Rattlesnake Review

Rattlesnake Press

A slogan like “Carpe vipiderae!” (Seize the snake!) tells you these folks are into having fun with words. This ’zine from Fair Oaks’ Rattlesnake Press contains a wide variety of local work, as well as a guest appearance by an Oregon poet. Familiar area poets Tom Goff, Joyce Odam and Laverne Frith are included in the summer issue, but there are less-renowned poets with worthy offerings, too. I was particularly enamored of Norma Kohout’s “Suddenly Single,” a graceful meditation on a breakup. And editor Kathy Kieth’s “He Tempts Her With Rattlesnakes” has a dark, funny eroticism. The art is a bit uneven, though I must confess a fond feeling for the rattlesnake cartoons by Sam Kieth. And it’s got a limerick contest—who could resist? It’s available at The Book Collector, 1008 24th Street.