Once, Again

PAY DIRT
—Philip A. Waterhouse, Sonoma

Always playing it wild.
Doesn't have a suit.
No importe
to Joker
so flashy in straights and flushes.

Has no objection
to being thought as masculine,
Joker,
to lording it over aces.

Kings, queens, jayboys,
called face cards,
Joker's mug—
can be animal, bird, clown.
Joker laughs.

Loves to come out of hiding,
firing, one shot does it.
Always fits
somebody's hand.

Joker,
enrich a man, a woman,
a quick bundle of joy.

No. #53.
Up a sleeve.
What a card!

_________________

Thanks, Philip! About himself, Philip Waterhouse says: "exnewshound, print, radio, nothing bigtime, then irrespectable times as conman doing publicity, political campaign 'management' ... laughed a lot, then ... and now ... news and politics—irrascible bedmates ... somewhere in there did common labor to put bread in belly basket ...


This week in NorCal poetry:

•••Mon. (11/23), 7:30 PM: Sacramento Poetry Center presents Lee Herrick and Michael Medrano at HQ for the Arts at 1719 25th St., Sacramento. [See last Friday's post for bios.]

•••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.

•••Weds. (11/25), 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.

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

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

•••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.

•••Fri. (11/27), 8-10:30 PM: TheBlackOutPoetrySeries inside The Upper Level VIP Lounge, 26 Massic Ct., Sacramento (located inside of Fitness Systems Healthclub by Cal State Skating Rink; exit Mack Road East to Stockton Blvd and then make a left on Massie, right past Motel 6 plus open mic. $5.00. Features Singers Willie Whitlock, Ghetto Romeo, Kendra and Mouthpeace, dancer Brandon Jackson and poets He Spit Fire plus Anna Sprowl. Info: 916-208-POET or fromtheheart1@hotmail.com/. Take advantage of 2-people-for-the-price-of-one this month; to get your 2-for-1 passes just call (916) 208-POET.

•••Sat. (11/28 and every 2nd and 4th Sat.), 10-11:30 AM: Sacramento Poetry Center 2nd and 4th Sat. Workshop hosted by Emmanuel Sigauke and Frank Dixon Graham. South Natomas Community Center (next door to S. Natomas Library), 2921 Truxel Rd., Sacramento. Bring ten copies of your one-page poem to read/critique. Info: grahampoet@aol.com/.


Coming Up NEXT week at SPC:

•••Mon. (11/30), 7:30 PM: Lucy Lang Day, Tom Miner and Dianna Henning
•••Weds. (12/2), 6-8 PM: Sacramento Poetry Center Annual Fundraiser at the home of Mimi & Burnett Miller, 1224 40th St., Sacramento. Poetry by Theresa Vinciguerra and Danyen Powell, music by the American River College Vocal Jazz Quartet. Hors d’oeuvres and libations. Your $30 donation benefits SPC. RSVP 916-979-9706 or bobstanley@sbcglobal.net, or just pay at the door.

__________________

A-VÉ
—Philip A. Waterhouse

A revered Black Pearl of Polynesia
in its natural state would be a wondrous
rarity now that angling and ocean pollution
have drastically reduced the harboring
shellfish's availability to archaic pearl-diving;
thus the oyster or mussel remains mostly
unmolested while an irritating parasite
or mysterious bone fragment becomes
lodged in one of their shells—protest to
the intrusion is natural formation of a gem
in the native state believed to pre-date
earliest humanity. Alternative generation
comes now by insertion of an irritant
by human hand into a captured mollusk,
or by concoction of chemicals in a
laboratory dish, the resultant synthetics
advertised as 'cultured' pearls, a term
of appeal in human societies where
the fashion is to ignore the reality of
simple industrial 'farming', and though
the results are the beauteous stones
adored by dames and damsels of many
cultures, make mine a Natural, pronto,
a Grande Dame is in-waiting.

____________________

GROUND TO ZERO
—Philip A. Waterhouse

—Can't resist ... what must it be like to be
looking down at the ragland oval, watch losers
winning first moonlight savings time debate ...

—never forget to remember down drinking
tall earth glasses of wine dry, one by one ...

—to map—dead black Milky Ways, satellite
mesas, chaparral, blind-end catch canyons ...

—organize a society for developing pleasures,
to share, elaborate, informal,
altitude, solitude, cousins that don't kiss? ...

—photos of cave carvings of Mother Earth—
Father Time first couplings, smuggled them
on board ...

—design a new earth icon—snapping turtle ...

—silver spoon desserts, unlimited quantity,
pre-frozen ...

—everywhere, someone, down there, can be
lyre, piccolo‚ cymbals up here ...

—respectfully, first solo spacer,
eyes going star to make-believe star, famous—
(smuggle, my lithe lady) ...

____________________

STUMBLE BUMS
—Philip A. Waterhouse

Local pub, not chi-chi,
the watering hole
natural to small communities,
attended by ancients,
scruffy fledglings,
hounds, and foxes,
and extrovert
never lets us finish
without joining in
the soulful toast
just before last call—

To great moments,
like right now,
passing us by —Bottoms!



__________________

Today's LittleNip:

ONCE, AGAIN
—Alice Walker

Once again simple
Once again childlike
The poem opening out
into the grass.

__________________


—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:

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)!

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 DECEMBER:

The Thread of Dreams,
a new chapbook from
Carol Frith,
will be premiered at
The Book Collector on
December 9, 7:30 PM,
along with the new issue of
Rattlesnake Review.
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.

Our Beautiful Mother

Herd of Buffalo
Allison Dearborn Rieder

WE HAVE A BEAUTIFUL MOTHER
—Alice Walker

We have a beautiful
mother
Her hills
are buffaloes
Her buffaloes
hills.

We have a beautiful
mother
Her oceans
are wombs
Her wombs
oceans.

We have a beautiful
mother
Her teeth
the white stones
at the edge
of the water
the summer
grasses
her plentiful
hair.

We have a beautiful
mother
Her green lap
immense
Her brown embrace
eternal
Her blue body
everything
we know.

___________________

—Medusa

Julius Chingono

Julius Chingono

FALSE TOOTH
—Julius Chingono, Zimbabwe

A false tooth
got lost
during a tongue dance
that was misty
and full of froth.
It was found holding
on to a rotting gum.

A false tooth
also smiles
when real teeth smile
do they have any feelings?

Are you aware
all those people died
to make certain
you lost the election?

__________________

Thanks, Julius, for today's poetry! Born 63 years ago, Julius Chingono has worked in the mines as a rock blaster for most of his working age. He has been published in Shona and English in anthologies the world over. He has been invited to attend and participate international festivals like Poetry International in Rotterdam in the Netherlands, Poetry Africa in Durban in South Africa, and Shaar International Festival in Israel. His poems have been translated into Dutch, German, English, French and Hebrew. He contributes to Poetry International regularly, and is working on a Shona short story book. Good to hear from another of our Zimbabwean poet-friends!

Medusa has updated her links; check out the list on the right for new ones in addition to our "old" favorites. I can't seem to get Bob Stanley's to work, though—probably my antiquated software—but I'm leaving it on there so that (1) you might try it and have better luck, and (2) you'll be reminded to check out his spiffy County Lines now and then—hopefully more now than then.

__________________

COCKROACHES
—Julius Chingono

Two cockroaches met
talked of their experiences
since they parted
one big wingless cockroach
told the other cockroach
that the hotel
they used to stay in was no more
suitable for habitation
for the floors were
well scrubbed and shiny
cavities filled and plastered
walls were sparkling
in new paint
sinks and cupboards
glittered in enamel.
"The new environment
was too dry."
The wingless cockroach complained
"Often made me restless."
I came out through
a keyhole
weak but determined
to escape.

__________________

LOST A VERSE
—Julius Chingono

I was immersed
in working a poem
when an emergent business man
whom I shared a park bench with
received a call
a business call
I presumed.
He borrowed the pen
I was scribbling with
I lost a verse
he got an order.

____________

QUEUES
—Julius Chingono

There are queues many queues
cheeky rowdy bread queues
disjointed tension charged sugar queues
bumper to bumper fuel
warlike mealie meal queues
anxiety mobbed telephone queues
sick winding hospital queues
deathly silent mortuary queues
yet the longest but invisible queue
is the queue to the queue.

__________________

Today's LittleNip:

Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body.

—Sir Richard Steele

__________________


—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:

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)!

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 DECEMBER:

The Thread of Dreams,
a new chapbook from
Carol Frith,
will be premiered at
The Book Collector on
December 9, 7:30 PM,
along with the new issue of
Rattlesnake Review.
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.

A Poet's Passing

Nothing is so welcome
As the rain that heals the cracks
Within the stream

—Ronald Edwin Lane

Thanks, Ron, for the poem and photo. Tonight (Friday, 11/20), at 7:30 PM, The Other Voice (sponsored by the UU Church of Davis) presents Deborah Thomas and Ron Lane, who will read their poems in the library of the church located at 27074 Patwin Rd., Davis. [See last Monday's post for bios.]


Passing of a Poet:

We are saddened to report that David Milnor, a fine formalist poet in the Sacramento area, passed away yesterday (Thursday, November 19). He will be missed by the Northern California poetry community for his contribution to formal poetry. David was particularly articulate with sonnets, ballades and villanelles, and he was a member in good standing of El Camino Chapter of CFCP, Inc., giving several poetic presentations there. David was also a member of the Wednesday Writing Workshop which meets at the Ethel Hart Senior Center, maintaining regular attendance even as his health was waning. His work appeared in the publication, Midweek Musings, an anthology of Sacramento poets, in 2009, as well as in Rattlesnake Review and on Medusa’s Kitchen, where he was featured on August 11, 2009. [For more about David, a photo and more of his work, go to the column on the right and click on August, 2009, then scroll down to August 8.]

A poem of David’s will be published in the upcoming issue of Rattlesnake Review, and here is another:


IN DEFENSE OF ANGER
—David Milnor

Take up your lance against this grim twilight;
against the threat to dreams of what could be.
it’s cruel, unfair, the coming of the night.

The future with its dreams is now not bright;
to dream and plan we’re now not ever free—
take up your lance against this grim twilight.

Our castles crumble from their modest height
as death comes close, with all in jeopardy;
it’s cruel, unfair, the coming of the night.

It’s human to greet with hate the threatened blight
of dreams that we have treasured tenderly;
take up your lance against this grim twilight.

We cannot find the justice in our plight
and ask in bitterness, why is it me?
It’s cruel, unfair, the coming of the night.

Now must we carry on as best we might,
perhaps still buoyed by our angry plea?
It’s cruel, unfair, the coming of the night;
take up your lance against this grim twilight.

__________________

This weekend in NorCal poetry:

•••Fri. (11/20), 8-10:30 PM: TheBlackOutPoetrySeries inside The Upper Level VIP Lounge, 26 Massic Ct., Sacramento (located inside of Fitness Systems Healthclub, by Cal State Skating Rink; exit Mack Road East to Stockton Blvd and then make a left on Massie, right past Motel 6) features Singer Carla Fleming, musician group CARRiON and poet Anna Marie, plus open mic. $5.00. Info: 916-208-POET or fromtheheart1@hotmail.com/. Take advantage of 2-people-for-the-price-of-one this month; to get your 2-for-1 passes just call (916) 208-POET.

•••Sat. (11/21), 10 AM-4 PM: Rae Gourirand of Davis writes: Just a brief note to invite you to a craft show I’m participating in at the Village Homes Community Center (close to Osteria Fasulo and the Applegate Dance Studio, at 2661 Portage Bay East, in Davis) next Saturday. I’ll be selling hardback writing journals made of amazing Japanese chiyogami papers, silk/linen spinecloth, and cream Italian text block paper, and a smaller supply of Thai momi paper stab-bound notebooks. (Completely unrelated to these bound objects, I’ll also have a wall of handknit scarves that want to find their owners before it officially becomes winter!) All sales, as ever, fund the startup costs of One By One, my micro poetry press (which I anticipate will be up and running by the summer). I started the Open Books project last year as a way to join my passion for bookbinding and my vision for the press— which is dedicated to encouraging us all to savor stolen moments. I’ll be at the show until everything sells out, which might be quite fast (I am only offering about 40 books for sale this year) but would love to see you and talk with you all about how the vision of the press has evolved over the last year. Lots of other local artists will be showing ceramics, jewelry, knits, wreaths, prints, paintings, and more at this event, and I hear there will be live music and refreshments.

•••Saturday (11/21), 8 PM: Saturday Night @ Luna’s, a special event w/Beth Lisick, Michelle Tea, Tara Jepsen, Rachel Leibrock, Barbara Noble, Becca Costello, and The Women’s Collective from “Stop Being a Fucking Creep” aka “Take Back Midtown”, followed by sounds, text and vox by Ross Hammond, Ruben Reveles, Josh Fernandez, and frank andrick. And guest poets too! Only $10 at the door. Stories, prose, poetry, drama, skits, improvisation, music, sampling, songs, free chapbooks & broadsides. A Whole Lotta FUN ! (This event sponsored by Poets & Writers Inc. from a generous donation by the James Irvine Foundation.)

•••Sat. (11/21 and every 3rd Sat.), 10 AM: Writers of the New Sun/Los Escritores del Nuevo Sol, potluck meetings at La Raza Galeria Posada, 1024 22nd St., Sacramento. Members of all levels support each other via readings, exercises, critiques and info, plus open mic; writing in Spanish, English or both. Call ahead to confirm: 916-456-5323.

•••Sat. (11/21 and every 3rd Sat.), 7 PM: Celebration of Word, Sound and Paint at Carol’s Books, 1913 Del Paso Blvd., Sacramento.

•••Mon. (11/23), 7:30 PM: Sacramento Poetry Center presents Lee Herrick and Michael Medrano at HQ for the Arts at 1719 25th St., Sacramento. Lee Herrick is the author of This Many Miles from Desire (WordTech Editions, 2007). He was born in Daejeon, Korea and adopted at ten months. His poems have been published in ZYZZYVA, Berkeley Poetry Review, Hawaii Pacific Review, MiPoesias, and The Bloomsbury Review, among others, and in anthologies such as Seeds from a Silent Tree: An Anthology of Korean Adoptees; Hurricane Blues: Poems About Katrina and Rita; and Highway 99: A Literary Journey through California’s Great Central Valley, 2nd Edition. He has also recently served as Guest Editor for the Rio Grande Review, the literary magazine of the Bilingual MFA Program the University of Texas, El Paso, and for Asian American Poetry and Writing, based in Los Angeles. He is the founding editor of In the Grove and teaches at Fresno City College.

Michael Luis Medrano was born and raised in Fresno, California, the heart of the San Joaquin Valley. He holds an MFA in creative writing from the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, and has performed his work at Stanford University, The Loft Literary Arts Center in Minneapolis, and the University of Colorado, Boulder. His work is forthcoming or has appeared in North American Review, Bombay Gin, and The Cortland Review among others. His debut collection of poetry, Born in the Cavity of Sunsets, will be published in September 2009 by Bilingual Review Press. Once again based in Fresno, Medrano is teaching, hosting a literary radio show, and working on completing a second collection of poems.


And some more fibs [see Tuesday's post for the fib, our Seed of the Week]:

HER MUSE IS SILENT
—Patricia A. Pashby, Sacramento

She
will
endure,
feel the void—
the empty feeling.
Her muse is silent and listless—
not in the mood to inspirit—leaving her barren.

__________________

DOOR SLAM ON T STREET
—Katy Brown, Davis

Red
trees
sneeze birds
on chilly mornings.
Showers of leaves fall as birds rise
into pale sky like pepper flung on the autumn wind.

__________________

WINTER MESSAGE
—Mitz Sackman, Murphys

Leaf
Falls
Ground red
Maples blaze
Wind blows, cold weather
Comes to the mountainsides again
Winter sends its messenger to the trees and to us

__________________

UNDERSTANDING TRUTH
—Mitz Sackman

I
Want
So much
Of my time
To understand all
All things in this complex world of ours
But where is the time given to contemplate the truth

_________________

HOURS OF OFFICE:
(Lauds, Sext, Vespers, Compline)
—Margaret Ellis Hill, Fair Oaks

(a fib sequence)

Day
break
soon now
earlier
than yesterday’s hour,
long after roosters crow their songs,
crickets close their wings, and frogs settle to sleep at last.

Run
fast
catching
beams of light
before noon so that
afternoons grace the hours, swinging
in hammocks of soft clouds sailing slowly by your eyes.

Dusk
comes
slowly,
silently
slipping into view
God’s daily painting of sunset
into the peaceful dreaminess of twilight’s last step.

Night
draws
her shawl—
a dark cloak—
mysteriously
set with bright silver sequins and
a round moonstone ring that she lifts high like a blessing.

__________________

Today's LittleNip:

RESURRECTION
—Claire J. Baker, Pinole

When we stand on a hilltop
and face a sunrise, we harbor

no concern over what or who else
we may become, or when, or if.

Every sunrise is a Great Now
metaphoring

that we, too, have risen
many times before—that

rising again and again is
what life is all about.

__________________


—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:

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)!

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 DECEMBER:

The Thread of Dreams,
a new chapbook from
Carol Frith,
will be premiered at
The Book Collector on
December 9, 7:30 PM,
along with the new issue of
Rattlesnake Review.
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.

Where Is The Keeper...

Photo by Katy Brown, Davis

RESIDENT DOVES
—Jeanine Stevens, Sacramento

Monotone satin
some doves cooing
a docile song, the obedient ones.

Rarely do they scatter
when I walk
the gravel path,
but lift like velvet ribbons,
gentle whirly-gigs.

Last spring—they attached
a flimsy nest to peeling
eaves, over the BBQ.

We moved it to another limb,
still they came
dropping twigs and string,

loosening almond white eggs
mid-air, breaking all yellow below.

Now, I see gray tear-shapes
tiny feet mincing
amid lilacs, the same two—

fussing and clacking thin sticks
taking up a new residence

in black scented junipers
under the metal satellite dish.

__________________

Thanks to Katy Brown for our photo today. Be sure to pick up your Rattlesnake Press 2010 calendar (Katy's Wind in the Yarrow) at The Book Collector, 1008 24th St., Sacramento. Only $5!

And thanks to Jeanine Stevens for today's poetry. Watch for more of Jeanine and Katy's work in Rattlesnake Review #24, due out December 9 at our Book Collector reading which will feature a new chapbook, The Thread of Dreams, by Carol Frith.

Tonight the new issue of WTF will be unveiled at Poetry Unplugged at Luna's Cafe, 1414 16th St., Sacramento, 8 PM. Editor frank andrick has lots of fun and frolic lined up for the evening, which includes open mic, so be there!

And Medusa's Seed of the Week is the fib. Check out yesterday or Tuesday's post for guidelines to the form and some tasty samples, and roll up your sleeves. No deadline on SOW's: send them to kathykieth@hotmail.com/.

__________________

LIGHTHOUSE
—Jeanine Stevens

Abandoned, it watches
oncoming clouds,
a darkened lens,
soot splashing night.
The staircase is rung less,
remaining boards splintered.
Where is the keeper
drawn close to the pellet stove
warming worn hands?
I think of Venice,
where I spent yellow days
looking for Gepetto
and Jessica, the dreamy
Adriatic splashing
mauve and emerald marble.
But, this is Oregon,
where I hope that
in between storms,
the air clears just enough
for a glimpse of the
lime green flash at sunset.

__________________

TOY AIRPLANES
—Jeanine Stevens

The man in the mask said
“Get out of the car.”
You gunned the engine,
rose up, a wild steed
foaming and green-eyed,
leaping toward the splintered,
dock. I guess you planned
to crash, but we dreamed
past the beach and the bright
safety buoys. Instead of death,
we hovered over miraculous
shallows and sun-bright algae.
Small boys played with metal
airplanes: green, yellow, and blue,
with noticeable decals
that looked rare. These boys
hissed at us, threw rocks.
We had no place to go.

__________________

THE APPRENTICE
—Jeanine Stevens

After her experience at grandma's
she met others just like him.

One got upset if she went to the mall
alone, skulked after her, another, because
she didn’t run her fingers through his hair

on command, and one, because she held
her head the wrong way while he lectured.

One refused to eat Thanksgiving dinner,
because she only made one kind of potato dish.

One flipped out because she voted
a different political ticket (Democrat, I think).

Another guy exploded in a spitting rage
when she made him a sandwich, got red
in the face if the lettuce stuck out

from the edges. Then, there were those
that pilfered her discarded trash looking

for evidence, and those, who didn’t like
yard work, so barred their teeth and cut

her roses to the ground. These guys
might bring you flowers or take you

to a favorite movie (his), but
they had a strange habit of sniffing
a lot—a smell of animal about them.

On the other hand, all those eggs
make his coat glisten
and keep the other varmints away.

__________________

Today's LittleNip:

I write, I look, I erase
And in the end
A poppy of erasure.

—Tachibana Hokushi

__________________


—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:

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)!

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 DECEMBER:

The Thread of Dreams,
a new chapbook from
Carol Frith,
will be premiered at
The Book Collector on
December 9, 7:30 PM,
along with the new issue of
Rattlesnake Review.
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.

Fibbing

Grafitti
Photo by D.R. Wagner, Elk Grove

TO NORA MAY FRENCH
—Tom Goff, Carmichael

Dear golden-haired, self-hurtful lone young poet,
branded a “suicide” or “poetess”
in sniping news, you grew to shape exquisite
shapes you could burst from, nautilus or chrysalis.
Each abalone-wrack you fled bestowed what
wrenched-open rainbows, glancings in excess!
Fine water, sifting the cyanide in your glass…
O major Californian, never to know it!

Sly self-developer, charmer self-withholding,
you fretfully hid in wit, soft conversation;
skimmed partners, hummingbird astride canna flower.
All inward shiver-drum and skin sensation,
you ached for love’s rain-hammer in constant shower;
left kindness, and a most Keatsian unfolding.


(with gratitude to the compilers of The Outer Gate:
Collected Poems of Nora May French, Hippocampus Press, 2009)

__________________

Thanks to D.R. Wagner for the photo and to Tom Goff for the poem about Nora May French. You'll remember a recent article about her work that Tom wrote for Rattlesnake Review—now Tom has many good things to say about the new French collection that was put together by Donald Sidney-Fryer. So watch for a review of that book in the future.

Our Seed of the Week is the fib, a form invented by Gregory K. Pincus of L.A. which uses the Fibonacci sequence of numbers to govern the number of syllables in a line: 1,1,2,3,5,8,13 and that is about as far as you can go because of line length. Below find some true fibs from Taylor Graham and Richard Zimmer; get to work. (I guess one could say, in fact, that Richard has given us a double-fib.)


Coupla notes:

•••Tonight, Weds. (11/18), 9 PM: Poetry Night at Bistro 33 is proud to welcome Pamela Houston, the author of the short story collections Cowboys Are My Weakness and Waltzing the Cat; a collection of essays titled A Little More About Me; and the novel Sighthound. Her work has been honored with the Pushcart Prize, the O. Henry Award, the Western States Book Award, the WILLA Award for Contemporary Fiction, and inclusion in The Best American Short Stories and The Best American Short Stories of the Century. Houston has also completed a stage play entitled Tracking the Pleiades, produced by the Creede Repertory Theater, and she has edited Women on Hunting, a collection of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. An occasional contributor to CBS Sunday Morning, Pam Houston currently writes for O magazine. In addition to her many publishing credits, Houston is a popular faculty member teaching for and often coordinating the Creative Writing Program at UC Davis.

Attendees are encouraged to arrive early to secure a table, and to sign up for a spot on the Open Mic list. Poetry Night at Bistro 33, hosted by Andy Jones and produced by Brad Henderson, occurs on the first and third Wednesday of every month at 9 P.M., with an open microphone segment at 10 P.M.

•••Greenpoint Press announces that Ducts.org, “the web-zine of personal stories”, is accepting entries from January through August in a variety of categories, including essays, fiction, humor, profiles, reviews and poetry. Check it out; Issue 23 is currently online.

__________________

NEW SONG
—Taylor Graham, Placerville

It’s
that
robin—
the one who
all last April launched
himself against our window-glass,
searching his own image for a mate. What has he found?

__________________

BIG WHITE RADISH
—Taylor Graham

Bite
of
daikon
after days
of hospital food—
nothing like the zing of radish
to startle your tongue, a taste of waking back to life.

__________________

SHE SAYS
—Taylor Graham

Fibs
are
harmless
as long as
(she says) you don’t mean
to harm anybody, which is
a little hard to determine in this world of ours.

__________________

CLUTTER
—Richard Zimmer, Sacramento

You’ve
got
to take
a little
and give a little…
then throw lots of your stuff away...
address your mess, keep less and less that don’t need to stay.

When
old
Noah
built his ark,
He knew what to do….
he took the creatures two by two…
there was a flood coming, but no need to start a zoo.

__________________

Today's LittleNip:

SOUL'S SEAS
—A.R. Ammons

Tears for the long-gone times
and for the little time left to go

are the buoyancy whereby
the butterfly ship

gets wings to the wind and
flies, all energies exhilarations.

__________________


—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:

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)!

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 DECEMBER:

The Thread of Dreams,
a new chapbook from
Carol Frith,
will be premiered at
The Book Collector on
December 9, 7:30 PM,
along with the new issue of
Rattlesnake Review.
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.

Pantomime In Warm Sake

Crystal Anderson and Tonks

THE SALMON DANCE*
—Crystal Anderson, Davis

When I bring out the dictionary I am serious.
“If ever there was a Bible,”
I say and then it opens its flyleaf to know me
better and better with pages that I’ve not yet said.
Eventually I will have read its concordance
and the many entities become a cynosure
of something I’ve yet to create.

The salmon aren’t coming to Sacramento
this year or the next. They’ve sniffed out the Recession
and detoured to Japan. There are people who stuff
money under their mattresses. The salmon
are happy to become their sushi. It takes
a harajuku girl to turn the pages.

In New York, there are prostitutes unlike those girls. When I am
serious this sounds like a clot emitted from my lips.
In New York, the whores work; even with rich men. When I am
serious, “whore” lives in my stomach and I pay her
with tortilla chips and ideas in salmon.

My pillow angel smiles and I tell myself it’s for me.
I take her breasts but leave her salmon nipples in fresh water.
I fill her uterus with words like paroxysm, epididymis,
and Adrienne Rich. An angel’s bed is above suspicion.

In Japan, people are blameless. Even when it comes to fish,
their inheritance of gadgets lasts eternal. Their toys
emigrate. People in Sacramento will buy them and forget about salmon.

I knew a woman who ate salmon. I was her angel and bore new words
in my small chest. She cannot understand my milk.

Salmon language is luminous pantomime in warm sake.


*Song title by the Chemical Brothers

__________________

Thanks, Crystal (and Tonks!). Crystal Anderson is a writer and educator. She holds a BA in English/Professional Writing from Baylor University and an MA in English/Creative Writing (poetry) from the University of California at Davis. She currently teaches writing at The University of Phoenix. Her work has been published or is forthcoming in Rattlesnake Review, The Suisun Valley Review, and Convergence.

It's Seed of the Week Day, and Allegra Silberstein sends us fibs! She says, The fib is a form invented by Gregory K. Pincus of L.A., which uses the Fibonacci sequence of numbers to govern the number of syllables in a line: 1,1,2,3,5,8,13— and that's about as far as you can go, because of line length.

Give it a shot. Send your fibs to kathykieth@hotmail.com or P.O. Box 762, Pollock Pines, CA 95726; no deadline on SOWs. Meanwhile, Allegra sends us these examples.

And don't forget that Allegra will be hosting The Other Voice this Friday (11/20) at 7:30 PM, sponsored by the UU Church of Davis and presenting Deborah Thomas and Ron Lane who will read their poems in the library of the church located at 27074 Patwin Rd., Davis. Free, with great refreshments!


THREE FIBS WITH A BIT OF TRUTH
—Allegra Silberstein, Davis

1.

If
you
ever
say never
you must not forget
denial lasts not forever
it doesn’t matter how clever how strong you may be.

11.

Just
one
cubex
mosquito
who thinks you smell great
because of your human odor
may give you a love-bite that brings West Nile Virus.


111.

Sky
high
you fly
to rainbows
and silver linings
just outside of reality
and I’m thinking you will never say never, my friend.

__________________

Before we get back to Crystal, here are two poems by Ann Wehrman about walls, last week's SOW.


NOT YET
—Ann Wehrman, Sacramento

between us, I place
a wall
invisible, unreal
stubbornly staying put
until I love you
enough to tear it down

__________________

PERMISSION TO SPEAK
—Ann Wehrman

Sarah walks to school
holds her face forward
enters the building
can’t look side to side
classmates chatter and laugh
her mother’s words echo,
We don’t talk about the family at school
keep her facing forward
surrounded by an invisible wall

__________________

MOTHER CLEANS A
DAUGHTER’S ROOM
—Crystal Anderson

The milk, solid in its bottle
after x amount
of weeks, had slipped in
beside six aged sandwiches. A fence
of books concealed their whereabouts,
while panties blotted with red,
pencil declarations,
and tagged clothes spattered
most everything else.

This leaving of aged things,
of neglected things,
was a statement—
one of many school girl notes
charged
with assaulting.
These little bombs
are too stale
to tuck back in
where You were—
just days ago
not singing.

___________________

ADVICE POSTED IN A FORUM
—Crystal Anderson

Eat chocolate cherries in ice
cream under an ash tree
on the cusp of summer
while the sun weighs
down upon Spanish shingles.
Eat chocolate cherry ice cream,
a plasma screen television displays
Gremlins, Short Circuit,
Blade Trinity, Mirrormask,
drink lemonade.
Our mothers said we swim
in a big pond with many fish.

100% flannel sheets drawn, down
comforter set, suede body
pillow. Burrow. The oak ceiling
fuzzes over when the trees outside
become silhouettes. JC Penney’s house
socks and slinky cat-nip mice.
Pouncing ensues. Grease while hugging pillows.
Kill Bill both volumes sinking along with
salt into your cheeks. Keep the Samsung
phone turned off. Clench a Puffs Plus
in your right hand.
or left. “Wiggle your big toe.”
Peach sparkling water and popcorn
bed with you. Butter and carbonation
serve as consolation.

Kia makes cars with reliable
brakes, but perhaps a walk will do
instead. Waist high field grass,
Vitamin Water, sunglasses. A
gelid wind knells from the northwest,
a tissue in the pocket of skinny
jeans, if this is the season
for dandelion weeds, then blow.
A key will open
the door, don’t eat the cake.
Dave Matthews Band
and Type O Negative songs,
stop for strawberry
cheesecake ice cream.
Just stop for now,
suspended in water
that pushes between one bubble
and its neighbor.

___________________

IN THE MUIR
—Crystal Anderson

Neither of us are believers.
I’m the only one who doesn’t appreciate
her skin. I tell you this and the first time
you cry. The second time, you lean away
not stroking your blondewhite beard,
not biting my light bandying. I think
“Harden up on my lines, they’ll be there long after
you find your forever.”

I’ve bitten your shoulder. It hurt
me badly. I’ve come to dream
of the bear that would take me instead.
Back away over the limen
and run. I’m left there. With the bear.
We two killers, she and I, sniffnudgepet,
fact passes that we’d previously kept
within the confines of our canines. Your bites
strike me soft. The bear and I wished for more.

I was there in the green bevy,
pretending as always. Rewinding
and pressing play as I hiked Muir Woods.
The bear, her cubs, two sets of prints
when there were really only redwoods,
prehistoric ferns, and me. I carried
the guilt like a quiet old woman, built lines
you can’t understand. Check me for them,
they will be there in the roar I share
with myself, with my skin.

The woods smothered my breath.
I did not come out the same. Our
tickles bring me back, slicing away
unbandaged trails. The bear
wanders off and I’m there
with another non-believer that bends
brooding, barrier up. Facts pass between
us, brick like and even then, chunks
are lost. Measure me in lumens
as I am still here, shining in
degrees of waiting, bareness.



__________________

Today's LittleNip:

Writing every day is a way of keeping the engine running, and then something good may come out of it.

—T.S. Eliot

__________________


—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:

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)!

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 DECEMBER:

The Thread of Dreams,
a new chapbook from
Carol Frith,
will be premiered at
The Book Collector on
December 9, 7:30 PM,
along with the new issue of
Rattlesnake Review.
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.