Hatch Graham
THE FAR SIDE
—Hatch Graham, Placerville
Like in Gary Larson’s Far Side—
this amoeba character floats
through the pot of spaghetti.
In a hushed voice, the amoeba
likens the spaghetti to a garden
under floodlights. Heavier than
water, amoeba falls toward the
bottom and there divides.
Why can’t we, in our rushed
existence, view trees like pasta—
recognize renewable resources
for what they are? Why do
we spotlight the fall of
a tree rather than glorify
the division of a cell?
Why can’t humans float in
the soup of the garden,
peaceful and hushed, at home
with our part in nature?
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Thanks, Hatch! Hatch Graham says he's too old for a short bio, but he is married to a poet who leads a poetry class, so he is driven to write poetry weekly. He is also a retired forester/wildlife biologist and volunteer SAR dog handler.
Rattlesnake Press is proud to release a littlesnake broadside from Hatch, Circling of the Pack, this coming Wednesday, October 8 at 7:30 PM at The Book Collector, 1008 24th St., Sacramento, along with a new rattlechap from Moira Magneson, He Drank Because. Come join us; refreshments and a read-around will follow. Bring your own poems or somebody else's.
Also this week in NorCal poetry:
•••Tonight (Monday, 10/6), 7:30 PM: Sacramento Poetry Center presents Susan Kelly-DeWitt reading from her new book, The Fortunate Islands. HQ for the Arts, 25th & R Sts., Sacramento. [See last Friday's post for bio.]
•••Wednesday (10/8), 7:30 PM: Rattle-read at The Book Collector [see above]. But of course you knew that... :-)
•••Thursday (10/9), 8 PM: Poetry Unplugged at Luna's Cafe, 1414 16th St., Sacramento. Featured readers, with open mic before and after.
•••Friday (10/10), 7-9 PM: Second Friday Poetry Reading at The Vox (gallery & cafe), 19th & X Sts., Sacramento, featuring James DenBoer, Andy Jones, Allegra Silberstein, Susan Wolbarst, Scott Weiss and Kathy Kieth. Free. Coffee bar open 6-10 PM. Info: voxsac.com.
•••Friday (10/10), 7-9 PM: East-West Books, 2216 Fair Oaks Blvd. Sacramento presents a workshop/reading led by Tim Bellows, featuring “tips for inward travel, more joy in this life, and heart-and-soul writing techniques, including the exploration of Rumi and the divine spirit in life and in poetry.” The topic: “Death”, Magnificent Hoax of the Ages. Tim Bellows, Sierra College instructor and author of Sunlight from Another Day, will read selected recent work and Rumi poems. He’ll feature a video on Rumi, a book signing, and time for questions and discussion. Take a break with Tim and others—and with Rumi—to learn the “true revolutions” waiting in your own consciousness. Celebrate these and what Walt Whitman called “the interior life . . . of the arts.” Be sure to bring along a favorite Rumi poem to share, or bring any poem that mirrors divine spirit! $22adv/$25door. Contact 916.920.3837 or see http://www.eastwestbooks.com/calendar/special/ev20590.php
Tim Bellows, with a graduate degree from the Iowa Writers´ Workshop, teaches writing at Sierra College in Northern California. Devoted to lakes, mountains, and inner travels, he’s widely published in journals and Internet venues and has twice been nominated for the Annual Pushcart Prize. His book, Sunlight From Another Day—Poems In & Out of the Body, has just gone live from AuthorHouse Press out of Bloomington (see Amazon.com). Bellows edits a monthly e-newsletter called Lightship News and is administrator of the blog at http://tbellows.livejournal.com, a blog for the poetry-addicted, trail-trekkers, and mystics (full or part time).
•••Sunday (10/12), 3-5 PM: Lincoln poets present Voices of Lincoln Poetry Contest winners and an open mic at the new Twelve Bridges Library in Lincoln, in the Willow Room. After the feature, other poets are welcome to read up to 3 poems. Sponsored by The Friends of the Lincoln Library; Open Mic is presented by The Poets Club of Lincoln.
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OK, HERE IT IS
—Hatch Graham
She became a nattery of nagging
he responds with an embarrassment of expletives
a collection of collectives
a coterie of consonants.
Should it be about the pollution of politicians
the solicitude of scientists
the mendacity of medics
or the pulpit of preachers?
Or are these more descriptions
rather than collections?
Just an assemblage of adjectives
—a plural of pronouns
—a verbosity of verbs
—a puddle of participles
Nothing clever
no cunning of conspirators
no spuriosity of spies
no enormity of elephants
Am I confusing alliterations—
sister susie's sewing sweaters—
Peter Piper picking peppers—
Just a tornado of tongue twisters
Instead of real collectives?
What am I really doing?
A consternation of confusion.
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THE BELLS, BELLS, BELLS BELLS, BELLS
—Hatch Graham
It's time to write some villanelles
I think of them as a poetic feat
They ring like Poe's immortal bells
Even the rhyme scheme soon foretells
The incessant rhythm and the beat
It's time to write some villanelles
Within my brain it tolls and knells
Their form and sequence ever neat
They ring like Poe's immortal bells
Somehow they hold one with their spells
You get a word—a line so sweet
It's time to write some villanelles
The repetition swells and swells
Incessantly it will repeat
And ring like Poe's immortal bells
The desire to write one now excels
The pen and paper soon must meet
It's time to write some villanelles
They ring like Poe's immortal bells
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HEARTS & FLOWERS
—Hatch Graham
Today in the mail I received this card:
Mr. & Mrs. Paul Irwin are proud to announce
the divorce of their daughter, Edna Mae,
from Mr. Broncacio, Homer Ray,
a marriage made in heaven,
dissolved here after seven
unhappy years on earth.
We know you love them, and for what it's worth,
please join us in our celebration.
We'll have a toast and much libation.
Many marriages end in wrecks.
Let's make the best of it, and bring your ex.
RSVP
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THE FINAL CUT
—Hatch Graham
Talk about fiscal responsibility—
It’s incredible: raise the budget for the war,
Cut the taxes for the rich.
What a cargo of weird ideas.
Kiss off the UN and go to war.
Then when Iraq’s a total quagmire,
Ask Kofi Annan for help: that’s timeliness.
When the news is another foolish error,
Raise warnings of more threats of terror.
Divert attention from the gaffes,
It’s serious business, never laugh.
Never take the blame
For outing Mrs. Plame.
Keep it up, keep it up.
In November the electorate
Will make the Final Cut.
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Today's LittleNip:
Writing is an adventure. To begin with, it is a toy and an amusement. Then it becomes a mistress, then it becomes a master, then it becomes a tyrant. The last phase is that, just as you are about to be reconciled to your servitude, you kill the monster and fling him to the public.
—Winston Churchill
—Medusa
SnakeWatch: What's New from Rattlesnake Press:
Coming in October: October’s release at The Book Collector on Weds., Oct. 8, will feature a new rattlechap from Moira Magneson (He Drank Because) and a littlesnake broadside from Hatch Graham (Circling of the Pack). That's at the Book Collector, 1008 24th St., Sacramento, 7:30 PM. Refreshments and a read-around will follow; bring your own poems or somebody else’s.
Then, on Thursday, Oct. 30, 8 PM, Rattlesnake Press will release 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.......!
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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.
