Cleo Fellers Kocol, Roseville
PRIZE
—Anthony Buccino, Nutley, NJ
There's the prize I missed out on
Now other poets will be
eating my lunch
Every time I get news
like this
I want to throw away
all my inks
Who needs the competition
breathing on me
And the prize don't mean much to me
(I'm lying. It would be nice)
Just you wait and see
when I come back
from this temporary
self-exile station
I'll whip up words to wow them
and I'll spread myself before
the giant trough to gorge
on the temporary glory
it annoys me now
not to know.
__________________
This weekend in Norcal poetry:
•••Saturday (1/10), 2 PM: Poets in the Citrus Heights Area 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. Margaret Bell further explains this new group: Everyone is invited to participate in monthly poetry and creative art sessions at Barnes & Noble on Sunrise Boulevard. The first session will start at 2 p.m. on January 10. Subsequent meetings will be held on the second Saturday of each month. At the January meeting, local poets will share information in a brief presentation outlining how poetry has changed over the years to reflect modern tastes and demonstrate that point by reading one or two poems written recently by Billy Collins, a two-term Poet Laureate who is possibly the most popular published poet today. Reviewers throughout the country celebrate his ability to create easily understood poetry that modern readers appreciate. The presentation will conclude with local poets reading some of their own creations. Another program on February 14 will feature love poems. Future programs in this series will feature local writers, painters, musicians, or other creative artists and demonstrate how poetry relates to and supports their efforts.
For more info about Cleo Kocol, see her Medusa feature on Sept. 12, 2008. (Click on "September, 2008" in the archives, and scroll down to the 12th.)
•••Sat. (1/10), 4-7 PM: 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.
•••Sat. (1/10), 10-11:30 AM: 2nd and 4th Poetry Center Saturday Poetry Workshop at the South Natomas Community Center (next to the library), 2901 S. Truxel Rd., Sacramento. Bring 10 copies of your one-page poem for workshopping. Frank Graham and Emmanuel Sigauke, facilitators. FREE!
•••Monday (1/12), 7:30 PM: Sacramento Poetry Center presents Kate Asche at HQ for the Arts, 25th & R Sts., Sacramento. Open mic to follow. Kate Asche, M.A., a graduate of the UC Davis Creative Writing Program, is a poet/essayist and writing teacher. She won two Elliot Gilbert Prizes in Poetry and was nominated for University of California poet laureate and for Best New Poets 2006 (Meridian Magazine). She is advisory coordinator of The Tomales Bay Workshops (directed by Pam Houston) and also coordinates UC Davis Extension's Arts and Humanities programs. She has recently joined the Sacramento Poetry Center and also started an online writing group. She plays clarinet in a local trio and quintet and loves to cook (and eat) and travel, as well as relax with her photographer-husband and their two black cats, Tuna and Pearl.
___________________
IT WASN’T SEX
—Sammie Robertson-Corp, Coos Bay, OR
You were face to face with death
I don’t know why I felt so close to you
Maybe I wanted a peek…
Of where you were headed
Of where we’re all headed.
They said you felt embarrassed
Your bodily functions were letting you down
They said it was your male ego
I wanted to say it did not matter to me
You were still a vital man, your mind still sharp.
My part in your passing was brief
I had information on your green burial
I shared facts you wanted that would ease your mind
We shared a couple of sad and funny stories
Suddenly…It was time for me to go.
As I stood up, I realized this would be a last good-bye.
I wanted to show my appreciation for knowing you
Should I kiss your hand which I now held?
Should I kiss your forehead or your cheek?
All these gestures seemed to diminish your dignity.
I will never know why I did what I did
So simple and meaningless in and of itself
Perhaps it was my way of showing you respect…as a man
I bent over your bed and kissed you on the lips
It was only for a second…it wasn’t sex.
You did not know that my lips had not touched
The lips of a man for eight years, but I knew.
Perhaps in the end, it was my way of saying
That you mattered in life, that you were still a man.
Somehow I felt you knew…exactly what I meant.
__________________
Today's LittleNip:
LAST LAUGH
—Anthony Buccino
When was the last
time you really laughed
you laughed so hard
you couldn't stop
you laughed so hard
you couldn't see
you laughed so hard
you lost your breath
you laughed so hard
you forget how long it's been
you laughed until it hurt
__________________
—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.......!
_________________
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.