Photo by Barbara March
AWAITING THE INAUGURATION
we are confounded with
black, white, percentages of gray
moods of winter to be examined
marveled at, fashioned into resolution
but we have so few words for ice, snow
swirling snow not smoke or fog
but snow smoke trailing behind
a truck on a sub zero night
frozen fog on black horse lashes
we seek settlement
in this time of anticipation
—Barbara March, Cedarville
__________________
we are confounded with
black, white, percentages of gray
moods of winter to be examined
marveled at, fashioned into resolution
but we have so few words for ice, snow
swirling snow not smoke or fog
but snow smoke trailing behind
a truck on a sub zero night
frozen fog on black horse lashes
we seek settlement
in this time of anticipation
—Barbara March, Cedarville
__________________
Thanks, Barbara! The inauguration is an open door, for sure. And thanks to Mitz Sackman, Donald Anderson and Taylor Graham for their poetic responses to last week's Seed of the Week: Opening Doors.
This week in NorCal poetry:
•••Tonight (Monday, 1/5), 7:30 PM: Sacramento Poetry Center presents James Lee Jobe and Monica Storss at HQ for the Arts, 1719 25th St., Sacramento. James Lee Jobe has been published in Manzanita, Tule Review, Pearl, and many other periodicals. His poems are also included in The Sacramento Anthology: 100 Poems; Jewel of the Valley: A California Anthology; and How To Be This Man: The Walter Pavlich Memorial Anthology. From 1994-1999 Jobe was the editor and publisher of One Dog Press, a poetry monthly. He also edited the quarterly Clan of the Dog. Jobe has 4 chapbooks published; the most recent is What God Said When She Finally Answered Me from Rattlesnake Press. He lives in Davis, CA with his wife and children.
Monica Lita Storss is a left-coast writer with an affinity for the Deep South. Her work focuses on the appearance of the alchemic in everyday life, feminism and femininity, the organic world, punk rock, and meta-everything, including narrative. Known for her collaborative work, she currently works with Out of Context, a guerilla poetry and arts collective. She is a founding member of the San Francisco-based Out of Context, and the founder of the Roanoke Writer's Collective in Portland, Oregon. Her work has appeared in the likes of: Mercury, Cartographia, The Suisun Valley Review. A teacher and writer, Monica holds a Master's degree in Creative Writing from the University of California at Davis. She is married to the poet Arthur Rimbaud.
Coming January 12 to SPC: Kate Asche
•••Thursday (1/8), 8 PM: Poetry Unplugged at Luna's Cafe, 1414 16th St., Sacramento. Featured readers with open mic before and after.
•••Saturday (1/10), 2 PM: Citrus Heights Area Poets present Cleo Fellers Kocol at Barnes & Noble on Sunrise Blvd. in Citrus Heights. Cleo will speak on "Poets From Antiquity" (including an excerpt from Ovid's Art of Love), extending the history with some poetry of her own that brings the subject more up-to-date and USA-centered. Open mic follows.
•••Calaveras County has a new weekly open mic program (which includes but is not limited to poetry) on Saturdays at World Mercantile in Angels Camp from 4-7 PM, 1267 South Main St., Angels Camp, 209-890-7155.
___________________
WELCOME TO YOUR NEW WORLD
—Michelle Sackman
You remember that day well
Your first time
When you stepped up to the counter
The clerk said Ma’m
You looked behind
No older woman was there
You’d been Ma’med!
___________________
SEA OF CORTEZ
—Taylor Graham, Placerville
Podium-
speak: bleak and bleaker:
how to keep
the seabirds
from starving. Oceans
overfished. Ten pounds of star-
fish and manta rays
killed for each
pound of market shrimp.
See how the
heavy and
the weary weight of mankind’s
progress drags us down.
Open the door,
step outside. Inhale
the deep dark.
Stars above
luminous, tiding ocean,
our own briny lives.
__________________
THINKING FROZEN IN THE MOMENT
—Donald R. Anderson, Stockton
Is there a light at the end of the tunnel?
Run, run, we'll get there faster!
Stop, panting, hands, down, on, knees.
Why does the air seem so cold, so damp?
It's the old year huddled in the dark.
Oh, that light seems so foggy,
so misty,
so glowing it blurs.
I'll freeze if I don't rush.
The eyes open,
light immense around Tiger Yogurt,
brain freeze upon the mouth.
"Put your thumb on the roof of your mouth!"
"It will make the brain freeze go away!"
But I stop and wait,
letting it pass naturally.
I don't want to let the old year
quite, just yet,
slip away.
__________________
Today's LittleNip:
YOU ARE A STOOL PIGEON
—Martial (Marcus Valerius Martialis, A.D. 40-104)
You are a stool pigeon and
A slanderer, a pimp and
A cheat, a pederast and
A troublemaker. I can't
Understand, Vacerra, why
You don't have more money.
(translated from the Latin by Kenneth Rexroth)
__________________
—Medusa
SnakeWatch: What's New from Rattlesnake Press:
Rattlesnake Review: The latest issue (#20) is currently available at The Book Collector, or send me two bux and I'll mail you one. The last of contributors' copies has gone into the mail. Deadline for RR21 is February 15: send 3-5 poems, smallish art pieces and/or photos (no bio, no cover letter, no simultaneous submissions or previously-published poems) to kathykieth@hotmail.com or P.O. Box 762, Pollock Pines, CA 95726. E-mail attachments are preferred, but be sure to include all contact info, including snail address. Meanwhile, the snakes of Medusa are always hungry!
Coming in January: Other than the ever-restless Medusa, the Snake will be snoozing during January; no releases or readings. But our October road trips inspired a new Rattlesnake publication, WTF, to be edited by frank andrick. This 30-page, chapbook-style (free) quarterly will primarily showcase the talents of readers at Poetry Unplugged at Luna’s Café, but anyone over 18 is welcome to submit. Deadline is Jan. 15 for a Feb. 19 premiere at Luna’s. Submission guidelines are the same as for the Snake, but please send three poems (each one page or less in length), photos, smallish art or prose pieces (500 words or less) to fandrickfabpub@hotmail.com (attachments preferred) or, if you’re snailing, to P.O. Box 762, Pollock Pines, CA 95726. And be forewarned: this publication will be for adults only! so you must be over 18 years of age to submit.
Also available now (free): littlesnake broadside #46: Snake Secrets: Getting Your Poetry Published in Rattlesnake Press (and lots of other places, besides!): A compendium of ideas for brushing up on your submissions process so as to make editors everywhere more happy, thereby increasing the likelihood of getting your poetry published. Pick up a copy at TBC or write to me and I'll send you one. Free!
Coming February 11: A new rattlechap from Sacramento's Poet Laureate, Julia Connor (Oar); a littlesnake broadside from Josh Fernandez (In The End, It’s A Worthless Machine); and the premiere of our new Rattlesnake Reprints, featuring The Dimensions of the Morning by D.R. Wagner, which was first published by Black Rabbit Press in 1969. That’s February 11 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.
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 SOWs; 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.