Window in CumbriaPhoto by Katy Brown
TURNING TIME
—Katy Brown, Davis
The winter sun lingers a few moments more now,
slanting through curtains pulled against the lane:
solstice yearns for equinox in the long shadows.
This turning-time of year calls gardeners to their yards
to spade the earth and add some mulch.
Winter sun lingers a few moments longer.
Secrets, sealed all winter-long under the brittle frost,
lean to whisper in the warming breeze:
solstice beckons to equinox with thin shadows.
Not yet spring, but turning incrementally lighter,
the season shifts with each rising sun —
winter lingers a little more now.
Soon, sunlight will pry the curtains open and
warm the frozen days, as
solstice gives way to equinox with dancing shadows.
Mark the change with winter flowers planted
along the lane. Wash the curtains and dust the sills.
Winter sun lingers a few moments more now as
solstice longs for equinox in the shadows.
_____________________
Thanks, Katy! Rattlesnake Press is proud to announce the inauguration of its Rattlesnake HandyStuff Series, beginning with A Poet's Book of Days, a perpetual calendar featuring the poetry and photography of Katy Brown. At just $5 each, these calendars will make perfect Christmas gifts for poets and "civilians" alike! They'll be available at The Book Collector starting this Wednesday, November 14, at our November rattle-read (100 24th St., Sacramento, 7:30 PM). Also premiering that night will be Among Neighbors, a new chapbook from Taylor Graham, and a new littlesnake broadside from frank andrick, Home Is Where You Hang Your Wings. Come hear Taylor, frank and Katy read from their latest works this Wednesday! Refreshments and a read-around will follow; bring your own poems or somebody else's.
And for more information about Katy Brown, check out her new page on rattlesnakepress.com. Just go to the SnakeRings SpiralChap page and click on her name. Katy's previous Rattlesnake publication was her book of poetry and photography, entitled The Quality of Light; copies of that beautiful book/Christmas present will also be available on Wednesday.
By the way, Katy and the very-first-rattlechapper-EVER, Danyen Powell, will be reading in Davis on Friday, December 7 at The Other Voice, which is held at the Davis Unitarian Church, 27074 Patwin Road, 7:30 PM. More about that later, but save the date.
Snake deadline this Thursday, November 15!
The countdown is on NOW for this Thursday's deadline for Rattlesnake Review #16. Send 3-5 poems, plus photos and/or art to kathykieth@hotmail.com or P.O. Box 762, Pollock Pines, CA 95726. No bio/cover letter necessary, but no simultaneous submissions or previously published work, please. (Medusa's Kitchen does take prev-pubs, though; just credit them where credit is due, of course.)
This week in NorCal poetry:
•••Monday (11/12), 7:30 PM: Sacramento Poetry Center presents Lisa Dominguez Abraham and Quinton Duval at HQ for the Arts, 1719 25th St., Sacramento. See last Thursday's post for bios of these wonderful poets. Open mic will follow. Next Monday's reading (11/19) will feature Donald Anderson, Nikki Quismondo and others to celebrate the release of Sun Shadow Mountain, their collection of poetry, art and photography.
•••Thursday (11/15), 7:30 PM: Sacramento Poetry Center’s fall reading series at the Carmichael Library culminates with a special event featuring readings by Joshua McKinney and Kathleen Lynch. Carmichael Library, Marconi Avenue between Garfield and Fair Oaks Blvd. in Carmichael. Free.
•••Thursday (11/15), 8 PM: Poetry Unplugged features Tim Kahl and Richard Beban. Open mic before/after. Hosted by Geoffrey Neill. Luna’s Cafe, 1414 16th St., Sacramento. Info: 916-441-3931 or www.lunascafe.com. Free.
•••Friday (11/16), 7 PM: Our House poetry reading will feature Susan Kelly-DeWitt and Kate Wells. An open mike follows. Our House Gallery & Framing is located at 4510 Post St. in El Dorado Hills Town Center. There is no charge.
•••Saturday (11/17), 7:30 PM: The Book Collector, 1008 24th St., Sacramento, presents Jeff Knorr. Info: 916-442-9295.
•••Also Saturday (11/17), 6:30 PM: “Words, Music, and Motion”, an evening of storytelling, spoken word, music and dance. Free family event at Cafe Refugio, 1901 Del Paso Blvd., Sacramento.
•••Also Saturday (11/17), 7-9 PM: Underground Poetry Series presents Aushanti Pierce, plus a combined reading of Black Men Expressing Tour & Black Women Expressing Tour, plus open mic. $3.00. Underground Books, 2814 35th St. (35th and Broadway). Hosted by La-Rue, 916-737-3333.
_____________________
FORD'S LANDING
—Matthew Craggs, Sacramento
Looking out over the valley
America stretches her arms with a yawn.
Complacent trailers lay down in ordered rows,
and beyond million dollar homes dot rich land.
A buffer of strawberry crops levees the flow from either side.
Trailers bend their creaking frames to pick
the red, sugared, jewels,
so that the ocean front property may feed.
Faded, cracked lawn chairs and pristine verandas
gaze over never-ending seas.
The varnished redwood decks
and tarnished aluminum siding
both lost in
Our Land of Opportunity.
______________________
ANYTHING
—Matthew Craggs, Sacramento
I’ve got this time in my mind
when she wasn’t next to me
and I wasn’t next to her
and the only thing connecting us was an open line on the phone
which was as faint as the beep…beep…beep of her heart.
And I was just trying to think of anything.
Anything that I could tell her to keep her on that line.
Like how I always appreciated the way she’d joke and jab at my friends and I
but take arms against any who’d do the same.
Or that I still remember our secrets that she kept.
And I was grasping at anything,
pacing the hall — phone held tight and not letting go.
Not letting go the whisper in my voice that reached for
any straws,
anything I could grab
anything I could tell her.
To keep her on the line.
The interruptions from my mother,
asking me if I was done,
stacked like lead weights on my chest.
Telling her over and over and over again
to put the phone back by my Nana’s ear.
So she could stay on the line.
Because I was not done.
I was not done and I sure as hell wasn’t ready.
There were more things to say,
more things to do so I would have more things to say.
No! I am not done!
I know I can think of something else to say if you just
give me the time.
I’ll read you the newspaper
or the back of this cereal box
or the fine print on that “Do Not Remove” tag that’s on every god damn pillow in the universe
until I have something to say to you.
Because if I stop talking…
Then I’ll have to tell you in these lines.
______________________
Thanks, Matthew! Matthew Craggs is one of the many fine poets who will be represented in Rattlesnake Review #16. Did I mention that the deadline is THIS THURSDAY???
—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.) Medusa cannot vouch for the moral fiber of other publications, contests, etc. that she lists, however, so submit to them at your own risk. For more info about the Snake Empire, including guidelines for submitting to or obtaining our publications, click on the link to the right of this column: Rattlesnake Press (rattlesnakepress.com).
SnakeWatch: Up-to-the-minute Snake news:
Journals: The latest issue of Rattlesnake Review (#15) is available for free at The Book Collector, 1008 24th St., Sacramento, or send $2 to P.O. Box 762, Pollock Pines, CA 95726. Deadline for Snake 16 (Sweet 16!) is this coming Thursday, November 15—yikes! Only half a week away!
Coming November 14: The Snake is proud to announce the release of Among Neighbors, a rattlechap from Taylor Graham; Home is Where You Hang Your Wings, a littlesnake broadside from frank andrick; and A Poet's Book of Days, a perpetual calendar featuring the poetry and photography of Katy Brown. Come celebrate all of these on Wednesday, November 14, 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. Be there!