Warming the Inkstone

THE AUTUMN MOON
—Ryokan

The moon appears in every season, it is true.
But surely it's best in fall.
In autumn, mountains loom and water runs close.
A brilliant disk floats across the infinite sky,
And there is no sense of light and darkness,
For everything is permeated with its presence.
The boundless sky above, the autumn chill on my face.
I take my precious staff and wander about the hills.
Not a speck of the world's dust anywhere,
Just the brilliant beams of moonlight.
I hope others, too, are gazing on this moon tonight.
And that it's illuminating all kinds of people.
Autumn after autumn, the moonlight comes and goes;
Human beings will gaze upon it for eternity.
The sermons of Buddha, the preaching of Eno,
Surely occurred under the same kind of moon.
I contemplate the moon through the night,
As the stream settles, and white dew descends.
Which wayfarer will bask in the moonlight longest?
Whose home will drink up the most moonbeams?

_______________________

•••Tonight (Friday, 10/20), 7 PM: Six Ft. Swells Press celebrates the newest chapbook in its Cheap Shots Poetry Series with the release of Julie Valin's Night Songs for Heavy Dreamers. The evening begins with cocktails and backslapping at 7 PM followed by a reading featuring Julie Valin and Matt Amott. The evening is hosted by the pirate of the Cheap Shots Poetry Series, Todd Cirillo. The event will be a combination of above-average garden party debauchery and truck stop revelries wrapped up in After-Hours Poetry at its finest. The event is free at Jason's Studio Cafe (in Booktown Books), 134 S. Auburn St., Grass Valley. For info. or to order Six Ft. Swells releases call 530-271-0662 or email sixfootswells@yahoo.com.

•••Also tonight, 7 PM: Our House Gallery and Framing presents Irene Lipshin and Phil Weidman. Both have new chapbooks out from Rattlesnake Press: Shadowlines (Irene) and Fictional Character: The Ernie Poems (Phil). Free; an open mic follows. Our House Gallery & Framing is located at 4510 Post St. in El Dorado Hills Town Center.

•••Saturday (10/21), 7:30 PM: Literature Alive! Presents Wordslingers 2006: An Evening With Amy Tan. The event, presented by Literature Alive!, a Nevada County non-profit, will take place at the Veteran’s Memorial Hall in Grass Valley. Tickets for the main auditorium are $25 in advance, $30 at the door, $22 for Literature Alive! members (must show membership card); bleacher seats are $15. For more information on tickets (which may be sold out?), call (530) 272-5812 or visit the website at www.litalive.org.

•••Also Saturday, 7-9 PM: Underground Poetry Series features Red Fox Underground poets Wendy Williams and Brigit Truex, plus Lori Jean Robinson and Random Abiladeze, plus open mic. $3. Underground Books, 2814 35th St., Sac. (35th and Broadway). If you would like to be a featured poet, contact Terry Moore at 916-455-POET.

•••Also Saturday, 4 PM: The Central California Art Association and the Mistlin Art Gallery announces a poetry writing workshop as this month’s featured poetry event. The facilitator, Karin Forno, is a well known local writer who practices medicine, has earned a Master's of Fine Arts in creative writing, and is an instructor at CSUS. A very modest $10.00 donation per writer is requested. Please email Gordon Preston at gordonbp@sbcglobal.net with your intent to participate. Space will be limited.

•••Also Saturday, 1-3 PM: The Third Saturday of the Month is The Stockton Poetry Workshop at The Acacia Cafe, corner of Acacia and Yosemite Avenues, Stockton. For info call Donald Anderson (209) 943-2449 or call the host, Shonda Renee (209) 603-1598.

•••Sunday (Oct. 22), 4 PM: The Book Collector and Rattlesnake Press present Taylor Graham reading from her latest book, The Downstairs Dance Floor, winner of the Robert Phillips Poetry Chapbook Prize from Texas Review Press. That's at The Book Collector, 1008 24th St., Sac. Be there.

•••Monday (10/23), 7:30 PM: the Sacramento Poetry Center presents Joshua Clover, author of The Totality For Kids (2006) and Madonna anno domini (1997), winner of the Walt Whitman Award from The Academy of American Poets. Clover teaches at UC-Davis, and contributes to Village Voice and The New York Times. Host Tim Kahl. SPC/HQ for the Arts, 1719-25th St., Sac. (25th and R Sts.), 916-451-5569.

________________________

On a bitterly cold November night
The snow fell thick and fast—
First like hard grains of salt,
Then more like soft willow buds.
The flakes settled quietly on the bamboo
And piled up pleasingly on the pine branches.
Rather than turning to old texts, the darkness
Makes me feel like composing my own verse.

—Ryokan

________________________

Shut up among the solitary peaks,
I sadly contemplate the driving sleet outside.
A monkey's cry echoes through the dark hills,
A frigid stream murmurs below,
And the light by the window looks frozen solid.
My inkstone, too, is ice-cold.
No sleep tonight, I'll write poems,
Warming the brush with my breath.

—Ryokan

________________________

—Medusa

Medusa encourages poets of all ilk and ages to send their poetry, photos and art, 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.)