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.
_____________________
—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.
_____________________
—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!
