Looks Like Spring is Still Just a Daydream...

Photo by Stephani Schaefer, Los Molinos

FLIRTATION

at dawn, breath clouds cold,
but by midday’s walk
pre-spring breezes kiss my cheeks,
latent celadon aura shimmers
through bare, brown branches—
sun, now warm enough for me
to strip off and pocket winter gloves

—Ann Wehrman, Sacramento

___________________

RUNNING TO YOU
—Ann Wehrman

wake from dreaming of you,
open the door,
explode into warm, spring morning
fragrant with flowers

resting between rain,
willows drip into rushing creek
under gray-white sky

taking hill after hill, I run
imagine you inside
behind shuttered windows
watching me

I almost forgive your reticence
my own
in this soft, new day

_________________

Thanks, Ann! Be sure to pick up a free copy of Ann Wehrman's littlesnake broadside, Notes From The Ivory Tower, at The Book Collector, or send an SASE to P.O. Box 762, Pollock Pines, CA 95726 and I'll mail you one. Ann was unable to read for us in December, when her broadside was released, so she'll be joining us February 13 at the next rattle-read.

Be sure to take a look-see at rattlesnakepress.com. Almost all the rattlechapper and spiralchapper poets' pages are up now, plus a new feature under "Snake Faves": Things We Wish We'd Published But Didn't.

Today in NorCal poetry:

•••Wed. (1/23), 6-7 PM: Upstairs Poetry Reading at The Upstairs Art Gallery, 420 Main St (2nd floor), Placerville. It's an open-mike read-around, so bring your own poems or those of a favorite poet to share, or just come to listen. No charge.

___________________

Wayne Robinson reminds us of another blessing of this season:

WHALES
—Wayne Robinson, Lodi

I see their spouts in the distance
The grays, traveling north again.
Monterey, before the romance
Before the break in the rain.

I love to see the whales come through
Soon the days will grow longer
Monterey monarchs, fly away too
The cold bloom into warmer.

The whales bring it with them
Persuade spring to follow in their wake
Hummingbirds ride their hem
And love sprouts on the waves they take.

___________________

Thanks, Wayne!

—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 (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.