Allan Johnston
LAST NIGHT
—Allan Johnston, Evanston, IL
Last night I took my telephone out
for a walk. The stars were calling.
It was high time. I needed to watch it.
Stars phone water. What can I say?
The pointillist or needle machine
of the abashed heavens? Up there
atomic wars twinkle, it's the fashion.
Last night the ice was skimming
watch-face thin across the water,
moving like God in crazed creation,
for the ice, too, crazed as I stepped,
and there were coins of snow
strong as a pulse as they feathered through
the air. The world was involving itself
with winter; I didn't know who to call
any longer, or what to call them:
freezing, still, intense, near sorrow.
Last night I looked at what I thought
to be the grave of everything,
and I was right. The seasons danced
like aging acrobats,
the fire sign couldn't do anything.
Last night the heavens announced the news:
There is only peace on earth.
(originally appeared in Flnid's English)
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Thanks, Allan! Allan Johnston lives near Chicago, where he teaches writing and literature at DePaul University and Columbia College. His poems have appeared in Poetry, Poetry East, Rattle, The MacGuffin, Rhino, Weber Studies, and over 60 other journals. He has also published one book of poems, Tasks of Survival. Among his awards are placement in the New Letters poetry competition and a fellowship from the Illinois Arts Council.
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Is it Friday already?? We missed a Thursday Drive-by! My bad...
B.L.'s Drive-Bys: A Micro-Review from B.L. Kennedy:
California Gothic
by Dennis Etchison
DreamHaven Books
1309 Fourth Street, S.E.
Minneapolis, Minnesota 55414-2029
$28, 216pp, Hardcover
ISBN 0-9630944-6-7
I’ll tell you that it is not easy finding unique titles and authors to review, so it blows your mind when it happens all at once—with not one but two titles by writer Dennis Etchison, the author of such classics as DarkSide and short story collections, The Dark Country, Red Dreams and The Blood Kiss. Etchison is, simply put, one of the best writers out there today. You may ask “Why haven’t we heard of him?” The simple answer would be BIG BOX BOOK PUBLISHING and BIG BOOK BOOKSTORES!
Whenever or wherever you see a book by Dennis Etchison and have the chance to purchase it, do so without question. You cannot go wrong with the investment. His books are not easy to find, but please do hunt them down. Hunt them down and bury yourself in the narrative.
—B.L. Kennedy, Reviewer-in-Residence
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This weekend's NorCal poetry:
•••Friday (9/19), 7:30 PM: An Evening of Baroque Poetry: Annual All-Spanish reading based on the poems of the Mexican nun, Sor Juana Inés de La Cruz. La Raza Galeria Posada, 1-24 22nd St., Sacramento. Presented by Escritores del Nuevo Sol / Writers of the New Sun. Donation: $5, or as you can afford. Info: 916-456-5323.
•••Friday (9/19), 7:30 PM: The Other Voice presents James Lee Jobe at The Unitarian Universalist Church of Davis, 27074 Patwin Road, Davis. Allegra Silberstein will host. There will be an open reading following the featured reader. This is a free event. Info: 530-750-3514.
•••Friday (9/19), 7 PM: Poetry at Raven's Tale Bookstore, 352 Main St., Placerville. Featured readers are Indigo Moor and Quinton Duval. A short poetry open-mic follows (signup before the featured readers). There is no charge.
•••Saturday (9/20), 4-6 PM: Autumn edition of the Women's Writing Salon; men are welcome to join the audience, too. Coffee Town, 134 S. Auburn St., Grass Valley. Entrance is free, food and beverages are available at the cafe. Readers include Doreen Domb, Grace Fae, Grace Tea, Robin Zimmerman, Chris Irving, Betsy Graziani Fasbinder. Info: bgf2u@sbcglobal.net or Patricia Miller, dovepat@oro.net/.
•••Saturday (9/20), 7-9 PM: Underground Books poetry series presents Claudia Epperson and The Forgotton One at 2814 35th St. (off 35th & Broadway), Sacramento. $3.00. Info: (916) 208-POET.
•••Monday (9/22), 7:30 PM: Sacramento Poetry Center presents Robert Grossklaus and Miles Miniacci, with music by Litany. HQ for the Arts, 25th & R Sts., Sacramento. Open mic after.
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DEPARTURES
—Allan Johnston
Picture the wicker of the rippled water
as he remembers it, or recall
the surface burnished smooth as stone, the weather
easy as a summer ought to be;
easy as the liquor in the glass
through which the table's curvature distorts
into a bulging eye, or else an egg
forever unbroken. After it passes the lip,
the loud song of vodka in the mouth
details another moment of departure,
another salutation to the missing
that brings him back across the continent
to face again the place where waves slap down
and splash the land below the orange-brown cliffs
he'd climb down to reach the sea and find her
mottled in foam and in memoranda of driftwood,
in the hottentot fig and coastal flowers
that open spiked heads outward toward water.
On the bicycle path he'd follow homeward
past the fields where deer feed in wild wheat,
the black heads of grasses sway in breezes
before you and behind you. If you remember
the waves of grass, if you recall the sound
of birds as they chirp their hopelessness,
if you recall the seed of loss that opened
in his voice, the dream of the second person,
then you know the time is ripe for departure,
for the land between us is as real
as the brief stretch of my hand before my eye,
and yet as ineffaceable as stone,
as insistent as the patterning of water
and as hard as the broken love that comes between us.
(originally appeared in Dickinson Review)
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SANTA ANA
—Allan Johnston
suddenly it comes out of nowhere
upsetting the venetian blind, attacking
the rubber plant, knocking the sash cord
against the TV's whispering.
out of the nowhere of the mad
igniting the air, fusing the senses
with smells of the south, with heat in its jaws
it breathes out the block of summer,
the sweat and heaviness
out of nowhere in the house
is now gone out the window
leaving sweat drying on the skin,
the heart beating, a hot wind that somewhere
justifies murder, as if lit
with the yell of air. It fires the man-hide,
dries skin, cleans mind, callously refreshes.
(originally appeared in Orbis)
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AFTER SUMMER'S DROWNING
—Allan Johnston
Carapaces of ice on branches
Dagger downward to surfaces
Where with the ease of dancers,
The skaters now start winter
Gliding across the water's surplus,
Defying frozen air.
In the cold-bleached atmosphere
Of blades tracing a lace
Upon the ice, all calling hinders
Any pursuit of answers
For what lies under the face
Of incommunicable dances.
They come gliding—brief glancers
Into beauty, recrossing the trace
Of their own blades' cuttings, fixed trances
Revealing enchanted splendors
Of art for itself. Such givers of grace
Abstract thought or fear
Out of the under-surface. Here,
Above, tops spinning on glass,
Crystal harmonics of light! The wonder
Of such figured elegance
Surrenders winter to this place.
No longer do fretful glances
Linger on the hand that launches
Out of that water; the moment's waste
Becomes a remembered slant
Of sunlight drifting on the blanch
Of drunken stupor bringing the pass
Over the boat edge; whiskey and beer
Can blast memory, destroy clear
Remembrance, as a knife would slash
So easily through all the staunched
Surprise of beauty. No need to repent
The way even death is bathed
In such watery runs of romance.
(originally appeared on CAPSU online)
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Today's LittleNip:
It's silly to suggest the writing of poetry as something ethereal, a sort of soul-crashing emotional experience that wrings you. I have no fancy ideas about poetry. It doesn't come to you on the wings of a dove. It's something you work hard at.
—Louise Bogan
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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.