Poetry A-Plenty

TO HELL WITH COMMONSENSE
—Patrick Kavanagh

More kicks than pence
We get from commonsense
Above its door is writ
All hope abandon. It
Is a bank will refuse a post
Dated cheque of the Holy Ghost.
Therefore I say to hell
With all reasonable
Poems in particular
We want no secular
Wisdom plodded together
By concerned fools. Gather
No moss you rolling stones
Nothing thought out atones
For no flight
In the light.
Let them wear out nerve and bone
those who would have it that way
But in the end nothing that they
Have achieved will be in the shake up
In the final Wake Up
And I have a feeling
That through the hole in reason’s ceiling
We can fly to knowledge
Without ever going to college.

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Today is a very busy poetry day in Sacramento:

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

•••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 today 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 this afternoon, from 3-5:30 pm., Rob Anthony, Seronda Holder and Yossarian Bowen appear at Queen Sheba's Fine 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 tonight'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.

•••And tomorrow (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.

________________________

CREATION MYTH HAIKU
—Gavin Ewart

After the First Night
the Sun kissed the Moon
‘Darling, you were wonderful!’

__________________________

ON THE VANITY OF EARTHLY GREATNESS
—Arthur Guiterman

The tusks that clashed in mighty brawls
Of mastodons, are billiard balls.

The sword of Charlemagne the Just
Is ferric oxide, known as rust.

The grizzly bear whose potent hug
Was feared by all, is now a rug.

Great Caesar’s bust is on the shelf,
And I don’t feel so well myself.

_______________________

—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.)