Sunday, September 30, 2007

This Music and This Dawn



A THIRSTY FISH
—Jelaluddin Balkhi (Rumi)

I don't get tired of you. Don't grow weary
of being compassionate toward me!

All this thirst equipment
must surely be tired of me,
the waterjar, the water carrier.

I have a thirsty fish in me
that can never find enough
of what it's thirsty for!

Show me the way to the ocean!
Break these half-measures,
these small containers.

All this fantasy
and grief.

Let my house be drowned in the wave
that rose last night out of the courtyard
hidden in the center of my chest.

Joseph fell like the moon into my well.
The harvest I expected was washed away.
But no matter.

A fire has risen above my tombstone hat.
I don't want learning, or dignity,
or respectability.

I want this music and this dawn
and the warmth of your cheek against mine.

The grief-armies assemble,
but I'm not going with them.

This is how it always is
when I finish a poem.

A great silence overcomes me,
and I wonder why I ever thought
to use language.


(Translated from the Persian by Coleman Barks)

_____________________

Today Rumi would've been 800 years old.

—Medusa


Medusa encourages poets of all ilk and ages to send their POETRY, PHOTOS and ART, as well as announcements of Northern California poetry events, to kathykieth@hotmail.com (or snail ‘em to P.O. Box 762, Pollock Pines, CA 95726) 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.) For more info about the Snake Empire, including guidelines for submitting to or obtaining our publications, click on the link to the right of this column: Rattlesnake Press (rattlesnakepress.com).

Saturday, September 29, 2007

Leaves Falling in the Wind


The Last Two Roses
Photo by Katy Brown, Davis



RAKING LEAVES

—David Humphreys, Stockton

That time of year again, end of October,
and our council of walnuts
lining the driveway
has begun to wear itself out in orange.
Lou's ash trees next door
are a lighter yellow that will
be dazzling against dark clouds
and I am often sad now as if the old man
that I may one day become
has secretly walked up behind me
to touch me on the shoulder.
Last month, I said a final good-bye
to another lost friend.

To hell with death though. It's just leaves
falling in the wind, wet smelling ground rot.
As the rake scrapes concrete and rattles the grass,
I build leaf piles beneath fall's crackling bonfire.

(Previously appeared in Perihelion, Web del Sol)

_____________________

Thanks, David! David Humphreys sent us a Fall poem in response to Medusa's challenge: Send me your poems and/or photos, artwork, whatever about Autumn and I'll send you a free copy of Susan Kelly DeWitt's new chapbook, Cassiopeia Above the Banyan Tree. E-mail them to kathykieth@hotmail com or snail them to P.O. Box 762, Pollock Pines, CA 95726 by midnight next Weds., October 3. And of course thanks to Katy Brown for yet another wonderful photograph. Here are a couple more from David:


GOD BLESS THE KENNEDYS
—David Humphreys

There are thunderstorms in New England, yacht club
birgies blowing in another year of excess, Wall Street
acceding complicit in another apparent trend of margins
The afternoon wears the tanned face of a trip to the shore.
You wonder where it will all end but then you return
to your crossword puzzle and summer novel even though
you know they would all leave you in a minute penniless
and alone in New York’s dark-lit canyons at the same time
you are acutely aware of the bowlines, sheets and genoas
that are so much a part of the lexicon of strenuous leisure.
You remember of course, as nearly everyone does, the touch
football of the last century and the croquet and badminton
that are still played on the well kept lawns of family gatherings.
To the south, across the soft lit eastern haze, your honeymoon
restaurant on Nantucket is still “The White Elephant” with
its sand and beach grass atmosphere of seersucker white and
pale blue grays in yellow Bermuda shorts swinging slowly in
a hammock as the “Tiger Tunes” sing in an icy crystal cut glass
harmony and suddenly you also know that you will never ever
forget that article that referred to the way the President had
been turned into a throw rug by Lee Harvey Oswald’s sniper rifle.

_____________________

NUT CASE
—David Humphreys

It may never have occurred to you how emotional
a teenage girl may suddenly blossom florid as a
Gladiola of summer following June’s jasmine bloom
perfume. She is developing an extended stamina of
personal identity after all, along with a number
of other rather mysterious things, all apparently
essential to that which sometimes flowers amazing,
cool and, oh my, well, if only she could say it
without blowing into little bits and pieces. The
Dad in all of this must listen closely, pay attention,
nod in supportive understanding, judicious and rock
solid as the granite quarry he was hewn from in the
remote Precambrian soup kitchen from which he has
only recently emerged, waddling up out of the surf
with his ladle and scuba flippers much as an elephant
seal in an uncanny yet subliminally divergent dream.

_____________________

—Medusa

Medusa encourages poets of all ilk and ages to send their POETRY, PHOTOS and ART, as well as announcements of Northern California poetry events, to kathykieth@hotmail.com (or snail ‘em to P.O. Box 762, Pollock Pines, CA 95726) 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.) For more info about the Snake Empire, including guidelines for submitting to or obtaining our publications, click on the link to the right of this column: Rattlesnake Press (rattlesnakepress.com).

SnakeWatch: Up-to-the-minute Snake news:

Journals: The latest issue of Rattlesnake Review (#15) is available for free at The Book Collector, 1008 24th St., Sacramento, or send $2 to P.O. Box 762, Pollock Pines, CA 95726. Next deadline is November 15. The two journals for young people, Snakelets and Vyper, are on hiatus; no deadlines this Fall.

September's releases: The Snake returned with a bang on Wednesday, September 12, presenting Susan Kelly-DeWitt's new chapbook about growing up in Hawaii, Cassiopeia Above the Banyan Tree, at The Book Collector. Also available now: a littlesnake broadside from dawn dibartolo (Blush), and a continuation of B.L. Kennedy's Rattlesnake Interview Series (#4—frank andrick).

Coming in October: Rattlesnake Press celebrates Sacramento Poetry Month on Wednesday, Oct. 10 (at The Book Collector, Home of the Snake, 1008 24th St., Sacramento, 7:30 PM) with the release of Spiral, a rattlechap by Kate Wells; Autumn on My Mind, a littlesnake broadside by Mary Field; and #5 in the Rattlesnake Interview Series by B.L. Kennedy, this one featuring Sacramento Poet Laureate Julia Connor. Also released that night will be Conversations, Volume One of the Rattlesnake Interview Anthology Series (a collection of B.L.'s conversations with eleven Sacramento poets)—plus other surprises (and cake!). Be there!

Friday, September 28, 2007

At the Mercy of Autumn


Photo by Theresa McCourt


ALMOST OCTOBER
—Theresa McCourt, Sacramento

As I sever the tattered bloom,
I wonder if there's enough time
for one more red rose to open.

_____________________

Thanks, Theresa! Gardener and rosarian Theresa McCourt has clearly been inspired by all this recent talk of Autumn, and yesterday's poem about roses from homeboy Ray Carver. It's a cliché, but heck—let's indulge in Fall poems for a few days. Send me your poems and/or photos, artwork, whatever about Autumn and I'll send you a free copy of Susan Kelly DeWitt's new chapbook, Cassiopeia Above the Banyan Tree. E-mail them to kathykieth@hotmail com or snail them to P.O. Box 762, Pollock Pines, CA 95726 by midnight next Weds., October 3.

Here's another Fall poem with roses, this one from Peggy Hill:

FIRST DAY OF FALL
—Margaret Ellis Hill, Wilton

It's the still wait of birds on myrtle
from certain shift of the sun;
orange trees bend to grasp warmth,
leaves show hints of yellows and burgundy.
It's the last chance for roses and marigolds
to challenge summer's hold.
Fields are brown now; sidelined pumpkins define edges
smells of apple pie and cider float on breezes.
Hazy dawns seem later than yesterday,
stiffness in knees is noticed,
a cat's reluctance to rise from curled warmth.

It's time for greens of summer to rest
and let autumn dazzle with her colors.

______________________

Poetry and Dance tonight:

The Sacramento Ballet Studios, 1631 K St., Sacramento (5:30 PM) will present A Woman’s Journey: The Tamsen Donner Story, An Evening of Poetry and Dance. Sacramento’s poetry and dance communities will come together for a special evening in which local poets Frank Graham, Indigo Moor, Rebecca Morrison and Mary Zeppa will read excerpts from Ruth Whitman’s book of poems, Tamsen Donner: A Woman’s Journey, which inspired choreographer Ron Cunningham to begin this new work. Sacramento Ballet dancers will improvise to the readings as Cunningham creates A Woman’s Journey; accompanying music will be selected from the work of composer Aaron Copland. A question-and-answer session with the choreographer, the dancers and Sacramento Poet Laureate Julia Connor will follow.


Slammers a-plenty:

Thanks to Charles Ellik for some up-to-date Slam info about our area and beyond. Charles has a slam e-newsletter at
(http://people.tribe.net/charles). Did you know we had all these slam venues in our area???

•••Sacto/Life Sentence, every Tues. at 7:30 PM: Life Sentence is a weekly live/webcast show that showcases open mic acts, featured spoken word and a $30 Slam! This show is online interactive! What does that mean? It means we webcast from 7:30-10pm every Tues. live at www.artisticinsomnia.com (click the Life Sentence link). You can not only watch the show, but you can enter the chat room and talk with others watching.
•••Butch and Nellie's Coffee Co., 19th and I Sts. in Dwntwn Sacramento. $30 Cash Prize. Every Tues., 8 PM. Open mic/slam/preshow feature. Doors open at 7:30pm. $5 to watch and/or Slam, open mic acts, FREE! All ages!
•••3rd Eye Collective Presents: A.I. Live is a weekly TV show airing on Comcast Ch. 2 in Davis, Sacramento and Roseville to aproximately 286,000 homes every Friday night @ 1 AM. Every week you will see two open mic acts, one feature and the next round progression of that month’s freestyle battles.
•••Sol Collective 2010 Del Paso Blvd., Sac. 3rd Sat. 8 PM, open mic and battle sign-ups. 7:07pm. $10 Door. Now all ages! Cash Prizes. $100 Freestyle Battle. Hosted by: Lucky 7. More Info: ailive@tmail. com or call (707) 803-3393. See Myspace.com/3rdeyecollective or Youtube.com/3rdeyecollective
•••Modesto: Next Slam: Weds., Oct. 10. Prospect Theater, 520 Scenic Drive. Modesto. For directions: (209) 549-9341. 2nd Weds., 7 PM. For local Info: (209) 575-6183. Sign-up starts @ 6:45 PM. Regular Admission: $3, Poet's Fee: $5. Cash Prizes: 1st & 2nd place. MC: Sam Pierstorff. Info: http://www.slamonrye.com.
•••INDI WORLD POETRY SLAM, 2009: 72 poets representing slam venues from around the world converge for three days of competition, electrifying audiences with their talents. Berkeley plans to add many related day events and side competitions to the main tournament, transforming it into a 10-day festival. The competition itself will be held at venues near the Ashby BART station in South Berkeley, home of the Berkeley Slam and our venue, the Starry Plough. Epic Arts & Poetry Flash are partners in the event. Epic Arts is a Performance Arts non-profit based in South Berkeley. Their new facility will be the epicenter of IWPS 2009. Info: http://www.epicarts.org/. Stay tuned.

Other addresses of Slam interest:
•••Slams nationwide: http://www.poetryslam.com
•••A listserve to chat about slams in NorCal:
norcalslams: subscribe@yahoogroups.com
•••To join the oldest international slam listserve: email: poetry_slam-subscribe@yahoogroups. com
•••For info on many non-slam poetry events in CA:
(NorCal) http://www.poetryflash.org/
(SoCal) http://www.poetix. net
•••Photos of slams: http://www.poeticdream.com
•••An 'incomplete history' of slam's early days:
http://www.e-poets.net/library/slam/

Medusa says: Slam on Rye. I like that.

_____________________

This weekend in NorCal poetry:

•••Sat. (9/29), 12-4 PM: Artists Embassy International is proud to present the winners of their 2007 world-wide poetry contest in this Saturday’s Dancing Poetry Festival, in which poetry and dance are combined for an afternoon of beautiful words and beautiful movement. All winning poets have been invited to read at the Festival at the fabulous California Palace of the Legion of Honor in San Francisco’s Lincoln Park. For information and advance ticket sales, call 510-235-0361 or email Artists Embassy International at naticaaei@aol.com. For more info, visit www.dancingpoetry.com.

•••Sat. (9/29), 7-9 PM: "The Show" at Wo'se Community Cdenter, 2863 35th St., Sacramento (near Broadway) presents Supernova, Andy Jones, R&B artist Sene, $5. Open mic and the band, LSB. Info: 916-208-7638.

•••Sun. (9/30): Poet Jelaluddin Balkhi (Rumi) celebrates his 800th birthday!

•••Monday (10/1), 7:30 PM: Sacramento Poetry Center presents Six Sierra Poets reading from Yuba Flows, a new collection from Hip Pocket Press. Readings by Iven Lourie, Kirsten Casey and Scott V. Young [plus three more?]. Hosted by Art Mantecon at HQ, 25th & R Sts., Sacramento. Open mic after.

_____________________

IN THE CATSKILLS
—Margaret Ellis Hill

The trees have changed their dresses
for a formal dance. Sweet gums don
showy red sheaths, and sour gums
drape red feathers over their arms.
Weeping willows sway yellow fringe
as they waltz. Birches decorate their pale limbs
with gold-sequined shawls and bracelets.
Crepe myrtles flirt pink ruffles once more.
Luminescent maples shine in burgundy
and orange-satin ball gowns. The gingko
chaperones from a saffron carpet.
The evergreen trees wear various shades of velvet
to escort all this finery. Then, holding white
blankets, they shelter their companions till spring.

______________________

FALL SOLSTICE
—Margaret Ellis Hill

I have come to worship the season,
throw myself at the mercy of autumn,
watch an angled sun turn leaves like hair
to different hues and luster. Day by day,
there is no choice for them.

I wonder if trees tire of shading skin,
providing a bed above curled roots,
standing alone through cycles of dark nights,
know their time of glory creeps closer—
one last burst of color before a winter cover.

Mantras rise with the fall of crisp leaves
that the sun's light at this solstice be
a guide towards quiet and rest.
I bathe in dim light as trees wait
until time comes to wave goodbye.

____________________

—Medusa

Medusa encourages poets of all ilk and ages to send their POETRY, PHOTOS and ART, as well as announcements of Northern California poetry events, to kathykieth@hotmail.com (or snail ‘em to P.O. Box 762, Pollock Pines, CA 95726) 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.) For more info about the Snake Empire, including guidelines for submitting to or obtaining our publications, click on the link to the right of this column: Rattlesnake Press (rattlesnakepress.com).

SnakeWatch: Up-to-the-minute Snake news:

Journals: The latest issue of Rattlesnake Review (#15) is available for free at The Book Collector, 1008 24th St., Sacramento, or send $2 to P.O. Box 762, Pollock Pines, CA 95726. Next deadline is November 15. The two journals for young people, Snakelets and Vyper, are on hiatus; no deadlines this Fall.

September's releases: The Snake returned with a bang on Wednesday, September 12, presenting Susan Kelly-DeWitt's new chapbook about growing up in Hawaii, Cassiopeia Above the Banyan Tree, at The Book Collector. Also available now: a littlesnake broadside from dawn dibartolo (Blush), and a continuation of B.L. Kennedy's Rattlesnake Interview Series (#4—frank andrick).

Coming in October: Rattlesnake Press celebrates Sacramento Poetry Month on Wednesday, Oct. 10 (at The Book Collector, Home of the Snake, 1008 24th St., Sacramento, 7:30 PM) with the release of Spiral, a rattlechap by Kate Wells; Autumn on My Mind, a littlesnake broadside by Mary Field; and #5 in the Rattlesnake Interview Series by B.L. Kennedy, this one featuring Sacramento Poet Laureate Julia Connor. Also released that night will be Conversations, Volume One of the Rattlesnake Interview Anthology Series (a collection of B.L.'s conversations with eleven Sacramento poets)—plus other surprises (and cake!). Be there!

Thursday, September 27, 2007

Against What Comes


The Betrothed
Painting by John Godward


CHERISH
—Raymond Carver

From the window I see her bend to the roses
holding close to the bloom so as not to
prick her fingers. With the other hand she slips, pauses and
clips, more alone in the world
than I had known. She won't
look up, not now. She's alone
with roses and with something else I can only think, not
say. I know the names of those bushes

given for our late wedding: Love, Honor, Cherish—
this last the rose she holds out to me suddenly, having
entered the house between glances. I press
my nose to it, draw the sweetness in, let it cling—scent
of promise, of treasure. My hand on her wrist to bring her close,
her eyes green as river-moss. Saying it then, against
what comes: wife, while I can, while my breath, each hurried petal
can still find her.

____________________

Poetry and dance tomorrow:

Coming tomorrow
to The Sacramento Ballet Studios, 1631 K St., Sacramento, 5:30 PM: A Woman’s Journey: The Tamsen Donner Story, An Evening of Poetry and Dance. Sacramento’s poetry and dance communities will come together for a special evening in which local poets Frank Graham, Indigo Moor, Rebecca Morrison and Mary Zeppa will read excerpts from Ruth Whitman’s book of poems, Tamsen Donner: A Woman’s Journey, which inspired choreographer Ron Cunningham to begin this new work. Sacramento Ballet dancers will improvise to the readings as Cunningham creates A Woman’s Journey; accompanying music will be selected from the work of composer Aaron Copland. A question-and-answer session with the choreographer, the dancers and Sacramento Poet Laureate Julia Connor will follow.

Ruth Whitman described her book as Tamsen Donner’s Lost Journal. Donner, born in 1801, “was a teacher, wrote poetry, and had been married and widowed before she moved to Springfield, Illinois where she met and married her second husband, George Donner...Tamsen had published poetry in the Sangamon Journal in Springfield and wrote a letter about the journey to her friend, Allen Francis, editor of the newspaper. But most of what she wrote—her diary, her poems, and all but three letters—has been lost.” In 1974, Whitman “followed her path along the Oregon and Mormon trails and along the Hastings cutoff across the Salt Desert to the Sierra mountains.” That trip was the genesis for Tamsen Donner.

Admission for this event, which will be held at The Sacramento Ballet Studios, 1631 K St., Sacramento, is free, but an RSVP is requested: call the Ticket Coordinator at (916) 552-5800, extension 101.


Wrestling with our angels:

Dare you see a soul at the White Heat?
—Emily Dickinson

When you want to make the reader feel pity, try to be somewhat colder—that seems to give a kind of background to another's grief, against which it stands out more clearly. Whereas in your story the characters cry and you sigh. Yes, be more cold… The more objective you are, the stronger will be the impression you make.

— Anton Chekhov


Wresting with the Angel: White-hot Heat, Necessary Coldness: A Poetry Workshop with Kim Addonizio and Susan Browne will be held November 9-11 at Esalen, Big Sur, CA. They say:

Join us for our second year at the amazing Esalen for reading, writing new work, delicious food, hot tubs on the ocean, and transformative energy. In this workshop we will read poems that we admire for their authenticity of feeling and compelling use of detail, imagery, metaphor, and structure to learn the ways poets have balanced emotion with intellect, passion with the power of craft. We will explore some strategies for creating poems that use techniques that unlock the emotional, dramatic, and spiritual energy of a piece of writing. There will be writing prompts, sharing of first drafts, and discussion of, among other issues of poetry writing, what keeps us from intense emotion on the page and how to handle it once it's there. The workshop is open to writers at all levels. We are interested in meeting each writer at his or her own level of development. Take it for fun, to further your craft, to explore deeply some issue that you are remembering or facing now, to find new inspiration. Esalen fees cover tuition, food and lodging and vary according to accommodations, ranging from $475 to $1060. The least expensive rate is for sleeping bag space which can be very comfortable, but it's limited, so you need to sign up for it early. Some work-scholarship assistance is available, as well as small prepayment discounts and senior discounts. If you have questions about the workshop itself, please email Kim (kimaddonizio@comcast.net, www.kimaddonizio.com) or Susan:browne1dvc@aol.com/, but please register directly with Esalen at 831-667-3005 or visit www.esalen.org (http://www.esalen.org/workshops/searchfiles/workshps.leader.lasso)

Kim Addonizio is a nationally-acclaimed poet who has published four collections, including What Is This Thing Called Love and Tell Me, a Finalist for the National Book Award. Her work has appeared in the country’s leading literary journals, in textbooks and anthologies, and has been selected three times for inclusion in Best American Poetry. Her awards include two NEA Fellowships and a Guggenheim Fellowship. She has taught at both the graduate and undergraduate level at several colleges and universities, and has been on the faculty of numerous writers conferences. Kim has also published two novels with Simon & Schuster: Little Beauties and My Dreams Out in the Street, and is the co-author of The Poet’s Companion: A Guide to the Pleasures of Writing Poetry.

Susan Browne was selected as the winner of The Four Way Books Prize by Edward Hirsch; her first book, Buddha’s Dogs, was published in 2004. Susan’s poetry has appeared in Ploughshares, River City, The Mississippi Review, Gargoyle, Margie and other literary journals and anthologies, such as 180 More: Extraordinary Poems for Everyday, edited by Billy Collins. She has received awards from the Chester H. Jones Foundation, the National Writer's Union, the Los Angeles Poetry Festival, and the River Styx International Poetry Contest. She is a professor at Diablo Valley College in Pleasant Hill, California, and also teaches private workshops in Oakland.

_____________________

STILL LOOKING OUT FOR NUMBER ONE
—Raymond Carver

Now that you've gone away for five days,
I'll smoke all the cigarettes I want,
where I want. Make biscuits and eat them
with jam and fat bacon. Loaf. Indulge
myself. Walk on the beach if I feel
like it. And I feel like it, alone and
thinking about when I was young. The people
then who loved me beyond reason.
And how I loved them above all others.
Except one. I'm saying I'll do everything
I want here while you're away!
But there's one thing I won't do.
I won't sleep in our bed without you.
No. It doesn't please me to do so.
I'll sleep where I damn well feel like it‚
where I sleep best when you're away
and I can't hold you the way I do.
On the broken sofa in my study.

_____________________

THE OTHER LIFE
—Raymond Carver

Now for the other life. The one
without mistakes.
—Lou Lipsitz


My wife is in the other half of this mobile home
making a case against me.
I can hear her pen scratch, scratch.
Now and then she stops to weep,
then—scratch, scratch.

The frost is going out of the gournd.
The man who owns this unit tells me,
Don't leave your car here.
My wife goes on writing and weeping,
weeping and writing in our new kitchen.

_____________________

THE LITTLE ROOM
—Raymond Carver

There was a great reckoning.
Words flew like stones through windows.
She yelled and yelled, like the Angel of Judgment.

Then the sun shot up, and a contrail
appeared in the morning sky.
In the sudden silence, the little room

became oddly lonely as he dried her tears.
Became like all the other little rooms on earth
light finds hard to penetrate.

Rooms where people yell and hurt each other.
And afterwards feel pain, and loneliness.
Uncertainty. The need to comfort.

____________________

—Medusa

Medusa encourages poets of all ilk and ages to send their POETRY, PHOTOS and ART, as well as announcements of Northern California poetry events, to kathykieth@hotmail.com (or snail ‘em to P.O. Box 762, Pollock Pines, CA 95726) 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.) For more info about the Snake Empire, including guidelines for submitting to or obtaining our publications, click on the link to the right of this column: Rattlesnake Press (rattlesnakepress.com).

SnakeWatch: Up-to-the-minute Snake news:

Journals: The latest issue of Rattlesnake Review (#15) is available for free at The Book Collector, 1008 24th St., Sacramento, or send $2 to P.O. Box 762, Pollock Pines, CA 95726. Next deadline is November 15. The two journals for young people, Snakelets and Vyper, are on hiatus; no deadlines this Fall.

September's releases: The Snake returned with a bang on Wednesday, September 12, presenting Susan Kelly-DeWitt's new chapbook about growing up in Hawaii, Cassiopeia Above the Banyan Tree, at The Book Collector. Also available now: a littlesnake broadside from dawn dibartolo (Blush), and a continuation of B.L. Kennedy's Rattlesnake Interview Series (#4—frank andrick).

Coming in October: Rattlesnake Press celebrates Sacramento Poetry Month on Wednesday, Oct. 10 (at The Book Collector, Home of the Snake, 1008 24th St., Sacramento, 7:30 PM) with the release of Spiral, a rattlechap by Kate Wells; Autumn on My Mind, a littlesnake broadside by Mary Field; and #5 in the Rattlesnake Interview Series by B.L. Kennedy, this one featuring Sacramento Poet Laureate Julia Connor. Also released that night will be Conversations, Volume One of the Rattlesnake Interview Anthology Series (a collection of B.L.'s conversations with eleven Sacramento poets)—plus other surprises (and cake!). Be there!

Wednesday, September 26, 2007

Not Less Than Everything


Thomas Stearns Eliot


We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time.
Through the unknown, remembered gate
When the last of earth left to discover
Is that which was the beginning;
At the source of the longest river
The voice of the hidden waterfall
And the children in the apple-tree
Not know, because not looked for
But heard, half-heard, in the stillness
Between two waves of the sea.
Quick now, here, now, always—
A condition of complete simplicity
(Costing not less than everything)
And all shall be well and
All manner of thing shall be well
When the tongues of flame are in-folded
Into the crowned knot of fire
And the fire and the rose are one.

(from Little Gidding)

_____________________

Today T.S. Eliot would've been 119 years old.


No Hidden Passage Reading tonight:

There will be no Hidden Passage reading in September. Beginning in October, readings will be held at The Upstairs Art Gallery, 420 Main St., Placerville, 2nd Floor—that's just a few doors farther east on Main Street; same time, 6-7 PM on the 4th Wednesday of the month. Mark your calendar for the first Upstairs reading, Weds., Oct. 24. It's an open-mike read-around, so bring your own poems or those of a favorite poet to share, or just come to listen. No charge.


Calendar addition for this week (Ukiah):

•••Thursday (9/27), 7 PM: Writers Read at Colored Horse Studio features local poets Michael Riedell and Daniel Barth. Michael Riedell’s poems have appeared in The Blue Collar Review, The Aurorean, on local public radio, and have earned honors from the Ukiah Haiku Festival and The Mendo LitFest Poetry Contest. Daniel Barth’s work has been published widely, from Ant Farm to Zambomba. He is the author of two chapbooks, Coyote Haiku and Ukiah Haiku: Journal of a Year. He is a contributing editor of The Redwood Coast Review and co-director of the monthly Writers Read series. The featured reading starts at 7 PM and will be followed by an open mic. Refreshments available. Donation requested. Colored Horse Studio is located at 780 Waugh Lane in Ukiah. Info: (707)463-6989, (707)462-4557, www.coloredhorse.com or www.poetryflash.org/.


For our SnakePals in Oregon:

I know Oregon is a long way to go (even farther than Ukiah!), but we do have Snakepals up there, so I’m posting three Ellen Bass appearances:

•••Oct. 5 in Portland, 7:30 PM: Ellen Bass and Sarah Lantz at Powell’s Books, 1005 W. Burnside. (Powell's alone is worth the trip!);
•••Oct. 8 in Corvallis: Ellen Bass, Dorianne Laux and Sarah Lantz at Grass Roots Books & Music, 227 W 2nd St., 541-754-7668 or groots@peak.org (call for time);
•••Oct. 9 in Eugene: Ellen Bass & Joe Millar at the University of Oregon Library, Gerlinger Alumni Lounge, 1468 University St. (call for time).


Poets Pride Poetry Contest

Deadline is Dec. 31. Contact Juanita J. Martin, PO Box 2017, Fairfield, CA 94533 for further info. No email submissions. First Prize is $50, Second is $35, Third is $20, plus 2 HM.

_____________________

CLEAR AFTER RAIN
—Tu Fu, 713-770

Autumn, cloud blades on the horizon.
The west wind blows from ten thousand miles.
Dawn, in the clear morning air,
Farmers busy after long rain.
The desert trees shed their few green leaves.
The mountain pears are tiny but ripe.
A Tartar flute plays by the city gate.
A single wild goose climbs into the void.

(Translated from the Chinese by Kenneth Rexroth)

_____________________

DRIFTING ON THE LAKE
—Wang Wei, 701-761

Autumn is crisp and the firmament far,
especially far from where people live.
I look at cranes on the sand
and am immersed in joy when I see moutains beyond
the clouds.
Dusk inks the crystal ripples.
Leisurely the white moon comes out.
Tonight I am with my oar, alone, and can do
everything,
yet waver, not willing to return.

(Translated from the Chinese by Tony and Willis Barnstone and Xu Haixin)

_____________________

—Medusa

Medusa encourages poets of all ilk and ages to send their POETRY, PHOTOS and ART, as well as announcements of Northern California poetry events, to kathykieth@hotmail.com (or snail ‘em to P.O. Box 762, Pollock Pines, CA 95726) 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.) For more info about the Snake Empire, including guidelines for submitting to or obtaining our publications, click on the link to the right of this column: Rattlesnake Press (rattlesnakepress.com).

SnakeWatch: Up-to-the-minute Snake news:

Journals: The latest issue of Rattlesnake Review (#15) is available for free at The Book Collector, 1008 24th St., Sacramento, or send $2 to P.O. Box 762, Pollock Pines, CA 95726. Next deadline is November 15. The two journals for young people, Snakelets and Vyper, are on hiatus; no deadlines this Fall.

September's releases: The Snake returned with a bang on Wednesday, September 12, presenting Susan Kelly-DeWitt's new chapbook about growing up in Hawaii, Cassiopeia Above the Banyan Tree, at The Book Collector. Also available now: a littlesnake broadside from dawn dibartolo (Blush), and a continuation of B.L. Kennedy's Rattlesnake Interview Series (#4—frank andrick).

Coming in October: Rattlesnake Press celebrates Sacramento Poetry Month on Wednesday, Oct. 10 (at The Book Collector, Home of the Snake, 1008 24th St., Sacramento, 7:30 PM) with the release of Spiral, a rattlechap by Kate Wells; Autumn on My Mind, a littlesnake broadside by Mary Field; and #5 in the Rattlesnake Interview Series by B.L. Kennedy, this one featuring Sacramento Poet Laureate Julia Connor. Also released that night will be Conversations, Volume One of the Rattlesnake Interview Anthology Series (a collection of B.L.'s conversations with eleven Sacramento poets)—plus other surprises (and cake!). Be there!

Tuesday, September 25, 2007

Poured Into the Sun



firesky
—dawn dibartolo, mather

red sun, pallid sky of smoke;
eye of fire glares.
man-ants in magnifying glass
sun-stream path.
flames lick the skin of concrete,
body of cement buildings;
the arms of trees reach for me
in the burning.
i am stone.
like the tower.
like the streets.
the fire cannot own me.

____________________

staircase
—dawn dibartolo

i walked up the stairs
and two open windows
looked at me with eyes
like ominous night.
i could see winter coming,
gray-souled and glowing.
all was dark around me
like a blanket laced in white ~
by the painted banister,
i found my way,
knowing footsteps
as they fell.
I wound up
in the papery arms of night,
where i wrote my soul
with star-ink and deemed
each poem first
for the wish it might contain.

_____________________

Thanks, dawn! Pick up a free copy of dawn dibartolo's littlesnake broadside, Blush, at The Book Collector. Or send me an SASE (P.O. Box 62, Pollock Pines, CA 95726) and I'll mail you one.


Tonight in NorCal poetry:

•••Tuesday (9/25), 8:30 PM: The second season of Poetry Night at Bistro 33 (PNB33) begins this coming Tuesday evening at the outdoor patio of Bistro 33 (downtown Davis, 226 F St.). Co-hosted by University Writing Program faculty "Dr. Andy" Jones and Brad Henderson, the PNB33 Fall 2007 season kick-off will feature the ultra-talented, dynamic, and romantic Terry Moore. The author of 15 books of poetry and several spoken word CDs, Terry Moore has earned a significant base of fans in California and beyond. The Sounds of Soul Black Music Awards named him Poet of the Year in 2001 and Best Male Spoken Word Performer in 2005. A twelve-time poetry slam champion, Moore has opened for the Temptations, Maya Angelou, and Philip Bailey of Earth, Wind and Fire. (For more on Moore, see http://www.terrymoore.info/index.html/., and check out B.L. Kennedy’s interview of him in Issue #13 of Rattlesnake Review.) The show starts at 8:30 PM and is FREE. After the featured poet, plan to stay from 9:30-10:30 PM for the energetic open-mic featuring novice poets, songwriters, and comedians from around the greater Davis/Sacto area. Many poets are currently scheduled to appear at Bistro 33 this fall, including Eve West Bessier, James Ragan, and Sandra Gilbert. Info: Bistro 33 at (530) 756-4556.


Starting next Monday:

Bay Area Poets Coalition presents the Maggi H. Meyer Memorial Poetry Contest, 2007. Prizes in each of three categories: $50 (First); $35 (Second) and $20 (Third), plus 3 Honorable Mention certificates. Open to all, except officers of BAPC and judges of this contest. Entries accepted between Oct. 1 and Nov. 15. Winners’ celebration to be held in Berkeley in Feb., 2008. Info, including fees, categories, and where to send: www.bayareapoetscoalition.org/.


Sacred Fools Press Submission Call-Out:

Americana Poetry: Send your poems about American icons and experience. Drive down that road in that classic car. Retell the tales of Johnny Appleseed and Paul Bunyan. Deconstruct American Gothic. Get nostalgic. Get bitter. Show us humor. Political poems given consideration, but should have a general audience appeal. Submit poems as text in email and 20-word-or-less bio to: sacredfoolspress@yahoo.com/. Deadline: January 15, 2008.


Speaking of flivvers:

The Towe Auto Museum is pleased to announce its Fourth Annual Automotive Poetry Contest for poems related in some way to the automobile or some form of personal land transportation. Deadline is November 10. First Prize winner receives $200, Second is $100 and Third is $50. Winners will be posted on the Towe website at www.toweautomuseum.org and will receive a Museum membership for one year. Info about how/where to send is in the current Poetry Now, or call 916-442-6802. The Towe Auto Museum is located at 2200 Front St. in Sacramento.


Women’s Writing Workshop in Magalia:

Lara Gularte writes: An ongoing women’s writing workshop will meet Thursdays from 1:30-4:30PM at my home, 13674 W. Park Dr. in Magalia, from 10/18 to 12/13. The group will be a mix of poetry and prose writers. If you are a serious poet or prose writer who is interested in improving your craft, please sign on. This workshop is a place to share your work and receive support, feedback, and critique. I will provide information about craft, usually focusing on concerns that arise from the work itself. There’s no writing in the class. Each participant will share and have their work critiqued at every session; bring your manuscript and 5 copies of poetry (approximately 3 poems), memoir, fiction, non-fiction for workshop and critique (prose approx. 5-7 pages).
During the course of each 2-1/2 to 3-hour workshop there will be short breaks and tea will be served. If interested, please contact me ASAP at 530-873-4275 or laralg@aol.com. After seven have signed up, there will be a waiting list. $15/class.


Hidden Passage moves:

There will be no Hidden Passage reading in September. Beginning in October, readings will be held at The Upstairs Art Gallery, 420 Main St., Placerville, 2nd Floor—that's just a few doors farther east on Main Street; same time, 6-7 pm on the 4th Wednesday of the month. Mark your calendar for the first Upstairs reading, Oct. 24. It's an open-mike read-around, so bring your own poems or those of a favorite poet to share, or just come to listen. No charge.

______________________

luna’s
—dawn dibartolo

the first time
i was so nervous,
i sweat my thoughts
into the mic,
electrified
by the idea
that someone
might hear me.
“she’s borne words,”
they would say,
my insides
out, and
trembling on stage:
the center of everything
is a need to project.

____________________

steam
—dawn dibartolo

i was swallowed
by the black well
several days ago,
surrounded and
drowning slowly
in cement tears.
but my cinderblock woes
had holes in them
by which i’ve climbed
toward the clear-blue sky,
where i’ll wait
for fate to
draw and pour me
into the sun.

_____________________

—Medusa

Medusa encourages poets of all ilk and ages to send their POETRY, PHOTOS and ART, as well as announcements of Northern California poetry events, to kathykieth@hotmail.com (or snail ‘em to P.O. Box 762, Pollock Pines, CA 95726) 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.) For more info about the Snake Empire, including guidelines for submitting to or obtaining our publications, click on the link to the right of this column: Rattlesnake Press (rattlesnakepress.com).


SnakeWatch: Up-to-the-minute Snake news:

Journals:
The latest issue of Rattlesnake Review (#15) is available for free at The Book Collector, 1008 24th St., Sacramento, or send $2 to P.O. Box 762, Pollock Pines, CA 95726. Next deadline is November 15. The two journals for young people, Snakelets and Vyper, are on hiatus; no deadlines this Fall.

September's releases:
The Snake returned with a bang on Wednesday, September 12, presenting Susan Kelly-DeWitt's new chapbook about growing up in Hawaii, Cassiopeia Above the Banyan Tree, at The Book Collector. Also available now: a littlesnake broadside from dawn dibartolo (Blush), and a continuation of B.L. Kennedy's Rattlesnake Interview Series (#4—frank andrick).

Coming in October:
Rattlesnake Press celebrates Sacramento Poetry Month on Wednesday, Oct. 10 (at The Book Collector, Home of the Snake, 1008 24th St., Sacramento, 7:30 PM) with the release of Spiral, a rattlechap by Kate Wells; Autumn on My Mind, a littlesnake broadside by Mary Field; and #5 in the Rattlesnake Interview Series by B.L. Kennedy, this one featuring Sacramento Poet Laureate Julia Connor. Also released that night will be Conversations, Volume One of the Rattlesnake Interview Anthology Series (a collection of B.L.'s conversations with eleven Sacramento poets)—plus other surprises (and cake!). Be there!

Monday, September 24, 2007

Life in Yolo


Cnawan Stone, Davis
Photo by Sandra Shannonhouse



SAVING DAVIS, CALIFORNIA
—James Lee Jobe, Davis

The sun was blistering, and Davis, California was sweating
like a pig. Davis, California's shoulders were already red
and I thought I could see the early signs of dehydration.
Davis, California is a big town, or a small city; you pick.
Truckloads of sunblock (SPF 45 or higher) were needed.
Rehydration required every lawn sprinkler and hose in town.
Finally, I got Davis, California into the shade of an old
elm,
covered with a proper shirt, feet elevated, and a tall, cold
glass of ice tea. That is how I saved Davis, California.

____________________

FUNERAL
—James Lee Jobe

We don't look down at a corpse and say,
"You're exaggerating." —Julia Connor

We pack the body with raw herbs and wrap the wet cloth tight, as
if we could imprison Death itself, as if to strap down Death's
stench out of some nameless, ancient fear. The other Simians
ignore us, grunt, and move off through the high trees, their
spores grace the green leaves, they carry their young with them
everywhere.
Well, OK, my father, old J.L. Jobe, would have said it, "You're
exaggerating. Quit your bitchin' and get your ass back to work."
He would've leaned over the corpse threateningly and looked it
right in the eye, his one good hand balled into a hard, Southern
fist. And he would've meant it.

_____________________

Thanks, JLJ! For more information about Rattlechapper James Lee Jobe, check out his blog, as well as his page on rattlesnakepress.com (click on the links to the right of this column). And for more fun info on Davis (including mystery pix), check out daviswiki.com!


Mudlarking with Taylor Graham

While you’re ‘Netting, check out the online journal, Mudlark—specifically Mudlark Poster No. 70: Walking with Elihu, which features poems by our SnakePal, resident columnist, and Rattlechapper Taylor Graham. This is not her first appearance on Mudlark; her poems, "Cessna Down," "Last Seen at the ATM," "3/5, the Andes by proxy," and her essay, "The Search and the Poem," appeared as Mudlark Poster No. 1 (1997), inaugurating the Mudlark Poster Series. That’s http://www.unf.edu/mudlark. And while you’re Mudlarking, have a look-see at Susan Kelly-DeWitt’s poems from her new rattlechap, Cassiopeia Above the Banyan Tree. Both poets can also be viewed on their rattlesnakepress.com pages.

In November, Rattlesnake Press will release another chapbook by Taylor Graham, entitled Among Neighbors. (My apologies to the long-suffering TG for listing this title as Neighbors in the latest issue of Rattlesnake Review. @$&^%&%^!!!)


Medusa is back!

Cranky as ever, but firmly back in harness after a week of r&r (that's rock 'n roll). The latest issue of Rattlesnake Review (#15) has gone out to subscribers and contributors; if you didn't get one, and think you should, drop me a line at kathykieth@hotmail.com. There may still be some at The Book Collector; I'll leave some more there on Weds. But if you want one mailed to your home, send me two bux and I'll pop one into the p.o. Next deadline is November 15—sooner than you think!

And keep peeking at SnakeWatch down at Medusa's bottom :-) for on-going/up-coming info about the wily Snake's newest nefarious noodlings. We have lots of goodies planned for October, Sacramento Poetry Month, and for the rest of the year, as well.

______________________

This week in NorCal poetry:

•••Monday (9/24), 7:30 PM: Sacramento Poetry Center presents Jeff Knorr and David Alpaugh at HQ, 25th & R Sts., Sacramento. Open mic after. Jeff Knorr has authored three collections: Standing Up to the Day (poems), Keeper (poems and essays), and his newest book is entitled The Third Body from Cherry Grove Editions. He is also the author of a widely adopted textbook entitled Mooring Against the Tide: Writing Poetry and Fiction (Prentice Hall). His poetry and essays have appeared in numerous literary journals and anthologies including Chelsea, Connecticut Review, Red Rock Review, The Journal, and Like Thunder: Poets Respond to Violence in America (University of Iowa, 2002). He is an accomplished hunter and basketball player during pick-up games at the “Y”.

David Alpaugh's essay, "The Professionalization of Poetry", has prompted much spirited debate from poets on-line and off since it appeared in Poets & Writers Magazine. His poetry collection, Counterpoint, won the Nicholas Roerich Poetry Prize and was published by Story Line Press in 1994. His poetry, drama, fiction and criticism have appeared in over 100 journals and anthologies, including Exquisite Corpse, The Formalist, Modern Drama, Poetry, Wisconsin Review and Zyzzyva. He has also published three chapbooks: The Edge and Slow Burn for Ozymandias (Coracle Books) and The Greatest Hits of David Alpaugh (Pudding House Publications). His most recent book is Heavy Lifting (Alehouse Press). He was a guest speaker at The Squaw Valley Community of Writers in the summer of 2003 and discussed his essays on "Professionalization" at the Associated Writing Programs convention in Chicago in March 2004. David Alpaugh coordinates and emcees a popular monthly poetry reading series in Crockett and has, for over 20 years, operated Small Poetry Press, a chapbook design and printing company.

•••Tuesday (9/25), 8:30 PM: The second season of Poetry Night at Bistro 33 (PNB33) begins this coming Tuesday evening at the outdoor patio of Bistro 33 (downtown Davis, 226 F St.). Co-hosted by University Writing Program faculty "Dr. Andy" Jones and Brad Henderson, the PNB33 Fall 2007 season kick-off will feature the ultra-talented, dynamic, and romantic Terry Moore. The author of fifteen books of poetry and several spoken word CDs, Terry Moore has earned a significant base of fans in California and beyond. The Sounds of Soul Black Music Awards named him Poet of the Year in 2001 and Best Male Spoken Word Performer in 2005. A twelve-time poetry slam champion, Moore has opened for the Temptations, Maya Angelou, and Philip Bailey of Earth, Wind and Fire. (For more on Moore, see http://www.terrymoore.info/index.html/., and check out B.L. Kennedy’s interview of him in Issue #13 of Rattlesnake Review.) The show starts at 8:30 PM and is FREE. After the featured poet, plan to stay from 9:30-10:30 PM for the energetic open-mic featuring novice poets, songwriters, and comedians from around the greater Davis/Sacto area. Many poets are currently scheduled to appear at Bistro 33 this fall, including Eve West Bessier, James Ragan, and Sandra Gilbert. Info: Bistro 33 at (530) 756-4556.

•••Thursday (9/20), 8 PM: Poetry Unplugged at Luna's Cafe, 1414 16th St., Sacramento. Featured readers, with open mic before and after. Info: 916-441-3931.

•••Sat. (9/29), 12-4 PM: Artists Embassy International is proud to present the winners of their 2007 world-wide poetry contest in this Saturday’s Dancing Poetry Festival, in which poetry and dance are combined for an afternoon of beautiful words and beautiful movement. All winning poets have been invited to read at the Festival at the fabulous California Palace of the Legion of Honor in San Francisco’s Lincoln Park. For information and advance ticket sales, call 510-235-0361 or email Artists Embassy International at naticaaei@aol.com. For more info, visit www.dancingpoetry.com.

_____________________

THE SOUND OF CHAIRS
—James Lee Jobe

I wake up with a jolt, the clock shines 3 A.M. at me. I lose my
dream of a girl who shaves her head but has a long mustache like
a man; the ends frame her mouth and seem to point south, to
South America. In the dream I kiss her to see if the mustache is
disgusting. It isn't, but it isn't fun either. We are in a
seedy, run-down café somewhere in this strange city I often
visit in dreams, and with the kissing over we stand to leave.
The sound of chairs scraping across the dirty floor is still in
my ears as I bolt upright in bed. It is a lonely sound.

______________________

YOLO: HOW TO LIVE IN THE SACRAMENTO VALLEY
—James Lee Jobe

Watch the Moon a lot. It slips
through blue-black night
on the gliding wings
of a Swainson's Hawk.
The Moon won't tell you anything,
but somehow just watching Him
swing through his arc is comforting.
Make up your own name for the Moon,
maybe Lenny or Sugar. This is your life
anyway.

This is life in Yolo.

Walk down green Putah Creek
with magpies and crows,
or splashy Cache Creek
with the current singing.
Let the water cool your tired feet.
Let the day flow past you downstream.
Listen to water on limestone rocks.
This is your day
anyway.

Count magpies all day long.

Just do the things
you were already going to do,
but keep an eye out for magpies,
and keep a tally.
Your whole family could do this;
at night, just before bed,
everyone tells how many.
"Goodnight, Son. 14 magpies."
"Goodnight, Dad. 18 magpies."
If enough people do this,
form a league and keep statistics,
like in baseball. This is your smile
anyway.

This is life in Yolo.

Grow your hair very long, wild.
When the South Wind whistles
cool up from the Delta,
your hair will feel free
blowing back. Check
the weather report daily
so you'll know when.
This is your secret joy
anyway.

On election day write magick spells
that protect your own heart. Always
vote for truth or kindness.
Be like a child
when it comes down to Hope.
Burn sage on election day.
The scented smoke
will carry the Truth
to Heaven. This is your government
anyway.

This is life in Yolo.

Spy on the Sun
like you're J. Edgar Hoover
watching the Communists.
Know where to expect Her
to be in the Sky
for all four seasons.
Weave a magick rope
from the reeds at Cache Creek
to lasso the Sun
on cold Winter days.
This is your year
anyway.

And keep track of your dreams.
There are worlds inside you
that only dance out at night.
Each one is a train ride
with the Teeth Mother.
Try to love them all.
This is your dream
anyway.

This is life in Yolo.

This is life in Yolo.

_____________________

—Medusa

Medusa encourages poets of all ilk and ages to send their POETRY, PHOTOS and ART, as well as announcements of Northern California poetry events, to kathykieth@hotmail.com (or snail ‘em to P.O. Box 762, Pollock Pines, CA 95726) 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.) For more info about the Snake Empire, including guidelines for submitting to or obtaining our publications, click on the link to the right of this column: Rattlesnake Press (rattlesnakepress.com).

SnakeWatch: Up-to-the-minute Snake news:

Journals: The latest issue of Rattlesnake Review (#15) is available for free at The Book Collector, 1008 24th St., Sacramento, or send $2 to P.O. Box 762, Pollock Pines, CA 95726. Next deadline is November 15. The two journals for young people, Snakelets and Vyper, are on hiatus; no deadlines this Fall.

September's releases: The Snake returned with a bang on Wednesday, September 12, presenting Susan Kelly-DeWitt's new chapbook about growing up in Hawaii, Cassiopeia Above the Banyan Tree, at The Book Collector. Also available now: a littlesnake broadside from dawn dibartolo (Blush), and a continuation of B.L. Kennedy's Rattlesnake Interview Series (#4—frank andrick).

Coming in October: Rattlesnake Press celebrates Sacramento Poetry Month on Wednesday, Oct. 10 (at The Book Collector, Home of the Snake, 1008 24th St., Sacramento, 7:30 PM) with the release of Spiral, a rattlechap by Kate Wells; Autumn on My Mind, a littlesnake broadside by Mary Field; and #5 in the Rattlesnake Interview Series by B.L. Kennedy, this one featuring Sacramento Poet Laureate Julia Connor. Also released that night will be Conversations, Volume One of the Rattlesnake Interview Anthology Series (a collection of B.L.'s conversations with eleven Sacramento poets)—plus other surprises (and cake!). Be there!

Sunday, September 23, 2007

With Wings Extended, We Welcome Another Season


Oak Galls
Photo by Katy Brown, Davis


Autumn this year is a rabbit affair
and no eye can distinguish
the shivering season from the shaking beast.
Shifty, all yellow,
autumn-dweller color.
Dead leaves and stubble
on hillside and swamp-stump
everywhere, and even the eye
blinks blindly, not knowing
one quick shiver of fear
from another.

—Velimir Khlebnikov, 1915

(Translated from the Russian by Paul Schmidt)
____________________

THUNDERSTORM FOR A MOMENT FOREVER
—Boris Pasternak, 1917

Then aferwards summertime waved goodbye
To the railroad crossing. That night hatless
Thunder took a hundred blinding snapshots
In order to have something to remember.

A branch of lilac darkened. Then thunder
Snatched a sheaf of lightning from the fields
And in a single moment blazed a monument
Of light upon the dazzled county courthouse.

And when the gutters of the courthouse overflowed
With waves of some perverse delight
And the cloudburst descended like streaks
Of charcoal across the face of a drawing,

Collapsing consciousness began to blink:
Illumination! Illumination! Even
For those corners of the mind
That now seem full of light as noon.

(Translated from the Russian by Paul Schmidt)
__________________

ARRIVAL
—William Carlos Williams

And yet one arrives somehow,
finds himself loosening the hooks of
her dress
in a strange bedroom—
feels the autumn
dropping its silk and linen leaves
about her ankles.
The tawdry veined body emerges
twisted upon itself
like a winter wind...!

____________________

THE GEESE
—Miroslav Holub

In hesitant file
between cottage and heath
they strut and seek
what cannot be found.

Week after week
one by one they disappear
and white feathers swirl
through the kitchen air.

In hesitant file
those left once more waddle
keeping the empty space
swaying
in the middle.

Week after week
between cottage and heath
each one of them hopes
with its final breath:

now this time quite surely
the goose world wil change
and with wings extended
far and wide we shall range.

With wings extended
far and wide we shall range.

(Translated from the Czech by Ewald Qsers)

Today Miroslav Holub would have been 84 years old.

_____________________

—Medusa

Medusa encourages poets of all ilk and ages to send their POETRY, PHOTOS and ART, as well as announcements of Northern California poetry events, to kathykieth@hotmail.com (or snail ‘em to P.O. Box 762, Pollock Pines, CA 95726) 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.) For more info about the Snake Empire, including guidelines for submitting to or obtaining our publications, click on the link to the right of this column: Rattlesnake Press (rattlesnakepress.com).

Saturday, September 15, 2007

Unlike Another


Photo by Tammy Bergstrom


RAINDROPS ON A BRIAR
—William Carlos Williams

I, a writer, at one time hipped on
painting, did not consider
the effects, painting,
for that reason, static, on

the contrary the stillness of
the objects—the flowers, the gloves—
freed them precisely by that
from a necessity merely to move

in space as if they had been—
not children! but the thinking male
or the charged and deliver-
ing female frantic with ecstasies;

served rather to present, for me,
a more pregnant motion: a
series of varying leaves
clinging still, let us say, to

the cat-briar after last night's
storm, its waterdrops
ranged upon the arching stems
irregularly as an accompaniment.

_____________________

EVERY DAY
—William Carlos Williams

Every day that I go out to my car
I walk through a garden
and wish often that Aristotle
had gone on
to a consideration of the dithyrambic
poem—or that his notes had survived

Coarse grass mars the fine lawn
as I look about right and left
tic toc—
And right and left the leaves
upon the yearling peach grow along
the slender stem

No rose is sure. Each is one rose
and this, unlike another,
opens flat, almost as a saucer without
a cup. But it is a rose, rose
pink. One can feel it turning slowly
upon its thorny stem

_______________________

On Monday, William Carlos Williams would've been 124 years old.


Coming up in NorCal poetry:

•••Monday (9/17), 7:30 PM: Sacramento Poetry Center will feature Jeff Knorr and David Alpaugh at HQ, 25th & R Sts., Sacramento. Open mic after.

•••Thursday (9/20), 8 PM: Poetry Unplugged at Luna's Cafe, 1414 16th St., Sacramento. Featured readers, with open mic before and after. Info: 916-441-3931.

•••Friday (9/21), 7 PM: Our House Poetry Reading features William Keener, Prartho Sereno, and Michael Day. An open mic follows. Our House Gallery & Framing is located at 4510 Post St. in El Dorado Hills Town Center. There is no charge.

•••Sat. (9/22), 10 AM-4:30 PM: Celebrate California's distinctive heritage of poets, poetry, and presses at Poetry Center San José's second California Poets Festival. This all-day outdoor festival will be held at History Park San José, 1650 Senter Road, San José. Open to the public and free of charge. Last year's inaugural event proved a great success with over 20 presses and 200 in attendance. Come and listen to readings throughout the day by California poets such as Francisco Alarcon, Robert Hass, and Jane Hirschfield, who will sign your books. Stroll through the small press fair. Meet editors, purchase books, journals, subscriptions, and obtain submission guidelines from a variety of California publications. Enjoy a picnic or glass of wine from local restaurants offered in this historical park setting. Spend a memorable day with people from San José, the greater Bay Area and beyond. Readings on Main Stage are outdoors in partially shaded amphitheater style seating. Lawn seating also available. Info: californiapoetsfestival.org/.

•••Saturday (9/22), 8 PM: 9 Muses + 1: An Evening of Poetry, Story, Prose, Drama, Celebration & the Impossible at Luna’s Café, 1414 16th St., Sacramento, featuring nine amazing women writers presenting their works: Michelle Tea, Beth Lisick, Tara Jepsen, Barbara Noble, Rachel Leibrock, Rachel Gregg, Rachel Savage, Terryl Wheat, and Tessa, plus Gilberto Rodriguez and his anima Doppelganger. Plus film and more weird stuff. $10. Hosted by frank andrick. Info: Art Luna, 916-441-3931 (www.lunascafe.com) or frank andrick (fandrickfabpub@hormail.com), 209-727-5170. This event is sponsored by Poets & Writers, Inc. through a grant it has received from the James Irvine Foundation.

•••Sunday (9/23), Noon-8 PM: 12th Annual Petaluma Poetry Walk. This event, produced by Geri Digiorno, Poet Laureate of Sonoma County, brings local poets, known and unknown, together with national poets, to give live performances at various locations throughout downtown Petaluma. Beginning with Jungle Vibes at noon, poetry fans with maps in hand move from venue to venue. Many wonderful poets reading all day. (Copperfield’s Books will present Ellen Bass, Terri Carrion and Michael Rothenberg at 3 PM). All events are free and within six easy walking blocks. For more information, contact Geri Digiorno (707)763-4271 or isledesk.com/islepress/Petaluma_Poetry_Walk.html

•••Also Sunday (9/23), 2 PM: Fall Equinox Reading of Women's Writing Salon, featuring Kim Culbertson, Donna Hanelin, Christine Irving, Patricia Miller, Sharon Roseme, Julie Valin. New work, encouragement and inspiration for writers. Rhythm's Music Cafe & Espresso Bar (formerly The Beat), 114 W. Main St., Grass Valley. Free.

•••Later that night in GV (Sunday, 9/23), 7 PM: Wordslingers 2007: Celebration of the Work of Oakley Hall, Literature Alive's big annual event with our own local famous novelist! Oakley Hall is both a noteworthy writer and a warm and humorous man, so it will be a night to remember. Also performing is "Oakley Hall, The Band". Enjoy an evening of words and music! Center for the Arts, Grass Valley, 7 PM. $18/$20. Info: www.thecenterforthearts.org/.

_____________________

TREES
—William Carlos Williams

Crooked, black tree
on your little grey-black hillock,
ridiculously raised one step toward
the infinite summits of the night:
even you the few grey stars
draw upward into a vague melody
of harsh threads.

Bent as you are from straining
against the bitter horizontals of
a north wind,—there below you
how easily the long yellow notes
of poplars flow upward in a descending
scale, each note secure in its own
posture—singularly woven.

All voices are blent willingly
against the heaving contra-bass
of the dark but you alone
warp yourself passionately to one side
in your eagerness.

_____________________

THE TERM
—William Carlos Williams

A rumpled sheet
of brown paper
about the length

and apparent bulk
of a man was
rolling with the

wind slowly over
and over in
the street as

a car drove down
upon it and
crushed it to

the ground. Unlike
a man it rose
again rolling

with the wind over
and over to be as
it was before.

____________________

NANTUCKET
—William Carlos Williams

Flowers through the window
lavender and yellow

changed by white curtains—
Smell of cleanliness—

Sunshine of late afternoon—
On the glass tray

a glass pitcher, the tumbler
turned down, by which

a key is lying—And the
immaculate white bed

_____________________

Medusa will be taking a wee snooze this week; tune in again on Sunday, September 23 (the first day of Fall) for a resumption of ophidian festivities.

—Medusa

Medusa encourages poets of all ilk and ages to send their POETRY, PHOTOS and ART, as well as announcements of Northern California poetry events, to kathykieth@hotmail.com (or snail ‘em to P.O. Box 762, Pollock Pines, CA 95726) 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.) For more info about the Snake Empire, including guidelines for submitting to or obtaining our publications, click on the link to the right of this column: Rattlesnake Press (rattlesnakepress.com).

SnakeWatch: Up-to-the-minute Snake news:

Journals: The latest issue of Rattlesnake Review (#15) is available for free at The Book Collector, 1008 24th St., Sacramento, or send $2 to P.O. Box 762, Pollock Pines, CA 95726. Next deadline is November 15. The two journals for young people, Snakelets and Vyper, are on hiatus; no deadlines this Fall.

September's releases: The Snake returned with a bang on Wednesday, September 12, presenting Susan Kelly-DeWitt's new chapbook about growing up in Hawaii, Cassiopeia Above the Banyan Tree, at The Book Collector. Also available now: a littlesnake broadside from dawn dibartolo (Blush), and a continuation of B.L. Kennedy's Rattlesnake Interview Series (#4—frank andrick).

Coming in October: Rattlesnake Press celebrates Sacramento Poetry Month on Wednesday, Oct. 10 (at The Book Collector, Home of the Snake, 1008 24th St., Sacramento, 7:30 PM) with the release of Spiral, a rattlechap by Kate Wells; Autumn on My Mind, a littlesnake broadside by Mary Field; and #5 in the Rattlesnake Interview Series by B.L. Kennedy, this one featuring Sacramento Poet Laureate Julia Connor. Also released that night will be Conversations, Volume One of the Rattlesnake Interview Anthology Series (a collection of B.L.'s conversations with eleven Sacramento poets)—plus other surprises (and cake!). Be there!

Friday, September 14, 2007

Dream Theater


Photo by Katy Brown, Davis


BREAKING AWAY
—Phil Weidman, Pollock Pines

Jackson Pollock, when asked why
he didn't paint nature,
answered: I am nature!

He had a hell of a run
reshaping the art of painting
before allowing self-doubt,

that worrisome aspect
of human nature,
to run him off the road.

__________________

Thanks, Phil! See the new issue of Rattlesnake Review for more of Phil Weidman's poetry, or go to rattlesnakepress.com and order his chapbook, Fictional Character: The Ernie Poems.


This weekend in NorCal poetry:

•••Tonight (Friday, 9/14), 7:30 PM: Los Escritores del Nuevo Sol presents its annual all-Spanish poetry reading, featuring the work of the controversial Spanish poet, Rafael Alberti and the students of the CSUS Foreign Languages Dept. Emcee is Dr. Fausto Avendaño. Contributing to the evening will be Graciela Ramirez, Jim Michael, and musician/composer Alfredo González. Open mic to follow. Cost: $5 or as you can afford. La Raza Galeria Posada, 1024 22nd St., Midtown Sacramento. Info: Graciela Ramirez (916-456-5323) or website: www.escritoresdelnuevosol.com/

•••Also tonight (Friday, 9/14), 7-9 PM: Sacramento Book Collector's Club presents "My California Journeys by Great Writers" with speakers Mary Mackey and Patty Milich. Arden-Dimick Library, 891 Watt Av., Sacramento. Free. Info: 916-451-2113.

•••Sat. (9/15), 10 AM-5 PM: The Eighth Annual Sonoma County Book Festival will take place in Old Courthouse Square, Santa Rosa, with more than seventy booths showcasing independent booksellers and publishers. Sonoma County presents the oldest and largest general interest book festival in Northern California. Admission is free and includes readings, panels and activities for all ages. Throughout the day, poets including Kay Ryan, California Poet Laureate Al Young and Francisco X. Alarcón will read on the main stage of Old Courthouse Square. At noon, Dana Gioia, Chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts, will introduce The Big Read Sonoma County and Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451, followed by the young winners of the bilingual essay contest reading from their “Which Book Would You Save?” essays. In addition to this full day of poetry, the Festival also offers a Teen Poetry Slam at 1 PM at the Target Young People’s Tent. The Target Young People’s Tent will host events all day, with readings, a “Let’s Talk about Writing” panel and a Fantasy Hour. The spacious white tent offers young people the chance to sit or sprawl on the grass on the Square’s east side and the chance to win free books. The Art Bus will once again join the Book Festival to help celebrate creativity and the literary arts. This fully-equipped mobile art studio will park close to the tent. A unique element to the Festival’s kick-off of The Big Read Sonoma County will be a group of modern day troubadours walking around reciting passages from their most cherished books. Maxine Hong Kingston will introduce Veterans of War; Veterans of Peace, the winner of the 2007 Northern California Book Reviewers Special Award in Publishing. For a full list of authors, panels, times and locations visit www.socobookfest.org/.

•••Sunday (9/16), 4-6:30 PM: Release of Yuba Flows, a new book of poetry from Hip Pocket Press featuring Kirsten Casey, Gary Cooke, Cheryl Dumesnil, Judy Halebsky, Iven Lourie, Scott Young. Fine poets published in beautiful form by Hip Pocket! Mowen Solinsky Gallery, 225 Broad St., Nevada City. Info: 530-265-4682.

•••Also Sunday (9/16), 7 PM: Book release party for Sun Shadow Mountain, this one to be held at Java Aroma, 1825 Pacific Avenue, Stockton. The book, Sun Shadow Mountain, contains an astounding banquet of poetry, prose, photography and artwork taken from 38 poets from California and abroad. Visit www.sunshadowmountain.com/.

•••Monday (9/17), 7:30 PM: Sacramento Poetry Center present Crawdad Nelson and Lori Blair at HQ for the Arts, 1719 25th St., Sacramento. Open mic after. Crawdad Nelson is a freelance journalist and a full-time student. His poems have appeared in many publications and online journals, beginning in 1986. He hopes one day to live as a simple hunter-gatherer on the outskirts of civilization. Lori Blair is a performing artist from Fresno. She works for Californians Against Waste and uses poetry and performance to establish important links between art and life.

__________________

A CURE FOR DEMONS
(for R.P.)
—Phil Weidman

Derek spent two nights
a week in an outpost bunker
while serving in Viet Nam.
Nerve-wracking; but fear,
he said, always gave
way to tedium.

Twelve hours alone,
waiting for hell to break loose,
or the blessing of daylight
and relief, tedium
triggered Derek's memory.

His mind routinely reviewed
his 24 years with an emphasis
on failures: regrettable behavior,
botched relationships, lack of achievement.

One night, disparaging thoughts
threatening his sanity, Derek
withdrew a meat tin from
an old case of C-rations.
When he broke it open
the stench startled him,
and he flung it into the gloom.

Its odor soon drew village dogs
to his bunker. They came for
C-rations from then on,
staying the night, sharing
his bunker or lounging
on the upper ring of sandbags.

__________________

DOUBLE FEATURE
—Phil Weidman

Lying in bed, window open,
fan pushing cool air down
onto my overheated body,
I hear an intermittent sound
like a distant dog barking.

Listening carefully, I realize
it's our 90-year-old neighbor,
volume turned up on his TV
and a holy roller preaching
the fear of God.

Fortunately, needle-laden pine
trees between our houses
filter out the message,
and I slip gently into
a dream theater just in time
for a second feature.

___________________

—Medusa

Medusa encourages poets of all ilk and ages to send their POETRY, PHOTOS and ART, as well as announcements of Northern California poetry events, to kathykieth@hotmail.com (or snail ‘em to P.O. Box 762, Pollock Pines, CA 95726) 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.) For more info about the Snake Empire, including guidelines for submitting to or obtaining our publications, click on the link to the right of this column: Rattlesnake Press (rattlesnakepress.com).

SnakeWatch: Up-to-the-minute Snake news:

Journals:
The new Rattlesnake Review (Issue #15) is available for free at The Book Collector, 1008 24th St., Sacramento, or send $2 to P.O. Box 762, Pollock Pines, CA 95726. Next deadline is November 15. The two journals for young people, Snakelets and Vyper, are on hiatus; no deadlines this Fall.

September's releases: The Snake returned with a bang on Wednesday, September 12, presenting Susan Kelly-DeWitt's new chapbook, Cassiopeia Above the Banyan Tree, at The Book Collector. Also available now: a littlesnake broadside from dawn dibartolo (Blush), and a continuation of B.L. Kennedy's Rattlesnake Interview Series (#4—frank andrick).

Coming in October: Rattlesnake Press celebrates Sacramento Poetry Month on Wednesday, Oct. 10
(at The Book Collector, Home of the Snake, 1008 24th St., Sacramento, 7:30 PM) with the release of Spiral, a rattlechap by Kate Wells; Autumn on My Mind, a littlesnake broadside by Mary Field; and Rattlesnake Interview Series #5 by B.L. Kennedy, featuring Sacramento Poet Laureate Julia Connor. Also released that night will be Conversations, Volume One of the Rattlesnake Interview Anthology Series, featuring B.L.'s conversations with eleven Sacramento poets—plus other surprises (and cake!). Be there!