The Interior of the Hibiscus

SURREALISTIC DREAM
—Taylor Graham, Somerset

Sky of amethyst clouded over
by premonition of storm, or maybe
the memory of soldiers, and mad young heroines
in search of a tragic lover—all

these figments ghost it through a skeleton
city-scape, arches opening on a horizon
sunk below the vanishing point:
imagination’s skyline

where towers rise up, bound together
by cats-cradle rigging, the rigid
logic of sleep. Spires, sailboat masts
without sails, shrouds hanging

like broken wings. Nothing is
transparent, but opaque with light
seeping from soil
like the mind’s own dreams.


(based on a painting [oil on canvas] by Vladimir Vitkovsky)

________________

Thanks, TG! Taylor Graham's poem was triggered by dual "seeds": a painting, and yesterday's Seed of the Week (sleep).


Wednesday's HandyStuff Quickie:

R.D. Armstrong writes: I just got the new Poesy Magazine (www.poesy.org/ based in Santa Cruz) in the mail and I have to tell you that Brian Morrissey has really done a nice job this time around! Poesy used to be printed on newsprint and was a sixteen-page full-size mag with poems and photos, an interview and some reviews. It was interesting, but the quality of the paper sometimes made it hard to read. Brian has taken Poesy into a new age, with crisp graphics and photos and a much nicer format in terms of the overall layout. In other words, it is a fine-looking mag that almost resembles an art mag. I may be old-fashioned, but I like to see a book/mag that presents the work in a thoughtful and well-crafted way... a style that sets it apart from other small press presentations. The poems and other articles make it a real reading pleasure. Overall, Poesy raises the bar for other mag and even chapbook publishers to follow. Well done! You can order a sample copy by going to the Poesy website. Also you may want to submit poems/reviews for future publication.

Thanks, RD! RD Armstrong is the editor/publisher of Lummox Press, which has a long, venerable history itself, including the journal, Lummox. Check it out at www.lummoxpress.com/.

___________________

LA CONCA
—Robert Creeley

Sand here's like meal—
oats, barley, or wheat—
feels round and specific.

Sun's hot,
just past noon, and sound
of small boat clearing headland

chugs agaiinst wash.
Light slants
now on rocks, makes shadows.

Beach is a half-moon's
curve, with bluff,
at far end, of rock—

and firs look like garden
so sharply their tops
make line against sky.

All quiet here,
all small
and comfortable. Boat goes by,

beyond, where sky
and sea meet
far away.

_________________

THERE IS WATER
—Robert Creeley

There is water
at road's end
like a shimmer,
a golden opening,

if sun's right
over trees
where the land
runs down

some hill
seeming to fall
to a farther reach
of earth but

no woods left
in the surrounding
wet air. Only the heavy
booming surf.

___________________

PROSPECT
—Robert Creeley

Green's the predominant color here,
but in tones so various, and muted

by the flatness of sky and water,
the oak trunks, the undershade back of the lawns,

it seems a subtle echo of itself.
It is the color of life itself,

it used to be. Not blood red,
or sun yellow—but this green,

echoing hills, echoing meadows,
childhood summer's blowsiness, a youngness

one remembers hopefully forever.
It is thoughtful, provokes here

quiet reflections, settles the self
down to waiting now apart

from time, which is done,
this green space, faintly painful.

___________________

THE SOUND
—Robert Creeley

Early mornings, in the light still
faint making stones, herons, marsh
grass all but indistinguishable in the muck,

one looks to the far side, of the sound, the sand
side with low growing brush and
reeds, to the long horizontal of land's edge,

where the sea is, on that
other side, that outside, place of
imagined real openness, restless, eternal ocean.

___________________

Today's LittleNip:

In the beginning he loved symphonies, vast landscapes, Gothic cathedrals; toward the end he loved a few bars of the quartet, a vein of marble, the interior of the hibiscus.

—Stephen Dobyns

___________________

—Medusa


Here's Medusa's weekly menu of features. Contributors are welcome to submit to any and all of these!

Monday: Weekly NorCal poetry calendar

Tuesday: Seed of the Week: Tuesday is Medusa's day to post poetry triggers such as quotes, forms, photos, memories, jokes—whatever might tickle somebody's muse. Pick up the gauntlet and send in your poetic results; and don't be shy about sending in your own triggers, too! All poems will be posted and a few of them will go into Medusa's Corner of each Rattlesnake Review. Send your work to 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?) When you send us work, though, just let us know which "seed" it was that inspired you.

Wednesday: HandyStuff Quickies: Resources for the poet, including whatever helps ease the pain of writing and/or publishing. Favorite journals to read and/or submit to; books, etc., about writing; organizational tools—you know—HandyStuff! Tell us about your favorite tools.

Thursday: B.L.'s Drive-Bys: Micro-reviews by our irreverent Reviewer-in-Residence, B.L. Kennedy. Send books, CDs, DVDs, etc. to him for possible review (either as a Drive-By or in Rattlesnake Review) at P.O. Box 160664, Sacramento, CA 95816.

Friday: NorCal weekend poetry calendar

Daily (except Sunday): LittleNips: SnakeFood for the Poetic Soul: Daily munchables for poetic thought, including short paragraphs, quotes, wonky words, silliness, little-known poetry/poet facts, and other inspiration—yet another way to feed our ever-hungry poetic souls.

And poetry! Every day, poetry from writers near and far! The Snakes of Medusa are always hungry.......!

_________________

SnakeWatch: News from Rattlesnake Press

New in April: Ann Menebroker’s new chapbook (Small Crimes); Ted Finn's SnakeRings SpiralChap of his poetry and art (Damn the Eternal War); and Katy Brown's blank (well, not really) journal of photos and prompts, MUSINGS (For Capturing Creative Thought). All of these are now available at The Book Collector and will soon be available through rattlesnakepress.com.

Coming in May: Join us on Wednesday, May 14 for the release of Among Summer Pines by Quinton Duval; a littlesnake broadside, Before Naming, by Stephani Schaefer; and Volume Three of Conversations, our third book of interviews by B.L. Kennedy. That's at The Book Collector, 1008 24th St., Sacramento, 7:30 PM.

Also in May: Deadline for Issue #18 of Rattlesnake Review is May 15. Free copies of Issue #17 are available at The Book Collector, or send me two bux and I'll mail you one.


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). And be sure to sign up for Snakebytes, our monthly e-newsletter that will keep you up-to-date on all our ophidian chicanery.

Perchance to Dream

LISTENING
—Virginia Hamilton Adair

On the margin of sleep
I am talking to myself
in silence, silence.

I read the transcription
strung out in seaweed
which the waves shuffle and erase.

My thumb stirring
under the pillow
sounds like footsteps.

But no one comes
only the words walking
connecting and recombining.

A shadowy poem joins them
and I come awake quickly
to catch what it is saying.

My senses tremble
but the poem is untranslatable
with runic gestures pointing

to silence, silence.

__________________

Sleep. Arnold Bennett says, "A man of sixty has spent twenty years in bed and over three years in eating." Now there's a thought...

Sleep is Medusa's Seed of the Week: write poems about sleep and all that surrounds it: dreams, nightmares, insomnia, Rip Van Winkle, Sleeping Beauty... Wake up your muse and write about sleep. (This isn't a giveaway, but then again, for some of us, sleep never is.) Today's poems might set you in the right direction, but hopefully they won't cause you to go... to... zzzzzzzz.......


WHILE WE SLEPT...
—Joyce Carol Oates

...snow piled without effort

blown through the windows' rusty screens, drifting
thinly on the porch
silences fell while we slept

moths in last night's warm lamplight
stilled now in these dunes

of white silence

as we slept
in the wise vacuum of those
who desire sorrow without the effort

of tears

...the sleeping secret in us

embryo-breathing that breathes us
snow-freshened air in its own rhythms, breathing

into us who sleep, breathing

us as we sleep

...the blankets, already damp, turned heavy

with the long night
the cabin's low ceiling pressed nearer
cobwebs teasing our faces

while we slept

hoping to survive this spell
hoping for a morning's strident anger
shouting No! no!

we are too young for this—

always too young for this—

there is a place for death and a place for love
a place where finally a sky will emerge damply-blue
there are birds in the evergreen bushes—
already the new snow is tracked—
and sleep has no wisdom
great as daylight.

__________________

TWO INSOMNIACS
—Joyce Carol Oates

if one rises to stare out a window
the other feels the tugging, the draft of air
if one shuts his eyes
the other feels the leap of a half-vision
that does not take hold

between them a few miles
the chopped-up ridges of a city
others' dreams that whine
like nighttime sirens

this is what they wanted
this is what the legends promised them
and if one telephones the other, the ringing
will anger the night and then subside
to nothing: they will both listen then to nothing
because this is what they wanted
and this is what they got

___________________

THE SLEEPING BAG
—Virginia Hamilton Adair

Feathers and down, down
of our double bag enfold us
in the winter night.

This warmth had wings once
crossing the moon.

One candle at our heads
as for a wake.
One downy feather trembling
in your dark hair.

Your hands over my ears
hold off the buoy bell
the pistol crack of ice.

Wind through our flapping tent
blows out the candle
tugs at guy ropes
makes the trees cry out.

Silence the wind,
deafen me with love, love
in the winged darkness
of down, down.

__________________

THE BOULDER
—Virginia Hamilton Adair

This was the rock
where the last eagle's farsighted gaze
from this height
beheld the first wagon train
coming from the desert to the sea,
preceding the planters and the smog.

And when the eagle
melted into the sky and was gone
smaller birds knew the boulder
for a holy place.

Unlike the lesser stones of the mountain
it will not loosen in the darkside ice
or relax in the summer rain.
It will not rumble, tumble, crumble.

Remember its silence
in a long night when sleep will not come.
Remember it in the long sleep
when the rare flowers come up
through the grains of sand around our bones
and the ghostly eagle carries away the sun.

__________________

Today's LittleNip (and a bonus Nip. As Tom Goff says, we could all use a little nip now and then. Lord knows, a bonus nip wouldn't hurt, either—especially at bedtime... )

I could be bounded in a nutshell, and count myself a king
of infinite space, were it not that I have bad dreams.

—William Shakespeare

All men whilst they are awake are in one common world:
but each of them, when he is asleep, is in a world of his own.

—Plutarch

Don't give brandy to your cats, though. It just makes them silly...

___________________

—Medusa


Here's Medusa's weekly menu of features. Contributors are welcome to submit to any and all of these!

Monday: Weekly NorCal poetry calendar

Tuesday: Seed of the Week: Tuesday is Medusa's day to post poetry triggers such as quotes, forms, photos, memories, jokes—whatever might tickle somebody's muse. Pick up the gauntlet and send in your poetic results; and don't be shy about sending in your own triggers, too! All poems will be posted and a few of them will go into Medusa's Corner of each Rattlesnake Review. Send your work to 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?) When you send us work, though, just let us know which "seed" it was that inspired you.

Wednesday: HandyStuff Quickies: Resources for the poet, including whatever helps ease the pain of writing and/or publishing. Favorite journals to read and/or submit to; books, etc., about writing; organizational tools—you know—HandyStuff! Tell us about your favorites.

Thursday: B.L.'s Drive-Bys: Micro-reviews by our irreverent Reviewer-in-Residence, B.L. Kennedy. Send books, CDs, DVDs, etc. to him for possible review (either as a Drive-By or in Rattlesnake Review) at P.O. Box 160664, Sacramento, CA 95816.

Friday: NorCal weekend poetry calendar

Daily (except Sunday): LittleNips: SnakeFood for the Poetic Soul: Daily munchables for poetic thought, including short paragraphs, quotes, wonky words, silliness, little-known poetry/poet facts, and other inspiration—yet another way to feed our ever-hungry poetic souls.

And poetry! Every day, poetry from writers near and far! The Snakes of Medusa are always hungry.......!

_________________

SnakeWatch: News from Rattlesnake Press

New in April: Ann Menebroker’s new chapbook (Small Crimes); Ted Finn's SnakeRings SpiralChap of his poetry and art (Damn the Eternal War); and Katy Brown's blank (well, not really) journal of photos and prompts, MUSINGS (For Capturing Creative Thought). All of these are now available at The Book Collector and will soon be available through rattlesnakepress.com.

Coming in May: Join us on Wednesday, May 14 for the release of Among Summer Pines by Quinton Duval; a littlesnake broadside, Before Naming, by Stephani Schaefer; and Volume Three of Conversations, our third book of interviews by B.L. Kennedy. That's at The Book Collector, 1008 24th St., Sacramento, 7:30 PM.

Also in May: Deadline for Issue #18 of Rattlesnake Review is May 15. Free copies of Issue #17 are available at The Book Collector, or send me two bux and I'll mail you one.


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). And be sure to sign up for Snakebytes, our monthly e-newsletter that will keep you up-to-date on all our ophidian chicanery.

Vertigo

THE BUILDING OF THE SKYSCRAPER
—George Oppen

The steel worker on the girder
Learned not to look down, and does his work
And there are words we have learned
Not to look at,
Not to look for substance
Below them. But we are on the verge
Of vertigo.

There are words that mean nothing
But there is something to mean.
Not a declaration which is truth
But a thing
Which is. It is the business of the poet
'To suffer the things of the world
And to speak them and himself out.'

O, the tree, growing from the sidewalk—
It has a little life, sprouting
Little green buds
Into the culture of the streets.
We look back
Three hundred years and see bare land.
And suffer vertigo.

___________________

This week in NorCal poetry:

•••Monday (4/28), 7:30 PM: Sacramento Poetry Center presents William O’ Daly in a night of translation. One of the country’s foremost translators of Pablo Neruda, Daly’s book titles include: Still Another Day; The book of Questions; The Yellow Heart; The Sea and the Bells; The Separate World; Winter Garden; and the forthcoming The End of the World The Hands of the Day. William O’ Daly has spent the last seventeen years translating the late and posthumous poetry of Pablo Neruda. He has published six books of Neruda translations (see above) with Copper Canyon Press, as well as a chapbook of his own poems, The Whale in the Web. He is also putting the finishing touches on a historical novel based on China's Cultural Revolution, which he and his co-author have been working on for over a decade. A resident of Auburn, California, he makes his living as a teacher, editor, instructional designer.

•••Tuesday (4/29), 6:30-8:30 PM: Carmichael PoetryFest at the Carmichael Library, 5605 Marconi Av., Carmichael: A reading by Sacramento Poetry Center Board Member Stan Zumbiel and lectures by Board Members Tim Kahl and Board President Bob Stanley. Stan Zumbiel was born in the Midwest, but very early in his life was transplanted to the central valley of California, spending time in Auburn and Lincoln before ending up for good in suburban Sacramento. He started writing poems in 1967 while serving in the Navy. He raised four children, taught both middle school and high school, and became involved with the Sacramento Poetry Center about 1985. He lives with his wife, Lynn, in Fair Oaks, and continues to write.

Tim Kahl, Professor at Sacramento City College and Sierra College, is an SPC Board Member and published poet in many publications, including Prairie Schooner, South Dakota Quarterly, Berkeley Poetry Review, Indiana Review, Nimrod and The Texas Review. He will speak about the musicality of poetry in “Head Melodies: Bringing Song into Verse”, looking at how music (especially popular song) in many cultures offers its cadences, rhythms and forms to verse. Tim translates verse from Austrian and Portuguese and spends what time is left coaching youth in soccer and baseball.

Bob Stanley, SPC Board President, has served on the SPC board since 1999, and he has served on a number of non-profit boards in the past, including Wellspring Renewal Center and Alameda Poets. He currently teaches English at Sierra College and Sacramento City College. Bob will talk about “Who’s Reading Whom?”, the amazing diversity of good poetry that’s available from new writers.

Open Mike lead by Elizabeth Krause, SPC Board Member and UC Berkeley Graduate. Free, including refreshments. Info: 916.264.2920. [Next week's reading (May 5) will be a Cinco de Mayo open reading hosted by Art Mantecon.]

•••Thursday (5/1), 8 PM: Poetry Unplugged at Luna's Cafe, 1414 16th St., Sacramento. Open mic before and after.

•••Friday (5/2), 7:30 PM: The Other Voice, a poetry reading series sponsored by Unitarian Universalist Church of Davis, presents readers from The Yolo Crow, a quarterly literary journal celebrating the writings of the people of Yolo County. The journal began with two writers having coffee while thumbing through Writer’s Market. When one expressed a wish for someplace local to send out work, the other said, "So, start something." Three years and ten issues later, here they are, a gift to Yolo County and the world. The featured poets for Friday’s reading (which will be held in the library of the church located at 27074 Patwin Road in Davis) are Chris Campbell, Peter Goblen, Susan Wolbarst, Ronald Lane, and Sherman Stein. Refreshments and Open Mike follow, so bring along a poem or two to share. (By the way, this will be the last Other Voice reading until Sept.)

•••Friday (5/2), 7:30 PM: May 2 marks the anniversary of the death of mimeo era poet William Wantling. Poet and Wantling Scholar Kevin Jones and others will read their favorite Wantling poems and discuss his importance and impact as a poet. The Book Collector, 1008 24th St., Sacramento. Info: 916-442-9295.

•••Friday (5/2), 7 PM: An evening of entertainment including songs, dance and poetry by the Poets on the Roof in Stockton, followed by the one-act play, Black Country. A time of shotgun shacks, country gardens, juke joints, little churches and good music! Social hour and dance to follow. Valley Brew Co. Banquet Rm., 157 W. Adams, Stockton, CA (off Miracle Mile). Admission $10. Sponsored by The Society of American Heroes. Info: 209-470-5554.

•••Sat. (5/3), 7 PM: Both Susan and Joe Finkleman will be reading individual poems (no two-voice poetry this time) as part of the Sacramento City College literary magazine (Susurrus) reading, to be held on the Sacramento City College campus in Room A6 of the Auditorium Building.

__________________

EUROPE’S MAN
—Marie J. Ross, Stockton

He said our eyes met
his turning a passionate
gleam.
He said “suddenly the
ballroom whirled transparent”
when he asked me to dance.
His flashy clothes and broad
shoulders were irresistibly
pasted to my eyes, in color
red, in color of future adventure.
He spoke with an accent suave,
impressing, and I knew he’d be
my downfall, my pulse racing.
We kissed under ribbons of
moon, embraced like a million
arms of flame, we became one,
he my only treasure, my only
love-man passion, or so I thought.
There she stood on the platform,
all dolled up in french couture,
people rushing, suitcases clicking
on cracks in the pavement.
He flung his arms around her, she clung
like a cobra snake, kissing him, kissing him,
too long, too sweet.
My heart sunk, peeled from a thousand salty tears,
as I left my head hanging low in a world I’d never
trust again.
Not until another man from Europe beguiles me,
whisks me on the dance floor of my weakness.


Thanks, Marie. Marie Ross sent us this poem in response to our "The heart once broken" Seed of Last Week.

__________________

SARA IN HER FATHER'S ARMS
—George Oppen

Cell by cell the baby made herself, the cells
Made cells. That is to say
The baby is made largely of milk. Lying in her father's arms,

the little seed eyes

Moving, trying to see, smiling for us
To see, she will make a household
To her need of these rooms—Sara, little seed,
Little violent, diligent seed. Come let us look at the world
Glittering: this seed will speak,
Max, words! There will be no other words in the world
But those our children speak. What will she make of a world
Do you suppose, Max, of which she is made.

__________________

PEDESTRIAN
—George Oppen

What generations could have dreamed
This grandchild of the shopping streets, her eyes

In the buyer's light, the store lights
Brighter than the lighthouses, brighter than moonrise

From the salt harbor so rich
So right her city

In a soil of pavement, a mesh of wires where she walks
In the new winter among enourmous buildings.

__________________

LittleNip for a Monday:

Maybe this world is another planet's hell.

—Aldous Huxley

___________________

—Medusa


Here's Medusa's weekly menu of features. Contributors are welcome to submit to any and all of these!

Monday: Weekly NorCal poetry calendar

Tuesday: Seed of the Week: Tuesday is Medusa's day to post poetry triggers such as quotes, forms, photos, memories, jokes—whatever might tickle somebody's muse. Pick up the gauntlet and send in your poetic results; and don't be shy about sending in your own triggers, too! All poems will be posted and a few of them will go into Medusa's Corner of each Rattlesnake Review. Send your work to 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?) When you send us work, though, just let us know which "seed" it was that inspired you.

Wednesday: HandyStuff Quickies: Resources for the poet, including whatever helps ease the pain of writing and/or publishing. Favorite journals to read and/or submit to; books, etc., about writing; organizational tools—you know—HandyStuff! Tell us about your favorites.

Thursday: B.L.'s Drive-Bys: Micro-reviews by our irreverent Reviewer-in-Residence, B.L. Kennedy. Send books, CDs, DVDs, etc. to him for possible review (either as a Drive-By or in Rattlesnake Review) at P.O. Box 160664, Sacramento, CA 95816.

Friday: NorCal weekend poetry calendar

Daily (except Sunday): LittleNips: SnakeFood for the Poetic Soul: Daily munchables for poetic thought, including short paragraphs, quotes, wonky words, silliness, little-known poetry/poet facts, and other inspiration—yet another way to feed our ever-hungry poetic souls.

And poetry! Every day, poetry from writers near and far! The Snakes of Medusa are always hungry.......!

_________________

SnakeWatch: News from Rattlesnake Press

New in April: Ann Menebroker’s new chapbook (Small Crimes); Ted Finn's SnakeRings SpiralChap of his poetry and art (Damn the Eternal War); and Katy Brown's blank (well, not really) journal of photos and prompts, MUSINGS (For Capturing Creative Thought). All of these are now available at The Book Collector and will soon be available through rattlesnakepress.com.

Coming in May: Join us on Wednesday, May 14 for the release of Among Summer Pines by Quinton Duval; a littlesnake broadside, Before Naming, by Stephani Schaefer; and Volume Three of Conversations, our third book of interviews by B.L. Kennedy. That's at The Book Collector, 1008 24th St., Sacramento, 7:30 PM.

Also in May: Deadline for Issue #18 of Rattlesnake Review is May 15. Free copies of Issue #17 are available at The Book Collector, or send me two bux and I'll mail you one.


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). And be sure to sign up for Snakebytes, our monthly e-newsletter that will keep you up-to-date on all our ophidian chicanery.

Without a Name

VIEW WITH A GRAIN OF SAND
—Wislawa Szymborska

We call it a grain of sand
but it calls itself neither grain nor sand.
It does just fine without a name,
whether general, particular,
permanent, passing,
incorrect or apt.

Our glance, our touch mean nothing to it.
It doesn't feel itself seen and touched.
And that it fell on the windowsill
is only our experience, not its.
For it it's no different than falling on anything else
with no assurance that it's finished falling
or that it's falling still.

The window has a wonderful view of a lake
but the view doesn't view itself.
It exists in this world
colorless, shapeless,
soundless, odorless, and painless.

The lake's floor exists floorlessly
and its shore exists shorelessly.
Its water feels itself neither wet nor dry
and its waves to themselves are neither singular nor plural.
They splash deaf to their own noise
on pebbles neither large nor small.

And all this beneath a sky by nature skyless
in which the sun sets without setting at all
and hides without hiding behind an unminding cloud.
The wind ruffles it, its only reason being
that it blows.

A second passes.
A second second.
A third.
But they're three seconds only for us.

Time has passed like a courier with urgent news.
But that's just our simile.
The character's invented, his haste is make-believe,
his news inhuman.


(Translated from the Polish by Stanislaw Baranczak and Clara Cavanaugh)

____________________

—Medusa

Don't Disillusion Me

Photo by Ann Privateer

THE FERRIS WHEEL
—Ann Privateer, Davis

There's nothing like a ferris wheel at night
above the park with final daring
summer wind whips your turbine cart
rocking stomachs, sick with delight.

__________________

Thanks, Ann! Check out Ann Privateer's rattlechap, Attracted to Light, released in March, 2008 from Rattlesnake Press. Copies are available at The Book Collector, 1008 24th St., Sacramento, or from rattlesnakepress.com.

Stephani Schaefer sends us two responses to this week's Seed of the Week/giveaway ("the heart once broken") which ended last night. Be sure to come to the Rattlesnake Press reading on May 14 at The Book Collector, when Steph will be releasing a littlesnake broadside, Before Naming. Steph's poetry and photos regularly appear in Rattlesnake Review as well as here beside the stove in Medusa's Kitchen.


LETTING GO
—Stephani Schaefer, Los Molinos

The wood table where she still sits.
Throat of the Iris. Birdsong.
The dancing shade full of bits of light.
White clouds walking.
A strong and fitful breeze.

Later, a steady wind. Leaving.
Moving uphill on a long song, breathing deep.
Dragging two hands through soil.
Tearing up grasses in the singing wind.
Swallow. Swallow grief. Swallow your heart.

The warm stone.
The massed trees slapping in the sun.
Silent acceptance.

The deep, deep sky.


(first published in the Sun Shadow Mountain anthology, 2007)

____________________

LOVE CAME BY
—Stephani Schaefer

Love came by
and peeled and cored
the apple of my heart.

So?

There were others, other years,
but just a little tart.

____________________

NOW YOU NEED ME
—Virginia Hamilton Adair

When the rains come
you remember
our old closeness
humping along
in the wet.
You grope the dark
where I hang
morosely
by my crooked neck.
You pull off my cover
shake me till my
ribs jiggle
and a moth flies out.
Your hand reaches under
my black skirt
and up one leg
thin as a cane
until I open wide
with a rusty squawk
hovering above you
like a dark and loving
raven, said the old
umbrella, her night
full of holes.

____________________

PEELING AN ORANGE
—Virginia Hamilton Adair

Between you and a bowl of oranges I lie nude
Reading The World's Illusion through my tears.
You reach across me hungry for global fruit,
Your bare arm hard, furry and warm on my belly.
Your fingers pry the skin of a navel orange
Releasing tiny explosions of spicy oil.
You place peeled disks of gold in a bizarre pattern
On my white body. Rearranging, you bend and bite
The disks to release further their eager scent.
I say "Stop, you're tickling," my eyes still on the page.
Aromas of groves arise. Through green leaves
Glow the lofty snows. Through red lips
Your white teeth close on a translucent segment.
Your face over my face eclipses The World's Illusion.
Pulp and juice pass into my mouth from your mouth.
We laugh against each other's lips. I hold my book
Behind your head, still reading, still weeping a little.
You say "Read on, I'm just an illusion," rolliing
Over upon me soothingly, gently moving,
Smiling greenly through long lashes. And soon
I say "Don't stop. Don't disillusion me."
Snows melt. The mountain silvers into many a stream.
The oranges are golden worlds in a dark dream.

____________________

Today's LittleNip:

It is better to copulate than never.

—Robert Heinlein




—Medusa


Here's Medusa's weekly menu of features. Contributors are welcome to submit to any and all of these!

Monday: Weekly NorCal poetry calendar

Tuesday: Seed of the Week: Tuesday is Medusa's day to post poetry triggers such as quotes, forms, photos, memories, jokes—whatever might tickle somebody's muse. Pick up the gauntlet and send in your poetic results; and don't be shy about sending in your own triggers, too! All poems will be posted and a few of them will go into Medusa's Corner of each Rattlesnake Review. Send your work to 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?) When you send us work, though, just let us know which "seed" it was that inspired you.

Wednesday: HandyStuff Quickies: Resources for the poet, including whatever helps ease the pain of writing and/or publishing. Favorite journals to read and/or submit to; books, etc., about writing; organizational tools—you know—HandyStuff! Tell us about your favorites.

Thursday: B.L.'s Drive-Bys: Micro-reviews by our irreverent Reviewer-in-Residence, B.L. Kennedy. Send books, CDs, DVDs, etc. to him for possible review (either as a Drive-By or in Rattlesnake Review) at P.O. Box 160664, Sacramento, CA 95816.

Friday: NorCal weekend poetry calendar

Daily (except Sunday): LittleNips: SnakeFood for the Poetic Soul: Daily munchables for poetic thought, including short paragraphs, quotes, wonky words, silliness, little-known poetry/poet facts, and other inspiration—yet another way to feed our ever-hungry poetic souls.

And poetry! Every day, poetry from writers near and far. The Snakes of Medusa are always hungry.......!

_________________

SnakeWatch: News from Rattlesnake Press

New in April: Ann Menebroker’s new chapbook (Small Crimes); Ted Finn's SnakeRings SpiralChap of his poetry and art (Damn the Eternal War); and Katy Brown's blank (well, not really) journal of photos and prompts, MUSINGS (For Capturing Creative Thought). All of these are now available at The Book Collector and will soon be available through rattlesnakepress.com.

Coming in May: Join us on Wednesday, May 14 for the release of Among Summer Pines by Quinton Duval; a littlesnake broadside, Before Naming, by Stephani Schaefer; and Volume Three of Conversations, our third book of interviews by B.L. Kennedy. That's at The Book Collector, 1008 24th St., Sacramento, 7:30 PM.

Also in May: Deadline for Issue #18 of Rattlesnake Review is May 15. Free copies of Issue #17 are available at The Book Collector, or send me two bux and I'll mail you one.


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). And be sure to sign up for Snakebytes, our monthly e-newsletter that will keep you up-to-date on all our ophidian chicanery.

Broken Hearts & Other Kinds of Waiting

Expectations
Painting by Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema

WAITING WOMAN
—Patricia Wellingham-Jones, Tehama

A young woman waits at the Dog Pond
hidden deep in the dunes.
Her husband stalks shore birds
with high-power binoculars.

He treads on quiet feet
through dune grass and sedges,
disappears in a swirl of fog.

The wife fiddles with her binoculars,
never gets past a blur,
folds them back into her pocket,
looks for something to do.

When I arrive early next morning
for my stint of watching bird-watchers
I find a series of loops stretched around a shore pine
like paper chains children make at Christmas.

Intrigued, I follow the bored one's thoughts,
scan the scene around me.
Finger the seamless loops,
ponder their angular circles.
I pull up a juncus rush, study its form,
tear off the resistant first six inches.

I slip the juncus tip through the last hoop of the chain,
slide its needled point into its hollow end.
Add another few feet to the tree's decoration.
Wonder if tomorrow's waiting woman
will find our tree.

__________________

Thanks, PWJ! Patricia Wellingham-Jones is one of the many poets who responded to Taylor Graham's invitation to write poems about or while "waiting" in the last issue of Rattlesnake Review. And yes, it's time to start thinking about sending in your next batch of poems for Snake 18 (deadline is May 15 for the mid-June issue). Send 3-5 poems (no bio or cover letter needed; no previously-published poems or simultaneous submissions, please) either to kathykieth@hotmail.com or P.O. Box 762, Pollock Pines, CA 95726. Send photos and drawings, too! And we're always looking for interesting articles, but please query first.


This weekend in NorCal poetry:

•••Saturday (4/26), 7-9 PM: The Show Poetry Series presents rattlechapper and Red Fox Underground Poet Brigit Truex, two-time back-to-back Black Expo Comedy Champion DoBoy, Poet Sean King & 3rd place Sac Idol vocalist Jessica Teddington at Wo'se Community Center (Off 35th & Broadway), 2863 35th St., Sacramento. $5.00 (group and season ticket discounts available); 18 years of age and under FREE. Open mic and live band LSB. Info: T-Mo (916)208-POET.

•••Saturday (4/26), 2 PM (note time change from the original 6 PM): Poet, writer and editor of Unspeakable Visions, a literary journal of Beat Generation writing, Arthur Winfield Knight celebrates the release of his latest novel, Misfits Country, at The Book Collector, 1008 24th St., Sacramento. This won't be a reading, but instead it will be an opportunity to have a conversation with an interesting author as part of his booksigning. Tap into Knight's interest in and experience with: the Beat Generation, Film, Sam Peckinpah, the West, Marilyn Monroe, Allen Ginsberg, James Dean, his days as a photographer taking shots of Philip K. Dick, Kenneth Patchen, and the writing life in general. Arthur Winfield Knight has published more than 2,000 poems and short stories and, with his wife Kit, has edited eight volumes dealing with the Beat Generation, including Kerouac and the Beats (Paragon House, 1988). His most recent novel is Misfits Country (Tres Picos Press, 2008). Other novels include Blue Skies Falling (Forge, 2001), based on Sam Peckinpah; Johnnie D. (Forge, 2000); The Darkness Starts Up Where You Stand (Depth Charge Books, 1996); and The Secret Life of Jesse James (BurnhillWolf Books, 1996). He has also completed a novel about Billy the Kid. Arthur is a film critic and has taught at the University of San Francisco and Western Career College. He has photographed many famous writers, including Henry Miller and Aldous Huxley, and has over 200 book jackets to his credit.

•••SnakePal Ellaraine Lockie writes to say that, if you're going to be down in Los Angeles this weekend for the L.A. Book Fair or other reasons, drop in on her reading down there. On Sunday, April 27th, author, poet and professional paper-maker Ellaraine Lockie reads newly-published poems at Golden River Concrete Gothic (1700 E. 4th Street, East L.A., 90033; three-storey building on the 101 S. on-ramp). Doors open at 5:30 PM. Also performing will be Marshweed and Friends (featuring members of Listing Ship). An open reading of five readers (first two people to sign up and then three selected from lots thereafter) for three minutes each will open the event. The $7 entry fee includes food, drinks and raffle ticket for Ms. Lockie's hand-made paper. A limited edition, letter press-printed broadsheet (on hand-made sheets measuring 12" x 18") will also be available for a special, one-night only price.

•••Monday (4/28), 7:30 PM: Sacramento Poetry Center presents William O’ Daly in a night of translation. One of the country’s foremost translators of Pablo Neruda, Daly’s book titles include: Still Another Day; The book of Questions; The Yellow Heart; The Sea and the Bells; The Separate World; Winter Garden; and the forthcoming The End of the World The Hands of the Day. William O’ Daly has spent the last seventeen years translating the late and posthumous poetry of Pablo Neruda. He has published six books of Neruda translations (see above) with Copper Canyon Press, as well as a chapbook of his own poems, The Whale in the Web. He is also putting the finishing touches on a historical novel based on China's Cultural Revolution, which he and his co-author have been working on for over a decade. A resident of Auburn, California, he makes his living as a teacher, editor, instructional designer.

•••And make a note of next Tuesday (4/29), 6:30-8:30 PM: Carmichael PoetryFest at the Carmichael Library, 5605 Marconi Av., Carmichael: A reading by Sacramento Poetry Center Board Member Stan Zumbiel and lectures by Board Members Tim Kahl and Board President Bob Stanley. Stan Zumbiel was born in the Midwest, but very early in his life was transplanted to the central valley of California, spending time in Auburn and Lincoln before ending up for good in suburban Sacramento. He started writing poems in 1967 while serving in the Navy. He raised four children, taught both middle school and high school, and became involved with the Sacramento Poetry Center about 1985. He lives with his wife, Lynn, in Fair Oaks, and continues to write.

Tim Kahl, Professor at Sacramento City College and Sierra College, is an SPC Board Member and published poet in many publications, including Prairie Schooner, South Dakota Quarterly, Berkeley Poetry Review, Indiana Review, Nimrod and The Texas Review. He will speak about the musicality of poetry in “Head Melodies: Bringing Song into Verse”, looking at how music (especially popular song) in many cultures offers its cadences, rhythms and forms to verse. Tim translates verse from Austrian and Portuguese and spends what time is left coaching youth in soccer and baseball.

Bob Stanley, SPC Board President, has served on the SPC board since 1999, and he has served on a number of non-profit boards in the past, including Wellspring Renewal Center and Alameda Poets. He currently teaches English at Sierra College and Sacramento City College. Bob will talk about “Who’s Reading Whom?”, the amazing diversity of good poetry that’s available from new writers.

Open Mike lead by Elizabeth Krause, SPC Board Member and UC Berkeley Graduate. Free, including refreshments. Info: 916.264.2920.

__________________

RAIN UP THE VALLEY
—Wayne Robinson, Lodi

And I watched the rain clouds come up the valley,
Raiders of the rain, charging across the sky,
Blankets of water rolling toward my space.
I watch numbly, a calm look on my face.

Cold, cold wind ravages me, rain pelts me too,
Wet, and cold. Yes cold, but not as icy as you.
I roll up my collar and proceed on.
Can’t change anything, you’re still gone.

In this little valley of unrest that I am passing through
It was the daffodils that reminded me of you,
Yellow delights atop of dull green stems, covering the hill.
My mind suddenly brought forth its own will.

A time passed, when we walked the paths of the park
Arm in arm, we oooed and aaaahed till it was dark
And they forced us to vacate. GOD I MISS YOU.
I shake my head and move on, all that I can do.

___________________

Thanks, Wayne! It's not too late to respond to our giveaway/Seed of the Week: The heart once broken... Send in your poems about broken hearts to kathykieth@hotmail.com (or P.O. Box 762, Pollock Pines, CA 95726) by midnight tonight (4/25), and I'll mail you your choice of either Ann Menebroker's new chapbook, Small Crimes, or Katy Brown's new journal, Musings. Or some other rattlechap without which you'd be broken-hearted...

___________________

HELLO
—Patricia Wellingham-Jones

(from the painting, Two Figures, by Caitlin Schwerin)

Hello I see you
walk out of the sun
across a meadow
bordered by darkening trees
Your history scrawled
across the sky
in streaky clouds
Hello long bones
warmed inside your gaunt frame
your greyed skin stretched taut
How can you leave
the writing of your life
and wander away
Of course you are welcome
in this new world
Please bring the sun with you
Let it warm my bones
Oh hello oh bring the sun

__________________

SEXING A KITTEN
—Patricia Wellingham-Jones

Former teacher Jenny
arrives just in time
to resolve my current quandary.

I've got the fool-proof
English teacher's method
for sexing that kitten, says she.

You lift it on your palm
to eye level, hold up the tail.
If you see a period underneath,
you've got a boy.
A colon means a girl.

I snort at this silly solution,
discover later she's right.

__________________

Today's LittleNip:

Who says my poems are poems?
My poems are not poems.
After you know my poems are not poems,
Then we can begin to discuss poetry!

—Ryokan

___________________

—Medusa


Here's Medusa's weekly menu of features. Contributors are welcome to submit to any and all of these!

Monday: Weekly NorCal poetry calendar

Tuesday: Seed of the Week: Tuesday is Medusa's day to post poetry triggers such as quotes, forms, photos, memories, jokes—whatever might tickle somebody's muse. Pick up the gauntlet and send in your poetic results; and don't be shy about sending in your own triggers, too! All poems will be posted and a few of them will go into Medusa's Corner of each Rattlesnake Review. Send your work to 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?) When you send us work, though, just let us know which "seed" it was that inspired you.

Wednesday: HandyStuff Quickies: Resources for the poet, including whatever helps ease the pain of writing and/or publishing. Favorite journals to read and/or submit to; books, etc., about writing; organizational tools—you know—HandyStuff! Tell us about your favorites.

Thursday: B.L.'s Drive-Bys: Micro-reviews by our irreverent Reviewer-in-Residence, B.L. Kennedy

Friday: NorCal weekend poetry calendar

Daily (except Sunday): LittleNips: SnakeFood for the Poetic Soul: Daily munchables for poetic thought, including short paragraphs, quotes, wonky words, silliness, little-known poetry/poet facts, and other inspiration—yet another way to feed our ever-hungry poetic souls.

And poetry! Every day, poetry from writers near and far! The Snakes of Medusa are always hungry.......!

_________________

SnakeWatch: News from Rattlesnake Press

New in April: Ann Menebroker’s new chapbook (Small Crimes); Ted Finn's SnakeRings SpiralChap of his poetry and art (Damn the Eternal War); and Katy Brown's blank (well, not really) journal of photos and prompts, MUSINGS (For Capturing Creative Thought). All of these are now available at The Book Collector and will soon be available through rattlesnakepress.com.

Coming in May: Join us on Wednesday, May 14 for the release of Among Summer Pines by Quinton Duval; a littlesnake broadside, Before Naming, by Stephani Schaefer; and Volume Three of Conversations, our third book of interviews by B.L. Kennedy. That's at The Book Collector, 1008 24th St., Sacramento, 7:30 PM.

Also in May: Deadline for Issue #18 of Rattlesnake Review is May 15. Free copies of Issue #17 are available at The Book Collector, or send me two bux and I'll mail you one.


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). And be sure to sign up for Snakebytes, our monthly e-newsletter that will keep you up-to-date on all our ophidian chicanery.

Cut the Grass

CUT THE GRASS
—A.R. Ammons

The wonderful workings of the world: wonderful,
wonderful: I'm surprised half the time:
ground up fine, I puff if a pebble stirs:

I'm nervous, my morality's intricate: if
a squash blossom dies, I feel withered as a stained
zucchini and blame my nature: and

when grassblades flop to the little red-ant
queens burring around trying to get aloft, I blame
my not keeping the grass short, stubble

firm: well, I learn a lot of useless stuff, meant
to be ignored: like when the sun sinking in the
west glares a plane invisible, I think how much

revelation concealment necessitates: and then I
think of the ocean, multiple to a blinding
oneness and realize that only total expression

expresses hiding: I'll have to say everything
to take on the roundness and withdrawal of the deep dark:
less than total is a bucketful of radiant toys.

__________________

CANTATRICE IMPROVISATORE
—Tom Goff, Carmichael

Billy the dog and I, our usual walk,
ambled a neighborhood thicket thick with birds
whose plumes are song: let’s call it Mockingbird Block.
Spring prodded one grey-white mocker’s music-surge,

whether in rage at intrusions to her nest,
or from the spontaneous overflow of forms,
war chants by which to hunt slick-wriggling worms,
like an Indian raga, sun’s-up-mode, for zest.

It struck me: she was flying and singing both;
she’d studied neither, yet fused somehow together
flight with flight—just how you register
artistry. Beauty involves you, you’re not loath

to leap, take up, and repeat: you spoke blank verse
and more blank verse, upon one viewing of
Ian McKellan’s Richard III. In love
with the verse-whiteout urge, tongue-force, lip-pulse,

you spoofed the foofy-metronomic actors,
much less a Shakespeare than a Noel Coward cast,
yet, even manslaughtering us both with man’s laughter,
blankety-blanked sheer presentness of the past.

Walt Whitman might have called you A cantatrice
improvisatore, warbling vast flexive arias:
notes orbic-American, beneath that Latvian
purple-red flag: A mockingbird-girl, -’s what he’d say.

___________________

Andy Jones of Davis writes: If you've appreciated all the music, arts and public affairs programming provided by KDVS (90.3 FM), your local campus and community station, and home to "Dr. Andy's Poetry and Technology Hour," which broadcasts on Tuesdays from 5-6 PM, then I hope you will consider supporting the station this week. I invite you to pledge at any time before Monday at http://fundraiser.kdvs.org/ or 530-754-KDVS or 888-654-6294. Make sure to tell them the name of your favorite DJ. The premiums are always impressive, and often worth more than the tax-deductible pledge you make to earn one. To get a premium, a student is expected to pledge $25 or more, a community member $40 or more. $100 gets you a KDVS DJ and all his/her music at your party or function. You can check out all the remaining premiums at http://fundraiser.kdvs.org/. The goal for the entire week is $75,000. P.S. I hope you will always consider turning to my show and to KDVS when looking for ways to promote local arts and literary events.

•••Tonight (Thursday, 4/24), 8 PM. Poetry Unplugged at Luna’s Café (1414 16th St., Sacramento) presents Kathryn and Laura Hohlwein and frank andrick. Host B.L. Kennedy has put together a triple-play evening of poetry, prose and literature that promises to veer from the classic to the surreal and everything in between. This trio of writers collectively has 'done time' as poets, educators, publishers, hosts and international event creators and organizers. They have created events as varied as world tours of classic greek poetry, multi-media events involving film, slides, live and pre-recorded sound, and performance that is open-ended, honestly educational by its nature, and entertaining as well. Open mic before and after.

See B.L. Kennedy's upcoming Volume Three of Conversations, the Rattlesnake Interview Series, due out May 14, for interviews of Andy Jones and Kathryn Hohlwein, plus nine others. frank andrick was interviewed in Volume 1, available at The Book Collector or from rattlesnakepress.com/.


B.L.'s Drive-By: This week's Micro-review by B.L. Kennedy

THINGS I LEARNED AND TALK ABOUT
CD By Michelle Kunert

Michelle Kunert has finally gotten hip and released a spoken word CD of 25 tracks which gives her poems a life of their own. However, concerning the price or where to purchase this item, I am at somewhat of a loss to give the reader any further information. What I can say is that, for those of you out there who have experienced Kunert and her poetry, this is a welcome addition. Try to find her at one of the local reading series and grab yourself a copy.


OLIVES
—Michelle Kunert, Sacramento

Picking little black fruits
too bitter for the tongue
until a "curing" with brine water
in a dusty orchard in midday sun
shaking and raking branches
with leaves that scratch bare skin
throwing them upon a tarp below
in which upon they are sorted
to pick out the spoiled
or still with immature shades of green
How did I ever take for granted
the labor to put them into a jar
or pressed into oil to savor?

__________________

It's not too late to respond to our giveaway/Seed of the Week: The heart once broken... Send in your poems about broken hearts to kathykieth@hotmail.com (or P.O. Box 762, Pollock Pines, CA 95726) by midnight this Friday (tomorrow, 4/25), and I'll mail you your choice of either Ann Menebroker's new chapbook, Small Crimes, or Katy Brown's new journal, Musings. Or some other rattlechap without which you'd be broken-hearted...

LOVE SONG
—A.R. Ammons

Like the hills under dusk you
fall away from the light:
you deepen: the green
light darkens
and you are nearly lost:
only so much light as
stars keep
manifests your face:
the total night in
myself raves
for the light along your lips.

__________________

Today's LittleNip:

How best to grow old?
How best to die?

—Virginia Woolf

___________________

—Medusa


Here's Medusa's weekly menu of features. Contributors are welcome to submit to any and all of these!

Monday: Weekly NorCal poetry calendar

Tuesday: Seed of the Week: Tuesday is Medusa's day to post poetry triggers such as quotes, forms, photos, memories, jokes—whatever might tickle somebody's muse. Pick up the gauntlet and send in your poetic results; and don't be shy about sending in your own triggers, too! All poems will be posted and a few of them will go into Medusa's Corner of each Rattlesnake Review. Send your work to 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?) When you send us work, though, just let us know which "seed" it was that inspired you.

Wednesday: HandyStuff Quickies: Resources for the poet, including whatever helps ease the pain of writing and/or publishing. Favorite journals to read and/or submit to; books, etc., about writing; organizational tools—you know—HandyStuff! Tell us about your favorites.

Thursday: B.L.'s Drive-Bys: Micro-reviews by our irreverent Reviewer-in-Residence, B.L. Kennedy. Send books, CDs, DVDs, etc. to him for possible review (either as a Drive-By or in Rattlesnake Review) at P.O. Box 160664, Sacramento, CA 95816.

Friday: NorCal weekend poetry calendar

Daily (except Sunday): LittleNips: SnakeFood for the Poetic Soul: Daily munchables for poetic thought, including short paragraphs, quotes, wonky words, silliness, little-known poetry/poet facts, and other inspiration—yet another way to feed our ever-hungry poetic souls.

And poetry! Every day, poetry from writers near and far. The Snakes of Medusa are always hungry.......!

_________________

SnakeWatch: News from Rattlesnake Press

New in April: Ann Menebroker’s new chapbook (Small Crimes); Ted Finn's SnakeRings SpiralChap of his poetry and art (Damn the Eternal War); and Katy Brown's blank (well, not really) journal of photos and prompts, MUSINGS (For Capturing Creative Thought). All of these are now available at The Book Collector and will soon be available through rattlesnakepress.com.

Coming in May: Join us on Wednesday, May 14 for the release of Among Summer Pines by Quinton Duval; a littlesnake broadside, Before Naming, by Stephani Schaefer; and Volume Three of Conversations, our third book of interviews by B.L. Kennedy. That's at The Book Collector, 1008 24th St., Sacramento, 7:30 PM.

Also in May: Deadline for Issue #18 of Rattlesnake Review is May 15. Free copies of Issue #17 are available at The Book Collector, or send me two bux and I'll mail you one.


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). And be sure to sign up for Snakebytes, our monthly e-newsletter that will keep you up-to-date on all our ophidian chicanery.