A DOG’S YEARS
—Taylor Graham, Somerset
Dogs age so much faster
than a man. Decades of dogs.
This one he sometimes mistakes,
calls by the name of a pup
who used to fetch for him,
dead these sixty years.
On a cool March morning,
man and dog creak past cracks
in sidewalk, joint by joint,
warmed by a dog’s last spring.
A man still thinks of puppies.
He won’t get a new one.
Already too many old names
to remember. He’ll call
them one by one. Shut his eyes
and watch them come bounding.
__________________
Thanks, TG! Taylor Graham is responding to yesterday's Seed of the Week, sent in by Steve Williams. It's not too late for you to tackle that one yourself. There are no deadlines for inspiration...
Tonight's the night! Big doin's at The Book Collector: 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! Join us to celebrate all of this at The Book Collector, 1008 24th St., Sacramento, tonight at 7:30 PM.
This volume of Conversations, incidentally, is another of B.L. Kennedy's spectacular collections of interviews/discussions with eleven area poets: Julia Connor, Victoria Dalkey, Josh Fernandez, Ted Finn, Susan Kelly-DeWitt, Jose Montoya, Joyce Odam, Chris Olander, Phil Weidman, Terry Wheat, —and B.L. Kennedy, shamelessly interviewing himself! Come pick one up at The Book Collector for just $8—over 100 pages of personalities in all their grandeur and occasional irreverency...
Molly Fisk writes: The March Boot Camp is almost upon us, so sign up if you'd like to write six new poems in six days, beginning Sunday March 16th and running through Friday March 21st. Or even to rewrite six poems in six days, in the Revision Camp (e-mail me for info). More about all of this is at http://www.poetrybootcamp.com. While you're there, you can also peruse the new "links" page, full of arbitrary and personal connections you might find interesting.
___________________
INSOMNIA
—Elizabeth Bishop
The moon in the bureau mirror
looks out a million miles
(and perhaps with pride, at herself,
but she never, never smiles)
far and away beyond sleep, or
perhaps she's a daytime sleeper.
By the Universe deserted,
she'd tell it to go to hell,
and she'd find a body of water,
or a mirror, on which to dwell.
So wrap up care in a cobweb
and drop it down the well
into that world inverted
where left is always right,
where the shadows are really the body,
where we stay awake all night,
where the heavens are shallow as the sea
is now deep, and you love me.
__________________
THE SHAMPOO
—Elizabeth Bishop
The still explosions on the rocks,
the lichens, grow
by spreading, gray, concentric shocks.
They have arranged
to meet the rings around the moon, although
within our memories they have not changed.
And since the heavens will attend
as long on us,
you've been, dear friend,
precipitate and pragmatical;
and look what happens. For Time is
nothing if not amenable.
The shooting stars in your black hair
in bright formation
are flocking where,
so straight, so soon?
—Come, let me wash it in this big tin basin,
battered and shiny like 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).