Elderberries & Tall Weeds

Elderberries

ELDERBERRY TRADEOFFS
—Taylor Graham, Placerville

We drove an hour to get there.
At the first turnout, the berries were long past ripe;
at the second, some still green. At the third,
perched on the berm, we picked half a garbage bag
to sort and clean.
You lost one leather glove of a perfectly good pair.
I walked a mile, searching for tan leather,
and found six beer cans, worth 5 cents apiece.
The glove is gone.
A hunter stopped for news. He’d seen nothing
but a doe with fawns.
We traded good-mornings, recipes for elderberry
wine, good-lucks.
I scratched my legs on gooseberries
and ate a red one; prickly, but short on sweet.
We drove an hour home;
filled the kitchen with elderberries
hazy blue as a Sierra canyon at the edge of fall.

__________________

Thanks, TG, who writes "How did you know we spent Monday elderberrying?" Well, that's how poetry is: serendipity and mystical mind-reading... We're talking about blue this week; send your poems about blue things to kathykieth@hotmail.com or P.O. Box 762, Pollock Pines, CA 95726. No deadline on SOWs.


MAGGI H. MEYER MEMORIAL POETRY CONTEST, 2009:

Bay Area Poets Coalition's 30th Annual Contest will be open for entries:
October 1st - November 15, 2009 (postmark deadline)
Cash prizes in (3) line-length categories. Poet's choice—any subject. Open to all.
Rules available on website: www.bayareapoetscoalition.org or request by email: poetalk@aol.com or send SASE to BAPC Contest 30, POB 11435, Berkeley, CA 94712

__________________

THE MOON'S BED, THE BRIDE'S BED
—Rendra

The moon's bed, the bride's bed:
An azure blue sky
Held up by ancient hands;
A cricket flutters about,
Shrilling a love song to the net.

The moon's bed, the bride's bed:
A Chinese junk with a thousand sails
Crossing the sea of sleep;
Stars fall one by one,
Yawning with sweet visions.

The moon's bed, the bride's bed:
A kingdom of ghosts and spirits,
Drunk with the flavour of incense;
Dreams scatter, one by one,
Cracked by brittle truth.

_________________

TALL WEEDS
—Rendra

You're the woman I love best and forget fastest, my love,
Because in this evil silence weeds grew over my miserable heart,
Tall weeds, with long torturing roots.

They're dark weeds, soft, painful.
She's dark and swaying
And she blossoms in sin.
My heart's still yours
But weeds grow in my breast.

_________________

THE WORLD'S FIRST FACE
—Rendra

In the pale moonlight
He carries his bride
Up that hill,
Both of them naked,
Bringing nothing but themselves.

So in all beginnings
The world is bare,
Empty, free of lies,
Dark with silence—

A silence that sinks
Into the depths of time.
Then comes light,
Existence,
Man and animals.
So in all beginnings
Everything is bare,
Empty, open.

They're both young,
Both have come a long way.
Passing through dawns bright with illusion,
Skies filled with hope,
Rivers lined with comfort,
They have come to the afternoon's warmth,
Both of them dripping with sweat—

And standing on a barren coral reef.
So evening comes,
Bringing dreams
And a bed
Lined with gleaming coral necklaces.

They raise their heads:
Millions of stars in the sky.
This is their inheritance,
Stars and more stars,
More than could ever blink and go out.

In the pale moonlight
He carries his bride
Up that hill,
Both of them naked:
The world's first face.

__________________

Today's LittleNip:

I went for years not finishing anything. Because, of course, when you finish something you can be judged... I had poems which were re-written so many times I suspect it was just a way of avoiding sending them out.

—Erica Jong

__________________

—Medusa

(Today's poems by W.S. Rendra were translated from the Indonesian by Burton Raffel)

SnakeWatch: What's New from Rattlesnake Press:

NEW FOR SEPTEMBER:

Rattlesnake Press is proud to announce the release of a new chapbook by
Susan Finkleman (Mirror, Mirror: Poems Of The Mother-Daughter Relationship, illustrated by Joseph Finkleman),
plus a new HandyStuff blank journal from Katy Brown (A Capital Idea),
and a littlesnake broadside from Marie Reynolds (Late Harvest). All are now available at The Book Collector, 1008 24th St., Sacramento.


RATTLESNAKE REVIEW:

RR23 is now available at The Book Collector, and contributor and subscription copies will go into the mail in the next two weeks.
You may also order a copy through rattlesnakepress.com/.
Deadline is November 15 for RR24: 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 add all contact info, including snail address. Meanwhile, the snakes of the on-going Medusa are always hungry; keep that poetry comin', rain or shine!
Just let us know if your submission is for the Review or for Medusa, or for either one, and please—only one submission packet per issue of the quarterly Review.
(More info at rattlesnakepress.com/.)

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 (include snail address) and I'll send you one. Free!


COMING IN OCTOBER:

On Wednesday, Oct. 14, Rattlesnake Press will release
a new chapbook from Brad Buchanan (The War Groom)
and a new Rattlesnake LittleBook from
William S. Gainer: Joining the Demented.
That's 7:30 PM at The Book Collector.

WTF!!: The third issue of WTF, the free quarterly journal from
Poetry Unplugged at Luna's Cafe that is edited by frank andrick,
is now available at The Book Collector,
or send me two bux and I'll mail you one.
Deadline for Issue #4 will be Oct. 15.
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 (clearly marked for WTF).
And be forewarned: this publication is for adults only, so you must be
over 18 years of age to submit. (More info at rattlesnakepress.com/.)

Then gear up the flivver for a ROAD TRIP on Monday, Oct. 26 at 7:30 PM
as we all travel over to HQ for the Arts, 25th & R Sts., Sacramento
for Rattlesnake Press's release of the new SPC anthology,
Keepers of the Flame: The First 30 Years of the Sacramento Poetry Center.
Editor-in-Chief Mary Zeppa and her helpers have put together
many, many documents and photos
from SPC's history, and the resulting anthology (and SPC's 30th anniversary!)
will be celebrated that night. Be there!

_________________

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.

Got The Blues?

Photo by Patrick Griffiths

HISTORY OF BLUE
—Patricia Hickerson

it was your eyes, Mom,
frosty as ice cubes cracking in a tray
clinking in a cold drink

your eyes the ice storm
daggers of icicles
pointing from the eaves
breaking tender branches

kill or inspire

like sky and heaven
your eyes hardly wavered
unless like sulphur
dancing under lightning
like match flame before it flares

your eyes always on me
pulsating in space
glittering in an eyeball sea

__________________

Thanks, Pat! Got the blues? Blue moon, blue booties, bluebells, blueberries, Ol' Blue Eyes? Write about blue for our Seed of the Week: Blue. Send poems about blue to kathykieth@hotmail.com or P.O. Box 762, Pollock Pines, CA 95726. No deadline on SOWs.

I know, I know—a lot of you haven't gotten your copies of Rattlesnake Review 23. Never fear; they's a-comin'.

__________________

THE ORCHID DOOR
—Anonymous, c. 750

Stilled is the lute string after hours of song.
The fountain is a shower of rainbox spray,
Lit by the moon. Upon the littered floor
Guest after guest falls into drunken sleep.
Winecups are drained. The flickering light
Glimmers above a weary dancing girl,
Shines through the amber pins that hold her hair,
Mocks at the peony bud which is her mouth,
The jasmine petals that enfold her eyes.

What are such joys to me? I turn away.
Beyond the Fountain of Ten Thousand Jewels
In fragrant shadow waits an orchid door.


(Translated from the Korean by Jean S. Grigsby)

__________________

IN THE NIGHT
—Ch'oe Ch'ung (984-1068)

Light of the silver torch that has no smoke
Recalls me from the seventh world of sleep.
A shadow pine tree grows upon my wall.
On the white paper of my window screen
A shadow hill by shadow brush is drawn.
All life is shadow in my room tonight.
I know not if I wake or if I sleep—
Music breathes through the silence; can it be
Wind in the shadow pine tree, or a song
Drawn from a hidden harp that has no string?


(Translated from the Korean by Jean S. Grigsby)

__________________

THE RED COCKATOO
—Po Chu-i (772-846)

Sent as a present from Annam—
A red cockatoo.
Coloured like the peach-tree blossom,
Speaking with the speech of men.
And they did to it what is always done
To the learned and eloquent.
They took a cage with stout bars
And shut it up inside.


(Translated from the Chinese by Arthur Waley)

__________________

MADLY SINGING IN THE MOUNTAINS
—Po Chu-i

There is no one among men that has not a special failing:
And my failing consists in writing verses.
I have broken away from the thousand ties of life:
But this infirmity still remains behind.
Each time that I look at a fine landscape:
Each time that I meet a loved friend,
I raise my voice and recite a stanza of poetry
And am glad as though a God had crossed my path.
Ever since the day I was banished to Hsun-yang
Half my time I have lived among the hills.
And often, when I have finished a new poem,
Alone I climb the road to the Eastern Rock.
I lean my body on the banks of white stone:
I pull down with my hands a green cassia branch.
My mad singing startles the valleys and hills:
The apes and birds all come to peep.
Fearing to become a laughing-stock to the world,
I choose a place that is unfrequented by men.


(Translated by Arthur Waley)

__________________

Today's LittleNip:

MERCHANDISE
—A.R. Ammons

When we have
played with
the toy life

death takes it
back without
condition

whatever the condition.

__________________

—Medusa

SnakeWatch: What's New from Rattlesnake Press:

NEW FOR SEPTEMBER:

Rattlesnake Press is proud to announce the release of a new chapbook by
Susan Finkleman (Mirror, Mirror: Poems Of The Mother-Daughter Relationship, illustrated by Joseph Finkleman),
plus a new HandyStuff blank journal from Katy Brown (A Capital Idea),
and a littlesnake broadside from Marie Reynolds (Late Harvest). All are now available at The Book Collector, 1008 24th St., Sacramento.


RATTLESNAKE REVIEW:

RR23 is now available at The Book Collector, and contributor and subscription copies will go into the mail in the next two weeks.
You may also order a copy through rattlesnakepress.com/.
Deadline is November 15 for RR24: 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 add all contact info, including snail address. Meanwhile, the snakes of the on-going Medusa are always hungry; keep that poetry comin', rain or shine!
Just let us know if your submission is for the Review or for Medusa, or for either one, and please—only one submission packet per issue of the quarterly Review.
(More info at rattlesnakepress.com/.)

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 (include snail address) and I'll send you one. Free!


COMING IN OCTOBER:

On Wednesday, Oct. 14, Rattlesnake Press will release
a new chapbook from Brad Buchanan (The War Groom)
and a new Rattlesnake LittleBook from
William S. Gainer: Joining the Demented.
That's 7:30 PM at The Book Collector.

WTF!!: The third issue of WTF, the free quarterly journal from
Poetry Unplugged at Luna's Cafe that is edited by frank andrick,
is now available at The Book Collector,
or send me two bux and I'll mail you one.
Deadline for Issue #4 will be Oct. 15.
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 (clearly marked for WTF).
And be forewarned: this publication is for adults only, so you must be
over 18 years of age to submit. (More info at rattlesnakepress.com/.)

Then gear up the flivver for a ROAD TRIP on Monday, Oct. 26 at 7:30 PM
as we all travel over to HQ for the Arts, 25th & R Sts., Sacramento
for Rattlesnake Press's release of the new SPC anthology,
Keepers of the Flame: The First 30 Years of the Sacramento Poetry Center.
Editor-in-Chief Mary Zeppa and her helpers have put together
many, many documents and photos
from SPC's history, and the resulting anthology (and SPC's 30th anniversary!)
will be celebrated that night. Be there!

_________________

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.

For Time To Keep

Photo by Bob Dreizler, Sacramento

WORDS IN TIME
—Archibald MacLeish

Bewildered with the broken tongue
Of wakened angels in our sleep—
Then, lost the music that was sung
And lost the light time cannot keep!

There is a moment when we lie
Bewildered, wakened out of sleep,
When light and sound and all reply:
That moment time must tame and keep.

That moment, like a flight of birds
Flung from the branches where they sleep,
The poet with a beat of words
Flings into time for time to keep.

__________________

This week in NorCal poetry:

•••Monday (9/28), 7:30 PM: Sacramento Poetry Center presents D. A. Powell and Joshua McKinney at HQ for the Arts, 1719 25th St., Sacramento. [See last Friday's post for bios.]

Coming to SPC next Monday, October 5: John Amen and Scott Weiss [see last Thursday's post for B.L. Kennedy’s review of John Amen’s book, At the Threshold of Alchemy].

•••Tuesdays, 7:30 PM: Sacramento Poetry Center Workshop at the Hart Center, 27th & J Sts., Sacramento. Free; bring 13 copies of your one-page poem to be read/critiqued. Info: Danyen Powell at 530-756-6228.

•••Weds. (9/30), 6:30 PM: Peter Grandbois book release: The Arsenic Lobster: A Memoir, at The Urban Hive, 1931 H St., Sacramento. Food and drinks provided. Peter Grandbois is also the author of The Gravedigger (Chronicle Books, 2006), selected for both the Barnes & Noble “Discover Great New Writers” and the Borders “Original Voices” awards. His short stories have appeared in numerous journals and been shortlisted for the Pushcart Prize. He is an associate editor at Narrative Magazine and a professor of creative writing and contemporary literature at California State University, Sacramento.

•••Wednesdays, 9 PM: Mahogany Urban Poetry Series at Queen Sheba's Restaurant, 1704 Broadway (17th and Broadway), Sacramento. $5 cover, all ages.

•••Wednesdays, 5 PM: Dr. Andy’s Technology and Poetry Hour, KDVS radio station (90.3 FM) or http://www/kdvs.org/.

•••Thurs. (10/1), 6:30 PM: The Sacramento Poetry Center & The Crocker Art Museum invite you to enjoy an evening with Mario Uribe and former Sacramento Poet Laureate Viola Weinberg at the Crocker Art Museum, in conversation about their beautiful, hand-sewn book, Enso: 24 Paintings and One Poem. Admission $6 (free with membership). You must e-mail Christian Adame at cadame@cityofsacramento.org to reserve a seat. Book signing to follow.

•••Thursdays, 8 PM: Poetry Unplugged at Luna’s Café, 1414 16th St., Sacramento. Featured readers, with open mic before and after.

•••Thursdays, 7 PM: “Life Sentence” reading at The Coffee Garden, 2904 Franklin Blvd., Sacramento. Open mic.

•••Thursdays, 10-11 AM (replayed Sundays 10-11 AM): Mountain Mama’s Earth Music with Nancy Bodily on 95.7 FM. Music/poetry woven around a central theme deeply tied to mountains/earth.

•••Sat. (10/3 and every 1st Sat.): Rhythm and Rhyme readings at Butch N’ Nellies near 19th & I Sts., Sacramento. Televised music, open mic. Info: myspace.com/RNRshow/.

__________________

ABSENCES
—Philip Larkin

Rain patters on a sea that tilts and sighs.
Fast-running floors, collapsing into hollows,
Tower suddenly, spray-haired, Contrariwise,
A wave drops like a wall: another follows,
Wilting and scrambling, tirelessly at play
Where there are no ships and no shallows.

Above the sea, the yet more shoreless day,
Riddled by wind, trails lit-up galleries:
They shift to giant ribbing, sift away.

Such attics cleared of me! Such absences!

__________________

THE ROAD AND THE END
—Carl Sandburg

I shall foot it
Down the roadway in the dusk,
Where shapes of hunger wander
And the fugitives of pain go by.
I shall foot it
In the silence of the morning,
See the night slur into dawn,
Hear the slow great winds arise
Where tall trees flank the way
And shoulder toward the sky.

The broken boulders by the road
Shall not commemorate my ruin.
Regret shall be the gravel under foot.
I shall watch for
Slim birds swift of wing
That go where wind and ranks of thunder
Drive the wild processionals of rain.

The dust of the traveled road
Shall touch my hands and face.

__________________

Today's LittleNip:

WORDS
—Shinkichi Takahashi

I don't take your words
Merely as words.
Far from it.

I listen
To what makes you talk—
Whatever that is—
And me listen.

__________________

—Medusa

SnakeWatch: What's New from Rattlesnake Press:

NEW FOR SEPTEMBER:

Rattlesnake Press is proud to announce the release of a new chapbook by
Susan Finkleman (Mirror, Mirror: Poems Of The Mother-Daughter Relationship, illustrated by Joseph Finkleman),
plus a new HandyStuff blank journal from Katy Brown (A Capital Idea),
and a littlesnake broadside from Marie Reynolds (Late Harvest). All are now available at The Book Collector, 1008 24th St., Sacramento.


RATTLESNAKE REVIEW:

RR23 is now available at The Book Collector, and contributor and subscription copies will go into the mail in the next two weeks.
You may also order a copy through rattlesnakepress.com/.
Deadline is November 15 for RR24: 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 add all contact info, including snail address. Meanwhile, the snakes of the on-going Medusa are always hungry; keep that poetry comin', rain or shine!
Just let us know if your submission is for the Review or for Medusa, or for either one, and please—only one submission packet per issue of the quarterly Review.
(More info at rattlesnakepress.com/.)

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 (include snail address) and I'll send you one. Free!


COMING IN OCTOBER:

On Wednesday, Oct. 7, Rattlesnake Press will release
a new chapbook from Brad Buchanan (The War Groom)
and a new Rattlesnake LittleBook from
William S. Gainer: Joining the Demented.
That's 7:30 PM at The Book Collector.

WTF!!: The third issue of WTF, the free quarterly journal from
Poetry Unplugged at Luna's Cafe that is edited by frank andrick,
is now available at The Book Collector,
or send me two bux and I'll mail you one.
Deadline for Issue #4 will be Oct. 15.
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 (clearly marked for WTF).
And be forewarned: this publication is for adults only, so you must be
over 18 years of age to submit. (More info at rattlesnakepress.com/.)

Then gear up the flivver for a ROAD TRIP on Monday, Oct. 26 at 7:30 PM
as we all travel over to HQ for the Arts, 25th & R Sts., Sacramento
for Rattlesnake Press's release of the new SPC anthology,
Keepers of the Flame: The First 30 Years of the Sacramento Poetry Center.
Editor-in-Chief Mary Zeppa and her helpers have put together
many, many documents and photos
from SPC's history, and the resulting anthology (and SPC's 30th anniversary!)
will be celebrated that night. Be there!

_________________

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.

Dreaming Of New Wine

Photo by Katy Brown, Davis

IN THE NIGHT FIELDS
—W.S. Merwin

I heard the sparrows shouting "Eat, eat,"
And then the day dragged its carcass in back of the hill.
Slowly the tracks darkened.

The smoke rose steadily from no fires.
The old hunger, left in the old darkness,
Turned like a hanged knife.
I would have preferred a quiet life.
The bugs of regret began their services
Using my spine as a rosary. I left the maps
For the spiders.
Let's go, I said.

Light of the heart,

The wheat had started lighting its lanterns,
And in every house in heaven there were lights waving
Hello good-bye. But that's
Another life.
Snug on the crumbling earth
The old bottles lay dreaming of new wine.
I picked up my breast, which had gone out.
By other lights I go looking for yours
Through the standing harvest of my lost arrows.
Under the moon the shadow
Practices mowing. Not for me, I say,
Please not for my
Benefit. A man cannot live by bread
Alone.

___________________


—Medusa

Today's photo is a preview of Katy Brown's new 2010 calendar, coming soon to The Book Collector.

Revisionism

Photo by Stephani Schaefer

CHAIR
—Stephani Schaefer, Los Molinos

I like to think
this old chair
wasn't dumped here in the woods
to save a fee
but rather someone housebound
a long while
(browsing books the way
the walking walk through woods)
passed on
and a good friend
carried the reading chair out here
and scattered ashes
where he knew his friend should be.

__________________

HOW WE DIFFER FROM THIS EARTH
—William Bronk

Early autumn. Watching the light run out.
As though by the sea. An estuary. The light
runs like a tide running. Swiftly. Flat.
How the flat light rushes to be gone,
sucked by the gravitation of the low sun.
The wash of light coming and going, the year,
the many weathers that return, travel in flat
circles. There were long centuries
before the earth was round. The earth-flats
are there, still, to be seen, as one sees,
still, of the weather, it is there, and runs in flat
circles, whereas we—no! What
have earth or the weather, in the end, to do
with us, who, in a world of our own, despite
them, or even unaware, live for a time all
bulks and prominences, wide and high!

__________________

John Amen from North Carolina appears in Modesto on Oct. 9:

•••Friday (10/9): John Amen of North Carolina will present a workshop and a reading. He founded and continues to edit The Pedestal Magazine (www.thepedestalmagazine.com). These events will take place at the Horizon Room, Homewood Village Mobile Home Park, 2000 Mable Ave., Modesto, (209) 522-1412.

WORKSHOP, 6-7 PM: The workshop is limited to 20 participants. The cost is $20 and includes a copy of his new collection, At the Threshold of Alchemy [see Medusa’s Thursday, Sept. 24 post for a review by B.L. Kennedy]. For a registration form, call Cleo Griffith at 209-543-1776 or write to her at cleor36@yahoo.com/.

READING, 7:30-8 PM: This is a free event.

SOCIAL TIME, 8-8:30, followed by an open mike session as time permits. Light refreshments will be served and Mr. Amen’s book will be available for purchase and signing.

John Amen is the author of two collections of poetry: Christening the Dancer (Uccelli Press 2003) and More of Me Disappears (Cross-Cultural Communications 2005), and has released two folk/folk rock CDs: All I’ll Never Need (Cool Midget 2004) and Ridiculous Empire (2008). His third poetry collection, At the Threshold of Alchemy, will be released by Presa in 2009. He is also an artist, working primarily with acrylics on canvas. Further information is available on his website: www.johnamen.com/. Amen travels widely, giving readings, doing musical performances, and conducting workshops.

__________________

MY SAD CAPTAINS
—Thom Gunn

One by one they appear in
the darkness: a few friends, and
a few with historical
names. How late they start to shine!
but before they fade they stand
perfectly embodied, all

the past lapping them like a
clock of chaos. They were men
who, I thought, lived only to
renew the wasteful force they
spent with each hot convulsion.
They remind me, distant now.

True, they are not at rest yet,
but now that they are indeed
apart, winnowed from failures,
they withdraw to an orbit
and turn with disinterested
hard energy, like the stars.

__________________

About his poem, Thom Gunn wrote: One reason I like this poem is that I wrote it with such ease; it's one of the few I've ever finished in two or three days. The title, part of a line in Anthony and Cleopatra, was once pointed out by a friend as an attractive title for a poem, and I kept it in mind, carrying it over from notebook to notebook for several years. I started writing the poem, finally, almost by chance, and once I had written the first line and a half, I knew exactly what I wanted it to be, in scope, in tone, in suggestiveness. With almost all my other poems I am aware of the missed chances, the space between the conception and its embodiment, but with this I am for once aware of them only as different names for the same thing.

(as quoted in Poet's Choice, ed. by Paul Engle and Joseph Langland, Time-Life Books, Inc., 1962)

Tom Goff wrote an article about Thom Gunn (another Tom, another TG) which appears in the latest Rattlesnake Review. Tom sends us the following poem, with the comment that this is an invocation to the Muse of Revision, the one who wants the essay or poem "fixed" after it's writ...


AFTERNOTES
(TO A REVIEW OF THOM GUNN'S POETRY)
—Tom Goff, Carmichael

***

Wrote: Michelangelo might’ve embarrassed
his loving friend Tommaso dei Cavalieri
with affectionate protestations in a poem.
My words: “Cavalieri (who was probably ‘straight’)”

—but who the hell can know who’s really “straight,”
or even what “straight” means to us crookeds?
Remember the ministrations of Queer Theory:

the sexual act can/cannot (can it?) prove
sexual truth trammeled here well within the shades,
the county-line lurkings of sexual self-definition,
fantasy body doubles, play of psyche and counter-psyche:
none of these definitive, not even if Tommaso
took Michelangelo ten thousand times to bed…

***

Wrote: “Lyric poetry is often a battle of opposites:
disclosure, which tends toward biography or
autobiography…” Query: should I not
have added: “or the snail-slime trailings
of gossip, tattle, innuendo (decay the air has hung
once Wallace Stevens’ blackbird has whistled)?”

***

Then wrote: “versus discretion, which tends
towards the general or universal…”

And what about silence?

***

Denigrated Thom Gunn’s early piece
“Carnal Knowledge”; hated the singsong
“I know you know I know.” Blah blah blah?
No: Bible. Oh but how Adam-knew-his-wife-
and-Cain-was-born, the knowing/sexing
carnal disgust, grit in the monotone keening of gears:

I know you know I know: isn’t it
the drumbeat of the mattress at sea,
the lullaby of bedspring and angry rust?

__________________

Today's LittleNips, about the Art of Revision:

To write simply is as difficult as to be good. —W. Somerset Maugham

What I had to face, the very bitter lesson that everyone who wants to write has got to learn, was that a thing may in itself be the finest piece of writing one has ever done, and yet have absolutely no place in the manuscript one hopes to publish. —Thomas Wolfe

The wastepaper basket is the writer's best friend. —Isaac B. Singer

__________________

—Medusa

SnakeWatch: What's New from Rattlesnake Press:

NEW FOR SEPTEMBER:

Rattlesnake Press is proud to announce the release of a new chapbook by
Susan Finkleman (Mirror, Mirror: Poems Of The Mother-Daughter Relationship, illustrated by Joseph Finkleman),
plus a new HandyStuff blank journal from Katy Brown (A Capital Idea),
and a littlesnake broadside from Marie Reynolds (Late Harvest). All are now available at The Book Collector, 1008 24th St., Sacramento.


RATTLESNAKE REVIEW:

RR23 is now available at The Book Collector, and contributor and subscription copies will go into the mail in the next two weeks.
You may also order a copy through rattlesnakepress.com/.
Deadline is November 15 for RR24: 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 add all contact info, including snail address. Meanwhile, the snakes of the on-going Medusa are always hungry; keep that poetry comin', rain or shine!
Just let us know if your submission is for the Review or for Medusa, or for either one, and please—only one submission packet per issue of the quarterly Review.
(More info at rattlesnakepress.com/.)

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 (include snail address) and I'll send you one. Free!


COMING IN OCTOBER:

On Wednesday, Oct. 7, Rattlesnake Press will release
a new chapbook from Brad Buchanan (The War Groom)
and a new Rattlesnake LittleBook from
William S. Gainer: Joining the Demented.
That's 7:30 PM at The Book Collector.

WTF!!: The third issue of WTF, the free quarterly journal from
Poetry Unplugged at Luna's Cafe that is edited by frank andrick,
is now available at The Book Collector,
or send me two bux and I'll mail you one.
Deadline for Issue #4 will be Oct. 15.
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 (clearly marked for WTF).
And be forewarned: this publication is for adults only, so you must be
over 18 years of age to submit. (More info at rattlesnakepress.com/.)

Then gear up the flivver for a ROAD TRIP on Monday, Oct. 26 at 7:30 PM
as we all travel over to HQ for the Arts, 25th & R Sts., Sacramento
for Rattlesnake Press's release of the new SPC anthology,
Keepers of the Flame: The First 30 Years of the Sacramento Poetry Center.
Editor-in-Chief Mary Zeppa and her helpers have put together
many, many documents and photos
from SPC's history, and the resulting anthology (and SPC's 30th anniversary!)
will be celebrated that night. Be there!

_________________

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.

More Songs of Autumn

Photo by Stephani Schaefer, Los Molinos

SHEEP MAY SAFELY GRAZE
—Jeanine Stevens, Sacramento

Heads move mechanically, four bleats
to a measure, sweet notes, it must be Sunday.

Pink flannel mouths, full sets of teeth
munch tender shoots, drink in cool ponds
of rose clover, it must be spring.

Along the river parkway, under the oaks—
depressions, fragrant fern, green tendrils form

spiral baskets, new fawns nestle close,
woven tight into mother’s flanks.

By fall, others appear to be sleeping, heads
tucked in, but not breathing. I think, we did this
somehow, detergents foaming down riverbanks

perhaps, but—no, only the course of nature,
lung flukes as they’ve always been.

In late October, a young buck, dangerously tame,
clips red leaves of wild grape, walks in cougar tracks,

drinks cautiously at the edge of this riparian forest,
grazes the drying grasses of his unknown autumn.


(Inspired by J. S. Bach’s Birthday Cantata)

___________________

AUTUMN, NOW
—Jeanine Stevens

The river has pulled in
all the light
stars leach remaining sulfur
from banks etched thin.
An early frost lays
patterns on russet leaves.
To the north, wind, early wind,
lifts from borderlands
threads its way, tightening
veins, caressing each leaf
coaxing the life force
from summer’s riotous behavior
down into wintering roots.

___________________

OCTOBER BLUE
—Jeanine Stevens

Early frost,
bird bath
glistening slick
pearl glazed
cold verdigris,
metal dragonfly
wears a white coat.
I dream again,
steel blue bird
sits on stiff ice,
fluffs, head low—
breeze lifts
exposes black skin,
dies—a frozen
overstuffed silence.

___________________

COLOR WHEEL
—Jeanine Stevens

Autumn haze bleeds
purple against distant

mountains. From the air
orange vine maples

appear as a forest
of glowing pumpkins.


(First published in The Aurorean)

___________________


This weekend in NorCal poetry:

•••Friday (9/25), 7:30 PM: Escritores del Nuevo Sol / Writers of the New Sun presents The Annual All-Spanish Program in the setting of an amazing exhibit of Mexican masks, starring bilingual poet Jim Michael. La Raza/Galería Posada, 1022 22nd St., Mid-Town Sacramento. Jim is a great model for those learning Spanish as a second language. His mastery of the language, his tremendous cultural understanding of the Spanish-speaking world, and his gift for using humor, has made Jim a perfect bilingual poet. A recent serious illness almost took Jim from us, and we were so worried. But now here he is, our beloved member of the Writers of the New Sun, as lively and mischievous as ever. Come enjoy our annual poetry recital. If you like, you may take part in the open mic, as you also admire the incredible exhibit of distinctive Mexican masks. Info: Graciela Ramirez, 916-456-5323.

•••Sat. (9/26), 12-4 PM: Watershed Environmental Poetry Festival at Civic Center Park (MLK JR. Way at Center St.) in Berkeley. A day of poetry, music and environmental activism with Robert Hass, Arthus Sze, Marilyn Chin, David Mas Masumoto, Kim Addonizio, Carol Moldaw, Joseph Stroud, Chris Olander, plus Student and Youth Poets from River of Words, Cal. Poets in the Schools and Poetry Inside Out; plus open mic. Start early (10AM) with the Strawberry Creek Walk; meet at Oxford & Center Sts.). Info: www.poetryflash.org/.

•••Sat. (9/26 and every last Sat. of the month), 7-9 PM: TheShowPoetrySeries features Poet Taifa Jamari, Spoken wordgroup FoShang, and vocalists Derick and Andrea Moore and vocal group CARRiON. Wo'se Community Center, 2863 35th St. (Off 35th & Broadway), $5.00. Info: 916 208-POET or E-mail: fromtheheart1@hotmail.com/. By the way, 2 people for the price of 1 deal to the first 25 people to call and RSVP for the next event.

•••Monday (9/28), 7:30 PM: Sacramento Poetry Center presents D. A. Powell and Joshua McKinney at HQ for the Arts, 1719 25th St., Sacramento. D. A. Powell (not to be confused with Sacramento’s Danyen Powell) is the author of four books of poetry: Tea (1998); Lunch (2000); and Cocktails (Graywolf, 2004), which was nominated for the National Book Critics Circle Award. His most recent book is Chronic (Graywolf, 2009). Powell’s work often returns to AIDS, and his three collections have been called a trilogy about the disease. He has received a Paul Engle Fellowship from the James Michener Center, a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Lyric Poetry Award from the Poetry Society of America, among other awards. He has taught at Columbia University, the University of Iowa, Sonoma State University, San Francisco State University, and served as the Briggs-Copeland Lecturer in Poetry at Harvard University. He currently teaches at the University of San Francisco, and edits the online magazine, Electronic Poetry Review. He is also the driving force behind the fictitious poet João Pudim from the volume, The Imaginary Poets, edited by Alan Michael Parker (Tupelo, 2007).

Joshua McKinney is the author of two books of poems: Saunter (Univ. Of Georgia, 2002) and The Novice Mourner (Bear Star Press, 2005). He teaches at California State University, Sacramento. He is quite handy with a Katana sword and, presumably, other blades.


Special event next week:

•••Thurs. (10/1), 6:30 PM: The Sacramento Poetry Center & The Crocker Art Museum invite you to enjoy an evening with Mario Uribe and former Sacramento Poet Laureate Viola Weinberg at the Crocker Art Museum, in conversation about their beautiful, hand-sewn book, ENSO: 24 Paintings and One Poem. Admission $6 (free with membership). You must e-mail Christian Adame at cadame@cityofsacramento.org to reserve a seat. Book signing to follow.

__________________

ANOTHER CAREER PATH NOT TAKEN
—Kevin Jones, Fair Oaks

My grandfather insisted
That you could
Train a crow
To ride
On your shoulder
Like a parrot.
And if you
Found one
Young enough,
And slit his tongue
He could be taught
To talk
Like one as well.

“Think of it,”
He suggested,
“You could look
Like a pirate.”

“No water around here
But sleepy Spoon River,”
I responded.

“Spoon River Pirate, then!”

We never had
The conversation again.

__________________

Today's LittleNip:

I am sure it is a great mistake always to know enough to go in when it rains. One may keep snug and dry by such knowledge, but one misses a world of loveliness.

—Adeline Knapp

__________________

—Medusa

SnakeWatch: What's New from Rattlesnake Press:

NEW FOR SEPTEMBER:

Rattlesnake Press is proud to announce the release of a new chapbook by
Susan Finkleman (Mirror, Mirror: Poems Of The Mother-Daughter Relationship, illustrated by Joseph Finkleman),
plus a new HandyStuff blank journal from Katy Brown (A Capital Idea),
and a littlesnake broadside from Marie Reynolds (Late Harvest). All are now available at The Book Collector, 1008 24th St., Sacramento.


RATTLESNAKE REVIEW:

RR23 is now available at The Book Collector, and contributor and subscription copies will go into the mail in the next two weeks.
You may also order a copy through rattlesnakepress.com/.
Deadline is November 15 for RR24: 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 add all contact info, including snail address. Meanwhile, the snakes of the on-going Medusa are always hungry; keep that poetry comin', rain or shine!
Just let us know if your submission is for the Review or for Medusa, or for either one, and please—only one submission packet per issue of the quarterly Review.
(More info at rattlesnakepress.com/.)

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 (include snail address) and I'll send you one. Free!


COMING IN OCTOBER:

On Wednesday, Oct. 7, Rattlesnake Press will release
a new chapbook from Brad Buchanan (The War Groom)
and a new Rattlesnake LittleBook from
William S. Gainer: Joining the Demented.
That's 7:30 PM at The Book Collector.

WTF!!: The third issue of WTF, the free quarterly journal from
Poetry Unplugged at Luna's Cafe that is edited by frank andrick,
is now available at The Book Collector,
or send me two bux and I'll mail you one.
Deadline for Issue #4 will be Oct. 15.
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 (clearly marked for WTF).
And be forewarned: this publication is for adults only, so you must be
over 18 years of age to submit. (More info at rattlesnakepress.com/.)

Then gear up the flivver for a ROAD TRIP on Monday, Oct. 26 at 7:30 PM
as we all travel over to HQ for the Arts, 25th & R Sts., Sacramento
for Rattlesnake Press's release of the new SPC anthology,
Keepers of the Flame: The First 30 Years of the Sacramento Poetry Center.
Editor-in-Chief Mary Zeppa and her helpers have put together
many, many documents and photos
from SPC's history, and the resulting anthology (and SPC's 30th anniversary!)
will be celebrated that night. Be there!

_________________

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.

Autumn Rubs Her Hide

Photo by Stephani Schaefer, Los Molinos

ANOTHER SEPTEMBER
—Thomas Kinsella

Dreams fled away, this country bedroom, raw
With the touch of the dawn, wrapped in a minor peace,
Hears through an open window the garden draw
Long pitch black breaths, lay bare its apple trees,
Ripe pear trees, brambles, windfall-sweetened soil,
Exhale rough sweetness against the starry slates.
Nearer the river sleeps St. John's, all toil
Locked fast inside a dream with iron gates.

Domestic Autumn, like an animal
Long used to handling by those countrymen,
Rubs her kind hide against the bedroom wall
Sensing a fragrant child come back again
—Not this half-tolerated consciousness
That plants its grammar in her yielding weather
But that unspeaking daughter, growing less
Familiar where we fell asleep together.

Wakeful moth-wings blunder near a chair,
Toss their light shell at the glass, and go
To inhabit the living starlight. Stranded hair
Stirs in the still linen. It is as though
The black breathing that billows her sleep, her name,
Drugged under judgment, waned and—bearing daggers
And balances—down the lampless darkness they came,
Moving like women: Justice, Truth, such figures.

____________________

B.L.'s Drive-Bys: A Micro-Review by B.L. Kennedy:

At the Threshold of Alchemy
by John Amen
Presa Press
83 pp, $13.95
ISBN: 978-0-9800081-5-9

Let’s get this straight: John Amen, the author of two previous collections of poetry, Christening the Dancer and More of Me Disappears, can do no wrong. I cannot tell you how much I enjoyed At the Threshold of Alchemy. This young poet has a grasp on language, image, and the music of words that just seduced me into the poetry of this book with poems like “Birthday”, “Culmination”, and “Portraits of Mary”. The sense of place and time tends to rattle your bones with life’s pivotal moments. There are no wasted words in this text. In fact, if I have to have any real criticism, it's in the choice of typeface (some of the text is quite hard to read) and, more important, the lack of experimentation on the part of the poet in using the page. Will I tell you to go out and buy this book? A big, hands-down yes! However, you have to wait until October, because I’m writing from a review copy, and the book won’t officially be released until October 2009. But by all means, if you have the chance, grab a copy of At the Thresholds of Alchemy. You won’t go wrong.

—B.L. Kennedy, Reviewer-in-Residence

__________________

from NEW STANZAS TO AUGUSTA
(To M.B.)
—Joseph Brodsky

September came on Tuesday.
It poured all night.
The birds had all flown south.
I was so much alone, so brave,
I did not even watch them go.
The empty sky is broken now.
Rain-curtains close the last clear spot.
I need no south.

(translated from the Russian by George L. Kline)

__________________

ON A SQUIRREL CROSSING THE ROAD
IN AUTUMN, IN NEW ENGLAND
—Richard Eberhart

It is what he does not know,
Crossing the road under the elm trees,
About the mechanism of my car,
About the Commonwealth of Massachusetts,
About Mozart, India, Arcturus,

That wins my praise. I engage
At once in whirling squirrel-praise.

He obeys the orders of nature
Without knowing them.
It is what he does not know
That makes him beautiful.
Such a knot of little purposeful nature!

I who can see him as he cannot see himself
Repose in the ignorance that is his blessing.

It is what man does not know of God
Composes the visible poem of the world.

...Just missed him!

__________________

Today's LittleNip:

The gates of thought—how slow and late they discover themselves! Yet when they appear, we see that they were always there, always open.

—Ralph Waldo Emerson

__________________

—Medusa

SnakeWatch: What's New from Rattlesnake Press:

NEW FOR SEPTEMBER:

Rattlesnake Press is proud to announce the release of a new chapbook by
Susan Finkleman (Mirror, Mirror: Poems Of The Mother-Daughter Relationship, illustrated by Joseph Finkleman),
plus a new HandyStuff blank journal from Katy Brown (A Capital Idea),
and a littlesnake broadside from Marie Reynolds (Late Harvest). All are now available at The Book Collector, 1008 24th St., Sacramento.


RATTLESNAKE REVIEW:

RR23 is now available at The Book Collector, and contributor and subscription copies will go into the mail in the next two weeks.
You may also order a copy through rattlesnakepress.com/.
Deadline is November 15 for RR24: 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 add all contact info, including snail address. Meanwhile, the snakes of the on-going Medusa are always hungry; keep that poetry comin', rain or shine!
Just let us know if your submission is for the Review or for Medusa, or for either one, and please—only one submission packet per issue of the quarterly Review.
(More info at rattlesnakepress.com/.)

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 (include snail address) and I'll send you one. Free!


COMING IN OCTOBER:

On Wednesday, Oct. 14, Rattlesnake Press will release
a new chapbook from Brad Buchanan (The War Groom)
and a new Rattlesnake LittleBook from
William S. Gainer: Joining the Demented.
That's 7:30 PM at The Book Collector.

WTF!!: The third issue of WTF, the free quarterly journal from
Poetry Unplugged at Luna's Cafe that is edited by frank andrick,
is now available at The Book Collector,
or send me two bux and I'll mail you one.
Deadline for Issue #4 will be Oct. 15.
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 (clearly marked for WTF).
And be forewarned: this publication is for adults only, so you must be
over 18 years of age to submit. (More info at rattlesnakepress.com/.)

Then gear up the flivver for a ROAD TRIP on Monday, Oct. 26 at 7:30 PM
as we all travel over to HQ for the Arts, 25th & R Sts., Sacramento
for Rattlesnake Press's release of the new SPC anthology,
Keepers of the Flame: The First 30 Years of the Sacramento Poetry Center.
Editor-in-Chief Mary Zeppa and her helpers have put together
many, many documents and photos
from SPC's history, and the resulting anthology (and SPC's 30th anniversary!)
will be celebrated that night. Be there!

_________________

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.