Two-headed Janus, who sees forward and backward,
a personification of the month of January.
Romanesque high-relief stone sculpture
in the Museo del Duomo, Ferrara, Italy
JANUARY ONE: THE NEW CALENDAR
—Joyce Odam, Sacramento
Blank spaces now for blank days:
squares to fill, good intentions, race with clocks;
a whole calendar of ways
to receive your hope and praise:
squares to fill, good intentions, a race with clocks.
_________________
Thanks to Joyce Odam and all our other poets for their liras (and Katy Brown for the so-cool Christmas pig)! We're still in the midst of a give-away for New Year's Lira; see last Tuesday or Wednesday for details. Deadline is midnight tomorrow (Sunday, Jan. 3).
Some thoughts about Working With Medusa in the SnakeWatch section of this blog; see below the LittleNip.
Submissions Opportunities!
•••CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS: EXPRESSING BRIDGES: LIVED EXPERIENCE STORIES ON THE GOLDEN GATE BRIDGE
Deadline: January 10, 2010
We are looking for poetry, writing, rants, words, line drawings, notes, found objects, jpegs of artwork, photography, sculpture and other works that express stories of lived experience on the Golden Gate Bridge. Selected works will be memorialized in a book. A celebration of lived-experience bridge stories will be held.
For more information and to contribute, send your creative offerings via e-mail to comeknowing@theblackhut.com/.
•••CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS: QUILL AND PARCHMENT ANTHOLOGY OF POEMS ABOUT MOTHERHOOD
Deadline: January 15, 2010
Seeks poems about Mother/Daughter and Mother/Son relationships—ie., Challenges that occur when a child becomes an adult, rites of passage, death/dying, wisdom or warning that was passed between mother and child, the unexplainable bond that's there from the start, the things that happen without needing words.
Please submit to: ALittleHawk@aol.com/. Subject line should read: Submission: Title of Your Poem, Your Name. No intro necessary; skip a line and start the poem.
We will accept more than one submission, but please use a different e-mail doc for each one. No more than three poems of your best work in your first submission, please. No attachments. We will contact you if your poem or poems are accepted.
•••GREENPOINT PRESS announces that Ducts.org, “the web-zine of personal stories”, is accepting entries from January through August in a variety of categories, including essays, fiction, humor, profiles, reviews and poetry. Check it out; Issue 23 is currently online.
_________________
DREAMS OF THE FUTURE
—Donald R. Anderson, Stockton
Just a touch of grey, so soon.
I miss Autumn in the Spring, Winter in June.
Grey sky with a touch of blue.
Time flies fast what do I do?
I miss Autumn in the Spring, Winter in June.
__________________
NEW YEAR'S EVE AT MEDUSA'S KITCHEN
—Janet L. Pantoja, Woodinville, WA
Medusa wants a lira
for her culinary delight to be sure—
patrons can only hear a
few words for the next era—
New Year's libation has their eyes all a blur
__________________
THREE SPANISH LIRA
—Janet L. Pantoja
A Happy New Year?
For New Year 2 Thousand 10:
I wish wellness and much joy for everyone!
To bear a heavy burden
of grief may be ours. Amen.
I pray: Bring us wellness, happiness and fun.
***
Another Year in Time
Time with its limitation
ticks ticks ticks in the New Year: 2 Thousand 10—
a world in celebration!
a world in jubilation!
Time : 3 6 5 new days in 2 Thousand 10
***
Lira Española
Lira for 2 Thousand 10—
wow: Hooray! New form! Something to contemplate!
Eager, I take up my pen . . .
write good wishes to all, then
shout: ¡Olé! ¡Salud! Something to celebrate!
__________________
NEW YEAR LIRA
—Carol Louise Moon, Sacramento
A lira for the new year:
the hope of health and all spiritual blessings
is what I offer you, Dear;
not just new year joy and cheer,
but strength to cope with whatever this year brings.
__________________
PORK ON PORCH
—Carol Louise Moon
See, they have a new year gig,
a fun-loving way to bring in the new year.
It's a very pink, quite big
lit-up paper flying pig
swinging on their porch in winter's night so clear.
Ok, this one isn't paper, but it's in the holiday spirit, yes?
Photo by Katy Brown, Davis
__________________
Today's LittleNip:
When I have trouble writing, I step outside my studio into the garden and pull weeds until my mind clears—I find weeding to be the best therapy there is for writer's block.
—Irving Stone
Time waits for no pig...
SnakeWatch: A New Year with Rattlesnake Press:
RATTLESNAKE REVIEW:
Issue #24 is now available (free) at The Book Collector
or may be ordered through rattlesnakepress.com—
or send me 4 bux and I'll mail you one.
Contributor and subscription copies
will go into the mail this week and next.
After this issue, Rattlesnake Review and most of our
other print projects will be taking
a few months off for remodeling—
but not Medusa's Kitchen, WTF (see below)
or our 2nd Weds. reading series (except for no reading in January).
Watch Medusa's Kitchen for further developments,
and sign up for our monthly e-newsletter, Snakebytes,
by writing to me at kathykieth@hotmail.com/.
WTF!!
The fourth 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.
WTF is the only Rattlesnake print publication
that will keep going during our break;
next deadline (for Issue #5) is Jan. 15.
Send 3 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).
No simultaneous submissions, previously published work,
bios or cover letters.
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/.)
WORKING WITH MEDUSA:
During our hiatus from most print publications (except WTF),
Medusa will keep cooking in the Kitchen every day.
(Check out our updated format! Did you know that,
if you click on the pictures we post, they'll enlarge for you?)
Only a few of our poets have picked up on the fact, though,
that Medusa's Kitchen is a great way to get your work out there
on a very frequent basis; the snakes of Medusa are always hungry,
especially for NorCal poetry.
Plus, we accept previously-published work—such a deal!—
(please cite publication and be sure you own the rights)
and, like our other journals,
no bios or cover letters are required; just mark it for Medusa.
Send it all to kathykieth@hotmail.com or
P.O. Box 762, Pollock Pines, CA 95726.
(No simultaneous submissions, though, please.)
I'm convinced that the 'Net
is the future of poetry; print may continue,
and of course has its benefits,
but where else can your work be seen by
an almost unlimited number of people (including your relatives)
with this kind of speed and frequency??
Where else can you connect with Duluth or Greece or Zimbabwe
for free, day by day, liberated from
the vicissitudes of the postal service???
So keep sending poetry, photos, art, cartoons, events,
reviews of poetry and books about poetry,
other handy resources such as books, websites
and submissions opportunities—
whatever poetry goings-on that can be posted.
Watch line lengths on poetry, though; they are limited on the blog.
Blogspot does refuse to indent, too; work must be justified left.
Need to find a poet who posted in the past, including yourself?
Go to the search bar at the upper left of the blog and
type in the name.
Voila!
Or, if you know the date, go to the archives column at the right,
click on the year and scroll down to the month, then the day.
Plus, be sure to check out the links in the right-hand column
for more poetry and poetry news, local and otherwise.
You can also become a "follower", or click on the pix
of the followers to see what's going on with them
(D.R. Wagner and Donald Anderson, e.g.)
or send Medusa to somebody else.
So watch for an expansion of offerings and opportunities
as the Kitchen gets remodeled along with everything else ophidian—
2010 is going to be a
Big Year for the Snake!
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
in print and otherwise.
Pick up a copy at The Book Collector or
write to me (include snail address) and I'll send you one. Free!
See rattlesnakepress.com for a complete listing of all our other
publications, free and otherwise. There's a link to the right.
_________________
Medusa encourages poets of all ilk and ages to send their POETRY, PHOTOS and ART, as well as REVIEWS, RESOURCES and 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.
RATTLESNAKE REVIEW:
Issue #24 is now available (free) at The Book Collector
or may be ordered through rattlesnakepress.com—
or send me 4 bux and I'll mail you one.
Contributor and subscription copies
will go into the mail this week and next.
After this issue, Rattlesnake Review and most of our
other print projects will be taking
a few months off for remodeling—
but not Medusa's Kitchen, WTF (see below)
or our 2nd Weds. reading series (except for no reading in January).
Watch Medusa's Kitchen for further developments,
and sign up for our monthly e-newsletter, Snakebytes,
by writing to me at kathykieth@hotmail.com/.
WTF!!
The fourth 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.
WTF is the only Rattlesnake print publication
that will keep going during our break;
next deadline (for Issue #5) is Jan. 15.
Send 3 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).
No simultaneous submissions, previously published work,
bios or cover letters.
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/.)
WORKING WITH MEDUSA:
During our hiatus from most print publications (except WTF),
Medusa will keep cooking in the Kitchen every day.
(Check out our updated format! Did you know that,
if you click on the pictures we post, they'll enlarge for you?)
Only a few of our poets have picked up on the fact, though,
that Medusa's Kitchen is a great way to get your work out there
on a very frequent basis; the snakes of Medusa are always hungry,
especially for NorCal poetry.
Plus, we accept previously-published work—such a deal!—
(please cite publication and be sure you own the rights)
and, like our other journals,
no bios or cover letters are required; just mark it for Medusa.
Send it all to kathykieth@hotmail.com or
P.O. Box 762, Pollock Pines, CA 95726.
(No simultaneous submissions, though, please.)
I'm convinced that the 'Net
is the future of poetry; print may continue,
and of course has its benefits,
but where else can your work be seen by
an almost unlimited number of people (including your relatives)
with this kind of speed and frequency??
Where else can you connect with Duluth or Greece or Zimbabwe
for free, day by day, liberated from
the vicissitudes of the postal service???
So keep sending poetry, photos, art, cartoons, events,
reviews of poetry and books about poetry,
other handy resources such as books, websites
and submissions opportunities—
whatever poetry goings-on that can be posted.
Watch line lengths on poetry, though; they are limited on the blog.
Blogspot does refuse to indent, too; work must be justified left.
Need to find a poet who posted in the past, including yourself?
Go to the search bar at the upper left of the blog and
type in the name.
Voila!
Or, if you know the date, go to the archives column at the right,
click on the year and scroll down to the month, then the day.
Plus, be sure to check out the links in the right-hand column
for more poetry and poetry news, local and otherwise.
You can also become a "follower", or click on the pix
of the followers to see what's going on with them
(D.R. Wagner and Donald Anderson, e.g.)
or send Medusa to somebody else.
So watch for an expansion of offerings and opportunities
as the Kitchen gets remodeled along with everything else ophidian—
2010 is going to be a
Big Year for the Snake!
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
in print and otherwise.
Pick up a copy at The Book Collector or
write to me (include snail address) and I'll send you one. Free!
See rattlesnakepress.com for a complete listing of all our other
publications, free and otherwise. There's a link to the right.
_________________
Medusa encourages poets of all ilk and ages to send their POETRY, PHOTOS and ART, as well as REVIEWS, RESOURCES and 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.