To Kiss the Earth Again

RIGHTING SAMPLE
—Jordan Reynolds, Carmichael

I have a brown cat.
I have a cat the color of dirt.
The color of the dirt beneath tomatoes.
Its eyes are a wild blue.
Its eyes look like the sky fell in them.
My cat sleeps into itself.
It sleeps like a moth sleeps.
I’ve never seen a moth not moving.
I have a field of statued squirrels
and a yard where women twirl
plastic guns.
I have a lollipop like a tree
and an electric dog that sleeps
all night and runs all day.
I have seen a plastic gun thrown
into the blue void.
The blue is the sky
and the white is where
the sky escapes.
I have seen guns with real
bullets that remain firm in
women’s hands, in children’s hands,
in angry men’s hands.
I have seen waste lain to
the trees.
And the squirrels have moved
at every glance.

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Thanks, Jordan! Join us on Weds., Sept. 10 at The Book Collector for the release of a free littlesnake broadside, Wind Physics, from Jordan Reynolds. More of his work will also be featured in Rattlesnake Review #19, due out the same day. And click on August 2008 at the right of this column, then scroll down to the 4th for Medusa's feature on Jordan, including a photo.


Garrison Keillor Sept. 17:

Raconteur and radio personality Garrison Keillor will appear at the Crest Theater, 1013 K St., Sacramento on Weds., Sept. 17 at 1 PM. Tickets are $30 and are on sale through Tickets.com or 800-225-2277, or in person at the Crest box office. Also on sale are subscriptions for the six-lecture 2008 California Lecture Series, which are $162 at 916-737-1300 or californialectures.org/. This year’s speakers include Julia Glass (Oct. 23); John Updike (Nov. 11); Daniel Handler (Feb. 5); Richard Price (Mar. 12); Jim Lehrer (Apr. 2) and former U.S. Poet Laureate Rita Dove (May 13). Single tickets, which are $27, will go on sale Sept. 29. The lecture series, also held at the Crest, starts at 7:30 PM. Info: 916-737-1300 or californialectures.org/.


This weekend in NorCal poetry:

•••Saturday (9/6), 10 AM to 4:30 PM: Third Annual Art Book Fair at the Crocker: unique and limited-edition used art books on sale, plus activities for all ages: signings, story time, hands-on art making. Victorian garden near entrance to Crocker Art Museum, 216 O St., Sacramento. Free; museum admission free with purchase. Info: Museum store, 916-808-5531.

•••Saturday (9/6), 6-8 PM: Sacramento poet, artist and photographer (and SpiralChapper) Joe Finkleman will have 19 breathtaking photos on display at Photo Lab, 2235 Fifth St., Berkeley, starting this Saturday. There'll be lots of yummy free catered food and a chance to chat, too.

•••Monday (9/8), 7:30 PM: Sacramento Poetry Center presents Terry a O’ Neal at HQ for the Arts, 25th & R Sts., Sacramento. Terry a O’ Neal was born Terry Williams on June 15, 1973 in Stockton, California to parents Henry and Barbara Williams. There she lived for the first eighteen years of her life. She attended Commodore Skills School from kindergarten through the eighth grade. After graduating from Franklin Senior High School in Stockton, she went on to attend California State University of Sacramento, majoring in Criminal Justice. Her poetry has been published in numerous magazines, journals and newspapers. Her previous publications include Motion Sickness, The Poet Speaks in Black and Good Mornin’ Glory; two children’s books, Ev’ry Little Soul and My Jazz Shoes; and the award-winning family fiction novel, Sweet Lavender.

Coming up at SPC on Monday, Sept. 15: Jim Nolt.


Congratulation, Jeanine Stevens!

The newest issue of the outstanding poetry journal, Ekphrasis, which is published by our own Carol and Laverne Frith right here in Sacramento, is out, and in it they announce that Rattlechapper Jeanine Stevens is one of the finalists in the 2008 Ekphrasis Prize Competition. Congrats, Jeanine! For ordering and subscription information to Ekphrasis, the journal that celebrates ekphrasitic poetry, click on the link to the right of this column.

__________________

THE PLACE FOR NO STORY
—Robinson Jeffers

The coast hills at Sovranes Creek:
No trees, but dark scant pasture drawn thin
Over rock shaped like flame;
The old ocean at the land's foot, the vast
Gray extension beyond the long white violence;
A herd of cows and the bull
Far distant, hardly apparent up the dark slope;
And the gray air haunted with hawks:
This place is the noblest thing I have ever seen.

No imaginable

Human presence here could do anything
But dilute the lonely self-watchful passion.

__________________

RETURN
—Robinson Jeffers

A little too abstract, a little too wise,
It is time for us to kiss the earth again,
It is time to let the leaves rain from the skies,
Let the rich life run to the roots again.
I will go down to the lovely Sur Rivers
And dip my arms in them up to the shoulders.
I will find my accounting where the alder leaf quivers
In the ocean wind over the river boulders.
I will touch things and things and no more thoughts,
That breed like mouthless May-flies darkening the sky,
The insect clouds that blind our passionate hawks
So that they cannot strike, hardly can fly.
Things are the hawk's food and noble is the mountain,

Oh noble

Pico Blanco, steep sea-wave of marble.

__________________

Today's LittleNip:

DIGGING WONDER
—A.R. Ammons

Immediacy's stone
has

outlasted

every other
stone

__________________

—Medusa


SnakeWatch: What's Up With Rattlesnake Press

September 10, we shall roar back onto the scene with Thirteen Poems, a new chapbook from Patrick Grizzell; #2 in Katy Brown's series of blank journals (Musings2: Vices, Virtues and Obsessions); a littlesnake broadside (Wind Physics) from Jordan Reynolds; plus Issue #19 of Rattlesnake Review (next deadline, for Issue #20, is November 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 (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.......!

_________________

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.