Wednesday, August 02, 2006

Propositions About Life

THE BEGINNING
—Wallace Stevens

So summer comes in the end to these few stains
And the rust and rot of the door through which she went.

The house is empty. But here is where she sat
To comb her dewy hair, a touchless light,

Perplexed by its darker iridescences.
This was the glass in which she used to look

At the moment's being, without history,
The self of summer perfectly perceived,

And feel its country gayety and smile
And be surprised and tremble, hand and lip.

This is the chair from which she gathered up
Her dress, the carefulest, commodious weave

Inwoven by a weaver to twelve bells...
The dress is lying, cast-off, on the floor.

Now, the first tutoyers of tragedy
Speak softly, to begin with, in the eaves.

_______________________

Tonight in Sac-town and Beyond:

•••Tonight (Wednesday, 8/2), 7:30 PM: Lake Tahoe Writing Club open mic at the Grand Hall at Valhalla Estates on the water. Bring poems and a bathing suit! Take Hwy. 50 to the Y; take 89 north about 5 miles to Valhalla Estates, which are on the right, just past Camp Richardson.

•••Also tonight, 10 PM-Midnight: Mahogany Poets presents Mics and Moods at Capitol Garage, 1500 K St., Sac. Features & Open Mic hosted by Khiry Malik. Info: www.malikspeaks.com or 916-492-9336. Ages 21 and over; $5 cover.

Last Minute Hot Tip:

Quinton Duval writes: I know it is last-minute, but I wanted to let you know I'll be reading at ArtsBenicia, a community gallery in Benicia, on Saturday, August 5th at 4 PM. 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.

See Kathy Kieth Pat Crawdad On the Rump:

Well, no, I couldn't—as usual, he was too fast for me—but if you click on the SPC blog link to the right of this column, you can see many, many pics of last's weekend's marathon, along with Tim Kahl's narrative. I attended the last four hours; the most interesting part to me was how many of our different poetry communities in this area were represented over the 73 hours, communities that normally would not appear together on the same bill. Here's hoping this isn't the last such event, whether it be a marathon or some other occasion. Thanks to BL Kennedy, frank andrick, Java City, and all the other tireless (sleepy) people who made this event possible!

_______________________

DELIGHTFUL EVENING
—Wallace Stevens

A very felicitous eve,
Herr Doktor, and that's enough,
Though the brow in your palm may grieve

At the vernacular of light
(Omitting reefs of cloud):
Empurpled garden grass;

The spruces' outstetched hands;
The twilight overfull
Of wormy metaphors.

________________________

MAN MADE OUT OF WORDS
—Wallace Stevens

What should we be without the sexual myth,
The human revery of poem of death?

Castratos of moon-mash—Life consists
Of propositions about life. The human

Revery is a solitude in which
We compose these propositions, torn by dreams,

By the terrible incantation of defeats
And by the fear that defeats and dreams are one.

The whole race is a poet that writes down
The eccentric propositions of its fate.

_______________________

—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.)