BLUENESS
—D.H. Lawrence
Out of the darkness, fretted sometimes in its sleeping,
Jets of sparks in fountains of blue come leaping
To sight, revealing a secret, numberless secrets keeping.
Sometimes the darkness trapped within a wheel
Runs into speed like a dream, the blue of the steel
Showing the rocking darkness now a-reel.
And out of the invisible, streams of bright blue drops
Rain from the showery heavens, and bright blue crops
Of flowers surge from below to their ladder-tops.
And all the manifold blue, amazing eyes,
The rainbow arching over in the skies,
New sparks of wonder opening in surprise:
All these pure things come foam and spray of the sea
Of Darkness abundant, which shaken mysteriously
Breaks into dazzle of living, as dolphins leap from the sea
Of midnight and shake it to fire, till the flame of the shadow we see.
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A week that’s hog wild with poetry:
The kids at the top of this page are glutton-izing themselves on NorCal poetry this week, especially next weekend:
•••Monday (4/16), 7:30 PM: Sacramento Poetry Center presents its 2007 High School Contest winners. Tonight’s reading will be in “The Space” on R Street just east of 25th St. in Sacramento. It’s in the same complex, but around the corner from HQ for the Arts. Next Monday (4/23) features Peter Grandbois.
•••Also Monday (4/16), 7 PM: California Poet Laureate Al Young will visit Nevada City as part of his "Top to Bottom" tour of the Golden State. The visit corresponds with National Poetry and National Library month in April, and the tour is focused on California's rural areas. Like all culture, poetry travels where people often can't or don't, said Young. The object of this tour is not so much to bring poetry to California's artistically vibrant communities but, rather, to bring out inspire and cheer the poetic impulse, which is human. Young will be reading his work, along with local poets Bill Gainer and Gail Entrekin, at the Madelyn Helling Library, 980 Helling Way (just outside downtown Nevada City). Admission is free. For more information, please call (530) 265-7050. Funding for these local poets is provided by the California Office of Poets and Writers, a national service organization. Young's selection of poetry will be derived from past and current works: Heaven; The Sound of Dreams Remembered; and Coastal Nights and Inland Afternoons. He will also be reading from brand-new works, including some poetry from his new book, Something About the Blues, which will be released in October 2007.
•••Thursday (4/19), 7:30 PM: the Nevada County Poetry Series presents Poets Joyce Jenkins, Richard Silberg and Daryl Chinn. Bill Gainer says, Editor, publisher, teacher, writer, poet and more—there is nothing left out when Joyce Jenkins, Richard Silberg and Daryl Chinn enter the building. They are major, long-time contributors to the West Coast literary scene. It is a very special gift to have them bring their talents to our stage. These are the shoulders the aspiring need to lean against. Tickets can be purchased at the door for $5 general, seniors and students, and $1 for those under 18. Refreshments and open-mic included. The show will be in Off Center Stage (the Black Box theater, enter from Richardson Street) at the Center for the Arts, 314 W. Main St., Grass Valley, CA. For more information call (530) 432-8196 or (530) 274-8384.
•••Also Thursday (4/19), 8 PM: Poetry Unplugged at Luna's Cafe (1414 16th St., Sac.) features Rattlechapper/SpiralChapper/Reviewer-in-Residence/Interviewer-in-Residence B.L. Kennedy. Info: 916-441-3931 or www.lunascafe.com. Open mic before/after.
•••Friday (4/20) and Saturday (4/21): SPC Writers’ Conference 2007. All events take place at 1719 25th St. in Sacramento. There will be a reading and reception Friday night, April 20th beginning at 7 PM, featuring Heather Hutcheson, Andy Jones, Danny Romero, & Brad Henderson. Saturday, April 21, from 8:30 AM to 4 PM will be a series of workshops with Andy Jones, Brad Henderson, Gail Entrekin, Camille Norton, Heather Hutcheson, Tim Kahl, Sac City Ethnic Theatre Workshop, Danny Romero, and Angela Dee Alforque, and the day will close with a reading and celebration. See your April Poetry Now for more details. The fees are $25 for SPC members and $35 for non-members. Make checks payable to SPC and mail to SPC Writers’ Conference, 1719 25th St., Sacramento, CA 95814. An entry form is printed in your April Poetry Now.
•••Also Friday (4/20), 7 PM: Our House Poetry Reading features Tom Goff and Nora Laila Staklis. An open mic follows. Our House Gallery & Framing is located at 4510 Post St. in El Dorado Hills Town Center; from Sacramento, take the Latrobe exit south (right) and then turn left into the shopping center. There is no charge.
•••Also Friday (4/20), 7-9 PM: East-West Bookstore presents "Catching Rumi’s Vision: Secrets of Transforming Your Life", featuring Tim Bellows, MFA, poet and college teacher, photographer and writer. Tim offers this workshop to open your heart to love, your actual pathway Home. Small-group discussion—video excerpts—key words from the Persian’s poetry for your actual practice, plus excerpts from Tim’s published writings. (Free book of Tim’s photographs & poems included—in gratitude.) East-West Bookstore is located near the intersection of Howe Avenue and Fair Oaks in Sacramento. $15. Info:
http://www.eastwestbooks.com/NASApp/store/IndexJsp?s=storeevents&eventId=341326
•••Also Friday (4/20) in Santa Rosa, 7 PM: The WordTemple Poetry Series presents Robert Hass and Brenda Hillman at Copperfield’s Books in Montgomery Village, Santa Rosa. Robert Hass, Poet Laureate of the United States from 1995 to 1997, is the author of many books of poetry including Field Guide, Praise, Human Wishes and Sun Under Wood. He is also the author of Twentieth Century Pleasures, essays on poetry, and the editor of Selected Poems: 1954-1986 by Thomas Transtromer; The Essential Haiku: Versions of Basho, Buson, and Issa; and Poet's Choice: Poems for Everyday Life. He is the founder of River of Words, an organization that promotes environmental and arts education. Hass is a professor of English at UC Berkeley. Brenda Hillman has published seven collections of poetry, including Pieces of Air in the Epic, Cascadia, Bright Existence, and Loose Sugar, among others. She edited an edition of Emily Dickinson's poetry for Shambhala Publications and, with Patricia Dienstfrey, co-edited The Grand Permission: New Writings on Poetics and Motherhood. Hillman's numerous awards include the 2005 William Carlos Williams Prize for Poetry and Fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Guggenheim Foundation. She in on the faculty of St. Mary's College in Moraga and is a member of the permanent faculty of Napa Valley Writers' Conference and the Squaw Valley Community of Writers. Copperfield's Books will be providing refreshments for this special event. Come early, grab and seat and enjoy! The bookstore will be reserving seats for "ticket holders;" people who have purchased books by Hass and/or Hillman can receive tickets at the Copperfield's counter. However, all WordTemple events are free.
•••Also Saturday (4/21), 2 PM: Jane Blue reads at the McClatchy Library, 22nd St. in Sacramento between U and V Sts. Free.
•••Also Saturday (4/21), 12-3 PM: A Day in April: a creative retreat at Cache Creek Nature Preserve, open to everyone in honor of Earth Day. All writers, visual artists, photographers, musicians, dancers, yogis, hikers, families, and other enthused parties of all ages are welcomed to a remarkable nature preserve that is home to abundant wildlife and beautiful vistas. Artists in all veins can enjoy time and space to develop new work, wanderers can enjoy nature trails, and all can expect interesting conversations, beautiful sights, and new connections. Bring whatever you need to enjoy your retreat: a yoga mat, a camera, musical instruments, notebooks, field guides, your friends and family, or just your awareness: the day is yours to enjoy your own celebration of creativity. This event is being hosted by the CCNP Writer-in-Residence program (Ray Gourirand). Directions: CCNP is located in northwest Woodland, CA. Take Highway 16 west for 3.4 miles from the intersection of Main Street and Road 98 in Woodland. Bear right onto Road 22 when 16 splits, pass the cemetery on your right, and make the first right onto Road 94B (near the Yolo Country Fliers Club). One mile later, turn left on Road 20. The Preserve is 0.4 miles down on the left, directly across from the Woodland Stallion Station. Signs will direct you. View a map at www.cacheconserv.org, or call (530) 661-1070 with questions. Carpool if you can!
•••Also Saturday (4/21), 2-5 PM: Historical reading at Historic Courthouse and Museum of Calaveras County in San Andreas. Come dressed as your favorite literary figure of the 1800s...to turn of the century. Read a piece from the writer's work and then read your own. $8 entrance fee includes museum fee, refreshments, art opening, and reading. Nonprofit event. Proceeds assist writers and artist future events and publications. [More about this event later in the week.]
•••Also Saturday (4/21), 4-5 PM: The Central California Art Association and the Mistlin Art Gallery announces a poetry reading at the Gallery, 1015 J St., Downtown Modesto. The reading will be a celebration of the third edition of hardpan, a journal of poetry that is published locally by Lost Cow Press. Editors (and rattlechappers) debee loyd & Karen Baker will be introducing contributors to read their work from this uniquely regional poetry journal. The public is welcome; a modest donation to the gallery will be accepted. Info: Gordon Preston at 209-523-8916.
•••Saturday (4/21), 7-9 PM: Underground Poetry Series features open mic. $3. Underground Books, 2814 35th St. (35th & Broadway), Sacramento. Info: www.terrymoore.info
•••Every Sunday in April, 1-3 PM: The Nevada County Poetry Series is celebrating National Poetry Month by holding its annual April open-mic readings at Booktown Books & Tomes. Bill Gainer says, This year we again had the opportunity to partner with Booktown to be part the largest literary celebration in the world and we jumped on it! What better place to showcase National Poetry Month than the community's largest independent, co-operative bookstore? It is a great location and a great venue. The place is alive with poetry! Everyone is invited to bring a friend and a poem and be part of the largest annual literary celebration in the world! Booktown is a fun, safe and often enchanting place to spend a Sunday afternoon in April. Free at Booktown Books and Tomes, 107 Bank Street (corner of South Auburn) in Grass Valley. For more info, call: (530) 432-8196 or (530) 272-4655. Then, when you get back from that:
•••Sunday (4/22), 7 PM: Poets Corner presents The Four Horsemen of the Entirely Improbable Explanation (Pacific Professors & one Former Dean of Students Gil Schedler, Doug Tedards, Bill Barr and S. Clement Anderson), followed by open mic at Barnes & Noble, Stockton Weberstown Mall at the corner of March Lane and Pacific Avenue, Stockton. Info: poetscornerpress.com
Is that enough poetry for you? Maybe you just want to clear your head after all those words, so why not go to the Orchid Show?
•••Sat/Sun (4/21-22): Sacramento Orchid Society presents its 60th Annual Orchid Show at Scottish Rite Masonic Center, 6151 H St., Sacramento (across from CSUS). [I know, I know, it’s not poetry per se, but if you’ve never been to an orchid show, check it out and give yourself a treat of smells and sights and textures. Surely you will be inspired to more great poetry!] Saturday, 10-5; Sunday, 10-4. I’m sure there must be an admission price, but it’s not listed in the release. Info: www.sacramentoorchids.org or 916-489-3263.
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In between poetry events this week, be sure to stop in a La Raza Galeria Posada (1022-1024 22nd St., Sacramento) to see the display of some of the 400 postcards generated by Sacramento Poet Laureate Julia Connor’s postcard project. See also the Saturday, April 14 issue of The Sacramento Bee, Metro section, for a detailed article about Julia and the project.
It’s not that we’re not grateful for poetry publicity such as Julia’s article, but where is The Bee posting all the local poetry events now? There used to be listings in Friday and Sunday Ticket sections, but now we’re lucky to get one event in there. Something needs to be done about this. Don’t they know that this is one of the most vibrant poetry communities in the nation?
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NONENTITY
—D.H. Lawrence
The stars that open and shut
Fall on my shallow breast
Like stars on a pool.
The soft wind, blowing cool,
Laps little crest after crest
Of ripples across my breast.
And dark grass under my feet
Seems to dabble in me
Like grass in a brook.
Oh, and it is sweet
To be all these things, not to be
Any more myself.
For look,
I am weary of myself!
__________________
HISTORY
—D.H. Lawrence
The listless beauty of the hour
When snow fell on the apple-trees
And the wood-ash gathered in the fire
And we faced our first miseries.
Then the sweeping sunshine of noon
When the mountains like chariot cars
Were ranked to blue battle—and you and I
Counted our scars.
And then in a strange, grey hour
We lay mouth to mouth, with your face
Under mine like a star on the lake,
And I covered the earth, and all space.
The silent, drifting hours
Of morn after morn
And night drifting up to the night
Yet no pathway worn.
Your life, and mine, my love
Passing on and on, the hate
Fusing closer and closer with love
Till at length they mate.
__________________
—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.)
SnakeWatch: Up-to-the-minute Snake news:
Journals: Rattlesnake Review #13 is available at The Book Collector; next deadline is May 15. The new VYPER #6 (for youth 13-19) will be out this week; next deadline is Nov. 1. Snakelets 10 (for kids 0-12) is available; next deadline is May 1.
Books/broadsides: April’s release is SnakeRings SpiralChap #7 from D.R. Wagner: Where The Stars Are Kept, and littlesnake broadside #33: Swallowed By This Whale Of Time by Ann Menebroker. Both are now available at The Book Collector. SpiralChaps are $8; broadsides are free. Or contact kathykieth@hotmail.com for ordering information.
Something new: Rattlesnake Interview Series with B.L. Kennedy is also available (free) at The Book Collector (or contact Kathy Kieth). #1 is Ann Menebroker.
Also: check out the Rattlechaps Chapbook Series page on the rattlesnakepress.com website! We've started generating separate pages for each rattlechapper/spiralchapper; scroll down through the list of books we've published and click on the names that are in red. That should lead you to a separate page for each of them, including photos, bios, poems, contact info—and more to come, once we get them all up and running. Sweet!