Is It Really April? Plus Events, 4/3-9

PICTURE POSTCARD FROM OUR YOUTH
—Dan Pagis

On your piano a plaster Beethoven stands
and thinks: Thank goodness I've gone deaf.
Even the neighborhood sparrows are singing out of tune this morning.

Only the Kurdish peddler is being true to himself
as he limps along the street shouting Old clothes!
in his bargain-basement Hebrew.

It doesn't matter. From the tangle of voices, the one voice ascends.
A blue bell of air
arches above us.

(translated from the Hebrew by Stephen Mitchell)

_______________________

Here's the haps for this week:

•••Tonight (Monday, 4/3), Rattlesnake Reviewer-in-Residence, SpiralChapper (Been Born Bronx) and Rattlechapper-to-be (The Settich Manor Poems, due out in June) B.L. Kennedy will read at the Sacramento Poetry Center, along with CSUS instructor Brad Buchanan, at 7:30 p.m., Headquarters for the Arts, 25th & R Sts., Sac. Click on the SPC link to the right of this for more biographical details on both of these fine readers.

•••Thursday (4/6), hear Straight Out Scribe Staajabu (with family and friends) at Poetry Unplugged, Luna's Cafe, 1414 16th St., Sac., 8 pm. Info: 916-441-3931.

•••On Friday, April 7, The Other Voice presents acclaimed poets (and rattlechappers) Susan Kelly-DeWitt (The Land) and Allegra Jostad Silberstein (In The Folds). The Other Voice meets at 7:30 in the library of the Unitarian Church at 27074 Patwin Road in Davis. Open mic follows, so bring along a poem to share. Info: 530-753-2634 or 530-753-1432.

•••Saturday (4/8) will be action-packed! First, Pulitzer Prize winner Franz Wright (son of James Wright and Liberty Kovacs) will be reading at Trinity Cathedral at 2620 Capitol Ave., Sac., at 3:00 PM. Get there early! Then, after that reading:

•••N Magazine’s 2nd Saturday Art Show features their cover artists for the past year. SpiralChapper Vic Selinsky (Love and Other Complaints, with his wife, Pearl) is the featured artist for November, 2005. You are invited to attend the free opening reception on Saturday, April 8, from 5:30-8:30 p.m. There will be refreshments and entertainment. The exhibit will be held at the South Natomas Community Center, 2921 Truxel Rd., Sac. If you cannot make the opening, the work will still be exhibited there on Sunday from 12 noon to 4 p.m.

•••Also Saturday afternoon, from 3-5:30 pm., Rob Anthony, Seronda Holder and Yossarian Bowen appear at Queen Sheba's Fiine Dining, 1537 Howe Av., Ste. 116, Sac. Info: 916-920-1020.

•••Then, grab a quick dinner and head over to The Book Collector, as Pink Toupee Collective gears up for its Fluxus-inspired Aktion/Art piece, Miss Fortune and the Carnival Of Fools (an original musical/theatrical/performance art piece opening Friday, 4/28 at The Space at California Stage) with a performance prequel at Saturday's (4/8) Poems-For-All Second Saturday Series (now back at The Book Collector after a month at HQ: 1008 24th St., Sac., 8 pm.). This work explores themes of conformity and the search for identiy in our increasingly homogenized and media-dominated culture. Fortune/Fools takes its inspiration from the Fluxus Movement in art, which fourished from the early '60's to the mid-'70's. Fluxus ("a flow") was know for its Dadaist leanings and its emphasis on artistic exploration and socio-policalo activism, expressed through performance art pieces known as "Aktions". Info: 916-442-9295.



•••If you miss Franz Wright on Saturday here in Sacramento, he will be reading in the Bay Area on April 9 (Sunday) at 3 pm in Oakland at Diesel Books on 5433 College Ave. and the next day, April 10, at 7 pm, he will be at Book Passages, 5 Tamal Vista Blvd., Corte Madera.

•••Also Sunday (4/9), the Nevada County Poetry Series will continue to celebrate National Poetry Month by holding another open-mic reading 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.

_______________________

CONVERSATION
—Dan Pagis

Four talked about the pine tree. One defined it by genus, species, and variety. One assessed its disadvantages for the lumber industry. One quoted poems about pine trees in many languages. One took root, stretched out brances, and rustled.

(translated from the Hebrew by Stephen Mitchell)


WALL CALENDAR
—Dan Pagis

December. An arctic wind, new
And bitter. Angels and polar bears
Sink into their winter slumber.
Just then,
Above, in the folds of soft snow,
The traps of spring get set.

June. In a military ceremony
Filled with sunshine,
The man is buried at noon.
Just then
It is midnight in the woman's belly. The fetus
Reports for duty: he recognizes the code.

December. Suddenly the boat
Turns over, I drown in a squalid
Sea, and watch, as expected,
Just then
All my stolen years drift by
Like sweet water.

(translated from the Hebrew by Tsipi Keller)

________________________

—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.)