THE DEATH OF THE FLY
—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
With eagerness he drinks the treach'rous potion,
Nor stops to rest, by the first taste misled;
Sweet is the draught, but soon all power of motion
He finds has from his tender members fled;
No longer has he strength to plume his wing,
No longer strength to raise his head, poor thing!
E'en in enjoyment's hour his life he loses,
His little foot to bear his weight refuses;
So on he sips, and ere his draught is o'er,
Death veils his thousand eyes for evermore.
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The week's events:
•••Tonight (3/27), Red Fox Underground (not to be confused with the Red Fox poets in Placerville) will read for the Sacramento Poetry Center at Headquarters for the Arts, 25th & R Sts., Sac., 7:30 pm.
•••Thursday (3/30), Frances Mayes will be in Sacramento at 6 pm at the Tsakopoulos Library Galleria, 828 I St., for a question-and-answer session and to sign her new book, A Year in the World: Journeys of a Passionate Traveller, which will be available there at 30% off. The event, sponsored by The Bee Book Club in conjunction with the Sacramento Public Library Foundation, is free and open to the public. Info: 916-321-1792. Through March 30, these bookstores will offer a 30% discount on the title: Borders, Borders Express, Barnes & Noble, Tower, East-West Bookstore, Underground Books, Avid Reader, Hornet Bookstore, UC Davis Bookstore, and Next Chapter (in Woodland). Frances Mayes is also the author of a wonderful poetry text, The Discovery of Poetry: A Field Guide to Reading and Writing Poems, Harcourt, Inc., 2001.] See today's Sacramento Bee Scene section for a long article about Ms. Hayes.
•••Also Thursday (3/30), Poetry Unplugged at Luna's Cafe, 1414 16th St., Sac, presents poets/performers Sabrina Mathis and Alan Satow, 8 pm.
•••Friday (3/31) will be the Poems-For-All Exhibit Finale at HQ, 25th & R Sts., Sac, 8 pm, featuring readers Robert Roden, Michael Pulley, Barbara Noble, Gene Bloom, Mary Zeppa, Manny Gale, and Rebecca Costello, with readings of poems by William Wantling, d.a.levy, and Jack Micheline. Music by J. Greenberg and Joe Hill.
•••On Saturday, April 1, ranting will be the order of the day at Carol’s Books, 300 Florin Road, Sac., where mother/daughter poets Straight Out Scribes V.S. Chochezi and Staajabu will MC the second annual Rant-A-Thon, Read-a-thon, Speak-a-thon, Speak up, Speak out, poetry reading and open mic. This is for all those who are just itching to let folks know what’s on their mind, get something off their chest, inform, entertain, apologize, complain, congratulate, lament or commiserate. Just one thing to remember: those who address the audience are asked to donate $1 a minute. The fun begins at 1 p.m. and ends at 5 p.m. There will be refreshments, door prizes, networking and lots of fun. Info: 916-452-1290.
•••Also Saturday (4/1) 7-11 pm: Adios party at KINKS International, 619 15th St. Sac. (corner of 15th & G). The Scribe matriarch Staajabu is moving back home to New Jersey, so come by and wish her well. Music, food, and lots of fun. For more info, call BJ or Gail (www.itsabouttimebpp.org), 916-455-0908.
•••Sunday (4/2), come hear Nevada City Poet Molly Fisk at PoemSpirits in Room 11, Unitarian Universalist Society of Sacramento, 2425 Sierra Blvd. (2 blocks north of Fair Oaks Blvd, between Howe and Fulton Avs.), 6 pm. A radio host and essayist on Grass Valley’s KVMR, Molly has published widely and received grants from the California Arts Council, the National Endowment for the Arts, and others. She teaches Writing to Heal classes, poetry critique workshops, and an Internet Poetry Boot Camp. Co-host Nora Staklis will make a brief presentation on Anne Sexton, a key figure in modern confessional poetry. As always, you are welcome to bring a favorite poem or two, your own or by another, to read. Free, and snacks, too!
•••Sunday (4/2): This year the Nevada County Poetry Series is celebrating National Poetry Month by holding its annual April open-mic readings at Booktown Books & Tomes. Open-mic readers are invited to submit their poems for possible inclusion in the NCPS 2006 Anthology. The readings are free, from 12 to 3pm, Sundays, April 2, 9, 23 and 30 at Booktown Books and Tomes, 107 Bank Street (corner of South Auburn) in Grass Valley. For more information call: (530) 432-8196 or (530) 272-4655. That's every Sunday in April except the 16th, which is Easter.
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Taylor Graham writes: Ah, flies! You know Karl Shapiro's, of course—one of Hatch's very favorite poems. Here's one of mine that was on Thunder Sandwich a few years back:
GADABOUT
—Taylor Graham, Somerset
You’ve been to buzz the sights
and taste the smells, all
the tiny lenses of your eyes
and skinny legs with road-dust
from a day of flight, alight
and fugiting. You’ve sipped
a baby’s tears and the dead
man’s wine. You’ve been
here/there/here & everywhere
from excrement to sky. Slut,
you keep nothing to yourself.
In the stew you sprinkle secret
spices on the sly. I’d swat
you flat and call you fly.
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Thanks, TG! I think you've had the definitive word, but I'll throw in another one or two here...
THE SPIDER AND THE GHOST OF THE FLY
—Vachel Lindsay
Once I loved a spider
When I was born a fly,
A velvet-footed spider
With a gown of rainbow-dye.
She ate my wings and gloated.
She bound me with a hair.
She drove me to her parlor
Above her winding stair.
To educate young spiders
She took me all apart.
My ghost came back to haunt her.
I saw her eat my heart.
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Enough, already! Let's kill this thing off with a little whimsey:
FLY IN MY SOUP
—Cheryl Adair
theres a fly in my soup
should i let him drown?
theres a fly in my soup
i can't eat it now!
theres a fly in my soup
he's paddling frantically
i see a fly in my soup
d'ya reckon he sees me?
is he pleading to me in silence
'help me help me please'?
apparently he doesn't know
i detest flies and fleas
he's doing the backstroke now
begging me for his life
he should be so lucky!
where’s my butter knife?
should i smash him
should i fish him out
should i quietly depart
or should i scream and shout
should i toss a royal snit fit
or affect a dainty faint
hard to say but this i know:
eating it—i ain't!
________________________
—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. Previously-published poems are okay for Medusa’s Kitchen, as long as you own the rights. (Please cite publication.)