DAY THIRTEEN OF WHALE WATCH
—Patricia A. Pashby, Sacramento
A circus atmosphere
just short of tee shirt booths
and hot dog stands
follows Delta and Dawn,
now everyone’s pets.
Let the river muse
lift the Rio Vista Bridge,
serenade them under
and sing a happy ending
for the little ones watching
bug-eyed from the levee.
_____________________
Thanks, Pat, and everyone who participated in the whale poem give-away. Keep these two vagabonds in your thoughts, especially during this gnarly boating holiday.
Speaking of Memorial Day, there will be no Sacramento Poetry Center reading Monday.
Some journals to keep you busy:
•••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/
•••Bakersfield's inaugural issue of The Noveltown Review is now available. The launch of this new Valley literary magazine was the brainchild of Yosemite Writers Conference speaker, Nick Belardes. The first issue included fiction from L.A. Times award-winning fiction writer, Brad Listi, amongst others. Nick is looking for submissions for the next issue. The deadline is June 15th, and he's accepting short fiction, flash fiction, poetry, articles, and essays. You can pick up a copy of the first issue at http://noveltown.net/noveltownreview.html/ The cost of the first issue is only $3.00 plus shipping. Here's a current breakdown of the themes in their quarterly magazine (themes can be subject to change, so keep checking back):
Spring: Contemporary literary + industry-related articles
Summer: Raw, London and American Brutalist literary + industry-related articles
Fall: Non-fiction/memoir + industry-related articles
Winter: Contemporary literary/Young Adult + industry-related articles
Fiction/non-fiction submission inquiries: melinda@noveltown.net
Poetry submission inquiries: poets@noveltown.net
•••Ginosko (ghin-oce-koe, ezine, circulation 2200+) is accepting short fiction & poetry for its 5th issue. Editorial lead time is 1-3 months; accept simultaneous submissions and reprints; receives 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: To perceive, understand, realize, come to know; knowledge that has an inception, a progress, an attainment. The recognition of truth by experience.
GINOSKO LITERARY JOURNAL
Robert Paul Cesaretti
PO Box 246
Fairfax, CA 94978
•••Third Wednesday, a new East Coast publication, is accepting submissions now for their first issue, due out in Fall 2007. Check it out at http://thirdwednesday.org/
•••Voices is an online journal that accepts poetry submissions on an ongoing basis. Check it out: www.voicesonline.ws
•••Two submissions opportunities from The Frank Bette Center for the Arts in Alameda:
FBCA is seeking poems on the themes of their monthly art shows. Winning poem on each theme will be framed and hung in the gallery for that month and the poet will be invited to read the poem at the show opening. The themes and deadlines are:
June: Peaches & Cream (May 26)
July: Patterns, Portions & Pieces (June 31)
August: Plein Air, Landscape (July 28)
September: Reading Between the Lines (August 31)
October: Celebrating Creativity (September 30)
November: A Partridge & A Pear Tree (October 27)
(for more info on themes go to http://www.frankbettecenter.org/exhibits.html)
Send poems to: Patricia Edith, Literary Arts at FBCA, 1601 Paru, Alameda, CA 94501, 510 523-6957. Sorry, no email submissions. Be sure your name, address, and phone number appear on the right hand corner of work. Poems should not exceed 25 lines.
ALSO: I hear they have a Jewel By The Bay Poetry Contest coming up, but I can't find it on the website. You might give them a call if you're interested. Submissions may be dropped off at the Frank Bette Center or mailed to the above address. Deadline is supposedly (postmarked) July 7. Sorry, no email submissions.
________________
THE POEM YOU ASKED FOR
—Larry Levis
My poem would eat nothing.
I tried giving it water
but it said no,
worrying me.
Day after day,
I held it up to the light,
turning it over,
but it only pressed its lips
more tightly together.
It grew sullen, like a toad
through with being teased.
I offered it money,
my clothes, my car with a full tank.
But the poem stared at the floor.
Finally I cupped it in
my hands, and carried it gently
out into the soft air, into the
evening traffic, wondering how
to end things between us.
For now it had begun breathing,
putting on more and
more hard rings of flesh.
And the poem demanded the food,
it drank up all the water,
beat me and took my money,
tore the faded clothes
off my back
said Shit,
and walked slowly away,
slicking its hair down.
Said it was going
over to your place.
_________________
—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 (free publications): Rattlesnake Review #13 is available at The Book Collector; RR #14 will be out in mid-June. (Next deadline, for RR #15, is August 15.) The new VYPER #6 (for youth 13-19) is in The Book Collector; next deadline is Nov. 1. Snakelets #9 (for kids 0-12) is available; Snakelets #10 will be out this month. Next deadline is 10/1.
Books/broadsides: May's releases are Grass Valley Poet Ron Tranquilla’s Playing Favorites: Selected Poems, 1971-2006, plus a littlesnake broadside by Julie Valin (Still Life With Sun) and a Rattlesnake Interview Broadside (#2) featuring Khiry Malik Moore and B.L. Kennedy. All are now available at The Book Collector. Rattlechaps are $5; broadsides are free. Or contact kathykieth@hotmail.com or rattlesnakepress.com for ordering information.
Next rattle-read: Rattlesnake Press will present Sacramento Poet Tom Miner at The Book Collector, 1008 24th St., Sacramento, on Wednesday, June 20 from 7:30-9 PM to celebrate the release of his new chapbook, North of Everything. Also featured that night will be a new littlesnake broadside (Cominciare Adagio) from Stockton Poet/Publisher David Humphreys, plus #3 in the Rattlesnake Interview Series by B.L. Kennedy, this one featuring Sacramento Poet Jane Blue. Refreshments and a read-around will follow; bring your own poems or somebody else's. More info: kathykieth@hotmail.com/ NOTE: For June, and for June only, our monthly Rattlesnake reading will be on the THIRD Weds. instead of the second one. There will be no Snake readings/releases in July or August.