Photo by Stephani Schaefer
FALSE SPRING
—Stephani Schaefer, Los Molinos
Down the dark passage
Persephone comes toward you
with an armful of paperwhites.
Still you must wait.
Patience!
She is humming a springtime song.
—Stephani Schaefer, Los Molinos
Down the dark passage
Persephone comes toward you
with an armful of paperwhites.
Still you must wait.
Patience!
She is humming a springtime song.
Today is the last day of Medusa's Spring/flowers/renewal/resurrection poetry give-away (and don't forget the shy Persephone and her false starts!). Send your poems and/or photos to me at kathykieth@hotmail.com or P.O. Box 762, Pollock Pines, CA 95726 by midnight tonight and I'll send you any rattlechap of your choosing, or Katy's calendar.
Sacramento Poetry Center contests:
February 15 is the deadline for this year’s Sacramento Poetry Center contest. This year's entry fee is $4 per poem. First, second and third prizes will be awarded [$100, $50, $25]. In addition, 10 honorable mentions will receive $10 gift certificates. Please send two copies of each poem, one with your name and contact info, another without any identifying information on it. No restrictions on length, subject or style. Judging will be done by a suitably notable area poet whom SPC will announce [in other words, a poet to be named later]. Send poems to: Sacramento Poetry Center Poetry Contest, The Sacramento Poetry Center, 1719 25th St., Sacramento, CA 95816.
The Sacramento Poetry Center also presents its Second Annual High School Poetry Contest. Winners will receive prizes including a $100.00 Grand Prize, books, scholarships to the SPC Writers’ Conference (April 5, 2008), and publication in The Tule Review, Sacramento Poetry Center's literary journal, or in Poetry Now, the official monthly newsletter of The Sacramento Poetry Center. Winners and Honorable Mentions will also be invited to perform their work on April 14, 2008 at The Sacramento Poetry Center’s venue at the HQ for the Arts, 1719 25th St. in Sacramento. No entry fees required. Deadline: March 15, 2008. (3 poems maximum per student, please.) Send poems to: High School Poetry Contest, The Sacramento Poetry Center, 1719 25th St., Sacramento, CA 95816.
___________________
STRAY CUSHION
—JoAnn Anglin
Incongruous: there in the budding oleander
the couch cushion resting in the median
its owner already miles away
its brother cushions mourning their triplet.
They look across the emptiness feel
abandoned after the single cushion flung
itself out from the borrowed pickup to
nestle in the spiky green leaves.
They are like a mouth with a tooth missing,
in dark silence of the palpable dissatisfaction.
It will be replaced, but cannot be matched.
It will fade and rot in sun and rain,
its decay of its own choosing.
____________________
POST-IT NOTES
—Margaret Ellis Hill, Wilton
packaged layers of color:
two-toned furrowed fields
pasture and new-bud green,
sand verbena and clover pinks,
larkspur and lupine purple,
Indian Paintbrush and sage red
wild poppy orange and buttercups,
fiddleneck and filaree yellows,
winding among baby blue eyes,
cobalt columbine and forget-me-nots,
topped with white Queen Anne’s lace.
Each sheet a remembrance of spring.
__________________
OUT OF MOURNING
—Margaret Ellis Hill
It’s February and no disappointment—
cold and gloom give way to warmth.
From the window, the sun finds clusters of red
berries cascading from Heavenly Bamboo;
from another direction, I discover more red fruits
hiding in a hedge of Burford holly
and I have to smile; they look like a wide-eyed
brood of birds peeking out to see if it’s safe.
Around the corner, the almonds bloom bright white.
Soft fur peeks from burgundy cocoons. Flowering
Quince shines like rosy cheeks. Redwoods
show new chartreuse; pasture grasses green.
Ah, Spring, you surprise me every time, coming after rain
clears pale days. The world turns another year—
and so have I. It’s just that this year the colors
make me feel alive with their welcoming faces.
___________________
Thanks, Steph, JoAnn and Peggy!
—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.