Ah, Youth!

SLAMDANCING TO THE BLUES
—David Lerner

there's a sadness that's
better than love
it fell in the air
the other night

little girl face
with a mind as wild as Egypt

she reads all the high-class
sex literature
the pornography of Miller
even the later novels of Rechy
now into the novelization of
Liquid Sky
and The Apocalypse Culture

during the days she
takes off her clothes to
Tom Waits and the Dead Kennedys
at a theatre on Market
while the customers finger their crotches
and tip paper money

she said, "How do I look?"
and I told her she looked like
a 14-year-old beatnik with an
IQ of 200

she wasn't sure she like that
she has invented herself so well
she's not sure she can
escape

I know that song

__________________________

Today and tomorrow (9/24-25), Sac. Poetry Center will have a booth promoting poetry at the Reading Celebration at Fairytale Town, 10-4 pm: Local authors, illustrators, theatre performances, book-making and other crafts, and a children's book exchange. Admission is $4; free for kids 2 and under or park members. (Also free if you bring a new/gently used children's book.) I never did get an answer to my question yesterday, though, about whether FTTown was making an exception to their usual rule of no adults allowed without a child in tow, so be forewarned—you may not get in unless you can rent a kidlet.

Speaking of which—don't forget the looming deadline for SNAKELETS: OCTOBER 1 (a week from today). Send poems from kids 0-12 to kathykieth@hotmail.com ASAP. Next VYPER deadline, for young poets 13-19, is November 1.

Stephen Sadler will be reading at HQ (25th and R Sts., Sac) Monday at 7:30 pm for Sac. Poetry Center.


BLASTED YOUTH
—David Lerner

blasted youth in black
blasted youth looks good in black
hot black

blasted youth doesn't care in this special way
that charms you
only reads the obituaries and the
ads

blasted youth is cold with feeling
blasted youth is sexy
death dressed in the wind and
ready to go anywhere

blasted youth doesn't understand ideals
when it was born they were already
cartoons

blasted youth believes in
the paradise of the single second
the long night of the flesh
the terrible hunger for ecstasy

blasted youth is wild with fragile purpose

the way it moves with grace through
poisoned water
forgetting nothing

blasted youth will die trying
and there are
worse things to die of these days

______________________

—Medusa

Medusa encourages poets of all ilk and ages to send their poetry and announcements of Northern California poetry events to kathykieth@hotmail.com for posting on this daily Snake blog. Rights remain with the poets.