Grandfather Stump
Photo by Ann Wehrman
THE GRANDFATHER STUMP
—Ann Wehrman, Sacramento
He has grown here for a thousand years,
before Lewis and Clark reached the Northwest,
back when Nootka, Yorok, and Hupa
ruled the Pacific Coast.
One of countless giants
chopped down without regret,
now he's just a grandfather stump,
his bark dried and gray—
yet, cradling a saucer magnolia sapling,
covered with delicate, white blossoms of spring,
nourished by the soil
collected in the ancient's desiccated heart.
_____________________
Thanks, Ann! Watch for Notes From The Ivory Tower, a new littlesnake broadside from Sacramento's Ann Wehrman, coming December 12 from Rattlesnake Press. More about Ann later.
Dreaming of Mallorca?
Writing For Our Lives is a writing retreat which will be held at La Serrania, a remote and gorgeous retreat center in Mallorca, with Ellen Bass next May 3-10. This week will be an opportunity to delve into writing in an inspiring setting, to nurture the creative voice. There will be time for writing and time for sharing and response, hearing what our work touches in others. We'll help each other to become clearer, go deeper, express our feelings and ideas more powerfully. With the safety, support, and guidance of this gathering, you have the opportunity to create writing that is more vivid, more true, more complex and powerful than you've been able to do before. The focus of this workshop is on generating new writing, but there will also be time for feedback, critique, and guidance. Both beginners and experienced writers are welcome. Whether you are interested in poetry, fiction, nonfiction, memoir or journal writing, this workshop will provide an opportunity to explore and expand your creative world.
This size of the workshop is limited to 14 participants. The early bird fee for the workshop (which includes accommodations and all meals) is $1500 until December 31. After that the regular fee is $1750. A $550 deposit is required to hold your place. Most rooms are doubles, but there may be single rooms available for a surcharge. For more information about LaSerrania, visit www.laserrania.com/. For more information about the workshop and to register, please email ellen@ellenbass.com/.
_____________________
WHAT’S IN A WORD
—Stephanie Schaefer, Los Molinos
No meaning
without memory
translation
recognition.
Here lately I look at a word
and wonder
is it a real word.
Like seeing a friend
in an unlikely setting
and asking myself
do I really know that person.
I use many odd words nowadays.
Words that might be words.
Or not.
Perhaps not too long from now
I'll write in my own language,
without meaning for others.
But maybe they'll hear music.
______________________
Thanks, Steph, and Medusa is tearing her hair out over misspelling your name all over the place this week. (It's one "f", not two!) Watch for more of Stephani Schaefer's poetry, plus a review of her new chapbook from PWJ Publishing, Punk Medusa, in Rattlesnake Review #16.
Finally, one more stump poem, this one from Taylor Graham, who writes: OK, don't ask where this came from, except general pondering on the world and human situation. Plus, once I climbed into a huge old stump like this; the dog found me, but to his handler I was invisible, non-existent, and her dog must be imagining things.
NOTHING BUT
a stump in the meadow —
the stump of a behemoth tree,
a light-swallowing dinosaur of a tree
long gone extinct
so only the tree’s stump is left,
rooted, hollowed out
by rot, its empty center big enough
for a grown man — let’s say
a Hercules of a man, a Lion-Heart,
a St. Francis — to climb
into, and pull slabs of bark
across the door
and disappear, simply go extinct
as he is from human-
kind and unkind — a hero
wrapped in his losses.
—Ann Wehrman, Sacramento
He has grown here for a thousand years,
before Lewis and Clark reached the Northwest,
back when Nootka, Yorok, and Hupa
ruled the Pacific Coast.
One of countless giants
chopped down without regret,
now he's just a grandfather stump,
his bark dried and gray—
yet, cradling a saucer magnolia sapling,
covered with delicate, white blossoms of spring,
nourished by the soil
collected in the ancient's desiccated heart.
_____________________
Thanks, Ann! Watch for Notes From The Ivory Tower, a new littlesnake broadside from Sacramento's Ann Wehrman, coming December 12 from Rattlesnake Press. More about Ann later.
Dreaming of Mallorca?
Writing For Our Lives is a writing retreat which will be held at La Serrania, a remote and gorgeous retreat center in Mallorca, with Ellen Bass next May 3-10. This week will be an opportunity to delve into writing in an inspiring setting, to nurture the creative voice. There will be time for writing and time for sharing and response, hearing what our work touches in others. We'll help each other to become clearer, go deeper, express our feelings and ideas more powerfully. With the safety, support, and guidance of this gathering, you have the opportunity to create writing that is more vivid, more true, more complex and powerful than you've been able to do before. The focus of this workshop is on generating new writing, but there will also be time for feedback, critique, and guidance. Both beginners and experienced writers are welcome. Whether you are interested in poetry, fiction, nonfiction, memoir or journal writing, this workshop will provide an opportunity to explore and expand your creative world.
This size of the workshop is limited to 14 participants. The early bird fee for the workshop (which includes accommodations and all meals) is $1500 until December 31. After that the regular fee is $1750. A $550 deposit is required to hold your place. Most rooms are doubles, but there may be single rooms available for a surcharge. For more information about LaSerrania, visit www.laserrania.com/. For more information about the workshop and to register, please email ellen@ellenbass.com/.
_____________________
WHAT’S IN A WORD
—Stephanie Schaefer, Los Molinos
No meaning
without memory
translation
recognition.
Here lately I look at a word
and wonder
is it a real word.
Like seeing a friend
in an unlikely setting
and asking myself
do I really know that person.
I use many odd words nowadays.
Words that might be words.
Or not.
Perhaps not too long from now
I'll write in my own language,
without meaning for others.
But maybe they'll hear music.
______________________
Thanks, Steph, and Medusa is tearing her hair out over misspelling your name all over the place this week. (It's one "f", not two!) Watch for more of Stephani Schaefer's poetry, plus a review of her new chapbook from PWJ Publishing, Punk Medusa, in Rattlesnake Review #16.
Finally, one more stump poem, this one from Taylor Graham, who writes: OK, don't ask where this came from, except general pondering on the world and human situation. Plus, once I climbed into a huge old stump like this; the dog found me, but to his handler I was invisible, non-existent, and her dog must be imagining things.
NOTHING BUT
a stump in the meadow —
the stump of a behemoth tree,
a light-swallowing dinosaur of a tree
long gone extinct
so only the tree’s stump is left,
rooted, hollowed out
by rot, its empty center big enough
for a grown man — let’s say
a Hercules of a man, a Lion-Heart,
a St. Francis — to climb
into, and pull slabs of bark
across the door
and disappear, simply go extinct
as he is from human-
kind and unkind — a hero
wrapped in his losses.
Where owls go to dream...
Have a good day.
—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:
Rattlesnake Review: 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. Issue #16 will be out in mid-December; its deadline of Nov. 15 has passed. Next deadline (for Issue #17, due out in mid-March) is February 15. Sooner than you think!
New in November: On November 14, Rattlesnake Press released Among Neighbors, a rattlechap from Taylor Graham; Home is Where You Hang Your Wings, a free littlesnake broadside from frank andrick; and A Poet's Book of Days, a perpetual calendar featuring the poetry and photography of Katy Brown. These are now available at The Book Collector, from kathykieth@hotmail.com, or on rattlesnakepress.com/, as is October's Conversations, Vol. One of B.L. Kennedy's Rattlesnake Interview Series.
Coming December 12: The Snake is proud to announce the release of Metamorphic Intervals From The Insanity Of Time, a SnakeRings SpiralChap from Patricia D'Alessandro; Notes From An Ivory Tower, a littlesnake broadside from Ann Wehrman; and a brand new issue of Rattlesnake Review (#16). Come celebrate all of these on Wednesday, December 12, 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.
—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:
Rattlesnake Review: 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. Issue #16 will be out in mid-December; its deadline of Nov. 15 has passed. Next deadline (for Issue #17, due out in mid-March) is February 15. Sooner than you think!
New in November: On November 14, Rattlesnake Press released Among Neighbors, a rattlechap from Taylor Graham; Home is Where You Hang Your Wings, a free littlesnake broadside from frank andrick; and A Poet's Book of Days, a perpetual calendar featuring the poetry and photography of Katy Brown. These are now available at The Book Collector, from kathykieth@hotmail.com, or on rattlesnakepress.com/, as is October's Conversations, Vol. One of B.L. Kennedy's Rattlesnake Interview Series.
Coming December 12: The Snake is proud to announce the release of Metamorphic Intervals From The Insanity Of Time, a SnakeRings SpiralChap from Patricia D'Alessandro; Notes From An Ivory Tower, a littlesnake broadside from Ann Wehrman; and a brand new issue of Rattlesnake Review (#16). Come celebrate all of these on Wednesday, December 12, 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.