Angst
Photo by Irene Lipshin, Placerville
A JUNGLE NIGHT
—Nguyen Chi Thien
A jungle night—it rains and rains, roofs leak.
Shivering with cold, we hug our knees, trade stares.
The pale blue dot of fire on an oil lamp.
The can for piss, the can for shit.
The bed with stinging bugs.
A prisoner's New Year's Eve, in Sixty-one.
________________________
This week in poetry:
•••No reading tonight at Sacramento Poetry Center. Next week will feature Julia Levine and Kate Northrop.
•••Thursday (2/22), 8 PM: Poetry Unplugged at Luna's Cafe, 1414 16th St., Sac. presents Chris Olander and Bill Carr. Open mic before/after, free. Info: 916-441-3931.
•••Saturday (2/24), 3 PM: The Central California Art Association & Mistlin Art Gallery announce a poetry reading at the gallery, 1015 J St., downtown Modesto. This earlier start time is to accommodate the many readers scheduled to read in celebration of the "Gathering of Voices", an ongoing poetry series, by Tina Arnopole Driskill, which appears each month in Stanislaus Connections. A donation to the gallery is strongly encouraged. A "pot luck" reception will follow at 5 PM. The public is welcome.
•••Also Sat., 9 PM: "The Show" Poetry Series at Wo'se Community Center, 2863 35th St., Sac. (off 35th & Broadway). $5. Info: 916-455-POET.
Cache Creek returns:
The Universe and Other Words
Cache Creek Nature Preserve Poetry Workshop, Spring 2007
Thursdays 10 AM – 12 PM, March 1 – April 19
Rae Gouirand, Writer-in-Residence
rae_gouirand@yahoo.com
Rae Gouirand, who has facilitated workshops at Cache Creek in the past, writes: I'm happy that I can finally write and announce the first poetry workshop I'll be leading this year in the 2007 series at Cache Creek Nature Preserve in Woodland: "The Universe and Other Words." We begin March 1st.
At the heart of this writing workshop, we’ll examine modes of definition (meanings, word roots, metaphor and substitution) as well as the concept of minimalism—what spareness has to do with art, with the line, with story, and with the project of using language as a system to define subjects. Our goal will be to develop a wider range of approaches to the word as site of interest, departure, and return while pursuing new writing projects that stretch our comfortable lexicon. Writers from all levels of experience are welcomed and encouraged—we will take up both very basic and more nuanced questions about the writing we read as well as the writing we create, and we value the perspectives of all interested minds. This class will offer participants the opportunity to connect with other writers, gather response and feedback, familiarize with a diverse selection of exciting contemporary writers, and develop new work from writing assignments. Each week, we’ll discuss readings presented to the group in order to sharpen and focus individual concerns and points of interest, and then we’ll dedicate a block of time to writing on site at the
Preserve, using the landscape as a stepping-off point for imagining our own new pieces. Though we might share some new work at the end of some class meetings, we will be focusing primarily on nurturing and producing new work rather than on gathering feedback, and participants will be working independently a good part of the time.
The workshop is free to the public and open to all writers and those interested in exploring writing, thanks to a special grant from the Teichert Foundation and the support of Cache Creek Nature Preserve. To register, send an e-mail to rae_gouirand@yahoo.com with your name, email address, and phone number (please do not contact the preserve directly). I'm happy to provide directions or facilitate carpools to the Preserve for anyone who needs them—CCNP is just a few minutes northwest of downtown Woodland.
Please mark another save-the-date on your calendars as well: A Day in April, a day-long retreat at the Preserve site for writers, artists, dancers, yogis, musicians, hikers, and all other interested parties. Come celebrate our corner of the world and enjoy creative community with friends and family on Saturday, April 21st in honor of Earth Day.
_______________________
THE MODEL CHILDREN OF THE REGIME
—Nguyen Chi Thien
The model children of the regime
seemed darlings when they came to jail,
toddling around without their pants:
the prison blouses covered them
down to their feet.
But as time flies, they've reached the age of ten.
With noses in the air,
they're regular terrors now.
When gape their mouths,
curses come gushing out and spare no one.
And they can kill
for a potato, a cassava root.
_______________________
from SUNDRY NOTES
—Nguyen Chi Thien
25
The Party holds you down and you lie still.
When all are equal—scholars, dunces, beasts—
the paramount, hair-graying question is:
two meals, oh for two meals!
68
Short measure get all sentiments in jail,
where friendship weighs less than a cigarett,
where loyalty, like a report card, spreads thin,
where self-respect a spoon of rice knocks down.
_______________________
TRAVEL WITH GRIEF—GOODBYE TO JOY
—Nguyen Chi Thien
Travel with grief—goodbye to joy!
For baggage you have sweat and dust.
Some pocket money: poems and sweet dreams.
A dark, foul car—enjoy the smell.
Above the train a red flash glows:
somewhere, a storm is running wild?
_______________________
Today's poetry was translated from the Vietnamese by Huynh Sanh Thong.
Watch for a showing of rattlechapper Irene Lipshin's photographs, coming to the Cozmic Cafe in Placerville on March 17.
—Medusa
Medusa encourages poets of all ilk and ages to send their POETRY, PHOTOS and ART, as well as announcements of Northern California poetry events to kathykieth@hotmail.com (or snail ‘em to P.O. Box 762, Pollock Pines, CA 95726) 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.)
Photo by Irene Lipshin, Placerville
A JUNGLE NIGHT
—Nguyen Chi Thien
A jungle night—it rains and rains, roofs leak.
Shivering with cold, we hug our knees, trade stares.
The pale blue dot of fire on an oil lamp.
The can for piss, the can for shit.
The bed with stinging bugs.
A prisoner's New Year's Eve, in Sixty-one.
________________________
This week in poetry:
•••No reading tonight at Sacramento Poetry Center. Next week will feature Julia Levine and Kate Northrop.
•••Thursday (2/22), 8 PM: Poetry Unplugged at Luna's Cafe, 1414 16th St., Sac. presents Chris Olander and Bill Carr. Open mic before/after, free. Info: 916-441-3931.
•••Saturday (2/24), 3 PM: The Central California Art Association & Mistlin Art Gallery announce a poetry reading at the gallery, 1015 J St., downtown Modesto. This earlier start time is to accommodate the many readers scheduled to read in celebration of the "Gathering of Voices", an ongoing poetry series, by Tina Arnopole Driskill, which appears each month in Stanislaus Connections. A donation to the gallery is strongly encouraged. A "pot luck" reception will follow at 5 PM. The public is welcome.
•••Also Sat., 9 PM: "The Show" Poetry Series at Wo'se Community Center, 2863 35th St., Sac. (off 35th & Broadway). $5. Info: 916-455-POET.
Cache Creek returns:
The Universe and Other Words
Cache Creek Nature Preserve Poetry Workshop, Spring 2007
Thursdays 10 AM – 12 PM, March 1 – April 19
Rae Gouirand, Writer-in-Residence
rae_gouirand@yahoo.com
Rae Gouirand, who has facilitated workshops at Cache Creek in the past, writes: I'm happy that I can finally write and announce the first poetry workshop I'll be leading this year in the 2007 series at Cache Creek Nature Preserve in Woodland: "The Universe and Other Words." We begin March 1st.
At the heart of this writing workshop, we’ll examine modes of definition (meanings, word roots, metaphor and substitution) as well as the concept of minimalism—what spareness has to do with art, with the line, with story, and with the project of using language as a system to define subjects. Our goal will be to develop a wider range of approaches to the word as site of interest, departure, and return while pursuing new writing projects that stretch our comfortable lexicon. Writers from all levels of experience are welcomed and encouraged—we will take up both very basic and more nuanced questions about the writing we read as well as the writing we create, and we value the perspectives of all interested minds. This class will offer participants the opportunity to connect with other writers, gather response and feedback, familiarize with a diverse selection of exciting contemporary writers, and develop new work from writing assignments. Each week, we’ll discuss readings presented to the group in order to sharpen and focus individual concerns and points of interest, and then we’ll dedicate a block of time to writing on site at the
Preserve, using the landscape as a stepping-off point for imagining our own new pieces. Though we might share some new work at the end of some class meetings, we will be focusing primarily on nurturing and producing new work rather than on gathering feedback, and participants will be working independently a good part of the time.
The workshop is free to the public and open to all writers and those interested in exploring writing, thanks to a special grant from the Teichert Foundation and the support of Cache Creek Nature Preserve. To register, send an e-mail to rae_gouirand@yahoo.com with your name, email address, and phone number (please do not contact the preserve directly). I'm happy to provide directions or facilitate carpools to the Preserve for anyone who needs them—CCNP is just a few minutes northwest of downtown Woodland.
Please mark another save-the-date on your calendars as well: A Day in April, a day-long retreat at the Preserve site for writers, artists, dancers, yogis, musicians, hikers, and all other interested parties. Come celebrate our corner of the world and enjoy creative community with friends and family on Saturday, April 21st in honor of Earth Day.
_______________________
THE MODEL CHILDREN OF THE REGIME
—Nguyen Chi Thien
The model children of the regime
seemed darlings when they came to jail,
toddling around without their pants:
the prison blouses covered them
down to their feet.
But as time flies, they've reached the age of ten.
With noses in the air,
they're regular terrors now.
When gape their mouths,
curses come gushing out and spare no one.
And they can kill
for a potato, a cassava root.
_______________________
from SUNDRY NOTES
—Nguyen Chi Thien
25
The Party holds you down and you lie still.
When all are equal—scholars, dunces, beasts—
the paramount, hair-graying question is:
two meals, oh for two meals!
68
Short measure get all sentiments in jail,
where friendship weighs less than a cigarett,
where loyalty, like a report card, spreads thin,
where self-respect a spoon of rice knocks down.
_______________________
TRAVEL WITH GRIEF—GOODBYE TO JOY
—Nguyen Chi Thien
Travel with grief—goodbye to joy!
For baggage you have sweat and dust.
Some pocket money: poems and sweet dreams.
A dark, foul car—enjoy the smell.
Above the train a red flash glows:
somewhere, a storm is running wild?
_______________________
Today's poetry was translated from the Vietnamese by Huynh Sanh Thong.
Watch for a showing of rattlechapper Irene Lipshin's photographs, coming to the Cozmic Cafe in Placerville on March 17.
—Medusa
Medusa encourages poets of all ilk and ages to send their POETRY, PHOTOS and ART, as well as announcements of Northern California poetry events to kathykieth@hotmail.com (or snail ‘em to P.O. Box 762, Pollock Pines, CA 95726) 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.)