The California Zephyr Crosses Donner SummitWEEDS ON DONNER SUMMIT
—Jeanine Stevens, Sacramento
Each winter, snowplows
spray salt showers
on tiny stars, pointed
as glacial chips,
small tan colored nosegays
hugging asphalt, poking
cracks in the interstate.
Some would call them weeds.
We picked armfuls.
A mix of black walnut
and nutmeg, they stood
in a pottery vase for years,
until only the scent
of dust remained. Just now,
I saw them from the
California Zephyr—tight tufts
sticking sideways in creosote
soaked ties, surviving...
wind, exhaust
and early autumn heat
—there then,
here now, outlasting us.
____________________
Thanks, Jeanine! Check out Jeanine Stevens and most of the other rattlechappers on rattlesnakepress.com/. We're finally finishing up the project of getting all our book-producing poets onto our website. Go to the Rattlechaps or Spiralchaps pages, click on their names, and watch their smiling faces appear! More goodies will appear on the SnakeSite in the next few weeks, too, so keep watching.
TIME ZONE MOTEL—RENO
—Jeanine Stevens
Heavy snow closes the summit; we need another night,
something cheap, old is OK. (You can tell
the age by the date on the toilet tank.) We check out lodgings
on the old road, Mr. Winkie's, a neon guy in a tux,
open 24 hours, but "no vacancy." We end up near I-80,
chenille bedspread, loops missing, round holes
like some Morris Code message. A "Flash Gordon" style
rocket ship beams purple and orange sparks
between cracks in the ripped shade. The clerk is done,
leaves sheets, still wet, from the dryer.
Now dark, someone named Lefty appears, pounds
on the door, asks for Rick, needs Rick.
Afraid we might be robbed or knifed in the plaster stairwell,
we skip dinner. There is no phone. We don't sleep.
I compulsively trace our route home on the sporadic holes
in the bedspread. At 6 a.m.,
the rocket lands, lights go out, we take a deep breath
as we zip past the Donner Memorial at 7,000 feet.
______________________
This week in NorCal poetry:
•••Tonight (Monday, 11/5), 7:30 PM: Sacramento Poetry Center presents Do Gentry and James DenBoer at HQ for the Arts, 1719 25th St., Sacramento. Open mic and light consumables.
•••Tuesday (11/6): Poetry Flash will celebrate W.S. Merwin's 80th birthday and Robert Hass's new book of poetry, Time and Materials, 1997-2005, at the Wells Fargo Center for the Arts, 50 Mark West Springs Rd., Santa Rosa. Tickets start at $10 (707-546-3600, noon to 6 PM, Tues-Sat, or wellsfargocenterarts.org). Info: www.poetryflash.org.
•••Thursday (11/8), 8 PM: Poetry Unplugged at Luna's Cafe, 1414 16th St., Sacramento. Featured readers, open mic before and after. Info: 916-441-3931.
•••Saturday (11/10), 4 PM: The Central California Art Association and the Mistlin Art Gallery poetry reading, reception, and book signing by Lee Herrick, author of This Many Miles From Desire (WorldTech Editions). The reading will take place in the gallery, 1015 J St., downtown Modesto. Lee grew up in Modesto (he's the son of CCAA artist, Georgia Herrick), and is currently living, writing, and teaching in Fresno. Co-host Gordon Preston writes: Please RSVP; we will need a head-count for all the logistics of a poetry reading at an art gallery. 530-523-8916 or gordonbp@sbcglobal.net/.
•••Sunday (11/11), 2:30-4:30 PM: Poets on the Ridge poetry reading (open mic) at Juice and Java, 7067 Skyway, Paradise. Info: 530-872-9633.
_____________________
ICE SCULPTURE
—Jeanine Stevens
A cocoon encased
in royal frosting, glazed
over at subzero
rendering brick a raspberry pink.
Beneath stained, ornate windows,
half hidden shades are drawn
and slump like weary eyelashes.
Firefighters try to rescue
this old Masonic Lodge,
but each blast from the fire hose
glazes history in ice.
Square nails pop,
great timbers ache and groan,
and the structure reforms
into something unsafe
for business dealings and parties.
The demolition crew will arrive,
destroy the plaster mold.
No longer will we hear tinkling
sleigh bells, or hoarse
street vendors hawking pork pies.
_______________________
—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 9572V6. Next deadline is November 15. The two journals for youngsters, Snakelets and Vyper, are on hiatus; no deadlines this Fall.
New in October: Rattlesnake Press celebrated Sacramento Poetry Month on Wednesday, October 10 with the release of Spiral, a rattlechap by Kate Wells; Autumn on My Mind, a free littlesnake broadside by Mary Field; and #5 in the free Rattlesnake Interview Series by B.L. Kennedy, this one featuring Sacramento Poet Laureate Julia Connor. Also released that night was Conversations, Volume One of the Rattlesnake Interview Anthology Series (a collection of B.L.'s conversations with eleven Sacramento poets), as well as a free broadside tribute to poet/publisher Ben L. Hiatt, commissioned by Rattlesnake Press and designed by Richard Hansen from poetry by B.L. Kennedy and artwork by Patrick Grizzell. All of these are available at The Book Collector, 100 24th St., Sacramento, or from rattlesnakepress.com, or write to kathykieth@hotmail.com/.
Coming in November: 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 the release of all of these on Wednesday, November 14, 7:30 PM at The Book Collector.