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.
___________________
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.
