Taylor Graham and The KidsPhoto by Hatch Graham
YORKSHIRE PIG
—Taylor Graham, Somerset
Just a hog-wire fence between
daily feedings at the trough
and forest falling
out of sight to rock and river.
How did she escape? How far/
how fast can two hundred pounds travel
on dainty cloven hooves?
In what direction at the bid
of a pink snout?
Does a finishing-pig dream of
wallowing afternoons,
blue ribbon, auction,
and the electric stunner?
Or did she hear coyote calling
across the canyon, imagine mountain
lion’s tooth and claw? What
could a domestic swine know
of rooting into dead-
fall for survival
rations, pushing through
the underbrush of instinct,
finding home?
_____________________
Thanks, TG! "Yorkshire Pig" is a tale of TG's adventures chasing the neighbor kid's 4H project through hill and dale last weekend. Taylor Graham is a volunteer search-and-rescue dog handler in El Dorado County, where she's a member of Red Fox Underground and Tuesday at Two poetry workshops. She also helps her husband, Hatch (a retired wildlife biologist), with his field projects. In addition to Rattlesnake Review and Medusa's Kitchen, her poems have appeared in America, The Iowa Review, The New York Quarterly, Poet Lore, Poetry International, Southern Humanities Review, and elsewhere, and she’s included in the anthology, California Poetry: From the Gold Rush to the Present (Santa Clara University, 2004). She’s also a regular columnist for Rattlesnake Review. Her newest book, The Downstairs Dance Floor (Texas Review Press, 2006), is winner of the Robert Phillips Poetry Chapbook Prize. Email her at piper@innercite.com or her website, http://somersetsunset.net/Poetry.htm
____________________
Two calendar additions for the week:
•••Thursday (4/26), 7 PM: Borders Books in Laguna (7215 Laguna Blvd., Elk Grove) presents An Evening of Poetry to celebrate National Poetry Month. Featured poets include Indigo Moor, Lawana Cager, Lisa Abraham and Emmanuel Sigauke. This is a joint event sponsored by the CRC English Dept. and Borders Books.
•••Saturday (4/28), 9 PM: "The Show" Poetry Series at Wo'se Community Center, 2863 35th St., Sacramento (off 35th & Broadway). $5. Info: 916-455-POET.
May Boot Camp:
Molly Fisk writes from Grass Valley: The May Poetry Boot Camp is sneaking up on us fast: it runs from Sunday, May 6th to Friday, May 11. If you'd like to join us for this six-day-long Internet workshop to generate new poems, you can register and find out details at http://www.poetrybootcamp.com Remember that I simultaneously do private Revision Camps with individuals while the regular Boot Camp is going on, so if you're polishing up some poems for a new manuscript or just want to take a second look at some stuff, that's the way to work with me on individual poems. I also do ms. critique for chapbooks and full-length poetry manuscripts if you're interested (which are not related to the timing of Boot Camps!).
Speaking of Grass Valley:
Six Ft. Swells Press presents the release of their new chapbook of After Hours Poetry, Cocktails and Confessions: A collection of the greatest poetry inspired by lust and libations. There will be a book release/reading at Jason’s Studio Cafe, 134 Auburn St., Grass Valley on Sat., May 12 at 7 PM. For more info: 530-271-0662 or sixfootswells@yahoo.com or www.myspace.com/sixftswells
And another book release:
End-Cycle, poems about caregiving and winner of Palabra Productions Chapbook Contest 2006, is now available from Patricia Wellingham-Jones for $8, including shipping, at PWJ Publishing, PO Box 238, Tehama CA 96090. Info: http://www.wellinghamjones.com or pwj@tco.net
Ginosko:
The Bay Area e-journal, ginosko (ghin-oce-koe, circulation 2200+), is now accepting short fiction & poetry for its fifth issue. Editorial lead time is 1-3 months; they accept simultaneous submissions and reprints, email & postal submissions. Length flexible. Copyright reverts to author. Publishing as semiannual ezine—summer & winter. Moving towards printed version to be distributed throughout the San Francisco Bay Area. Selecting material for anthology. Downloadable issues on website: http://www.ginoskoliteraryjournal.com/ Also looking for artwork, photography, CDs to post on website, and links to exchange.
GINOSKO LITERARY JOURNAL
Robert Paul Cesaretti
PO Box 246
Fairfax CA 94978
_________________
FIVE EYES
—Walter de la Mare
In Hans' old Mill his three black cats
Watch the bins for the thieving rats.
Whisker and claw, they crouch in the night,
Their five eyes smouldering green and bright:
Squeaks from the flour sacks, squeaks from where
The cold wind stirs on the empty stair,
Squeaking and scampering, everywhere.
Then down they pounce, now in, now out,
At whisking tail, and sniffing snout;
While lean old Hans he snores away
Till peep of light at break of day;
Then up he climbs to his creaking mill,
Out come his cats all grey with meal—
Jekkel, and Jessup, and one-eyed Jill.
_____________________
Walter de la Mare, best known for his children's poetry, would've been 134 years old today. Speaking of kids' poetry, don't forget the free Bilingual Niños Program: Stories & Poems for Children this coming Saturday morning from 10 AM-12 PM at La Raza Galeria Posada, 1024 22nd St., Midtown Sacramento. Los Escritores del Nuevo Sol is featuring two writers, Professor Francisco X. Alarcón of UC Davis and teacher/writer Luz María Gama, in a poetry program dedicated to children. Professor Alarcón is the author of a beautifully illustrated series of bilingual poetry books for young readers; these will be available for purchase. Info: 916-456-5323 or www.escritoresdelnuevosol.com/
_____________________
BEHIND JAKE’S PLACE
—Taylor Graham
The mule they call Jackass
stands under a splinter of shade
where the sulky brothers tied
him up, and went for beer.
It’s noon. A flotilla of flies
makes hot-date with his
withers, his rump, his dismal
droop ears, the twitching
corners of his lips
that tell such a long
story.
_____________________
MEDITATION ON THE COUCH
—Taylor Graham
Centering. Close your eyes
to the overhead light, its question-
and-answer fluorescent tick
to that duet between sax and snare-
drum coming from the garage,
a breath long-drawn till almost
painful, percussive pulse —
the grandkid playing some take-
off on “The Neckbone’s Connected to
the Backbone.” You’re centering
on worn brown corduroy;
flat on your back, centering on
spine (Lumbar 4 or is it 5?), a fret
to the long complex thread
of music, jigsaw pieces interlocked
misaligned to pinch the cord
connected to the tingle —
no, a trumpet-blast of pain
if you move the legbone connected
to the anklebone. And now
they’re jazzing it with variations
of breath and beat, “The back-
bone’s connected to the wishbone”
as you’re centered on the wish
to jump up and dance again.
—Taylor Graham, Somerset
Just a hog-wire fence between
daily feedings at the trough
and forest falling
out of sight to rock and river.
How did she escape? How far/
how fast can two hundred pounds travel
on dainty cloven hooves?
In what direction at the bid
of a pink snout?
Does a finishing-pig dream of
wallowing afternoons,
blue ribbon, auction,
and the electric stunner?
Or did she hear coyote calling
across the canyon, imagine mountain
lion’s tooth and claw? What
could a domestic swine know
of rooting into dead-
fall for survival
rations, pushing through
the underbrush of instinct,
finding home?
_____________________
Thanks, TG! "Yorkshire Pig" is a tale of TG's adventures chasing the neighbor kid's 4H project through hill and dale last weekend. Taylor Graham is a volunteer search-and-rescue dog handler in El Dorado County, where she's a member of Red Fox Underground and Tuesday at Two poetry workshops. She also helps her husband, Hatch (a retired wildlife biologist), with his field projects. In addition to Rattlesnake Review and Medusa's Kitchen, her poems have appeared in America, The Iowa Review, The New York Quarterly, Poet Lore, Poetry International, Southern Humanities Review, and elsewhere, and she’s included in the anthology, California Poetry: From the Gold Rush to the Present (Santa Clara University, 2004). She’s also a regular columnist for Rattlesnake Review. Her newest book, The Downstairs Dance Floor (Texas Review Press, 2006), is winner of the Robert Phillips Poetry Chapbook Prize. Email her at piper@innercite.com or her website, http://somersetsunset.net/Poetry.htm
____________________
Two calendar additions for the week:
•••Thursday (4/26), 7 PM: Borders Books in Laguna (7215 Laguna Blvd., Elk Grove) presents An Evening of Poetry to celebrate National Poetry Month. Featured poets include Indigo Moor, Lawana Cager, Lisa Abraham and Emmanuel Sigauke. This is a joint event sponsored by the CRC English Dept. and Borders Books.
•••Saturday (4/28), 9 PM: "The Show" Poetry Series at Wo'se Community Center, 2863 35th St., Sacramento (off 35th & Broadway). $5. Info: 916-455-POET.
May Boot Camp:
Molly Fisk writes from Grass Valley: The May Poetry Boot Camp is sneaking up on us fast: it runs from Sunday, May 6th to Friday, May 11. If you'd like to join us for this six-day-long Internet workshop to generate new poems, you can register and find out details at http://www.poetrybootcamp.com Remember that I simultaneously do private Revision Camps with individuals while the regular Boot Camp is going on, so if you're polishing up some poems for a new manuscript or just want to take a second look at some stuff, that's the way to work with me on individual poems. I also do ms. critique for chapbooks and full-length poetry manuscripts if you're interested (which are not related to the timing of Boot Camps!).
Speaking of Grass Valley:
Six Ft. Swells Press presents the release of their new chapbook of After Hours Poetry, Cocktails and Confessions: A collection of the greatest poetry inspired by lust and libations. There will be a book release/reading at Jason’s Studio Cafe, 134 Auburn St., Grass Valley on Sat., May 12 at 7 PM. For more info: 530-271-0662 or sixfootswells@yahoo.com or www.myspace.com/sixftswells
And another book release:
End-Cycle, poems about caregiving and winner of Palabra Productions Chapbook Contest 2006, is now available from Patricia Wellingham-Jones for $8, including shipping, at PWJ Publishing, PO Box 238, Tehama CA 96090. Info: http://www.wellinghamjones.com or pwj@tco.net
Ginosko:
The Bay Area e-journal, ginosko (ghin-oce-koe, circulation 2200+), is now accepting short fiction & poetry for its fifth issue. Editorial lead time is 1-3 months; they accept simultaneous submissions and reprints, email & postal submissions. Length flexible. Copyright reverts to author. Publishing as semiannual ezine—summer & winter. Moving towards printed version to be distributed throughout the San Francisco Bay Area. Selecting material for anthology. Downloadable issues on website: http://www.ginoskoliteraryjournal.com/ Also looking for artwork, photography, CDs to post on website, and links to exchange.
GINOSKO LITERARY JOURNAL
Robert Paul Cesaretti
PO Box 246
Fairfax CA 94978
_________________
FIVE EYES
—Walter de la Mare
In Hans' old Mill his three black cats
Watch the bins for the thieving rats.
Whisker and claw, they crouch in the night,
Their five eyes smouldering green and bright:
Squeaks from the flour sacks, squeaks from where
The cold wind stirs on the empty stair,
Squeaking and scampering, everywhere.
Then down they pounce, now in, now out,
At whisking tail, and sniffing snout;
While lean old Hans he snores away
Till peep of light at break of day;
Then up he climbs to his creaking mill,
Out come his cats all grey with meal—
Jekkel, and Jessup, and one-eyed Jill.
_____________________
Walter de la Mare, best known for his children's poetry, would've been 134 years old today. Speaking of kids' poetry, don't forget the free Bilingual Niños Program: Stories & Poems for Children this coming Saturday morning from 10 AM-12 PM at La Raza Galeria Posada, 1024 22nd St., Midtown Sacramento. Los Escritores del Nuevo Sol is featuring two writers, Professor Francisco X. Alarcón of UC Davis and teacher/writer Luz María Gama, in a poetry program dedicated to children. Professor Alarcón is the author of a beautifully illustrated series of bilingual poetry books for young readers; these will be available for purchase. Info: 916-456-5323 or www.escritoresdelnuevosol.com/
_____________________
BEHIND JAKE’S PLACE
—Taylor Graham
The mule they call Jackass
stands under a splinter of shade
where the sulky brothers tied
him up, and went for beer.
It’s noon. A flotilla of flies
makes hot-date with his
withers, his rump, his dismal
droop ears, the twitching
corners of his lips
that tell such a long
story.
_____________________
MEDITATION ON THE COUCH
—Taylor Graham
Centering. Close your eyes
to the overhead light, its question-
and-answer fluorescent tick
to that duet between sax and snare-
drum coming from the garage,
a breath long-drawn till almost
painful, percussive pulse —
the grandkid playing some take-
off on “The Neckbone’s Connected to
the Backbone.” You’re centering
on worn brown corduroy;
flat on your back, centering on
spine (Lumbar 4 or is it 5?), a fret
to the long complex thread
of music, jigsaw pieces interlocked
misaligned to pinch the cord
connected to the tingle —
no, a trumpet-blast of pain
if you move the legbone connected
to the anklebone. And now
they’re jazzing it with variations
of breath and beat, “The back-
bone’s connected to the wishbone”
as you’re centered on the wish
to jump up and dance again.
____________________
—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!
—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!