rattlesnake Press (rattlesnakepress.com). And be sure to sign up for Snakebytes, our monthly e-newsletter that will keep you up-to-date on all our ophidian chicanery.

Landlocked

LANDLOCKED IN FUR
—Tukaram

I was meditating with my cat the other day
and all of a sudden she shouted,
"What happened?"

I knew exactly what she meant, but encouraged
her to say more—feeling that if she got it all out on the table
she would sleep better that night.

So I responded, "Tell me more, dear,"
and she soulfully meowed,

"Well, I was mingled with the sky, I was comets
whizzing here and there. I was suns in heat, hell—I was
galaxies. But now look—I am
landlocked in fur."

To this I said, "I know exactly what
you mean."

What to say about conversation
between

mystics?


(Translated from the Marathi by David Ladinsky)

_____________________

—Medusa

A Nose By Any Other Name...

NOSES
—Stephen Dobyns

Little emissary to tomorow,
the nose precedes us into the future,
reaching the next moment a moment before us,
a delicate Columbus of uncharted seas.
How brave is its unguarded fragility:
quick to sniffle, easily broken,
ever ready with its shout of warning,
the sneeze. True, the foot may get there
first, but it is cushioned by the shoe
and so for it the world remains abstract.
But the nose—tiny rosebud of the mole,
gallumphing snout of the moose, bump
of the skunk, smidgin of the frog—
easier to imagine a heaven full of noses,
than one full of people, clouds packed
with those soft triangles of flesh.

So this morning I watch my wife's nose
as she sleeps, my fingers hovering
inches above it only to stroke it.
If it were just a matter of noses,
her nose and mine,
how could we ever quarrel or fight?
No harsh words or angry looks.
How could there be anything but love
between those sweet upside-down heart shapes?

____________________

CRASH
—Christina P. Davis, Stockton

reality slips
a graceful tumble
my heart skips
over words I stumble

a graceful tumble
a midsummer night
over words I stumble
a poetic plight

a midsummer night
prophetically told
a poetic plight
fated beauty hold

prophetically told
my collapsing tower
fated beauty hold
relinquishing power

my collapsing tower
brought down in one swipe
relinquishing power
to ruby lips, ripe

brought down in one swipe
reality slips
to ruby lips, ripe
my heart skips

___________________

DEFORMED FINGER
—Hal Sirowitz

Don't stick your finger in the ketchup bottle,
Mother said. It might get stuck, &
then you'll have to wait for your father
to get home to pull it out. He
won't be happy to find a dirty fingernail
squirming in the ketchup that he's going to use
on his hamburger. He'll yank it out so hard
that for the rest of your life you won't
be able to wear a ring on that finger.
And if you ever get a girlfriend, &
you hold hands, she's bound to ask you
why one of your fingers is deformed,
& you'll be obligated to tell her how
you didn't listen to your mother, &
insisted on playing with a ketchup bottle,
& she'll get to thinking, he probably won't
listen to me either, & she'll push your hand away.

___________________

THE QUESTION MARK
—Gevorg Emin

Poor thing. Poor crippled measure
of punctuation. Who would know,
who could imagine you used to be
an exclamation point?
What force bent you over?
Age, time and the vices
of this century?
Did you not once evoke,
call out and stress?
But you got weary of it all,
got wise, and turned like this.


(Translated by Diane Der-Hevanessian)

___________________

THE GARDEN OF A CHILD
—Nirendranath Chakravarti

I entered the garden of my childhood days after
the storm had passed over. A gentle breeze was
blowing and the sky was blue. Seeing in the
undergrowth a bird that had come out of an egg
only a little while ago and had fallen down, I
put it back in its nest.
It all happened yesterday. Today I am a grown-up
man again, and I just can't put anything back in
its proper place.

__________________

Today's LittleNip:

Don't force poems to let go of limbo.

—Carlos Drummond de Andrade

__________________




—Medusa


SnakeWatch: What's Up With Rattlesnake Press

The Snake will be snoozing through July and August, leaving Medusa to carry on alone. Then on September 10, we shall burst back onto the scene with Ten Poems, a new chapbook from Patrick Grizzell; #2 in Katy Brown's series of blank journals (Musings Two: Vices, Virtues and Obsessions); plus Issue #19 of Rattlesnake Review (deadline is August 15). Meanwhile, look in on Medusa every day, and, for heaven's sake, keep sending stuff! The snakes of Medusa are always hungry...


Medusa's Weekly Menu:

(Contributors are welcome to cook up something for any and all of these!)

Monday: Weekly NorCal poetry calendar

Tuesday: Seed of the Week: Tuesday is Medusa's day to post poetry triggers such as quotes, forms, photos, memories, jokes—whatever might tickle somebody's muse. Pick up the gauntlet and send in your poetic results; and don't be shy about sending in your own triggers, too! All poems will be posted and a few of them will go into Medusa's Corner of each Rattlesnake Review. Send your work to kathykieth@hotmail.com or P.O. Box 762, Pollock Pines, CA 95726. No deadline for SOW; respond today, tomorrow, or whenever the muse arrives. (Print 'em out, maybe, save 'em for a dry spell?) When you send us work, though, just let us know which "seed" it was that inspired you.

Wednesday (sometimes): HandyStuff Quickies: Resources for the poet, including whatever helps ease the pain of writing and/or publishing: favorite journals to read and/or submit to; books, etc., about writing; organizational tools—you know—HandyStuff! Tell us about your favorite tools.

Thursday: B.L.'s Drive-Bys: Micro-reviews by our irreverent Reviewer-in-Residence, B.L. Kennedy. Send books, CDs, DVDs, etc. to him for possible review (either as a Drive-By or in future issues of Rattlesnake Review) at P.O. Box 160664, Sacramento, CA 95816.

Friday: NorCal weekend poetry calendar

Daily (except Sunday): LittleNips: SnakeFood for the Poetic Soul: Daily munchables for poetic thought, including short paragraphs, quotes, wonky words, silliness, little-known poetry/poet facts, and other inspiration—yet another way to feed our ravenous poetic souls.

And poetry! Every day, poetry from writers near and far! The Snakes of Medusa are always hungry.......!

_________________


Medusa encourages poets of all ilk and ages to send their POETRY, PHOTOS and ART, as well as announcements of Northern California poetry events, to kathykieth@hotmail.com (or snail ‘em to P.O. Box 762, Pollock Pines, CA 95726) for posting on this daily Snake blog. Rights remain with the poets. Previously-published poems are okay for Medusa’s Kitchen, as long as you own the rights. (Please cite publication.) Medusa cannot vouch for the moral fiber of other publications, contests, etc. that she lists, however, so submit to them at your own risk. For more info about the Snake Empire, including guidelines for submitting to or obtaining our publications, click on the link to the right of this column: Rattlesnake Press (rattlesnakepress.com). And be sure to sign up for Snakebytes, our monthly e-newsletter that will keep you up-to-date on all our ophidian chicanery.

A Moonload of Poetry

TALES
—B.Z. Niditch, Brookline, MA

You want to be
like Rapunzel
climbing ragged vines
or like the first people
crawling in caves
in ancient worlds
making declarations
on white sand
sailing like a slave
on a trading ship
withg Ulysses' exiled gestures
by the sea islands
not wanting to imagine
your espoused disaster.

___________________

Thanks, B.Z.! B.Z. Niditch is a frequent contributor to Rattlesnake Review; see more of his work in RR19, due out in mid-September. Deadline for submissions is August 15.

Meanwhile, make the most of the full moon and go to a poetry reading tonight—there are plenty of them going on around here!


This weekend in NorCal poetry:

•••Friday (7/18), 7:30 PM: A special Friday reading for Sacramento Poetry Center Poetry Contest Winners. Winners include Susan Wolbarst, Sally Wood and Mary Herrema Giudice; HMs include Sally Wood, H. Allen Blair, Merle Martin, Cynthia Linville, Marilyn Wallner, Nancy Wahl, Joyce Odam, Red Sliderr, Renee Marie, Susan Wolbarst, Lisa A. Jones, and Ray Hadley. HQ for the Arts, 25th & R Sts., Sacramento.

•••Friday (7/18), 7 PM: Raven’s Tale poetry reading features Brigit Truex and Kathy Kieth at Raven’s Tale bookstore, 352 Main St., Placerville, 530-622-4540, co-sponsored by Red Fox Underground. Free; open mic after (sign up before). Info: btrue@directcon.com/.

•••Friday (7/18), 7:30 PM: Going Public: Stories of Growing Up in the Projects: The public is invited to hear these tales and perhaps share some of their own at an evening of stories from these and other notable Sacramentans who grew up in public housing. La Raza Galleria Posada (1024 22nd St., Sacramento, between K and J Sts.). Admission is $5 ($3 for students and seniors). The event is co-sponsored by Los Escritores del Nuevo Sol [Writers of the New Sun], the resident writers group of LRGP, and Matrix Arts, a regional non-profit arts organization for which Maryellen Burns is the director. For information about Escritores del Nuevo Sol, established in 1993, contact JoAnn Anglin, or Graciela B. Ramirez, 916-456-5323, or see the website: http://escritoresdelnuevosol.com/.

•••Friday (7/18), 7:30 PM: This year marks the 18th annual benefit Squaw Valley poetry reading in San Francisco with nationally admired, award-winning poets, including Pulitzer Prize winner Robert Hass, Lucille Clifton, Sharon Olds, C.D. Wright and Dean Young. All proceeds benefit the Poetry Workshop Scholarship Fund which enables talented writers to attend the week-long Squaw Valley poetry writing workshop. The 39th Annual Community of Writers will convene again this July & August with workshops in Poetry, Fiction, Nonfiction & Screenwriting. Poets and writers meet each day in workshops, as well as attend presentations on the writing craft. Most of these afternoon and evening events are open to the public.

The San Francisco benefit (July 18) will be held at the First Unitarian Universalist Center of San Francisco, 1187 Franklin St. at Geary. Books by the poets will be available for purchase before and after the reading, and the poets will be available to sign books after the reading. Advance tickets are available for purchase from Brown Paper Tickets. If they do not sell out in advance of the reading, there will be tickets available at the door. Learn more about these events at www.squawvalleywriters.org/.

A second benefit, featuring the same poets, will be held on Thursday, July 24 at 8:15 PM at Squaw Valley, Olympic Village Lodge, 1901 Chamonix Place (off the SV Main Road near the Olympic Village Inn). $15/$5 student suggested donation.

•••Saturday (7/19), 7-9 PM: Underground Books presents Lori Jean Robinson, 2814 35th St., Sacramento. $3. Info: 916-208-7638.

•••Saturday (7/19), 7 PM: A reading of The Bridge Is Gone will be held by Monolin (Manny Moreno), a poet and life-long resident of Livingston, CA, at the Lazy S Ranch, 4255 Wellsford Rd. in Oakdale. This is a free event and open to all. Manny writes mainly of family and growing up in the valley. This is his first book, although he has been printed frequently in the poetry quarterly, Song of the San Joaquin. Yaqui/Tarascan, he participates in the Native American Church and the Sundance in South Dakota. His family settled in Livingston in the early 1900s, escaping persecution and widespread near-genocide of Yaquis in northern Sonora, Mexico. Info: Cleo Griffith, (209) 543-1776 or cleor36@yahoo.com

Directions to Lazy S Ranch: Claribel east past Claus, past Langworth to Wellsford Rd. (Oakdale). Turn right, follow the dead-end road into the ranch. You will see a large stable ahead with gravel parking. The reading will be on a stage inside the stable. Refreshments will be served.

•••Monday (7/21), 7:30 PM: The Sacramento Poetry Center is pleased to present a poetry reading by Yang Her as a benefit for My Sister's House. Some of the women from My Sister's House will also read, sharing their stories as victims and survivors. Refreshments will be served. HQ for the Arts, 25th & R Sts., Sacramento.

Yang Her will read from and sell copies of her new book, Paint Life With Colors of The World, filled with poems based on life, love, death, and domestic violence. Proceeds from the reading and book sales will be donated to My Sister's House, a program that helps victims and survivors of domestic violence. MSH is a non-profit organization and its program, called "Women to Work", is to help survivors of domestic violence to get back on their feet, to find the courage to move on with perseverance. MSH also has a 6-bed shelter for mothers and children escaping domestic violence and needs to maintain a monthly food budget. Please visit their website at http://www.my-sisters-house.org/.


Congrats to California Poet Kay Ryan!

Marin Country resident Kay Ryan, 62, has been chosen to be the next U.S. Poet Laureate. Kay grew up in various parts of the San Joaquin Valley, and now teaches at College of Marin in Kentfield. See yesterday's Sacramento Bee (p. A4) for the article which originally appeared in The New York Times, or go to www.nytimes.com/2008/07/17/books/17poet.html?em&ex=
1216440000&en=e5b030a79299e670&ei=5087%0A


Speaking of The Bee:

Bee staff writer Carlos Alcala has chosen to celebrate the upcoming Eppie's Great Race by issuing a call for what he's calling the "tri-ku", a "triathalon poem" in a form using the [sometimes used] 5-7-5 syllable pattern of a haiku. He says to submit one or two of your own by Monday (calcala@sacbee.com) and they'll run their favorites in the Bee's "Outbound" section next week. Here's his example:

EPPIE'S TRIATHALON
—Carlos Alcala

First leg short, next long,
Last is short. Just like haiku,
Only sweatier.

_________________

NEW BEDFORD
—B.Z. Niditch

When the motor mouth music
by the windshield
escapes each accidental note
we grieve our own morning secrets
in powerless unbelief
and all our news, logic
gestures, games, iinitials
drum along the highway
trying to get the better
of our own know-nothingness.

In the uncleaned mirror
a dilated time flashes
from rippled jazz
and we want to be somewhere
and invent our own gravity
here camouflaged
by the roadside
a rusty chrome radio
roars over long lines
on the highway
by your own map and key rings
you feel wrecked already
by threads of a losing dawn
passing an old mill town
somewhere among bundles
of daylight.

_________________

THE EDGE
—B.Z. Niditch

With the breath
of everything green
cicadas surround you
inspecting each random garden
consuming violets
scattering an eye of sunflowers
May's shadows stare
at outcropping tulips
the sun's limpid spark
towers over the earth
and here on the river's edge
by the deliberation of trees
spring appears
out of nowhere.

__________________

Today's LittleNip:

A computer lets you make more mistakes than any other invention in human history, with the possible exception of handguns and tequila.

—Mitch Ratcliffe

__________________

—Medusa


SnakeWatch: What's Up With Rattlesnake Press

The Snake will be snoozing through July and August, leaving Medusa to carry on alone. Then on September 10, we shall burst back onto the scene with Ten Poems, a new chapbook from Patrick Grizzell; #2 in Katy Brown's series of blank journals (Musings Two: Vices, Virtues and Obsessions); plus Issue #19 of Rattlesnake Review (deadline is August 15). Meanwhile, look in on Medusa every day, and, for heaven's sake, keep sending stuff! The snakes of Medusa are always hungry...


Medusa's Weekly Menu:

(Contributors are welcome to cook up something for any and all of these!)

Monday: Weekly NorCal poetry calendar

Tuesday: Seed of the Week: Tuesday is Medusa's day to post poetry triggers such as quotes, forms, photos, memories, jokes—whatever might tickle somebody's muse. Pick up the gauntlet and send in your poetic results; and don't be shy about sending in your own triggers, too! All poems will be posted and a few of them will go into Medusa's Corner of each Rattlesnake Review. Send your work to kathykieth@hotmail.com or P.O. Box 762, Pollock Pines, CA 95726. No deadline for SOW; respond today, tomorrow, or whenever the muse arrives. (Print 'em out, maybe, save 'em for a dry spell?) When you send us work, though, just let us know which "seed" it was that inspired you.

Wednesday (sometimes): HandyStuff Quickies: Resources for the poet, including whatever helps ease the pain of writing and/or publishing: favorite journals to read and/or submit to; books, etc., about writing; organizational tools—you know—HandyStuff! Tell us about your favorite tools.

Thursday: B.L.'s Drive-Bys: Micro-reviews by our irreverent Reviewer-in-Residence, B.L. Kennedy. Send books, CDs, DVDs, etc. to him for possible review (either as a Drive-By or in future issues of Rattlesnake Review) at P.O. Box 160664, Sacramento, CA 95816.

Friday: NorCal weekend poetry calendar

Daily (except Sunday): LittleNips: SnakeFood for the Poetic Soul: Daily munchables for poetic thought, including short paragraphs, quotes, wonky words, silliness, little-known poetry/poet facts, and other inspiration—yet another way to feed our ravenous poetic souls.

And poetry! Every day, poetry from writers near and far! The Snakes of Medusa are always hungry.......!

_________________


Medusa encourages poets of all ilk and ages to send their POETRY, PHOTOS and ART, as well as announcements of Northern California poetry events, to kathykieth@hotmail.com (or snail ‘em to P.O. Box 762, Pollock Pines, CA 95726) for posting on this daily Snake blog. Rights remain with the poets. Previously-published poems are okay for Medusa’s Kitchen, as long as you own the rights. (Please cite publication.) Medusa cannot vouch for the moral fiber of other publications, contests, etc. that she lists, however, so submit to them at your own risk. For more info about the Snake Empire, including guidelines for submitting to or obtaining our publications, click on the link to the right of this column: Rattlesnake Press (rattlesnakepress.com). And be sure to sign up for Snakebytes, our monthly e-newsletter that will keep you up-to-date on all our ophidian chicanery.

Dreaming of Corfu

SUMMER IN CORFU
—Lawrence Durrell

At last the serious days of summer,
When from the red forge dancing,
The blacksmith sunshine hammers
New beaks for the flesh,
From the black mint
Steel for new flint.

State me no theme for misery. The season
Like a woman lies open, is folding,
Secret, growth upon growth. The black fig
Desire is torn again from the belly of reason
Our summer is gravid at last, is big.

All you, who know desire in these seas,
Have souls or equipment for loneliness, loneliness,
Lean now like fruitage. The Hesperides
Open. This is the limbo, the doldrum.
Seal down the eye of your cyclops,
Silence Time's drum.

___________________

Time for Squaw:

•••Friday (7/18), 7:30 PM: This year marks the 18th annual benefit Squaw Valley poetry reading in San Francisco with nationally admired, award-winning poets, including Pulitzer Prize winner Robert Hass, Lucille Clifton, Sharon Olds, C.D. Wright and Dean Young. All proceeds benefit the Poetry Workshop Scholarship Fund which enables talented writers to attend the week-long Squaw Valley poetry writing workshop. The 39th Annual Community of Writers will convene again this July & August with workshops in Poetry, Fiction, Nonfiction & Screenwriting. Poets and writers meet each day in workshops, as well as attend presentations on the writing craft. Most of these afternoon and evening events are open to the public.

The San Francisco benefit (July 18) will be held at the First Unitarian Universalist Center of San Francisco, 1187 Franklin St. at Geary. Books by the poets will be available for purchase before and after the reading, and the poets will be available to sign books after the reading. Advance tickets are available for purchase from Brown Paper Tickets. If they do not sell out in advance of the reading, there will be tickets available at the door. Learn more about these events at www.squawvalleywriters.org/.

A second benefit, featuring the same poets, will be held on Thursday, July 24 at 8:15 PM at Squaw Valley, Olympic Village Lodge, 1901 Chamonix Place (off the SV Main Road near the Olympic Village Inn). $15/$5 student suggested donation.


Coming up at SPC:

•••Friday (7/18), 7:30 PM: A special Friday reading for Sacramento Poetry Center Poetry Contest Winners. Winners include Susan Wolbarst, Sally Wood and Mary Herrema Giudice; HMs include Sally Wood, H. Allen Blair, Merle Martin, Cynthia Linville, Marilyn Wallner, Nancy Wahl, Joyce Odam, Red Sliderr, Renee Marie, Susan Wolbarst, Lisa A. Jones, and Ray Hadley. HQ for the Arts, 25th & R Sts., Sacramento.

•••Monday (7/21), 7:30 PM: The Sacramento Poetry Center is pleased to present a poetry reading by Yang Her as a benefit for My Sister's House. Some of the women from My Sister's House will also read, sharing their stories as victims and survivors. Refreshments will be served. HQ for the Arts, 25th & R Sts., Sacramento.

Yang Her will read from and sell copies of her new book, Paint Life With Colors of The World, filled with poems based on life, love, death, and domestic violence. Proceeds from the reading and book sales will be donated to My Sister's House, a program that helps victims and survivors of domestic violence. MSH is a non-profit organization and its program, called Women to Work, is to help survivors of domestic violence to get back on their feet, to find the courage to move on with perseverance. MSH also has a 6-bed shelter for mothers and children escaping domestic violence and needs to maintain a monthly food budget. Please visit their website at http://www.my-sisters-house.org/.


This week's Drive-By: A Micro-Review by B.L. Kennedy:

The Portable Beat Reader
Edited by Ann Charters
Hardcover / Trade-paper
647pp

Okay, those of you readers who are addicted to that mythological school of artists, poets & writers that we call the “Beat Generation” either know of and love this anthology or simply dismiss it. But no matter what group you side with, the one thing you have to admit is that The Portable Beat Reader is a damn good helping of Kerouac and company—one of the best you will ever find. Here we have an anthology that is not only broken down by groups (i.e. Kerouac and friends) as well as geographical settings, but also includes members who have continued upon or altered the vision of the original Beats to include new voices in the literature such as Anne Waldman and Ed Sanders. Edited by Ann Charters, The Portable Beat Reader is, in my opinion, a beautiful introduction to a generation that was not.

__________________

ASPIRATIONS
—Brandon Williams, Placerville

As a child, I had no aspirations.
“What do you want to be?”
someone asked me once.
I shrugged, answered
“Spud Webb.”
I saw that old highlight,
him winning the dunk contest
in ’95, saw it again yesterday
and thought about child-me,
idolizing a five-foot-five guard
on the worst team in the NBA.
Basketball was all I knew;
when I stopped growing
at five-foot-eight, I needed
another career, something to get
my name in the papers.
If someone asked me today,
asked me that same question,
I’d probably say rich, famous,
or respected. But the child-me
is more honest. I want to be
Donald Trump, Tom Cruise,
or William Shakespeare.

I’d settle for Faulkner, though.

___________________

Thanks, Brandon! Brandon Williams is sending his work to the Snake for the first time; welcome! Watch for more from him in the up-coming Rattlesnake Review #19, due out in mid-September. Deadline is August 15—don't forget (even if you are floating along in summer doldrums...).

Marie Ross sent us her response to the Seed of the Week: a poem that never actually names its subject. Thanks, Marie!

CLANG
—Marie J. Ross, Stockton

Handrails a shiny gold in the sun,
wood polished like glass,
components flattened for muscle
and bone, summer clothing and
sandals.
Breezes are brief sounds of air whisking
strands of brown, black, blond and salt-
and-pepper tresses.
High up azure folds with mini-fluffs
of delicate lace over foam of boundless
lifts below.
Climbing silver steel to the apex, the clanging
box curves, clicks lazy songs over rough bumpy
cobblestone and cement.
As neon flicks like picture frames, engulfing the
core of the city, clang still distinguished as icon,
sound and transporter of dwellers.

___________________

WATER MUSIC
—Lawrence Durrell

Wrap your sulky beauty up,
From sea-fever, from winterfall
Out of the swing of the
Swing of the sea.

Keep safe from noonfall,
Starlight and smokefall where
Waves roll, waves toll but feel
None of our roving fever.

From dayfever and nightsadness
Keep, bless, hold: from cold
Wrap your sulky beauty into sleep
Out of the swing of the
Swing of sea.

___________________

Today's LittleNip:

They can be like a sun, words.

They can do for the heart
what light can
for a field.

—St. John of the Cross

__________________

—Medusa


SnakeWatch: What's Up With Rattlesnake Press

The Snake will be snoozing through July and August, leaving Medusa to carry on alone. Then on September 10, we shall burst back onto the scene with Ten Poems, a new chapbook from Patrick Grizzell; #2 in Katy Brown's series of blank journals (Musings Two: Vices, Virtues and Obsessions); plus Issue #19 of Rattlesnake Review (deadline is August 15). Meanwhile, look in on Medusa every day, and, for heaven's sake, keep sending stuff! The snakes of Medusa are always hungry...


Medusa's Weekly Menu:

(Contributors are welcome to cook up something for any and all of these!)

Monday: Weekly NorCal poetry calendar

Tuesday: Seed of the Week: Tuesday is Medusa's day to post poetry triggers such as quotes, forms, photos, memories, jokes—whatever might tickle somebody's muse. Pick up the gauntlet and send in your poetic results; and don't be shy about sending in your own triggers, too! All poems will be posted and a few of them will go into Medusa's Corner of each Rattlesnake Review. Send your work to kathykieth@hotmail.com or P.O. Box 762, Pollock Pines, CA 95726. No deadline for SOW; respond today, tomorrow, or whenever the muse arrives. (Print 'em out, maybe, save 'em for a dry spell?) When you send us work, though, just let us know which "seed" it was that inspired you.

Wednesday (sometimes): HandyStuff Quickies: Resources for the poet, including whatever helps ease the pain of writing and/or publishing: favorite journals to read and/or submit to; books, etc., about writing; organizational tools—you know—HandyStuff! Tell us about your favorite tools.

Thursday: B.L.'s Drive-Bys: Micro-reviews by our irreverent Reviewer-in-Residence, B.L. Kennedy. Send books, CDs, DVDs, etc. to him for possible review (either as a Drive-By or in future issues of Rattlesnake Review) at P.O. Box 160664, Sacramento, CA 95816.

Friday: NorCal weekend poetry calendar

Daily (except Sunday): LittleNips: SnakeFood for the Poetic Soul: Daily munchables for poetic thought, including short paragraphs, quotes, wonky words, silliness, little-known poetry/poet facts, and other inspiration—yet another way to feed our ravenous poetic souls.

And poetry! Every day, poetry from writers near and far! The Snakes of Medusa are always hungry.......!

_________________


Medusa encourages poets of all ilk and ages to send their POETRY, PHOTOS and ART, as well as announcements of Northern California poetry events, to kathykieth@hotmail.com (or snail ‘em to P.O. Box 762, Pollock Pines, CA 95726) for posting on this daily Snake blog. Rights remain with the poets. Previously-published poems are okay for Medusa’s Kitchen, as long as you own the rights. (Please cite publication.) Medusa cannot vouch for the moral fiber of other publications, contests, etc. that she lists, however, so submit to them at your own risk. For more info about the Snake Empire, including guidelines for submitting to or obtaining our publications, click on the link to the right of this column: Rattlesnake Press (rattlesnakepress.com). And be sure to sign up for Snakebytes, our monthly e-newsletter that will keep you up-to-date on all our ophidian chicanery.

Interbleeding Ectoplasms

Gordon
Photo by Katy Brown, Davis

CUT-LIST
—Taylor Graham, Somerset

All afternoon I’ve looked within
old friends. This one’s leather-bound
in black, its cover worn soft as velveteen
passed down over generations; inside,
names and dates inscribed by so many
careful hands. And this one, I open
at random to Wigeon—the baldpate
I added to my bird-list on the Kenai.
Now, here’s a softbound treasury
of Pogo from the Sunday comics.
And here, old fable—The City Mouse
and the Country Mouse that darted
through my childhood dreams.
Some almost forgotten
on the shelves—a history
of our lives. Which ones
can we give away?

__________________

TASTE OF PURPLE
—Taylor Graham

When we came here, we couldn’t name
this unfamiliar tree whose leaves
make fragile shade above dry creekbed.
From its limbs, tiny green nubbins
gluttoned on sun till they plumped
tart but sweet. Today with birdsong
they call me to taste crimson-purple.

___________________

Thanks, Taylor Graham, for two poems based on our Seed of the Week: write a poem about something without actually naming it. And "Gordon" is an old moose who lives in Maine and was caught on camera by Katy Brown on her recent moose-snapping expedition (thanks, Katy!).

___________________

FOOLS, TAKE NO NOTES
—Tom Goff, Carmichael

My graceful shape is meaningless, unused;
my speech is drawn by lengths, in artful struggle.
I have so much to say, but not to fools.

My benefits the non-elect must lose,
not knowing with what rigor beauty couples,
how graceful shapes turn meaningless, unused.

My speech is high-strung song, but I have news:
I alternate my rigid with my supple,
having so much to sing, but not to fools.

Let wild horsehairs, dragged by human thews,
once cross my waist, I’m vibrancy, all cable,
all graceful shape and keeningfulness, well used.

My scroll, my belly, debonair and spruce,
yet when my back is up, I’m hard as maple.
I have so much to say, but not to fools

whose fingertips like elbows I refuse
to dignify with squeaks. Be now my equal.
Make meaningful my shape: a grateful muse,
I’m suave to touch, but play no notes for fools.

___________________

Thanks, Tom, for the SOW response (which Tom is sub-calling, "Wait, don't tell me...")! Tom Goff also sent us another inspiration from his muse. He writes: Here's one suggested by our traveling to San Francisco, and being close to where, in 1924, Erich von Stroheim filmed part of Greed, based on the Frank Norris novel, McTeague. One of the great (alas, mutilated) silent movie classics, but recently seen, somewhat restored, on Turner Classic Movies.

PLAN B: LUNCH WITH McTEAGUE
—Tom Goff

We jettison our plan to see Muir Woods:
stuck, Nora U-turns on a dime-size freeway apron,
darts oppositely, south, down old 101;
that’s how we evade delay. Now our dark mood
seems light, next to the dark limbs of the light-laced woods
that screen the highway. Over the Golden Gate

to Ocean Beach. Will it embolden fate
if we stroll sand, view brood upon swooping brood
of pelicans? But first, let’s lunch at the Cliff House.
Magical: here on this rock, a scene of Greed
was shot. We’re here, just four or five structures since,

where Gibson Gowland lets slip he wants ZaSu Pitts;
her fiancé (Jean Hersholt), remarkably, submits
to his friend the dentist. Ghostly, to feel in league
(a bit out of ours) with Trina, bridged by McTeague.
Here’s to a real-plus-fictional brace of spouse:
long may our ectoplasms interbleed.

___________________

Today's LittleNip:

I am looking for a poem that says Everything
so I don't have to write
anymore.

—Tukaram

__________________

—Medusa


SnakeWatch: What's Up With Rattlesnake Press

The Snake will be snoozing through July and August, leaving Medusa to carry on alone. Then on September 10, we shall burst back onto the scene with Ten Poems, a new chapbook from Patrick Grizzell; #2 in Katy Brown's series of blank journals (Musings Two: Vices, Virtues and Obsessions); plus Issue #19 of Rattlesnake Review (deadline is August 15). Meanwhile, look in on Medusa every day, and, for heaven's sake, keep sending stuff! The snakes of Medusa are always hungry...


Medusa's Weekly Menu:

(Contributors are welcome to cook up something for any and all of these!)

Monday: Weekly NorCal poetry calendar

Tuesday: Seed of the Week: Tuesday is Medusa's day to post poetry triggers such as quotes, forms, photos, memories, jokes—whatever might tickle somebody's muse. Pick up the gauntlet and send in your poetic results; and don't be shy about sending in your own triggers, too! All poems will be posted and a few of them will go into Medusa's Corner of each Rattlesnake Review. Send your work to kathykieth@hotmail.com or P.O. Box 762, Pollock Pines, CA 95726. No deadline for SOW; respond today, tomorrow, or whenever the muse arrives. (Print 'em out, maybe, save 'em for a dry spell?) When you send us work, though, just let us know which "seed" it was that inspired you.

Wednesday (sometimes): HandyStuff Quickies: Resources for the poet, including whatever helps ease the pain of writing and/or publishing: favorite journals to read and/or submit to; books, etc., about writing; organizational tools—you know—HandyStuff! Tell us about your favorite tools.

Thursday: B.L.'s Drive-Bys: Micro-reviews by our irreverent Reviewer-in-Residence, B.L. Kennedy. Send books, CDs, DVDs, etc. to him for possible review (either as a Drive-By or in future issues of Rattlesnake Review) at P.O. Box 160664, Sacramento, CA 95816.

Friday: NorCal weekend poetry calendar

Daily (except Sunday): LittleNips: SnakeFood for the Poetic Soul: Daily munchables for poetic thought, including short paragraphs, quotes, wonky words, silliness, little-known poetry/poet facts, and other inspiration—yet another way to feed our ravenous poetic souls.

And poetry! Every day, poetry from writers near and far! The Snakes of Medusa are always hungry.......!

_________________


Medusa encourages poets of all ilk and ages to send their POETRY, PHOTOS and ART, as well as announcements of Northern California poetry events, to kathykieth@hotmail.com (or snail ‘em to P.O. Box 762, Pollock Pines, CA 95726) for posting on this daily Snake blog. Rights remain with the poets. Previously-published poems are okay for Medusa’s Kitchen, as long as you own the rights. (Please cite publication.) Medusa cannot vouch for the moral fiber of other publications, contests, etc. that she lists, however, so submit to them at your own risk. For more info about the Snake Empire, including guidelines for submitting to or obtaining our publications, click on the link to the right of this column: Rattlesnake Press (rattlesnakepress.com). And be sure to sign up for Snakebytes, our monthly e-newsletter that will keep you up-to-date on all our ophidian chicanery.