Photo by Stephani Schaefer, Los Molinos
And above Jenner, along the snake coil blacktop of
Highway 1, the churning salted water of Stump Cove
reflected the setting sun. At the apex of the
hair-pin, a wide spot to park, a mad dash across the
road, and we are gazing at the sunset. Our bare feet
going numb in the icy ocean, a shoe in each hand,
leaning against each other. Stump Cove at sunset,
waves bouncing on the rocks, kelp dancing up and down
with the water, and an orange ball sinking into a
grey-blue sea, add a pink cloud or two and we have a
new meaning for the term, "Stumped". Hold me tight,
we will soon have to go back to the real world.
—Wayne Robinson, Lodi
_____________________
Thanks, Wayne! Wayne Robinson and Stephani Schaefer have taken up the gauntlet thrown down by Medusa: Send in your poems/photos/art about stumps or being "stumped" or other variations thereof (metaphoric and otherwise) and I'll send you Taylor Graham's latest chapbook, Among Neighbors. (Or, if you already have her new book, another Rattlesnake Press product of your choosing.) Send it all to kathykieth@hotmail.com or P.O. Box 762, Pollock Pines, CA 95726 by midnight (postmarked) Tuesday, Nov. 20. That's tomorrow!
Here's one by Patricia Wellingham-Jones, who writes to say: Discovered to my great surprise that I won the Chico News & Review's first Poetry 99 contest (99 words or under); also an HM. Steph [Schaefer] also had a poem published in the collection. You can see it here, if you want: http://www.newsreview.com/chico/Content?oid=598694/. They had a very good turnout for this contest.
POLLARD: LIVING STUMPS
—Patricia Wellingham-Jones, Tehama
Two sycamores bring
pain-squinches to my eyes.
Trees needing broad lawns,
wide space, heavy crowns,
these are crammed between bungalow,
chain link fence, narrow walk.
Each November the trees weep,
fingers severed to first knuckle.
Majesty reduced
to thick trunk, blunt stubs.
In midsummer their shame
is covered in green leaves
on thin whips the trees strain
to produce.
By November when leaves
start to litter the ground
the surgeons arrive with chainsaws
and I shudder for the sycamores
again.
(Originally published in Edgz, 2001)
____________________
This week in NorCal poetry:
•••Monday (11/19), 7:30 PM: Sacramento Poetry Center presents Donald Anderson, Nikki Quismondo and others to celebrate the release of Sun Shadow Mountain, their collection of poetry, art and photography at HQ for the Arts, 1719 25th St., Sacramento. Open mic will follow.
•••Saturday (11/24), 7-9 PM: The Show features Neo-soul artist Kevin Sandbloom (kevinsandbloom.com), Praise Dancer Tangela Campbell, House Band LSB, House Vocalist Chris Bush. Wo’se Community Center, 2863 35th St., (off 35th & Broadway), Sacramento. $5. Open mic, all ages. Info: 916-208-POET.
Split This Rock:
Split This Rock Poetry Contest to benefit Split This Rock Poetry Festival in Washington, DC, March 20-23, 2008. $1,000 awarded for poems of provocation & witness, Kyle G. Dargan, Judge. $500 for 1st, $300 for 2nd and $200 for 3rd place. 1st-place winner will read the winning poem at the festival. The poem will also be published on the festival website at www.SplitThisRock.org. All winners receive free festival admission. Postmark deadline: January 15, 2008. Info about how to submit: info@splitthisrock.org/.
Stonework:
Rattlechapper James DenBoer has another book out: Stonework: Selected Poems. Swan Scythe Press has published this volume as The Walter Pavlich Memorial Poetry Award 2007. Publisher Sandra McPherson says, James DenBoer is one of my favorite poets—He is the awake one, and vulnerable to his awakeness. In this physical world he has ties to the comic and to the suffering. He pays tribute, he asks for counsel, and a great spirit is born and sustained. Stonework exhibits the bonding of difficult material to lucid expression. What an artistic fulfillment! Please order from our press, http://www.swanscythe.com/books.html/. Jim will also be releasing another chapbook from Rattlesnake Press next June.
_____________________
Here's another stump poem, this one by Jane Blue. I mused about phantom pain...
Highway 1, the churning salted water of Stump Cove
reflected the setting sun. At the apex of the
hair-pin, a wide spot to park, a mad dash across the
road, and we are gazing at the sunset. Our bare feet
going numb in the icy ocean, a shoe in each hand,
leaning against each other. Stump Cove at sunset,
waves bouncing on the rocks, kelp dancing up and down
with the water, and an orange ball sinking into a
grey-blue sea, add a pink cloud or two and we have a
new meaning for the term, "Stumped". Hold me tight,
we will soon have to go back to the real world.
—Wayne Robinson, Lodi
_____________________
Thanks, Wayne! Wayne Robinson and Stephani Schaefer have taken up the gauntlet thrown down by Medusa: Send in your poems/photos/art about stumps or being "stumped" or other variations thereof (metaphoric and otherwise) and I'll send you Taylor Graham's latest chapbook, Among Neighbors. (Or, if you already have her new book, another Rattlesnake Press product of your choosing.) Send it all to kathykieth@hotmail.com or P.O. Box 762, Pollock Pines, CA 95726 by midnight (postmarked) Tuesday, Nov. 20. That's tomorrow!
Here's one by Patricia Wellingham-Jones, who writes to say: Discovered to my great surprise that I won the Chico News & Review's first Poetry 99 contest (99 words or under); also an HM. Steph [Schaefer] also had a poem published in the collection. You can see it here, if you want: http://www.newsreview.com/chico/Content?oid=598694/. They had a very good turnout for this contest.
POLLARD: LIVING STUMPS
—Patricia Wellingham-Jones, Tehama
Two sycamores bring
pain-squinches to my eyes.
Trees needing broad lawns,
wide space, heavy crowns,
these are crammed between bungalow,
chain link fence, narrow walk.
Each November the trees weep,
fingers severed to first knuckle.
Majesty reduced
to thick trunk, blunt stubs.
In midsummer their shame
is covered in green leaves
on thin whips the trees strain
to produce.
By November when leaves
start to litter the ground
the surgeons arrive with chainsaws
and I shudder for the sycamores
again.
(Originally published in Edgz, 2001)
____________________
This week in NorCal poetry:
•••Monday (11/19), 7:30 PM: Sacramento Poetry Center presents Donald Anderson, Nikki Quismondo and others to celebrate the release of Sun Shadow Mountain, their collection of poetry, art and photography at HQ for the Arts, 1719 25th St., Sacramento. Open mic will follow.
•••Saturday (11/24), 7-9 PM: The Show features Neo-soul artist Kevin Sandbloom (kevinsandbloom.com), Praise Dancer Tangela Campbell, House Band LSB, House Vocalist Chris Bush. Wo’se Community Center, 2863 35th St., (off 35th & Broadway), Sacramento. $5. Open mic, all ages. Info: 916-208-POET.
Split This Rock:
Split This Rock Poetry Contest to benefit Split This Rock Poetry Festival in Washington, DC, March 20-23, 2008. $1,000 awarded for poems of provocation & witness, Kyle G. Dargan, Judge. $500 for 1st, $300 for 2nd and $200 for 3rd place. 1st-place winner will read the winning poem at the festival. The poem will also be published on the festival website at www.SplitThisRock.org. All winners receive free festival admission. Postmark deadline: January 15, 2008. Info about how to submit: info@splitthisrock.org/.
Stonework:
Rattlechapper James DenBoer has another book out: Stonework: Selected Poems. Swan Scythe Press has published this volume as The Walter Pavlich Memorial Poetry Award 2007. Publisher Sandra McPherson says, James DenBoer is one of my favorite poets—He is the awake one, and vulnerable to his awakeness. In this physical world he has ties to the comic and to the suffering. He pays tribute, he asks for counsel, and a great spirit is born and sustained. Stonework exhibits the bonding of difficult material to lucid expression. What an artistic fulfillment! Please order from our press, http://www.swanscythe.com/books.html/. Jim will also be releasing another chapbook from Rattlesnake Press next June.
_____________________
Here's another stump poem, this one by Jane Blue. I mused about phantom pain...
THE BALM OF GILEAD
—Jane Blue, Sacramento
Mary, with your phantom pain,
I wish I could bring you the balm of Gilead
or the honey that rains from the ancient ash tree
Yggdrasil, that canopies this wounded earth.
You say you believe in the Lord, but “Damn!”
when the demon pain strikes and jerks
your puckered stump as if by marionette strings.
You reminisce about your love
for dancing–shimmying the Charleston,
twirling the jitterbug, slinking in the cha-cha
and the tango. You boast
that you won a contest in the pivot:
your partner slung you over his shoulder,
skidded you under his legs; you were the last
couple on the sweat-stained ballroom floor.
You are radiant with remembering.
“I don’t think I could do that anymore,” you laugh.
Then you look down at the wheelchair,
your slashed, unbalanced body. “Oh.
I guess I couldn’t.” You have forgotten,
flying to the past in your mind, the strange pain
in the invisible shank of your leg. Oh, Mary,
I wish I could bring you the balm of Gilead,
or the honey of the ash tree Yggdrasil.
_____________________
Thanks, Jane! And one more, this one in a totally different vein by Katy Brown. Don't forget to pick up one of Katy's new calendars, A Poet's Book of Days, at The Book Collector ($5), or send $6 (made out to Kathy Kieth) to P.O. Box 762, Pollock Pines, CA 95726. Katy will also be reading with Danyen Powell at The Other Voice in Davis on Friday, Dec. 7; you can catch her and her new collection of poetry and photography there. These perpetual calendars make great Christmas gifts for poets and non-poets alike! Pick up two... or six...!
LOOKING FOR CRICKETS
—Katy Brown, Davis
Where have I put my car keys?
Spring flushes, laurel-green on the hills
and all winter, I have missed the burrowing owls
who lined Mace Boulevard looking for crickets.
Spring flushes laurel-green on the hills
and the winter-time red-winged blackbirds
have lined Mace Boulevard looking for insects.
I wonder: where do the owls go in winter?
The red-winged blackbirds
careen in frantic flapping.
Where do the stoic owls go in winter?
I tear apart my house looking for keys.
Careening, franticly flapping,
I scatter the clutter on my dresser,
tearing apart the house, looking for my keys.
Spring won’t wait for me.
I scatter the clutter on my dresser:
really, I have to get organized —
spring won’t wait for me.
How do the owls do it? Living in such small quarters all summer.
I have to got to get organized.
It is spring and the burrowing owls are out on Mace Boulevard
chasing off the blackbirds who have been eating their crickets.
Where the heck have I put my keys?
_____________________
—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.
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/ (in a day or two).
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.
—Jane Blue, Sacramento
Mary, with your phantom pain,
I wish I could bring you the balm of Gilead
or the honey that rains from the ancient ash tree
Yggdrasil, that canopies this wounded earth.
You say you believe in the Lord, but “Damn!”
when the demon pain strikes and jerks
your puckered stump as if by marionette strings.
You reminisce about your love
for dancing–shimmying the Charleston,
twirling the jitterbug, slinking in the cha-cha
and the tango. You boast
that you won a contest in the pivot:
your partner slung you over his shoulder,
skidded you under his legs; you were the last
couple on the sweat-stained ballroom floor.
You are radiant with remembering.
“I don’t think I could do that anymore,” you laugh.
Then you look down at the wheelchair,
your slashed, unbalanced body. “Oh.
I guess I couldn’t.” You have forgotten,
flying to the past in your mind, the strange pain
in the invisible shank of your leg. Oh, Mary,
I wish I could bring you the balm of Gilead,
or the honey of the ash tree Yggdrasil.
_____________________
Thanks, Jane! And one more, this one in a totally different vein by Katy Brown. Don't forget to pick up one of Katy's new calendars, A Poet's Book of Days, at The Book Collector ($5), or send $6 (made out to Kathy Kieth) to P.O. Box 762, Pollock Pines, CA 95726. Katy will also be reading with Danyen Powell at The Other Voice in Davis on Friday, Dec. 7; you can catch her and her new collection of poetry and photography there. These perpetual calendars make great Christmas gifts for poets and non-poets alike! Pick up two... or six...!
LOOKING FOR CRICKETS
—Katy Brown, Davis
Where have I put my car keys?
Spring flushes, laurel-green on the hills
and all winter, I have missed the burrowing owls
who lined Mace Boulevard looking for crickets.
Spring flushes laurel-green on the hills
and the winter-time red-winged blackbirds
have lined Mace Boulevard looking for insects.
I wonder: where do the owls go in winter?
The red-winged blackbirds
careen in frantic flapping.
Where do the stoic owls go in winter?
I tear apart my house looking for keys.
Careening, franticly flapping,
I scatter the clutter on my dresser,
tearing apart the house, looking for my keys.
Spring won’t wait for me.
I scatter the clutter on my dresser:
really, I have to get organized —
spring won’t wait for me.
How do the owls do it? Living in such small quarters all summer.
I have to got to get organized.
It is spring and the burrowing owls are out on Mace Boulevard
chasing off the blackbirds who have been eating their crickets.
Where the heck have I put my keys?
_____________________
—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.
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/ (in a day or two).
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.