Like I Love The Loons

Reflections
Photo by Jane Blue, Sacramento

I DREAM OF APPLES
—Chris Campbell, Woodland

Eve sashays through Johnny’s orchard,
wishing she could cast off her high heels
and run barefoot in the meadow again.

A nameless Frenchman
in a bowler hat exclaims
“Cela n’est pas une pomme!”

The princess turns icy pale
remembering the red delicious
once lodged in her throat.

The doctor stays away.

Little Billy walks tall and
straight past the picket fence,
eager to tell his hero’s tale.

And Isaac ambles,
discovering starlight and possibility
in each and every orb.

__________________

Thanks to Chris Campbell for the poem, and to Jane Blue for the photo! Chris has never sent anything to the Snake before, but he claims he's been skulking around in the shadows, peering into the Kitchen... If you're one of those lurkers who hasn't gotten their feet wet, yet—now's the time! Sunday is the deadline for Rattlesnake Review #21 (the Snake turns 21!). 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. And watch for more of Jane and Chris's work in Snake 21, due out in mid-March.

We're talking about looooove. Our Seed of the Week is Love is Heaven, Love is Hell. Here are two on the subject from RR columnist Taylor Graham:


PORTAGE
—Taylor Graham, Placerville

If this were a lake of loons—
I mean a lake of shimmers and illusion,
where black-bright dappling on the surface
could mean deep waves or maybe
moon on storm-skin or just
the loons that dive and surface—

if this were that northern lake
thundering in its throat like loons,
their sinuous long trumpets,
their wings that carry weather
across white-cap surfaces
laughing at the drowning deeps—

if this were that lake of loons
we canoed together, stormy, years ago
magnetic not by compass,
I’d be in love with you the way I love
those birds of prehistoric feather
and the ancient wail,

the loons that laugh at wind on water.
Over years I’ve learned
how weather turns us. Yet I’d go
with you, to ride again
the crazy waves and storm-clouds
just out of sight from shore.

___________________

LOST IN TWO CARS
—Taylor Graham

Somewhere in Nevada my mother
stands on the highway shoulder
beside the old Dodge, waiting
for her second husband, my father
driving the ‘50 Ford, to miss
her in the rearview mirror.

That’s the thing about traveling
in pairs. Even though my father
turned around at last
with enough daylight left
to fix the flat, and then,
late as it was, find a motel
with a vacancy and a double bed,
and a cot for the child—even then,

it wasn’t the way she intended
the trip to turn out.

__________________

Tonight—A Two-fer!

Tonight begins a NorCal poetry marathon of sorts, with more readings for the next four days than you can shake a stick at [see last Monday's post]! Starting at 7:30 tonight, Rattlesnake Press will be releasing 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.

Afterward, head on over to Luna’s Café, 1414 16th St., Sacramento (8 PM), for Music, Poetry, Art and Luna’s Liquados, featuring Christopher Fairman & Nick York (chriskfairman@aol.com or http://www.myspace.com/christopherfairman), These Bloody Kids (http://www.myspace.com/thesebloodykids), Jay Shaner (myspace.com/Jayshaner), frank andrick (fandrickfabpub@hotmail.com or http://www.myspace.com/francois/poete) and Jimmy Ray West Jr. $3-4 cover charge.

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Poppin' at SPC!

On Monday's post, I misspoke—said there would be no Sacramento Poetry Center reading this coming Monday. My bad. Big doin's are planned this Monday night, as well as the on-going workshop this Saturday, the book contest, two spring classes, and the annual weekend workshop, coming in April:

•••Monday, Feb. 16, 7:30 PM: African-American Poetry Night with Terry Moore, Khiry Malik Moore, Indigo Moor, Mario Ellis Hill, Dawn DiBartolo, V. S. Chochezi and others. That’s at HQ for the Arts, 1719 25th St., Sacramento. Non-alcoholic refreshments available. Terry Moore is a dynamic and electrifying nationally known, experienced, and respected performer. [http://www.terrymoore.info/html/poetry.html] Khiry Malik Moore is a fan of Nina Simone and able to say this: "In the '70's we were raised against the stereotypes of dumb and stupid, but now in 2008, dumb and stupid got a movement." [http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewProfile&friendID=16811047]
Indigo Moor is a poet, author, and playwright. His first book of poetry, Tap-Root, was published in 2006 [http://www.indigomoor.com/]. Mario Ellis Hill is a host at Luna’s [http://www.lunascafe.com/] and a Sacramento poet. Dawn DiBartolo has a rattlechap coming up from Rattlesnake Press next fall. Her work can be read at http://www.strangeroad.com/Poetry/DawnDiBartolo.php.

•••Sat. (2/14), 10-11:30 AM: 2nd and 4th Poetry Center Saturday Poetry Workshop, 10-11:30 AM 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. Contact Frank Graham or Emmanuel Sigauke, facilitators. FREE!

•••Sacramento Poetry Center presents two classes this spring in its Room to Write series. The first is an opportunity to study “Six Poets Who Changed Our Poetic Landscape”: Merwin, Bly, Rich, O’Hara, Kinnell and Levine. Led by John Allen Cann, professor of English at Cosumnes River College, the class will meet at HQ for the Arts of Tuesdays for six sessions in March and April. Cost is $120, plus $50 text. (Drop-ins $20/session.)

The second class will be a free screenwriting class with Walter Klenhard, a professional screenwriter who has recently come to the Sacramento area from Southern Cal. This seven-session workshop will teach building blocks, and students will write short scenes; advanced writers will have the opportunity to re-write scripts. The class will meet on Wednesdays, beginning Feb. 25. This workshop is free, but size will be limited to ten participants, and you must pre-register.

For more info about these classes or to register, call Bob Stanley at 916-240-1897 or email him at bobstanley@sbcglobal.net/.

•••The Sacramento Poetry Center is now accepting submissions for its First Annual Poetry Book Contest. The winning poetry book manuscript (48-70 pages) will be published by the SPC Press, and the winner will also receive the Cathy Washington Prize of $1000 and 50 free copies of the book. SPC will also consider publishing additional manuscripts. Deadline is March 31. For more info, plus submission guidelines, see the current issue of Poetry Now or go to www.sacramentopoetrycenter.org.

•••Save the dates of April 3-4 for SPC's Annual Weekend Workshop! More info later...

__________________

RECHARGEABLE DRY CELL POEM
—Jim Wayne Miller

I used to love to lie awake past bedtime
reading by flashlight under the breathing covers.
Maybe that's why I take you to bed like a book now &
open you to a good place & turning
your pages quietly, love you to the end.
Explains why I'm Eveready, why
you're a strange new story every time.

__________________

MY LOVE
—Richard Shelton

when the crows fly away
with their compassion
and I remain to eat
whatever is left of my heart

I think of my love
with the odor of salt
of my love who holds me in her eyes
as if I were whole and beautiful

and I think of those
who walk the streets all night
frantic with desire and bruised
by the terrible small lips of rain

I touch you
as a blind man touches the dice
and finds he has won

__________________

Today's LittleNip:

WARMTH
—Barton Sutter

Sometimes want makes touch too much.
I hold my hands over your body
Like someone come in from the cold
Who takes off his clothes
And holds out his hands to the stove.

__________________

—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. 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; let us know if your submission is for the Review or for Medusa, or for either one.

Also available (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 The Book Collector or write to me and I'll send you one. Free!

Coming in February: On Weds., February 11, Rattlesnake Press will be releasing 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.

And on February 19, the premiere of our new, free Poetry Unplugged quarterly, WTF, edited by frank andrick, will be celebrated at Luna's Cafe, 1414 16th St., Sacramento, 8 PM. (For those of you just tuning in, Poetry Unplugged is the long-running reading series at Luna's Cafe.)


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, or any other day!): 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.