Ann Menebroker—Ann Menebroker, Sacramento
After Jack was swallowed and eaten by a tuna fish
I went out and bought myself a new outfit. It
was a bright yellow dress. I shone like the sun.
I can handle anything now. I eat from large
blue bowls and slop soup on the table. I use my
arm for a napkin. For dessert I eat chocolate
covered worms. I took a large, live tuna to a
local aquarium as a gift. They had to shut their
eyes against the glow. I gave them instructions
on what to feed the fish when it got hungry.
When I left, hooks glittered on my neck
and a trail of dull fishing line dragged after me.
(First published in SmellFeast #4, 1996)
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Thanks, Annie! Ann Menebroker's brand-new rattlechap, Small Crimes, will premier at the Snake's Fourth Birthday Party this coming Wednesday, April 9, 7:30 PM at The Book Collector, 1008 24th St., Sacramento. Ann Menebroker lives in downtown Sacramento. She has been publishing poetry since the late 1950s. She was co-founder of an earlier poetry workshop and has judged poetry contests and taught prison workshops. She is the author of over twenty poetry collections (in addition to broadsides) and her work has appeared in dozens of anthologies, including The Outlaw Bible of American Poetry. She also appeared in The Archive
Group documentary, I Began to Speak.
Also this week in NorCal Poetry:
•••Monday (4/7), 7:30 PM: Sacramento Poetry Center presents Gene Bloom and Nickole Brown, 1719 25th St., Sacramento. Open mic afterward. [See last Friday's post for bios.]
•••Wednesday (4/9), 7-ish: We will mark the Snake’s fourth birthday by throwing his Fourth Annual Birthday Bash at The Book Collector, including a buffet at 7 PM, followed by a reading at 7:30 or so. That night, there will be three history-making releases: Ann Menebroker’s new chapbook (Small Crimes); Ted Finn re-emerges with a new SnakeRings SpiralChap of his poetry and art (Damn the Eternal War); and Katy Brown inaugurates her blank (well, not really) journal series of photos and prompts for our HandyStuff department with her MUSINGS (For Capturing Creative Thought). Please join us to celebrate four years of [your] poetry with fangs!
•••Thursday (4/10), 8 PM: Poetry Unplugged at Luna's Cafe, 1414 16th St., Sacramento. Open mic before and after. Info: 916-441-3931.
•••Friday (4/11), 6 PM: Art Walk in Stockton at Janet Leigh (Cinema) Plaza. Watch for Stockton Arts Commissioner Deena Heath’s red, white and blue sign. Bring your pocket poem to share. The first 50 participants will receive a fabulous POET button courtesy of California Arts Council. Info: Deena Heath (109-937-7488) or Deena.Heath@ci.stockton.ca.us/.
•••Sunday (4/13), 7 PM: Poets Corner Presents Melanie Sievers, Richard Rios, Cyndi Torres and Roger Naylor in a reading for Poetry Month, 2008, followed by Open Mic. Barnes & Noble Stockton, Weberstown Mall on March Lane.
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DOWNTOWN HOTEL 9/29
—Ann Menebroker
Someone died
and then
someone died
right behind her
two bodies
tumbling
like lazy rivers
from a nine-story building
until they found
a place to stop.
No one knows
what happened.
They were going
to be married.
Friends and family
say they had
a perfect life.
Maybe she opened
the night and leaned
against it, fell
towards the name
they couldn't
pronouce
and he, loving her,
went tumbling
after
in utter silence.
(First published in BOGG)
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BOARDWALK
—Ann Menebroker
when he was a boy
his mother
didn't love him once
and in her heart
the clouds of life
shut off the light
in anger
he said a dirty word
she hit him in the face
lightning struck
splitting his feelings
wounding him
forever
and the markswoman
went back to the kitchen
to stir the soup
not knowing
her aim
had shot away
another duck
on the boardwalk
of her mothering
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Today William Wordsworth would've been 238 years old.
DAFFODILS
—William Wordsworth
I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o'er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.
Continuous as the stars that shine
And twinkle on the Milky Way,
They stretched in never-ending line
Along the margin of a bay:
Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.
The waves beside them danced; but they
Outdid the sparkling waves in glee:
A poet could not but be gay,
In such a jocund company:
I gazed—and gazed—but little thought
What wealth the show to me had brought:
For oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils.
Postcard courtesy of Katy Brown
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LittleNip for Today:
Poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings: it takes its origin from emotion recollected in tranquility.
—William Wordsworth
__________________
—Medusa
Here's Medusa's new 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 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?) 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 poetry calendar for the weekend
Daily (except Sunday): LittleNips: SnakeFood for the Poetic Soul: Daily food for poetic thought, including short paragraphs, quotes, wonky words, silliness, little-known facts about poets/poetry, and other inspiration—yet another way to feed our ever-hungry poetic souls.
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.