In a Light Dress Laughing

LOOKING FOR MUSHROOMS AT SUNRISE
—W.S. Merwin

When it is not yet day
I am walking on centuries of dead chestnut leaves
In a place without grief
Though the oriole
Out of another life warns me
That I am awake

In the dark while the rain fell
The gold chanterelles pushed through a sleep that was not mine
Waking me
So that I came up the mountain to find them

Where they appear it seems I have been before
I recognize their haunts as though remembering
Another life

Where else am I walking even now
Looking for me

______________________

Andy Jones, Host of "Dr. Andy's Poetry and Technology Hour" on KDVS (90.3 FM in Davis, Wednesdays from 5-6, http://www.kdvs.org) writes: You may have heard recordings of James Ragan reading his works, or you might know him as a dynamic speaker who has performed before heads of state here and abroad. In any event, the Davis Downtown Business Association is taking a risk to fund a reading by an out-of-area poet, and we are hoping that this investment in the arts pays off for all of us by bringing people to Davis on a Friday night, and by encouraging local civic and business organizations to fund more local poetry events. So, I invite you to attend this free event with live jazz Friday, or to stop by the Sacramento Barnes and Noble on Arden on Saturday, and thus see this "Ambassador for Poetry" in action.

Friday, Oct, 21, 7-9 PM: Davis, CA. Internationally-acclaimed Los Angeles poet, Fulbright Fellow, screenwriter, and Director of the Professional Writing Program at University of Southern California James Ragan will perform his work at the City of Davis' first annual Downtown Poetry Night. Live jazz and a book signing will follow the reading. This event is FREE for all. Downtown E Street Plaza, Davis. Info: 530-756-8763, Laura Cole-Rowe, DDBA.

Or on Saturday, Oct. 22, 12-2 pm, Ragan will be featured at a reading and author signing at the Arden Fair Barnes & Noble, 1725 Arden Way, Sac. This event is also FREE for all. Info: 916-565-0644, Laini Harris, CRM.

For more on the Davis event, see http://www.davisdowntown.com/ddba_events/poetrynight

For more on James Ragan, see http://www.usc.edu/dept/LAS/mpw/faculty/ragan.php.


WHEN YOU GO AWAY
—W.S. Merwin

When you go away the wind clicks around to the north
The painters work all day but at sundown the paint falls
Showing the black walls
The clock goes back to striking the same hour
That has no place in the years

And at night wrapped in the bed of ashes
In one breath I wake
It is the time when the beards of the dead get their growth
I remember that I am falling
That I am the reason
And that my words are the garment of what I shall never be
Like the tucked sleeve of a one-armed boy

______________________

COME BACK
—W.S. Merwin

You came back to us in a dream and we were not here
In a light dress laughing you ran down the slope
To the door
And knocked for a long time thinking it strange

Oh come back we were watching all the time
With the delight choking us and the piled
Grief scrambling like guilt to leave us
At the sight of you
Looking well
And besides our questions our news
All of it paralyzed until you were gone

Is it the same way there

_____________________

—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.