We neglected to note Walt Whitman's birthday (May 31, 1819), coming, as it did, on Medusa's second day of publishing, when we were still wet behind the ears. In addition to the poetry he wrote, Whitman was a publishing and marketing inspiration to all us micro-pressers. Celebrate with me his Spider:
A NOISELESS PATIENT SPIDER
A noiseless patient spider,
I mark'd where on a little promontory it stood isolated,
Mark'd how to explore the vacant vast surrounding,
It launch'd forth filament, filament, filament, out of itself,
Ever unreeling them, ever tirelessly speeding them.
And you O my soul where you stand,
Surrounded, detached, in measureless oceans of space,
Ceaselessly musing, venturing, throwing, seeking the spheres to connect them,
Till the bridge you will need be form'd, till the ductile anchor hold,
Till the gossamer thread you fling catch somewhere, O my soul.
________________________
Taylor Graham writes: What a surprise to find Song Kowbell in Medusa's Kitchen! A fellow SAR (Search and Rescue) dog handler; I've known her for years, but didn't know she wrote poetry. Should've suspected, I guess. How about it, Taylor (and our other friends in the hills)? Any damage from the 'quake up there yesterday?
Some of the members of the Sac. Poetry Center Tues. night workshop will be reading tonight: 7:30 pm at HQ, 25th and R Streets in Sacramento. Also this week: Crawdad Nelson will read at Luna's, 8pm. Crawdad, who lives in Sacramento now, has been a poetry and publishing force on the Northern California coastal scene for many years, and we're grateful to be able to spend some time with him down here in the hot Valley.
Feel free to send poems! Medusa's Kitchen is always cookin'... Thanks to you!
—Medusa