Making Angels Fly

THE ESTATE
—William S. Gainer, Grass Valley

I'm done.
I'm giving it all to the church,
the whole damn mess.
They can have it all,
do what they want,
keep it,
sell it,
I don't care.
Maybe get enough money
to buy some wine,
throw a party.
their choice.
I DON'T CARE.
The nuns can go through it,
piece by piece,
they might like
the porn collection.
At worst
they can use it
to teach the choirboys
what it takes
to make an angel
fly.

_____________________

The lively Grass Valley trio of Bill Gainer, Todd Cirillo, and Song Kowbell will read at Luna's Cafe (1414 16th St., Sac.) this Thursday night (11/17), 8-ish. All three of them have published littlesnake broadsides, and all three are rattlechappers-to-be. Bill's new rattlechap, To Run With The Savages, will be released December 14, in fact, at The Book Collector. (Poor Song; various publicity releases keep spelling her name every-which-way. It's SONG KOWBELL, and that's a fact.) Show up with your party shoes on; it's gonna be lively!

By the way, Medusa is very pleased with the new feature in The Sacramento Bee Sunday Ticket section: a very tidy listing of coming events on page 4, including a section for "Books, Poetry and Lectures" which lays out the week's events in an eye-catching, easy-to-find, easy-to-read format.

Other happenings this week:

***Tonight (11/14) Sac. Poetry Center present Julia Levine and Ruth L. Schwartz at HQ, 25th & R Sts., Sac., 7:30 pm. (after the Board meeting at Hamburger Mary's at 6).

***Tomorrow (11/15) the Third Tuesday Poetry Series presents Michael Pulley and Nwando Mbanugo, La Raza Bookstore, 1421 R St., 7 pm. Info: 743-5329.

***Wednesday (11/16) the Urban Voices series features Will Staple and Quinton Duval, South Natomas Library (2901 Truxel Rd., Sac.), 6:30-8 pm. Also that night, Joshua McKinney reads with a few CSUS alumni in the Library Gallery on the CSUS campus, 7 pm.

***Thursday (11/17): Bill, Song and Todd read at Luna's (see above).

***Friday (11/18): Khiry Malik Moore presents The Jook Joynt 3: NY poet Ainsley Burrows at the Hard Rock Cafe, 545 7th St., $15. Info: Malikspeaks.com or malikspeaks@aol.com. Also that night, the Nevada County Poetry Series celebrates its annual GIGANTIC open mic (usually known to run 'WAY into the wee hours) and the release of its 2005 anthology in the Off-Center Stage, Center for the Arts, 314 W. Main St., Grass Valley. Info: 530-432-8196.

More from Bill:


THE POST OFFICE
—William S. Gainer

Thumbing through the pages
she showed me pictures of young women
in lingerie,
said, "At my age, I don't want the clothes
anymore,
just the body."
She let her tongue
tease her lipstick,
turned the page.
I felt things,
said, "You smell nice."
She dragged a finger across her grin.
I said, "You know,
it's nice for an old man
to be tantalized
by an old friend."
She smiled,
let the magazine slip to the trash.

___________________

LATER
—William S. Gainer

Sometimes
I write poems
that scare her.
She reads them
before I get up,
cries
after I leave
and tells me
about it
later.

___________________

Thanks, Bill! See you Thursday.

Yeow—I almost forgot—TOMORROW (11/15) is the (postmarked) deadline to submit your wonderful poems/photos/artwork for Snake 8! Get on it—those snakes are especially hungry today and tomorrow. Send your work to kathykieth@hotmail.com, or hunt up the snail address in the box to the right of this. And stop by The Book Collector to pick up a wee free Snakelets, the new issue of our journal of poetry from youngsters 0-12, as well as a free littlesnake broadside by Sacramentan Claudia Trnka.

—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. Previously-published poems are okay for Medusa’s Kitchen, as long as you own the rights. (Please cite publication.)