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Wednesday, April 11, 2007

They Talk To Me


Poetry with Fangs!
Art by Sam the Snake Man Kieth
(The cover to RR Issue #1—Remember?)


THEY TALK TO ME IN POEMS—

steady stream of missals
handed to me carefully—
tightly chiseled or scratched on the back
of a matchbook: shiny, expensive

journal poems tied up in ribbons or
soft mumblings on a microphone or
ethereals in flimsy cyber-strings of
e-mail: picture poems or quotes

from somebody else: submissions or
just weekend ramblings: bottle-
messages stuffed in the mailbox or
crumpled on the coffee table: flat

smack up against a deadline or
strung out one-at-a-time for
months and months: casual notes
(if you really want this) or please-

please-please swallowing the lines…
They talk to me
in poems: how it hurts and
where it hurts and when

it feels better: who they lost and how
it ended and why why why. They
talk to me
talk to me

talk to me: carefully crafted or
spilled
splattered
sparkling—an endless, sweet, sweet

cacophony of heart songs
spent clear across
each fluttering page…

—Kathy Kieth, Pollock Pines

_______________________

Happy Birthday #3 to the Snake and to the whole conglomeration of poets, NorCal and otherwise, who are the blood and soul of this ophidian universe. And many happy returns...

—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) will be out April 11. Snakelets 10 (for kids-12) is available; next deadline is May 1.

Books/broadsides: Current releases are Skin Stretched Around the Hollow by Steve Williams and littlesnake broadside #32 by Brad Buchanan: Ultrasound. Next release: April 11 (that tonight!), 7:30 PM, at the Snake’s Third Annual Birthday Bash and Buffet at The Book Collector: 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.

Something new: Rattlesnake Interview Series with B.L. Kennedy also premieres April 11; #1 is Ann Menebroker.