THE MAN BORN TO FARMING
—Wendell Berry
The grower of trees, the gardener, the man born to farming,
whose hands reach into the ground and sprout,
to him the soil is a divine drug. He enters into death
yearly, and comes back rejoicing. He has seen the light lie down
in the dung heap, and rise again in the corn.
His thought passes along the row ends like a mole.
What miraculous seed has he swallowed
that the unending sentence of his love flows out of his mouth
like a vine clinging in the sunlight, and like water
descending in the dark?
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This week in Norcal poetry:
•••Monday (3/3), 7:30 PM: Sacramento Poetry Center presents Julia Levine and Rick Campbell at HQ for the Arts, 1719 25th St., Sacramento. [See last Friday's post for bio.] Open mic afterward.
•••Thursday (3/6), 8 PM: Poetry Unplugged at Luna's Cafe, 1414 16th St., Sacramento. Open mic before and after.
•••Also Thursday (3/6), 5:30 PM: Tahoe poet Suzanne Roberts reads from her collections, Shameless and Nothing to You. Wild Mountain Books, 352 Main St., Placerville. Free. 530-622-4540. You can also hear Suzanne read at The Other Voice in Davis on Friday [see below for info and Suzanne's bio].
•••Friday (3/7), 7:30 PM: The Other Voice, a poetry reading series sponsored by the U.U. Church of Davis, presents Nancy Bodily and Suzanne Roberts in the library of the church located at 27074 Patwin Road. Nancy Bodily, a mother and student, lives with her husband and daughter in Davis. Her poetry has been published in Poetry Now, Ash Canyon Review, Banyan Review, The Kokanee and Real Eight View. Her favorite pastimes are learning poetry from 6th graders, walking in the fields with Bogey and Ginger, and fumbling towards Zen in her weekly radio program: Earth Mama's Mountain Music Hour. Suzanne Roberts is the author of two books of poems, Shameless (Cherry Grove Collections, 2007) and Nothing to You (Pecan Grove Press, March 2008), which was a finalist in the Zone 3 Book Award and the Blue Lynx Poetry Prize. Her work has been published in many literary journals and anthologies. She is currently finishing a PhD in Literature and the Environment at the University of Nevada, Reno. She lives, writes, and teaches in South Lake Tahoe. Refreshments and Open Mike follow the reading, so bring along a poem or two to share.
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Two deadlines this week, and other March opportunities:
•••March 8 is the early registration deadline and also the entry deadline for the contest for the 7th Annual Pleasanton Poetry, Prose & Arts Festival, which will be held Saturday & Sunday, April 5-6 at the Pleasanton Senior Center, 5353 Sunol Blvd, Pleasanton. Join them for a weekend celebration of poetry, prose, and visual arts. Keynote Speaker will be Jane Hirshfield, Poet, Essayist, & Translator (www.barclayagency.com/.) One- or two-day workshops offered by luminaries such as Kim Addonizio and Sacramento’s own Kathleen Lynch; also lots of offerings for youth. Sponsored by the Pleasanton Cultural Arts Council (PCAC) and the City of Pleasanton. On-line brochure and registration form available at www.PleasantonArts.org/. Early registration deadline: Saturday, March 8, 2008. Last date to register for Festival is Tuesday, March 25, 2008. Contest, open only to registered attendees, has an entry deadline of Saturday, March 8, 2008.
•••March 8 is also the deadline for the Stockton Writing Contest. Check out the details on the Arts Commission website, www.stocktongov.com/arts/, or contact Stockton Arts Commission Director Deena Heath at Deena.Heath@ci.stockton.ca.us
•••The Patricia Dobler Poetry Award is open to any woman writer over the age of 40 living in the U.S. who has not published a full-length book of poetry, fiction, or non-fiction (chapbooks excluded). Poems must be unpublished, up to 75 lines. Up to two poems, of any style, per submission. Submissions must be postmarked by or before March 10. The winner will be notified by April 10. Judge: Ann Townsend. With each entry, submit the following:
* Cover sheet with name, address, phone number, e-mail, title of poem
* Check for $20, made payable to Carlow University
* Self-addressed stamped envelope for notification
Note: The author’s name, address, or any identifying information should not appear on any poem.
Send entries to:
The Patricia Dobler Poetry Award
Jan Beatty, Director of Creative Writing
Carlow University
3333 Fifth Avenue
Pittsburgh, PA 15213
The winner will receive the Patricia Dobler Poetry Award, in the form of round-trip travel and lodging as a participating guest of Carlow’s MFA residency in Carlow, Ireland, June 13–23, 2008. For more information on Carlow University’s MFA program, and for complete contest rules, please contact Dr. Ellie Wymard at 412-578-6346 or see http://gradstudies.carlow.edu/creative/dobler-award.html
•••The Sacramento Metropolitan Arts Commission (SMAC) is accepting applications for the Artist Residency Institute, a paid professional development series for artists from Sacramento and Placer Counties. The Artist Residency Institute (ARI) is a series of workshops and fieldwork (residency) experiences that pays visual, performing, literary and media artists to build their teaching skills. Both new and returning artists are invited to participate in this year's Institute. The program will take place throughout the month of April, 2008 and the application deadline is March 14th by 4:00 p.m.
The key presenter is nationally known educational arts consultant, Dr. Rosalind Flynn, allied with The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. Regional presenters from the visual and performing arts and education fields will collaborate with Dr. Flynn on some sessions.
Institute workshops teach you how to design and deliver effective lessons in the arts, develop site-specific artist residencies, use California Visual and Performing Arts Standards required by school systems, teach to the developmental levels of your students, how to manage a classroom and more! The Institute will also connect you to a supportive network of local teaching artists and schools. The Institute curriculum is primarily focused on K-12 age groups but is easily adaptable for teaching adults or other populations in a variety of settings.
All new artists do an artist residency in their discipline in either a school or community site as part of the Institute. The residencies are at least 3 one-hour sessions with the same students. Artists develop the curriculum for the residency in the Institute workshops, and are paid for the residencies on an hourly basis. If the artist is not already working with a particular school or community site, SMAC staff will identify an appropriate residency site based on their experience and interests. Artists from Placer County must do their residency in Sacramento County. There is no cost to participating artists. All artists are paid a stipend of $250 to attend all workshop sessions. New artists are paid an hourly fee for their residency.
If you are a practicing visual, performing, literary or media artist who can demonstrate expertise in an art form, are experienced in or committed to teaching, and live or work in either Sacramento or Placer Counties, you are eligible to apply. Applications are due March 14th by 4 PM. For workshop schedules and more information about the Institute and the application process, log onto: http://www.sacculture.com/aeo_Training_resource.htm or contact Arts Education staff Chelsea Hunt at 916-566-3979, chunt@cityofsacramento.org.
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FEBRUARY 2, 1968
—Wendell Berry
In the dark of the moon, in flying snow, in the dead of winter,
war spreading, families dying, the world in danger,
I walk the rocky hillside, sowing clover.
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MARCH 22, 1968
—Wendell Berry
As spring begins the river rises,
filling like the sorrow of nations
—uprooted trees, soil of squandered mountains,
the debris of kitchens, all passing
seaward. At dawn snow began to fall.
The ducks, moving north, pass
like shadows through the falling white.
The jonquils, half open, bend down with its weight.
The plow freezes in the furrow.
In the night I lay awake, thinking
of the river rising, the spring heavy
with official meaningless deaths.
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WINTER NIGHT POEM FOR MARY
—Wendell Berry
As I started home after dark
I looked into the sky and saw the new moon,
an old man with a basket on his arm.
He walked among the cedars in the bare woods.
They stood like guardians, dark
as he passed. He might have been singing,
or he might not. He might have been sowing
the spring flowers, or he might not. But I saw him
with his basket, going along the hilltop.
____________________
—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: News from Rattlesnake Press
Coming March 12: Rattlesnake Press will be releasing a chapbook from Ann Privateer (Attracted to Light), a littlesnake broadside from Jeanine Stevens (Eclipse), Conversations Vol. 2 of B.L. Kennedy's Rattlesnake Interview Series, and a brand-new issue of Rattlesnake Review (#17—next deadline is May 15). Join us to celebrate all of this at The Book Collector, 1008 24th St., Sacramento, on March 12 at 7:30 PM.
