Shoo, Shoe!

Shoo, ticks!
Shoo, mosquitos!
Shoo, too, bare arms and feet
For now's the colder time.
Now is thick socks, silk underwear
I wear like an extra skin all winter.
It's Shoo to bare anything, except the trees.

My old store had a poured concrete floor.
Seventeen years I ached and plodded
on its cold, too-hard surface/pounding.
Sometimes I'd come home weeping
from the pain of the hardness & cold
driven up my spine through my shoes
into kidneys and back.

When I heard Maya Angelou talking about
how she used to practice ballet on a concrete floor—I looked into it.
Maya walks with a cane now
And tells how much damage was done
in those concrete floor ballet leaping years.
I've heard too that everyone has
'just so many' concrete hours
in their lifetime to use up.
After that, it's simply damage.

But I couldn't just leave the old place.
"Too much Charm" ...cheap rent.
and strangely located at the edge
of an up-and-coming town.

Now I'm 3 years working on an old wood floor—
Polished from decades of shoes' treading.
So old, you can see the light through it
when the sun gets lower on the west side.

It's a new kind of charm here.
Less pain. Better business.
Compared to the old town,
It's kinda like Mr. Roger's neighborhood

And my shoes can be pretty
and keep the toes warm—
Cushioning & support don't have to be
the absolute only factors in their choosing.

Now, it's Shoo, Pain!
A grateful Shoo to the old concrete floor.
Shoo, the economic downturn
Shoo, my heart from excess worry.
Shoo, beloved old store.
Shoo, no indoor plumbing.
So Shoo, the old outhouse, for now.
I have a bathroom.
It's uptown now.


(Inspired by last week's "No Business Like Shoe Business" post)
—Chrys Mollett, Aeolian Harp, Angels Camp

__________________

Thanks to Chrys Mollett for her shoe musings in response to our talk of shoes last week. And thanks to Margaret Ellis Hill for her poems in response to last week's Seed of the Week: Waiting. Never too late for seeds of the week...


This week in NorCal poetry:

•••NO READING at Sacramento Poetry Center this week. Next Monday (12/19) will feature Indigo Moor and Jeanne Wagner.

•••NO READING at Poetry Unplugged at Luna's Cafe.

•••Saturday (12/27), 10-11/30 AM: 2nd and 4th Saturday Morning Sacramento Poetry Center Workshop at the South Natomas Community Center. Format: presentation of style, technique or poet, then critiques and a prompt for in-session writing. FREE/no registration required. Facilitated by Frank Graham and Emmanuel Sigauke.

__________________

DREAMS ON HOLD
(for Jim)
—Margaret Ellis Hill, Wilton

Dust has claimed the air
Spiders cling to silence
Instructions, neatly filed by you
Wait.

Pistons and tubing line shelves
Colored fittings fill coffee cans
Fiberglass shells stand at attention
Wait.

Your stool and rolling jack stay in place
Marking pencil lies ready for your hand
The old lift holds a block; rebuilding must
Wait.

The door is locked, key in the house
Inside lights in the off position
A collection of auto parts and dreams
Wait.

Your sons know the reasons
They keep your lifeblood together
A whole of you locked inside to
Wait.


(idea from Joyce Sutpen’s poem, "The Shop")

__________________

WAITING FOR THE PLANE
—Margaret Ellis Hill

The flight across country delayed,
weather blamed although many passengers
claim lack of help and unconcerned airlines.
All the seats filled with bodies, some asleep,
some awake drinking coffee, reading
the Wall Street Journal, noting sports scores.
Half-asleep, most passengers stare into space.
Across from me, a man lies prone—
his red suitcase an ottoman.
A teenager with orange ringlets
whispers into a tape recorder.
People walk back and forth, from chair to window.
Musak tries hard to soothe, but only
adds to the cacophony of sounds and snatches
of words like: convict, hold, purpose,
no, reason, coffee, thank you and bye.

__________________

WAITING FOR THE ALARM
—Margaret Ellis Hill

An infernal ticking keeps me from sleep
like Captain Hook approaching,
sneering, as if I won't hear the alarm.
His metronome 440 becomes part
of nighttime racket: screech of tree frogs,
crickets, the whine of wheels,
and that damned peacock,
deep in heat, not sleep,
yelling ‘help’ from a neighbor’s tree.

__________________

Today's LittleNip:

Literature is news that STAYS news.

—Ezra Pound

__________________

—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. The last of contributors' copies will go into the mail this week. 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!

NEW for December: A second chapbook from Danyen Powell (Blue Sky Flies Out); a free littlesnake broadside from Kevin Jones (Low-Rent Dojo), and a brand-new (free) issue of Rattlesnake Review (#20)! Stop by The Book Collector and pick up Christmas gifts such as Katy Brown's calendars and blank journals and all our other books—give the gift of poetry! We even have two books that are appropriate for kids: Poems in a Seashell by Kathy Kieth (a children's approach to writing poetry), and SpiralChap #1: The Heart of a Poet, poetry and art by Ashley Redfield and her brother when they were wee ones. While you're there, of course, you'll want to pick up a book or two for your own Christmas tree. And hey—TBC is even open on Sundays!

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 TBC or write to me and I'll send you one. Free!

Coming in January: Other than the ever-restless Medusa, the Snake will be snoozing during January; no releases or readings. But our October road trips inspired a new Rattlesnake publication, WTF, to be edited by frank andrick. This 30-page, chapbook-style (free) quarterly will primarily showcase the talents of readers at Poetry Unplugged at Luna’s Café, but anyone over 18 is welcome to submit. Deadline is Jan. 15 for a Feb. 19 premiere at Luna’s. Submission guidelines are the same as for the Snake, but please send three poems (each one page or less in length), 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 will be for adults only! so you must be over 18 years of age to submit.

Coming February 11: 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.


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): 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.

This Single Drop of a Moment

Winter Solstice at Stonehenge

SUMMER EVENINGS
—Stephen Dobyns

As I finish my wine, I think of my friends.
Right now each is doing some particular thing,
sleeping or making love or reading a book.
Here it is autumn. A car in the street
keeps honking its horn, then roars away,

squealing its tires. When we were last together
it was in the country. The sun had set
and in the room where we sat a single lamp
was burning, its red shade casting a glow.
Two were reading, others were talking.

A moth kept flinging itself at the light,
batting its wings on the shade, till someone
caught it and took it outside. I wanted
to touch thse people, explain how much
they meant to me and how my life felt

enriched by them. Briefly, the moment hung
like a single drop of water from a faucet,
and the very second felt split open: a rock
in which one finds a tiny cave filled
with bright crystals. But then a car began

honking from someplace nearby, an angry
jittery noise, and when at last it stopped,
the drop had fallen and had begun its journey,
the solitary journey made by each of us,
rushing streams, broad rivers, unknown seas.

____________________

—Medusa

I hope I have taken advantage of such opportunities in the past to tell each of you readers, poets and friends how much you mean to me, but if not, then consider this to be such a moment. You are my good friends: friends in poetry, partners in publishing and cohorts in this vast and startling adventure that is, not only Rattlesnake Press, but the life we share at this moment on this planet.

And may all of us have many such chances in the year to come; may all of us see those single drops and make good use of them, time after time after time, before they fall and head off for unknown seas...

Waiting With The Angels

Alabaster Wings
Photo by Katy Brown, Davis

XMAS ANGEL
—dawn m. dibartolo, citrus heights

…she scribbles her spine’s
continuation into immaterial et cetera…
—"The Angel" by Galway Kinnell

tying her heart
into ribbons, into bows,
trying to make material,
the gift of Christ.

love for profit?
yet, wallets weave
inconsequentially empty
through the garland pines
and bulbs of colorless cheer.

she knows the soul
inclined to give, and
of nothing, entwines her gratitude,
wrapping her inadequacies
and signing her name
“et cetera…et cetera…et cetera…”

___________________

season
—dawn m. dibartolo

autumn rust,
alluring browns to fall,
litter my joy ~ all that’s left of heat,
leave me for the cooling
of winter.

__________________

wooing despair
—dawn m. dibartolo

i all but
stumbled upon autumn breeze,
grey-blue chill like iced veins ~
seasonal stagger;
this harvest moon
woos despair.

__________________

my own book of answers
—dawn m. dibartolo
(after Neruda’s The Book of Questions: III)

tell me, is the rose naked
or is that her only dress?

unlaced bodice, each layer of her gown
a petal, opened, inviting exploration
of essence…scent, lust, or romance…
the only, in many colors of desire.

why do trees conceal
the splendor of their roots?

life from the distinction of seed,
interwoven fingers thru soil,
mother earth holds firm.
yet, not all need see the glory of
where i came from to accept
what i’ve now chosen to be.

who hears the regrets
of the thieving automobile?

though “thou shalt not steal,”
i have been of many sins;
covetous eyes…and hands…and
tongue; in secret, have i wept
over bounty. loam, drink my tears,
and moon, balm my wounds,
stars to delineate my penance,
and a tire-worn road leading
to all forgiveness, cracked
in the rhythm of my prayers.

is there anything in the world sadder
than a train standing in the rain?

a child, lost, not caring to be found;
cold bedsheets, accepting of one body;
a lone joshua tree sprouting from a
desolate field, reaching
desperately for the sun; a poem
caught on the tongue without sound;
a blank sheet of paper.

__________________

Today's LittleNip:

everything that was
has vanished from my aged heart
leaving not a trace

—Iio Sogi

__________________

—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. The last of contributors' copies will go into the mail next week. 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!

NEW for December: A second chapbook from Danyen Powell (Blue Sky Flies Out); a free littlesnake broadside from Kevin Jones (Low-Rent Dojo), and a brand-new (free) issue of Rattlesnake Review (#20)! Stop by The Book Collector and pick up Christmas gifts such as Katy Brown's calendars and blank journals and all our other books—give the gift of poetry! We even have two books that are appropriate for kids: Poems in a Seashell by Kathy Kieth (a children's approach to writing poetry), and SpiralChap #1: The Heart of a Poet, poetry and art by Ashley Redfield and her brother when they were wee ones. While you're there, of course, you'll want to pick up a book or two for your own Christmas tree. And hey—TBC is even open on Sundays!

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 TBC or write to me and I'll send you one. Free!

Coming in January: Other than the ever-restless Medusa, the Snake will be snoozing during January; no releases or readings. But our October road trips inspired a new Rattlesnake publication, WTF, to be edited by frank andrick. This 30-page, chapbook-style (free) quarterly will primarily showcase the talents of readers at Poetry Unplugged at Luna’s Café, but anyone over 18 is welcome to submit. Deadline is Jan. 15 for a Feb. 19 premiere at Luna’s. Submission guidelines are the same as for the Snake, but please send three poems (each one page or less in length), 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 will be for adults only! so you must be over 18 years of age to submit.

Coming February 11: 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.


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): 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.

More Morning Music

THE HARPIST’S HANDS
—Tom Goff, Carmichael

Rhythm is what first emerges from
her careful-caring way about the notes:
reminding us Verdi’s use of harp connotes
the stride of the hero in its dynamic strum.

Yet gazes are beeswings drawn towards the hum’s
gestation: to the touchwind rippling the floating
string-realm, currying this liquid coat
now glossing and lilting under the human plectrum

that is each slender hand. An unfolding, calm,
and then a swandiving into a cardsharp-sleight:
no plucking-up-by-the-roots. Red-coral-pink highlights,

translucencies in each pigeonwing finger and palm.
Hear how a hot breadloaf steams, pried slowly apart;
how a book flutters softly shut on its own white heart.

__________________

Thanks, Tom, for the beautiful imagery. And thanks to Patricia Hickerson and Mitz Sackman for responses to our Seed of the Week: Waiting (Mitz is responding to her own poem yesterday) and to Michael Cluff for the Christmas poem. Keep 'em comin'!


This weekend in NorCal poetry:

•••Friday (12/19), 7:30 PM: Los Escritores del Nuevo Sol/Writers of the New Sun presents The Out Loud Poets (Brad Buchanan, Jacqueline Diaz, Chris Olander and JoAnn Anglin) at La Raza Galeria Posada, 1024 22nd St., Midtown Sacramento. [See last Monday's post for bios.] The Out Loud Poets will read their own poems and also share their Poetry Out Loud experiences from last year. Each worked in Sacramento-region high schools with teen students who memorized poems and competed to see who could present their poems best, at their schools, and then on a county-wide basis, then nationally, competing for prizes including a college scholarship. (See: http://www.poetryoutloud.org/.) POL poets for 2008-09 are also invited to read.

•••Friday (12/19), 7 PM: Poetry at Raven's Tale bookstore, 352 Main Street, Placerville. This will be a community reading; bring your own poems or those of a favorite poet, or just come to listen. There is no charge.

•••Friday (12/19), 7:30 PM: The Other Voice in Davis presents an all-Open Mike reading, celebrating the holidays (holy days) with words of quiet joy or laughter, perhaps even sadness but with peace over all. Plan on five minutes per person says host Allegra Silberstein. Join them in the Library of the UU Church at 27074 Patwin Rd. in Davis. No charge. Bring your own poems or somebody else’s.

•••Monday (12/22): No reading at Sacramento Poetry Center.

__________________

WHILE SHE WAITS

her river
broad and rhythmically lapping
tuned to a deliberate surge
carries her long unhurried story on its back
totes her cargo season to season
washes the banks of the city
where she was born Sunday morning
first saw daylight
three blocks from waterside

while she waits

her river nods to the Palisades
shallow waves sun-sparkled
holds up bridges shore to shore
burrows tunnels through its trenches
ferries one way and another
barges up and down
steams between Battery Park and the Liberty statue
powers into the Atlantic

that's her ocean
(waiting)
where soon she will float on her back
stare up at the stars
it will be Sunday night by then


—Patricia Hickerson, Davis

___________________

A MOTHER’S VIEW
—Mitz Sackman, Murphys

Days
Whirl by
December
Racing quickly
Towards holidays
I think about how time would
Weigh on my hands as a child
Now time is insufficient
Christmas lies in wait unready
I hope time holds back for weary moms
Christmas holiday joy waits for me soon

_________________

DASHER
—Michael Cluff, Highlands

I am the alpha deer
have been for the last
four hundred and fifty-five years
give or take
a few dozen.

The other seven
much less
than that.

Before that time
well we do not talk
about that era
it was during the Reformation
you know.

Reindeer like Anthony
and Augustine
and Lilith
and Ursula,
all bovine saints
it must be said
even
at this late date

were slowly phased out
and replaced
by us
in the Anglo-Saxon clan
if you catch
my drift.

So I will visit them all
after Advent
and never will let Santa know.

He's part Druid
after all.




__________________

Today's LittleNip:

Literature was not born the day when a boy crying "wolf, wolf" came running out of the Neanderthal valley with a big gray wolf at his heels: literature was born on the day when a boy came crying "wolf, wolf" and there was no wolf behind him.

—Vladimir Nabokov

__________________


—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. Contributors' and subscribers' copies will go into the mail this week. 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!

NEW for December: A second chapbook from Danyen Powell (Blue Sky Flies Out); a free littlesnake broadside from Kevin Jones (Low-Rent Dojo), and a brand-new (free) issue of Rattlesnake Review (#20)! Stop by The Book Collector and pick up Christmas gifts such as Katy Brown's calendars and blank journals and all our other books—give the gift of poetry! We even have two books that are appropriate for kids: Poems in a Seashell by Kathy Kieth (a children's approach to writing poetry), and SpiralChap #1: The Heart of a Poet, poetry and art by Ashley Redfield and her brother when they were wee ones. While you're there, of course, you'll want to pick up a book or two for your own Christmas tree. And hey—TBC is even open on Sundays!

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 TBC or write to me and I'll send you one. Free!

Coming in January: Other than the ever-restless Medusa, the Snake will be snoozing during January; no releases or readings. But our October road trips inspired a new Rattlesnake publication, WTF, to be edited by frank andrick. This 30-page, chapbook-style (free) quarterly will primarily showcase the talents of readers at Poetry Unplugged at Luna’s Café, but anyone over 18 is welcome to submit. Deadline is Jan. 15 for a Feb. 19 premiere at Luna’s. Submission guidelines are the same as for the Snake, but please send three poems (each one page or less in length), 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 will be for adults only! so you must be over 18 years of age to submit.

Coming February 11: 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.


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): 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.

No Business Like Shoe Business

The ideal Christmas gift—
All-purpose shoe with Mp3 player
for listening to music before
the throwing begins...

SANTA CLAUS
—Dunya Mikhail

With his beard long like war
and suit red like history
Santa Claus came smiling
He asked me to take something
You are a good girl, he said
so you deserve a game
He gave me something like poetry
As I hesitated, he encouraged me
—Don't be afraid, baby
I am Santa Claus
I distribute beauty to children
Haven't you seen me before?
—But Santa Claus whom I know
comes in military uniform
and every year distributes to us
some red swords
toys for orphans
artificial legs
and photos of absentees
to be hung on the walls.

__________________

A CHILD’S VIEW
—Mitz Sackman, Murphys

Days
Drag by
Just waiting
For Santa to
Come with his bag
From roof to chimney down
Bringing Christmas joy to us
Merry Christmas morning surprises
On everyone’s smiling face
When will my Christmas finally be here?

__________________

TIME WILL TELL
—Donald R. Anderson, Stockton

Reading in-between the lights
of a department store like a football field
rushing towards the end zone
dodging bullets and working through blockades.
There is a no loitering sign.
Yet beyond it extends the line.
A little holiday play makes its way
through the corridors, a holiday carol.
Inside, lovers snuggle,
and Knights in White Satin plays.
A festive nutmeg eggnog—
no liquor for me by choice and circumstance.
A little reminder of holidays past,
as I slog through the present looking into windows.
In our future,
promises of peace on Earth,
hope against a heavily weighted planet of apathy.
And still a joy
that we have survived this far.

___________________

Thanks to Donald Anderson and Mitz Sackman for their responses to our Seed of the Week: Waiting, and to Michael Cluff for Today's LittleNip—his comment on Tom Goff's etheree yesterday about The Shoe Incident.

Rattlechapper and Snake Columnist Shawn Pittard has another job as columnist for the online journal about poetry and poetics, The Great American Pinup, in which yesterday he said many nice things about our Snake and about me as well as about rattlechappers Moira Magneson and Wendy Patrice Williams. Check it out at http://greatamericanpinup.blogspot.com/2008/12/other-voice-
rattlesnake-press-humble.html/.


Shall we head to Oaxaca?

Donna Hanelin writes: Greetings from Oaxaca, Mexico! Here the Christmas season is in full bloom—poinsettias are indigenous to Mexico so the countryside is splashed with red and also the white blossoms of the guaje tree, the tree after which Oaxaca is named. We have our fair share of Christmas lights and dressed up arboles though I tend to be more enchanted by the flowering bushes and leave the electric sparkle to others. In addition, important Saints Days march across the landscape bringing great bangs of fireworks, all-night brass bands, blessings for the children and blessed saints on parade. I'm at home here spending part of the day writing a novel and part of the day enjoying whatever happens to walk, drive, clop, trot or whirr near my window.

A reminder: February 11-18, I'm offering Removing Obstacles, a restorative retreat for writers. The focus for this retreat is on the healing power of language, story and poetry. I'm teaching with Alejandro Beltrán Cordero, traditional Mexican healer as well as acupuncturist, musician, theatre director, dancer who has worked extensively with artists to remove obstacles and to construct the bridges necessary to continue on our true way. We will both give group sessions and private consultation for each participant. If you are feeling stuck with your writing or wanting extra insight and guidance or simply a solid support for the development of a project or idea, you are invited to join us in Oaxaca. The retreat takes place at Casa Sagrada, a 12-room country guesthouse in Teotitlan del Valle, 15 miles east of the city of Oaxaca; Teotitlan is world renown as a center for hand-loomed weaving. Optional activities at the Casa include horseback riding, cooking classes, massage, and guided hiking. Though I have worked for many years with the idea of writing as healing, Removing Obstacles is a new and fascinating retreat concept for me—I very much look forward to this meeting of language and healing arts, of words and wonder.

For more detailed information about the retreat, visit:http://www.creativewritingclasses.us/WritingRetreats.html Please feel free to email or call if you have further questions. My USA phone and voicemail is 559-840-3527. Skype: donnapoem or Email: donna@creativewritingclasses.us

__________________

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

LISTENING TO WINTER
by Molly Fisk
50 pp, trade paperback, $12.50

Over the years, I have encountered the poems of Molly Fisk in various poetry anthologies and other like publications. However, it wasn’t until a recent meeting with the poet at a reading in Grass Valley, when she gave me a copy of her book, Listening to Winter, that I had the opportunity of investigating on a larger scale the fullness of her work as a poet. Here is the pure lyric voice of an accomplished and dedicated poet, a voice filled with both darkness and humor. I have to admit that I am now a fan. So, if you have the chance to dive into the world of Molly Fisk through any of her books or audio-recordings—or just the miscellaneous poem floating around in some anthology—do so.

—B.L. Kennedy, Reviewer-in-Residence

__________________


THE JEWEL
—Dunya Mikhail

It no longer overlooks the river
No longer is in the city
No longer on the map
The bridge that we used to cross every day
The bridge
The war tossed it into the river
Just as that lady aboard the Titanic
Tossed her blue diamond

__________________

CHRISTMAS
—Dunya Mikhail

1
Somebody is knocking at the door
How sad
It is Christmas and not you

2
I don't know how to add your absence to my life
I don't know how I subtract myself from it
I don't know how to divide it
in the communicating vessels.

3
The time stopped
at twelve o'clock
The watchmaker got confused
Nothing wrong with the watch
The whole matter is
that the hands remained in an embrace
and forgot the world.


(Dunya Mikhail's Iraqi poetry was translated from the Arabic by Salaam Jousif and Liz Winslow.)

__________________

Today's LittleNip:

I would never waste
my old wingtips or loafers
on President Bush

—Michael Cluff, Highlands

__________________


—Medusa (what is it about our country that brings out the shoes? Remember Khruschev pounding his on the table?)


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. Contributors' and subscribers' copies will go into the mail this week. 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!

NEW for December: A second chapbook from Danyen Powell (Blue Sky Flies Out); a free littlesnake broadside from Kevin Jones (Low-Rent Dojo), and a brand-new (free) issue of Rattlesnake Review (#20)! Stop by The Book Collector and pick up Christmas gifts such as Katy Brown's calendars and blank journals and all our other books—give the gift of poetry! We even have two books that are appropriate for kids: Poems in a Seashell by Kathy Kieth (a children's approach to writing poetry), and SpiralChap #1: The Heart of a Poet, poetry and art by Ashley Redfield and her brother when they were wee ones. While you're there, of course, you'll want to pick up a book or two for your own Christmas tree. And hey—TBC is even open on Sundays!

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 TBC or write to me and I'll send you one. Free!

Coming in January: Other than the ever-restless Medusa, the Snake will be snoozing during January; no releases or readings. But our October road trips inspired a new Rattlesnake publication, WTF, to be edited by frank andrick. This 30-page, chapbook-style (free) quarterly will primarily showcase the talents of readers at Poetry Unplugged at Luna’s Café, but anyone over 18 is welcome to submit. Deadline is Jan. 15 for a Feb. 19 premiere at Luna’s. Submission guidelines are the same as for the Snake, but please send three poems (each one page or less in length), 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 will be for adults only! so you must be over 18 years of age to submit.

Coming February 11: 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.


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): 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.

The Sky Stands Still

SUCH PROFUNDITY
—Holly Day, Minneapolis, MN

and then there was this one time
when my sister and I became
fascinated with Buddhism
made ourselves robes out of bedsheets and
tinted our bodies blue with our mother's eyeshadow stick.

my sister sat cross-legged on the floor,
closed her eyes and chanted
"Om, om, om"
over and over again and then
"I can see you, great Buddha. I'm coming,
Buddha" and wouldn't stop

she scared
the shit out of me, and I shook her
and shook her until
her eyes opened and she told me
the most wonderful stories about elephants
and palaces and all the places she went and how
it had seemed like she was gone forever

and told me I should try it for myself and I did
I really did
but I never went anywhere.

__________________

Thanks, Holly, for the poems! Holly Day, who has a poem in the new Rattlesnake Review, lives in Minneapolis with her two children and husband. Her most recent books are Music Composition for Dummies and Music Theory for Dummies.

Also today, Tom Goff sends us some shoe thoughts (!) and Taylor Graham responds to our Seed of the Week: Waiting—which doesn't have to be about Christmas, particularly. It seems like we spend a whole lot of our time waiting: for babies to arrive, for checks in the mail, for test results. Wrap your mind around the idea of waiting, see what comes up... No deadline on this or any other SOW.

___________________

SHOES
(for Muntader al-Zaidi)
—Tom Goff, Carmichael

Shoes
each one
good to wear
protecting feet
but expressing too
our unease at the dust
that dusts or cakes roadworn soles
and even contempt and rage at:
evildoers who turn people to
death-mud (what trace here of stars we’ve grown from)

___________________

WAITING OUT THE LONELY SEASON
—Taylor Graham, Placerville

Outside, neighbor kids with hockey sticks
are racing last daylight across the ice.
She pulls her curtains, turns up the music.
No matter how sweet the part-song—
all those voices weaving communal strains—
the air feels electric, dry as if beaten
with feathered wings, a crested harmony
rising to its ascendant, reaching, then
falling without finding. What message—
from angel, sea-nymph, fairy—might it
deliver, to make this not-quite Christmas
evening seem less cold?

__________________

SUMMER NIGHTS
—Holly Day

I live falling asleep to stories of
drive-by shootings and missing children
teenage prostitution rings and
the beginning rumbles of war. I live my days
in the knowledge that there is an end
to my days. I'm so afraid

of what my beautiful little boy must think
of this world, what he must be thinking
behind those wide blue eyes
and I hate all the things in the world
that make me lie to those eyes
when he asked me, Saturday morning, why
his cartoons are being interrupted by all this
talk of war.

__________________

SUMMERTIME
—Holly Day

at night
the sky stands still
and lets
clouds creep across it, slowly
as if afraid to fall

at night
the sky stands still
and lets
stars poke their way
through its skin
tiny spots of suspended
white light

and clouds crawl along
just underneath, tentative
birds streak overhead
from one end of the horizon
to the other
and disappear
only to be replaced by similar birds
that follow the same path
and repeat



__________________

Today's LittleNip:

THE DARK SIDE OF THE MOON
—Russell Edson

Whan a man returned he saw that everything had been melted, puddled flat. His fedora looked like a large rare coin. The dead moth on the windowsill looked like a brown cloth draped from the windowsill. The lamp on the night table looked like a fried egg...

He went to ask his landlady about all this melting, but found that even she was melted; on the floor like a wall-to-wall picture of the moon; one breast the Sea of Tranquillity, one eye the Sea of Opticus...

He looked for the vulva, and not finding it, decided it must be on the dark side of the moon...

__________________


—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. Contributors' and subscribers' copies will go into the mail this week. 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!

NEW for December: A second chapbook from Danyen Powell (Blue Sky Flies Out); a free littlesnake broadside from Kevin Jones (Low-Rent Dojo), and a brand-new (free) issue of Rattlesnake Review (#20)! Stop by The Book Collector and pick up Christmas gifts such as Katy Brown's calendars and blank journals and all our other books—give the gift of poetry! We even have two books that are appropriate for kids: Poems in a Seashell by Kathy Kieth (a children's approach to writing poetry), and SpiralChap #1: The Heart of a Poet, poetry and art by Ashley Redfield and her brother when they were wee ones. While you're there, of course, you'll want to pick up a book or two for your own Christmas tree. And hey—TBC is even open on Sundays!

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 TBC or write to me and I'll send you one. Free!

Coming in January: Other than the ever-restless Medusa, the Snake will be snoozing during January; no releases or readings. But our October road trips inspired a new Rattlesnake publication, WTF, to be edited by frank andrick. This 30-page, chapbook-style (free) quarterly will primarily showcase the talents of readers at Poetry Unplugged at Luna’s Café, but anyone over 18 is welcome to submit. Deadline is Jan. 15 for a Feb. 19 premiere at Luna’s. Submission guidelines are the same as for the Snake, but please send three poems (each one page or less in length), 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 will be for adults only! so you must be over 18 years of age to submit.

Coming February 11: 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.


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): 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.

While We Wait

THE ANGEL
—Galway Kinnell

This angel, who mediates between us
and the world underneath us, trots ahead
so cheerfully. Now and then she bends
her spine down hard, like a dowser's branch,
over some, to her, well-known splashing spot
of holy water, of which she herself in turn
carefully besoms out a thrifty sprinkle.
Trotting ahead again, she scribbles her spine's
continuation into immaterial et cetera,
thus signaling that it is safe for us now
to go wagging our legs along vertically as we do,
across the ups and downs under which lie
ancestors dog-toothed millennia ago into oblivion.
Tonight she will crouch at the hearth,
where demons' breaths flutter up among the logs,
gnawing a freshly unearthed bone—bone of a dog,
if possible—making logs and bone together
cry through the room, crack! splinter! groan!

___________________

WAITING
—Joyce Carol Oates

Too many gulls to be counted.
Unrhythmic waves—immense, shallow—
the sucking noise never predictable.
He waits on the beach, his arms tight around his knees.
He is not a child, he sits too heavily.

A Canada goose flies in, the wings ungainly, noisy.
Seven mallards ride the waves
and there are innumerable sailboats, all silent.
Is this perfection?
He waits for the next wave to change everything.

__________________

Remember when you were a child, how slowly time passed, how the days before Christmas seemed endless? Today's Seed of the Week is Waiting. Make of it what you will... And here are some poems from previous SOWs:


APPETITES
—Mitz Sackman, Murphys

Eat
With your
Eyes wisely
Open to the sights
Drink full with your heart
Allow the beauty in
The season is beautiful
But brief, passing in life’s moment
Seize the moment, look around you
Celebrate, eat, drink, your eyes and heart full

___________________

BUS RIDE BEST MISSED
—Mitz Sackman

There
I was
Books piled high
Sideways on hip
Rushing the last seat
Got it, lit a big smile
Wouldn’t you know at next stop
Old lady arrives on the bus
Have to stagger up give her my seat
Catholic school manners can be the pits!

__________________

XMAS FOG
—Patricia Hickerson, Davis

Here I am
like a tramp steamer mistbound
out in the middle of the Pacific
peering eastward through density
to the Golden Gate Bridge and the city beyond
to you, darling boy,
sequestered in rehab on Harrison Street
bereft of your beloved bottles
(vodka, gin, J&B)
waiting for the fog to lift

I wish you luck, Son,
now 50
you were the luxury liner
once speeding through sparkling currents
you were supposed to take the world by storm
with your sleek gifts of body and spirit

now me, the old mother tramp
calls out to you in my foghorn voice
as I cradle a mug of warm milk

Happy Holidays!

__________________

Today's LittleNip:

Poetry is the arithmetic of the easiest way and the primrose path, matched up with foam-flanked horses, bloody knuckles, and bones, on the hard ways to the stars.

—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. Contributors' and subscribers' copies will go into the mail this week. 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!

NEW for December: A second chapbook from Danyen Powell (Blue Sky Flies Out); a free littlesnake broadside from Kevin Jones (Low-Rent Dojo), and a brand-new (free) issue of Rattlesnake Review (#20)! Stop by The Book Collector and pick up Christmas gifts such as Katy Brown's calendars and blank journals and all our other books—give the gift of poetry! We even have two books that are appropriate for kids: Poems in a Seashell by Kathy Kieth (a children's approach to writing poetry), and SpiralChap #1: The Heart of a Poet, poetry and art by Ashley Redfield and her brother when they were wee ones. While you're there, of course, you'll want to pick up a book or two for your own Christmas tree. And hey—TBC is even open on Sundays!

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 TBC or write to me and I'll send you one. Free!

Coming in January: Other than the ever-restless Medusa, the Snake will be snoozing during January; no releases or readings. But our October road trips inspired a new Rattlesnake publication, WTF, to be edited by frank andrick. This 30-page, chapbook-style (free) quarterly will primarily showcase the talents of readers at Poetry Unplugged at Luna’s Café, but anyone over 18 is welcome to submit. Deadline is Jan. 15 for a Feb. 19 premiere at Luna’s. Submission guidelines are the same as for the Snake, but please send three poems (each one page or less in length), 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 will be for adults only! so you must be over 18 years of age to submit.

Coming February 11: 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.


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): 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.