Lion or lamb?
AUSPICIOUS MARCH
—B.Z. Niditch, Brookline, MA
You awake late
on a nomad's daybed
to half-frozen sparrows
connecting on clotheslines
at a back garden gate
where snow hopelessly fades
and a dozen snowbirds,
all wishing for warmth,
alight on mid-March branches;
a late-nite student lamp burns
and outside, snow showers
reign on ancient oaks
in landscapes forgotten
except for the memory
of abandoned fruit orchards.
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MARCH BLUES
—B.Z. Niditch
Bird Parker plays
from an empty street,
dusky flakes emerge
through Venetian blinds,
you eye backyard crows
on elm, pine, and poplar,
bliss stares from the sky
even at winter's height,
ivory showers drift about
ridiculous March clouds.
Putting a favorite denim
on the capsized iron chair
you resist staring
at the doorway's open umbrella,
Salt and Pepper catwalk
round the wood stove,
a voice mumbling on the line
calls up names and dates
that escape your memory
like the lucent snow outside,
your life restarts
its second nature.
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Thanks, B.Z., for the March poems! In our area, March came in like a lion; looking forward, we are, to the lamb. By the way, today's photo is also our Seed of the Week. Make of it what you will...
Headed to Oregon this week?
•••Thursday (3/5), 7:30 PM: Schnider Museum in Ashland, OR, presents an astronomy show produced by the museum and NASA. Our own D.R. Wagner will read; here is a new poem from him:
THESE STARS
—D.R. Wagner, Elk Grove
These stars, that in the keening winds of space
Obliterate any fragments of the seasons, except
In seeming change as they hurl themselves,
Unshaken by time, through course upon course
Around the whirl where we rise and fall,
Endless life with all surround, make no sound.
We need become their voices and I will speak
To you and you will speak to me. Joined by others,
A cacophany of atoms rain today against the window,
A tossing of branches in the windy trees, A mindfullness
Full of all and full of nothing, form upon form, life
Upon life, a kind of dance of making.
I pick this piece of time. Evening descends upon this place,
Here, now and forces these words from me to some end,
Not predicted or explained, but strong as waves can be.
This is a calling out from one thing to another, a lamb bleating,
The whispering of a mother to a child, the high pitch of storms
Upon the sea, the drifting between dreams and sleeping, tides of waking,
Drifts of anguish wrapped like a cloak around the spinning body,
Knowing peace this way. Not a calling at all but only words
Gathering themselves together to flash lights back to the stars.
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Call for Submissions: Tea Party Magazine, The “Free” Issue
Tea Party Magazine (www.teapartymagazine.com) seeks submissions of fiction, poetry, photography, visual art, comics, interviews and feature articles for its upcoming issue #18, to be published in Summer 2009. The theme for Issue #18 is THE FREE ISSUE. What does FREE mean to you? How does FREE speak to our investment as individuals and as communities, and what meaning does remain FREE in our society at this particular point in history? What isn't FREE but should be? What do you give away and what’s been given to you? What would you like to be FREE of? What’s considered FREE to the public? How do you spend your FREE time?
Send in your FREE verse poems (Tea Party encourages you to defend the use of free verse). Send your free-form writing (and explain how white space is being used). Send your free-space art and writing (and detail if art can exist in its own space devoid of other considerations). Send your art made from found, FREE objects. Send your unique photos that include the word FREE in them. Email works to TeaPartyMagazine@gmail.com by Friday, March 20th, 2009. Be sure to include "FREE SUBMISSION" in your subject heading. More info: www.cac.ca.gov/artistcall/acdetail.php?id=22269 or www.teapartymagazine.com/. By the way, Tea Party pays an honorarium of $10-$50 for all work accepted; each contributor receives three copies of the issue, as well as an invitation to the magazine release party.
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HOUSE HUNTING
—Mitz Sackman, Murphys
The butterscotch house sits silent
Back from the street
In a browned lawn setting
Empty driveway
No sign of life
I walk inside
An empty room
An empty house
Who lived here
What old ghosts
Dwell here still
Echoing in the dusty halls
What memories are stored
What secrets do these walls contain
Gladness, joys, welcoming warmth
Losses, sorrows, sadness of spirit
What could this empty room bring to me
__________________
I STROLLED HER SANDY BEACH
ONLY TWICE
—Marie J. Ross, Stockton
Santa Cruz Beach:
the salty air invigorating
as sand trickled through
my leather sandals.
Mom took us there only twice
in our young lives; the breeze
was cold and a trail of fog sat
on its majestic scene.
I was fascinated by the sound, the
mighty sprawl, ebbs rolling to shore,
each thread of my senses sewn to a
desire for new ocean wonders.
Like rising moss-capped boulders, the epic
sound of sea birds flitting across the sky,
visuals that would hold my eyes hostage
and enthrall my inner soul.
Santa Cruz beach: the moment I stepped foot,
the moment I inhaled its sea air, I knew my
desire was to dip my toes in moist sands on
far-away ocean shores.
__________________
Today's LittleNip:
IN MARCH
—Anne Stevenson
The snow melts
exposing what was
buried there all winter—
tricycles and
fire-engines and
all sizes of children
waiting in boots and
yellow mackintoshes
for the mud.
__________________
—Medusa
SnakeWatch: What's New from Rattlesnake Press:
Rattlesnake Review: The latest issue (RR20) is currently available at The Book Collector, on rattlesnakepress.com, or send me four bux and I'll mail you one. Deadline for RR21 was 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!
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.......!
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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.