D.R. Wagner
BREAKING AND ENTERING
—D.R. Wagner, Sacramento
Broken glass on the floor of dreams
Cut the feet and blood comes, a memory
Unrestrained and opened like a body in surgery
Runs and seems to be something spectacular.
A walk through a park in Springtime.
Explosions in the inner eye, an inability to
Walk to the edge of reason, love, drunken and useless
To form words, night terrors, adolescent concerns
With appearance and impressions derailed,
Sparks streaming from the mouth.
A sudden reversal of fortune, no way
To stay awake through it all.
We walk to the edge of the abyss.
We say our names to each other.
Nothing makes much sense.
Crickets begin their stridulation and the flesh
Parts below the dermis and works its way
Upwards to where we dine together,
Laughing and kidding about old times.
The way we understood each other.
Finally, splashes of liquids cool the flesh.
We hope they are parts of songs we once sang.
The referee makes arms signals showing
What it is we have done to deserve such penalties.
We stand at the rail of the boat.
The sea churns behind us, unalarmed
By all of this. In the next second
We remember everything.
I will kiss you like this again.
I will talk to your relatives as if they
Were photocopies of great bridges
That once spanned continents, places
Where we could see what was coming,
Unable to do anything about it.
__________________
Thanks, D.R.! D.R. Wagner is the author of over 20 books and chapbooks of poetry and letters. As a small-press publisher in the so-called "Mimeograph Revolution", he founded press : today : Niagara and Runcible Spoon (press) in the late 1960’s and produced over fifty magazines and chapbooks. His work is much-published and has appeared in many translations. He is also a visual artist, producing miniature needle-made tapestries that have been exhibited internationally and are included in numerous publications. He is, further, a professional musician, working as a singer-songwriter and playing guitar and keyboards. He has taught Design at the University of California at Davis for almost twenty years. He resides in Sacramento, California.
D.R.’s latest book is Where the Stars are Kept, a 2007 collection of his poetry and tapestry art from Rattlesnake Press. In addition, Rattlesnake Press is proud to announce the up-coming release (next February) of a reprint of his chapbook, The Dimensions of the Morning, originally published by Tom Kryss’ Black Rabbit Press, San Francisco, 1969. This reprint will inaugurate a new Rattlesnake Press series, entitled Rattlesnake Reprints, which will feature the occasional reprint of previous collections from other publishers. We believe there’s nothing sadder than a good book out of print. Watch for more information in months to come!
The above photograph was taken at Luna's Cafe, with D.R. reading from his SpiralChap, Where the Stars Are Kept. D.R. is one of the many poets who will be represented in the up-coming Luna's anthology edited by Frank Andrick for Rattlesnake Press: La Luna: Poetry Unplugged at Luna's Cafe. Join us at Luna's on Thursday, October 30 at 8 PM for the grand premiere of that and of B.L. Kennedy's tribute to Luna's: Luna's House of Words.
___________________
This week in NorCal poetry:
•••Tonight (Monday, 10/13), 7:30 PM: Sacramento Poetry Center presents Steve Cirrone and Michael Spurgeon at HQ for the Arts, 1719 25th St., Sacramento. Open mic after. [See last Friday’s post for bio.]
The SPC reading on 10/20 will feature Sixteen Rivers Press, including Gillian Wegener, Terry Ehret, and Dan Bellm.
•••Weds. (10/15), 9 PM: Poetry Night at Bistro 33. Info: Bistro 33 at (530) 756-4556 or Andy Jones at aojones@ucdavis.edu/. No cover; open mic afterward.
—D.R. Wagner, Sacramento
Broken glass on the floor of dreams
Cut the feet and blood comes, a memory
Unrestrained and opened like a body in surgery
Runs and seems to be something spectacular.
A walk through a park in Springtime.
Explosions in the inner eye, an inability to
Walk to the edge of reason, love, drunken and useless
To form words, night terrors, adolescent concerns
With appearance and impressions derailed,
Sparks streaming from the mouth.
A sudden reversal of fortune, no way
To stay awake through it all.
We walk to the edge of the abyss.
We say our names to each other.
Nothing makes much sense.
Crickets begin their stridulation and the flesh
Parts below the dermis and works its way
Upwards to where we dine together,
Laughing and kidding about old times.
The way we understood each other.
Finally, splashes of liquids cool the flesh.
We hope they are parts of songs we once sang.
The referee makes arms signals showing
What it is we have done to deserve such penalties.
We stand at the rail of the boat.
The sea churns behind us, unalarmed
By all of this. In the next second
We remember everything.
I will kiss you like this again.
I will talk to your relatives as if they
Were photocopies of great bridges
That once spanned continents, places
Where we could see what was coming,
Unable to do anything about it.
__________________
Thanks, D.R.! D.R. Wagner is the author of over 20 books and chapbooks of poetry and letters. As a small-press publisher in the so-called "Mimeograph Revolution", he founded press : today : Niagara and Runcible Spoon (press) in the late 1960’s and produced over fifty magazines and chapbooks. His work is much-published and has appeared in many translations. He is also a visual artist, producing miniature needle-made tapestries that have been exhibited internationally and are included in numerous publications. He is, further, a professional musician, working as a singer-songwriter and playing guitar and keyboards. He has taught Design at the University of California at Davis for almost twenty years. He resides in Sacramento, California.
D.R.’s latest book is Where the Stars are Kept, a 2007 collection of his poetry and tapestry art from Rattlesnake Press. In addition, Rattlesnake Press is proud to announce the up-coming release (next February) of a reprint of his chapbook, The Dimensions of the Morning, originally published by Tom Kryss’ Black Rabbit Press, San Francisco, 1969. This reprint will inaugurate a new Rattlesnake Press series, entitled Rattlesnake Reprints, which will feature the occasional reprint of previous collections from other publishers. We believe there’s nothing sadder than a good book out of print. Watch for more information in months to come!
The above photograph was taken at Luna's Cafe, with D.R. reading from his SpiralChap, Where the Stars Are Kept. D.R. is one of the many poets who will be represented in the up-coming Luna's anthology edited by Frank Andrick for Rattlesnake Press: La Luna: Poetry Unplugged at Luna's Cafe. Join us at Luna's on Thursday, October 30 at 8 PM for the grand premiere of that and of B.L. Kennedy's tribute to Luna's: Luna's House of Words.
___________________
This week in NorCal poetry:
•••Tonight (Monday, 10/13), 7:30 PM: Sacramento Poetry Center presents Steve Cirrone and Michael Spurgeon at HQ for the Arts, 1719 25th St., Sacramento. Open mic after. [See last Friday’s post for bio.]
The SPC reading on 10/20 will feature Sixteen Rivers Press, including Gillian Wegener, Terry Ehret, and Dan Bellm.
•••Weds. (10/15), 9 PM: Poetry Night at Bistro 33. Info: Bistro 33 at (530) 756-4556 or Andy Jones at aojones@ucdavis.edu/. No cover; open mic afterward.
•••Thurs. (10/16), 7:30 PM: The Nevada County Poetry Series presents Doc Dachtler and Steve Sanfield. On the same day in 1969 that man first landed on the moon, Doc Dachtler and Steve Sanfield met on the San Juan Ridge and began a lifelong friendship. In the autumn of 1973, they gave the now legendary (notorious) poetry reading at Claremont College in Southern California. In the intervening 35 years, life's commitments have allowed them to make fewer than wished appearances together. On Oct. 16, Dachtler and Sanfield will come together in a special "Reunion Reading," which promises to be a unique and memorable, if not again – legendary experience. Dachtler and Sanfield are considered pioneers in the "Back to the Land Movement." They are sought-after poets and literary contributors and are two of our community's most respected artistic elders.
When he first arrived in Nevada County, Doc Dachtler worked as the school teacher, janitor, maintenance-man and bus driver of the one-room North Columbia Schoolhouse. A graduate of U.C. Davis, Dachtler was soon recognized as one of the first "Green Philosophers" in the region. He served on the Nevada County Planning Commission and actively led many worthy, yet losing battles against greed and unnecessary development—so much so that he was often dubbed "The Lone Ranger." For the past 30 years Dachtler has worked as a new and restorative master carpenter. Somewhere in a life—active and full, Dachtler has managed to publish an ever expanding collection of treasured broadsides and two enchanting books of verse: Drawknife and Waiting for Chains at Pearl's. He and his wife, Cheryl, live in Nevada City.
Steve Sanfield, a 40-year resident of the San Juan Ridge, is an award winning poet, storyteller, folklorist and children's author with more than two dozen volumes to his credit. In 1977, through a grant from the California Arts Council, Sanfield became the first Storyteller-in-Residence in the United States—serving every child between the Middle and South Forks of the Yuba River. His most recent books of poetry are Too Short the Night (a haiku exchange with John Brandi) and The Rain Begins Below: Selected Slightly Longer Poems. From his home on Montezuma Hill where Sanfield continues his ongoing study of clouds, he joyously shares the scullery tasks with his wife, Sarah.
Tickets can be purchased at the door for $5 general, seniors and students, and $1 for those under 18. Refreshments and open-mic included. The show will be in Off Center Stage (the Black Box theater, enter from Richardson Street) at the Center for the Arts, 314 W. Main St., Grass Valley. Info: (530) 432-8196 or (530) 274-8384.
•••Thursday (10/16), 8 PM: Poetry Unplugged at Luna's Cafe, 1414 16th St., Sacramento. Featured readers, with open mic before and after. Free.
•••Friday (10/17), 7:30-9 PM: The Other Voice, sponsored by the U.U. Church of Davis, is honored to present poets Deborah Thomas and Ray Coppock. Readings are held in the library of the church located at 27074 Patwin Road, Davis. Refreshments and Open Mike follow the featured readers, so bring along a poem to share.
Deborah Thomas, who lives in Oregon, is a former teacher, elementary school principal, college admissions officer, housemother in an orphanage, child care center director and vocational rehabilitation specialist. A parent and grandparent, she lives with her husband in a beach house at Cape Meares. Her book, The Light in the Refrigerator, is made up of poems kept hidden away in drawers until the last of her five children was old enough to move out.
Ray Coppock began writing poetry after retiring from UC Davis, where he worked as a writer and editor for 26 years. His poems have been published in regional journals such as Poetry Now, The Acorn, Mockingbird, and James Lee Jobe’s One (Dog) Press, as well as others such as West Wind Review, ELF, Puerto Del Sol and Bellowing Ark. Ray and his wife Ellen live in Davis, where they raised two boys and a girl and watched the town grow. He is a long-time member of this church and sings with the locally-notorious Putah Creek Crawdads. He grew up in a small Mojave Desert community, served in the infantry, graduated from Berkeley and worked as a newspaper reporter.
•••Friday (10/17), 7 PM: Poetry at Raven's Tale in Placerville will feature Albert Garcia and Joshua McKinney. A short poetry open-mic follows (signup before the featured readers). Raven's Tale bookstore is located at 352 Main St., Placerville. There is no charge.
•••Friday (10/17), 6:30 PM: 31st annual Arts Awards Celebration (“Starry Night”) in Stockton at the Bob Hope Theatre. Among those receiving awards are David Humphreys, for Outstanding Achievement in Literary Arts. Info: 209-937-7488.
•••Saturday (10/18), 8 PM (doors open at 7:30): The Poet’s Voice: A Special Reading at Luna’s Café, 1414 16th St., Sacramento featuring Neeli Cherkovski, Bill Gainer, S.A. Griffin, Ann Menebroker and A.D. Winans, hosted by B.L. Kennedy. $7 at the door. Info: 916-441-3931.
•••Saturday (10/18), 2 PM: Poems: Eros & Thanatos: Death and Desire. Lillian Vallee and Lee Nicholson will read at the McHenry Museum Theatre, 1402 I St., Modesto. Free; open mic will follow. Info: Cleo Griffith, (209) 543-1776 or cleor36@yahoo.com/. Lee Nicholson is a former English educator at Turlock High School (1959-64) and Modesto Junior College (1964-96). He is the author of Common Ground, 2000; author and illustrator of Speakeasy. He received the 2001 Stanislaus County Arts Council Literary Arts Award. His avocation is calligraphy.
Lillian Vallee is author of Vision at Orestimba, Erratics, and handful of snow, and is preparing three books for publication: Bear with a Cross: Primordial Tradition in the Work of Czeslaw Milosz; Heat or Small Bomb of Revelation (A Poem in Seven Torrents) and a novel, Crane Season. A full-time instructor at Modesto Junior College, she has given over 100 readings. One of her awards is the 2006 Stanislaus County Arts Council Literary Arts Award.
Two up-coming workshops:
•••POETRY FOR OBAMA FUNDRAISER: A WORKSHOP WITH ELLEN BASS
Saturday, November 1, 2008, 10am-4pm
Santa Cruz, CA
During this workshop we will write poems, share our work and hear what our work touches in others. We’ll also read model poems by contemporary poets and discuss aspects of the craft. Though we’ll focus on poetry, prose writers who want to enrich their language will find it a fertile environment. Both beginning and experienced writers are welcome.
The cost is $175, all of which goes to Obama for America (checks or credit cards accepted). To register, please e-mail victors75@rattlebrain.com or call 831-423-3064.
•••HEART & CRAFT: A MEMOIR WORKSHOP FOR WOMEN WRITERS, IN MEXICO
With Anndee Hochman
November 8-14, 2008
There is just one more spot available! This 6-day workshop in the vibrant fishing village of La Barra de Potosi on Mexico's Pacific coast will focus on writing powerful and deep prose about the lives we've lived. Three-hour daily class sessions will include reading, discussion, writing prompts and critique. Afternoons free to read, write, nap in hammocks, kayak on the lagoon or hang out at the beach. $1100 includes tuition, six nights' lodging at the Casa del Encanto, six dinners and breakfasts.
E-mail Anndee Hochman at aehoch@aol.com for more details/application form.
__________________
CHALICE
—D.R. Wagner
Picking up specks of light
From the surface of the water.
Flicking them toward the trees.
They become fireflies
During the early evening,
Messages sent in code.
Music from 1940 comes
Crackling through the trees.
It seems to be a waltz.
The veins are laid open,
Poured into a plastic cup.
This is my blood. It too
Is shed for the forgiveness of sins.
It too is a new covenant.
It too is red and transubstantiated.
Nothing comes of these facts.
The light bounces around the room
Amused at its mobility.
The evening climbs across
The sky, unfolds it arms,
Listens carefully to the night.
Dreams come unbidden.
They hold torches and
Howl like drunken winds.
I reach into the cupboard,
Take a small glass from the shelf.
It sparkles in my hand.
___________________
PENTECOST
—D.R. Wagner
The last of nothing drifts by.
All of space is now occupied.
We are now ready to receive
The Holy Spirit. It does not
Come as tongues of flame,
But occupies the cells of the body
Like crowded subway cars at night,
Full of dozing riders and people
Reading books as if their life depended on it.
We cross the tracks carefully.
We are unable to recognize anyone
We pass. Balloons of vision lift
From the clouds of people, rise up,
Are lost in a reaching of hands to grasp
The colorful strings dangling from them.
The gift of tongues is ours once more.
Touch our hand and you shall be healed.
No one believes this to be true. We buy food,
Giving away bars of chocolate and plastic
Wrapped sandwiches. Some shed tears,
Thanking us as we move forward.
Times like this will come again.
The seas lash the shores. Tornados
Sweep the kingdom. Fire consumes
All that is left. We suffer fools
With their predictions and admonitions.
This is indeed pentecost. We can not name it other.
Illuminated display boards at the exits flash
Our names and show grainy images of what
We are supposed to look like. We lose
Ourselves in the crowd, the buzz of understood
Conversations in every language of the world.
__________________
Today's LittleNip:
When writers die they become books, which is, after all, not too bad an incarnation.
—Jorge Luis Borges
He wrote the books, then he died.
—William Faulkner, on what a writer's obituary should read
When I am dead,
I hope it may be said:
"His sins were scarlet, but his books were read."
—Hilaire Belloc
...of making many books there is no end.
—Ecclesiastes 12:12
__________________
—Medusa
SnakeWatch: What's New from Rattlesnake Press:
October is Sacramento Poetry Month! October’s releases from Rattlesnake Press include a new rattlechap from Moira Magneson (He Drank Because) and a free littlesnake broadside from Hatch Graham (Circling of the Pack). Both are available at The Book Collector, 1008 24th St., Sacramento, or from me (kathykieth@hotmail.com), or—soon—from rattlesnakepress.com/. Rattlechaps are $6 by mail, $5 at The Book Collector.
Be sure to join us on Thursday, Oct. 30, 8 PM, when Rattlesnake Press will release not one, but two SpiralChaps to honor and celebrate Luna’s Café, including a new collection of art and poetry from B.L. Kennedy (Luna’s House of Words) and an anthology of Luna’s poets, artists and photographs (La Luna: Poetry Unplugged at Luna’s Café) edited by Frank Andrick. Come travel with our Away Team as we leave the Home of the Snake for a brief road trip/time travel to Luna’s Café, 1414 16th St., Sacramento to celebrate Art Luna and the 13 years of Luna's long-running poetry series. Who knows what auspicious adventures await us there??
And check out B.L. Kennedy’s interview with Art Luna in the latest Rattlesnake Review (#19)! Free copies are available at The Book Collector, or send me two bux and I’ll mail you one (address below). Next deadline, by the way, is November 15.
Coming in November: November will feature a new rattlechap from Red Fox Underground Poet Wendy Patrice Williams (Some New Forgetting); a littlesnake broadside from South Lake Tahoe Poet Ray Hadley; our 2009 calendar from Katy Brown (Beyond the Hill: A Poet’s Calendar) as well as Conversations, Vol. 4 of B.L. Kennedy’s Rattlesnake Interview Series. That’s Weds., November 12, 7:30 PM at The Book Collector.
Medusa's Weekly Menu:
(Contributors are welcome to cook up something for any and all of these!)
Monday: Weekly NorCal poetry calendar
Tuesday: Seed of the Week: Tuesday is Medusa's day to post poetry triggers such as quotes, forms, photos, memories, jokes—whatever might tickle somebody's muse. Pick up the gauntlet and send in your poetic results; and don't be shy about sending in your own triggers, too! All poems will be posted and a few of them will go into Medusa's Corner of each Rattlesnake Review. Send your work to kathykieth@hotmail.com or P.O. Box 762, Pollock Pines, CA 95726. No deadline for SOWs; respond today, tomorrow, or whenever the muse arrives. (Print 'em out, maybe, save 'em for a dry spell?) When you send us work, though, just let us know which "seed" it was that inspired you.
Wednesday (sometimes): HandyStuff Quickies: Resources for the poet, including whatever helps ease the pain of writing and/or publishing: favorite journals to read and/or submit to; books, etc., about writing; organizational tools—you know—HandyStuff! Tell us about your favorite tools.
Thursday: B.L.'s Drive-Bys: Micro-reviews by our irreverent Reviewer-in-Residence, B.L. Kennedy. Send books, CDs, DVDs, etc. to him for possible review (either as a Drive-By or in future issues of Rattlesnake Review) at P.O. Box 160664, Sacramento, CA 95816.
Friday: NorCal weekend poetry calendar
Daily (except Sunday): LittleNips: SnakeFood for the Poetic Soul: Daily munchables for poetic thought, including short paragraphs, quotes, wonky words, silliness, little-known poetry/poet facts, and other inspiration—yet another way to feed our ravenous poetic souls.
And poetry! Every day, poetry from writers near and far and in-between! The Snakes of Medusa are always hungry.......!
_________________
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). And be sure to sign up for Snakebytes, our monthly e-newsletter that will keep you up-to-date on all our ophidian chicanery.
