THE BUNGLER
—Amy Lowell
You glow in my heart
Like the flames of uncounted candles.
But when I go to warm my hands,
My clumsiness overturns the light,
And then I stumble
Against the tables and chairs.
___________________________
This is one heckuva busy week on the SacaTomato Poetry Scene, maybe because Wednesday, October 26, is Sacramento Poetry Day!
Tonight, John Amen will read at HQ (25th & R Sts., Sac.), sponsored by the Sacramento Poetry Center, 7:30 pm. Tomorrow (Tues. 10/25) Sutter LAMP Week (Literature, Arts and Medicine Program) begins at the Sutter Cancer Center, 7 pm. Tuesday's program will be Art Therapy with Peggy Gulshen; Weds. will feature Music Therapy with Theresa Konomos; Thurs. will be Dance/Movement Therapy with Nandi Szabo; and Friday (10/28) will be Pat Schneider, author of Writing Alone and With Others and founder of Amherst Writers & Artists. Register: 454-6802 or spannc@sutterhealth.org. [Medusa is, by the way, a Registered Music Therapist. Really. In my pre-poetry life.]
On Wednesday, ride up to Placerville to Hidden Passage Books for the monthly read-around, 6-7 pm. Bring your own poetry or somebody else's to share with a lively group of fellow poets while the skeleton under the floorboards listens...
Snake Reviewer-in-Residence B.L. Kennedy will be mighty busy this week, as well; on Thursday he will host Poetry Unplugged at Luna's Cafe (1414 16th St., Sac.) at 8 pm, which will feature Donald Sidney-Fryer and Chi Cheng of Deftone fame. Chi has a spoken word album entitled Bamboo Parachute. Then on Friday, Bari will host Part One of A Tribute to d.a. levy at Luna's Cafe, 8-ish, featuring frank andrick, Gene Avery, Art Beck, Chi Cheng, Todd Cirillo, Judy Halebsky, Phillip J. Nails, Crawdad Nelson, Linda Thorell, Charlene Ungstad, and Julie Valine. This $5 event is a benefit for T.A.G. (The Archives Group).
Then on Saturday (10/29), B.L. will host A Tribute to d.a. levy (Part Two) at HQ (25th & R Sts., Sac.), 8 pm, featuring Bill Pieper, Rebecca Morrison, Sabrina Mathers, Robert Grossklaus, Laverne Frith, Carol Frith, Chi Cheng, Gene Bloom, Art Beck, Gene Avery and frank andrick. $5.
Back to Friday, 10/28: Rattlechapper Susan Kelly-DeWitt (The Land) will be the featured reader at The Art Foundry (1021 R St., Sac.), 7:30 pm. $5. Also on Friday, Los Escritores will sponsor a Day of the Dead Celebration to honor the lives of the 2005 Fallen Chicano Heroes: Bert Corona, Rodolfo (Corky) Gonzalez, Lalo Guerrero, Carlos Cortez, Gloria Anzaldua, Octavio I. Romano, and Phil Goldvarg. Donation: $5 or as you can afford. Where: La Raza Galeria/Posada Bookstore; 1421 R St., Sac. (upstairs). Info: 456-5323.
We need to break here for some poetry!
THE LETTER
—Amy Lowell
Little cramped words scrawling all over the paper
Like draggled fly's legs,
What can you tell of the flaring moon
Through the oak leaves?
Or of my uncurtained window and the bare floor
Spattered with moonlight?
Your silly quirks and twists have nothing in them
Of blossoming hawthorns,
And this paper is dull, crisp, smooth, virgin of loveliness
Beneath my hand.
I am tired, Beloved, of chafing my heart against
The want of you;
Of squeezing it into little inkdrops,
And posting it.
And I scald alone, here, under the fire
Of the great moon.
______________________
AFTERGLOW
—Amy Lowell
Peonies
The strange pink colour of Chinese porcelains;
Wonderful—the glow of them.
But, my Dear, it is the pale blue larkspur
Which swings windily against my heart.
Other Summers—
And a cricket chirping in the grass.
______________________
Okay. Back to next weekend: At the same time as the d.a. levy tribute on Saturday, The Show will present The Big Clean Mouth Slam for $50, hosted by Petri Hawkins-Byrd (the baliff on Judge Judy) at Wo'se Community Center, 2863 35th St., 7-9 pm. Tickets ($5): Underground Books or fromtheheart1@hotmail.com. Info: Terry Moore, 455-POET. And then on SUNDAY:
Poems-For-All presents Jordan Jones and Eric Paul Shaffer at The Book Collector (1008 24th St., Sac.), 4 pm, free. Join them for a Sunday afternoon reading as they read from their latest books of poetry published by Leaping Dog Press. (www.leapingdogpress.com) Info: 442-9295.
And this doesn't even include the regular reading series (Mahogany at Sweet Fingers Jamaican Restaurant, 9 pm Weds.; Poetic Light Open Mic at Personal Style Salon, Thurs. 8-10; or Gwen's Caribbean Cuisine on Thurs. at 7 pm). If I've left anybody else out, let me know.
Let's let Amy cap it off:
A DECADE
—Amy Lowell
When you came, you were like red wine and honey,
And the taste of you burnt my mouth with its sweetness.
Now you are like morning bread,
Smooth and pleasant.
I hardly taste you at all for I know your savour,
But I am completely nourished.
_________________________
—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.