Sacramento’s Literary Review and Calendar: Now June 2005 Poetry Vol. 11, No. 06 This Issue: A Publication of the Sacramento Poetry Center Tina Arnopole Driskill What Saves Us for Gordon and John Quinton Duvall B.L. Kennedy John, goateed, newly bald, could be Sir John Gielgud. Chemo disclosing debee loyd that elegant noggin, that sleek curve Arturo Mantecón set free now to shine. What a gleam Christina Mantecón your bald head had, my Gordon. Of natural causes, that shine. Polished Mary Zeppa

bright by the fleece of an after-bath towel, on your way to a gig every night you Reviewed: could find one, after 35 9-5 years. Original color photo by Anita Frimkess Fein Anita Frimkess Original color photo by And how you leaned into music: A.D. Winans’ coaxing the long tones out of Mary Zeppa’s poems have ap- The Wrong Side Of Town your saxophone, cupping peared in a variety of print and on-line journals, including an ear toward a passing car’s Perihelion, Switched-on Gutenberg, Neeli Cherkovski’s radio, vibrato in some stranger’s Zone 3, The New York Quarterly Whitman’s Wild Children voice. Gordon, old hypochondriac and Permafrost, and in several an- thologies. She is the author of two Mary Zeppa’s darling, gone in a Heart Attack! fuss, chapbooks, Little Ship of Blessings I, too, think that music might save us. (Poets Corner Press), and The The Battered Bride Overture Lean, tonight, into flute, into harp. Battered Bride Overture, just out from Rattlesnake Press. Zeppa, John, in the seat right in front of me, a founding editor of The Tule Interviewed: takes his wool cap on and off. Takes Review, is also a literary journalist; the heat and the chill and the big leap her most recent interview, “The Vision of a Single Person: Clar- Karen Baker of faith. The flutist pulls ence Major and His Art,” appears note after shimmering note in the 2002 University Press of out of her bottomless lungs. Mississippi collection Conversa- tions with Clarence Major. Zeppa John and I hang is also one-fifth of Cherry Fizz, a Mary Zeppa reads on on her every breath: quintet specializing in loose and June 8th. See Calendar music become oxygen. unlabeled a cappella music. for details.

—Mary Zeppa Poetry Now, Sacramento’s Literary President’s Message Phil Goldvarg Memorial Reading REVIEW & CALENDAR, is published On June 20th, SPC will be hosting a fundraiser Hello Again. each month by the Sacramento for a book of Phil’s work. Samuel Iniguez is rais- Poetry Center and is funded, in ing money to publish a collection of Phil’s work part, with grants from the California This will be my last president’s message. I want that will honor Phil and his commitment to the Arts Council and the Sacramento to thank everyone for the hard work they have community. We ask that you donate at least $5 Cultural Arts Awards Program of done over the past few years and to further the to this worthy cause. Phil Goldvarg was a gen- the Sacramento Metropolitan Arts Sacramento Poetry Center mission to provide a Commission with support from the erous and giving man, an activist and dynamic forum for local poets where they can exhibit and city and county of Sacramento. poet. Please attend to celebrate his memory hone their artwork. and bring Phil-inspired poems to share. Submissions of poems, artwork, The last two years have been fun and challenging and other works of interest to the Again, thank you for allowing me this opportu- Sacramento poetry community are for me and have also provided many rewarding nity to serve the poetry community. I am grateful welcome. See submission guidelines experiences that would not have been possible that the membership, volunteers, staff, and on page 10. without the help of the Sacramento poetry com- board of directors have been so committed to munity. We have increased our grant funding Ads can be purchased at $25 for a this organization. See you around town and at through marketing and video grants offered by 3X5 space. Contact: poetrynow@ readings. sacramentopoetrycenter.org or the Sacramento Metropolitan Arts Commission. We were also one of 152 organizations that [email protected]. Martin McIlroy received funding from the California Arts Council Poetry Now is distributed free in last year when their funding in the State budget area bookshops, coffeehouses, was dramatically cut. The Center’s publications community centers, colleges, etc. are recognized nationally and one of our former Back issues are available for $3 board members, Julia Connor, recently earned each. Your membership gets Poetry the honor of Sacramento Poet Laureate. The Now and Tule Review delivered to your door or box. Poetry Center serves a large cross section of the Sacramento population and attempts to broaden Managing Editor: Robert its reach each year. We should all be proud of the Grossklaus ([email protected]) accomplishments and contributions the members, Proofreader: Ann Conradsen volunteers, staff, and Board members have made Seeking Compelling Poetry from Mamas and the Calendar Editor: Jody Ansell to keep the Center running. People Who Love Them: New up-and-coming online Editorial Staff: Jody Ansell, Ann magazine focused on mamas and the people who Conradsen, Tom Goff, Barbara I know that this activity and commitment will love them is seeking poetry submissions. Link, Pat Osfeld, and Ramona Soto continue in the years to come and that the Sacra- Magazine Needs: mento Poetry Center will continue to be a strong The Sacramento Poetry Center is We’re looking for poems that offer a fresh look at a non-profit corporation dedicated and vital resource in the poetry community. everyday mamahood, written in a unique, personal to providing forums for local voice, with a feminist perspective. We want solid poets—including publications and Thank you for allowing me to serve the poetry imagery and observation, but we also want some reading series—and bringing to community and to be a part of this organization level of reflection. Send poems that tell us something Sacramento the finest poetry we can as president. fresh about the world or one person’s experience with get our hands on. Our offices are at motherhood—or even the choice (or non-choice) to 1719 25th Street, Sacramento, CA Sacramento Poet Laureate on NPR not be a mother. Diverse experiences are welcome. 95816. Our phone number is: (916) Poems must show experience with the craft Recently, Julia Connor was interviewed by Jef- 441-7395. and deal with stuff you’re afraid to read to your moth- frey Callison on Capitol Public Radio’s Insight er or your mother’s group. Here’s the kind of poem Board of Directors: program. You can hear her interview at: we don’t want: touts a “right” way of doing things or President: Martin McIlroy http://66.225.205.62/20050509insightmp3.mp3 breeds guilt or negativity about each mama’s choices; [(916) 457-5119] The file is approximately 18Mb. Just type this could be printed in a mainstream parenting publica- Vice President: Mary Zeppa URL into your browser and the mp3 file should tion; ends all neat and tidy (and ever-hopeful); is the Secretary: Bob Stanley play within the browser. sentimental kind or anything categorized as erotica. Treasurer: MerryLee Croslin Members of the Board: Rhony How to Submit: Cancer Benefit at SPC Brings in the Money for Bhopla, Keely Sadira Dorran, Please submit your finished poem to the poetry edi- Robert Grossklaus, Richard a Worthy Cause torat [email protected]. All poems, Hansen, Jose Montoya, and At the recent benefit for Sharon Wright, the Sac- single-spaced, are limited to what approximates a Sandra Senne ramento Poetry Center raised over $800 in one single 8.5”X 11” page. Paste e-mail submissions di- Membership Coordinator: Stanley night, in part for her medical expenses and also rectly into the message (no attachments please), one Zumbiel for the Lance Armstrong Foundation. Readers poem per message using a 12-point font size, with Advisory Board of Directors: included Heather Hutcheson, Sandi Wasserman, name and e-mail address at the top of each submis- Luke Breit, Julia Connor, Patrick Sharon Wright and Nicole Griffin. People came sion. No cover letters or bios, please. We will respond Grizzell, Burnett Miller, and Anne to your e-mail within one month (but depending on together at this wonderful event to share stories Rudin the amount of submissions, this response time may Staff: Amy Picard and experiences about the impact of cancer on change). Unfortunately, we cannot pay writers at this their own and others’ lives. time; however, the rights to your poems remain yours, and publication on our site will make great clips for The Poetry Center is still receiving donations as your portfolio and a nice addition to your publication of this writing. I was so touched by the out-pour- history. We accept previously published poems and ing of generosity and community at this event. simultaneous submissions, but if the poem is previ- This is exactly the reason why community is so ously published, please note what rights (if any) were purchased. important in our lives and one of the reasons why 2 | poetryNOW serving as president has been so rewarding. el sol el faro (Lighthouse) i came unprotected beckons with a wink, blinks a warning from the heat flashes in the dusky stillness needing to be loved like that each step as significant as a just one time rosario when the hand fits and fingers twine to a tune my rosary - to count my steps struck from stone on stone a bell tolls rock on rock debee loyd chronicles harbinger impressions of life in the of the way, the path not lust central valley and just up, up there but a keening wail inside finished a four-year term as screaming, familiar poet laureate of Modesto. my rosary - to count remembering Her work has appeared in lost promises screaming zambomba!, in the grove, lying small and wrinkled poet’s corner anthologies, on the nightstand i want to walk straight Las Positas anthologies, into the sun and others. Her new book, my rosary – to count Icarus, waxed wings cover my nakedness over and again i want to walk to the sun concatenations straight as it sets drawn as water and not stop up, up from the well not drown in the sea up, up clear blue and warm yellow a drowning swimmer but walk straight until i whose last glance is disappear bring me yellow blinding hot sunlight take me there never to have through the steam of the bath i walk closer to the flame the hand that holds yellow roses and Tejas abandon the silk scarf and the heat from summer muscles the haunting thumping ritmos you placed over my shoulder throbbing through cotton t-shirts of musicas Tejanos only yesterday sweat rising in beads inscribe on the yellow-gold running down necks and between breasts how much you love me —debee loyd not damp To Jackie, te amo not anything but sweat from lust bring me yellow, bring el sol right to my doorstep —debee loyd leave it, big and yellow leave it, on the porch be silent be prayerful it might be sacred it might be amarillo bring it to me so i can touch it yellow. how hard it is to touch it forlorn and lost running across the boiling sand of desert noon

bring me yellow i can’t live unless i see can’t give up yellow take me one last time to see it

—debee loyd

poetryNOW | 3 Literary Calendar for June 2005 Note: Unless otherwise stated, events take place in Sacramento, CA. 1 Wednesday 8 Wednesday 14 Tuesday Dr. Andy’s Poetry and Technology Hour, Dr. Andy’s Poetry and Technology Hour, host SPC Poetry Workshop, 7:30 pm, Hart host Andy Jones, 5 pm, KDVS-90.3 FM. Andy Jones, 5 pm, KDVS-90.3 FM. Info: Senior Center, 916 27th St. Info: Danyen, Info, culturelover.com. culturelover.com. 530-756-6228. Free.

Mahogany Urban Poetry Series, 9:00 pm, Mahogany Urban Poetry Series, 9:00 pm, 15 Wednesday Sweet Fingers Jamaican Restaurant, 1704 Sweet Fingers Jamaican Restaurant, 1704 Urban Voices: Donald Sidney Fryer reads Broadway. Info: www.malikspeaks.com or Broadway. Info: www.malikspeaks.com or Clark Ashton Smith. Hosted by B.L. Ken- 492-9336. $5 cover. 492-9336. $5 cover. nedy, 7-8 pm, South Natomas Library, 2901 Truxel Rd; info: www.saclibrary.org. 2 Thursday Rattlesnake Press: features Mary Zeppa, host, Free. Poetry Unplugged, TBA. Host: Gilberto Ro- Kathy Kieth, The Book Collector, 1008 24th driguez. Open mic before/after. 8 pm, Luna’s St., 7:30pm, to celebrate the release of her Dr. Andy’s Poetry and Technology Hour, Café, 1414 16th St. Info: 441-3931 or www. chapbook, The Battered Bride Overture, from host Andy Jones, 5 pm, KDVS-90.3 FM. lunascafe.com. Free. Rattlesnake Press. Info: Richard, 442-9295. Info, culturelover.com. Free. 3 Friday Mahogany Urban Poetry Series, 9:00 pm, Open Mic. hosted by Donene Schuyler at 9 Thursday Sweet Fingers Jamaican Restaurant, 1704 Barnes & Noble, 6111 Sunrise Blvd., Citrus Poetry Unplugged, TBA. Host: Barbara Broadway. Info: www.malikspeaks.com or Heights (916) 853-1511, (916) 853-1424 or Noble. Open mic before/after. 8 pm at Luna’s 492-9336. $5 cover. email: [email protected] for info. 7pm, free. Café, 1414 16th St. Info: 441-3931 or www. lunascafe.com. Free. 16 Thursday 4 Saturday Poetry Unplugged, Gene Avery and LOB Escritores del Nuevo Sol’s writing workshop 11 Saturday Instigon, hosted by Frank Andrick. Open and potluck on 1st Saturdays. 11am, second Poems-For-All, James Lee Jobe, hosted by mic before/after. 8 pm at Luna’s Café, 1414 floor at La Raza Galeria Posada, 15th & Richard Hansen, 7:30 pm, The Book Col- 16th St. Info: 441-3931 or www.lunascafe. R. Info: Graciela Ramirez, 456-5323 or lector, 1008 24th Street. Refreshments. Free com. Free. [email protected]. mini-books. Info: Richard, 442-9295. 17 Friday 6 Monday Patricity in Spirit in Truth, open mike at Escritores del Nuevo Sol presents Luke Sacramento Poetry Center presents the 2005 Queen Sheba’s restaurant, 1537 Howe Ave., Breit and friends. 7:30 pm, La Raza Galeria Poet’s Corner Press Chapbook Contest Win- 3-5pm. Info: Patricia Turner-Green, 920-1020 Posada, 15th & R. Info: Graciela Ramirez, ner, Svea Barrett & her winning entry Why or [email protected] 456-5323 or [email protected]. $5.00 I Collect Moose. Host: Susan Kelly-DeWitt. donation, no one turned away 7:30 pm, SPC/HQ for the Arts, 1719 25th 12 Sunday (25th and R Sts). Info: 441-7395 or www. Sunday Afternoon Series: Arthur Winfield 18 Saturday sacramentopoetrycenter.org. Free & Kit Knight, former editors of the Beat Poems for All: Bill Carr & Rebecca Mor- generation journal, Unspeakable Visions. 2:00 rison. 8:00 PM. The Book Collector, 1008 BookTown, a bi-weekly radio show spot- PM. The Book Collector, 1008 24th Street. 24th Street. Richard, 442-9295 lighting the literary scene, co-hosted by Richard, 442-9295 Molly Fisk and Eric Tomb, 1-2 pm, KVMR Underground Poetry Series, Poem Serenade 89.5 FM. Stockton Poet’s Corner. Alex DiSantiago Night, (serenade your mate) Underground reads. 7 pm, Barnes & Noble, Weberstown Books, 2814 35th Street, next to the Guild 7 Tuesday Mall, Stockton. Info, www.poetscornerpress. Theater, info: 455-POET SPC Poetry Workshop, 7:30 pm, Hart Se- com or 209-951-7014. nior Center, 916 27th St. (27th & J). Info: 19 Sunday Danyen, 530-756-6228. Free. Workshop 13 Monday Third Sunday Writing Group 1:00-3:00 news, www.sacramentopoetrycenter.org, Sacramento Poetry Center presents Arturo and pm, various locations. Info: eskimopi@jps. SPC Workshop News. Christina Mantecón, host: Bob Stanley. 7:30 net or [email protected]. pm, SPC/HQ for the Arts, 1719 25th (25th Terry Moore’s Access Television Show, 1st & and R Sts)Info: 441-7395 or www.sacramento- ‘Sounds Of Soul’ 2005 Black Music Awards 3rd Tuesdays, 9 pm, Channel 17 (depend- poetrycenter.org. Free at Crest Theater, K Street Mall, Downtown ing on cable provider). Co-hosted by Regina Sacramento. VIP reception: 5:00 p.m.-6:00 High. (Sacramento viewing only.) Sacramento Poetry Center Board Meeting, 6 p.m. Seating for general admission begins: pm, Hamburger Mary’s (17th and K.) Info: 6:00 p.m. Tickets now available by calling: [email protected] or 441-7395. (916) 519-6606 or visit: www.Saccultural- 4 | poetryNOW Ann Menebroker, Bill Gainer, A.D. Winans Calendar continued... May 15, 2005 at The Book Collector Note: Unless otherwise stated, events take place in Sacramento, CA. Bill Gainer, poet, editor and publish- hub.com (credit card purchases). Categories 24 Friday er opened the reading in full form. Gainer, of nomination include: Jazz, Gospel, Blues, Poetry at the Art Foundry:TBA, host, host Richard Hansan reminds us, has been Hip-Hop, Rap, Reggae, R&B, Neo Soul and Luke Breit, 7:30 pm, Art Foundry described as an “aging angel with an outlaw Spoken Word. Gallery, 1021 R. Street. Info: Luke, heart.” Writing in the minimalist tradition, 446-POET. $5 donation. Gainer is a believer in the economy of words 20 Monday and often takes the audience with him on The Sacramento Poetry Center presents a 25 Saturday a wild ride through a landscape filled with Phil Goldvarg Memorial Reading Celebra- The Show, TBA 7-9 pm. Wo’se edge, cutting humor and dark insights. Bill tion. Come out and read your poems in- Community Center until further Gainer will hold you by the ear. Closing his spired by Phil Goldvarg. This event is also a notice. 2863 35th Street. Tick- fundraiser for a collection of Phil’s work that ets, $5 Underground Books or set with one of his best poems, “It’s A Cadil- is being produced by Samuel Aguiar Iniguez. [email protected]. Info: lac For Me,” Gainer took the audience out in Please join us in celebrating the vibrant life Terry Moore, 455-POET. style. of this poet, activist, friend. Stan Zumbiel Next was the fabulous Ann Mene- hosts. 7:30 pm, SPC/HQ for the Arts, 1719 27 Monday broker. Ann Menebroker took the afternoon 25th (25th and R Sts). Info: 441-7395 or The Sacramento Poetry Center: TBA. with the full grace of a true poet. Reading www.sacramentopoetrycenter.org. Rhony Bhopla hosts. 7:30 pm, SPC/ 14 poems, (one of which was written by the HQ for the Arts, 1719 25th (25th and great “Oakie Poet” Wilma McDaniels), Men- BookTown, a bi-weekly radio show spot- R Sts). Info: 441-7395 or www.sacra- ebroker wove a spell throughout the crowd. lighting the literary scene, co-hosted by mentopoetrycenter.org. Free Listening to the poetry of Ann Menebroker, Molly Fisk and Eric Tomb, 1-2 pm, KVMR you tend to feel the comfort of conversa- 89.5 FM. 28 Tuesday SPC Poetry Workshop, 7:30 pm, Hart tion across the kitchen table being shared on 21 Tuesday Senior Center, 916 27th St. Info: some lazy afternoon. Here is a poet of the SPC Poetry Workshop, 7:30 pm, Hart Danyen, 530-756-6228. Free. heart who speaks from the heart. Senior Center, 916 27th St. Info: Danyen, The final reader of the afternoon 530-756-6228. Free. 29 Wednesday was the legend of the independent poetry Mahogany Urban Poetry Series, 9:00 press A.D. Winans. Poet, publisher and Third Tuesday Poetry Series:Melody Bishop pm, Sweet Fingers Jamaican Restau- photographer, Winans has done it all in a life Sievers and Gilberto Rodriguez , Host: Art rant, 1704 Broadway. Info: www.malik- full of literature and art. The author of some & Christina Mantecón. Q&A follows read- speaks.com or 492-9336. $5 cover. 40 books of prose and poetry; Winans read ing. 7 pm at HQ for the Arts, 1719 25th with comfort and professional command (25th and R Sts). Info: 743-5329. Free. 30 Thursday Poetry Unplugged, Crawdad Nelson, of language, at times seducing the audience Terry Moore’s Access Television Show, 1st & hosted by Frank Andrick. Open mic with his sly sense of humor and slick hymns 3rd Tuesdays, 9 pm, Channel 17 (depend- before/after. 8 pm at Luna’s Café, to street saints and other lost heroes of his ing on cable provider). Co-hosted by Regina 1414 16th St. Info: 441-3931 or www. beloved San Francisco. One was compelled High. (Sacramento viewing only.) lunascafe.com. Free. to travel with the poet as his voice took us throughout side streets, tenements and jazz 22 Wednesday Note: The Other Voice (Davis Unitar- joints. We heard the cries of lost poets look- Dr. Andy’s Poetry and Technology Hour, ian Church) and Poem Spirits (Sacra- ing for their perfect poem, blues musicians host Andy Jones, 5 pm, KDVS-90.3 FM. mento Unitarian Church are on hiatus looking for that one magic note. Winans read Info: culturelover.com. until the fall. with a savage beauty, which touched upon Mahogany Urban Poetry Series, 9:00 pm, the small crowd of poetry lovers with the Sweet Fingers Jamaican Restaurant, 1704 What you might have missed... flicker of golden candlelight, giving them all Broadway. Info: www.malikspeaks.com or continued ÿ 492-9336. $5 cover.

23 Thursday List Your Event: Poetry Unplugged, Robert Grossklaus, To have an event listed on the SPC Literary Calendar, please email SPC’s Poetry Now Managing Editor and us at: [email protected], [email protected] Vyper Editor of Rattlesnake Press’ upcoming : or call Jody Ansell at: (916) 739-0768 by the 5th of the month hosted by Frank Andrick. Open mic before/ after. 8 pm at Luna’s Café, 1414 16th St. preceding your event. Info: 441-3931 or www.lunascafe.com. Free. Thank you. poetryNOW | 5 a new perspective into the eye of the poet as a visionary This is indeed one of the better poetry series that I have attended street singer. and the three women featured evening are all in their own way And it was just the night before at the regular exceptional. —B.L. Kennedy Second Saturday Poems-For-All Series several people tell me that Crawdad Nelson kicked some serious poetic butt! The Battered Bride Overture by Mary Zeppa —B.L. Kennedy Rattlesnake Press 2005; reviewed by Quinton Duval

Kathy Kieth Mary Zeppa’s book, Little Ship of Blessings (Poet’s Corner Press South Natomas Library May 18, 2005 2002) is a songbook, a hymn to the world, joyous for the most Kathy Kieth, publisher and editor of the Rattle- part, affirmative and optimistic. At the end of that book, the snake Review, Snakelets and an assortment of chapbooks, title poem urges us to keep rowing, keep singing: “On we go! spirilchaps and numerous other poetry publications, which On!” The nineteen poems inThe Battered Bride Overture are have flooded the Sacramento area over the past year, read from another world, a world of systemic and systematic pain, at South Natomas Library’s Urban Voices series. Kieth is of loneliness and thwarted passion, of hope squandered, dimin- no doubt a skilled writer. That is to say she knows what she ished and modified. While some poems are nostalgic, the scales is doing on the page and swims freely about making swift soon fall away and we are left with the heart-wrenching everyday critical observations along the way that cut through the lives of women. usual bullshit. She is often funny, insightful and entertain- In the first poem, “A Living Will,” the speaker describes ing with her commentary on the human condition. Kathy the reader’s legacy: “To you,/ I leave the echoes that crowd Kieth is a treasure who treated the audience with a variety around/ my bones: sonatas, waltzes, lowdown/ blues and small of poetry ranging from light humor to a darker, more tunes with no names.” The poems inThe Battered Bride Over- targeted comment on society and its problems. If you have ture are echoes, dreams and nightmares, snapshots, shards and the chance in the future to catch Kathy Kieth at a poetry splinters of the painful past. There is music here too, but it is venue, and there are many of them in Sacramento these somber and blue. It also underscores the violent, repressive na- days, you won’t regret the listen. —B.L. Kennedy ture of what is called love, and if an overture is an introduction to something larger, we might not be able to stay through to the Kimberly White, Linda Thorell and Song Kowbell end. May 19th at The Center for the Arts, Grass Valley The men in these poems are generally alien, some This evening there were three poets: Kimberly sympathetic but most maladjusted and violent. And the poems White, Linda Thorell and Song Kowbell. Three women, all give clear testimony to the girls, young women, wives and older with very independent voices, voices which take no pris- women who were badly introduced into the realm of love and oners. These women don’t just look you in the eye— they lovemaking, who find themselves stuck, stranded and sometimes make you shiver. inexorably drawn into bad relationships. There is not much Linda Thorell opened the evening with an intense hope, and when there is, as in the poem “Aunt Lurlene Remem- interpretation of Edgar Allen Poe’s “The Bells” with Arturo bers the Sofa,” it hurts: “there were promises/ churning inside Balderama hauntingly strumming his guitar as if it were a me./ There were promises beating like fists.” crying child to the poet’s own voice. For the next twenty The dreams, nightmares, and revised histories are minutes Thorell treated the audience to a dashing display devices that help us all survive and enable us to construct our of narrative. It was obvious that she and Balderama spent stories in a way we can stand. “Just an old broken nightmare” hours in rehearsal. Thehighlight of the performance was spells out this urge to relate: Thorell’s insightful and equally intense interpretation of Patti Smith’s “Birdland,” a tribute to Peter Reich (son of Just an old broken nightmare Wilhelm Reich). Song Kowbell, who admits that she is not a poet, you kicked in a corner, keeping was next. She puts passions to paper. Her introspections its hands to itself. Still, are filled with insight and humor. Her poetry is fast and to the point. Song is a writer of the moment and filled with a I recognized something relaxed attitude toward life and politics. desperate about it: The last reader of the evening was Kimberly White, a regular at Luna’s Café, who read mostly from the text of flapping its terrible mouth. her chapbook Penelope. Kimberly White has a lot to offer as a poet. These stories are ominous and alarming: The praying for mercy The reading presented on May 19th by Nevada in “As usual, I pray”; the bruised cheek, the slaps and punches County Poetry Series was entertaining and enlightening. and torn vestments of the title poem; the children waking to their father beating their mother in “In a mown field this morn- 6 | poetryNOW ing.” This last poem begins with white pigeons in spring rain Je me Souviens on a freshly-mown lawn. Everywhere, if there is beauty, it’s side by side with cruelty and ugliness. In addition, the poems Nuestra luna de miel acknowledge what we see in the newspaper every day, that the and you and I walked nature of violence is cyclical. “Where the Apple Falls” ends hands and fingers with the battered wife’s children in their already-formed roles: intricate, “And my/ sister’s sons took it all in,/ while their sister dialed you 911.” with your vermilion cape Finally, while the poems tell their stories unflinching- and cochineal beret, ly, and hope, not to mention joy, seems lost at sea, Zeppa in- the grand succulent aphid cludes the enduring spirit of “the battered, defiant, old heart” of the grey, that “pumps the pound-foolish blood/ toward the catch in the imploring rain throat/ for the quick and the dead/ and the lost” (“Osteoporo- and bleeding snows sis”). An overture is also a disclosure or discovery, and what is that you found disclosed in this brief book is that to give voice to a thing is to and claimed unburden oneself, and we discover that we are instructed and beneath the streets enlightened by these powerful poems. and skies of Montréal... you striding, Rodeo Shabbat at a curving pace beat out The rabbi tilts back his Stetson, by the double prows sweeps his silver-grey tallit of your fluid shoulders... over one shoulder, so complete were you, plants the heels so authentic, of his black cowboy boots so sane and whole, and it’s soaring: his tenor, aloft so incontrovertibly chic like a banner. They’d follow him that all the uzbekh cabbies,

shopgirls, concierges, anywhere, tribe of this Friday night, headwaiters, in their fringed leather jackets, candy butchers, turquoise stars of David, quebecois cobblers, in the 10-gallon hats bibbers of red wine, they’ve eased over vendors of viandes fumées, their yarmulkes. and ecuadorian hammock makers, In Tucson, Arizona, took you for une belle parisienne this temple remembers: of fine wit Rifka and Abraham shake out and smartness their backbones for the bubbes of couture... who went up in smoke. Some yes, Madame... who sway, who sing joy oui, Madame... in this radiant room, some would Madame prefer? who clap hands to Shabbat Shalom! does Madame wish? would Madame like? could have been shadows at Dachau, ...des glaçons? ghosts at Theresienstadt. Now, ...des poissons? their voices irradiate ...un plat? darkness. Two ...un plat d’agneaux? are waving their 10-gallon hats ...un plat de carpaccio de caribou? for the pure joy of keeping G-d’s rhythm, ...un plat d’argent? on the pulse, on the pulse, on the pulse. ...parfum de Yves St. Laurent? ...un sprat? —Mary Zeppa ...un coup d’état? poetryNOW | 7 ...bon chat, bon rat... And we walked and walked your lips were numbed ...un effrayant éclat? hands and fingers and your skin was flayed ...un vers de Nelligan? intricate, and laid open like two, by the opiates And we walked and walked supplicant halves of your own artifice, hands and fingers of prayers as we consumed intricate... made to disparate gods our feast of nights bergamot in our hair made one by love, in the Place d’Armes. and intent on nothing and the city but aesthetics was our gentle fable, And we walked and walked, and gastronomy amusant stark and phenomenal, on our reconnoitering in its drollery enlightened and evoked ramblings, of Canadian physics, into our own, breaking our fasts forkèd speech speculative duality with cold mornings and shop signs: of tongues, and ordinary, “Le Meilleur Chien Chaud en family, buttered bread, Ville”... food and skin, all the while admiring and in the Place d’Armes mingled now the fallen cedars of Lebanon, the dark wood like our very names, the future beams and rafters and wrought iron like our ascending blood, for our temples and fine, like that very in which we blank cotton incongruent intricacy, would make sacrifice seduced us both of our conjugal until fire until you murmured fingers and hands. would become and whispered our only concern, all praise and longing —Arturo Mantecón and I would be for fear of rousing your guarded flame... and bringing to mind Arturo Mantecón was born north of Mexico in Lar- and were you not our homely realities, edo, Texas and grew up north of Canada in Detroit, so manifestly mine, and we lived there Michigan. He always wanted to be a writer of some the very semaphores and lay there... sort. For a while he thought he’d be a newspaper of the broken streets you in bed reporter. He went to school and ended up a state of the town like a fruited trilogy, worker despite better intentions. He started writing would have flattered you three stories told in lime, short stories in his late thirties and had some success, with colored lights berry and mango, getting published and winning an award or two... and bowed their steel and in the immense bed well, maybe just one. Art Mantecón began writ- to the will of your steps, a book of Kama, ing poetry after Francisco Alarcón, who had never and the gallants everywhere a sweet sutra even heard him read a poem, insisted that he was a would have shot down of running chocolate poet. He figured Francisco knew what he was talk- arquebus volleys and breathless peppermint, ing about (and that if he didn’t know what he was of ermine gloves, and in the bed without end talking about, it would do minimal harm) and has cashmere cloaks, a philosophical book been writing poetry ever since. Some people like his satin slippers, concerning a starving poetry. Some people like him, in addition to liking peacock feathers, bengal tiger his poetry. De gustibus... He should be taken at face tuberoses, and a shipwrecked, value. It is recommended that his poetry should not snows of eider down, telepathic, hindu boy... be, but you can take it or leave it without having to confectioner’s sugar, a book of relativistic worry about whether there is any meaning to it at all, blue bolts of Chinese silk, zoology, superficial or deep. His one great tautological accom- and gold and red maple leaves of magic flotsam plishment was marrying his wife.... His ambition is from the crenulated, and supernatural jetsam, to be a good husband and a good father and to some brilliant rooftops a book of the absolute soul day race the tide at Mont Saint Michel where Arthur to signal of Brahma in Pondicherry slew the terrible giant. our careless passing. and Toronto, Ontario... and through it all 8 | poetryNOW Crossing

I will make a sea from the tear of your departure. I will build a raft of bamboo and shoelaces, Christina Mantecón is currently in the process of pulling up fashion a mast of candle wax, the stakes of the homestead she shares with her husband, the and for a sail, poet Arturo Mantecón, and moving the entire operation from shirr up the black stockings Elk Grove to Davis. Their caravan includes their kids Andy, you loved me in and out of. Chris, and Jenny, an arthritic Labrador named Kali, two cats, I’ll wade to my hips, and a Siamese fighting fish. She recently completed her MA shove off the balls of my feet, in English and a collection of poetry entitled Full Breast Moon. steer my craft towards breakers, When she’s not writing or unpacking—which should occupy cross them and toss the oars the better part of the summer—she’s roasting red bell peppers, like coffee spoons into the foam. or shredding credit card offers for the recycling bin, or dream- When the wind won’t rise, ing of taking off the ten pounds that would let her get into all I’ll sit lotus, those clothes she used to wear before she was happily married. peel oranges, and string a necklace of their taut skins. Arturo and Christina Mantecón I’ll wail at the moon’s dead fish eye, read together on June 13th. See tear the dress from my shoulders, calendar for details. drink salt water, jump overboard. I’ll dive deep, walk one thousand miles Whitman’s Wild Children by Neeli Cherkovski through jungle, Steerforth Press $18.00 ISBN 1-8836-42-86-8 across tundra and desert Reviewed by B. L. Kennedy (courtesy of Rattlesnake Press) on the sea floor. I’ll suck the soft bodies of clams, Recently, while in dialogue with Frank Andrick on the mount a tortoise and ride him— poetics and literature of the late Philip Lamantia, the subject of Godiva with free hair. poets’ lives came into focus. The life and trials of the writing life I’ll plunder the boneyards of humpbacks, have always held a special place in my heart. There are so many eat calcium, and carry their ghosts with me biographies written and so many unwritten of novelists, poets, to the surface. dramatists, known, unknown and yet to be discovered, that it There, often overwhelms my mind and book budget. I’ll float on my back, six days adrift in the tiger’s paw— This brings us to a fine volume titledWhitman’s Wild Until my belly blisters, and I lose my skin to the water. Children written by poet/teacher Neeli Cherkovski, originally The sun published in 1988 in a slightly different form by The Lapis Press will spill in both hardback and trade-paper editions. The book looks at red ribbons the lives of twelve contemporary beat poets: Allen Ginsberg, into a tall, gray glass. Philip Lamantia, Bob Kaufman, Michael McClure, Charles Resurrected, Bukowski, John Wieners, James Broughton, William Everson, the moon will rise on a ladder out of the dark well. Gregory Corso, Harold Norse, Lawrence Ferlinghetti and Jack Then will I raise my face to the Micheline. However, I must add that the label “Beat” does not, cold, bone moon, in the opinion of this reviewer, apply to many of the poets in- and stand cluded within the pages of this book. I can never consider Philip in the low tide Lamantia or William Everson “Beat” poets. And I find it sad of a new shore, that the book does not include any of the great women writers naked to night’s slow hand. of the era. I will make a sea from the tear of your departure. However, Neeli Cherkovski has done a wonderful job in having chosen the poets included within these pages. For, And I will cross it. like Whitman, each poet here has taken “his own road” and has

—Christina Mantecón poetryNOW | 9 had little to do with what was thought to be mainstream. I have found Cherkovski to be passionate and insightful, scholarly and sympathetic in these biographical portraits of poets that he has “San Francisco ain’t what encountered, often treating the reader to an excellent under- she used to be standing of both the life and craft of the writer. not for you not for me Whitman’s Wild Children is more than memoir. It is an They have taken the engaging critical study, which illuminates the life and struggle of beat out of Beat” the poet in America. I strongly suggest this book to any student The Wrong Side Of Town takes its reader on a of contemporary literature or anyone with an interest in the journey of places and faces. We travel down Market so-called “Beat Generation” that drafts beyond the standard Street, experience the beauty of the Embassy Theatre. reading. Neeli Cherkoski has given us a book that serves with Poems are dedicated or written for such iconic cultural great importance the study of poetry as craft and the life of the luminaries as neuro-novelist William S. Burroughs and poet as art unto itself. I applaud Steerforth Press reissuing this jazz master Charles Mingus. The poet Winans invokes the fine book and Neeli Cherkovski for bringing a revised edition of dead Ezra Pound, Marilyn Monroe and even Santa Claus! Whitman’s Wild Children into your local bookstore. The book is dedicated to the late San Francisco poet Bob Kaufman. This reviewer feels that the late poet would be proud to have his name attached to a book as The Wrong Side Of Town. This is A.D. Winans at his very A.D. Winans The Wrong Side Of Town by best. (Bilingual Edition) Translated into Russian by Aleksey Dayen Cross-Cultural Communications Merrick, New York, 2005 ISBN 0-8904-787-2 $10.00 Reviewed by B. L. Kennedy (courtesy of Rattlesnake Press) SUBMISSION GUIDELINES We accept poetry, book reviews, event A.D. Winans is a legend in the world of poetry and commentary, poetry-related articles and independent press publishing, having authored over the years some 41 assorted volumes of poetry and prose. Winans has been interviews. Accompanying these with active not only as a writer but as editor, publisher and historical short biographies and pictures (B&W or archivist in the realm of contemporary American Literature and high-contrast color JPEGs are preferred) the world of the Independent Press keeping the flame burning is welcomed. Please submit 3-6 poems at a and its voices alive. A new book by this unique poet is always a reason to time. Email submissions of poetry are not celebrate and, with the publication of The Wrong Side Of Town encouraged. Please send your work along (Special Bilingual Edition) translated by Aleksey Dayen, the with a self-addressed stamped envelope to: reader of these poems will find many reasons to celebrate. From its first poem, “City Poet,” Winans draws the reader into his world, sets the tone of the journey which we (the Poetry Now c/o readers) shall soon embark upon with the careful guidance of Sacramento Poetry Center the poet. 1719 25th Street “Once addiction sets in There’s no stopping it” Sacramento, CA 95816 The poet accommodates the readers, takes them into a slaughterhouse of heart and mind. With these poems there is no Reviews, articles and pictures can be sent need for phony cinema projection or fakery. The only anticipa- via email to: tion here is what we see in the mirror each morning of each day and the writer of these poems makes damn sure that the reader knows the rules of the game. [email protected] We walk streets, experience the daily rush of the city or [email protected] as it undresses before us, yet always pushing us back behind its various barriers with swirling incantations, with its numerous demons and angels. Take into consideration the poem “Eastern Please note that accepted work will also be Zen And Pig Zen” in which the poet talks of his beloved San available on our website: Francisco and the cultural changes that the city has endured over the last 30 years: www.sacramentopoetrycenter.org

10 | poetryNOW Karen Baker with Tina Arnopole Driskill ing of the chapbook. Tina Arnopole Driskill is a poet and journalist from Modesto, The title of the book came from a poem I wrote California. She is responsible for “A Gathering of Voices” inspired by the stone-like sculpture pictured on the cover. poetry column in Stanislaus Connections, a Modesto Peace/Life I was at a dream study group in Davis when the sculpture Center publication. Here she interviews Karen Baker about her was pointed out to me. It was created by my friend Adair first chapbook, Vocal Exercises in Stone, published by Rattle- MacEachern’s mother, Charlie. I wrote a poem about it and snake Press debee loyd suggested I use the title of the poem as the chap- book title. Tina: What are your writing goals? Recently Released/Available Again: Karen: Writing practice for me is like a chapel without walls 1. Vocal Exerciszes In Stone by Karen Baker with its own time frame. What I write about is what I have 2. Why I Collect Moose by Svea Barrett grown to experience, even when I’m writing about the past or 3. Leaning Against Time by Neeli Cherkovski future. The poem ideally is the experience. I have to balance 4. Roxy by Todd Cirillo, W.S. Gainer, & Will Staple emotional, exhibitional writing with a precise stepping into 5. Bone Sprockets by G.O. Clark experience with words. Sometimes drama catches the attention 6. The Other Side of the Lens by G. O. Clark but isn’t a complete meal. 7. A Box Full of Alien Skies by G.O. Clark 8. Selected Poems 1972-2005 by Eric Greinke Tina: What were the predominant influences on your creative 9. Littlesnake Broadside #11: 10. Tim Z. Hernandez process? Skin Tax by 11.The Poetic Light by John A. Hughes 12. Been Born Bronx by B.L. Kennedy Karen: My mother read me nursery rhymes and fairy tales and 13. After Modigliani by Stephen Kessler liked to play creatively, taught me knitting and sewing and 14. Tell it to the Rabbis and Other Poems 1977-2000 mushroom hunting. My father was a director at the YMCA, by Stephen Kessler was creative with people, individually and in groups. He 15. Why We Have Sternums by Kathy Kieth developed programs and classes and did free lance counseling 16. Rattlesnake Review #6 ed. Kathy Kieth of young people. So I like to blend creativity and community 17. Snakeletes #4 ed. Kathy Kieth in my writing. Writing groups are a second family . I am 18. noon, twilight, midnight by debee loyd in three groups: an unnamed group of women, the Licensed 19. All From Elsewhere by William Ludington 20. Charlie Macdonald Fools, and AWG (Another Writing Group). El Sobrante: Selected Poems, 1975-2005 by 21. tiny teeth: The Wormwood Review Poemsby Ann Menebroker Writing in community was modeled by Elsie Bishoff, 22. The White Bone Harp by Barbara O’Donnell my English, Creative Writing teacher in junior high school, 23. Lost Sould Child by Barbara O’Donnell who would take us on writing trips to the Indian mounds in 24. Dreamwalker by Barbara O’Donnell Rockford, Illinois or to Blackhawk State Park. She had family 25. The Townby Barbara O’Donnell picnics for her homeroom class so we could meet everyone’s 26. A Sense of Melancholy by Joyce Odam family. Sometimes a few words of support for a writer plant 27. Brevities #26 & #27 ed. Joyce Odam seeds that germinate many years later. These were given to me 28. Some Rhyming Lines About Felines by Liz Purcell by Mrs. Bishoff and others. 29. A Whooping Crane Diary by Jeff Ross 30. The Common Fire by Shelley Sevren 31. Straight Out Scribes Tina: What factors went into the development of this chap- Priorities CD by : (916) 452-1290 or [email protected] book? 32. Mudsong by Michael Spring 33. Greatest Hits 1981-2004 by Hannah Stein Karen: This chapbook has been the result of a serendipitous 34. On Tuesday, When the Homeless Disappeared process that began in the spring of 2004 with my commitment by Marcos McPeek Villatoro to sharing my poems with a larger audience than the writing 35. The Wrong Side of ownT by A.D. Winans groups in which I participate. The theme of stones (Vocal (trans. into Russian by Aleksey Dayen) Exercises in Stone) began with a spur of the moment trip to my girlhood home in Rockford, Illinois, on the Rock River. I Most books listed here are looked across the river from my home, which I hadn’t visited in available at: 30 years, and was surprised to see my name, Karen, spelled out in large round river rocks on the sloping lawn. The Book Collector Later in the year I met with friends who encouraged 1008 24th Street me to send out my work. A reading at the Mistlin Gallery in Sacramento Modesto, a mountain writing retreat, and some poems sent to 442-9295 Kathy Kieth at Rattlesnake Press opened the door to the print- poetryNOW | 11 sexual graphic

R ,2005 E P Carpe Viperidae! Carpe Y 3-5 poems per submission & e-mail on everythinginclude: name, address published letters, previously no bios, cover

rom Rattlesnake Press

2 2 (do not send originals) 2 nudity (art/photography), content poems, simultaneous submissions, swearing,

June 16th V f

Guidelines Submission Rattlesnake Press [email protected] Fair Oaks, CA 95628 Oaks, Fair 4708 Tree Shadow Place Shadow Tree 4708 [email protected] Featuring: & articles reviews art, photography, Poetry, poets, writers & artistsfrom ages 13-19 Deadline for submissions is:

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