COUNTESS
—Katy Brown, Davis
She is the Countess of Fear:
sheathed in slinky snakeskin;
covered
in stunning diamonds;
noted for her
angular jaw line.
She can be found
lounging in the sun—
resting in the shade:
waiting
for dinner.
And what
a venomous smile she has!
_______________________
Thanks, Katy! The sunny photo is also by Katy Brown, Marketeer-in-Residence at Rattlesnake Review. Watch for her "Snake Charmer's Bazaar" in Snake 11, coming up later in September.
Today:
•••Tonight (Thursday, 8/31), 8 PM: Poetry Unplugged presents Michael Gorman and Merlen Tofer, with medieval music by Kira. Open mic before/after. Luna’s Café, 1414 16th St., Sac. Info: 441-3931 or www.lunascafe.com. Free.
•••Also today (8/31) is the Poets & Writers Calif. Writers Exchange Contest deadline. For complete guidelines and an application, please contact (310) 481-7195 or cainfo@pw.org.
•••And also tonight, 7 PM: Colored Horse Studio, 780 Waugh Lane in Ukiah, will resume its featured reader series. Featured poet will be Armand Brint, former Ukiah Poet Laureate and author of Schools of Light and The League of Slow Cities. Armand was one of the first featured readers when we began this series at the Emerald Cafe in 1998. For more info: 463-6989, 275-9010, 468-9488 or poetry@coloredhorse.com (all phone numbers are Area Code 707.) Refreshments will be available. Donations are always welcome. They help us keep this series going. We are also grateful to Poets & Writers, Tenacity Press and Colored Horse Studio for helping to keep us afloat.
Starting the New Season at The Other Voice:
James Lee Jobe writes: When you're full of BBQ, why just sit around the house feeling fat? Get out for the Labor Day Open Reading! The Other Voice poetry reading series returns with an open reading on Labor Day, Monday, Sept. 4 at 7:30 PM in the Unitarian Universalist Church of Davis, 27074 Patwin Road, Davis. James Lee Jobe will be your host. Call 530-750-3514 for details. This is a free event. For the 2006-2007 season, The Other Voice will meet on the first Monday of every month at 7:30 PM in the library of the Davis Unitarian Universalist Church. On months when the first Monday is a holiday, there will be an open reading. All other readings will have at least one featured reader, sometimes two, followed by an open reading. Everyone is encouraged to attend and bring a poem or two and enjoy a glass of wine. For October, the featured poet will the award-winning Foothills poet (and Rattlechapper), Taylor Graham.
_______________________
WHAT COMMUTERS SAW
—Katy Brown, Davis
The mammoth fireball
plowed across
the dark-violet
evening sky:
on a shallow passage
down—
down from
east to west,
scribing a wide tail
of silver fire
behind its
diamond-blue
bolide
before
burning out
somewhere
over
Dixon.
In my driveway,
I consider the
still-glowing
aquamarine trail
arcing a path where
the fireball traveled—
half-hoping for,
half-dreading
another such
fiery event.
______________________
DUST BOWL LESSONS
—Katy Brown, Davis
Rows: efficient rows of corn and soybeans
planted in lines as straight as a tractor can plow
acre upon corrugated acre
in the dry mid-western prairie,
tended by leathered farmers
desperate to eke out one last dollar.
And the improved methods
worked for a while, boosting productivity
just barely enough.
Then the winds came. With the whooshing-moan
and the taste of the dust and the dry air
getting dryer and more dense with each murky-red sunrise.
The wind that never stopped: sweeping up
furrows, pulling up the ground from
under our feet until there was no more land to plow;
no more air to breathe; no more mortgages on our
abandoned farms. Only lines of trucks and cars
as straight as furrowed rows headed west to the San Joaquin.
________________________
—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.)
