HOW TO TRANSLATE THE POEM
—Taylor Graham, Somerset
It’s a rhyme I used to know
by heart,
but in another language.
A stanza about water splashing
into a stone basin.
The shadow of a curtain
at some window.
Stars played
in the slow current.
Translations are easy
for the young, when the mind
is flexible as a meniscus
and the water’s a swirl
of colors.
Maybe the imagination stiffens
with age and grammar
and logic’s gray circuitry.
Oh, the diagrams
that will never dance.
_______________________
Thanks, TG! Taylor Graham will be reading with others at the Appel Gallery next Sunday night at 7 pm; see the calendar below for details.
Poets Corner Press announces that congratulations are due to Chapbook Poetry Contest winner Nancy Wahl of Sacramento for her manuscript, "Proof of Life", which won a First Place Award of $500.00, plus publication. The Poets Corner’s contest was judged by Julia Connor, current Poet Laureate of Sacramento. See poetscornerpress.com for details (or click on the link next to this column).
And speaking of Julia, check out the current Sacramento News & Review for a wonderful feature on Think Postcard, Julia Connor’s Poet Laureate project. (See Medusa’s March 21 post for details of this project.)
Check out poetic forms on Bob's ByWay (a VERY comprehensive glossary of poetic terms), and Jan Haag's “The Desolation Poems”, which is a compendium of examples of poems in various forms. Just Google ‘em up: “Bob’s ByWay” and “Desolation Poems”. And keep on clicking the SPC blogsite for pix and other lively things; it currently features some way-cool photos of our Red Fox Underground friends from Placerville and environs.
Here are this week’s events—send me correx or additions or embellishments—and I hope you’re sitting down, considering how long this is!
•••Tonight (4/24), due to the unexpected passing of JoAnn Purdy, David Purdy's wife, the reading at the Sacramento Poetry Center that was to feature Rain Ananael and David Purdy will be held as a commemorative evening dedicated to the spirit of JoAnn Purdy. Anyone who knew JoAnn or knows David (who will not be in attendance) and would like to contribute to the evening's reading is welcome to come. 7:30 pm at Headquarters for the Arts, 25th & R Sts., Sac. Because of the special nature of this evening, the open mic will be postponed until the following week.
•••Wednesday (4/26) is the monthly Hidden Passage Poetry reading from 6 to 7 pm at Hidden Passage Books, 352 Main St. in Placerville. It's an open-mic read-around, so bring your own poems or those of a favorite poet to share, or just come to listen.
•••Thursday (4/27) will be another Think Postcard workshop, this time at Luna’s Café (1414 16th St., Sac.) at 5 pm. (See Medusa’s March 21 post for details of the postcard project.) Then, at 8 pm, Poetry Unplugged will feature D.R. Wagner.
•••Friday (4/28) at 5 pm. is the deadline for Sacramento News & Reviews’ Student Poetry Contest. Go to www.newsreview.com to enter online.
•••Saturday (4/29): The Central California Art Association & Mistlin Art Gallery announce that April is National Poetry Month, and to celebrate this, the Gallery will be featuring poets William O'Daly, Karen Baker, and debee loyd this Saturday at 4 pm on 1015 J St. in downtown Modesto. (Karen Baker and debee loyd are rattlechappers!)
•••Or on Saturday (4/29) from 12-6 pm, go down to the Berkeley Poetry Festival, featuring readers from the Bay Area poetry community: SF Poet Laureate Jack Hirschman, Jack and Adele Foley, Jennifer Stone, Julia Vinograd, Dorothy Jesse Beagle, Louis Cuneo, Lucy L. Day, Tim Donnelly, Randy Fingland, Gail Ford, Haleh Hatami, Dale Jensen, Debra Khattab, Kirk Lumpkin, Maggi H. Meyer, Phillip Nails, Mark Schwartz, Tsahai Under and Judy Wells. North Berkeley Sr. Center Main Auditorium, 1901 Hearst St. (at Martin Luther King Way), Berkeley. Info: 510-981-5190 or mothershen.com. Free; open mic.
•••Sunday (4/30) Appel Gallery in Sacramento is hosting a reading by "Tree Stories" poets at 7 pm. Appel Gallery is located at 931 T St. Sac., at the corner of 10th & T Sts. Regional poets reading include Joseph Finkleman, Susan Hennies, Rebecca Morrison, Taylor Graham & Brigit Truex. Please join them for this closing celebration of "Tree Stories", a showing of mixed media photographs by Judith Monroe. If you didn't get a chance to see "Tree Stories" yet, this will be a great opportunity to see the images in person. To learn more about the on-going Tree Stories project, see http://www.tree-stories.blogspot.com.
•••Also Sunday (4/30), Sutterwriters and It’s A Grind Coffee House have teamed up to bring a public reading of Blood on the Page: Collected Writings of Sutterwriters to the Natomas area. The free reading will be held at 7 pm at the It’s A Grind Coffee House, 2731 Del Paso Rd., Sac.
•••Also Sunday (4/30), the Nevada County Poetry Series will continue to celebrate National Poetry Month by holding the last of its 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 free reading will be held from noon to 3 pm at Booktown Books and Tomes, 107 Bank St. (corner of South Auburn) in Grass Valley. Info: (530) 432-8196 or (530) 272-4655.
•••The Sacramento Bee's Second Annual Share a Story Children's Book Drive will end April 30. The goal is to collect 60,000 new and "gently used" books for young readers at 75 sites throught the region and to devote them to nonprofit agencies, which will place them in children's homes. Last year, 48,000 books were collected. Books in Spanish, Russian and Hmong languages are also hoped for, in addition to tax-deductible cash donations, and volunteers are needed to help sort the books. The Borders chain is offering a 15% discount on books bought and donated to the drive. For info on donating or volunteering: 916-556-5667 or www.sacbee.com/bookdrive.
Oy! Still lots going on, as Poetry Month comes to a close.
Time for a few Todd Cirillo thoughts on Hawaii. Todd Cirillo and Song Kowbell will be releasing rattlechaps at The Book Collector on May 10, but more about that later.
BIG ISLAND ROMANTIC
—Todd Cirillo, Grass Valley
Lovers
in the dark
hiding behind
seawalls
loving
in the moonlight
slowly
caressing
tender
soft parts
hoping
their tide
will finally
come in.
________________________
And Penn Valley poet Julie Valin sends a paean to Todd:
FINDING GOLD
for Todd Cirillo
Centuries of poets
have come before you
with the same wrung-out
heart, eyes mad
with women
and the glimmer
in the glass.
It’s too late for them—
but when will you,
my dear soul
with pirate swagger,
open your eyes
a million mornings
to the same treasure
of a woman
you closed
your eyes to
the night before
when the moon
spilled on your pillow
like a sigh
long before
last call?
—Julie Valin, Penn Valley
________________________
Thanks, Julie, Todd, and TG! Everybody keep them poems a-rollin’ in…
—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.)