when hair falls off and eyes blur And... (L)
—e.e. cummings
when hair falls off and eyes blur And
thighs forget(when clocks whisper
and night shouts)When minds
shrivel and hearts grow brittler every
Instant(when of a morning Memory stands,
with clumsily wilted fingers
emptying youth colour and what was
into a dirtied glass)Pills for Ills
(a recipe against Laughing Virginity Death)
then dearest the
way trees are made leaves
open Clouds take sun mountains
stand And oceans do Not sleep matters
nothing;then(then the only hands so to speak are
they always which creep budgingly over some
numbered face capable of a largest nonglance the
least unsmile
or whatever weeds feel and fish think of)
___________________________
Sacramento Poetry Center President Mary Zeppa writes: Friends: Circumstances beyond our control prevented us from getting the March issue of Poetry Now out on time. That issue will be released simultaneously with the April issue. Clearly, the March calendar information will be past its usefulness, but poetry (as we all know) has no Read-By date. We regret this lapse in consistency. Can you help us pass this info on? We’d all be grateful. Thanks!—Mary
Frank Taber will be reading for the Sacramento Poetry Center on Monday, April 17, which is one day before the anniversary of the San Francisco Earthquake. He's looking for earthquake poems—either your own or somebody else's—to read that night. Send them to FTaber@aol.com. His reading will be at HQ, 25th & R Sts., Sac.; more about that later.
A week from tomorrow, on Weds. April 5, the 25th Annual Northern California Book Awards will be held in the Koret Auditorium of the San Francisco Main Library, 100 Larkin St., Civic Center, San Francisco. The free Awards Ceremony will take place from 6-8 pm, preceded by a book signing and reception from 5-6 pm. Diane di Prima, Poet, Memoirist, Teacher and Activist will receive the Fred Cody Lifetime Achievement Award. Nominees for the best published poetry works of 2005 by Northern Cal. authors include The Last Time I Saw Amelia Earhart by Gabrielle Calvocoressi (Persea Books), Poems in Spanish by Paul Hoover (Omnidawn), Corruption by Camille Norton (Harper Perennial), Company of Moths by Michael Palmer (New Directions), The Niagara River by Kay Ryan (Grove Press), and Here, Bullet by Brian Turner (Alice James Books). Special Recognition Award: Directed by Desire: The Collected Poems of June Jordan, ed. by Jan Heller Levi and Sara Miles, Foreword by Adrienne Rich (Copper Canyon Press). Info: 510-525-5476 or www.poetryflash.org/NCBA.html.
Oceana Lott writes: I am the guest editor for Clive Matson's Crazy Child Scribbler this month. If you don't already know, the Scribbler is an 8-page hard-copy journal for writers dedicated to writing from the core and keeping the pen moving. The Scribbler is published four times a year. All materials in the publication remain copyrighted by the authors. The theme for the summer edition is Birth—Life—Death. You may submit pieces that have to do with any or all three aspects of the theme. Please submit all poems (40 lines or less) and prose (500 words or less) as plain text in the body of a single e-mail message (no attachments) to oceana@oceanasphere.com. Please type "Submission" in the subject heading of your email message to minimize the chance of your email becoming lost among the spam. Simultaneous submissions are fine. Deadline is May 1st. Response time is typically two to eight weeks. Please query if you do not receive a response by the end of that period. Thanks so much!
Coming later in May; mark your calendars:
Thursday, May 4, Jane Hirschfield will be appearing at the Sutter Cancer Center, 2800 L St., Sacramento, at 7 PM. This outstanding event will be free of charge. Please mark your calendars now, and plan to attend.
Saturday, May 20: Celebrate California's distinctive heritage of poets, poetry, and presses at Poetry Center San José's first annual California Poets Festival. This all-day outdoor festival will be held at History Park San José, 1650 Senter Road, San José from 10am to 4:30pm. It is open to the public and free of charge. Listen to readings throughout the day by California poets. Stroll through the small press fair. Meet editors, purchase books, journals, subscriptions, and obtain submission guidelines from a variety of California publications. Enjoy a picnic or glass of wine from local restaurants offered in this historical park setting, and hang out with lovers of poetry—old and new friends. Spend a memorable day with people from San José, the greater Bay Area and beyond. Info: californiapoetsfestival.org
The new Rattlesnake Review (#9) is out and about; pick one up at The Book Collector (1008 24th St., Sac.) or at readings here and there. The last of the contrib/subscription copies went into the mail yesterday; if you don't receive one by the end of the week, let me know. This one, our Second Anniversary Issue, is packed to the scales with features and poetry—including a page on Double Dactyls by Patricia D'Alessandro, along with a challenge to write your own. Which prompted Hatch and Taylor Graham to send the following, among others:
NOT HARDLY EDIBLE
—Hatch Graham, Somerset
Hokery, Poetry
Frost's isn't credible.
Semimethodical,
Homey and warm.
Double dactylians—
More highly resonant,
Splendidly radical—
Favorite form.
_________________
WATER RIGHTS
—Taylor Graham, Somerset
Slivery-shivery
Diamondback Rattlesnake
coils on the creek-bank and
cools off his scales.
Not that I'm really so
anti-reptilian,
still I won't venture to
fill up my pails.
_____________________
Thanks! The rest of you are welcome to try your hand at this lump-et-y dump-et-y form and send 'em along, both to Medusa and to the Snake for Issue #10—which will be here sooner than you think!
—Medusa
Medusa encourages poets of all ilk and ages to send their poetry and announcements of Northern California poetry events to kathykieth@hotmail.com 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.)