Happy Leap Day!

Well, it IS the Year of the Frog...

INTERNAL CONVERSATION
—Margaret Ellis Hill, Wilton

Ok, Mr. Bailey, I see you but you don't know
I do. Out of the corner of my eye I feel your eye
peering between the slats like Mrs. Bailey's dog
pants when he spies my Maine Coon cat in the yard.

The sun shines finally and the grass does grow
but the chill in the day keeps me in shirt and jeans. My
summer bikini remains paged in the Teen catalogue.
Why on earth is minding your business so hard?

And yes, I lounge and read in the hammock, so
I can spend time outside today (not at a desk inside)
gathering words, ideas and thoughts to log
with the sounds of spring from my backyard

for the poem that's due in class tomorrow.
There's more to life than peeking at me; I want to lie
alone, catch color from the sun, listen to the frogs...
Mom's coming over to chat, I hope that's not awkward.

__________________

Thanks, Peggy! Margaret Ellis Hill responded to the hammock Seed of the Week/giveaway from last Tuesday, so a copy of SnakeRings SpiralChap #13.1 will be wending its way down the hill to her.

Yesterday I pointed out that February is almost over, the month traditionally devoted to love. This appears to have simultaneously inspired Peggy and Marie Ross to wrap up the month with love poems of their own, posted herewith.

UNTIL YOU
—Marie Ross, Stockton

Until you,
my heart flew on wings of tryst,
wings like a million flags caught in
breeze of complacency.
Until you,
atmosphere was filled with the quiet
sounds of life, as if laughfter hung on
the distant horizon.
Then our eyes met, and in that crystal
glow of blue,
I surrendered to the forever swim.
Your tender touch led me through a wondrous
land, where the silver mouth of moon opened
and spoke from fire's flame and mid-night moan.
Until you,
my heart sat on wings of love weary of waiting,
you came,
now I fly on wings of love.

__________________

THE PUREST FORM OF LOVE
—Margaret Ellis Hill

Late afternoon, Eric tip-toes
among the dandelions he calls
bright earth-stars that string out
in galaxies along a gravel driveway.

As twilight begins to dim to dark,
he finds his mother in the kitchen,
holds up a hand-picked dozen
in a grubby fist as a gift.

The room needs no light.

__________________


This weekend in NorCal poetry:

•••Sunday (3/2), 3 PM: SpiralChappers Susan and Joe Finkleman be out in full force with musicians Francesca Reitano and Mark Halverson at Congregation Bet Haverim, 1715 Anderson Rd, Davis, to bring you a two-hour show filled with a double feature: poetry reading wrapping around an art show/discussion of Joe's watercolor and photography. $5 donation requested, but no one turned away for lack of funds (this money goes to the synagogue to cover expenses).

•••Also Sunday (3/2), 2-4 PM: Livermore’s Poet Laureate Connie Post presents the continuing poetry series at the beautiful Ravenswood historic site, located at 2647 Arroyo Rd., Livermore. Sunday's reading will feature Rattlechapper and Rattlesnake Review columnist Taylor Graham, plus Camille Norton. [See Monday's post for bios of these two wonderful readers.]

Directions: from 580, take North Livermore Exit. Head South. Right on Portola, left on North L. Continue until it turns into Arroyo (this occurs at the College Ave. intersection). Keep going straight until you see Ravenswood on your right. Look for the balloons. For more information, contact Connie Post: connie@poetrypost.com or go to http://www.poetrypost.com/Upcoming_Events.html

•••Monday (3/3), 7:30 PM: Sacramento Poetry Center presents Julia Levine and Rick Campbell at HQ for the Arts, 1719 25th St., Sacramento. Julia Levine is a native of Flint, Mich. Levine received her doctorate in clinical psychology from UC Berkeley and practices in Davis, where she has lived with her husband and three children for over 20 years. Her latest publication is Ditch-tender [University of Tampa Press 2007]. Her previous publication, Ask, won the 2003 Tampa Review Prize for Poetry. Other awards include the Discovery/The Nation Award for Emerging New Writers, the Pablo Neruda Prize in Poetry, the 1998 Anhinga Prize for Poetry, the Lullwater Prize in Poetry and a bronze medal from ForeWord magazine for her first book, Practicing for Heaven.

Rick Campbell’s most recent book is The Traveler’s Companion (Black Bay Books, 2004). His first full-length book, Setting The World In Order (Texas Tech 2001) won the Walt McDonald Prize. His poems and essays have appeared in The Georgia Review, The Missouri Review, The Tampa Review, Southern Poetry Review, Puerto Del Sol, Prairie Schooner, and other journals. Campbell has won an NEA Fellowship, a Pushcart Prize, and two fellowships from the Florida Arts Council. He is the director of Anhinga Press and the Anhinga Prize for Poetry, and he teaches English at Florida A&M University in Tallahassee, Florida. You can also see him transform himself into a dog here: [http://www.rickcampbell.net/biography.htm].

___________________

One more adieu to February, the Month of Love:

POEM OF ABSENCE
—Frances Horovitz

to be alone for a month is good
I follow the bright fish of memory
falling deeper into myself
to the endless present
the child's cry is my only clock

yet your singing echoes in corners
who clatters the red tea-pot
or opens the door with a bang
to look at the evening sky?
your typewriter lies silent
it is reproachful
I cannot make it stutter like you

I sit in the woods at dusk
listening for the sound of your singing
there are letters from a thousand miles
you wrote a week ago
like leaves from an autumn tree
they fall on the mat

it was your voice woke me
and the absent touch of your hand

___________________

—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: News from Rattlesnake Press

New in February: The Snake had a massive celebration on February 13 with the release of To Berlin With Love from Elsie Whitlow Feliz and Don Feliz, a new broadside from Carlena Wike (Going The Distance), and a new SnakeRings SpiralChap from Sam and Kathy Kieth (Sex—For Animals...). All of these publications are now at The Book Collector and on rattlesnakepress.com.

Coming in March: Rattlesnake Press will be releasing a chapbook from Ann Privateer (Attracted to Light), a littlesnake broadside from Jeanine Stevens (Eclipse), Conversations Vol. 2 of B.L. Kennedy's Rattlesnake Interview Series, and a brand-new issue of Rattlesnake Review (#17). Join us to celebrate all of this at The Book Collector, 1008 24th St., Sacramento, on March 12 at 7:30 PM.

Oh Love!

OH LOVE
—Robert Creeley

My love is a boat
floating
on the weather, the water.

She is a stone
at the bottom of the ocean.
She is the wind in the trees.

I hold her
in my hand
and cannot lift her,

can do nothing
without her. Oh love,
like nothing else on earth!

___________________

We're about to finish off Love Month; only one day left after today. What's the legend: that women can propose to men on Leap Year Day?

February 29 is special in the Snake's life, too, since the first issue of Rattlesnake Review, our first-ever publication of any sort, rolled off the presses (well, copy machine) on Leap Year Day, 2004. Traditionally, though, we celebrate "our" birthday in April, since that was the release of the first RattleChap. So be sure to mark your calendars for this year's party on Wednesday, April 9! It'll be another doozy, with a SnakeRings SpiralChap of art and poetry by Ted Finn (Damn the Eternal War), a RattleChap by Ann Menebroker (Small Crimes), and a new HandyStuff journal by Katy Brown (Muse-Ings). Booze and food and great poetry (and love, too)! Be there!


B.L.'s Drive-By:
Weekly Reviews by B.L. Kennedy

LOST VALeNTinEs
BY
Todd Cirillo
Bill Gainer
Chris Olander
Julie Valin
Edited By:
Buck Sexy and Ms. J. Valintine

Chapbook, 28pp
Six Ft. Swells Press
After Hours Poetry
Cheap Shots Poetry Series #4
$2 + postage

Last Thursday night (Feb. 21st, for those of you who are so anal that you need all the details…), last Thursday night, Mike West (get used to the name) & I made a mad trip in the rain up to Grass Valley to catch those After Hour Outlaw Poets screaming into the night & bringing the audience to its fucking feet! I am talking the collective voices of Todd Cirillo, Bill Gainer, Chris Olander & Julie Valin & the celebration & publication of yet another Six Ft. Swells Press collection of some badass poetry that sings & swings into those after-hour dreams when you are either alone with your lover or your right hand.

You know, I really dig what these cats are doing… I mean, they are getting out there & making poetry work for them! These cats at Six Ft. Swells don’t talk the talk, no, that is not their style; those fuckers walk the walk & they walk with a very soft & cool NY/Sinatra attitude. You are going to dig the poems here & wonder why you didn’t get yer lazy butt off the couch & race up the hill to catch the reading! Look: maybe you missed out on one of the best poetry readings since Happy Hour, but, for $2 & postage, you can get your copy of this chapbook & pretend that you are any one of the four poets giving you that special, intimate after-hours yummy… Don’t worry Bill, I won’t tell if you don’t tell...

—B.L. Kennedy, Reviewer-in-Residence

B.L.'s Drive-By is a new Thursday feature on Medusa's Kitchen; thanks, B.L.! Watch for more of B.L. Kennedy's reviews in every issue of Rattlesnake Review. Plus, some of his past reviews are posted on rattlesnakepress.com under the heading "SnakeFaves and Things We Wish We'd Published, But Didn't". While you're on the website, check out B.L.'s page; two of his many publications are available there, as well as at The Book Collector. And if you have something you'd like Bari to look at for possible review, his contact info is in the long blurb to the right of this column.

__________________

BESIDE HER TO LIE
—Robert Creeley

He'd like the edge
of her warmth here
"beside her to lie"

in trusting comfort
no longer contests
he loves and wants her.

___________________

IF HAPPINESS
—Robert Creeley

If happiness were
simple joy, bird,

beast or flower
were the so-called world

here everywhere
about us,

then love were as true
as air, as water—

as sky's light, ground's
solidness, rock's hardness,

for us, in us,
of us.

__________________

STILL DANCERS
—Robert Creeley

Set the theme
with a cadence
of love's old
sweet song—

No harm in
the emotional
nor in remembering all
you can or want to.

Let the faint, faded music
pour forth its wonder
and bewitch whom it will,
still dancers under the moon.

___________________


—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: News from Rattlesnake Press

New in February: The Snake had a massive celebration on February 13 with the release of To Berlin With Love from Elsie Whitlow Feliz and Don Feliz, a new broadside from Carlena Wike (Going The Distance), and a new SnakeRings SpiralChap from Sam and Kathy Kieth (Sex—For Animals...). All of these publications are now at The Book Collector and on rattlesnakepress.com.

Coming in March: Rattlesnake Press will be releasing a chapbook from Ann Privateer (Attracted to Light), a littlesnake broadside from Jeanine Stevens (Eclipse), Conversations Vol. 2 of B.L. Kennedy's Rattlesnake Interview Series, and a brand-new issue of Rattlesnake Review (#17). Join us to celebrate all of this at The Book Collector, 1008 24th St., Sacramento, on March 12 at 7:30 PM.

Netting Poems

NET HAMMOCK
—Taylor Graham, Somerset

I think the knots were his way
of getting fingers weaving thoughts
of cord, the finer thoughts slipping through
the net like water of a sea
so far away, like shuttle through loop,
this going-away gift
from a boss who wove his leisure
on the Chesapeake and knew I’d need
a knotted hammock to hold me
between cloud and granite ridgetop
almost a continent away,
to anchor me to ponderosa
while I sail the pages of my book
and poems shimmer fishlike
in the net.

__________________

Thanks, TG! This poem is a response to yesterday's Seed of the Week. Taylor Graham will be reading at Ravenswood in Livermore this Sunday; check last Monday's post for details. You can also see her at the Upstairs Poetry Reading tonight in Placerville; details for that are on Monday's post, too.


Also tonight:

•••Tonight (Weds., 2/27), 7 PM: Stephen Elliott reads from his new anthology, Sex For America: Politically Inspired Erotica, and Josh Fernandez, Associate Arts Editor at Sacramento News & Review, opens for him. Luna’s Café, 1414 16th St., Sacramento. Read about it at http://www.newsreview.com/sacramento/Content?oid=626203. Watch for an interview of Josh, by the way, in the new Conversations, Vol. 2 of B.L. Kennedy’s Rattlesnake Interview Series, due out March 12.


CFCP Monthly contest needs entries:

California Federation of Chaparral Poets, Inc., reminds us that their monthly contest continues [see below for themes], with prizes of $25, $15, and $10. Send $2/poem or 3 poems for $5 (checks made out to CFCP, Inc.) to Cleo Griffith, Monthly Contest Editor, CFCP, Inc., 4409 Diamond Court, Salida, CA 95368. There is no limit to the number of poems submitted each month with the appropriate fees. Cleo writes to say that entries are sparse these days; take the hint, poets!

Poems for the monthly contests must be postmarked by the last day of the month for that category. For those entrants who use a post office that does not date-stamp mail, a written date beneath the return address will suffice. All forms accepted for all categories, within line limits; except where otherwise indicated, poems are limited to 28 lines of text not including the title or space following the title.

Send TWO copies of each poem with author's name and address front upper right corner on ONE copy only. Put no identification on the second copy. Poems must not have previously been awarded a money prize. If previously published, please state where. Print contest month on outside of mailing envelope, at the front right top corner of both copies of each poem. If you wish to receive a winners’ list, please send SASE with proper postage and note the contest month on the envelope. For information: cleor36@yahoo.com or (209) 543-1776

2008 SUBJECTS FOR CFCP MONTHLY CONTEST/JUDGE

JANUARY: Water / Melody Sherosky
FEBRUARY: Blues and ballads/ Martha Meltzer
MARCH: Grandmother’s story/ Cynthia Brackett-Vincent
APRIL: Fashions/ Debra Harmes-Kurth
MAY: Sitting on a train/ Jonathan Rice
JUNE: Plastic Pleasures, Tacky Treasures/ Colette Jonopulos
JULY: NO CONTEST
AUGUST: Pearls and Platinum/ Cynthia Bryant
SEPTEMBER: What I should have said/ June Saraceno
OCTOBER: Boredoms (12 lines or less)/ Lora Zill
NOVEMBER: Spangles and tangles/ TBA
DECEMBER: NO CONTEST

____________________

Hey—the theme for March is "Grandmother's Story"! Here's a Wendell Berry poem to inspire you—only three days left 'til the deadline, though!

THE GRANDMOTHER
—Wendell Berry

Better born than married, misled,
in the heavy summers of the river bottom
and the long winters cut off by snow
she would crave gentle dainty things,
"a pretty little cookie or a cup of tea,"
but spent her days over a wood stove
cooking cornbread, kettles of jowl and beans
for the heavy, hungry, hard-handed
men she had married and mothered, bent
past unbending by her days of labor
that love had led her to. They had to break her
before she would lie down in her coffin.

___________________

—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: News from Rattlesnake Press

New in February: The Snake had a massive celebration on February 13 with the release of To Berlin With Love from Elsie Whitlow Feliz and Don Feliz, a new broadside from Carlena Wike (Going The Distance), and a new SnakeRings SpiralChap from Sam and Kathy Kieth (Sex—For Animals...). All of these publications are now at The Book Collector and on rattlesnakepress.com.

Coming in March: Rattlesnake Press will be releasing a chapbook from Ann Privateer (Attracted to Light), a littlesnake broadside from Jeanine Stevens (Eclipse), Conversations Vol. 2 of B.L. Kennedy's Rattlesnake Interview Series, and a brand-new issue of Rattlesnake Review (#17). Join us to celebrate all of this at The Book Collector, 1008 24th St., Sacramento, on March 12 at 7:30 PM.

In Search of SOWs

Sketch by Stephani Schaefer, Los Molinos

CONQUISTADOR
—Frank Graham, Sacramento

Rock of water, bone and cockle,
though sallow cheeked and dappled,
your bow still stands in sand and sea.

Here lies your final anchor,
your keel left creaking in the wind.
Chrome and slip stripped,
your turquoise sulking hull
echos the love-and-hate cries
of your captain.

Dank and splintered, teak planks
form a fallow deck,
your mast a withering tree.

Your brine bleached lines
and fish wrought nets
tell of your faena with the sea.

In mustard sky, you look stranded and sunken,
even still,
you sink deeper, deeper.

__________________

Thanks, Stephani and Frank! Frank Graham is currently Poetry Editor of Sacramento Poetry Center's Poetry Now, and next month he will take over as Editor-in-Chief. Congrats, Frank!


New feature: Seed of the Week!

Some call them challenges, I call them Seed of the Week. Let them be inspiration! From now on, Tuesday is Medusa's day to post poetry triggers that you have come up with, such as quotes, forms, photos, memories, jokes—send us whatever you think might tickle somebody's muse. I'll pick one and post it on a Tuesday, then Medusa readers are encouraged to rise to the occasion with their responses to your triggers. All poems will be posted and a few of them will go into Medusa's Corner of each Rattlesnake Review, starting with the up-comer issue (#17) which is due out in mid-March. (Be sure I have your snail address so I can send you one.)

This week's "seed" is today's picture, the above sketch by Stephani Schaefer. Steph has her own poem to go with this drawing, but you'll have to wait until Snake 17 to see it.

SOW (Seed of the Week) won't replace the occasional giveaway, though. To kick off our new feature, send in your response to Steph's sketch and receive a free copy of Sex—For Animals... which is the latest offering of poetry and drawings from Kathy and Sam Kieth. Send your work to me at kathykieth@hotmail.com or P.O. Box 762, Pollock Pines, CA 95726. No deadline for SOW; respond today, tomorrow, or whenever the muse arrives. Print 'em out, maybe, save 'em for a dry spell? Just let us know which "seed" it was that inspired you. If it's a giveaway, you'll still get your book.

And for more "seeds" to tweak your inspiration, watch for our various columns in every issue of Rattlesnake Review. Our five writers-in-residence provide us with many wonderful ideas every quarter, not to mention guest writers such as this issue's Patricia Wellingham-Jones, who contribute their expertise occasionally, as well. Plus, the wonderful poetry of our hundreds of contributors is enough to kick-start any cranky muse, don't you agree? Issue #17 will be available for free at The Book Collector beginning March 13.

So, two assignments today: write a poem about Steph's sketch, and send me some possible "seeds" for next week. Seed-poems this week get an added bonus: the latest book from Sam and me. Ready?


BPR deadline looms:

The Berkeley Poetry Review's submission deadline for Issue #39 is fast-approaching! Be sure to send in your work by March 1st. For information on how to submit, see their website: http://www.ocf.berkeley.edu/~bpr/cmsmadesimple-1.1/

___________________

HOW THESE WORDS HAPPENED
—William Stafford

In winter, in the dark hours, when others
were asleep, I found these words and put them
together by their appetites and respect for
each other. In stillness, they jostled. They traded
meanings while pretending to have only one.

Monstrous alliances never dreamed of before
began. Sometimes they last. Never again
do they separate in this world. They die
together. They have a fidelity that no
purpose or pretense can ever break.

And all of this happens like magic to the words
in those dark hours when others sleep.

___________________

FOUND IN A STORM
—William Stafford

A storm that needed a mountain
met it where we were:
we woke up in a gale
that was reasoning with our tent,
and all the persuaded snow
streaked along, guessing the ground.

We turned from that curtain, down.
But sometime we will turn
back to the curtain and go
by plan through an unplanned storm,
disappearing into the cold,
meanings in search of a world.

__________________

—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: News from Rattlesnake Press

New in February: The Snake had a massive celebration on February 13 with the release of To Berlin With Love from Elsie Whitlow Feliz and Don Feliz, a new broadside from Carlena Wike (Going The Distance), and a new SnakeRings SpiralChap from Sam and Kathy Kieth (Sex—For Animals...). All of these publications are now at The Book Collector and on rattlesnakepress.com.

Coming in March: Rattlesnake Press will be releasing a chapbook from Ann Privateer (Attracted to Light), a littlesnake broadside from Jeanine Stevens (Eclipse), Conversations Vol. 2 of B.L. Kennedy's Rattlesnake Interview Series, and a brand-new issue of Rattlesnake Review (#17). Join us to celebrate all of this at The Book Collector, 1008 24th St., Sacramento, on March 12 at 7:30 PM.

More About Darkness and the Sea

Cave of the Storm Nymphs
Painting by Sir Edward John Poynter

THE FARMER AND THE SEA
—Wendell Berry

The sea always arriving,
hissing in pebbles, is breaking
its edge where the landsman
squats on his rock. The dark
of the earth is familiar to him,
close mystery of his source
and end, always flowering
in the light and always
fading. But the dark of the sea
is perfect and strange,
the absence of any place,
immensity on the loose.
Still, he sees it as another
keeper of the land, caretaker,
shaking the earth, breaking it,
clicking the pieces, but somewhere
holding deep fields yet to rise,
shedding its richness on them
silently as snow, keeper and maker
of places wholly dark. And in him
something dark applauds.

__________________

EARTH AND FIRE
—Wendell Berry

In this woman the earth speaks.
Her words open in me, cells of light
flashing in my body, and make a song
that I follow toward her out of my need.
The pain I have given her I wear
like another skin, tender, the air
around me flashing with thorns.
And yet such joy as I have given her
sings in me and is part of her song.
The winds of her knees shake me
like a flame. I have risen up from her,
time and again, a new man.

__________________

This week in NorCal poetry:

•••Tonight (Monday, 2/25), 7:30 PM: Sacramento Poetry Center presents Gilberto Rodriguez and Rob Lozano at The Book Collector, 1008 24th St., Sacramento [note change of location]. Lozano and Rodriguez will present their own work and will also stage the poetry of madman Spanish poet Leopoldo María Panero. Gilberto Rodriguez is a Surrealist storyteller and an excellent poetry performer. He interprets works by Baudelaire, Andre Michaux, Aloysius Bertrand, and Antonin Artaud. Gilberto is the co-founder with Robert Lozano of "Un Heimlich ... The Uncanny", a creative poetry and theatre group that blends theatrics, staging, music and poetry performance of experimental and original works via the theories of Artaud. Rob Lozano, one of the founders of the noteworthy poetry collective know as "Z'rail", has been an outstanding contributor to the Sacramento poetry scene for many years now and can always be depended upon for a dynamic, energetic reading. Next week's reading will feature Julia Levine and Rick Campbell.

•••Wednesday (2/27), 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.

•••Thursday (2/28), 8 PM: Poetry Unplugged at Luna's Cafe, 1414 16th St., Sacramento presents Joe Donohue, Ed Bowers, and Matt Amott. Open mic before and after. Info: 916-441-3931.

•••Sunday (3/2), 3 PM: SpiralChappers Susan and Joe Finkleman be out in full force with musicians Francesca Reitano and Mark Halverson at Congregation Bet Haverim, 1715 Anderson Rd, Davis, to bring you a two-hour show filled with a double feature: poetry reading wrapping around an art show/discussion of Joe's watercolor and photography. $5 donation requested, but no one turned away for lack of funds (this money goes to the synagogue to cover expenses).

•••Also Sunday (3/2), 2-4 PM: Livermore’s Poet Laureate Connie Post presents the continuing poetry series at the beautiful Ravenswood historic site, located at 2647 Arroyo Rd., Livermore. Sunday's reading will feature Rattlechapper and Rattlesnake Review columnist Taylor Graham, plus Camille Norton. Taylor Graham lives at the end of a little dirt road in El Dorado County with her husband, Hatch; three German Shepherds trained for search-and-rescue; and two untrainable cats. She and Hatch have been SAR volunteers for over 30 years, in Alaska, Virginia, and California. Taylor’s poems have appeared in America, The Iowa Review, The New York Quarterly, Poetry International, Southern Humanities Review, and elsewhere, and she’s included in the anthology, California Poetry: From the Gold Rush to the Present (Santa Clara University, 2004). Her book, The Downstairs Dance Floor, (Texas Review Press, 2006) was awarded the Robert Phillips Poetry Chapbook Prize. Her latest project is Walking with Elihu, poems about the American peace activist Elihu Burritt, the Learned Blacksmith (1810-1879). [See below for a poem by TG.]

Camille Norton’s book, Corruption, won the National Poetry Series Open Competition for 2004 and was published by HarperCollins in 2005. It was nominated as the most outstanding book of poems published in 2005 by The Northern California Book Reviewers Association. Her awards include The Grolier Prize in Poetry, an NEA Fellowship in Poetry at the MacDowell Art Colony, and residencies at The Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, The Ragdale Colony, and The Hedgebrook Colony, among others. In 1985, when she lived in Western Massachusetts, she won a Stegner Fellowship in Poetry at Stanford but was too afraid of California to accept it. These many years later, she lives bemusedly in Stockton, where she is Professor of English Literature at The University of the Pacific.

Directions: from 580, take North Livermore Exit. Head South. Right on Portola, left on North L. Continue until it turns into Arroyo (this occurs at the College Ave. intersection). Keep going straight until you see Ravenswood on your right. Look for the balloons. For more information, contact Connie Post: connie@poetrypost.com or go to http://www.poetrypost.com/Upcoming_Events.html

___________________

A LITTLE LEEWAY
—Taylor Graham

We should allow a little more space
this morning, a gap of sky
between fence and gate, just enough

for an idea to slip through
like a traveler who lacks the code to enter.
Enough space for breeze to filter

between iron bars, to dance around rules
like a fool at Mardi Gras;
a few seconds devoted to words

that have nothing to do
with today’s objectives: “purple
oatmeal,” “rapscallion”—words

sly as that gopher snake
lying in cool diminishing S-curves
beside the gate.

In-dwellers with their programmed remotes
won’t see him as they click
their way through.

But I tell you, he’s not just playing
dead, he’s playing tongue-harp &
blue-shadow scales

against the rights of passage,
the metallic grid-work of
schedule and rational thought.

_________________

Be sure to tune in tomorrow for another new feature: Seeds of the Week! And be sure to click on today's (and every day's) artwork for a grander view...

—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: News from Rattlesnake Press

New in February: The Snake had a massive celebration on February 13 with the release of To Berlin With Love from Elsie Whitlow Feliz and Don Feliz, a new broadside from Carlena Wike (Going The Distance), and a new SnakeRings SpiralChap from Sam and Kathy Kieth (Sex—For Animals...). All of these publications are now at The Book Collector and on rattlesnakepress.com.

Coming in March: Rattlesnake Press will be releasing a chapbook from Ann Privateer (Attracted to Light), a littlesnake broadside from Jeanine Stevens (Eclipse), Conversations Vol. 2 of B.L. Kennedy's Rattlesnake Interview Series, and a brand-new issue of Rattlesnake Review (#17). Join us to celebrate all of this at The Book Collector, 1008 24th St., Sacramento, on March 12 at 7:30 PM.

To Know The Dark

SEASCAPE
—Elizabeth Bishop

This celestial seascape, with white herons got up as angels,
flying as high as they want and as far as they want sidewise
in tiers and tiers of immaculate reflections;
the whole region, from the highest heron
down to the weightless mangrove island
with bright green leaves edged neatly with bird-droppings
like illumination in silver,
and down to the suggestively Gothic arches of the mangrove roots
and the beautiful pea-green back-pasture
where occasionally a fish jumps, like a wild-flower
in an ornamental spray of spray;
this cartoon by Raphael for a tapestry for a Pope:
it does look like heaven.
But a skeletal lighthouse standing there
in black and white clerical dress,
who lives on his nerves, thinks he knows better.
He thinks that hell rages below his iron feet,
that that is why the shallow water is so warm,
and he knows that heaven is not like this.
Heaven is not like flying or swimming,
but has something to do with blackness and a strong glare
and when it gets dark he will remember something
strongly worded to say on the subject.

___________________

TO KNOW THE DARK
—Wendell Berry

To go in the dark with a light is to know the light.
To know the dark, go dark. Go without sight,
and find that the dark, too, blooms and sings,
and is traveled by dark feet and dark wings.

___________________

LITTLE EXERCISE
—Elizabeth Bishop

(for Thomas Edwards Wanning)

Think of the storm roaming the sky uneasily
like a dog looking for a place to sleep in,
listen to it growling.

Think how they must look now, the mangrove keys
lying out there unresponsive to the lightning
in dark, coarse-fibred families,

where occasionally a heron may undo his head,
shake up his feathers, make an uncertain comment
when the surrounding water shines.

Think of the boulevard and the little palm trees
all stuck in rows, suddenly revealed
as fistfuls of limp fish-skeletons.

It is raining there. The boulevard
and its broken sidewalks with weeds in every crack
are relieved to be wet, the sea to be freshened.

Now the storm goes away again in a series
of small, badly lit battle-scenes,
each in "Another part of the field."

Think of someone sleeping in the bottom of a row-boat
tied to a mangrove root or the pile of a bridge;
think of him as uninjured, barely disturbed.

___________________

—Medusa

Whales & Other Snowbound Sailors

THE LONG RAIN
—John Haines

Rain falls
in the quiet woods.

Smoke hangs
above the evening fire,
fragrant with pitch.

Alone, deep
in a willow thicket,
the olive thrush
is singing.

__________________

WOLVES
—John Haines

Last night I heard wolves howling,
their voices coming from afar
over the wind-polished ice—so much
brave solitude in that sound.

They are death's snowbound sailors;
they know only a continual
drifting between moonlit islands,
their tongues licking the stars.

But they sing as good seamen should,
and tomorrow the sun will find them,
yawning and blinking
the snow from their eyelashes.

Their voices rang through the frozen
water of my human sleep,
blown by the night wind
with the moon for an icy sail.

__________________

GREEN PIANO
—John Haines

Her hands on the green piano
were sudden and sharp, thin bones
of a bird treading the keys;

and the tune they plucked
came through a throat of wires,
as a wind in bare trees.

She searched that melody harsher
and deeper, hunting downward
among slashes of sunlight,
furrows stricken with shadow,
her fingernails stabbing the earth.

Ponderous and slow, the ivory
and black tongues of an elephant
gave life to a soul of wood.

And the music soared, scale
upon scale, into a dazzling cloud,
a high and furious clapping that broke,

came down as thunder, and stopped
in a waste of echoing rock.

__________________

BECOMING A CROW
—John Haines

The beak will grow
from your mouth and chin,
and your eyes slip away
to the sides of your head;

your fingertips long and feathery,
unable to hold,
your feet naked and grasping.

And all the great words
will stick in your throat,
mere caws and whistles.

You'll be alone in the air,
with the world always
sliding and upside down—
see the continents askew,
all the tilted nations.

And someone standing in a field
below, waving arms of straw:

"Look, look at the crow!"

Black tatters in a world of sticks.

__________________

THE WHALE IN THE BLUE WASHING MACHINE
—John Haines

There are depths in a household
where a whale can live...

His warm bulk swims from room
to room, floating by on the stairway,
searching the drafts, the cold
currents that lap at the sills.

He comes to the surface hungry,
sniffs at the table,
and sinks, his wake rocking the chairs.

His pulsebeat sounds at night
when the washer spins, and the dryer
clanks on stray buttons...

Alone in the kitchen darkness,
looking through steamy windows
at the streets draining away in fog;

watching and listening,
for the wail of an unchained buoy,
the steep fall of his wave.

___________________

—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: News from Rattlesnake Press

New in February: The Snake had a massive celebration on February 13 with the release of To Berlin With Love from Elsie Whitlow Feliz and Don Feliz, a new broadside from Carlena Wike (Going The Distance), and a new SnakeRings SpiralChap from Sam and Kathy Kieth (Sex—For Animals...). All of these publications are now at The Book Collector and on rattlesnakepress.com.

Coming in March: Rattlesnake Press will be releasing a chapbook from Ann Privateer (Attracted to Light), a littlesnake broadside from Jeanine Stevens (Eclipse), Conversations Vol. 2 of B.L. Kennedy's Rattlesnake Interview Series, and a brand-new issue of Rattlesnake Review (#17). Join us to celebrate all of this at The Book Collector, 1008 24th St., Sacramento, on March 12 at 7:30 PM.

Undersea Heavens

Puffin
(Fratercula arctica)

SEAWEED
—Pablo Neruda

I am the seaweed of the storm
dashed by the surf;
the stirrings of shipwrecks
and the storm's hands
moved and instructed me;
here you have my cold flowers,
my simulated submission
to the wind's judgment;
I survive the water,
the salt, the fishermen,
with my elastic latitude
and my vestments of iodine.

__________________

THE SEA URCHIN
—Pablo Neruda

The sea urchin is the sun of the sea,
centrifugal and orange,
full of quills like flames,
made of eggs and iodine.

The sea urchin is like the world:
round, fragile, hidden;
wet, secret, and hostile,
the sea urchin is like love.

___________________

This weekend in NorCal poetry:

•••Tonight (Friday, 2/22), 7:30 PM: The Avid Reader in downtown Davis presents Susan Kelly-DeWitt reading from her new book, The Fortunate Islands. Here is the link to the event: http://avidreader.booksense.com/NASApp/store/IndexJsp;
jsessionid=abcrt33MTdS1ghnfQAdCr?s=storeevents&eventId=366534

•••Saturday (2/23), 7-9 PM: The Caution Tour Comes To Sacramento, featuring poets Ner City (2007 Show Stoppa Slam Champ), Tamara Blue from Pasadena, and Judah 1 from Los Angeles. Plus: Live band LSB and the Super Love Poem Competition winner. Guild Theater (Off 35th & Broadway), Sacramento. $7.00. Open mic for all ages. Info: T-Mo (916)208-POET.

__________________

STARFISH
—Pablo Neruda

When the stars in the sky
ignore the firmament
and go off to sleep by day,
the stars of the water greet
the sky buried in the sea,
inaugurating the duties
of the new undersea heavens.

___________________

OCTOPUS
—Pablo Neruda

Octopus, oh blood-colored monk
the fluttering of your robe
circulates on the salt of the rock
like a satanic slickness.
Oh visceral testimony,
branch of congealed rays,
monarchy's head
of arms and premonitions:
portrait of the chill,
plural cloud of black rain.

__________________

SEAL
—Pablo Neruda

The knot of zoology
is this functional seal
that lives in a sack of rubber
or inside the black light of its skin.

Inside of her,
inherent movements circulate
to the sea's kingdom
and one sees this enclosed being
in the storm's gymnasium,
discovering the world encircled
by staircases of ice,
until she gazes at us
with the planet's most penetrating eyes.

___________________

Today's poetry is from Maremoto (Seaquake) by Pablo Neruda, translated from the Spanish by Maria Jacketti and Dennis Maloney, White Pine Press, 1993.

—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: News from Rattlesnake Press

New in February: The Snake had a massive celebration on February 13 with the release of To Berlin With Love from Elsie Whitlow Feliz and Don Feliz, a new broadside from Carlena Wike (Going The Distance), and a new SnakeRings SpiralChap from Sam and Kathy Kieth (Sex—For Animals...). All of these publications are now at The Book Collector and on rattlesnakepress.com.

Coming in March: Rattlesnake Press will be releasing a chapbook from Ann Privateer (Attracted to Light), a littlesnake broadside from Jeanine Stevens (Eclipse), Conversations Vol. 2 of B.L. Kennedy's Rattlesnake Interview Series, and a brand-new issue of Rattlesnake Review (#17). Join us to celebrate all of this at The Book Collector, 1008 24th St., Sacramento, on March 12 at 7:30 PM.

The First-Ever B.L. Drive-By!

Eclipse
Photo by Katy Brown, Davis
(Can you see the two stars? You may have to
wipe the dust off your screen...)

FRIEND
—Robert Creeley

"Father's dead,"
feel flutter,

wings, trying
to beat the dark.

_________________

THEN
—Robert Creeley

Put yourself where you'll be
in five hours
and look back

and see if you'd do the same
the way you're doing it
all the time.

•

That's not easy
to think about.

•

It was
once.

___________________

Thanks for the timely photo, Katy, taken from those clear, wild skies of Davis! Coincidentally, our littlesnake broadside for March is Eclipse by Jeanine Stevens. Watch for it at The Book Collector, coming March 12.


Drive-by!!!

Medusa is adding some new features, starting today with B.L.'s Drive-by: an every-Thursday micro-review of hot stuff, old and new, from Reviewer-in-Residence B.L. Kennedy. Here's this week's tidbit:

THE FIRST NOBLE TRUTH
POEMS by STEVE KOWIT
77pp (TPB), $12
UNIVERSITY of TAMPA PRESS

B.L. says: Let me be upfront: I like the narrative poetry of Steve Kowit, for here is some dangerous and seriously comic narrative. Here are poems of passion filtered through the ghosts of Hamlet, Monroe, and Dagwood Bumstead. The world of Steve Kowit has no boundaries in the annals of Pop Culture.

This poet pulls no punches. These poems will creep up on the reader like a horny dog creeps up on its prey. Kowit displays a common language that will grasp the reader with an indifferent passage of time that seems to stumble.

I like The First Noble Truth and will suggest that those of you who are looking for a cool breeze of a read investigate the poetry of Steve Kowit. Trust me, this book is one of those hidden secrets in literature which you will not soon forget.

—B.L. Kennedy, Reviewer-in-Residence, Rattlesnake Press

__________________

Thanks, Bari! Watch for more of B.L. Kennedy's reviews in every issue of Rattlesnake Review. Plus, some of his past reviews are posted on rattlesnakepress.com under the heading "SnakeFaves and Things We Wish We'd Published, But Didn't". While you're on the website, check out his page; two of his many publications are available there, as well as at The Book Collector. And if you have something you'd like Bari to look at for possible review, his contact info is in the long blurb to the right of this column.

__________________

AMBITION
—Robert Creeley

Couldn't guess it,
couldn't be it—

wasn't ever
there then. Won't

come back, don't
want it.

___________________

ECHOES
—Robert Creeley

Step through the mirror,
faint with the old desire.

Want it again,
never mind who's the friend.

Say yes to the wasted
empty places. The guesses

were as good as any.
No mistakes.

__________________

WIND LIFTS
—Robert Creeley

Wind lifts lightly
the leaves, a flower,
a black bird

hops up to the bowl
to drink. The sun
brightens the leaves, back

of them darker branches,
tree's trunk. Night is still
far from us.

__________________

SAD ADVICE
—Robert Creeley

If it isn't fun, don't do it.
You'll have to do enough that isn't.

Such is life, like they say,
no ones gets away without paying

and since you don't get to keep it
anyhow, who needs it.

___________________

—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: News from Rattlesnake Press

New in February: The Snake had a massive celebration on February 13 with the release of To Berlin With Love from Elsie Whitlow Feliz and Don Feliz, a new broadside from Carlena Wike (Going The Distance), and a new SnakeRings SpiralChap from Sam and Kathy Kieth (Sex—For Animals...). All of these publications are now at The Book Collector and on rattlesnakepress.com.

Coming in March: Rattlesnake Press will be releasing a chapbook from Ann Privateer (Attracted to Light), a littlesnake broadside from Jeanine Stevens (Eclipse), Conversations Vol. 2 of B.L. Kennedy's Rattlesnake Interview Series, and a brand-new issue of Rattlesnake Review (#17). Join us to celebrate all of this at The Book Collector, 1008 24th St., Sacramento, on March 12 at 7:30 PM.

Hookers & Raggedy Ann

Vertical Tahoe Rocks
Photo by Katy Brown, Davis

CAREER CHANGE
—Steve Williams, Portland

I climbed the Idaho creek, prospected for arrowheads,
baited the hook with trout eyes, eased past the pronghorn
who dipped their noses into the eddy. Up the mountain
is Sturgill lookout. Soon, Momma will be frying the fish,
the kids will ramble down the bucket spring trail.
I’ll take my turn on the binoculars,
vigilant for the curl of smoke in distant forests.

Then Doc Piper cut out my cancerous lung and I lost
oxygen, altitude and the Forest Service. So I drive the Scout
on the ranch roads, cast for bass in the cow ponds,
slow for the mule deer in beds of alfalfa, chewing their cuds.
The phone lines can wait.
The noise only kicks up in the rain,
when the buckshot stuck in the C-wire sizzles.

Momma thinks I’m working, chasing down the complaints
from the ringing phone. But, the phone lines can wait.
I know a good spot for arrowheads above Crane Crick.
I can take till supper to drive down thirty miles of crooked wire.

Momma cans the beets and green beans from her garden;
sucks out the air from each jar, lines them up on dim pantry shelves.
I spend the blizzard days chipping obsidian,
inhabit the stone flakes and spear points.
We go on vacation, fill a rental trailer full of antiques,
bring home a dim past we do not own.
We do not speak of Arkansas, or ancestors.
Air will not fill those words.
Our grandchildren remain
unaware of too much Cherokee in their veins.

__________________

Thanks, Steve and Katy! Hear more from both of these snake-pals and rattlechappers in Rattlesnake Review #17, due out in mid-March.


Headed to Livermore?

The poetry of Livermore Poet Laureate Connie Post is now featured on a plaque at the Livermore Valley Park Plaza and Amphitheater; her poem was written to commemorate the dedication of that new structure in Livermore. There will soon be an official ceremony to celebrate the plaque and poem. Poetry in public!


Third Annual Flash Prose Contest Sponsored by Writer Advice

B. Lynn Goodwin writes: Although I know you are poets, I am sure some of you write fiction or know people who write fiction. Can you share this information with your writing partners and friends? WriterAdvice (www.writeradvice.com), is searching for flash fiction, memoir, and creative non-fiction that grabs, surprises, and mesmerizes readers in fewer than 750 words. If you have a complete story or memoir with a strong theme, sharp images, a solid structure, and an unexpected discovery, please submit it to the WriterAdvice Flash Prose Contest. Visit the website, www.writeradvice.com, for details about offering your pieces. Questions? Write to Lgood67334@comcast.net. DEADLINE: April 10, 2008. Last year’s prizewinners, Daniel F. Rousseau, WC Vasquez, Kay Jordan, and Suzanne LaFetra are this year’s judges. First Place $75, Second $50, Third $35, Fourth $20. Honorable Mentions will also be published. A list of all winners will be posted in the summer issue of WriterAdvice. SPECIAL PERK: All entries accompanied by an SASE will be returned with brief comments.

___________________

THE SOUND OF STAR TREK MEETS A HOOKER
—Steve Williams

If a white rose could samba
and lips were made without keys,
then I could fall into lock-step
with my symbols sans anxiety.

If Mona could climb every mountain
and Leonard didn’t have those ears,
then I could eat with dancing teeth
but my symbols don’t know what to wear.

If pink means Barbie will swallow
any story in a see-through box,
then I can free associate my way
between my symbols and their cocks.

__________________

RAGGEDY
—Steve Williams

For awhile, I was in the window light
perched on a pine shelf. At night, Andy
and I danced with the deer mice, crept through
happy toads and paper dragons on the lookout
for lucky pennies or a scuttling roach.

Now in the locked down dark,
I think Andy is gone but can’t be sure.
My head is wedged upside down between the shelf
and the plastered wall, my painted eyes pressed
into a board-game adventure of chalk and grit.

Once someone grabbed my foot and pulled
until the cloth under my chin ripped, the cotton
bursting out as the hand let go then stuffed my feet
behind the board next to my ear. For awhile,

they stacked cans of Play-Doh in front of me,
then Barbie, Monopoly and Life. The mice made
a nest in my throat, suckled their babies,
kept my headache warm.

In my dress, I have dust mites, fairy skeletons
left by roaches, to keep me company. My bald head
comes alive each night but remains a prisoner
of pine and the age of wrinkled rips and wounds.
I imagine laughing with all of the children
I never wanted.

___________________

—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: News from Rattlesnake Press

New in February: The Snake had a massive celebration on February 13 with the release of To Berlin With Love from Elsie Whitlow Feliz and Don Feliz, a new broadside from Carlena Wike (Going The Distance), and a new SnakeRings SpiralChap from Sam and Kathy Kieth (Sex—For Animals...). All of these publications are now at The Book Collector and will soon be available on the rattlesnakepress.com website, as well.

Coming in March: Rattlesnake Press will be releasing a chapbook from Ann Privateer (Attracted to Light), a littlesnake broadside from Jeanine Stevens (Eclipse), and a brand-new issue of Rattlesnake Review (#17). Join us to celebrate all of this at The Book Collector, 1008 24th St., Sacramento, on March 12 at 7:30 PM.

How Many Ways to Heartbreak?

WHEN SHE LEAVES
—William S. Gainer, Grass Valley

Who's going to tell me
winter is over,
spring has arrived,
summer is coming
and that fall
will once again
be beautiful?
Who?
There is no other
voice
to be heard.

__________________

Thanks, Bill! William S. Gainer and the Grass Valley After Hours crew will be reading Thursday night; see below. Lots of readings this week, in fact, half of them in Davis:


This week in NorCal poetry:

•••Today, Tuesday (2/19), 3 PM: Rae Gouirand writes: Ander Monson is going to be giving a reading this Tuesday afternoon on the UCD campus as part of a campus visit (he's a candidate for one of the creative writing positions), and he's told me that the reading is indeed open to the public, so I wanted to help spread the word, given that I'm one of his biggest fans. Ander edits the online journal, DIAGRAM (which is itself worth checking out), and has published in the last three years three astoundingly good books: a novel in short stories that I find completely thrilling (Other Electricities, his first book, which earned the rare distinction of a glowing NY Times review for an indy press first book); a wonderful book of poems (Vacationland); and a smashing collection of essays (Neck Deep) that won the Graywolf Press Nonfiction Prize last year. The reading's in 126 Voorhies Hall, the UCDavis English building (at the corner of 1st & A Streets in downtown Davis). If parking really close to the building is tight, a nice alternative is to use the public lot behind Borders (at 1st & E) and walk the four blocks.

•••Wednesday (2/20), 9 PM: Poetry Night at Bistro 33 in Davis presents Robin and Keith Ekiss, 226 F St., Davis. Robin Ekiss earned her M.A. in creative writing from UC Davis. A former Stegner Fellow in poetry at Stanford and the recipient of a 2007 Rona Jaffe Foundation Writer’s Award for Emerging Women Writers, she has been an artist in residence at the MacDowell Colony, Millay Colony for the Arts, and Headlands Center for the Arts. Her poems appear or are forthcoming in The Atlantic Monthly, POETRY, Ploughshares, TriQuarterly, APR, and elsewhere.

Robin’s husband, Keith Ekiss, is the Jones Lecturer in Poetry at Stanford University and the past recipient of scholarships and residencies from the Bread Loaf and Squaw Valley Writers’ Conferences, Santa Fe Art Institute, Millay Colony for the Arts, and the Petrified Forest National Park. His poems and translations have appeared in Blackbird, New England Review, Gulf Coast, Modern Poetry in Translation, and The Christian Science Monitor. Open mic will follow the featured performers. Admission is free, and all are welcome. Info: 530-756-4556.

•••Weds. (2/20), 7:30 PM: California State University, Sacramento presents noted educator, anthologist, editor, poet and blogger Paul Hoover with Nguyen Do in Mariposa 1001 at CSUS. Paul Hoover and Nguyen Do will be presenting a dual-language performance of poems from their newly-published anthology of contemporary Vietnamese poetry (roughly 1956 to present) entitled Black Dog, Black Night [Milkweed Editions, 2008]. This anthology is the first to feature the innovative work of those writers of the Nhan Van movement, who absorbed modernist influences of the West. For this, many of these writers lost the sponsorship of the powerful state-sanctioned Vietnamese Writers Association and were relegated to the outside of Vietnamese literary society. Until recently, their work had been prohibited from being published in Vietnam for over 50 years. The anthology endeavors to chronicle the work of these and other “outsiders” in contemporary Vietnamese poetry. Nguyen Do, a former Sacramento City College student, left Vietnam in the late 1990s after learning from a friend connected to a powerful government official that he was no longer welcome.

•••Thursday (2/21), 7:30 PM: The Nevada County Poetry Series continues its tenth year of celebrating poetry by presenting Four Ways to Heartbreak (an evening of danger, love, loss, romance, deceit and heartbreak without regret) with Bill Gainer, Julie Valin, Chris Olander, Todd Cirillo. $5 general, seniors and students, $1 for those under 18. Refreshments and open-mic included. In an attempt to ease the pangs of those still suffering from the dreaded Post Valentine Day Disillusionments, the poets Bill Gainer, Julie Valin, Chris Olander and Todd Cirillo will be reading from their most intimate new and used poems. In commemoration of the event, Six Ft. Swells Press is releasing the chapbook, Lost Valentines, featuring all four poets. This is the fourth in the press's acclaimed Cheap Shots Poetry Series and will be available at the reading. Tickets can be purchased at the door for $5 general, seniors and students, and $1 for those under 18. Refreshments and open-mic included. The show will be in Off Center Stage (the Black Box theater, enter from Richardson Street) at the Center for the Arts, 314 W. Main St., Grass Valley, CA. For more information call (530) 432-8196 or (530) 274-8384.

Rattlechapper William S. Gainer is known for the openness of his confessional poetry and is recognized as one of the founding contributors to the modern movement of "After Hours" poetry. Gainer says, "My poetry is written with an economy of words. I believe that the strongest way for poetry to achieve its goal, to express an emotion or feeling, is through the minimal poem." Gainer has read and worked with a wide range of poets and writers, including readings on KUSF with Punk-Rocker Patti Smith and a recent performance with California's Poet Laureate, Al Young. Gainer is nationally published and continues to be a sought-after reader; he can be previewed on youtube.com (search Bill Gainer).

Julie Valin has been writing poetry since she got her first bra. Granted, the poems rhymed, but at least she had proper support. Now she is a new mom to a 3-month old poetess who brings beauty to her world on a daily basis. Valin is the co-publisher of Six Ft. Swells Press and her chapbook, Night Songs for Heavy Dreamers, has acquired lamplight poetry readers in a few dark places. Valin hopes to be able to write poems again someday that aren't about binkies, diapers, or that rhyme with "moon."

Chris Olander is a bio-educator with California Poets in the Schools. On stage, he blends performance techniques with spoken word to create an "Action Art Poetry." Olander says, "...I become the poem. I use contemporary events to bring forth and reveal mythic themes and archetypes that social and religious institutions repress..." For the last nine years Olander has been one of the organizers and featured readers of the acclaimed Berkeley Watershed Poetry Festival. He is a co-founder and current board member of the NCPS. His book, December Birds Poems, remains an underground phenomenon.

Rattlechapper Todd Cirillo has read his poetry in New York City, New Orleans, San Francisco and Sacramento and has been asked on stage to read from Kerouac's On the Road to the accompaniment of the famed musician, David Amram. Cirillo is co-founder, editor, publisher, and "buyer of the next round" of Six Ft. Swells Press: www.myspace.com/sixftswells. B.L Kennedy says of Cirillo's poetry, "Todd is either, cool and fast, like a midnight train is to the underbelly of the beast, or soft and lyrical as a Sinatra melody." Cirillo is the author of three chapbooks of poetry and is a co-author, with Will Staple and Bill Gainer of the notorious book, Roxy. It is noted, "He (Cirillo) was born in the dark and musical waters outside of New Orleans—when the moon was just right."

•••Thursday (2/21), 7 PM: Yosefa Raz will read her poetry in the Blanchard Room of the Yolo County Library in Davis at 317 W. 14th St. Raz is an Israeli-American poet whose first book, In Exchange for a Homeland, was published in 2004 by Swan Scythe Press. She is a graduate of the U.C. Davis creative writing program, and now lives in Berkeley, where she is working on her doctorate. The reading is sponsored by Israel Peace Alternatives.

•••Thursday (2/21), 8 PM: Poetry Unplugged at Luna’s Café, 1414 16th St., Sacramento, presents Frank Dixon Graham, current Poetry Editor of Poetry Now. Open mic before and after. Info: 916-441-3931.

•••Friday (2/22), 7:30 PM: The Avid Reader in downtown Davis presents Susan Kelly-DeWitt reading from her new book, The Fortunate Islands. Here is the link to the event: http://avidreader.booksense.com/NASApp/store/IndexJsp;
jsessionid=abcrt33MTdS1ghnfQAdCr?s=storeevents&eventId=366534

•••Saturday (2/23), 7-9 PM: The Caution Tour Comes To Sacramento, featuring poets Ner City (2007 Show Stoppa Slam Champ), Tamara Blue from Pasadena, and Judah 1 from Los Angeles. Plus: Live band LSB and the Super Love Poem Competition winner. Guild Theater (Off 35th & Broadway), Sacramento. $7.00. Open mic for all ages. Info: T-Mo (916)208-POET.

___________________

WAKING—IN NEW PLACES
—William S. Gainer

To fall into
the focus
of the dust
on the bathroom mirror
is only spooky
when you realize
what you’re doing,
before that
it all
makes sense.

__________________

A DIFFERENT KIND OF LOVE POEM
—William S. Gainer

The world is full of them,
the fools.
I’ve been there myself,
sometimes wishing I wasn’t,
sometimes wishing I was
and sometimes
just not knowing the difference.
They’re there.
Some waiting to push the button,
just to hear the boom
and some waiting
to dust off
their champion—
after the loss,
just because
they need
someone to love.

That’s what I’m doing,
trying to write a love poem,
about you and me,
with the shades pulled
and the doors closed,
sitting in the cool,
alone—
together.
You in your slip,
with one barrette
in your hair,
me in my shorts,
with one sock on,
trying to figure out a way
to steal a line
from John Prine,
just so I can tell you,
“if you need a fool
to love you—
I know one.”

___________________

—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: News from Rattlesnake Press

New in February: The Snake had a massive celebration on February 13 with the release of To Berlin With Love from Elsie Whitlow Feliz and Don Feliz, a new broadside from Carlena Wike (Going The Distance), and a new SnakeRings SpiralChap from Sam and Kathy Kieth (Sex—For Animals...). All of these publications are now at The Book Collector and will soon be available on the rattlesnakepress.com website, as well.

Coming in March: Rattlesnake Press will be releasing a chapbook from Ann Privateer (Attracted to Light), a littlesnake broadside from Jeanine Stevens (Eclipse), and a brand-new issue of Rattlesnake Review (#17). Join us to celebrate all of this at The Book Collector, 1008 24th St., Sacramento, on March 12 at 7:30 PM.