Photo by Katy Brown, Davis
A SACRAMENTO COFFEE HOUSE
—Ann Menebroker, Sacramento
At Weatherstone's, I am
in diverse ambience
with an anonymous
collection of caffeine
addicts. We tug at
the idea of who
all of us are. Maybe one
of us is very
important. We don't pull
the thought too far
because no one really cares.
What we come for is to
forget definitions and to
watch ourselves come
and go, be small
within ourselves, be
large in gratuities.
______________________
THE SACRAMENTO RIVER ENTERS THE BAY
—Jeanine Stevens, Sacramento
The bay laps waters of books and letters,
everything we thought was history.
Watersheds run with hints of pine,
oak and lost ledgers, still releasing specks
of silver-gold dust. Just a small eddy,
one stone caught resting beneath
the Carquinez Straits. This day, no one
fishing or floating. And poets, with new
husbands, resting on gold bills, writing
hope and resolve through old and wavy glass.
—Ann Menebroker, Sacramento
At Weatherstone's, I am
in diverse ambience
with an anonymous
collection of caffeine
addicts. We tug at
the idea of who
all of us are. Maybe one
of us is very
important. We don't pull
the thought too far
because no one really cares.
What we come for is to
forget definitions and to
watch ourselves come
and go, be small
within ourselves, be
large in gratuities.
______________________
THE SACRAMENTO RIVER ENTERS THE BAY
—Jeanine Stevens, Sacramento
The bay laps waters of books and letters,
everything we thought was history.
Watersheds run with hints of pine,
oak and lost ledgers, still releasing specks
of silver-gold dust. Just a small eddy,
one stone caught resting beneath
the Carquinez Straits. This day, no one
fishing or floating. And poets, with new
husbands, resting on gold bills, writing
hope and resolve through old and wavy glass.
_____________________
Today is Sacramento Poetry Day, as declared in 1986 by then-Mayor Ann Rudin and re-affirmed by Mayors Joe Serna and Heather Fargo. Our thanks to Ann Menebroker and Jeanine Stevens for the poems, and to Katy Brown for the photo.
This weekend in NorCal poetry:
•••Tonight (Friday, Oct. 26), 7:30 pm: Dia de los Muertos/Day of the Dead. Escritores del Nuevo Sol/Writers of the New Sun offer poetry and music for this annual Mexican-originated celebration. Brought to the US by the Chicano movement, this has become a meaningful time of remembrance for people of many backgrounds to honor with joy those who have passed from their earthly life. One of a week’s full of related activities coordinated by La Raza Galeria Posada. $5 or free-will donation as you can afford. 1024 22nd St., Midtown Sacramento. Info: Graciela Ramirez (916-456-5323) or website: www.escritoresdelnuevosol.com/
•••Saturday (10/27), 7-9 PM: Michael Andrews & Wealth Bridge Financial Network present "The Show" poetry series, featuring International Slam Champion and world-renowned poet Talaam Acey from Baltimore (www.talaamacey.com), as well as house band LSB and house vocalist Chris Bush. This event will be held at the Guild Theater, across the street from the Wo’Se Community Center, 2828 35th St., off 35th and Broadway. $5. All ages are welcome and the open mic list will be open, so come get on stage! Info: Terry Moore at 916-208-POET.
•••Saturday (10/27), 7:30 PM: Chaos, Anarchy, and Lucid Unreason: Unheimlich Theater: Antonin Artaud & His Dopplegangers at The Book Collector has been cancelled.
•••Monday (10/29), 7:30 PM: Sacramento Poetry Center presents Halloween with Tuesday Night Workshop Ghastly Ghouls at HQ for the Arts, 1719 25th St., Sacramento. A costume-optional reading with open mic and light consumables.
In case you don't know what the Tuesday Night Workshop is, it's the poetry workshop (sponsored by SPC) which is held each Tuesday night at the Hart Center on J St. in Sacramento under the capable directorship of Danyen Powell. This workshop has been going on for years and years; I personally was a participant for six or seven of those. I don't talk about it much because it always threatens to get too big, but it does present a unique opportunity to workshop your poems with other accomplished poets in a democratic, workmanlike setting. Many workshops are forums to read your poems and get only compliments (or silence); this one will actually give you some constructive criticism in an informal, supportive setting. The Tues. Night Workshop and the long-time participants who keep it going are one of the treasures of Sacramento poetry. Info: Danyen Powell, 530-756-6228, or go hear the members read next Monday night.
One more thing I would like to say: the whole Rattlesnake enterprise was actually born as a love-letter to the Tuesday Night Workshop. As a member, I was continually astounded at the richness of the poetry of Sacramento and its neighboring areas (many of the workshoppers come from areas outside of Sacramento), and Rattlesnake Review was born in an attempt to reflect that talent and to celebrate our area's poetry out of the shadow of the omnivorous Bay Area. Which, I think, our wily Snake still does. Hopefully. Thanks to you...!
Cleo Kocol's Column:
Cleo Fellers Kocol writes: My fourth column appears in The Sacramento Bee today, and should be seen in Rancho Cordova and the Mather area as well as South Placer. My first two columns were published in the South Placer area only, but once The Bee discovered I referred to people and events in other areas as well, the columns appear in the other areas, too. The column appears approximately once a month.
For those who have not read the column or checked it out on line, I do not tell people how to write poetry or make lists of poetry events. What I try to do is to educate the general public about the prevalence of poetry in our lives. For example one column connected a local poet with what she has done to get schools involved in poetry. Another told about the link between poetry and the movies. The current column shows how poetry keeps popping up at weddings. Next month the theme will be cowboy poetry.
While short poems will occasionally be used in the column, most of the poetry will be published on-line under "Placer Poetry". Send your poems, rich text format, 12 pt. font, Times New Roman to Placerpoetry@sacbee.com or to me at cburll@hotmail.com. It's faster if you send to me, but either e-mail is fine. I encourage people to send something that has already been published elsewhere, but that is not necessary.
____________________
SECRET OF LIFE
—Taylor Graham, Somerset
DNA is the secret of life, according
to the paper. Outside my window, Gray Squirrel
harvests pine nuts. Winter’s coming;
a squirrel’s too busy for life’s secrets.
The secret of life is a good cup of coffee,
sings Faith Hill. Or, a bird-bath
in drought, if I can believe Nuthatch
dipping for a drink, then gazing
heavenward. Secrets of life? Raven
flaps news of the first snow up-country.
I watch one bright yellow leaf depart
the old Black Oak; spiraling down,
does it have time to ponder
the secret of life? Rumi, too, said
something about such
secrets, if you can trust a poet:
We sometimes know, and then not
know. Is that why is the sky shines
today so heartbreak-
October-blue? It’s a secret.
____________________
Thanks, TG! Taylor Graham took Medusa's bait and wrote a poem about the secret of life. Now it's your turn. What is the secret of life? Send Medusa your "secrets of life" poems, art and/or photography by midnight next Monday, October 29, and I'll send you a free copy of Kate Wells' new rattlechap, Spiral, or whatever other rattlechap you're missing. That's kathykieth@hotmail.com or P.O. Box 762, Pollock Pines, CA 95726. Here are more gems, these from dawn dibartolo and James Lee Jobe:
small
—dawn dibartolo
how do i,
insignificant being
that i am,
express a gratitude for living
to the One who holds
life in the palm of His hand?
how can i possibly
cast a shadow unreflective
of the miniscule nature
of me
in order to pay homage
to the Sun?
my image is too small
to capture full meaning.
i can only pray
and hope my soul
conveys more weight.
____________________
LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL!
—James Lee Jobe, Davis
We are spirits inside of bodies, we come to this world to learn.
The spirits ride through life contained in the body the way that trees
contain birds, the way our poems sometimes contain lines that surprise us,
we didn't write the line, it just sort of happened.
I am a spirit that lives in this Jobe body, writing these poems,
and I choose the gods that I worship! I worship the Sun and the Moon,
the Sun and the Moon are the gods I love. I worship the Water and the Earth,
the Mother and the Father; they are the gods I pray to.
We are spirits inside of bodies, and it is no coincidence that we are born
free of hate, willing to love anyone who loves us, we are born not knowing
what hate is, but loving instantly. Life is beautiful! Praise the gods!
We are spirits in bodies, born to learn, born to love.
_____________________
THE SECRET OF LIFE
tiptoes around us, lighting torches
that turn the oaks into gold and
the pistache scarlet, send shudders
of rainbows down the spine of
the liquidambar. I have planted
a life-sized cement deer
squarely on the lawn. Stone though
he is, the secret of life plays
an all-day light show on his
back, his sharp white horns, and
the small bulge of his belly—
confusing the real buck (same size) who
stops and stares, then sniffs the wind
as he searches this blank cement face for
its secret of life…
—Kathy Kieth, Pollock Pines (with gratitude to the Tues. Nt. Workshop)
____________________
—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.) Medusa cannot vouch for the moral fiber of other publications, contests, etc. that she lists, however, so submit to them at your own risk. 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 poetry and photography of Katy Brown. Come celebrate the release of all of these on Wednesday, November 14, 7:30 PM at The Book Collector.
