Friday, April 21, 2006

Asparagus and Hubris

STRETCHING OUR SOULS TOO THIN
—James Lee Jobe, Davis


What if a soul is larger

than we dreamed—not one

soul per body, but one soul

for fifty bodies, or for a thousand.

Each soul stretched across

the different lives it intersects.

Perhaps there are only so many souls,

say fifty or sixty thousand.

In the time of the cave paintings,

that would have been enough. But now?

It could be that the troubles of man

come from stretching our souls too thin.

_______________________

Thanks, JLJ! Check out the Jobester's blog by clicking on the link in the list to the right of this column. He, too, would like poets to send him their work.

It's Asparagus Festival time! Head on down to the waterfront in Stockton on Friday, Sat. and/or Sunday for asparagus ice cream, etc. Or check out one of the many fine poetry events happening in our environs, starting tonight with Our House Defines Art, which will hold a poetry reading at 7 pm in El Dorado Hills. Featured readers are Kate Wells, John Donnelly, and Jean Salfen, followed by an open mic. Our House Defines Art Gallery & Framing is located at 4510 Post St. in El Dorado Hills Town Center. Free.

Also tonight (4/21): Writers, poets, singers, songwriters, dancers salute Earth Day at Literature Alive! in Grass Valley. St. Joseph's Cultural Center, 410 S. Church St., Grass Valley, 7 pm, $8-$10. Info: 530-272-5812. More events tomorrow and
Sunday, including Jane Blue's reading at The Book Collector on Sunday at 4. (Check out Medusa's "Snakes and Taxes" post earlier this week for details.) You could go check out the "Tree Stories" exhibit of photographs and poems at the Appel Gallery on 10th & T in Sacramento; gallery hours are Thursday-Sunday, 1-6 pm. Or you could celebrate Earth Day tomorrow by picking up trash, or writing a poem, or just plain throwing yourself down on the grass and hugging it.

Or tomorrow you could go stand on the street in West Sac, watch for Prez Dubya's chopper to land... Relax—Medusa isn't going to editorialize, tempting as it is. But if you have HBO, there's a fine program this week about global warming.


WEST WIND BLOWING
—James Lee Jobe, Davis


The counter help confers

over a breakfast order

like Bush's Cabinet counting

the war dead.

The end is far, far from sight.

_______________________


WHERE INFINITY COMES FROM
—James Lee Jobe, Davis

(For Phil Goldvarg)


You are a spirit, and so am I; that much we know.

We feel it in certain lines of poems.

Spoken aloud the line flies through the air

like a long throw to third base

and when it hits us we go UMMPH.

Tomorrow, today, yesterday; it’s all the same to the stars,

and comparisons are either useless or dangerous.

So we live in the moment, your spirit, mine,

and we put the lines of poetry into the air.

I think that when a soul passes from this universe

to the next, another star is born to fill the void.

Is that where infinity comes from,

or where it goes? Ummph.

_______________________

Well-put, J-Lee. And thanks for the poems. Jim's rattlechap, What God Said When She Finally Answered Me, is available at The Book Collector ($5), or I'll mail you one for $6 (PO Box 1647, Orangevale, CA 95662).

—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.)
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