Those Danged Hamsters...

THOUGHTS AT 3 A.M.
(for Ruth)
—Margaret Ellis (Peggy) Hill, Wilton

The hamsters are fighting again
and we’re going to have to get out
the whips or find another town.
Maybe a pail of cold water would help.
Black ones charge against the white
like a chess game with the queen long gone.
The gray babies keep running foot races
on the merry-go-round while bells ring
constantly. Sawdust flies around the room
from all the fluffing and failing.

Windows are taped shut, newspaper
headlines splashed all over the pans.
Watering systems have been shut down.
Squeaks and bellows, hair flying,
teeth gnashing comes from backwash.
Sharp nails scratch glasses that sit
on books, raises hair on the back of necks
Tranquilizers won’t be effective unless
we serve some meat for dinner.

Night times have fooled the clock,
and night shades have stripes.
There are certain days when talk
of porcupines triggers the little terrors
to slip into high gear, sharpen teeth
and struggle towards freedom.
You can’t sell the critters when
they see red and carry the placards
out in front of the house.

Soon enough they will go back
into the dungeon and sleep soundly
until the fife and drum corps signals
another round of battle.

_________________________


Thanks, Peggy! Peggy is one of the many local poets and writers to be featured in the upcoming Snake.

Coming up this Saturday (11/16): The Show hosts Rodzilla, The Forgotten One, and Born 2B Poets with open mic contest ($20 prize!), 7-9 pm at the Wo’se Community Center (2863 35th St., Sac). Tickets $5 at Underground Books or fromtheheart1@hotmail.com. Info: 455-POET.

Also Saturday: From Tundra and Bone features Anne Coray & Rebecca Morrisson in a poetry reading, 7:30 pm, The Book Collector, 1008 24th St., Midtown Sacramento. Come enjoy a presentation by Anne Coray, Alaskan poet, author of Bone Strings (recently published by Scarlet Tanager Books in Oakland). We also feature Rebecca Morrison, Alaska-born-and-raised poet who has been active in the Sacramento-Davis arts communities for many years, as well as webmistress of www.eskimopie.net. Sponsored by Escritores del Nuevo Sol/Writers of the New Sun. Info: 916-451-1372. [Medusa says check out www.eskimopie.net for cool local poetry and other features.]


GALLANT CHATEAU
—Wallace Stevens

Is it bad to have come here
And to have found the bed empty?

One might have found tragic hair,
Bitter eyes, hands hostile and cold.

There might have been a light on a book
Lighting a pitiless verse or two.

There might have been the immense solitude
Of the wind upon the curtains.

Pitiless verse? A few words tuned
And tuned and tuned and tuned.

It is good. The bed is empty,
The curtains are still and prim and still.

________________________

—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.)