Marcel Proust as a young man, along with the Cattleya,
the orchid that Odette, Swann's mistress,
wore in Du Coté de Chez Swann, or Swann's Way
THE SMALLER ORCHID
—Amy Clampitt
Love is a climate
small things find safe
to grow in—not
(though I once supposed so)
the demanding cattleya
du côté de chez Swann,
glamor among the faubourgs,
hothouse overpowerings, blisses
and cruelties at teatime, but this
next-to-unidentifiable wildling,
hardly more than a
sprout, I've found
flourishing in the hallows
of a granite seashore—
a cheerful tousle, little,
white, down-to-earth orchid
declaring its authenticity,
if you hug the ground
close enough, in a powerful
outdoorsy-domestic
whiff of vanilla.
__________________
This weekend in NorCal poetry:
•••Friday (1/18), 7:30 PM: The Writers of the New Sun/Escritores del Nuevo Sol presents a book signing and reading by Luke Breit and Patrick Grizzell at La Raza Galeria Posada, 1022 – 22nd St. Sacramento. $5 or as you can afford.
•••Also tonight (Friday, 1/18), 7-8 PM: Our House Poetry Reading presents well-known Sacramento area poets Crawdad Nelson and Rebecca Morrison at the reading's temporary location at El Dorado Dance Academy. The Academy is located at 3921 Sandstone Dr. Suite 4, El Dorado Hills. From Hwy 50, go south on Latrobe Rd. past the signals at White Rock Rd., Golden Foothill Pkwy, and Suncast Ln. The next signal is Golden Foothill Pkwy again (it's a loop). Turn right, follow Golden Foothill around a curve; make a left on Sandstone and go to the dead-end. Park in the parking lot on the right. Open mic to follow. No charge.
•••Saturday (1/19), 7-9 PM: Underground Poetry Series presents LaRue and Yoke Breaker, plus open mic. $3. Underground Books, 2814 35th St., Sacramento (35th and Broadway).
Stockton Arts Commission contest:
Deena Heath, director of the Stockton Arts Commission, writes to alert us about the Stockton Writing Contest, deadline March 8. Check out the details on the Arts Commission website, www.stocktongov.com/arts/. (And what a shame that Stockton's only independent bookstore, Bookland, is closing in early February.)
__________________
from SPRING AND ALL
—William Carlos Williams
By the road to the contagious hospital
under the surge of the blue
mottled clouds driven from the
northeast—a cold wind. Beyond, the
waste of broad, muddy fields
brown with dried weeds, standing and fallen
patches of standing water
and scattering of tall trees
All along the road the reddish
purplish, forked, upstanding, twiggy
stuff of bushes and small trees
with dead, brown leaves under them
leafless vines—
Lifeless in appearance, sluggish
dazed spring approaches—
They enter the new world naked,
cold, uncertain of all
save that they enter. All about them
the cold, familiar wind—
Now the grass, tomorrow
the stiff curl of wildcarrot leaf
One by one objects are defined—
It quickens: clarity, outline of leaf
But now the stark dignity of
entrance—Still, the profound change
has come upon them: rooted, they
grip down and begin to awaken
___________________
Medusa muses about Spring and other stuff, including panties:
Out of the corner of my eye, I caught a beautiful group of paperwhites by a freeway entrance. I'm always shocked and pleasantly surprised to see flowers emerging this time of year, but 'tis the season for the bulbs. Even up here, the days are lengthening, and I expect to see some of the hundreds of bulbs I planted pop through any day. I know this is just pseudo-spring (we have it every year in January) and that there will be more storms—maybe as late as June. But the quality of light is already different; the sun doesn't shy away from the cold the way it did, and mating season is here for the foxes...
Write to me about flowers. About Spring, or new love, or—heck—mating foxes! I know; this is a wide-open category, yes? Who cares—send me your poems!—whatever triggers your Spring muse. Enough wintry doom and gloom! Let's banish it for another year! Send your poems and/or photos to me at kathykieth@hotmail.com or P.O. Box 762, Pollock Pines, CA 95726 by midnight, Tuesday, Jan. 22, and I'll send you any rattlechap of your choosing, or Katy's calendar. And while you're sending your poems, don't forget the next deadline for Rattlesnake Review, which is February 15. Sooner than you think!
By the way, I've had a raft of simultaneous submissions lately. Some of them were accidental, some I found out too late to change, and some were off-the-cuff ("Oh, does that matter to you?"). This is one of the things that gets Lola's panties in a bunch. Please be aware that, once you submit a poem to ANYbody, unless they say they accept simultaneous submissions, they OWN it until they decide whether to publish it or not. Unless you've checked on their policy, it's not yours to submit to me or anyone else until they decide and get back to you. (I know, I know; this can take months and sometimes even years, but that's part of the biz. I always check if I haven't heard in six months.)
And even if it's okay with THEM if you submit the same poem to me, you need to be aware of the Snake's policy, which is NO SIMULTANEOUS SUBMISSIONS. So please be careful about that. I have enough panty-bunchers in my life as it is... :-)
Yesterday's post included information about Tiger's Eye, which operates partly out of Sacramento and partly out of Eugene, Oregon. Speaking of Oregon, yesterday would also have been William Stafford's 94th birthday: US Poet Laureate, Oregon State Poet Laureate, conscientious objector...
WHEN I MET MY MUSE
—William Stafford
I glanced at her and took my glasses
off—they were still singing. They buzzed
like a locust on the coffee table and then
ceased. Her voice belled forth, and the
sunlight bent. I felt the ceiling arch, and
knew that nails up there took a new grip
on whatever they touched. "I am your own
way of looking at things," she said. "When
you allow me to live with you, every
glance at the world around you will be
a sort of salvation." And I took her hand.
William Stafford
___________________
—Medusa (may you meet your Muse TODAY and send poems!)
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 (Sweet 16) is available for free at The Book Collector, 1008 24th St., Sacramento, or send $2 to P.O. Box 762, Pollock Pines, CA 95726 and I'll mail you one. Next deadline (for Issue #17, due out in mid-March) is February 15—sooner than you think!
Coming in February: The Snake is still in winter hibernation for January: no readings, no books, no broadsides. Then, on February 13, Rattlesnake Press will roar to life again with a new SnakeRings SpiralChap from Don and Elsie Feliz (To Berlin With Love), plus a new littlesnake broadside from Carlena Wike (Going the Distance), as well as Volume Two of Conversations, B.L. Kennedy's Rattlesnake Interview Series. Come help us launch all of this on Weds., Feb. 13 at The Book Collector, 1008 24th St., Sacramento, 7:30 PM.