SUNSET
—Rainer Maria Rilke
Slowly the west reaches for clothes of new colors
which it passes to a row of ancient trees.
You look, and soon these two worlds both leave you,
one part climbs toward heaven, one sinks to earth,
leaving you, not really belonging to either,
not so hopelessly dark as that house that is silent,
not so unswervingly given to the eternal as that thing
that turns to a star each night and climbs—
leaving you (it is impossible to untangle the threads)
your own life, timid and standing high and growing,
so that, sometimes blocked in, sometimes reaching out,
one moment your life is a stone in you, and the next, a star.
______________________
Today would've been Ranier Maria Rilke's 131st birthday. His poetry on this post was translated by Robert Bly.
This week:
•••Tonight (12/4), 7:30 PM: Brigit Truex, Jeanine Stevens, Charlene Ungstad and Rebecca Morrison will be reading at the Sacramento Poetry Center (HQ, 25th & R Sts., Sac). It will be a night to celebrate the Celtic, with Celtic poetry, dishes, libations, music, broadsides and photos. Bring your own Celtic poetry/stories/goodies to share—anything from Northern Europe qualifies. Open mic to follow, and refreshments. Free. All of these ladies have ties to the Snake: Jeanine has a rattlechap out (The Keeping Room); Brigit has one to come (A Counterpane Without, in February 2007); Rebecca (of "Eskimo Pie Girl" fame—see link to the right of this) had poetry in the very first Snake; and Charlene writes reviews for us from time to time. So I can vouch for them all—writers extraordinaire!
•••Tonight at 7:30 PM in Davis: The Other Voice presents Hannah Stein and rattlechapper (The Land) Susan Kelly-DeWitt at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Davis, 27074 Patwin Road in Davis. James Lee Jobe will be your host. Call 530-750-3514 for details, or go to http://uupoetry.blogspot.com for bios, sample poems, and directions. This is a free event, and after the featured poets there will be an open mic. Congrats to Susan, by the way, who will have a poem featured on Garrison Keillor's "Writer's Almanac", next Monday, December 11! Go to the following site to locate the poem on 12/11: http://writersalmanac.publicradio.org/
•••Or at 7 PM in Stockton: Poets Marie J. Ross and Elizabeth Parrish will be reading from their new chapbook, Lavender Fields, at Java Aroma/Stockton Empire Theatre (1825 Pacific Ave., Stockton, cross-street Walnut). The readers will be followed by a book-signing and open mic.
•••Another Davis reading, this time on Tuesday (12/5): Bistro 33 Tuesday Night Series at 3rd & F Sts., Davis, in the historic city hall. Open mic sign-up beginis at 8, warm-up readers at around 8:30, feature at about 8:50. Then open mic, sometimes a musical interlude. Contact Andy Jones for more info. This event meets every Tuesday now.
•••This Tuesday (12/5), a special get-away: It's kind of short notice to be hearing about it, but this week you can celebrate a winter holiday with an Evening of Poetry, Wine Tasting and Music, featuring jazz pianist Alan Copeland and Guest Poet Art Weil at the MiWuk Village Inn, 24680 Highway 108, Mi Wuk Village, CA 95346 (800-549-7886). Event-Only guests pay $10 (proceeds to benefit California Federation of Chaparral Poets, Inc., a state-wide non-profit organization). Or you can spend the night: Single or Double Occupancy Overnight Rooms Package (includes event) starts at $99, with upgrades available to suites and luxury rooms. See website: www.MiWukVillageInn or call direct: 800-549-7886 or 209-586-3031.
•••Weds. (11/29), 10 PM-midnight: