RATTLESNAKES
—Michael J. Sweeney, Sutter Creek
yikes! three shots of pure adrenaline
tttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttt
instant fight or flight
Back Off Jack!
older now we do as we’re told
there was a time
we threw rocks, fired guns
ego, fear, — oh we had our reasons
made no sense
but that didn’t stop us
does it ever?
today it’s a wide berth
appreciation of the beauty
grateful for the experience
and the fact we heard the buzz
real
untamed and a little bit dangerous
definitely not interested
in our 401K, abs,
or the latest line
who knew God was a snake?
(originally published in
Manzanita: Poetry and Prose of the Mother Lode and Sierra,
Vol. 5, 2006)
__________________
Thanks, Michael! Michael Sweeney is one of the many Manzanita poets who are sending me poems for the feature on their area, coming in Snake 14, due out in June.
Speaking of ravens:
...as we were yesterday, The Yolo Crow (a journal publishing the work of local writers) is issuing a call for haiku for its summer edition. All subjects welcome. Submissions are due by June 1st. Submission guidelines and submissions form can be found at http://www.yolocrow.com/submission.html/
Also from Davis:
Rae Gourirand writes: Two of my dearest friends from Michigan – the poets Katie Umans and Ryan Flaherty – have *just* unveiled the coolest new poetry journal around: THE CONCHER. What makes The Concher different from other poetry journals? Not only is it handmade, but it comes nestled in a box of artisan chocolates made by the two poets. I can vouch for the otherworldly yum factor of their work. Now this is something to sit by the mailbox anticipating. To order (or read an index of first lines in Issue #1): http://twopoettruffles.blogspot.com/
Thanks, Michael! Michael Sweeney is one of the many Manzanita poets who are sending me poems for the feature on their area, coming in Snake 14, due out in June.
Speaking of ravens:
...as we were yesterday, The Yolo Crow (a journal publishing the work of local writers) is issuing a call for haiku for its summer edition. All subjects welcome. Submissions are due by June 1st. Submission guidelines and submissions form can be found at http://www.yolocrow.com/submission.html/
Also from Davis:
Rae Gourirand writes: Two of my dearest friends from Michigan – the poets Katie Umans and Ryan Flaherty – have *just* unveiled the coolest new poetry journal around: THE CONCHER. What makes The Concher different from other poetry journals? Not only is it handmade, but it comes nestled in a box of artisan chocolates made by the two poets. I can vouch for the otherworldly yum factor of their work. Now this is something to sit by the mailbox anticipating. To order (or read an index of first lines in Issue #1): http://twopoettruffles.blogspot.com/
_____________________
GRANDMOTHER AND RAVEN
—Glen Simpson
"Don't go," they said,
"she won't know you anyway."
They tell me she sits silently
in the shadow at the edge of death;
a leaf that would crackle in your hand.
She smiles now at friends long gone,
walks fields grown to the forests,
puts a shaker in my four year old hand
and tells me I can catch the raven
if only I can salt his tail.
Grandmother, I want you to know,
I'm still trying to catch that raven,
and still looking up to you.
______________________
FRONT STREET
—Glen Simpson
Front street Nome,
where cultures meet in the mud:
hunters,
whose eyes swept the horizon,
search in a thickening fog,
lost on the drifting ice of an unknown sea
while foraging for one more beer.
Sons of farmers,
seeking what they couldn't find at home,
seek even harder
as they step too heavily
on this last thin edge of America.
Who can tell them
that they are formed in the image of angels?
______________________
SINGING STILL
—Glen Simpson
An old woman sang
to stop the snow,
voice wavering
through damp canvas
in the soft light of dawn.
She sings to me now
through my father;
stil marveling
a lifetime later.
_____________________
Glen Simpson's poetry appears in Raven Tells Stories: An Anthology of Alaskan Native Writing, ed. by Joseph Bruchac for The Greenfield Review Press, 1991.
—Medusa
Medusa encourages poets of all ilk and ages to send their POETRY, PHOTOS and ART, as well as announcements of Northern California poetry events to kathykieth@hotmail.com (or snail ‘em to P.O. Box 762, Pollock Pines, CA 95726) for posting on this daily Snake blog. Rights remain with the poets. Previously-published poems are okay for Medusa’s Kitchen, as long as you own the rights. (Please cite publication.)
SnakeWatch: Up-to-the-minute Snake news:
Journals: Rattlesnake Review #13 is available at The Book Collector; next deadline is May 15. The new VYPER #6 (for youth 13-19) has gone into the mail; next deadline is Nov. 1. Snakelets 9 (for kids 0-12) is available; next deadline is May 1.
Books/broadsides: April’s releases are SnakeRings SpiralChap #7 from D.R. Wagner: Where The Stars Are Kept, and littlesnake broadside #33: Swallowed By This Whale Of Time by Ann Menebroker. Both are now available at The Book Collector. SpiralChaps are $8; broadsides are free. Or contact kathykieth@hotmail.com for ordering information. Rattlesnake Interview Series #1 with Ann Menebroker and B.L. Kennedy is also available (free) at The Book Collector (or contact Kathy Kieth).
Next rattle-read: May's releases will be Ron Tranquilla’s Playing Favorites: Selected Poems, 1971-2006, plus a broadside by Julie Valin and a Rattlesnake Interview Broadside (#2) featuring Malik and B.L. Kennedy. Come check all these out on May 9 at 7:30 PM at The Book Collector, 1008 24th St., Sacramento. Refreshments and a read-around will follow; bring your own poems or somebody else’s.
Also: Check out the Rattlechaps Chapbook Series page on the ever-evolving rattlesnakepress.com website! We've started generating separate pages for each rattlechapper/spiralchapper; scroll down through the list of books we've published and click on the poets’ names that are in red. Each one of those should lead you to a separate page, including photos, bios, poems, contact info of the poet—and more to come, once we get them all up and running. Saa-weet!
GRANDMOTHER AND RAVEN
—Glen Simpson
"Don't go," they said,
"she won't know you anyway."
They tell me she sits silently
in the shadow at the edge of death;
a leaf that would crackle in your hand.
She smiles now at friends long gone,
walks fields grown to the forests,
puts a shaker in my four year old hand
and tells me I can catch the raven
if only I can salt his tail.
Grandmother, I want you to know,
I'm still trying to catch that raven,
and still looking up to you.
______________________
FRONT STREET
—Glen Simpson
Front street Nome,
where cultures meet in the mud:
hunters,
whose eyes swept the horizon,
search in a thickening fog,
lost on the drifting ice of an unknown sea
while foraging for one more beer.
Sons of farmers,
seeking what they couldn't find at home,
seek even harder
as they step too heavily
on this last thin edge of America.
Who can tell them
that they are formed in the image of angels?
______________________
SINGING STILL
—Glen Simpson
An old woman sang
to stop the snow,
voice wavering
through damp canvas
in the soft light of dawn.
She sings to me now
through my father;
stil marveling
a lifetime later.
_____________________
Glen Simpson's poetry appears in Raven Tells Stories: An Anthology of Alaskan Native Writing, ed. by Joseph Bruchac for The Greenfield Review Press, 1991.
—Medusa
Medusa encourages poets of all ilk and ages to send their POETRY, PHOTOS and ART, as well as announcements of Northern California poetry events to kathykieth@hotmail.com (or snail ‘em to P.O. Box 762, Pollock Pines, CA 95726) for posting on this daily Snake blog. Rights remain with the poets. Previously-published poems are okay for Medusa’s Kitchen, as long as you own the rights. (Please cite publication.)
SnakeWatch: Up-to-the-minute Snake news:
Journals: Rattlesnake Review #13 is available at The Book Collector; next deadline is May 15. The new VYPER #6 (for youth 13-19) has gone into the mail; next deadline is Nov. 1. Snakelets 9 (for kids 0-12) is available; next deadline is May 1.
Books/broadsides: April’s releases are SnakeRings SpiralChap #7 from D.R. Wagner: Where The Stars Are Kept, and littlesnake broadside #33: Swallowed By This Whale Of Time by Ann Menebroker. Both are now available at The Book Collector. SpiralChaps are $8; broadsides are free. Or contact kathykieth@hotmail.com for ordering information. Rattlesnake Interview Series #1 with Ann Menebroker and B.L. Kennedy is also available (free) at The Book Collector (or contact Kathy Kieth).
Next rattle-read: May's releases will be Ron Tranquilla’s Playing Favorites: Selected Poems, 1971-2006, plus a broadside by Julie Valin and a Rattlesnake Interview Broadside (#2) featuring Malik and B.L. Kennedy. Come check all these out on May 9 at 7:30 PM at The Book Collector, 1008 24th St., Sacramento. Refreshments and a read-around will follow; bring your own poems or somebody else’s.
Also: Check out the Rattlechaps Chapbook Series page on the ever-evolving rattlesnakepress.com website! We've started generating separate pages for each rattlechapper/spiralchapper; scroll down through the list of books we've published and click on the poets’ names that are in red. Each one of those should lead you to a separate page, including photos, bios, poems, contact info of the poet—and more to come, once we get them all up and running. Saa-weet!