Josh Fernandez
TO THE STRANGER IN THE LIQUOR STORE
WHO TOLD ME NOT TO BLASPHEME
—Josh Fernandez, Sacramento
Fuck your god
until he comes
down,
works 14-hour
days on the dock,
smelling like fish
and gasoline,
smokes speed
from broken light bulbs,
and dies,
not for your sins,
but from pure
exhaustion.
__________________
Join us this coming Wednesday, February 11, at The Book Collector (1008 24th St., Sacramento, 8 PM) for the release of a littlesnake broadside, In The End, It's A Worthless Machine, from Josh Fernandez. Josh lives with his two cats and his girlfriend, Crystal, in Midtown Sacramento, where he says he takes up very little space and is virtually nonexistent. He works at the Sacramento News & Review as an associate arts editor. His poems have been published in pax Americana, Seele, Poetry Now, and others. Josh was featured on Medusa on May 10, 2007, back when he worked for the Woodland Democrat. (Go to the May, 2007 archives at the right and click May; scroll down to the 7th.)
While you're thinking about next week, you might put together your submissions packet for Rattlesnake Review #21 (the Snake turns 21!). Deadline is Sunday, February 15, a week from tomorrow! 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. Repeat: including Snail Address! As I said in Snake Secrets, think positive! If your poem gets accepted, I'll need to send you a copy of the Review! And, if you SnailMail, please include an email address, if you have one.
If you're still having trouble wrapping your mind around the submissions process (and I admit, editors are picky!), send for our 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! There's still time to get one and look it over before the 2/15 deadline.
By the way, sending poems one at a time for Medusa is perfectly fine, but we here at the Snakepit prefer submissions of 3-5 poems for the Review. Put some thought into gathering together a packet of 3-5 or your poems, any of which you'd like to see in print, and send them, either by snail mail or email (preferably as attachments). Sending in just one poem narrows your chances of getting published if it doesn't fit our criteria for some reason. Or, if you haven't labeled it for the Review, I might assume it's for Medusa.
While I'm onna rant: several poets send me poems in group emails, addressed to me and several other people at once. While I might enjoy these, I don't consider them submissions. For all I know, this could be a simultaneous submission. Or, at least, a bit too casual for my own personal editorial etiquette. Again: make us a tidy little packet of gems...
And separate your poems, if you email! Don't string them together with very little space or demarcation in between, so it's hard to tell where one leaves off and the other starts. Be wary of putting them just in the body of the email, where punctuation and line breaks can get badly jumbled. Some people (bless them!) send their poems in both the body and as an attachment.
I guess my favorite submission is five e-mail attachments, one poem per page, name and contact info at the top right-hand corner of each one. And there you have it, the ultimate Snake Secret! From there, I can print it out, separate the poems if I need to, see each one clearly, and not have to ask for a snail address. So cool.
Still talking about Nocturnes, our Seed of the Week. Here's one from Michelle Kunert, and three from Carl Sandburg, who always seemed, somehow, to have his eye on the night:
Night must include time for sleeping
Country people believe so, but not those in cities
Cities also have stores and restaurants run by zombies
who forgot what it is to dream anymore
I have, on holidays, worked late
At 10 P.M. I still saw mothers with little children
who'd cry in their utter weariness
I pleaded "Please go home and put them in bed
there's nothing here you need that badly..."
I wonder if that's why my bosses got despised
Money ruled over common sense
even for parents ignoring time for stories and prayers
hauling them as burdens around to find a "great deal"
I try not to shop or eat after eight
out of respect for those expected to give service
—Michelle Kunert, Sacramento
WHO TOLD ME NOT TO BLASPHEME
—Josh Fernandez, Sacramento
Fuck your god
until he comes
down,
works 14-hour
days on the dock,
smelling like fish
and gasoline,
smokes speed
from broken light bulbs,
and dies,
not for your sins,
but from pure
exhaustion.
__________________
Join us this coming Wednesday, February 11, at The Book Collector (1008 24th St., Sacramento, 8 PM) for the release of a littlesnake broadside, In The End, It's A Worthless Machine, from Josh Fernandez. Josh lives with his two cats and his girlfriend, Crystal, in Midtown Sacramento, where he says he takes up very little space and is virtually nonexistent. He works at the Sacramento News & Review as an associate arts editor. His poems have been published in pax Americana, Seele, Poetry Now, and others. Josh was featured on Medusa on May 10, 2007, back when he worked for the Woodland Democrat. (Go to the May, 2007 archives at the right and click May; scroll down to the 7th.)
While you're thinking about next week, you might put together your submissions packet for Rattlesnake Review #21 (the Snake turns 21!). Deadline is Sunday, February 15, a week from tomorrow! 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. Repeat: including Snail Address! As I said in Snake Secrets, think positive! If your poem gets accepted, I'll need to send you a copy of the Review! And, if you SnailMail, please include an email address, if you have one.
If you're still having trouble wrapping your mind around the submissions process (and I admit, editors are picky!), send for our 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! There's still time to get one and look it over before the 2/15 deadline.
By the way, sending poems one at a time for Medusa is perfectly fine, but we here at the Snakepit prefer submissions of 3-5 poems for the Review. Put some thought into gathering together a packet of 3-5 or your poems, any of which you'd like to see in print, and send them, either by snail mail or email (preferably as attachments). Sending in just one poem narrows your chances of getting published if it doesn't fit our criteria for some reason. Or, if you haven't labeled it for the Review, I might assume it's for Medusa.
While I'm onna rant: several poets send me poems in group emails, addressed to me and several other people at once. While I might enjoy these, I don't consider them submissions. For all I know, this could be a simultaneous submission. Or, at least, a bit too casual for my own personal editorial etiquette. Again: make us a tidy little packet of gems...
And separate your poems, if you email! Don't string them together with very little space or demarcation in between, so it's hard to tell where one leaves off and the other starts. Be wary of putting them just in the body of the email, where punctuation and line breaks can get badly jumbled. Some people (bless them!) send their poems in both the body and as an attachment.
I guess my favorite submission is five e-mail attachments, one poem per page, name and contact info at the top right-hand corner of each one. And there you have it, the ultimate Snake Secret! From there, I can print it out, separate the poems if I need to, see each one clearly, and not have to ask for a snail address. So cool.
Still talking about Nocturnes, our Seed of the Week. Here's one from Michelle Kunert, and three from Carl Sandburg, who always seemed, somehow, to have his eye on the night:
Night must include time for sleeping
Country people believe so, but not those in cities
Cities also have stores and restaurants run by zombies
who forgot what it is to dream anymore
I have, on holidays, worked late
At 10 P.M. I still saw mothers with little children
who'd cry in their utter weariness
I pleaded "Please go home and put them in bed
there's nothing here you need that badly..."
I wonder if that's why my bosses got despised
Money ruled over common sense
even for parents ignoring time for stories and prayers
hauling them as burdens around to find a "great deal"
I try not to shop or eat after eight
out of respect for those expected to give service
—Michelle Kunert, Sacramento
WINDOW
—Carl Sandburg
Night from a railroad car window
Is a great, dark, soft thing
Broken across with slashes of light.
__________________
NOCTURNE IN A DESERTED BRICKYARD
—Carl Sandburg
Stuff of the moon
Runs on the lapping sand
Out to the longest shadows.
Under the curving willows,
And round the creep of the wave line,
Fluxions of yellow and dusk on the waters
Make a wide dreaming pansy of an old pond in the night.
__________________
LOST
—Carl Sandburg
Desolate and lone
All night long on the lake
Where fog trails and mist creeps,
The whistle of a boat
Calls and cries unendingly,
Like some lost child
In tears and trouble
Hunting the harbor's breast
And the harbor's eyes.
__________________
Today's LittleNip:
Poetry is the silver of the moon lost in the belly of a golden frog.
—Carl Sandburg
__________________
—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.......!
_________________
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.
