CAN’T STOP IT
—Taylor Graham, Somerset
Joss-sticks knife their way up
through the rotten mat of last year’s
leaf-fall.
Before you know it, lavender
and purple crocus. Then a shooting-star.
After weeks and months of snow,
your page gets written all over with
buttercups.
Lupine in seven shades of blue.
Mariposa lilies. Look—
even that old crack in asphalt
sports a poppy.
__________________
Thanks, TG! Tonight (Saturday, 2/16), 8 PM, the Foxes will be out in full force for One Human Family: Poems for a Changing World, a reading by Red Fox Underground Poets Taylor Graham, Irene Lipshin, Moira Magneson, Brigit Truex, Kate Wells, and Wendy Patrice Williams (all of whom are current or about-to-be rattlechappers!) at The Cozmic Cafe, 594 Main St., Placerville. Info: 530-642-8481. Sponsored by El Dorado Peace & Justice in the Season for Nonviolence.
Also at The Cozmic Cafe: Vietnam Today: Carrying On, an exhibition of photographs by Irene Lipshin and Janis Arnell. The reception will be held beginning at 5:30 PM on Feb. 16, then the Red Fox reading begins at 8. The photographs will be on display from Feb. 3 to March 31.
___________________
IN OLD AGE
—Taylor Graham
(“Voltaire Seated in an Armchair”,
bronze by Jean-Antoine Houdon, 1778)
Folded into the drape of his robes,
he could be grandmother or grandfather,
sexless ancestor of the enigmatic smile.
His hands rest on the arms of his chair,
he’s let the pen slip. He gazes down,
his lips a stretched seam. Is he
content now in the works of his mind,
that cultivated garden?
__________________
MOTEL 6 BEGUINE
—Taylor Graham
All night the moon keeps the sky
awake. The almost-full
Wolf Moon is veiled with clouds
that try to hide it, but instead
become transparent, irradiated,
blue. And someone on the backside
of wall turned a dial,
and now my room is full
of 30's swing. A perfect stranger
of the other side of wall
keeps me awake as sky
dancing in midnight sheets.
__________________
—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.