THE BOY IN THE BRONZE AGE (Virginia, 1969)
—James DenBoer, Sacramento
The world is what he says, now and again. Words: bird, river, cottonwood, frost, garden. How to say things with words or without them. There is no choice to make. My friend Irish Jim lives with his tribe in two old boxcars; woodburning stoves puff white from their roofs; all the children in one big bed. Gulls float backwards on the cold-melt river in March. Even the simple-minded like me know there is more than saying, no matter how pretty. In fact we have not said it loud enough to be heard from far above the river-bank, across the brown garden to where we stand. Bronzeback, my sister says. A fish in the Susquehanna. A name in a boy's mouth in another century.
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James DenBoer will read at The Book Collector, 1008 24th St., Sacramento on Wednesday, Oct. 12 at 7:30 pm, to celebrate the release of his latest chapbook from Rattlesnake Press: Black Dog: An Unfinished Segue Between Two Seasons. Refreshments and a read-around will follow; bring your own poems or somebody else's.
Also released at the reading that night will be littlesnake broadside #17 by Song Kowbell: Watching the Rabbit. Song is an emerging poet from the Grass Valley/Nevada City area who will be reading at Luna's Cafe November 17, and who will be releasing a chapbook from Rattlesnake Press next Spring. [see below for a wee taste of Song's music] So stop by the reading and pick up these new offerings from The Snake—including Fangs #1.
OR, that same night, you might attend the potluck and reading to celebrate the life and work of the late poet and activist, Phil Goldvarg (6 pm, La Raza Galeria Posada, 1421 R St., Sac.).
Before Wednesday comes Monday, though, and this week the Sac. Poetry Center will present Cherryl Smith, Edythe Schwartz, Connie Gutowsky and Anthony Scoggins, reading to celebrate the release of Ms. Smith's book, After Being Somewhere Else. 7:30 pm, HQ (25th & R Sts., Sac.), free. Info: 441-7395.
Some songs from Song:
TODD
—Song Kowbell
Baggy pants,
sloppy shirt
you stroke that
beer bottle
like an old pro,
a familiar lover.
Watching you
as coyote
watches rabbit
before her meal
I deem you
a possibility.
TONIGHT
—Song Kowbell
even the sound
of my pony's hooves
pounding the earth
below me
can't quiet the noise
of missing you
ELECTRIC KISS
—Song Kowbell
clouds to the west
were burning up
the sky above
licking the electricity
from the air
his mouth
a storm
I longed
to be in
___________________
Thanks, Song!
—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.