Clothes of New Colors

SUNSET
—Rainer Maria Rilke

Slowly the west reaches for clothes of new colors
which it passes to a row of ancient trees.
You look, and soon these two worlds both leave you,
one part climbs toward heaven, one sinks to earth,

leaving you, not really belonging to either,
not so hopelessly dark as that house that is silent,
not so unswervingly given to the eternal as that thing
that turns to a star each night and climbs—

leaving you (it is impossible to untangle the threads)
your own life, timid and standing high and growing,
so that, sometimes blocked in, sometimes reaching out,
one moment your life is a stone in you, and the next, a star.

______________________

Today would've been Ranier Maria Rilke's 131st birthday. His poetry on this post was translated by Robert Bly.

This week:

•••Tonight (12/4), 7:30 PM: Brigit Truex, Jeanine Stevens, Charlene Ungstad and Rebecca Morrison will be reading at the Sacramento Poetry Center (HQ, 25th & R Sts., Sac). It will be a night to celebrate the Celtic, with Celtic poetry, dishes, libations, music, broadsides and photos. Bring your own Celtic poetry/stories/goodies to share—anything from Northern Europe qualifies. Open mic to follow, and refreshments. Free. All of these ladies have ties to the Snake: Jeanine has a rattlechap out (The Keeping Room); Brigit has one to come (A Counterpane Without, in February 2007); Rebecca (of "Eskimo Pie Girl" fame—see link to the right of this) had poetry in the very first Snake; and Charlene writes reviews for us from time to time. So I can vouch for them all—writers extraordinaire!

•••Tonight at 7:30 PM in Davis: The Other Voice presents Hannah Stein and rattlechapper (The Land) Susan Kelly-DeWitt at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Davis, 27074 Patwin Road in Davis. James Lee Jobe will be your host. Call 530-750-3514 for details, or go to http://uupoetry.blogspot.com for bios, sample poems, and directions. This is a free event, and after the featured poets there will be an open mic. Congrats to Susan, by the way, who will have a poem featured on Garrison Keillor's "Writer's Almanac", next Monday, December 11! Go to the following site to locate the poem on 12/11: http://writersalmanac.publicradio.org/

•••Or at 7 PM in Stockton: Poets Marie J. Ross and Elizabeth Parrish will be reading from their new chapbook, Lavender Fields, at Java Aroma/Stockton Empire Theatre (1825 Pacific Ave., Stockton, cross-street Walnut). The readers will be followed by a book-signing and open mic.

•••Another Davis reading, this time on Tuesday (12/5): Bistro 33 Tuesday Night Series at 3rd & F Sts., Davis, in the historic city hall. Open mic sign-up beginis at 8, warm-up readers at around 8:30, feature at about 8:50. Then open mic, sometimes a musical interlude. Contact Andy Jones for more info. This event meets every Tuesday now.

•••This Tuesday (12/5), a special get-away: It's kind of short notice to be hearing about it, but this week you can celebrate a winter holiday with an Evening of Poetry, Wine Tasting and Music, featuring jazz pianist Alan Copeland and Guest Poet Art Weil at the MiWuk Village Inn, 24680 Highway 108, Mi Wuk Village, CA 95346 (800-549-7886). Event-Only guests pay $10 (proceeds to benefit California Federation of Chaparral Poets, Inc., a state-wide non-profit organization). Or you can spend the night: Single or Double Occupancy Overnight Rooms Package (includes event) starts at $99, with upgrades available to suites and luxury rooms. See website: www.MiWukVillageInn or call direct: 800-549-7886 or 209-586-3031.

•••Weds. (11/29), 10 PM-midnight: Mics and Moods at Capitol Garage, 1500 K St., Sac. Features and open mic, hosted by Khiry Malik. 21 years of age and older; $5 cover. Info: 916-492-9336 or www.malikspeaks.com.

•••Weds. (12/6), 7 PM: I Began To Speak, a movie of the history of poetry in the City of Sacramento c. 1960 to 2006, features some 41 area poets who tell the story of the evolution of a single poetry community in their own voices. Produced, written and directed by Sacramento's B.L. Kennedy, with Linda Thorell as Director of Photography, Editing and Design, and funded in part by an ArtScapes Grant from the Sacramento Metropolitan Arts Commission, this unique film will premier at the legendary Crest Theatre in the heart of downtown Sacramento on Wednesday, December 6at 7 PM. Advance tickets now on sale at the Crest, 1013 K St., Sac., 916-442-5189 or sid@thecrest.com. Tickets are $10, and can also be purchased via ticket agencies like www.tickets.com—though you save on fees if you buy them directly from the Crest. (BL is a lesson to us all about how to get maximum press coverage for his projects; see a lengthy article about him and the film in last week's Sacramento News & Review, and one to come tomorrow in The Sacramento Bee.)

•••Thursday (12/7), 8 PM: Poetry Unplugged at Luna's Cafe (1414 16th St., Sac). Featured reader and open mic.

•••Thursday (12/7), 8-11 PM: Vibe Sessions at Cobbler Inn, 3520 Stockton Blvd. (next to Colonial Theater), Sac. $5, hosted by Flo-Real. Open Mic for comedians, singers, poets.

•••Sat. (12/9), 7 PM: Poems-For-All’s Second Saturday Series features
Other Voices: Thoughts from Sacramento's Left Bank; Poets read from the new limited edition set of handmade books from the Inclusionists. Poetry by the late Gene Black, as well as David Wiley, Leah Levine, Rachel Savage, Laura Llano, Be Davison-Herrera, Carol Gilbert-Wagner and Maggie Bowen Brown. That’s at The Book Collector. 1008 24th St., Sac. Info: richard@poems-for-all.com (916) 442-9295

•••Sat. (12/9), 8 PM: The ILL List III: A Poetry Slam Invitational at the State Theatre, 1307 J St., Modesto. This event will feature 10 nationally-renowned spoken word artists, many of whom have previously appeared on HBO's Def Poetry Jam. Through three rounds of original poetry, poets will match metaphors and battle rhyme for rhyme on their quest for $1000 in cash prizes! Randomly-selected judges from the audience, using Olympic-style scorecards, will award points to poets based on the strength of their poems and the quality of their performance. Audience members are strongly encouraged to root for their favorite poems, as cuts will be made after every round. Cheering, yelling, booing, hissing, whistling, and good-natured heckling are welcome and expected. Admission to this world-class literary boxing match is $15 for general admission, $12 students or $50 for front row, reserved seating, $30 second row, reserved seating. Tickets can be purchased online at www.thestate.org or at Salon Deville and Day Spa, 226 McHenry Avenue, Modesto (Cash-only location). Info: www.slamonrye.com or contact the State Theatre at (209) 527-4697.

•••Sunday (12/10), 6 PM: Manzanita poetry and prose reading held at the Barnes & Noble in Weberstown Mall, Stockton (Pacific Ave. and March Lane). Hosted by Poets Corner and Barnes & Noble, this event will feature readers who have poems published in the literary journal, Manzanita (#5). Open mic.

•••Also Sunday (12/10), 2:30-4:30 PM: Poets on the Ridge Open Mic at Juice & Java, 7067 Skyway, Paradise. Info: 530-872-9633. This event meets on the second Sunday of every month.


Snakery:

Rattlesnake Press is madly wrapping up its December, 2006 projects in the next two weeks, including a broadside (Grace Notes) from Bob Stanley; a SnakeRings SpiralChap (Poems in Two Voices) from Joseph and Susan Finkleman; VYPER! #5 (poetry journal from youngsters ages 13-19); and Rattlesnake Review #12 (poetry with fangs—an even dozen!). All of these will premier on Wednesday, December 13 at The Book Collector; be there!

And the December e-news, Snakebytes, will finish going out today; if you didn't get one and would like to, or are getting two (which is annoying), or got one and wish you hadn't, e-mail me at kathykieth@hotmail.com. And send me a poem or three while you're at it—Medusa, like the rest of us, has to eat every day. Remember: you are the future...

_______________________

YOU ARE THE FUTURE
—Rainer Maria Rilke

You are the future, the immense morning sky
turning red over the prairies of eternity.
You are the rooster-crow after the night of time,
the dew, the early devotions, and the Daughter,
the Guest, the Ancient Mother, and Death.

You are the shape that changes its own shape,
that climbs out of fate, towering,
that which is never shouted for, and never mourned for,
and no more explored than a savage wood.

You are the meaning deepest inside things,
that never reveals the secret of its owner.
And how you look depends on where we are:
from a boat you are shore, from the shore a boat.

_______________________

—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.)