Snakes on a Plane, Train, Automobile (& Po-Events 8/14-20)

TOO MUCH HEAT, TOO MUCH WORK
—Tu Fu (translated from the Chinese by Carolyn Kiser)

It's the fourteenth of August, and I'm too hot
To endure food, or bed. Steam and the fear of scorpions
Keep me awake. I'm told the heat won't fade with Autumn.

Swarms of flies arrive. I'm roped into my clothes.
In another moment I'll scream down the office
As the paper mountains rise higher on my desk.

Oh those real mountains to the south of here!
I gaze at the ravines kept cool by pines.
If I could walk on ice, with my feet bare!

________________________

THRESHOLD
—David Humphreys

August arrived like a blast furnace
pouring steel ingots into each long
day, scorching fire hydrant streets
blistering the cattle prod death toll,
chicken farms up and down the valley
a flutter of hovering feathers in suspended
dust motes.

The epistle this morning from Ephesians
seemed so benevolent: "Let no evil talk
come out of your mouths, but only what
is useful for building up, as there is need,
so that your words may give grace to those
who hear."

It was in the air this morning, a bracing
chill like the weather off the Gate blowing
whitecaps across the Potato Patch with
the smell of burning fields and a wedding
anniversary coming at the end of the month
like a change of perspective, dynamic movement
of one thing into something else, day into night,
night into the light of day.

_______________________

Thanks, David! Despite Tu Fu's protestations, David's right—Fall is in the air; every year I go out to get the paper one morning and there it is. Beginnings—and endings. Send me poems about beginnings/endings postmarked before midnight Tuesday, August 15 (that's tomorrow!), and I'll send you a free copy of Irene Lipshin's new chapbook, Shadowlines, and Norma Kohout's littlesnake broadside, Out the Train Window. (Or something else, if you already have these...) Send 'em to kathykieth@hotmail.com or P.O. Box 1647, Orangevale, CA 95662.

Hot Poetry This Week:

•••Tonight (Monday, 8/14), 7:30 PM: Sacramento Poetry Center presents TBA, hosted by Indigo Moor. SPC/HQ for the Arts, 25th & R Sts., Sac. Info: 451-5569. Free. Open Mic to follow.

•••Tuesday (8/15) is the deadline for several contests and journals (including Snake 11); check previous posts for info. I'll also post them again tomorrow.

•••Wednesday (8/16), 6:30 PM: Urban Voices presents Luke Breit reading from his new novel at the South Natomas Library, 2901 Truxel Rd., Sac., 6:30 PM. Free. Info: 916-264-2920. (This series will be ending in November.)

•••Also Wednesday (8/16), 10-midnight: Mahogany Poets presents Mics and Moods at Capitol Garage, 1500 K Street. Features and Open Mic hosted by Khiry Malik. Info: www.malikspeaks.com or 492-9336. 21 and over / $5 cover.

•••Thursday (8/17), 8 PM: Poetry Unplugged features Francisco Alarcon. Open mic before/after. Hosted by frank andrick. 8pm at Luna’s Café, 1414 16th St. Info: 441-3931 or www.lunascafe.com. Free.

•••Friday (8/18), 7 PM: Our House Defines Art poetry reading features Sacramentans (and Rattlechappers) Susan Kelly-DeWitt and Shawn Pittard. Free; an open mic follows. Our House Defines Art Gallery & Framing is located at 4510 Post St. in El Dorado Hills Town Center; from Sac., take the Latrobe exit off to the right (south), then turn left into the shopping center.

•••This weekend (Friday-Sunday, 8/18-20): Sacramento State Writers Conference features Gail Tsukiyama, John Lescroart, Jim Dodge, Dan Melzer, Jeff Vasseur, Sands Hall, Robin Burcell, David Bianculli, Marcos Breton, Lynn Ferrin, Albert Garcia, Josh McKinney, more. www.cce.csus.edu/cts06/WritersConference

•••Saturday (8/19), 7-9 PM: Underground Poetry Series presents Taylor Williams and Black Men Expressing Tour plus open mic. 7-9pm, $3.00. Underground Books, 2814 35th Street (35th and Broadway). Mother Rose is the bookstore manager and La-Rue’ is the series host. If you would like to be a featured poet please contact Terry Moore at 455-POET.

•••Also Saturday (8/19): Nevada County Poetry Series presents Cowboy Poets Daryl Knight, Dave Fisher, and Tony Argento. $5 general, $1 for under 18. Tickets can be purchased at the door for $5 general, seniors and students, and $1 for those under 18. Refreshments and open-mic included. The show will be in Off Center Stage (the Black Box theater, enter from Richardson Street) at the Center for the Arts, 314 W. Main St., Grass Valley, CA. Info: 530-432-8196 or 530-274-8384. Refreshments and open-mic included. www.thecenterforthearts.org

•••Sunday (8/20), 2:30-4 PM: Take a trip to Paradise for an Open Mic at Juice & Java, 7067 Skyway, Paradise. All ages are invited to read their poems at this monthly poetry series. Info: 530-872-9633. Hosted by Lara Gularte.

Some Events to Look Forward To in September:

•••When you are full of BBQ, why just sit around the house feeling fat? Get out for the Labor Day Open Reading! The Other Voice poetry reading series returns with an open reading on Labor Day, Monday, Sept. 4 at 7:30 PM in the Unitarian Universalist Church of Davis, 27074 Patwin Road, Davis. James Lee Jobe will be your host. Call 530-750-3514 for details. This is a free event.

For the 2006-2007 season, The Other Voice will meet on the first Monday of every month at 7:30 PM in the library of the Davis Unitarian Universalist Church. On months when the first Monday is a holiday, there will be an open reading. All other readings will have at least one featured reader, sometimes two, followed by an open reading. Everyone is encouraged to attend and bring a poem or two and enjoy a glass of wine. For October, the featured poet will the award-winning Foothills poet (and Rattlechapper), Taylor Graham. The final reading for the season will be in May 2007.

•••Saturday (9/16) from 2-6 PM: Monika Rose writes: You are invited to the gala opening celebration of the publication of vol. 5 of Manzanita: Poetry and Prose of the Mother Lode and Sierra. Over 80 writers and artists from across California and other states have written about the region and are represented in the 188-page collection. Come listen to the writers read their work, meet with them, and get a book signed—listen to some great improv guitar woven into the reading, and enjoy the literary atmosphere in the great tradition of Mark Twain, Bret Harte, and yes, even Black Bart, the doggerel poet. Artists and photographers will have prints available of their work, and you'll have a chance to mix with some of the best writers in our region and in California. The ambiance will be sublime. And it's free. Come early to meet writers, schmooze, wine-tasting, and lunch, if you like. Where: Kautz Ironstone Winery in Murphys (about an hour and a half east of Stockton or Lodi). Directions: Go up Hwy 49 toward Angels Camp and take the cut-off from Highway 49 on Six Mile Road, making a left at the KFC in Angels Camp. When you get to Murphys, make a right at the Murphys Hotel, go past the park and theatre, and make a right at the end of the road to get to Ironstone (about a mile). Public mic time will be provided, so bring a poem, if you would like. We will love to see you there!!

Ekphrasis to Celebrate Its Tenth:

The latest issue of Ekphrasis is out; click on the link to the right of this column to find out how to get one. Ekphrasis, the Sacramento-based literary journal featuring poems based on works of art, is celebrating its 10th anniversary of publication with the release of the Fall/Winter 2006 issue. Frith Press, publisher of Ekphrasis, has also sponsored seven national chapbook competitions in the last ten years, and has just completed its third annual Ekphrasis Prize competition. Ekphrasis has been featured in Literary Magazine Review. Poems from the journal have appeared on Poetry Daily, and several poems from Ekphrasis have been nominated for the Pushcart Prize by Pushcart Editors. Way to go, classy Ekphrasis. Your tacky ophidian neighbor can only sigh in admiration.

Oh, Honestly...

Medusa doesn't see what all the fuss is about the new movie, Snakes on a Plane. That's just business as usual around here...

_______________________

INSTRUCTION
—Hazel Hall

My hands that guide a needle
In their turn are led
Relentlessly and deftly
As a needle leads a thread.

Other hands are teaching
My needle: when I sew
I feel the cool, thin fingers
Of hands I do not know.

They urge my needle onward.
They smooth my seams, until
The worry of my stitches
Smothers in their skill.

All the tired women,
Who sewed their lives away
Speak in my deft fingers
As I sew today.

_______________________

DIFFERENT
—Clere Parsons

Not to say what everyone else was saying,
not to believe what everyone else believed
not to do what everybody did,
then to refute what everyone else was saying
then to disprove what everyone else believed
then to deprecate what everybody did

was his way to come by understanding

how everyone else was saying the same as he was saying
believing what he believed
and did what doing.

_______________________

Got that?

Check out this site for way cool animated poetry: members.cruzio.com/~cafe. Click on one of the poems, then move the larger page out of the way to see the action behind it.

—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.)