Can Fall Be Far Behind?

OZYMANDIAS
—Percy Bysshe Shelley

I met a traveller from an antique land
Who said: "Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert...Near them, on the sand,
Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
Tell what its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed:
And on the pedestal these words appear:
'My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!'
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away."

________________________

Yesterday would've been P.B. S.'s 214th birthday.

Today (and tomorrow):

•••Today (Saturday, 8/5), 4 PM: Quinton Duval will be reading at ArtsBenicia, a community gallery in Benicia. The gallery is located at 991 Tyler Street #114 in Benicia's Historical Arsenal district. Admission is free. Info: call 707-747-0131 or e-mail info@artsbenicia.org.

•••Also this weekend: The bi-monthly book sale by the Davis Friends of the Library will take place from 10 AM-5 PM today and from 10 AM to 2 PM tomorrow at the Davis Public Library, 315 E. 14th St., Davis. Info: 530-753-3436. [It also happened yesterday, but I missed posting it.]

•••Tonight (Saturday, 8/5), 7 PM: First Saturday Poetry Series returns! Sojourner Truth Art Center, 2251 Florin Rd. (corner of Tamoshanter & Florin), Sac. Hosted by Noah Hayes & Felicia McGee. All ages, $5. Come early for workshop. Info: www.malikspeaks.com.

Previews of Next Week:

•••There will be no SPC reading on Monday.

•••On Wednesday, August 9, Irene Lipshin will be releasing her chapbook, Shadowlines, from Rattlesnake Press. Irene is a member of the Red Fox Underground Poetry Workshop in the Sierra Nevada foothills. She is also a peace activist, photographer, and reading and ESL teacher. Her work has been published in Rattlesnake Review, including a broadside, Territorio Nuevo; in Poetica, Brevities, Chaparral Updrafts, and Song of the San Joaquin Quarterly; in the anthologies, We Beg to Differ (Sacramento Poets Against the War, 2003); Outcry: American Voices of Conscience, Post-9/11; and in the forthcoming Little Town, USA: The 2006 Anthology of Sierra Foothill Poets. In addition, Irene has been posted on the Poets Against the War and Voices in Wartime websites, as well as appearing in other publications. Come hear her read, and celebrate with us the release of her chapbook, along with the release of Norma Kohout's littlesnake broadside, Out the Train Window [see yesterday's post], at 7:30 PM on Weds. at The Book Collector, 1008 24th St., Sac. Here is the title poem from Irene's collection:

SHADOWLINES
—Irene Lipshin, Placerville

Moving to a new house,
its old hinges stuck
from years of closing
out the world,
we loosen the locks,
release the shutters.

Sunlight filters
through wide slats,
I read between
shadowlines —
light opens darkness,
heat vanquishes the chill
of gathering tempests,
banishing the dark
backward of time.

_______________________

Thanks, Irene! One more from Percy:

from ODE TO THE WEST WIND: V
—Percy Bysshe Shelley

Make me thy lyre, even as the forest is:
What if my leaves are falling like its own!
The tumult of thy mighty harmonies

Will take from both a deep, autumnal tone,
Sweet though in sadness. Be thou, Spirit fierce,
My Spirit! Be thou me, impetuous one!

Drive my dead thoughts over the universe
Like withered leaves to quicken a new birth!
And, by incantation of this verse,

Scatter, as from an unextinguished hearth
Ashes and sparks, my words among mankind!
Be through my lips to unawakened earth

The trumpet of a prophecy! O, Wind,
If Winter comes, can Spring be far behind?

_______________________

—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.)