e.e. cummings
i like my body when it is with your
—e.e. cummings
i like my body when it is with your
body. It is so quite a new thing.
Muscles better and nerves more.
i like your body. i like what it does,
i like its hows. i like to feel the spine
of your body and its bones, and the trembling
-firm-smooth ness and which i will
again and again and again
kiss, i like kissing this and that of you,
i like,, slowly stroking the, shocking fuzz
of your electric fur, and what-is-it comes
over parting flesh . . . . And eyes big Love-crumbs,
and possibly i like the thrill
of under me you quite so new
____________________
Yesterday, e.e. cummings would've been 113 years old. Assumenothing hereis: a typo... And check out wikipedia's entry on him to hear him reading some poems.
This week in Norcal poetry:
•••Tonight (Monday, 10/15), 7:30 PM: 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 Sacramento Poetry Center. Joining her will be Chad Sweeney, author of The Mirror That Shattered the Hammer.
•••Thursday (10/18), 8 PM: Diane di Prima and Chani di Prima (her grandaughter) read for Poetry Unplugged at Luna’s Café, 1414 16th St., Sacramento. FREE !! Open mic before and after.
•••Thursday (10/18), 7:30 PM: Nevada County Poetry Series celebrates the 50th anniversary release of Jack Kerouac's seminal book, On the Road. Readings from the book will be given by six of California's best performance poets: Matt Amott, B.L. Kennedy, J.C. Olander, Noel Kroeplin, Phillip T. Nails and Todd Cirillo. Off Center Stage at the Center for the Arts, 314 W. Main St. Grass Valley, CA. Info: 530-432-8196.
•••Friday (10/19), 7 PM: Our House poetry reading in El Dorado Hills: Featured readers are Chris Olander and Kathryn Smith. An open mike follows. Our House Gallery & Framing is located at 4510 Post St. in El Dorado Hills Town Center. Free.
California Lecture Series
Subscriptions are on sale now ($150) for the next six-lecture series at the Crest Theater in Sacramento. Subscribe and get more info at: (916) 737-1300 or visit www.californialectures.org:
YANN MARTEL | Wednesday, October 24, 2007
HA JIN | Thursday, November 15, 2007
SUE MILLER| Thursday, January 10, 2008
GERALDINE BROOKS | Wednesday, February 6, 2008
RICHARD POWERS | Monday, March 3, 2008
TOBIAS WOLFF | Thursday, May 8, 2008
WANGARI MAATHAI* | Friday, September 21, 2007
(*SPECIAL EVENTS: not included in the Six-Lecture Subscription Series)
_____________________
it may not always be so; and i say
—e.e. cummings
it may not always be so;and i say
that if your lips,which i have loved,should touch
another's,and your dear strong fingers clutch
his heart,as mine in time not far away;
if on another's face your sweet hair lay
in such a silence as i know,or such
great writhing words as,uttering overmuch,
stand helplessly before the spirit at bay;
if this should be,i say if this should be-
you of my heart,send me a little word;
that i may go unto him,and take his hands,
saying,Accept all happiness from me.
Then shall i turn my face,and hear one bird
sing terribly afar in the lost lands.
______________________
since feeling is first
—e.e. cummings
since feeling is first
who pays any attention
to the syntax of things
will never wholly kiss you;
wholly to be a fool
while Spring is in the world
my blood approves,
and kisses are a far better fate
than wisdom
lady i swear by all flowers. Don't cry
—the best gesture of my brain is less than
your eyelids' flutter which says
we are for eachother: then
laugh, leaning back in my arms
for life's not a paragraph
And death i think is no parenthesis
____________________
—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 youngsters, Snakelets and Vyper, are on hiatus; no deadlines this Fall.
New in October: Rattlesnake Press celebrated Sacramento Poetry Month on Wednesday, October 10 with the release of Spiral, a rattlechap by Kate Wells; Autumn on My Mind, a free littlesnake broadside by Mary Field; and #5 in the free Rattlesnake Interview Series by B.L. Kennedy, this one featuring Sacramento Poet Laureate Julia Connor. Also released that night was Conversations, Volume One of the Rattlesnake Interview Anthology Series (a collection of B.L.'s conversations with eleven Sacramento poets), as well as a free broadside tribute to poet/publisher Ben L. Hiatt, commissioned by Rattlesnake Press and designed by Richard Hansen from poetry by B.L. Kennedy and artwork by Patrick Grizzell. All of these are available at The Book Collector, 100 24th St., Sacramento, or from rattlesnakepress.com, or write to kathykieth@hotmail.com/.
Coming in November: The Snake is proud to announce the release of Among Neighbors, a rattlechap from Taylor Graham; Home is Where You Hang Your Wings, a littlesnake broadside from frank andrick; and A Poet's Book of Days, a perpetual calendar featuring the art and photography of Katy Brown. Come celebrate the release of all of these on Wednesday, November 14, 7:30 PM at The Book Collector.
