The trouble with a short horse...
Snow kidding!
Pollock Pines had its first snowfall of the year last Friday; 2-3 inches piled up on the Kieths' deck railing. Actually, this picture is for Mary Field of Pollock Pines, horsewoman par excellence, who will be releasing her new littlesnake broadside, Autumn on My Mind, this coming Wednesday (10/10) at 7:30 PM at The Book Collector, 1008 24th St., Sacramento. [See below for some of Mary's wonderful poems.] Also featured that night will be:
•••The release of Spiral, a rattlechap by Placerville's Kate Wells of Red Fox Underground;
•••#5 in the Rattlesnake Interview Series by B.L. Kennedy, this one featuring Sacramento Poet Laureate Julia Connor;
•••the new, 104-page interview anthology, Conversations: Volume One of the Rattlesnake Interview Anthology Series (a collection of B.L.'s conversations with eleven Sacramento poets);
•••a free broadside tribute to Ben L. Hiatt commissioned by Rattlesnake Press and designed by Richard Hansen, featuring a poem by B.L. Kennedy and art by Pat Grizzell.
•••and cake! All to celebrate Sacramento Poetry Month! Be there.
Also this week in NorCal poetry:
•••Monday (10/8), 7:30 PM: Sacramento Poetry Center presents Nina Lindsay and Helen Wickes at HQ for the Arts, 25th & R Sts., Sacramento. [See last Friday's post for biographies of these outstanding poets.] Open mic to follow. Also: join the SPC folks before the reading for the SPC Board of Directors meeting at 6 PM; all "interested parties" or members are invited to attend. And next Monday, Sacramento Poet Laureate Emeritus (2000-2002) Viola Weinberg will return to Sac. to celebrate the release of her new book, Letters to Pablo Neruda, at SPC. Joining her will be Chad Sweeney, author of The Mirror That Shattered the Hammer.
•••Tuesday (10/9), 8:30 PM: Bistro 33 Poetry Series, 226 F St., Davis. Open mic.
•••Wednesday (10/10), 5:30-7 PM: “Opening Night: A Celebratory Reading with UC Davis Faculty." Fiction from Pam Houston, Lynn Freed, and Lucy Corin; poetry from Joshua Clover, Joe Wenderoth, and Sandra McPherson. UC-Davis Arboretum, Wyatt Deck.
•••Thursday (10/11), 7:30 PM: 1078 Gallery, in association with Writer’s Voice (CSU, Chico) presents Writers on the Storm, a fiction and poetry reading featuring new work by local authors Diana Bishop, Alex Camarota, Lara Gularte and Don McCrea-Hendrick. Founded in 2003, Writers on the Storm is a local writer’s group with an impressive roster of active, publishing authors. The members are all current or former students at California State University, Chico.
1078 Gallery is located at 820 Broadway, Chico. Info: 530-343-1973 or www.1078gallery.org/. Donations for 1078 Gallery gladly accepted.
•••Thursday (10/11), 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 (10/12), 6 PM: Escritores del Nuevo Sol/Writers of the New Sun joins with the Zapatista Coalition on el Dia de la Raza for the annual remembrance of Chicano poet Phil Goldvarg. La Raza Galeria Posada, 1024 22nd St., Midtown Sacramento. Info: Graciela Ramirez (916-456-5323) or website: www.escritoresdelnuevosol.com/
•••Sunday (10/14), 2:30-4:30 PM: Poets on the Ridge Open Mic at Juice & Java, 7067 Skyway, Paradise. Info: 530-872-9633.
____________________
THE COMPLEAT ANGLER
—Mary Field, Pollock Pines
When life twists me into vulgar knots,
I unwind myself by fly-fishing at the office.
I sneak into the quiet room, lie down
and imagine the fisherman, rising early,
walking through October bracken,
aspen turning to liquid gold,
stumbling along the creek bed
lined with sugar-mounds of boulders—
all these machinations being necessary
to arrive at the sweet spot, that special pool
where nature and the nature of trout
conspire in a harmony as fragile
as old parchment.
He assembles his gear, makes sure the reel
is spinning freely, places the net in easy reach,
attaches his favorite lure, the firefly.
Then, filtering out all distractions, in one easy sweep
of well-practiced retract and release,
he makes his first cast.
Whether or not the prize trout, smoldering
beneath the quiet surface, rises
to his challenge, this day is one
without regret.
___________________
RESURRECTION
—Mary Field
They are gone now,
those geese who made the lake raucous
with their honking.
The few singletons and cripples remaining
never call to each other as they land
with great breadth of wing
and swirl of water.
Soon, all will be gone:
the grey squirrel to his nest
and his cache of acorns,
the tiger lily’s essence sucked back into
the bulb buried in marsh, sleeping.
Cold, like the final death,
will settle over the lake
and on April’s morning even the lake
will wrap itself with a white shroud of fog
as air flows collide.
And so it all sleeps, or leaves,
animal and plant alike.
And we wait
till the spinning ball tilts
toward spring and resurrection.
___________________
SONNET
—Mary Field
30 years I’ve been on this hill
thru all seasons, holidays spent inside,
vacations taken to split firewood, re-string the electric fence,
thin the pines, trim the oaks, wage war with mistletoe.
I’ve traveled from 30-something to grey-haired-something,
dropping spouses and other excess baggage along the way,
anything extraneous burned away in the crucible of country living.
But some things were added: a taste for God, solitary horseback rides, tofu.
Such a long time, 30 years, so many changes.
Yet this morning, as I drive the tractor slowly up the long driveway,
delivering my firewood, I gaze skyward
and I’m just beginning again.
_____________________
—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).
•••The release of Spiral, a rattlechap by Placerville's Kate Wells of Red Fox Underground;
•••#5 in the Rattlesnake Interview Series by B.L. Kennedy, this one featuring Sacramento Poet Laureate Julia Connor;
•••the new, 104-page interview anthology, Conversations: Volume One of the Rattlesnake Interview Anthology Series (a collection of B.L.'s conversations with eleven Sacramento poets);
•••a free broadside tribute to Ben L. Hiatt commissioned by Rattlesnake Press and designed by Richard Hansen, featuring a poem by B.L. Kennedy and art by Pat Grizzell.
•••and cake! All to celebrate Sacramento Poetry Month! Be there.
Also this week in NorCal poetry:
•••Monday (10/8), 7:30 PM: Sacramento Poetry Center presents Nina Lindsay and Helen Wickes at HQ for the Arts, 25th & R Sts., Sacramento. [See last Friday's post for biographies of these outstanding poets.] Open mic to follow. Also: join the SPC folks before the reading for the SPC Board of Directors meeting at 6 PM; all "interested parties" or members are invited to attend. And next Monday, Sacramento Poet Laureate Emeritus (2000-2002) Viola Weinberg will return to Sac. to celebrate the release of her new book, Letters to Pablo Neruda, at SPC. Joining her will be Chad Sweeney, author of The Mirror That Shattered the Hammer.
•••Tuesday (10/9), 8:30 PM: Bistro 33 Poetry Series, 226 F St., Davis. Open mic.
•••Wednesday (10/10), 5:30-7 PM: “Opening Night: A Celebratory Reading with UC Davis Faculty." Fiction from Pam Houston, Lynn Freed, and Lucy Corin; poetry from Joshua Clover, Joe Wenderoth, and Sandra McPherson. UC-Davis Arboretum, Wyatt Deck.
•••Thursday (10/11), 7:30 PM: 1078 Gallery, in association with Writer’s Voice (CSU, Chico) presents Writers on the Storm, a fiction and poetry reading featuring new work by local authors Diana Bishop, Alex Camarota, Lara Gularte and Don McCrea-Hendrick. Founded in 2003, Writers on the Storm is a local writer’s group with an impressive roster of active, publishing authors. The members are all current or former students at California State University, Chico.
1078 Gallery is located at 820 Broadway, Chico. Info: 530-343-1973 or www.1078gallery.org/. Donations for 1078 Gallery gladly accepted.
•••Thursday (10/11), 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 (10/12), 6 PM: Escritores del Nuevo Sol/Writers of the New Sun joins with the Zapatista Coalition on el Dia de la Raza for the annual remembrance of Chicano poet Phil Goldvarg. La Raza Galeria Posada, 1024 22nd St., Midtown Sacramento. Info: Graciela Ramirez (916-456-5323) or website: www.escritoresdelnuevosol.com/
•••Sunday (10/14), 2:30-4:30 PM: Poets on the Ridge Open Mic at Juice & Java, 7067 Skyway, Paradise. Info: 530-872-9633.
____________________
THE COMPLEAT ANGLER
—Mary Field, Pollock Pines
When life twists me into vulgar knots,
I unwind myself by fly-fishing at the office.
I sneak into the quiet room, lie down
and imagine the fisherman, rising early,
walking through October bracken,
aspen turning to liquid gold,
stumbling along the creek bed
lined with sugar-mounds of boulders—
all these machinations being necessary
to arrive at the sweet spot, that special pool
where nature and the nature of trout
conspire in a harmony as fragile
as old parchment.
He assembles his gear, makes sure the reel
is spinning freely, places the net in easy reach,
attaches his favorite lure, the firefly.
Then, filtering out all distractions, in one easy sweep
of well-practiced retract and release,
he makes his first cast.
Whether or not the prize trout, smoldering
beneath the quiet surface, rises
to his challenge, this day is one
without regret.
___________________
RESURRECTION
—Mary Field
They are gone now,
those geese who made the lake raucous
with their honking.
The few singletons and cripples remaining
never call to each other as they land
with great breadth of wing
and swirl of water.
Soon, all will be gone:
the grey squirrel to his nest
and his cache of acorns,
the tiger lily’s essence sucked back into
the bulb buried in marsh, sleeping.
Cold, like the final death,
will settle over the lake
and on April’s morning even the lake
will wrap itself with a white shroud of fog
as air flows collide.
And so it all sleeps, or leaves,
animal and plant alike.
And we wait
till the spinning ball tilts
toward spring and resurrection.
___________________
SONNET
—Mary Field
30 years I’ve been on this hill
thru all seasons, holidays spent inside,
vacations taken to split firewood, re-string the electric fence,
thin the pines, trim the oaks, wage war with mistletoe.
I’ve traveled from 30-something to grey-haired-something,
dropping spouses and other excess baggage along the way,
anything extraneous burned away in the crucible of country living.
But some things were added: a taste for God, solitary horseback rides, tofu.
Such a long time, 30 years, so many changes.
Yet this morning, as I drive the tractor slowly up the long driveway,
delivering my firewood, I gaze skyward
and I’m just beginning again.
_____________________
—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).
