Rainer Maria Rilke, 1875-1929AUTUMN DAY
—Rainer Maria Wilke
Lord: it is time. The summer was immense.
Lay your shadow on the sundials
and let loose the wind in the fields.
Bid the last fruits to be full;
give them another two more southerly days,
press them to ripeness, and chase
the last sweetness into the heavy wine.
Whoever has no house now will not build one anymore.
Whoever is alone now will remain so for a long time,
will stay up, read, write long letters,
and wander the avenues, up and down,
restlessly, while the leaves are blowing.
Today, Rainer Maria Rilke would've been 132 years old.
Take a stroll down Poet's Lane:
Cynthia Bryant of Poet’s Lane (www.PoetsLane.com) reminds us to check out her Bay Area website, and especially to take a look at the following. Send your contributions to PoetsLane@comcast.net:
•••Poet’s Lane is looking for Themed Poetry for December: Winter, Santa versus Jesus, Prophetic Events or Best Gift Ever. Pick one or many to write about and check out the new poems!
•••New page on Poet’s Lane called “What Are You Reading?” Send the names of poets & writers and their books names that you are reading.
•••New page on Poet’s Lane called “Write Up”. Have a new book out, published a poem or an article, won a contest? Send it in!
•••Poems from “Headlines”: we provide a headline and you send your poem for that headline.
•••If you need to rant in a poem about the injustices of life, send a poem for “Off Your Chest” (mental health poetry) page.
•••Question for “Telling” page: “What poem would you have given anything to have written?” Send your answers to PoetsLane@comcast.net.
•••”What the Hell” is for your war poems/essays.
______________________
ALONG THE SUN-DRENCHED ROADSIDE
—Rainer Maria Rilke
Along the sun-drenched roadside, from the great
hollow half-treetrunk, which for generations
has been a trough, renewing in itself
an inch or two of rain, I satisfy
my thirst: taking the water's pristine coolness
into my whole body through my wrists.
Drinking would be too powerful, too clear;
but this unhurried gesture of restraint
fills my whole consciousness with shining water.
Thus, if you came, I could be satisfied
to let my hand rest lightly, for a moment,
lightly, upon your shoulder or your breast.
_____________________
BLACK CAT
—Rainer Maria Rilke
A ghost, though invisible, still is like a place
your sight can knock on, echoing; but here
within this thick black pelt, your strongest gaze
will be absorbed and utterly disappear:
just as a raving madman, when nothing else
can ease him, charges into his dark night
howling, pounds on the padded wall, and feels
the rage being taken in and pacified.
She seems to hide all looks that have ever fallen
into her, so that, like an audience,
she can look them over, menacing and sullen,
and curl to sleep with them. But all at once
as if awakened, she turns her face to yours;
and with a shock, you see yourself, tiny,
inside the golden amber of her eyeballs
suspended, like a prehistoric fly.
—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!)
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 Sacramento's 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. And use the opportunity to pick up a few poetic Christmas presents there, including any of a number of wonderful books and chapbooks—not to mention A Poet's Book of Days, Rattlesnake Press's first perpetual calendar, featuring the poetry and photography of Katy Brown.
