Brother Raven
RAVEN TELLS STORIES
—Robert H. Davis
Raven, gather us to that dark breast,
call up another filthy legend,
keep us distracted from all this blackness,
sheltered and cloaked by your wing. Answer us
our terror of this place we pretend to belong;
the groping spirits we're hopeless against;
from where all this bleakness keeps rising.
We ask you only to lull us with lies,
expecting the moon attached to day
because we're your parasites
nested in feather,
we hope you'll offer
any false hope
we might conjure you back, that when
your mouth opens to tell this,
we will not notice
your tongue black,
your mouth full of shadow.
_____________________
Medusa is very pleased to have moved into the Territory of Ravens.
This weekend:
•••Saturday (4/28), 9 PM: "The Show" Poetry Series at Wo'se Community Center, 2863 35th St., Sacramento (off 35th & Broadway) presents Gospel artist Vadia Hubbard and Show Stoppers slam with poets Random Abiladeze, Ner City, Oct, Supanova, He Spit Fire, Juanita "Yoke Breaker" Mason, Candy. $5. Info: 916-455-POET.
•••Also Sat. (4/28), 10-12 PM: Enjoy the Bilingual Niños Program: Stories & Poems for Children. Los Escritores del Nuevo Sol is featuring 2 writers: Professor Francisco X. Alarcón of UC Davis and teacher/writer Luz María Gama in a poetry program dedicated to children. Professor Alarcón is the author of a beautifully illustrated series of bilingual poetry books for young readers. These will be available for purchase. La Raza Galeria Posada, 1024 22nd St., Midtown Sacramento. Free. Info: 916- 456-5323. The public is welcome to all activities. Website: www.escritoresdelnuevosol.com/
•••Also Saturday (4/28), 10 AM to 10 PM: Poems-For-All presents A MIMEO GATHERING featuring Sal Mimeo & The Process Rebels Without Applause Tour of Words at The Book Collector, 1008 24th St., Sacramento. Mimeo Gathering? During the '60s and '70s folks used mimeo machines the same way we presently use Xerox copiers and computer printers to make chap books, zines and other small press publications. "Sal Mimeo" is flying from the east coast with a mimeo machine which will be in operation throughout the day making a very special limited edition commemorative chap of the event. Special things will be happening all day at the bookstore. Slip in whenever you like. INFO: (916) 442-9295 or richard@poems-for-all.com/ For more information, bios, poetry samples and updates on poets reading during the day go to: http://www.poems-for-all.com and click on the "events" button. [See last Tuesday's post for a more detailed schedule of the day's activities.]
•••Sunday (4/29), 2 PM: Celebrate National Poetry Month with Poetry in Turlock at the Spiritual Science Church #4 on Crane Avenue, one block east of the Main Post Office, two blocks from the library. Members of the Licensed Fools from Modesto will read their work. They have been writing and performing in this area for over ten years and have appeared at the State Theatre, the Prospect, the Mistlin Gallery, and various other readings here and in nearby cities. Some of their work will be available for sale. Poets will include rattlechapper Karen Baker, Stella Beratlis, Tina Driskill, Sheila D. Landre, Angela Morales-Salinas, Linda Scheller, Linda Toren, Gary Thomas, Gillian Wegener, Ann Williams-Bailey and others. Everyone welcome! Open Mic reading to follow. This is a benefit for the church. We are badly in need of repairs, especially a new roof. Donations are welcome. ($5 is suggested).
•••Sunday (4/30), 1-3 PM: Poetry Month Open Mic held by The Nevada County Poetry Series. 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.
•••Sunday (4/29), 2-4 PM: The Pomo Literati, a two-hour poetry/spoken word radio program series, celebrates National Poetry Month. Extreme poetic rarities, pre-beat to beat, to way-past beat with beyond-postmodern spoken word, poetry and soundscapes. And the odd text/music melange. A special return, on-air concert by David Houston & Friends interpolating text-vox and sound. Live readings by Nor-cal poets & writers Gene Bloom and Barbara Noble. A tribute honorarium of works by S.F. Poet Philip Lamantia. Cameo reading by SF Poetry Host Philip T. Nails. Hosted and produced by frank andrick. KUSF 90.3 fm in San Francisco, and you can go global like thousands do at www.kusf.org/
______________________
SOULCATCHER
—Robert H. Davis
Far from the scent of crackling spruce,
far from throbbing sealskin drum,
into space, into wind,
wild hair flying,
old man sings
across the endless dark;
the man who leaves himself
cross-legged, hollow and still.
Medicine man: soulcatcher.
In the short sharp ripples of firelight,
painted carvings and designs
weave and snap
on the bentwood box
holding mystical charms,
soulcatcher amulets
and magic rattle.
Animal people, ocean people:
this is how he brings them back.
The air begins to move in them.
Thick men in cedar bark clothes
Incantations. Song. Dance. Story.
He could capture your soul if he had to.
The trees know.
They know how easy it is to disappear,
how a figure slouched into fire
now wears a mask of ash and bone
in a village that feels air moving.
_____________________
NAMING THE OLD WOMAN
—Robert H. Davis
Why was that old woman
drawing the evening
shadows toward her like a spider?
What were those signs she wove
in dance? She wore a quarter moon
on her face, was wrapped in black
wind and feather, and lugged
a cedar bag of many masks,
many songs that reminded you
of wild animals
turning to fog and catching you.
She was carried through the wildness
of dreams. She was pulled
into the tattooed skin of the earth.
She was the crazy lady
you spent your whole life hunting,
and now in the smoke
you rake at the moon shadow
burning the other
part of itself on you,
and you can't get her out of you.
___________________
Today's poetry was from Raven Tells Stories: An Anthology of Alaskan Native Writing, ed. by Joseph Bruchac for The Greenfield Review Press, 1991. Robert H. Davis is a Tlingit from Southeast Alaska; his clan crest is Killerwhale.
—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) has gone into the mail; next deadline is Nov. 1. Snakelets 9 (for kids 0-12) is available; next deadline is May 1.
Books/broadsides: April’s releases are 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. Rattlesnake Interview Series #1 with Ann Menebroker and B.L. Kennedy is also available (free) at The Book Collector (or contact Kathy Kieth).
Next rattle-read: May's releases will be Ron Tranquilla’s Playing Favorites: Selected Poems, 1971-2006, plus a broadside by Julie Valin and a Rattlesnake Interview Broadside (#2) featuring Malik and B.L. Kennedy. Come check all these out on May 9 at 7:30 PM at The Book Collector, 1008 24th St., Sacramento. Refreshments and a read-around will follow; bring your own poems or somebody else’s.
Also: Check out the Rattlechaps Chapbook Series page on the ever-evolving 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 poets’ names that are in red. Each one of those should lead you to a separate page, including photos, bios, poems, contact info of the poet—and more to come, once we get them all up and running. Saa-weet!
RAVEN TELLS STORIES
—Robert H. Davis
Raven, gather us to that dark breast,
call up another filthy legend,
keep us distracted from all this blackness,
sheltered and cloaked by your wing. Answer us
our terror of this place we pretend to belong;
the groping spirits we're hopeless against;
from where all this bleakness keeps rising.
We ask you only to lull us with lies,
expecting the moon attached to day
because we're your parasites
nested in feather,
we hope you'll offer
any false hope
we might conjure you back, that when
your mouth opens to tell this,
we will not notice
your tongue black,
your mouth full of shadow.
_____________________
Medusa is very pleased to have moved into the Territory of Ravens.
This weekend:
•••Saturday (4/28), 9 PM: "The Show" Poetry Series at Wo'se Community Center, 2863 35th St., Sacramento (off 35th & Broadway) presents Gospel artist Vadia Hubbard and Show Stoppers slam with poets Random Abiladeze, Ner City, Oct, Supanova, He Spit Fire, Juanita "Yoke Breaker" Mason, Candy. $5. Info: 916-455-POET.
•••Also Sat. (4/28), 10-12 PM: Enjoy the Bilingual Niños Program: Stories & Poems for Children. Los Escritores del Nuevo Sol is featuring 2 writers: Professor Francisco X. Alarcón of UC Davis and teacher/writer Luz María Gama in a poetry program dedicated to children. Professor Alarcón is the author of a beautifully illustrated series of bilingual poetry books for young readers. These will be available for purchase. La Raza Galeria Posada, 1024 22nd St., Midtown Sacramento. Free. Info: 916- 456-5323. The public is welcome to all activities. Website: www.escritoresdelnuevosol.com/
•••Also Saturday (4/28), 10 AM to 10 PM: Poems-For-All presents A MIMEO GATHERING featuring Sal Mimeo & The Process Rebels Without Applause Tour of Words at The Book Collector, 1008 24th St., Sacramento. Mimeo Gathering? During the '60s and '70s folks used mimeo machines the same way we presently use Xerox copiers and computer printers to make chap books, zines and other small press publications. "Sal Mimeo" is flying from the east coast with a mimeo machine which will be in operation throughout the day making a very special limited edition commemorative chap of the event. Special things will be happening all day at the bookstore. Slip in whenever you like. INFO: (916) 442-9295 or richard@poems-for-all.com/ For more information, bios, poetry samples and updates on poets reading during the day go to: http://www.poems-for-all.com and click on the "events" button. [See last Tuesday's post for a more detailed schedule of the day's activities.]
•••Sunday (4/29), 2 PM: Celebrate National Poetry Month with Poetry in Turlock at the Spiritual Science Church #4 on Crane Avenue, one block east of the Main Post Office, two blocks from the library. Members of the Licensed Fools from Modesto will read their work. They have been writing and performing in this area for over ten years and have appeared at the State Theatre, the Prospect, the Mistlin Gallery, and various other readings here and in nearby cities. Some of their work will be available for sale. Poets will include rattlechapper Karen Baker, Stella Beratlis, Tina Driskill, Sheila D. Landre, Angela Morales-Salinas, Linda Scheller, Linda Toren, Gary Thomas, Gillian Wegener, Ann Williams-Bailey and others. Everyone welcome! Open Mic reading to follow. This is a benefit for the church. We are badly in need of repairs, especially a new roof. Donations are welcome. ($5 is suggested).
•••Sunday (4/30), 1-3 PM: Poetry Month Open Mic held by The Nevada County Poetry Series. 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.
•••Sunday (4/29), 2-4 PM: The Pomo Literati, a two-hour poetry/spoken word radio program series, celebrates National Poetry Month. Extreme poetic rarities, pre-beat to beat, to way-past beat with beyond-postmodern spoken word, poetry and soundscapes. And the odd text/music melange. A special return, on-air concert by David Houston & Friends interpolating text-vox and sound. Live readings by Nor-cal poets & writers Gene Bloom and Barbara Noble. A tribute honorarium of works by S.F. Poet Philip Lamantia. Cameo reading by SF Poetry Host Philip T. Nails. Hosted and produced by frank andrick. KUSF 90.3 fm in San Francisco, and you can go global like thousands do at www.kusf.org/
______________________
SOULCATCHER
—Robert H. Davis
Far from the scent of crackling spruce,
far from throbbing sealskin drum,
into space, into wind,
wild hair flying,
old man sings
across the endless dark;
the man who leaves himself
cross-legged, hollow and still.
Medicine man: soulcatcher.
In the short sharp ripples of firelight,
painted carvings and designs
weave and snap
on the bentwood box
holding mystical charms,
soulcatcher amulets
and magic rattle.
Animal people, ocean people:
this is how he brings them back.
The air begins to move in them.
Thick men in cedar bark clothes
Incantations. Song. Dance. Story.
He could capture your soul if he had to.
The trees know.
They know how easy it is to disappear,
how a figure slouched into fire
now wears a mask of ash and bone
in a village that feels air moving.
_____________________
NAMING THE OLD WOMAN
—Robert H. Davis
Why was that old woman
drawing the evening
shadows toward her like a spider?
What were those signs she wove
in dance? She wore a quarter moon
on her face, was wrapped in black
wind and feather, and lugged
a cedar bag of many masks,
many songs that reminded you
of wild animals
turning to fog and catching you.
She was carried through the wildness
of dreams. She was pulled
into the tattooed skin of the earth.
She was the crazy lady
you spent your whole life hunting,
and now in the smoke
you rake at the moon shadow
burning the other
part of itself on you,
and you can't get her out of you.
___________________
Today's poetry was from Raven Tells Stories: An Anthology of Alaskan Native Writing, ed. by Joseph Bruchac for The Greenfield Review Press, 1991. Robert H. Davis is a Tlingit from Southeast Alaska; his clan crest is Killerwhale.
—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) has gone into the mail; next deadline is Nov. 1. Snakelets 9 (for kids 0-12) is available; next deadline is May 1.
Books/broadsides: April’s releases are 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. Rattlesnake Interview Series #1 with Ann Menebroker and B.L. Kennedy is also available (free) at The Book Collector (or contact Kathy Kieth).
Next rattle-read: May's releases will be Ron Tranquilla’s Playing Favorites: Selected Poems, 1971-2006, plus a broadside by Julie Valin and a Rattlesnake Interview Broadside (#2) featuring Malik and B.L. Kennedy. Come check all these out on May 9 at 7:30 PM at The Book Collector, 1008 24th St., Sacramento. Refreshments and a read-around will follow; bring your own poems or somebody else’s.
Also: Check out the Rattlechaps Chapbook Series page on the ever-evolving 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 poets’ names that are in red. Each one of those should lead you to a separate page, including photos, bios, poems, contact info of the poet—and more to come, once we get them all up and running. Saa-weet!