Arched Door at Peterov Palace
Photo by Bob Dreizler, Sacramento
MUSEUM ENCOUNTER
—Allegra Silberstein, Davis
By chance our eyes met;
we smiled across haystacks,
canvas creations of another age,
our eyes a present spring.
You traveled on to Picasso,
to his abstract violin,
while I lingered
in his blue period.
__________________
Thanks to Allegra Silberstein for today's poems, and to Bob Dreizler for the lovely photo. See Rattlesnake Review for more of Bob's work, or go to http://photo.net/photos/bdreizler/. And thanks also to Mitz Sackman, for her true stories about every editor's nightmare...
Two Sunday Doin's:
•••Sunday (2/22), 11 AM: El Camino Poets (a chapter of California Society of Chaparral Poets, Inc.) meet at the Ethel Hart Sr. Center, 27th & J Sts., Sacramento for a poetry workshop. Bring 8 copies of your poems for critique. All poets welcome.
•••Donald Anderson of Stockton and Poets Espresso writes: Hi, friends of Sun Shadow Mountain poetry and art anthology contributors! I'm being interviewed, including discussion of Sun Shadow Mountain, on Champagne Sundays variety & entertainment radio, which airs live this Sunday, Feb. 22, from 11am-1pm PST. I'll be on around noon. Come and listen to the interview on the show. The link to use for this is: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/Southwest-Blend/2009/02/22/Art-Music-Food/.
___________________
WONDERS OF COMPUTER WORLD
—Mitz Sackman, Murphys
Have you ever trusted spell-check
And had a nightmare experience
To your ultimate dismay
Everyone has stories
When I wrote the poem
"Mam’ed"
The word it suggested instead
Was maimed
Not too far off
Of the truth
But I stuck with what
I knew: "Mam’ed"
As the maimed expression
Of the first
Intimation of aging
For a woman
A more traumatic experience
Was that of a young
Very white-faced
Coworker who
Re-read a mailing
Already sent out
To an audience of five hundred
When she discover
A critical "l"
Left out of “public relations”
__________________
WHEN LOVE HAS BEEN ANNULLED
—Allegra Silberstein
when all your sentimental figurines
broken on the Persian rug
scatter dust that dulls
the bright colors
and you shiver in the quiet
you longed for yesterday
when you spin round and round
in your square space
and centrifugal force holds in
what will spill out
when the whirling stops
when hope is pierced like
the written page you push into
over and over
when your pen runs dry
when the
when after when
goes on and on…
__________________
WHEN MIDNIGHT COMES
—Allegra Silberstein
After you leave
the sky globe curves
with saffron
beneath the horizon.
Day disappears
in a well of space.
Evening comes.
The dark gauze of night is
fastened with a scatter stars.
December Mars is near
a swelling moon.
.
Whispers of the dark,
songs remembered
lead me onward
in this starry night
but who will hold me
when midnight comes?
___________________
GATES OF THE VALLEY
(Yosemite National Park—Winter)
—Allegra Silberstein
Clouds seep around the edges
of the mountain and curl
into the trees edging a meadow
covered with snow: a soft white quilt
with little tufts of grass
to stitch the surface.
Close by, one branch
with spiny, prickly appendages
bends toward the meadow—
a folded heart
echoing the curve of the clouds.
(Poem inspired by an Ansel Adams photograph)
___________________
—Allegra Silberstein, Davis
By chance our eyes met;
we smiled across haystacks,
canvas creations of another age,
our eyes a present spring.
You traveled on to Picasso,
to his abstract violin,
while I lingered
in his blue period.
__________________
Thanks to Allegra Silberstein for today's poems, and to Bob Dreizler for the lovely photo. See Rattlesnake Review for more of Bob's work, or go to http://photo.net/photos/bdreizler/. And thanks also to Mitz Sackman, for her true stories about every editor's nightmare...
Two Sunday Doin's:
•••Sunday (2/22), 11 AM: El Camino Poets (a chapter of California Society of Chaparral Poets, Inc.) meet at the Ethel Hart Sr. Center, 27th & J Sts., Sacramento for a poetry workshop. Bring 8 copies of your poems for critique. All poets welcome.
•••Donald Anderson of Stockton and Poets Espresso writes: Hi, friends of Sun Shadow Mountain poetry and art anthology contributors! I'm being interviewed, including discussion of Sun Shadow Mountain, on Champagne Sundays variety & entertainment radio, which airs live this Sunday, Feb. 22, from 11am-1pm PST. I'll be on around noon. Come and listen to the interview on the show. The link to use for this is: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/Southwest-Blend/2009/02/22/Art-Music-Food/.
___________________
WONDERS OF COMPUTER WORLD
—Mitz Sackman, Murphys
Have you ever trusted spell-check
And had a nightmare experience
To your ultimate dismay
Everyone has stories
When I wrote the poem
"Mam’ed"
The word it suggested instead
Was maimed
Not too far off
Of the truth
But I stuck with what
I knew: "Mam’ed"
As the maimed expression
Of the first
Intimation of aging
For a woman
A more traumatic experience
Was that of a young
Very white-faced
Coworker who
Re-read a mailing
Already sent out
To an audience of five hundred
When she discover
A critical "l"
Left out of “public relations”
__________________
WHEN LOVE HAS BEEN ANNULLED
—Allegra Silberstein
when all your sentimental figurines
broken on the Persian rug
scatter dust that dulls
the bright colors
and you shiver in the quiet
you longed for yesterday
when you spin round and round
in your square space
and centrifugal force holds in
what will spill out
when the whirling stops
when hope is pierced like
the written page you push into
over and over
when your pen runs dry
when the
when after when
goes on and on…
__________________
WHEN MIDNIGHT COMES
—Allegra Silberstein
After you leave
the sky globe curves
with saffron
beneath the horizon.
Day disappears
in a well of space.
Evening comes.
The dark gauze of night is
fastened with a scatter stars.
December Mars is near
a swelling moon.
.
Whispers of the dark,
songs remembered
lead me onward
in this starry night
but who will hold me
when midnight comes?
___________________
GATES OF THE VALLEY
(Yosemite National Park—Winter)
—Allegra Silberstein
Clouds seep around the edges
of the mountain and curl
into the trees edging a meadow
covered with snow: a soft white quilt
with little tufts of grass
to stitch the surface.
Close by, one branch
with spiny, prickly appendages
bends toward the meadow—
a folded heart
echoing the curve of the clouds.
(Poem inspired by an Ansel Adams photograph)
___________________
FOR YOU
—Allegra Silberstein
This paper moon
waxing and waning
always returning
always there
a valentine in the deep bowl of sky
like love spooned out
seen and unseen
__________________
Today's LittleNip:
A book is a mirror; if an ass peers into it, you can't expect an apostle to peer out.
—Georg Christoph Lichtenberg
__________________
—Medusa
SnakeWatch: What's New from Rattlesnake Press:
Rattlesnake Review: The latest issue (RR20) is currently available at The Book Collector, or send me four bux and I'll mail you one. Deadline for RR21 was Sunday, Feb. 15; the issue will appear in mid-March. Next deadline is May 15 for RR22: 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!
New for February: Now available! A new rattlechap from Sacramento's Poet Laureate, Julia Connor (Oar); a free 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. Available from the poets or at The Book Collector (1008 24th St., Sacramento) or (soon) from rattlesnakepress.com/.
WTF is out!
Be sure to stop by The Book Collector to pick up your free copy of Rattlesnake Press's latest spawn, WTF—our new quarterly journal which premiered last night in a rousing event hosted by frank andrick which ran into the wee hours at Luna's Cafe. WTF #1 features 22 poets, artists and photogs from the Poetry Unplugged scene; next deadline is April 15 (oooo...tax day!). Guidelines are pretty much the same as the RR ones listed below, except that frank wants three poems (instead of 3-5), and you must be over 18 to submit. Send poems, artwork, and photos to fandrickpub@hotmail.com or the RPress snail address. If you can't get to The Book Collector, send me two bux and I'll mail you one, or, I suspect, they're available at Luna's.
What's the difference between Rattlesnake Review and WTF? The over-18 thing should give you a clue. And if you ever go to Poetry Unplugged on Thursday nights at Luna's Cafe, 1414 16th St., Sacramento, you'll see what I mean. The Review is big and fat, has articles and other features, and represents a wide variety of styles and genres. WTF is leaner (smaller), meaner, and more geared to the "Luna's voice", if there is such a thing. Its material also tends to be more X-rated. If you're over 18, you're welcome to submit to either one. I edit the Review; frank andrick edits WTF.
Coming in March: On Wednesday, March 11, Rattlesnake Press will be releasing a new chapbook from Norma Kohout (All Aboard); a littlesnake broadside from Patricia Hickerson (At Grail Castle Hotel); and a new issue of Rattlesnake Review (the Snake turns 21)! Join us at The Book Collector, 1008 24th St., Sacramento, 7:30. 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, 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.......!
_________________
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.
