SEPTEMBER 8
—Pablo Neruda
Today, the day was a full glass,
Today, the day was an immense wave,
Today, it was all the earth.
Today the tempestuous sea
lifted us in a kiss
so high that we trembled
in the flash of lightning
and, tied together, descended
and submerged without unraveling.
Today our bodies became immense,
they grew up to the edge of the world
and rolled melting themselves
into one single drop
of wax or meteor.
A new door opened between you and me
and someone, still without a face,
was waiting for us there.
(translated by Mark Eisner)
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I didn't know The Sacramento Bee even had a "resident poet", but apparently it's Carlos Alcalá, who has started a poem on the new law, which takes effect July 1, restricting cell phone use while driving. The Bee challenges you to add a stanza and send it to scene@sacbee.com by noon this Friday. The "best" stanzas will be published on Monday's Scene cover. Here's what Alcalá wrote:
Whether chatting on Verizon,
Nextel, Sprint or AT&T,
Remember it's the talking,
Not the driving, that's hands-free.
Good luck!
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Deadline For CSPS Annual Contest Extended to July 15, 2008:
California State Poetry Society's annual contest is open to all poets in the United States, whether they are members or not. Prizes: 1st: $100; 2nd: $50; 3rd: $25, plus ten Honorable Mentions. Judging by one or more independent professional poet(s). Any form any theme, 50-line limit per poem. Single space, one page only, 8 1/2x11 inch, white paper only, one side of paper only. No paper clips, folding of poems individually, or staples. Two copies of each poem; one with name and address in upper left corner, and one without for judge's copy. Poems must be original and unpublished, in English, not awarded a monetary prize, and not illustrated. Decisions of judges are final. For a winner's list send SASE; you will not otherwise hear from the contest judge unless you include an SASE. In addition to prizes, copy of CQ will be included upon publication.
Send entries to: Maura Harvey, CSPS Annual Chair, P.O. Box 2672, Del Mar, CA 92014. Fee: $3.00 per poem entered. Check or money order in US funds only, made payable to CSPS. NO LIMIT on number of entries. Note: If a poem does not meet qualifications as listed below, fee(s) will not be returned but the poem will be considered for publication in California Quarterly (CQ); the first through third place winners are guaranteed publication in CQ. (Give us a chance with your poems until October 15, 2008; after that, feel free to submit to other contests, or for publication elsewhere unless your poem was accepted by us.)
CSPS Monthly Contests are open to all poets:
TOPICS:
June: Any Subject
July: Haiku, Tanka
August: Humor, Satire, Joy of Life
September: Any Subject
October: Experimental Poem (get creative!)
November: Family, Friendship, Human Condition
December: Best of Your Best (winning or published poem;
indicate name of publication and issue date/year)
Contact Kate Ozbirn for information on monthly rules, deadlines, eligibility, entry fee, prizes, judging, notification, at CSPS Monthly Contest, P.O. Box 7126, Orange, CA 92863. Include SASE.
Are you a member of CSPS (not to be confused with CFCP, Inc.)? Be sure to submit to California Quarterly, their beautiful quarterly journal, whether you're a member or not. (Kate Ozbirn can give you information on joining, too.) Also among the CSPS publications:
Private Poetry Line:
Private Poetry Line is an e-mail "magazine" for previously-published poems, presented by the California State Poetry Society (CSPS), P.O. Box 7126, Orange, CA 92863. Editor Russell Salamon (thesalamons@earthlink.net) writes: Please send one or two published poems in the body of your email (no attachments, please). Send to Russell salamon for possible use. No special layouts and typefaces or art. When I get 8-12 people submitting, I prepare an email issue of Private Poetry Line. This is an email, not a website or a blog, and I send it to about 600 poets. Send one or two published poems, with name of magazine where originally printed, along with your name and city you live in. You retain all rights. THIS IS AN ELECTRONIC MOMENT; no hard copy unless you print it. As opposed to:
Poetry Letter and Literary Review, another CSPS publication which is also a “second-reading” opportunity. It’s a sheaf-type publication on ivory paper which uses formerly published short poems displayed in two columns per page, size 8 1/2 x 11, six or eight such pages. It also publishes short book reviews (250-500 words). (Contact the editor, C. Bryce, for book review assignments.) PL&LR accompanies CQ and goes to subscribers, and to you, separately if you are not yet a subscriber (include SASE). This is also a "second chance" publication, different from Private Poetry Line because it is printed on paper, unlike Private Poetry Line, which is an email. Send your previously published poems to PL&LR, P.O. Box 7126, Orange, CA 92863.
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Addition to this week's calendar:
•••Saturday (6/28), 4-6 PM: Open mic in Coffee Town, 134 S. Auburn St., Grass Valley.
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B.L.'s Drive-By: A Micro-Review by B.L. Kennedy:
The Keeper
By Sarah Langan
382pp
Harper Collins
$6.99
As with her Bram-Stoker-Award-winning book, The Missing, Sarah Langan sets the course with this, her first novel. The Keeper is a ghost story: it is the story of a small town and its residents, it is about secrets and horror, it will invade your body like a virus and it is worth the read. That said, get off your ass and check out this very talented author.
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AND THE CITY NOW HAS GONE
—Pablo Neruda
How the clock moves on, relentlessly,
with such assurance that it eats the years.
The days are small and transitory grapes,
the months grow faded, taken out of time.
It fades, it falls away, the moment, fired
by that implacable artillery—
and suddenly, only a year is left to us,
a month, a day, and death turns up in the diary.
No one could ever stop the water's flowing;
nor thought nor love has ever held it back.
It has run on through suns and other beings,
its passing rhythm signifying our death.
Until, in the end, we fall in time, exhausted,
and it takes us, and that's it. Then we are dead,
dragged off with no being left, no life, no darkness,
no dust, no words. That is what it comes to;
and in the city where we'll live no more,
all is left empty, our clothing and our pride.
(translated by Alastair Reed)
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XCI (from NIGHT)
—Pablo Neruda
Age covers us like drizzle;
time is interminable and sad;
a salt feather touches your face;
a trickle ate through my shirt.
Time does not distinguish between my hands
and a flock of oranges in yours:
with snow and picks life chips away
at your life, which is my life.
My life, which I gave you, fills
with years like a swelling cluster of fruit.
The grapes will return to the earth.
And even down there time
continues, waiting, raining
on the dust, eager to erase even absence.
(translated by Stephen Tapscott)
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FEAR
—Pablo Neruda
Everyone is after me to exercise,
get in shape, play football,
rush about, even go swimming and flying.
Fair enough.
Everyone is after me to take it easy.
They all make doctor's appointments for me,
eyeing me in that quizzical way.
What is it?
Everyone is after me to take a trip,
to come in, to leave, not to travel,
to die and, alternatively, not to die.
It doesn't matter.
Everyone is spotting oddnesses
in my innards, suddenly shocked
by radio-awful diagrams.
I don't agree with them.
Everyone is picking at my poetry
with their relentless knives and forks,
trying, no doubt, to find a fly.
I am afraid.
I am afraid of the whole world,
afraid of cold water, afraid of death.
I am as all mortals are,
unable to be patient.
And so, in these brief, passing days,
I shall put them out of my mind.
I shall open up and imprison myself
with my most treacherous enemy,
Pablo Neruda.
(translated by Alastair Reed)
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Today's LittleNip:
Poetry is the opening and closing of a door, leaving those who look through to guess about what was seen during a moment.
—Carl Sandburg
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—Medusa
SnakeWatch: What's Up With Rattlesnake Press
New in June: Day Moon, a new chapbook by James DenBoer, and Mindfully Moon, a littlesnake broadside by Carol Louise Moon, as well as Volume Three of Conversations, our third book of interviews by B.L. Kennedy, featuring Art Beck, Olivia Costellano, Quinton Duval, William S. Gainer, Mario Ellis Hill, Kathryn Hohlwein, James Jee Jobe, Andy Jones, Rebecca Morrison, Viola Weinberg and Phillip T. Nails. All this PLUS a brand-new edition (#18) of Rattlesnake Review! Now available at The Book Collector, 1008 24th St., Sacramento, or (soon) from rattlesnakepress.com/. (Snake contributors and subscribers will be receiving their copies in the mail this week. If you're not among either of these, and can't get down to The Book Collector to get your free copy, send me two bux and I'll mail you one: P.O. Box 762, Pollock Pines, CA 95726.)
The Snake will be snoozing through July and August, leaving Medusa to carry on alone. Then on September 10, we shall burst back onto the scene with Ten Poems, a new chapbook from Patrick Grizzell, plus Issue #19 of Rattlesnake Review. (Deadline is August 15.) Meanwhile, look in on Medusa every day, and, for heaven's sake, keep sending stuff! The snakes of Medusa are always hungry...
Medusa's Weekly Menu:
(Contributors are welcome to cook up something for 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 future issues of 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 ravenous poetic souls.
And poetry! Every day, poetry from writers near and far! The Snakes of Medusa are always hungry.......!
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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.
