Night Secrets

Josh Fernandez

TO THE STRANGER IN THE LIQUOR STORE
WHO TOLD ME NOT TO BLASPHEME
—Josh Fernandez, Sacramento

Fuck your god
until he comes
down,

works 14-hour
days on the dock,
smelling like fish
and gasoline,

smokes speed
from broken light bulbs,

and dies,
not for your sins,
but from pure
exhaustion.

__________________

Join us this coming Wednesday, February 11, at The Book Collector (1008 24th St., Sacramento, 8 PM) for the release of a littlesnake broadside, In The End, It's A Worthless Machine, from Josh Fernandez. Josh lives with his two cats and his girlfriend, Crystal, in Midtown Sacramento, where he says he takes up very little space and is virtually nonexistent. He works at the Sacramento News & Review as an associate arts editor. His poems have been published in pax Americana, Seele, Poetry Now, and others. Josh was featured on Medusa on May 10, 2007, back when he worked for the Woodland Democrat. (Go to the May, 2007 archives at the right and click May; scroll down to the 7th.)

While you're thinking about next week, you might put together your submissions packet for Rattlesnake Review #21 (the Snake turns 21!). Deadline is Sunday, February 15, a week from tomorrow! 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. Repeat: including Snail Address! As I said in Snake Secrets, think positive! If your poem gets accepted, I'll need to send you a copy of the Review! And, if you SnailMail, please include an email address, if you have one.

If you're still having trouble wrapping your mind around the submissions process (and I admit, editors are picky!), send for our free littlesnake broadside #46: Snake Secrets: Getting Your Poetry Published in Rattlesnake Press (and lots of other places, besides!): A compendium of ideas for brushing up on your submissions process so as to make editors everywhere more happy, thereby increasing the likelihood of getting your poetry published. Pick up a copy at The Book Collector or write to me and I'll send you one. Free! There's still time to get one and look it over before the 2/15 deadline.

By the way, sending poems one at a time for Medusa is perfectly fine, but we here at the Snakepit prefer submissions of 3-5 poems for the Review. Put some thought into gathering together a packet of 3-5 or your poems, any of which you'd like to see in print, and send them, either by snail mail or email (preferably as attachments). Sending in just one poem narrows your chances of getting published if it doesn't fit our criteria for some reason. Or, if you haven't labeled it for the Review, I might assume it's for Medusa.

While I'm onna rant: several poets send me poems in group emails, addressed to me and several other people at once. While I might enjoy these, I don't consider them submissions. For all I know, this could be a simultaneous submission. Or, at least, a bit too casual for my own personal editorial etiquette. Again: make us a tidy little packet of gems...

And separate your poems, if you email! Don't string them together with very little space or demarcation in between, so it's hard to tell where one leaves off and the other starts. Be wary of putting them just in the body of the email, where punctuation and line breaks can get badly jumbled. Some people (bless them!) send their poems in both the body and as an attachment.

I guess my favorite submission is five e-mail attachments, one poem per page, name and contact info at the top right-hand corner of each one. And there you have it, the ultimate Snake Secret! From there, I can print it out, separate the poems if I need to, see each one clearly, and not have to ask for a snail address. So cool.

Still talking about Nocturnes, our Seed of the Week. Here's one from Michelle Kunert, and three from Carl Sandburg, who always seemed, somehow, to have his eye on the night:


Night must include time for sleeping
Country people believe so, but not those in cities
Cities also have stores and restaurants run by zombies
who forgot what it is to dream anymore
I have, on holidays, worked late
At 10 P.M. I still saw mothers with little children
who'd cry in their utter weariness
I pleaded "Please go home and put them in bed
there's nothing here you need that badly..."
I wonder if that's why my bosses got despised
Money ruled over common sense
even for parents ignoring time for stories and prayers
hauling them as burdens around to find a "great deal"
I try not to shop or eat after eight
out of respect for those expected to give service


—Michelle Kunert, Sacramento

__________________

WINDOW
—Carl Sandburg

Night from a railroad car window
Is a great, dark, soft thing
Broken across with slashes of light.

__________________

NOCTURNE IN A DESERTED BRICKYARD
—Carl Sandburg

Stuff of the moon
Runs on the lapping sand
Out to the longest shadows.
Under the curving willows,
And round the creep of the wave line,
Fluxions of yellow and dusk on the waters
Make a wide dreaming pansy of an old pond in the night.

__________________

LOST
—Carl Sandburg

Desolate and lone
All night long on the lake
Where fog trails and mist creeps,
The whistle of a boat
Calls and cries unendingly,
Like some lost child
In tears and trouble
Hunting the harbor's breast
And the harbor's eyes.

__________________

Today's LittleNip:

Poetry is the silver of the moon lost in the belly of a golden frog.

—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. 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; let us know if your submission is for the Review or for Medusa, or for either one.

Also available (free): littlesnake broadside #46: Snake Secrets: Getting Your Poetry Published in Rattlesnake Press (and lots of other places, besides!): A compendium of ideas for brushing up on your submissions process so as to make editors everywhere more happy, thereby increasing the likelihood of getting your poetry published. Pick up a copy at The Book Collector or write to me and I'll send you one. Free!

Coming in February: On Weds., February 11, Rattlesnake Press will be releasing 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.

And on February 19, the premiere of our new, free Poetry Unplugged quarterly, WTF, edited by frank andrick, will be celebrated at Luna's Cafe, 1414 16th St., Sacramento, 8 PM. (For those of you just tuning in, Poetry Unplugged is the long-running reading series at Luna's Cafe.)


Medusa's Weekly Menu:

(Contributors are welcome to cook up something for any and all of these!)

Monday: Weekly NorCal poetry calendar

Tuesday: Seed of the Week: Tuesday is Medusa's day to post poetry triggers such as quotes, forms, photos, memories, jokes—whatever might tickle somebody's muse. Pick up the gauntlet and send in your poetic results; and don't be shy about sending in your own triggers, too! All poems will be posted and a few of them will go into Medusa's Corner of each Rattlesnake Review. Send your work to kathykieth@hotmail.com or P.O. Box 762, Pollock Pines, CA 95726. No deadline for SOWs; respond today, tomorrow, or whenever the muse arrives. (Print 'em out, maybe, save 'em for a dry spell?) When you send us work, though, just let us know which "seed" it was that inspired you.

Wednesday (sometimes, or any other day!): HandyStuff Quickies: Resources for the poet, including whatever helps ease the pain of writing and/or publishing: favorite journals to read and/or submit to; books, etc., about writing; organizational tools—you know—HandyStuff! Tell us about your favorite tools.

Thursday: B.L.'s Drive-Bys: Micro-reviews by our irreverent Reviewer-in-Residence, B.L. Kennedy. Send books, CDs, DVDs, etc. to him for possible review (either as a Drive-By or in future issues of Rattlesnake Review) at P.O. Box 160664, Sacramento, CA 95816.

Friday: NorCal weekend poetry calendar

Daily (except Sunday): LittleNips: SnakeFood for the Poetic Soul: Daily munchables for poetic thought, including short paragraphs, quotes, wonky words, silliness, little-known poetry/poet facts, and other inspiration—yet another way to feed our ravenous poetic souls.

And poetry! Every day, poetry from writers near and far and in-between! The Snakes of Medusa are always hungry.......!

_________________

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.

To The Power of Three

Phil Weidman, Annie Menebroker, DR Wagner
The Book Collector, 2007

HORSES AT THE EDGE OF THE SEA
—D.R. Wagner, Elk Grove

The horizon is far away, a sullen
Fog, a brooding and endless grey,
Begrudging the evening light,

Holding it for minutes then allowing
A spot of sun, red light on waves. It dapples
The hides of the horses, then quickly
Excuses itself and wanders up to the sand cliffs and gets lost
In the canyon leading to the water.

There is a stillness to all this.
The sound of air in and out
Of horse nostrils. A shiver
Across the back, small pawing
On the sand.

Somewhere a bird knows something
About all of this and makes its special noise.
Eyes roll toward the sound then back
To the edge of the water.

The horses are seemingly doing nothing.
They have come down here for the evening, as
We do, without expectations or purpose
Beyond just being there at that moment.

We watch them grow darker in the fading
Light until they are shadow forms against
A sea moving back and forth on the edge.

Now there is land. Now there is water.
Now there is light. Now there are horses.
Now there is nothing to see.

__________________

There's nothing sadder than a good book out of print! Join us at The Book Collector, 1008 24th St., Sacramento, this coming Wednesday, February 11 at 7:30 PM for the inauguration of a new Rattlesnake Press series, Rattlesnake Reprints. Our first offering will be The Dimensions of the Morning by D.R. Wagner, which was first published by Tom Kryss and Black Rabbit Press in 1969. We have reproduced it pretty much exactly as it was first printed, a charming product of the Mimeograph Revolution. On Wednesday, DR will read briefly, along with Julia Connor and Josh Fernandez, both of whom will also be presenting new works. Be there!

D.R. Wagner is the author of over 20 books and chapbooks of poetry and letters. He founded press : today : Niagara and Runcible Spoon (press) in the late 1960’s and produced over fifty magazines and chapbooks. His work is much-published and has appeared in many translations. He is also a visual artist, producing miniature needle-made tapestries that have been exhibited internationally and are included in numerous publications. He is, further, a professional musician, working as a singer-songwriter and playing guitar and keyboards. He has taught Design at the University of California at Davis for almost twenty years. In 2007, DR published Where The Stars Are Kept for Rattlesnake Press, a SnakeRing SpiralChap of his poetry and tapestries. For more of his work, go to his page on rattlesnakepress.com (click on SnakeRing SpiralChaps in the menu), or to his feature on Medusa's Kitchen (go to October 2008 in the archives and scroll down to Oct. 13). Here is a poem from Where the Stars Are Kept:


THE MILKY WAY
—D.R. Wagner

We live in a spiral arm of a spinning
Field of stars, we whirl around, a carnival
Ride, full of birds, loves, emotions, endless
Varieties of things unfolding in seasons;
Full of bells and an endless weaving of hearts.

These connections ride upon our consciousness,
Demanding constant performance from us.
Each of us, most royal and majestic as night,
Vile, vindictive and spoiled even before we speak;
Sorrow and joy, the way we sound our name.

We endure all of this, our lips kissing each moment,
Crushed, elated, misunderstood, praised for things
We do as part of ourselves, damned for these same things.

There is no road, there is no plan. Only love
Survives.

Everything is forgiven, finally.
Understanding limps behind the parade,
Always late, always burdened with qualifications,
Always abandoning every opinion and argument,
Leaving each of us our place only, describing
This place, the swirling arms, the myriad ways
We twist ourselves to achieve
This weaving, this carnival of love.

__________________

Thanks, D.R., for playing along with our new Snake project, the reprints. There's nothing sadder than a good book out of print!

Today's photo is one of my favorites: three good friends of mine, a triumverate of outstanding poets from our area! Annie Menebroker published her delectable Small Crimes for Rattlesnake Press in 2007 and was featured on Medusa on March 30 of that year. Phil Weidman was featured on Medusa shortly before her, on March 22, 2007; in 2006, we published his Fictional Character: The Ernie Poems. See more of both of their work on rattlesnakepress.com (Rattlechaps page). Snake works by all three of these stunning poets are available at The Book Collector or at rattlesnakepress.com, or from the authors.

Here are three new poems from Phil Weidman. (I notice that several of today's poems are about the night; don't forget our Seed of the Week: Nocturnes.)


JUST BEFORE CHRISTMAS
—Phil Weidman, Pollock Pines

Our winter wood,
gleaned from the forest floor,
is cut, split, stacked
and covered with tarps.

A mile below us
Jenkinson Lake has receded
far below its banks,
a skeleton of its former self.

Outside the temperature
hovers below freezing.
The air is dry,
and fresh snow falls tentatively
as if unsure of its intent.

The house next to ours
and two close by
stand hollow-eyed,
driveways clogged with
un-shoveled snow.

I add more colored lights
to the string that decorates
our house and brightens
the dark hours before daylight.

___________________

DRIVING TO PLACERVILLE
—Phil Weidman

My mood rose with
the early morning sun
as it revealed the glorious

fall colors of the cottonwood,
oak and Chinese pistache
under a clear cerulean sky.

A growing feeling of serenity
sparked by light traffic
and the surrounding beauty

plummeted sharply as I passed
the crumpled body of a deer
pressed against the highway

divider, its blood drying
into an irregular stain
on the pavement.

I blessed the deer
as if I was ordained
or slightly off my rocker.

__________________

CALLING MY NAME
—Phil Weidman

Our firewood is running low.
I bundle up and push our
wheelbarrow through the snow
to the wood pile.

As I load split rounds
of cedar and oak,
I hear my name called
from far off.

As I listen, a hush falls
over the woods.
I look around.
Nothing moves.

Am I slipping a gear
or was that God calling?
I ask myself,
feeling my heart pound.

I hear my name again
and turn to see
a mere human, mini clouds
issuing from his mouth.

__________________

Today's LittleNip:

Mad with poetry,
I stride like Chikusai
into the wind.

—Basho

__________________

—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. 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; let us know if your submission is for the Review or for Medusa, or for either one.

Also available (free): littlesnake broadside #46: Snake Secrets: Getting Your Poetry Published in Rattlesnake Press (and lots of other places, besides!): A compendium of ideas for brushing up on your submissions process so as to make editors everywhere more happy, thereby increasing the likelihood of getting your poetry published. Pick up a copy at The Book Collector or write to me and I'll send you one. Free!

Coming in February: On Weds., February 11, Rattlesnake Press will be releasing 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.

And on February 19, the premiere of our new, free Poetry Unplugged quarterly, WTF, edited by frank andrick, will be celebrated at Luna's Cafe, 1414 16th St., Sacramento, 8 PM. (For those of you just tuning in, Poetry Unplugged is the long-running reading series at Luna's Cafe.)


Medusa's Weekly Menu:

(Contributors are welcome to cook up something for any and all of these!)

Monday: Weekly NorCal poetry calendar

Tuesday: Seed of the Week: Tuesday is Medusa's day to post poetry triggers such as quotes, forms, photos, memories, jokes—whatever might tickle somebody's muse. Pick up the gauntlet and send in your poetic results; and don't be shy about sending in your own triggers, too! All poems will be posted and a few of them will go into Medusa's Corner of each Rattlesnake Review. Send your work to kathykieth@hotmail.com or P.O. Box 762, Pollock Pines, CA 95726. No deadline for SOWs; respond today, tomorrow, or whenever the muse arrives. (Print 'em out, maybe, save 'em for a dry spell?) When you send us work, though, just let us know which "seed" it was that inspired you.

Wednesday (sometimes, or any other day!): HandyStuff Quickies: Resources for the poet, including whatever helps ease the pain of writing and/or publishing: favorite journals to read and/or submit to; books, etc., about writing; organizational tools—you know—HandyStuff! Tell us about your favorite tools.

Thursday: B.L.'s Drive-Bys: Micro-reviews by our irreverent Reviewer-in-Residence, B.L. Kennedy. Send books, CDs, DVDs, etc. to him for possible review (either as a Drive-By or in future issues of Rattlesnake Review) at P.O. Box 160664, Sacramento, CA 95816.

Friday: NorCal weekend poetry calendar

Daily (except Sunday): LittleNips: SnakeFood for the Poetic Soul: Daily munchables for poetic thought, including short paragraphs, quotes, wonky words, silliness, little-known poetry/poet facts, and other inspiration—yet another way to feed our ravenous poetic souls.

And poetry! Every day, poetry from writers near and far and in-between! The Snakes of Medusa are always hungry.......!

_________________

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.

Days Beyond Embroider

Julia Connor

FOXFIRES
—Julia Connor, Sacramento

So, to the half-lives of January—

puff-angels, pale and languageless, that the orifices of chimneys
exhale and potholes swallow in the floodtide of a plate glass sky

a tule fog you step inside and pull closed behind you
stacks of the failed mattresses of trees

tawny drifts of spent hydrangea,
lamentations from a boxwood hedge.

This, what’s come of autumn’s clamor—
an inconsolable child cut loose from the other side.

Revelatory. Edgy. Ours.
Hiroshige’s Foxfires at the Changing Tree.

__________________

You may've heard—Rattlesnake Press is proud to present Julia Connor's new chapbook, Oar, at the February 11 reading at The Book Collector, 1008 24th St., Sacramento, at 8 PM. Julia Connor, Sacramento Poet Laureate 2005-2008, has published books and chapbooks since 1985. She has received grants, awards and fellowships from numerous institutions including the California Arts Council, the Sacramento Metropolitan Arts Commission, Centrum Foundation, The Helene Wurlitzer Foundation, and Hambidge Center for Creative Arts and Sciences. She has taught poetry workshops in many U.S. cities, as well as in England. In the late '80’s she served as instructor and Assistant Director of The Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics at Naropa University, Boulder, CO. She teaches six-month writing workshops and master classes from the home in Sacramento she shares with actor James C. Anderson, and their four-legged familiar, “Shakespeare”.

__________________

HAWTHORNE AVENUE
—Julia Connor


those of us born to the haw

grew tall on its streets,

French kissing

behind its garages


ours the blossoms

born in anguish & ballyhoo

to be split by religion


shrunk tight to their sin

till you needed tweezers

to get at the gift of us


—small red berries

issued on thorny twigs

favored by birds

__________________

…but also a bed
—Julia Connor

What is it up from the watery depths, its
thrum in my ear, the suck and eddy, sudden
after-hear of fin slap! Departure’s shark, come
again? Or is it you my out-of-nowhere feverish death
troubling the waters? Fingers deep in a Kleenex
raw with listening to the drag on an unseen lure;
sturdy seamstress eyes narrowing. Look, a finch
at the window, beak gritty with black seed, eye
sidereal—even as the still Unicorn peers out
from its fair maiden’s penned tapestry.
These are the days beyond embroider.

__________________

Poetry Unplugged tonight!

Join the gang tonight at Luna's Cafe, 1414 16th St., Sacramento, 8 PM. Featured poet for the evening is Justin Desmangles—wordsmith, writer, literary event organizer, radio disc jockey, documentarian, and lover of jazz from both the Bay Area and Sacramento. His words are truly music to the ears! Don't miss this feature. There will also be sign-ups for open mic poetry.

And mark your calendars for Poetry Unplugged two weeks from tonight, on Thurs., Feb. 19, when Editor Frank Andrick launches the new Poetry Unplugged quarterly journal, WTF! for Rattlesnake Press. Be there to pick up your free copy! WTF!!!

__________________

Announcing the Obama Millennium Award...

Because of the spontaneous outpouring of good will and good writing that flowed into their inboxes in response to the election and inauguration of Barack Hussein Obama as President, New Millenium Writings is now accepting online submissions for poetry and prose to mark this moment in our young millennium. They say: Wax lyrical, critical, inspirational, analytical, cynical, spritual or in any other way you please to shine a light on the significance of this moment in history. We're looking for the link between the personal and the public. What does Obama's election mean to you and to our world?

One winner and three runners-up or more will be published in the next issue of NMW, due out in November, and at www.NewMillenniumWritings.com. The deadline for this contest is midnight Sunday, March 1, 2009 and will not be extended. $1,000 will go to the best single piece of writing—whether poetry, essay or fiction on the subject... you guessed it... Obama. Writers from all three categories will compete for the top prize. At least three $100 prizes also will be awarded to runners-up. Winners will be announced in May. All contestants will receive a copy of the 2009 Special Issue containing the winners, due out in November.

To enter, go to http://www.newmillenniumwritings.com/obama.php or visit www.NewMillenniumWritings.com and following the links.

__________________

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

BARE FEET, BROKEN GLASS by Anita Wynn Little Red Book #53 Lummox Press P.O. Box 5301 San Pedro, CA 90733 36 pp (chapbook), $5.00 In Bare Feet, Broken Glass, poet Anita Wynn does not sugarcoat her words. With soft images, the poems in this small collection from Lummox Press come head-on with all the power of a runaway train. Anita Wynn simply tells her story in these poems; she tells it like it is and like it was in her life. I should note that some of the poems included in this chapbook are very raw and graphic in their depiction of the author’s experience as, first, an abused woman, then to her final transformation as a healed spirit. This book is strong in message and image and is not for the weak of heart.

—B.L. Kennedy, Reviewer-in-Residence
__________________

Today's LittleNip:

and what is the heart?
pine breeze voice in a forgotten painting

—Ikkyu

__________________

—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. 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; let us know if your submission is for the Review or for Medusa, or for either one.

Also available (free): littlesnake broadside #46: Snake Secrets: Getting Your Poetry Published in Rattlesnake Press (and lots of other places, besides!): A compendium of ideas for brushing up on your submissions process so as to make editors everywhere more happy, thereby increasing the likelihood of getting your poetry published. Pick up a copy at The Book Collector or write to me and I'll send you one. Free!

Coming in February: On Weds., February 11, Rattlesnake Press will be releasing 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.

And on February 19, the premiere of our new, free Poetry Unplugged quarterly, WTF, edited by frank andrick, will be celebrated at Luna's Cafe, 1414 16th St., Sacramento, 8 PM. (For those of you just tuning in, Poetry Unplugged is the long-running reading series at Luna's Cafe.)


Medusa's Weekly Menu:

(Contributors are welcome to cook up something for any and all of these!)

Monday: Weekly NorCal poetry calendar

Tuesday: Seed of the Week: Tuesday is Medusa's day to post poetry triggers such as quotes, forms, photos, memories, jokes—whatever might tickle somebody's muse. Pick up the gauntlet and send in your poetic results; and don't be shy about sending in your own triggers, too! All poems will be posted and a few of them will go into Medusa's Corner of each Rattlesnake Review. Send your work to kathykieth@hotmail.com or P.O. Box 762, Pollock Pines, CA 95726. No deadline for SOWs; respond today, tomorrow, or whenever the muse arrives. (Print 'em out, maybe, save 'em for a dry spell?) When you send us work, though, just let us know which "seed" it was that inspired you.

Wednesday (sometimes, or any other day!): HandyStuff Quickies: Resources for the poet, including whatever helps ease the pain of writing and/or publishing: favorite journals to read and/or submit to; books, etc., about writing; organizational tools—you know—HandyStuff! Tell us about your favorite tools.

Thursday: B.L.'s Drive-Bys: Micro-reviews by our irreverent Reviewer-in-Residence, B.L. Kennedy. Send books, CDs, DVDs, etc. to him for possible review (either as a Drive-By or in future issues of Rattlesnake Review) at P.O. Box 160664, Sacramento, CA 95816.

Friday: NorCal weekend poetry calendar

Daily (except Sunday): LittleNips: SnakeFood for the Poetic Soul: Daily munchables for poetic thought, including short paragraphs, quotes, wonky words, silliness, little-known poetry/poet facts, and other inspiration—yet another way to feed our ravenous poetic souls.

And poetry! Every day, poetry from writers near and far and in-between! The Snakes of Medusa are always hungry.......!

_________________

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.

A Little Night Music

Photo by Katy Brown, Davis

ONLY AT NIGHT
—Taylor Graham, Placerville

At the gallery under fluorescent lights,
someone has carved a fox from a black-oak burl,
curled her in whorls of woodgrain.
Vixen eyes etch a silence in the room, even
as we read aloud our poems.

After closing, as I drive
the dark way home, my headlights
catch a streak thin as a knife-stroke—
vixen escaped from the wood
in which she was carved.

Can art slip the chain of logic?
Fox has disappeared
into the woods, the dark between
words; night’s silence hiding
beneath our tongue.

__________________

THE LAST NIGHT
—Donald R. Anderson

Castle, stacked block by block.
Cold walls and tapestries of natural dyes,
woven over the courses of years.
At night he hears the piano soft and gentle,
down in one of the far-off rooms,
his love captured in paint looks across the master bedroom,
soft and gentle, pleated skirt, fragile,
delicate glasses perched atop a slender nose.
Eyes that follows him as he looks out the stone hole
in the wall, moving aside the tapestry to look across
moonlit green misty hills wildly grown with the forbidden forest.
In the tender moments he thinks of where she might be,
and wonders when his memory of the piano playing
will fade into the recesses of his mind,
and he will finally, frail and rasping, shudder to sleep.

__________________

NIGHT MOVES
—Kevin Jones, Fair Oaks

So I asked
My friend
How he got
The black eye.

Was down
At the tavern,
And after last call
There was this big
Nocturne, drag-out
Fight. Glass
Breaking, then
The lights
Went out.
Too dark to fight.
Think I bashed
Myself.

__________________

NOCTURNE (I ACCOMPANIED YOU)
—Leopold Sedar Senghor, b. 1906, Senegal

(for khalam)

I accompanied you as far as the village of granaries,
To the gates of Night, and I was speechless
Before the golden riddle of your smile. A brief twilight
Fell over your face, like a divine joke.
From the top of a hill shaded from light, I saw your bright pagne
Fade and your crest like a sun drop behind the rice-field shade
When anguish assailed me, ancestral fears more treacherous
Than panthers—the mind cannot expel them farther than the day's
Horizons. Will this night last forever? Departure without good-bye?
I shall cry in the shadows, in the motherly hollow of the Earth,
I shall sleep in my silent tears
Until the milky dawn of your mouth touches my brow.


(translated by Melvin Dixon)

__________________

NOCTURNE (SHE FLIES SHE FLIES)
—Leopold Sedar Senghor

(for two horns and a balafong)

She flies she flies through the white flat lands, and patiently I take my aim
Giddy with desire. She takes her chances to the bush
Passion of thorns and thickets. Then I will bring her to bay in the chain of hours
Snuffing the soft panting of her flanks, mottled with shadow
And under the foolish Great Noon, I will twist her arms of glass.
The antelope's jubilant death rattle will intoxicate me, new palm wine
And I will drink long long the wild blood that rises to her heart
The milk blood that flows to her mouth, odours of damp earth.

Am I not the son of Dyogoye? Dyogoye the famished Lion.


(translated by John Reed and Olive Wake)

__________________

Today's LittleNip:

Oh the evening wind hurries smoke our smoke
into the sky

—Ikkyu

__________________

—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. 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; let us know if your submission is for the Review or for Medusa, or for either one.

Also available (free): littlesnake broadside #46: Snake Secrets: Getting Your Poetry Published in Rattlesnake Press (and lots of other places, besides!): A compendium of ideas for brushing up on your submissions process so as to make editors everywhere more happy, thereby increasing the likelihood of getting your poetry published. Pick up a copy at The Book Collector or write to me and I'll send you one. Free!

Coming in February: On Weds., February 11, Rattlesnake Press will be releasing 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.

And on February 19, the premiere of our new, free Poetry Unplugged quarterly, WTF, edited by frank andrick, will be celebrated at Luna's Cafe, 1414 16th St., Sacramento, 8 PM. (For those of you just tuning in, Poetry Unplugged is the long-running reading series at Luna's Cafe.)


Medusa's Weekly Menu:

(Contributors are welcome to cook up something for any and all of these!)

Monday: Weekly NorCal poetry calendar

Tuesday: Seed of the Week: Tuesday is Medusa's day to post poetry triggers such as quotes, forms, photos, memories, jokes—whatever might tickle somebody's muse. Pick up the gauntlet and send in your poetic results; and don't be shy about sending in your own triggers, too! All poems will be posted and a few of them will go into Medusa's Corner of each Rattlesnake Review. Send your work to kathykieth@hotmail.com or P.O. Box 762, Pollock Pines, CA 95726. No deadline for SOWs; respond today, tomorrow, or whenever the muse arrives. (Print 'em out, maybe, save 'em for a dry spell?) When you send us work, though, just let us know which "seed" it was that inspired you.

Wednesday (sometimes, or any other day!): HandyStuff Quickies: Resources for the poet, including whatever helps ease the pain of writing and/or publishing: favorite journals to read and/or submit to; books, etc., about writing; organizational tools—you know—HandyStuff! Tell us about your favorite tools.

Thursday: B.L.'s Drive-Bys: Micro-reviews by our irreverent Reviewer-in-Residence, B.L. Kennedy. Send books, CDs, DVDs, etc. to him for possible review (either as a Drive-By or in future issues of Rattlesnake Review) at P.O. Box 160664, Sacramento, CA 95816.

Friday: NorCal weekend poetry calendar

Daily (except Sunday): LittleNips: SnakeFood for the Poetic Soul: Daily munchables for poetic thought, including short paragraphs, quotes, wonky words, silliness, little-known poetry/poet facts, and other inspiration—yet another way to feed our ravenous poetic souls.

And poetry! Every day, poetry from writers near and far and in-between! The Snakes of Medusa are always hungry.......!

_________________

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.

Night Children

Photo by Katy Brown, Davis

NOCTURNE
—Virginia Hamilton Adair

Draw the hour
dark as a bruise

where neon shopfronts
jerk and implore

on-off, arrow-arrow
enter me, like any whore.

On streets of soot and stain
the first brushes of rain

daub jewels and holocausts
through violet exhausts

and the wet deepens like a dream
while souls in stereo

ferry the black and fiery stream.

__________________

Today's Seed of the Week is the Nocturne. Originally a musical term, the nocturne extols the night, kind of an "ode to the night". So write to me about... the night. Below are some poetic nocturnes, plus a poem about yesterday's turtles/tortoises by Michelle Kunert, and a poem from Tom Goff about roots and our drought year that seems to fit Katy Brown's tree picture just perfectly. But first, an addition to the calendar (Kim Addonizio!) and some news about Stockton's arts scene:


Kim Addonizio in Davis tomorrow night!

•••Weds. (2/4), 9 PM: Poetry Night at Bistro 33 proudly welcomes award-winning poet Kim Addonizio. The author of four books of poetry, two novels, and two popular manuals on writing, Kim Addonizio has earned two fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, a Guggenheim Fellowship, a Pushcart Prize, and the John Ciardi Lifetime Achievement Award, among many other awards and recognitions. In addition to her original creative writing projects, Addonizio has also produced a spoken word and music compilation entitled, Swearing, Smoking, Drinking, & Kissing, and co-edited Dorothy Parker’s Elbow: Tattoos on Writers, Writers on Tattoos. About Addonizio’s latest novel, Andre Dubus III has written the following: “My Dreams Out in the Street is one of the finest American novels I've read in some time, a night-blooming flower you will not be able to put down, so honestly rendered you'll wonder, as you turn the last page, why you feel so much hope.” Kim Addonizio teaches private workshops in Oakland as well as online, and her fifth collection of poetry, Lucifer at the Starlite, will be published this October. To see an example of her work, pick up this month’s Poetry magazine.

Poetry Night at Bistro 33, co-hosted by UC Davis faculty members Andy Jones and Brad Henderson occurs on the first and third Wednesdays of every month beginning at 9 P.M. with an open microphone at 10 P.M. The event is free and open to the public. Come early for a seat and for a spot on the Open Mic list.


Stockton Grant Program Accepting Applications

The Stockton Arts Commission is soliciting applications for the City’s Arts Endowment Grant Program for 2009-10. The program funds annual grants to Stockton-based arts organizations, individual artists and arts educators who present and produce arts projects in the City. The Stockton City Council established an endowment of $1.3 million in January 2001 for the creation of the program. It is administered by the Arts Commission. Grants are funded from interest earned on the Endowment so it will remain a permanent resource for the community. $66,950 was awarded to eleven artists/organizations for 2008-09.

Two workshops have been scheduled to assist in grant preparation. Interested applicants are urged to attend one of two workshops: February 25 from 5-7 PM, or February 28 from 9-11 AM. Both sessions will be held at the Philomathean Club, 1000 North Hunter Street. Call the Stockton Arts Commission at 937-7488 to register. Grant guidelines and application information can be downloaded at the City web site, www.stocktongov.com/arts or by email to deena.heath@ci.stockton.ca.us. For additional information, call 209-937-7488.


Annual Arts Awards Nominations

The Stockton Commission is seeking nominations from its community for individuals, organizations and patrons who have made major contributions to arts and culture in the community. The categories include the STAR Award (Stockton’s Top Arts Award Recognition), the Patron Award, the Volunteer Award and the Career Achievement Award. Other categories may be designated if appropriate. Recipients will be honored at a celebration at the Bob Hope Theatre on September 11, 2009 following ART WALK. Criteria and nomination forms can be downloaded at the City website, www.stocktongov.com/arts or by email to deena.heath@ci.stockton.ca.us. For additional information, call 209-937-7488.

__________________

PRAYER TO THE GODS OF THE NIGHT
—Anonymous, c. 1500 BC, Old Babylonia

The gates of the town are closed. The princes
Have gone to sleep. The chatter of voices

Has quieted down. Doorbolts are fastened.
Not until morning will they be opened.

The gods of the place, and the goddess.
Ishtar, Sin, Adad, and Shamash,

Have gone into the quiet of the sky.
Making no judgments. Only

The voice of a lone wayfarer
Calls out the name of Shamash or Ishtar.

Now house and field are entirely silent.
The night is veiled, a Sleepless client

In the still night waits for the morning.
Great Shamash has gone into the sleeping

Heaven; the father of the poor,
The judge, has gone into his chamber.

May the gods of the night come forth—the Hunter,
The Bow, the Wagon, the Yoke, the Viper,

Irra the valiant, the Goat, the Bison
Girra the shining, the Seven, the Dragon—

May the stars come forth in the high heaven.

Establish the truth in the ritual omen;
In the offered lamb establish the truth.

___________________

NIGHT
—Wole Soyinka, b. 1934, Nigeria

Your hand is heavy. Night, upon my brow,
I bear no heart mercuric like the clouds, to dare
Exacerbation from your subtle plough.

Woman as a clam, on the sea's cresent
I saw your jealous eye quench the sea's
Fluorescence, dance on the pulse incessant

Of the waves. And I stood, drained
Submitting like the sand, blood and brine
Coursing to the roots. Night, you rained

Serrated shadows through dank leaves
Till, bathed in warm suffusion of your dappled cells
Sensations pained me, faceless, silent as night thieves.

Hide me now, when night children haunt the earth
I must hear none! These misted calls will yet
Undo me; naked, unbidden, at Night's muted birth.

__________________

Mom found a turtle had crawled into a flower box
languishing in a little mud puddle left by the rain
because alas, she was not a tortoise
Her neighbor before found another in her swimming pool
making one wonder if it too had been dumped the same
"Yertle" as mom called her after a Dr. Suess character
was a female red-eared slider turtle
with the edge of her shell possibly clipped by a car wheel
another non-native turtle to California sold as novelty pets
One couldn't help but feel sorry and cuddle her
attention she likely had not received before
But she only partially retreated her head and clawed flippers
and gave out a little snort like some reptiles give for pleasure
rather than in utter defense for fear
She needed a shallow-filled dish pan,
being she was weak to swim in a leftover fish tank
having to be always changed due to her eliminations
She recovered strength from eating fresh fruits and vegetables
Her neighbor said "Why not just sell her to an aquarium store?"
ignoring poor "Yertle's" health and predicament
and the vet later said she likely well over twenty years old
Yertle was be treated no differently than any creature with fur
(just remembering to wash our hands to avoid possible samonella)
We would instead find a home that loved turtles
through a local society (we did)
Meanwhile staying with three cats fascinatingly staring
Perhaps wondering what kind of hard-shelled ‘fish’ was this
crawling out of water to also bask in the patio sunbeams?

—Michelle Kunert, Sacramento

___________________

UPROOT
—Tom Goff, Carmichael

To uproot a tree,
break the dams, the dykes, the levees;
thrash the trunk, storm,
soften the rock, the loam, flood.
See that the leaves, green,
brown, whatever the lash has left,
disperse, whirl wildly away.
After, let every water stand
where it fell, lapped at cat-tongued
by remnant winds, as if licking clots, in blood.

To uproot an egret,
dry what you might have thought
to wet. Let bare dirt, or the worst
dry sands, auguring how many months’ thirst,
have place. Let the great bird treelike
topple, but upward, so that when these
large soft leaves fall, this too is a raining

up, an invert justice, a hail of farewell,
a drift on a draft: twin thin sticks
each scarcely more than stalk,
the gliding away far, a last letter simply writ
on two facing pages of white.

Photo by Katy Brown

__________________

Today's LittleNip:

NIGHTSONG: CITY
—Dennis Brutus, b. 1924, Zimbabwe

Sleep well, my love, sleep well:
the harbour lights glaze over restless docks,
police cars cockroach through the tunnel streets

from the shanties creaking iron-sheets
violence like a bug-infested rag is tossed
and fear is immanent as sound in the wind-swung bells;

the long day's anger pants from sand and rocks;
but for this breathing night at least,
my land, my love, sleep well.

__________________

—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. 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; let us know if your submission is for the Review or for Medusa, or for either one.

Also available (free): littlesnake broadside #46: Snake Secrets: Getting Your Poetry Published in Rattlesnake Press (and lots of other places, besides!): A compendium of ideas for brushing up on your submissions process so as to make editors everywhere more happy, thereby increasing the likelihood of getting your poetry published. Pick up a copy at The Book Collector or write to me and I'll send you one. Free!

Coming in February: On Weds., February 11, Rattlesnake Press will be releasing 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.

And on February 19, the premiere of our new, free Poetry Unplugged quarterly, WTF, edited by frank andrick, will be celebrated at Luna's Cafe, 1414 16th St., Sacramento, 8 PM. (For those of you just tuning in, Poetry Unplugged is the long-running reading series at Luna's Cafe.)


Medusa's Weekly Menu:

(Contributors are welcome to cook up something for any and all of these!)

Monday: Weekly NorCal poetry calendar

Tuesday: Seed of the Week: Tuesday is Medusa's day to post poetry triggers such as quotes, forms, photos, memories, jokes—whatever might tickle somebody's muse. Pick up the gauntlet and send in your poetic results; and don't be shy about sending in your own triggers, too! All poems will be posted and a few of them will go into Medusa's Corner of each Rattlesnake Review. Send your work to kathykieth@hotmail.com or P.O. Box 762, Pollock Pines, CA 95726. No deadline for SOWs; respond today, tomorrow, or whenever the muse arrives. (Print 'em out, maybe, save 'em for a dry spell?) When you send us work, though, just let us know which "seed" it was that inspired you.

Wednesday (sometimes, or any other day!): HandyStuff Quickies: Resources for the poet, including whatever helps ease the pain of writing and/or publishing: favorite journals to read and/or submit to; books, etc., about writing; organizational tools—you know—HandyStuff! Tell us about your favorite tools.

Thursday: B.L.'s Drive-Bys: Micro-reviews by our irreverent Reviewer-in-Residence, B.L. Kennedy. Send books, CDs, DVDs, etc. to him for possible review (either as a Drive-By or in future issues of Rattlesnake Review) at P.O. Box 160664, Sacramento, CA 95816.

Friday: NorCal weekend poetry calendar

Daily (except Sunday): LittleNips: SnakeFood for the Poetic Soul: Daily munchables for poetic thought, including short paragraphs, quotes, wonky words, silliness, little-known poetry/poet facts, and other inspiration—yet another way to feed our ravenous poetic souls.

And poetry! Every day, poetry from writers near and far and in-between! The Snakes of Medusa are always hungry.......!

_________________

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.

On The Housetraining Of Tortoises

Kurbi
(ornate box turtle)

Rustling, rustling,
the lotus leaves sway—
a tortoise in the pond.

—Onitsura

______________

ON SLOW LEARNING
—Scott Cairns

If you've ever owned
a tortoise, you know
how terribly difficult
paper training can be
for some pets.

Even if you get so far
as to instill in your tortoise
the value of achieving the paper,
there remains one obstacle—
your tortoise's intrinsic sloth.

Even a well-intentioned tortoise
may find himself in his journeys
to be painfully far from the mark.

Failing, your tortoise may shy away
for weeks within his shell, utterly ashamed,
or, looking up with tiny, wet eyes, might offer
an honest shrug. Forgive him.

__________________

This week in NorCal poetry:

•••Tonight (Mon., 2/2), 7:30 PM: Sacramento Poetry Center presents Richard “Bo” Lopez, Crawdad Nelson, and Miles Miniaci, with Litany (Miles Miniaci, Chéne Watson, and Bob Wilson) at HQ for the Arts, 1719 25th St., Sacramento. [See last Friday's post for bios.] Next Monday (2/9): Hannah Stein and Katherine Hastings.

•••Tues. (2/3), 12 noon: Sacramento City College presents Gary Short in A-6 (the Little Theater).

•••Thurs. (2/5), 8 PM: Poetry Unplugged at Luna's Cafe, 1414 16th St., Sacramento. Featured readers with open mic before and after.

•••Sat. (2/7), 2-6 PM: Southern Hospitality : Professional Caterers present the Fourth Annual African-American Spoken Word Festival at Third Baptist Church, 1399 McAllister St. (at Scott), San Francisco, 2nd Floor Social Hall. Info: Larry Ukali Johnson-Redd 415-425-6711.

__________________

AUREOLIN BOXES
—dawn di bartolo, citrus heights

as an artist shapes
canvas into self-portrait,

i’d found poetry to be…
golden

~ words,
spilled sweet like honey

as i look everywhere
for the sun.

surfaced diamonds,
graffiti’d catacombs,

revisited…
a box of crying paper;

blue, scaled
to yellowing pages;

love kept elsewhere…
a legacy of the soul,

come back to tug below
expressionless skins of time.

the resemblance to yellow…
aged and dirty ~

traversing the in-betweens,
a coming-clean

shower of thoughts;
i’d found poetry to be…

the power of omni –
relevance/capacity/passion

now…
then…
always…
an appetite semi-fed,

for days
still harbor hunger;

saffron words,
flavored in every

direction/time/distinction…

fingers of forever
unfurling the silences.

__________________

AND THE PAPER
—dawn di bartolo

a poetic moment
caught me by the tongue,
and i spit it with no venom.

sets of ears fluttered by
like butterflies
with nowhere in
particular to land,

and my pen was
snagged in the
blue ink sky ~
much too high
for my reach.

so, like drool,
thought pooled,
trickled down my chin;
and now, notion in hand,
i’ve not a lick of paper left
within the moment’s breadth.

__________________

THE TURTLE

breaks from the blue-black
skin of the water, dragging her shell
with its mossy scutes
across the shallows and through the rushes
and over the mudflats, to the uprise,
to the yellow sand,
to dig with her ungainly feet
a nest, and hunker there spewing
her white eggs down
into the darkness, and you think

of her patience, her fortitude,
her determination to complete
what she was born to do—
and then you realize a greater thing—
she doesn't consider
what she was born to do.
She's only filled
with an old blind wish.
It isn't even hers but came to her
in the rain or the soft wind,
which is a gate through which her life keeps walking.

She can't see
herself apart from the rest of the world
or the world from what she must do
every spring.
Crawling up the high hill,
luminous under the sand that has packed against her skin,
she doesn't dream
she knows
she is a part of the pond she lives in,
the tall trees are her children,
the birds that swim above her
are tied to her by an unbreakable string.

—Mary Oliver

__________________

Today's LittleNip:

Who makes much of a miracle?
As to me, I know of nothing else but miracles...
To me, every hour of the light and dark is a miracle,
Every cubic inch of space is a miracle,
Every square yard of the surface of the earth is spread
with the same;
Every spear of grass—the frames, limbs, organs of men
and women and all that concerns them,
All these to me are unspeakably perfect miracles.

—Walt Whitman

__________________

—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. 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; let us know if your submission is for the Review or for Medusa, or for either one.

Also available (free): littlesnake broadside #46: Snake Secrets: Getting Your Poetry Published in Rattlesnake Press (and lots of other places, besides!): A compendium of ideas for brushing up on your submissions process so as to make editors everywhere more happy, thereby increasing the likelihood of getting your poetry published. Pick up a copy at The Book Collector or write to me and I'll send you one. Free!

Coming in February: On Weds., February 11, Rattlesnake Press will be releasing 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.

And on February 19, the premiere of our new, free Poetry Unplugged quarterly, WTF, edited by frank andrick, will be celebrated at Luna's Cafe, 1414 16th St., Sacramento, 8 PM. (For those of you just tuning in, Poetry Unplugged is the long-running reading series at Luna's Cafe.)


Medusa's Weekly Menu:

(Contributors are welcome to cook up something for any and all of these!)

Monday: Weekly NorCal poetry calendar

Tuesday: Seed of the Week: Tuesday is Medusa's day to post poetry triggers such as quotes, forms, photos, memories, jokes—whatever might tickle somebody's muse. Pick up the gauntlet and send in your poetic results; and don't be shy about sending in your own triggers, too! All poems will be posted and a few of them will go into Medusa's Corner of each Rattlesnake Review. Send your work to kathykieth@hotmail.com or P.O. Box 762, Pollock Pines, CA 95726. No deadline for SOWs; respond today, tomorrow, or whenever the muse arrives. (Print 'em out, maybe, save 'em for a dry spell?) When you send us work, though, just let us know which "seed" it was that inspired you.

Wednesday (sometimes, or any other day!): HandyStuff Quickies: Resources for the poet, including whatever helps ease the pain of writing and/or publishing: favorite journals to read and/or submit to; books, etc., about writing; organizational tools—you know—HandyStuff! Tell us about your favorite tools.

Thursday: B.L.'s Drive-Bys: Micro-reviews by our irreverent Reviewer-in-Residence, B.L. Kennedy. Send books, CDs, DVDs, etc. to him for possible review (either as a Drive-By or in future issues of Rattlesnake Review) at P.O. Box 160664, Sacramento, CA 95816.

Friday: NorCal weekend poetry calendar

Daily (except Sunday): LittleNips: SnakeFood for the Poetic Soul: Daily munchables for poetic thought, including short paragraphs, quotes, wonky words, silliness, little-known poetry/poet facts, and other inspiration—yet another way to feed our ravenous poetic souls.

And poetry! Every day, poetry from writers near and far and in-between! The Snakes of Medusa are always hungry.......!

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Medusa encourages poets of all ilk and ages to send their POETRY, PHOTOS and ART, as well as announcements of Northern California poetry events, to kathykieth@hotmail.com (or snail ‘em to P.O. Box 762, Pollock Pines, CA 95726) for posting on this daily Snake blog. Rights remain with the poets. Previously-published poems are okay for Medusa’s Kitchen, as long as you own the rights. (Please cite publication.) Medusa cannot vouch for the moral fiber of other publications, contests, etc. that she lists, however, so submit to them at your own risk. For more info about the Snake Empire, including guidelines for submitting to or obtaining our publications, click on the link to the right of this column: Rattlesnake Press (rattlesnakepress.com). And be sure to sign up for Snakebytes, our monthly e-newsletter that will keep you up-to-date on all our ophidian chicanery.

Needing a New Myth

Painting by Jan Gossaert, c. 1520

THE GENESIS STRAIN
—Virginia Hamilton Adair

Not sure how I got there,
But a perfect location: smogless,
Free food & 4 unpolluted rivers.

The man I took to at once—
Our bare bodies made us forget
Our parents (if we ever had any).

Adam was given a desk job, naming
Species; I typed the name tags,
Kept the files, fixed coffee, dusted,

Found the best plants for food, picked
Perma-press leaves for rainshawls
& little aprons to keep off gnats.

One super-tree I couldn't believe.
Too good to be true! But try it,
Our friendly next-door serpent said.

That night I served Adam Wisdom
Thermidor made from the super-fruit,
& we smoked the leaves, & WOW!

Adam agreed that was a great
Day in the garden. We felt young
& wise—really on top of it all.

What happened next is beyond me:
Our landlord beating on the door,
Asking these weird questions,

Pointing out clauses in the lease:
No picking fruit from THAT tree;
No getting smart ideas.

He began to issue us clothing
(Dead skins) from the company store.
We were already in debt, he told us.

Nothing we'd done was right,
In HIS eyes. Adam chickened, whined,
"Get off my back. It was all Eve."

After that, hell broke loose.
You should have heard the curses.
Not even Adam had executive clemency.

The snake was sure I'd ratted on him
& bit me. Adam stomped him. Now his kids
Can't play with our kids any more.

We were evicted from Eden Gardens.
Those goons with the flamethrower!
You better believe we went quietly.

Adam found ranching a real drag
Before slaves or tractors; got his kicks
Gunning down animals and neighbors.

Our boys are just like him, itching
To kill each other, & the girls like me
—brainwashed pushovers & finks.

How did I get here?—Via millennia,
Freezing my brains with our meatballs;
Vacuuming my soul with the wall-to-wall.

Tomorrow we run out of air and water.
Holy earth, you need the Maytag
More than our towels do. & A NEW MYTH.

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—Medusa