Robert Grossklaus
THE THINGS WE LEAVE BEHIND
—Robert Grossklaus, Roseville
The moon in a raindrop
disappearing.
A footprint takes its place.
—Robert Grossklaus, Roseville
The moon in a raindrop
disappearing.
A footprint takes its place.
___________
DREAM FOR FILM 1—Robert Grossklaus
acrid soft still breathing
belied this morning's intention;
slept through forever,
woke up with a broken window
and celluloid in the distance.
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OBLIQUE
—Robert Grossklaus
O the delicious balcony of opaque congruence!
This light that peeks from behind silvered glass.
A spray of ambient moonlight over pavement...
I awoke to find myself
caged in a bemused groan, laughter
in the blackness.
Fecund language and silent dreams,
what are you hiding from me?
To satiate this hunger I starve you...
Give back to me what is mine!
O entombed muse, what have you to say
now that you are slain?
A sacrificial veil on the tongue of oblivion
calls from the cavernous remains of sanctity, its demure tenor shallow;
"The incongruent shadows pace,
with the fervor of the forgotten;
humanity has been laid to rest."
Thanks, Robbie! Robert Grossklaus will be reading tonight at Sacramento Poetry Center; see below for his biography.
This week in NorCal poetry:
•••Monday (9/22), 7:30 PM: Sacramento Poetry Center presents poets Robert Grossklaus and Miles Miniacci with the band, Litany, at HQ for the Arts, 1719 25th St. Sacramento. Open mic after. Robert Grossklaus lives with his wife, Sabrina McKinney, in Roseville. He earned his A.A. in English from Bakersfield College, his B.A. in Philosophy from UC Santa Cruz and is currently working on an M.S. in Accountancy at CSUS. Robert has been published in Eclectica, Liquid Ohio, Poetry Now, and Rattlesnake Review among others. He is the former editor of Poetry Now, former assistant editor of The Tule Review and former assistant editor at Rattlesnake Press. He is currently fixated on his own imprint, Polymer Grove, which has produced nine chapbooks and one CD since its inception in 2005.
Miles Miniaci received his B. A. from San Francisco State and his M. F. A. from the University of Southern California. His poetry and fiction have appeared in The American River Literary Review, Poetry Now, Catchphrase Collection, and Harpoon, among others, and he has been a featured reader at such venues as Luna’s, H. Q. Center for the Arts, Café Montreal, Amnesia (S. F.), and M Bar (L. A.). His prose (mostly humor and music pieces) has been seen—or heard—in ‘zines, e-‘zines, and podcasts, including Morbid Curiosity, Short Bus, Retrocrush, and The Backseat Kiss. He also publishes the occasional scholarly article for journals such as American Quarterly (California American Studies Association) and ATHE News (The Association for Theatre in Higher Education). In addition to writing, Miles has made his living, at various times, as a professional actor, a high school and college instructor, and an arts administrator. He makes his home in Sacramento with his partner, Beth, and his children, Gabriel and Maya, and considers himself incredibly fortunate.
Litany is a non-traditional power trio consisting of three multi-instrumentalists bent on defying genres and expectations. Bob Wilson, Miles Miniaci, and Chéne Watson are veterans of numerous Sacramento-area bands, playing a range of styles from folk to power pop to progressive rock. Between the three of them, they sing and play not only the standard guitar, bass, drums, and keyboards, but also less familiar instruments including dulcimer, mandolin, harp, marimba, and many others. The band has been performing regionally for the past five years, appearing at venues such as Cesar Chavez Park, Southside Park, Capital Garage, The Distillery, Luna’s, The Space, and various Second Saturday galleries. They have also produced a self-released demo and appeared on KVMR and nationwide on BlogTalkRadio.com.
Coming Sept. 29 to SPC: Alan Williamson and Andrena Zawinski.
•••Weds. (9/24), 6-7 PM: Upstairs Poetry Reading at The Upstairs Art Gallery, 420 Main St (2nd floor), Placerville. It's a poetry open-mike read-around, so bring your own poems or those of a favorite poet to share, or just come to listen. No charge.
•••Thurs. (9/25), 8 PM: Poetry Unplugged at Luna’s Café presents Traci Gourdine and Rebecca Morrison. Open mic before and after. 1414 16th St., Sacramento.
•••Friday (9/24), 7:30 PM: Open Mic Night at the Valhalla Grand Hall in Tahoe, just north of Camp Richardson on Hiway 89. Travel Hiway 50 to the "y" then take 50 north about 5 miles. The second edition of writings from the Lake Tahoe Writing Club is out, by the way. It's been renamed The Edge, and it’s very attractive: 73 pp, perfect-bound with colored photographs. They are now accepting submissions for the next edition. Go to TahoeWritingClub.com or info@LakeTahoeWritingClub.com/.
•••Sat. (9/27), 1:15 PM and Sun. (9/28), 12:15 PM: Brigit Truex, Rebecca Morrison, Charlene Ungstad, and Jeanine Stevens read at the KVMR Celtic Festival in Grass Valley at the Nevada County Fairgrounds. Their exact venue can be found on the program; see kvmr.org/.
•••Saturday (9/27), Noon-4:00 PM: 15th Annual Dancing Poetry Festival at San Francisco's Florence Gould Theater in the California Palace of the Legion of Honor Art Museum. Info: www.dancingpoetry.com/.
•••Sat. (9/27), 7-9 PM: ‘The Show’ poetry series presents Myisha Cherry from Brooklyn, plus Sacramento's own Jock Smith, Jamarr Jones aka Young Mack, Yolanda Stevenson and Chadwick Jamison. Wo'se Community Center 2863 35th St. off 35th and Broadway, Sacramento. $5 general admission. All artists (poets, singers, musicians, comedians, etc.) are encouraged to sign up early for open mic. Info: 916-208-POET.
•••Sunday (Sept. 28), 4:30 PM: Poems-For-All is pleased to welcome Donald Sidney-Fryer presenting The Atlantis Fragments, his omnibus edition of the trilogy, Songs and Sonnets Atlantean. The Book Collector, 1008 24th St., Sacramento. Info: 916-442-9295.
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Perspectives needs poems! NOW!
John McCreadie, Editor of Perspectives, the bimonthly arts magazine of the Arts Council of Placer County, writes: I wonder if you might know poets who’d be interested in submitting holiday season-themed poetry. I’d like to do something bright and cheery in our Nov/Dec edition. Looking for something that captures the holiday/human spirit or snowy season or by-the-fire poetry. Probably not to exceed 300 words. Send them my way no later than Weds., Sept. 24. We will consider all submissions, but do not guarantee we will publish any of them. Submissions should include a phone no. and email address for reaching the poet. Send them to perspectives@PlacerArts.org. Info: (530) 878-6727.
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OCEAN
—Robert Grossklaus
Sacrifice the night to ebullient dreams
where dripping lips and oceanic stares
drown in awe all that encircles the flesh.
A breath for salt-filled lungs in a gasping for life...
A hunger for death in the softness.
___________________
TOYBOX SPILLED BLOOD ON THE MOON
—Robert Grossklaus
Grace, a quality
absent this ground
when the sun's presence
still echoes across the ridge
and the winds shout angrily
at aluminum siding.
Sleep dear, sleep
the night leaves too soon.
Sleep, sleep, that you may wake
Tomorrow is a promise that I just can't make
Afternoons were always spent waiting
for the dark glory of moonlight
and the soft humming of gunfire
in the distant hills
to trickle through the evening winds
into his toybox of memories
that he would, on occasion,
open as one might wish on a
penny in the stillness of a watershed.
__________________
TORRID
—Robert Grossklaus
Sovereign kiss of summer,
stay that midnight heat
full of weary and dread;
the door opens to sultry thoroughfares
and the sky stills that brash hollow.
Seen once in a dream,
the oak tree, branches drawn down,
barren in the trenches.
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Today's LittleNip:
FEAR
—Charles Simic
Fear passes from man to man
Unknowing,
As one leaf passes its shudder
To another.
All at once the whole tree is trembling
And there is no sign of the wind.
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—Medusa
SnakeWatch: What's New from Rattlesnake Press:
Now available at The Book Collector in Sacramento, and (soon) from rattlesnakepress.com/: Thirteen Poems, a new chapbook from Patrick Grizzell; #2 in Katy Brown's series of blank journals (Musings2: Vices, Virtues and Obsessions); a free littlesnake broadside (Wind Physics) from Jordan Reynolds; plus Issue #19 of Rattlesnake Review (also free!). Contributor and subscription copies of RR19 will be going into the mail this week. Next deadline for submissions is November 15.
Coming in October: October’s release at The Book Collector on Weds., Oct. 8, will feature a new rattlechap from Moira Magneson (He Drank Because) and a littlesnake broadside from Hatch Graham (Circling of the Pack). That's at the Book Collector, 1008 24th St., Sacramento, 7:30 PM. Refreshments and a read-around will follow; bring your own poems or somebody else’s.
Then, on Thursday, Oct. 30, 8 PM, Rattlesnake Press will release two SpiralChaps to honor and celebrate Luna’s Café, including a new collection of art and poetry from B.L. Kennedy (Luna’s House of Words) and an anthology of Luna’s poets, artists and photographs (La Luna: Poetry Unplugged at Luna’s Café) edited by Frank Andrick. Come travel with our Away Team as we leave the Home of the Snake for a brief road trip/time travel to Luna’s Café, 1414 16th St., Sacramento to celebrate Art Luna and the 13 years of Luna's long-running poetry series. Who knows what auspicious adventures await us there?
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 (sometimes): 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 and in-between! 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.