DANIEL
—David Humphreys, Stockton
I was the oldest brother
while you ran circles around everything,
rays of daylight binding up hay bails
with the wire of a quick witted harvest
dressed in fall’s fire dropping like a runaway sled
from Labor Day’s rough beach towel
down through a pile of fallen leaves
to midnight champagne.
You were in all the other seasons as well
but we’re locked up here
in this haunted house of ghouls and goblins
pledging allegiance before roll call remembering
the smell of chalk, pencil lead,
and fresh clothing dye of a new attitude’s
pins and cardboard behind a collar
of clean dry tissue paper,
neglected homework and broken playground rules
crumpled up with a primary motivation
from the years we still lived together.
I’ve carried your adolescent cluttered scrapbook
like perpetual youth ‘til yesterday
filled you out and grew you up
to a never expected stature’s maturity
with Dad and brother Richard
now showing plainly in your silhouette.
So where did our baby brother go,
with his scrimshawed marlin-spike splicing
circumnavigations into the
Wall of the Early Morning Light?
Thanksgiving this year may be a crystal table,
Christmas a Byzantine treasure.
(previously appeared in Delta Pastel by David Humphreys)
________________________
Thanks, David!
AUTUMN’S HERE
—Richard Zimmer, Sacramento
The changing colors of autumn.
A transitional time of the year.
Leaves will be tumbling down,
soon blanketing the ground.
Our vegetable garden’s gone.
Winds scatter leaves on the lawn.
Spring marks the beginning of things.
Summer’s the time for trips,
with happy words on our lips.
Fall means that holidays are near—
Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas;
the family times we all hold dear.
The years go by fast—autumn’s here.
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Thanks, Richard! Richard Zimmer and David Humphreys are two of today's poets in the Fall Snake-a-Thon. Send Medusa (kathykieth@hotmail.com) your autumn poems by midnight on Tuesday, Sept. 26 (that's tomorrow!), and I'll send you a free copy of Phil Weidman's new rattlechap, Fictional Character: The Ernie Poems—or something else equally dandy, if you already have Phil's book.
A Cornucopia of Poetry Events for the Week:
•••Tonight, Sept. 25, 7:30 PM: Sacramento Poetry Center presents Camille Norton, winner of the 2004 National Poetry Series Award winner for her new book, Corruption. Camille is on the faculty in the English Department at The University of the Pacific. She has recently been published in Field: Contemporary Poetry and Poetics; The Colorado Review; Tiferet; Iris; Ekphrasis; The White Pelican Review; The Gail Scott Reader; and How2: On-line Journal of Women and Experimental Writing. She has received numerous awards and fellowships in poetry, including and NEA fellowship at The MacDowell Colony in 2002. That's tonight at HQ for the Arts, 25th & R Sts., Sac. Info: 451-5569.
•••Tuesday (9/26), 7 PM: Craig Paulenich reads from his new book of poetry, Drift of the Hunt, the first offering from nobodaddies press. CSUS Library Gallery, Sacramento. Free.
•••Weds. (9/27), 10 PM-midnight: Mics and Moods at Capitol Garage, 1500 K St., Sac. Features and Open Mic hosted by Khiry Malik. $5, 21 and over. Info: www.malikspeaks.com or 916-492-9336.
•••Weds. (9/27), 6 PM: Open mic/read-around at Hidden Passage Books, 352 Main St., Placerville. Come join us (and the skeleton under the floor) for an hour of poetry; bring your own poems or somebody else’s. Free.
•••Thurs. (9/28), 8 PM: Poetry Unplugged features Matt Amott and Jennifer Jeanne O’Neil-Pickering, w/open mic before and after. Luna’s Café, 1414 16th St., Sac. Info: www.lunascafe.com or 916-441-3931. Free.
•••Thurs. (9/28), 8-11 PM: Vibe Sessions at Cobbler Inn, 3520 Stockton Blvd. (next to Colonial Theater). Hosted by Flo Real. $5. Open mic for comedians, singers, poets.
•••Sat. (9/30), 7-9 PM: “The Show” Poetry Series features Prentice (2006 Oakland/San Francisco Grand Slam Champion) Powell, Noah “SuperNova” Hayes, Lawrence Brooks, Jason Banks, Miss Ashleigh in Love Jones Poetry Night. Wo’se Community Center (off 35th & Broadway), 2863 35th St., Sac. $5. Info: T.Mo at 916-455-POET.
•••Local poet/artist/musician José Montoya is the first Fall featured reader at PoemSpirits, which will begin its fifth year this Sunday. Series co-facilitator JoAnn Anglin will also present a brief overview of the work of Poet Sharon Olds. Also open mic: All are invited to bring a poem of your own (or another’s) to read. Unitarian Universalist Society of Sacramento, 2425 Sierra Blvd., 2 blocks north of Fair Oaks Blvd, between Howe and Fulton Avenues. UUSS Foyer/Lounge. Snacks available. Info: JoAnn Anglin, 916-451-1372, or Tom Goff/Nora Staklis, 916-481-3312.
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Recently, R.E. Graswich, columnist for the Metro section of The Sacramento Bee, mentioned B.L. Kennedy's search for a theater in which to show the poetry documentary produced by The Archives Group. Today's column lists all sorts of responses that Graswich got; hopefully one of these will pan out. Thanks to Graswich for trying, at least, thereby supporting local poetry.
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More Fall poems, these from Ann Wehrman. Ann also has a poem in the current Poetry Now:
THE SEPTEMBER MOON
—Ann Wehrman, Sacramento
Moonrise, orange-yellow, swollen soft,
ready as a peach to shed its sweetness,
ready as the harvest pumpkin
which we lug to the table, chunk up, steam.
The house fills with luscious smells
cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice;
the pie bakes to perfection.
Harvest moon,
baked sweetness,
fruits of the vine
of the body's harvest,
of the soul's.
Fully risen, dreamy, silver,
the moon filters through our curtains
as we lie sheltered in each other's arms.
Slowly I caress the curve of your face,
your soft lips;
your eyes glow, luminous;
I tremble as I stroke your hair.
We drape over each other,
drowsy and pleased,
until our child's cry surprises us.
_______________________
FROSTED
—Ann Wehrman, Sacramento
Snap, crackle, pop—the
stiff autumn grass scat-sings an
ode to fall's first chill.
_______________________
MUDDY DAWN PALETTE
—Ann Wehrman, Sacramento
Fireflies stumble home
through soft blue,
growing lighter as sunrise kindles
a lonely pine and lesser trees,
all bend in rising breeze,
dark flocks skim high,
a hummingbird pauses
above a shadowed branch.
Last night's electric lights still flicker,
cast dirty salmon ribbons
through the pool outside glass doors
open to cool pre-dawn.
I let autumn wash my feet,
sip hot, bitter coffee,
watch a jet tear a peach trail
through warming, azure sky,
its steady low buzz blending
with the rush of cars
on Watt Avenue.
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Thanks, Ann! Everybody else—keep them Fall poems a-comin’…
—Medusa
Medusa encourages poets of all ilk and ages to send their poetry, photos and art, 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.)