Serpent Country

SERPENT COUNTRY
—A.R. Ammons

Rolled off a side of mountains or
hills, bottomed
out in flatland but getting

away, winding,
will be found a
scale-bright snake—brook, stream, or river, or

in sparest gatherings,
a wash of stones or a green
streak of chaparral across sand.

_______________________

Thanks, Archie!

Poetry near and far this weekend:

•••Tonight (Friday, 11/17), 7 PM: Our House poetry reading features Margaret Ellis Hill and Katy Brown. An open mic follows. Our House Gallery & Framing is located at 4510 Post St. in El Dorado Hills Town Center; take Latrobe Road south and turn into the shopping center on the left. Free.

•••Sat., 11/18, 7-9 PM: Underground Poetry Series features Crawdad Nelson, Brett Freeman, Laura Cook, and Juanita "Yoke Breaker" Mason, plus open mic. $3. Underground Books, 2814 35th St. (at Broadway).

•••Saturday, 11/18, 8 PM: FRANK ANDRICK IS A NAME-DROPPING WHORE (A BENEFIT): An evening of provocative and scandalous work at HQ, 25th & R Sts., Sac. to help poet frank andrick cover his medical costs. Featuring frank andrick, Gene Bloom, Josh Fernandez, Bill Gainer, James Lee Jobe, Rachel Leibrock, Ann Menebroker, Geoffrey Neill, Barbara Noble, Bill Pieper, Rachel Savage, Teryl & Eric (and many last- minute surprises). Also: an audio-visual overlay by J. Greenberg.

frank andrick, the Lockeford-San Francisco-Sacramento poet who has given so much of himself to the Sacramento literary scene, has suffered from a series of health setbacks that have led to hospital stays and mounting medical expenses. His friends have assembled this event in an effort to help him financially. We ask those attending give what they can at the door ($2-20). Additionally, items will be available for sale and auctioned, with all the money going to frank. This event is sponsored by Poets & Writers with a grant they've received through the James Irvine Foundation.

Several folks have asked how they can donate to frank's medical fund if they aren't coming to the event. Cards, well-wishes and donations can be sent or dropped off in a sealed envelope at The Book Collector. frank has no checking account, so checks should be made out to The Book Collector, and we will give him cash. Or mail them to:

frank andrick
c/o The Book Collector
1008 24th Street
Sacramento, CA 95816

•••Also Saturday, 4 PM: The Central California Art Association and the Mistlin Art Gallery announces a poetry reading that will feature Lisa Verigin at the gallery, 1015 J St/, downtown Modesto. Lisa ia a Central Valley native who migrated to Georgia State University for her MFA, the University of Nebraska for her PhD, then back to Modesto, where she currently lives. Her poetry has appeared in a wide variety of literary journals, including Quarterly West, Bloom, Solo, Court Green, The Worcester Review, The American Literary Review and Poet Lore, to name a few. A former editorial assistant for Prairie Schooner, Verigin is author of the chapbook, Two-Reel Comedy. There will be an open mic following her reading to celebrate the second issue of the local poetry journal hardpan, in which she is one of the 25 contributors. Free.

•••Also Saturday, 1-3 PM, Shonda René hosts a poetry workshop at Acacia Cafe, corner of Acacia St. and Yosemite Ave. in Stockton. Be sure to read T. S. Eliot's "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" for the discussion: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T.S._Elliot#The_Love_Song_of_J._Alfred_Prufrock

•••Next Monday (11/20), there will be no reading at the Sacramento Poetry Center.

_______________________

EARLY STONES
—A.R. Ammons

Returning from the thawed creek
and winter-hungry for early
slugs or mole crickets, he
turns a stone on
the clear-woods floor, thinks to
pick it up, steadying his pace
back to the cave porch where
he drops it,
an investment against the fireless
summer nights when the tiger
moves too near in, hard to scare.

_______________________

FLURRIES
—A.R. Ammons

Streaks, drifts, mounds
of meaning build,
flare: roof-lochs spill,

catching at the eaves
meanings
icicle-clear:

glaciers grind visionary
meanings down nordic gorges,
letting fall

rivers to rustle
narrows amply clean cut:
hold still, the

spirit cries, hold this,
but motion
undermines meaning with meaning.

_______________________

PACKAGING
—A.R. Ammons

Roll
up the edges of
the squared-off, flattened-out,
two-dimensional
mind,

pull the corners up and tie them
off at the top,
a sphere or bag, so that
anyone thinking
will

have to think about more sides
at once than one,
get volume
within his
definitions,

and become less secure
that summer with him is
summer everywhere,
his ice cap feeling's
only leaning.

_______________________

—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.)