ANTS ON THE MELON
—Virginia Hamilton Adair
Once when our blacktop city
was still a topsoil town
we carried to Formicopolis
a cantaloupe rind to share
and stooped to plop it down
in their populous Times Square
at the subway of the ants
and saw that hemisphere
blacken and rise and dance
with antmen out of hand
wild for their melon toddies
just like our world next year
no place to step or stand
except on bodies.
___________________
This weekend is sooooo populous with readings; I hope you can get to at least one of them [see yesterday's post for a listing]. Last night, I went to Red Fox Underground's new venue in Placerville (Wild Mountain Books & More) to hear Tom Miner and Jeff Knorr, and it was spectacular. The bookstore has had a complete facelift and change of style, the new owner is very gracious and supportive of local poets, Tom and Jeff (and a huge open mic) brought the house down, and the joint was packed! Third Fridays. That's the on-going schedule. Be there. Next month (May 16) will feature rattlechapper Allegra Silberstein and SnakePal Theresa McCourt, 7 PM.
New at The Book Collector: the latest edition of The Silt Reader. Co-editor Robert Roden is a local. Check it out!
__________________
ABANDONED ANTHILL
—Virginia Hamilton Adair
Maybe the gods too
bring gifts
but the city is motionless
no seethe of bodies
bearing, hurrying, burying
the neat crater empty
ringed with grey fur
of the creosote harvest
here's a melon shell
sweet & wet—but—
where are you suckers?
out for lunch?
into another war?
sleeping it off
after the flash flood?
sorry if we came too late.
___________________
GODSTONE
—Virginia Hamilton Adair
This handsize rock inhabits
the outline of itself
on the sand. Its weight
is itself, not pressing
or lifting. It possesses
only a long lineage
of mountains, lava, planet,
showers of space
and a selfbombing star.
It looks neither ahead
nor pastward. It is mooncold,
noonhot, windburnished,
its underside melon dusk
of a wintersunset.
Sands settle around it
and colonies of seeds
waiting for the rare rain.
The lizard uses it as a plaza.
Ants cross it carrying
their dead and perhaps mine.
The sun plays shadowgames
with its heights and angles.
Honor it, touch it with awe.
Kneeling beside it explore
its silent everness.
Empty yourself into its form
which has been a star
and can be dust far blown
and is today this stone.
If you should spit upon it,
set it in mortar for your wall,
put it in the truck of the car
and forget it, it will not care.
But you may feel sadness
in the sun, and by nightfall
immeasurable losses
and in your tenderest parts
the fangs of time.
___________________
Today's LittleNip:
There's nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and open a vein.
—Red Smith
___________________
—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.