Sunday, March 25, 2007

Nobody Else in the World


David Humphreys and his boy, back in '89


BOY CRYING IN THE NIGHT
—Carlos Drummond de Andrade

In the warm, humid night, noiseless and dead, a boy cries.
His crying behind the wall, the light behind the window
are lost in the shadow of muffled footsteps, of tired voices.
Yet the sound of medicine poured into a spoon can be heard.

A boy cries in the night, behind the wall, across the street,
far away a boy cries, in another city,
in another world, perhaps.

And I see the hand that lifts the spoon while the other holds the head,
and I see the slick thread run down the boy's chin,
and slip into the street, only a thread, and slip through the city.
And nobody else in the world exists but that boy crying.

(translated from the Spanish by Mark Strand)

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Tomorrow night (Monday, 3/26), 7:30 PM: Sacramento Poetry Center presents Tim Bellows at HQ for the Arts, 25th & R Sts., Sac. [See Medusa's February 15 post for a profile of Tim.]

And David Humphreys is proud to present a Sonnet Contest from Poets Corner Press; deadline is Sept. 1, 2007. Please see guidelines on poetscornerpress.com and send formal or free-form sonnets with $10 reading fee for each entry to: Poets Corner Press, 8049 Thornton Rd., Stockton, CA 95209. The winner will be announced Nov. 1; judge will be Susan Kelly-DeWitt. First Place Award is $500! (Thanks for today's photo, David!)

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—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.)