Phew, Emu!

There was a young couple from Kew
who adopted a fuzzy emu.
The night they were wed
in a hard feather bed,
they'd found there were feathers too few.

—Hatch Graham, Somerset

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Thanks, Hatch! Tackling a limerick takes cojones the size of Cleveland, especially for that tricky last line. Hatch will be receiving my Sternums book and Colette's The Burden of Wings for his successful efforts. Someday maybe you can get him to share some of his X-rated ones...

Only one day left in the emu-fest; check Tuesday's posting for the skinny.

The "Between the Lines" section of the Bee Scene section has mention today of the new book, New American Writing, an anthology of poetry by nearly 90 contributors, including the work of 16 Vietnamese poets. See Snake 6 for an article by Be Davison Herrera and some samples from this community.

Poetry a-plenty tonight if you're in the mood: Tiger (Le Tigre, Tiger Spirit) at Luna's Cafe, 1414 16th, 8-ish; Poetic Light Open Mic at Personal Style Salon, 1540 Cottage Way (470-2317); Evening of Poetry at Gwen's Caribbean Cuisine, 2355 Arden Way, Sac (284-7831).

How about we head into our day with some of Edgar Lee Masters' thoughts on writing:


PETIT, THE POET
—Edgar Lee Masters

Seeds in a dry pod, tick, tick, tick,
Tick, tick, tick, like mites in a quarrel—
Faint iambics that the full breeze wakens—
But the pine tree makes a symphony thereof.
Triolets, villanelles, rondels, rondeaus,
Ballades by the score with the same old thought:
The snows and the roses of yesterday are vanished;
And what is love but a rose that fades?
Life all around me here in the village:
Tragedy, comedy, valor and truth,
Courage, constancy, heroism, failure—
All in the loom, and oh what patterns!
Woodlands, meadows, streams and rivers—
Blind to all of it all my life long.
Triolets, villanelles, rondels, rondeaus,
Seeds in a dry pod, tick, tick, tick,
Tick, tick, tick, what little iambics,
While Homer and Whitman roared in the pines.

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Thanks, Ed! Keep it fresh, he says. Write about emus!

—Medusa

Medusa encourages poets of all ilk and ages to send their poetry and announcements of Northern California poetry events to kathykieth@hotmail.com for posting on this daily Snake blog. Rights remain with the poets.