In the Spring a fuller crimson comes upon the robin's breast;
In the Spring the wanton lapwing gets himself another crest;
In the Spring a livelier iris changes on the burnish'd dove;
In the Spring a young man's fancy lightly turns to thoughts of love.
—Alfred, Lord Tennyson, from “Locksley Hall”
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I always did like those fancy young men...! Once the wind settles down in the Valley, and this upcoming warm weather melts the last of the Pollock Pines snow and brings up the rest of the tulips and the ground squirrel, 'twill officially feel like spring. For example, the Nevada City/Grass Valley poets are stirring in the hills with many activities:
•••Nevada City-ans Molly Fisk and Marilyn Souza will be reading at two down-the-hill venues this week: Molly at Raven's Tale in Placerville (Friday) and Marilyn at Poetry Unplugged at Luna's Cafe (tonight). See earlier posts this week for details.
•••Tonight also, The Nevada Country Poetry Series meets in Grass Valley for a reading by Sacramento's B.L. Kennedy and Mario Ellis Hill (see yesterday's post, and see below for today's review by B.L. Kennedy).
•••Sat. (4/18), 7:30 PM: Six Ft. Swells Press presents Poems from the Night Shift featuring Matt Amott, Julie Valin, Todd Cirillo & Will Staple: an evening to celebrate the Ridge release of Will's newest chapbook (published by Six Ft. Swells Press), The One That Got Away. The evening also celebrates the Six Ft. Swells release of Poems from the Night Shift featuring the co-founders of Six Ft. Swells, Matt Amott, Julie Valin & Todd Cirillo. (See last Monday's post for details.)
•••Ex-Nevada City-ite Gail Entrekin writes: The spring issue of Canary, the literary E-zine of the environmental crisis, was posted last week at www.hippocketpress.com/canary.cfm. Hope you'll take a few minutes to read it and pass it on to friends.
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Good for you, NC/GV! Elsewhere, National Poetry Month (and beyond) continues with several more high-profile events:
•••Sunday (4/26), 1-5 PM: The annual Marin Poetry Festival this year will feature Kay Ryan and Jack Hirschman (among others) and will take place at the Bay Model Visitor’s Center, 2001 Bridgeway, Sausalito. Open mic. No charge, but a $5 donation is requested. This event sold out last year, so plan to come early!
•••Friday (5/1), 7:30 PM: Al Young, and others at open mic, will be reading at the Mokelumne Hill Library. Free. Everyone is invited, but only original material can be read.
•••ALSO Sat. (5/2), 6 PM: Al Young will be speaking at dinner in the Leger ballroom. The price of $35 includes a tri-trip 3-course dinner, tax, tip and talk. E-mail Antoinette May for reservations; check the Gold Rush Writers Conference site (via Google) for the address. Payment will be at the door, cash or check. (Also, there might still be room at the Gold Rush Writers Conference that weekend; check it out via the website.)
•••Sat. (5/9), 10 AM-5 PM: Stockton Arts and Multicultural Celebration at Weber Point, Stockton. Free community event featuring artistic, cultural and ethnic traditions in music, dance, theatre and visual art. Activities for all ages; food and beverages available. Volunteers needed: contact Dean Gorby at 209-933-7030 (x2304) or Robert Rojas, 209-430-5117. Info: playmulticultural.com/.
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B.L.'s Drive-Bys: A Micro-Review by B.L. Kennedy:
SHE HAS SOMETHING TO SAY
by Shawn Aveningo
73 pgs
Blurb Publications
The current state of Poetry falls into two publication categories: one is the ‘get down, get dirty, get it out there’ school of poetry, and the other is the ‘oh I’ll just go to one of those online publishers so I can get my voice out there’ kind of poetry. Don’t get me wrong here, because when it comes to Poetry, it’s all fine and good. I just happened to subscribe to the ‘get down, get dirty, get it out there’ school as opposed to the glossy email publishing-house school.
I have known Shawn Aveningo for some two years, having first encountered her as a participant of the open Mics at Luna’s Café Poetry Unplugged series, and let me say, flat out, that I like her poetry. I think she is funny, she is insightful, and has a damn good delivery. But I don’t like glossy books, and this book is very glossy. Therefore, it’s kind of hard for me to write a positive review about poetry that I enjoy, since the package it comes in is so Avon.
Shawn is a friend of mine and I wish to continue that friendship, and for me it has always been hard when you have to review the book of a friend, because you don’t know which lines you unbeknowingly cross. So what I’ll say is this: She Has Something to Say has some fine poetry in a glossed-out package. So yeah, buy this book, and if you have a chance to see Shawn Aveningo read from it, don’t miss it. If you do, you’ll truly miss a wonderful and talented poetic voice.
—B.L. Kennedy, Reviewer-in-Residence
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HIDDEN BLESSINGS
—Mitz Sackman, Murphys
The flame warms my grief
I count my losses
And weep
But then reflect
On all the gains
The gifts of losing
The strength developed
The weakness allowed
Community shared
Giving and receiving love, comfort
One as important as the other
Losses are painful
But without that contrast
Could we see the blessings
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LEVIS EXSURGIT ZEPHIRUS
from THE CAMBRIDGE SONGS
—Anonymous (c. 1050)
The wind stirs lightly as the sun's
warmth stirs in the new season's
moment when the earth shows everything
she has, her fragrance on everything.
The spring royally in his excitement
scatters the new season's commandment
everywhere, and the new leaves open,
the buds open, and begin to happen.
The winged and the fourfooted creatures
according to their several natures
find or build their nesting places;
each unknowingly rejoices.
Held apart from the season's pleasure
according to my separate nature
nevertheless I bless and praise
the new beginning of the new days,
seeing it all, hearing it all,
the leaf opening, the first bird call.
(translated from the Medieval Latin by David Ferry)
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SPRING
—Rudhaki (c. 920)
Spring came,
with colors and scents,
a hundred thousand trimmings
and strange get-up;
perhaps an old man might regain his youth
in such a time,
as the world found strength again
after senescence.
Nature has raised an army:
rain-clouds marshalled by a gentle wind,
storm-lit path,
thunder step,
I have seen a thousand armies
but never one like this.
Look at the cloud weeping
listen to the thunder sighing,
from time to time the sun comes out
between the sullen clouds
like a prisoner
escaping from his guard.
The winter world was sick
but now the scent of jasmine has revived it;
rain falls, smelling of musk,
stripping the earth of its white covering;
the frozen treasure opens into flower
and dry streams flow.
In the distance, the desert tulip gleams
like a bride's finger dyed with henna;
the nightingale is singing in the willow,
the pigeon in the cypress,
strange melodies,
answering, familiar.
Now is the time to drink and be alive
for now lover and lover
give happiness
one to another.
(translated from the Persian by Geoffrey Squires)
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LIGHTHEARTEDLY TAKE THE PALMS
OF MY HANDS
—Osip Mandelstam
Lightheartedly take from the palms of my hands
A little sun, a little honey,
As Persephone's bees commanded us.
Not to be untied, the unmoored boat;
Not to be heard, fur-shod shadows;
Not to be silenced, life's thick terrors.
Now we have only kisses,
Bristly and crisp like bees,
Which die as they fly from the hive.
They rustle in transparent thickets of night,
Their homeland thick forest of Taigetos,
Their food—honeysuckle, mint, and time,
Lightheartedly take then my uncouth present:
This simple necklace, of dead, dried bees
Who once turned honey into sun.
(translated from the Russian by James Greene)
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THE SPRING IS A CAT
—Yi Jang'hi
On a cat's fur soft as pollen,
The mild Spring's fragrance lingers.
In a cat's eyes round as golden bells,
The mad Spring's flame glows.
On a cat's gently closed lips,
The soft Spring's drowsiness lies.
On a cat's sharp whiskers,
The green Spring's life dances.
(translated by Chang-soo Koh)
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Today's LittleNip:
PRAYER
—Rudaki (c. 920)
The face is turned to Mecca
but what's the use?
the heart goes out to Bokhara
and the stately ladies there.
God will accept the whisperings of love
and ignore the prayer...
(translated from the Persian by Geoffrey Squires)
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—Medusa
SnakeWatch: What's New from Rattlesnake Press:
Rattlesnake Review: The latest Snake (RR21) is now available (free) at The Book Collector, or send me four bux and I'll mail you one. 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, and please—only one submission per issue.
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 APRIL: A SpiralChap of poetry and photos from Laverne Frith (Celebrations: Images and Texts); a (free!) littlesnake broadside from Taylor Graham (Edge of Wildwood); and Musings3: An English Affair, a new blank journal of photos and writing prompts from Katy Brown. Now available from the authors, or The Book Collector, or (soon) rattlesnakepress.com/.
And April 15 is the deadline for the second issue of WTF, the free quarterly journal from Poetry Unplugged at Luna's Cafe that is edited by frank andrick. Submission guidelines are the same as for the Snake, but send your poems, 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 is for adults only, so you must be over 18 years of age to submit. Copies of the first issue are at The Book Collector, or send me two bux and I'll mail you one.
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.