Bargaining Towards Opposites

IONS
—Rhony Bhopla, Sacramento

Crossing isthmi
swiping against borders,
ions splay entire
pulsing anatomy.

Zipping and aligning
towards narrow
openings in lumens,
bargaining towards opposites.

They dance sensually
flash independently—
We know nothing
of their past, or future.

Commissioning sense, motion
and particulate
geographic warmth
within us, they whirl.

___________________________

Thanks, Rhony!

Here's an addition to yesterday's calendar for this week: Friday (3/24), Luna's Cafe (1414 16th St., Sac.) will host the opening of an art show featuring the work of B.L. Kennedy, 7-10 pm. Music is provided by Spoken Blues, and Bari also plans to have local poets talk and read poetry. All art that sells (and it's priced very cheap, he says) goes to help The Archives Group (T.A.G.) Project. Bari says, The major thing with the art show is to raise $$$ for T.A.G. through the sale of the art. The second reason is to celebrate 30 years in the Sac art/poetry community.

On Thursday, March 30, 6 pm at Luna’s Café, the first presentation workshop of THINK POSTCARD! takes place. The Mail Arts Project, one of Sacramento Poet Laureate Julia Connor’s projects, is part of the Poet Laureate program under the auspices of the Sacramento Metropolitan Arts Commission. This event involves multi-artist and multi-media makings of unique Postcard Art, culminating in collaborative works that represent individual and collective efforts, with some to be part of a curated exhibition at a later date. But the real treasure is in the act of creating together. So please bring materials of a personal nature (small mementos, photos, found stuff, lists, receipts, yarn, special pens, etc. that can be used or affixed to the post card and sent through the U.S. mail; basic supplies will also be provided on site) to Luna’s Café, 1414 16th St., Sac. on 3/30. Bring an art partner or meet one there and create a one-of-a-kind art piece to be mailed to The Sacramento Arts Commission, 2030 Del Paso Blvd., Sac. 95815.

The list and scope of participants is all-inclusive; all are encouraged to take part, and it reflects the diversity of the Sacramento Nor-Cal area, already dubbed one of the most diverse in America. Open to all, we hope to reach and touch all levels of society in an all-encompassing art form common to us all and the human experience. Join us, please, and join the rapidly evolving list of people to put thought, text, and image into mail. The list is growing and includes such notable poet/text artists and visual artists as Julia Connor, Jose Montoya, Stan Padilla, Armando Cid, Steve Vanoni, D.R. Wagner, B.L. Kennedy, Vincent Kobelt, Xico Gonzales, Francisco Alarcon, frank andrick, Traci Gourdine, Ann Tracy, Art Luna, Mary Zeppa, Richard Hansen, Frankie Hansbearry, Alan Satow, Keely Dorran, JoAnn Anglin, Barbara Noble, and Victor and Pearl Selinsky, just to name a few.

Though the kick-off venue for the multi-month event will be at Poetry Unplugged @ Luna’s Café on 3/30, other venues will include the Crocker Art Museum, La Raza Galeria Posada, LAMP @ Sutter Hospital, SPC @ HQ and the Hart Center, Horse Cow Gallery, The Book Collector, and the Center for Contemporary Art, plus many colleges, schools and libraries in the greater Sacramento and northern California area. Can’t make it to a workshop? Create mail art at home and send it in! Blank postcards are available. Info: Anja Aulenbacher at Aulenbacher@cityofsacramento.org or 916-566-3986.

Speaking of Julia Connor, she (and Jim Anderson) write: Poets and fans of William Butler Yeats should not miss the opportunity this coming weekend to see Tied to a Dying Animal at the California Stage, 25th and R Sts., Sac., across the lot from the Sacramento Poetry Center. The title comes from one of his later poems, and the perspective of the playwright/performer is that of a mature Yeats looking back both biographically and poetically on his work and life. It is also a mature man's contemplation on aging and mortality.

The play is handsomely staged, and Rick Foster, who wrote the play, relies on Yeats’ own poetry to tell the story. To his credit, he portrays Yeats with understatement, so that the poetry really is allowed to speak for itself, and yet it is cleverly set in "recollective commentary" to reveal the transformations in Yeats' writing as related to his life experience. The recalled moments and persons are evocative, and informative biography, but never overpower the poetry.

We could not believe that an hour and a half had passed when this intimate visit with Yeats had ended. Not a slack moment in the evening. I highly recommend it, but it only plays this coming weekend: March 24 and 25 at 8 p.m. and Sunday the 26th at 2. A real Sacramento treat!

_____________________

DARK QUARK
—Rhony Bhopla, Sacramento

Far away is the sparrow’s call
again toward the undulating pitch

Bowing we are towards one another
the stark melody of transfixed limits

Tiptoed ticking twelve twosomes
we below like animals once more

Untidy insane and shredding all frothy
particulates that make us human.

_____________________

Thanks, Rhony. And David Humphreys writes: James [Lee Jobe] is out of town, Kathy, would you please post this dog poem and dedicate it to clan of the dog for me?

SHILOH
—David Humphreys, Stockton

I lost the first poem I wrote about my dog maybe
four years ago. Don't know how it happened except
that it was so clearly out of his young buck cocky

prime I guess I was just a little put out by the
strutting sexual leer of it, dog ears all perked up
with his tongue lolling out in a wide laughing grin

mincing up to sniff out every passing feminine
bustle of attention, eyes rimmed in his handsome
mascara theater, plume tail curling up behind him

like a feather in a Musketeer's velvet hat. I must have
deleted it in some distracted irritation. Anyway, here
it is again, resurrected with all the odd details intact

as we both head out on our morning walk one more
time both of us a bit heavier than before even after
having traveled about 1200 miles further down the road.

________________________

—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.)