Revelations, Obliged & Otherwise

PATHOLOGIES: HOPE*
—Robert Grossklaus, Rancho Cordova

I hate hope.
It's everywhere.
One measure of success.
The marketing of optimism
reduces the tolerance of other people's suffering.
As a Constant Judge;
collectivizing the labor is a progressive process.
"Your anger against me might have been wrath."
Secular rationalism, ambient Protestantism;
"I'm optimistic that all problems
will be solved."

Quotidian activities eluding
positive psychologists may include:
child-raising
airplane pilots
the poor
the war-ravaged
the majority.
Hope? What about a cure?
There. It's out.
Fuck hope. Keep us alive.


*Found mostly in "Pathologies of Hope" by Barbara Ehrenreich with a few lines from Harper's Magazine Feb. '07

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Thanks, RG! A free copy of Pearl Stein Selinsky's new rattlechap, Vic & Me, will be coming to Robbie and to all those other poets who are brave enough to send in "found" poems before Tuesday (1/16)—that's tomorrow—at midnight. Found poems are usually a kind of list poem that's generated from unlikely sources such as newspaper articles, catalogs, junk mail—any collection of words that seems to have elements that strike you as somehow poetic, either re-arranged or just as they are. Or it might be something less commercial: a note you found on the ground, or the juxtaposition of two graphitti, or some inadvertant slip of the tongue. Send it/them to kathykieth@hotmail.com or POBx 762, Pollock Pines, CA 95726, and see some of last week's posts for more examples.


Hear Bill Williams read:

Peggy Hill sent me this William Carlos Williams site, which includes audio of him reading. I'm sorry that it's not a direct link; you'll have to cut and paste, but it's an excellent site: http://writing.upenn.edu/pennsound/x/Williams-WC.html


This week's poetry calendar—and it's a biggie!

•••There will be no Sacramento Poetry Center reading tonight (Monday, 1/15), due to the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday. Next Monday's reader (1/22) will be Meg Withers.

•••Tuesday (1/16), 8:30 PM: Bistro 33 series in Historic City Hall, 226 F St. (3rd & F), Davis. Open mic after.

•••Weds. (1/17), 10 PM-midnight: Mics and Moods at Capitol Garage, 1500 K St. Features and open mic.

•••81st Poet's Dinner/Contest postmark deadline for entries is this Weds., 1/17. Event date is 3/17/07; you must be present to win. For complete rules and info, visit www.bayareapoetscoalition.org and click on the Poet's Dinner/Contest link.

•••Thursday (1/18), 8 PM: Poetry Unplugged at Luna's Cafe, 1414 16th St., Sac. features Beth Lisick, Michelle Tea, and Tara Jepsen traveling to Luna's from San Francisco, to be joined by local lit-wonders Becca Costello, Rachel Leibrock, and Rachel Gregg. Open mic before/after. Free. Info: 916-441-3931 or www.lunascafe.com.

•••Also Thurs., 8-11 PM: Vibe Sessions at Cobbler Inn, 3520 Stockton Blvd. (next to Colonial Theatre). Open mic, all ages, $5.

•••Friday (1/19), 7 PM: Our House Poetry Series features Elsie Whitlow Feliz and Don Feliz. Our House Gallery is in the El Dorado Hills shopping center; take the Latrobe exit south. Open mic after.

•••Also Friday (1/19), 7:30 PM: Kim Addonizio will be the featured reader at the Nevada County Poetry Series Annual Fundraiser. Kim Addonizio is a passionate poet, fiction writer, and teacher, finalist for the 2000 National Book Award, and recipient of a Guggenheim fellowship, two fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, a Pushcart Prize, and a Commonwealth Club Poetry Medal. Kim has authored four collections of poetry, most recently What Is This Thing Called Love (2004, W.W. Norton). Her previous three books of poetry are from BOA Editions: The Philosopher's Club, Jimmy & Rita, and Tell Me, which was a finalist for the 2000 National Book Award. A book of stories, In the Box Called Pleasure, was published by Fiction Collective 2. She is also co-author, with Dorianne Laux, of The Poet's Companion: A Guide to the Pleasures of Writing Poetry (W.W. Norton). With Cheryl Dumesnil she co-edited Dorothy Parker's Elbow: Tattoos on Writers, Writers on Tattoos (Warner Books). Her first novel, Little Beauties, was published by Simon & Schuster in September 2005. Check her out at blueflowerarts.com or kimaddonizio.com. Tickets can be purchased at The Book Seller in Grass Valley, Cherry Records in Auburn and at the door for $10 general, seniors and students, and $2 for those under 18, refreshments included. The show will be in the Main Theater at the Center for the Arts, 314 W. Main St., Grass Valley, CA. Info: 530-432-8196 or 530-274-8384.

•••Saturday (1/20), 7:30 PM: "Raíces Latinas" (Latin Roots): Los Escritores del Nuevo Sol presents Adrián Arias, a Spanish-language poet from San Francisco’s Mission Cultural Center, who is also a graphic artist. More on him at: http://adrian-arias.blogspot.com. Joining Adrián as MC and co-reader will be our member Jim Michael. Cost is $5 or as can be afforded; no one turned away for lack of $. Info: Graciela at 916-456-5323; more info at the website: www.escritoresdelnuevosol.com. [NOTE: Sacramento Poetry Center's Poetry Now listed this reading for Friday, Jan. 19; then the reader called to say he would have to shift it to Saturday. Hence some confusion. The reading is Saturday.]

•••Also Saturday, 11:30 AM to 3:30 PM: Artists Embassy International presents Confluence of the Arts: Poetry Reading, Art Show, Dance Performance with Notable Poets, Laureates, Dancing Poetry Festival Grand Prize Winners, Poetic Dance, Poetic/Visual Art, refreshments. The Alameda Historical & Art Museum, 2324 Alameda Ave., Alameda, CA. Info: 510-235-0361 or naticaaei@aol.com. (This event is not to be confused with their annual Dancing Poetry Contest, which is held each Fall.)

•••Also Saturday, 2-4 PM: The Central California Art Association & Mistlin Art Gallery announces a poetry reading at the gallery, 1015 J St., downtown Modesto. This reading will feature Mark Nicole Johnson, author of 3x3, Salvatore Salerno, author of Sunleaf, and Gordon Preston, author of Violins. Reception following. The public is welcome.

•••Also Sat., 7-9 PM: Underground Poetry Series at Underground Books, 2814 35th St. (35th & Broadway), Sac. Open mic; $3.

•••Sunday (1/21), 12-2 PM: Sacramentans Chip Spann and Elizabeth Robinson will be reading at Vesuvio in San Francisco, 255 Columbus Ave. at Jack Kerouac Alley (between Broadway and Pacific), San Francisco, CA 94133. Vesuvio, world-renowned saloon (across from City Lights Bookstore) in San Francisco’s North Beach, remains a historical monument to jazz, poetry, art and the good life of the Beat Generation. Chip and Elizabeth say: Each year we gather at Vesuvio to rattle our raucous souls, scream against the injustices and celebrate the joy of being alive. Join in the fun with business people, foreign visitors, healers, philosophers, mythologists, cab drivers, wise elders, off duty exotic dancers and bon vivants. Info: www.vesuvio.com, (916) 446-6160, chipspann@sbcglobal.net or elizabethmyth@sbcglobal.net.

•••Also Sunday: Molly Fisk's January's Boot Camp begins on Sunday (1/21) and runs through Friday, 1/26. You can join the regular camp and write new poems, or you can work on revisions by yourself (same format, same price). This is a great time of year to look at older poems and see what they might need to be presentable. If you don't know about Poetry Boot Camp, here's where you can find out: http://www.poetrybootcamp.com. It's a six-day workshop conducted via e-mail. Molly says it's enormously productive, and tons of fun.

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More about "found poems". JoAnn Anglin writes: You know all that sleazy spam we all get in our emails? Well sometimes, I have noticed, they contain odd phrase groupings designed, I realized, to bypass the spam filters. They are usually clustered excerpts of a few words from sources as disparate as Jane Austin and Consumer Reports. I’ve saved some, as I found the odd juxtapositions kind of tantalizing, as if I could somehow make poems from them, were I clever enough. Well, I went through this ‘junk mail,’ winnowing some word clusters, and here is my effort:

OBLIGED REVELATIONS
—JoAnn Anglin, Sacramento

I'll tell them that, at a future period,
before we have done any harm, he was
caught in the very act, in a mixture of confidential jest and earnest
he asked me what I would take in a close deerskin
I packed up such of my composure
Though that’s not saying much:
I am forced to confess now,
I cannot always mean what you say

the old lady looked
setting at her window, with an apologetic air
and was quite herself

It was in vain to take refuge, a mouldy sort of establishment,
nevertheless restored the heart than anything else
It was curious and interesting To think that it should come to this,
when I might have known it was to die tomorrow

Surrounded by other living beings,
so intent upon his own had laid about him with a heavy hand -
her chance to come demolish its atmosphere

Her hand passed softly before my lips
an indication of a wish, what I want you to be

Did you ever breed for the kindest and best,
extinguished and dreadfully young
But for very shame and the having no escape
removed as salvage

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Thanks, JoAnn! Then again, as David Humphreys points out, all poems are "found" poems...

—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.)