Patrick Reagh Printer
Photo by Katy Brown, Davis
A CATAFALQUE OF MINUTES AND SECONDS
—Tom Goff, Carmichael
Today I read a New Yorker poem,
“Lincoln’s Dream,” a fine effort
from Dan Chiasson, a writer whose needlepoint-
in-soft-flesh criticism I intensely dislike.
Oh, yes, he manages what I could not, even
after reading, writing, dream-bleeding Lincoln:
Chiasson uncloaks like Antony
the assassinate flesh
already marble upon the catafalque.
Yet still suspended, animate
in presidential dream,
confirming us even now quick,
fresh from the Second Inaugural,
Louisiana’s reconstruction.
And I question my whole working method.
Let me write as if I’d carpentered
Dan Chiasson’s Lincoln catafalque,
a form to bed his poem (flagrant
corpse-reanimation, and yet alive!)…
For this, I will have to slip into Lincoln,
even now on the urgent train for Pennsylvania,
man bearing Andrew Curtain’s chat
of favors and reciprocities, Seward’s
cigar smoke and kneeslappers, fighting,
behind his own smiles and return jests,
for consecrating words to blood the paper,
make a fitting and proper catafalque
in never enough minutes and seconds.
—Tom Goff, Carmichael
Today I read a New Yorker poem,
“Lincoln’s Dream,” a fine effort
from Dan Chiasson, a writer whose needlepoint-
in-soft-flesh criticism I intensely dislike.
Oh, yes, he manages what I could not, even
after reading, writing, dream-bleeding Lincoln:
Chiasson uncloaks like Antony
the assassinate flesh
already marble upon the catafalque.
Yet still suspended, animate
in presidential dream,
confirming us even now quick,
fresh from the Second Inaugural,
Louisiana’s reconstruction.
And I question my whole working method.
Let me write as if I’d carpentered
Dan Chiasson’s Lincoln catafalque,
a form to bed his poem (flagrant
corpse-reanimation, and yet alive!)…
For this, I will have to slip into Lincoln,
even now on the urgent train for Pennsylvania,
man bearing Andrew Curtain’s chat
of favors and reciprocities, Seward’s
cigar smoke and kneeslappers, fighting,
behind his own smiles and return jests,
for consecrating words to blood the paper,
make a fitting and proper catafalque
in never enough minutes and seconds.
Thanks, Tom! To kick off National Poetry Month, Medusa is having a give-away: Send me your poems about The Writing Life—any take on it that you see fit—by midnight Wednesday, April 4 (that's tonight!), and I'll send you a free copy of Steve Williams' new rattlechap, Skin Stretched Around the Hollow—or any other Rattlesnake Press chap of your choosing (collect 'em all!). Send your musings and commiserations to kathykieth@hotmail.com or P.O. Box 762, Pollock Pines, CA 95726. Remember: prev-pubs are A-OK for Medusa, but please cite previous publication.
This month, we're extending the freebee to include a photo, drawing—any visual about The Writing Life (loosely interpreted) that can be posted on Medusa. Email them or snail them before midnight tonight, and you'll get a free chap, too. Or send me a picture AND poem(s) and get TWO freebees! Such a deal...!
Los Escritores this Saturday:
All are invited to attend Escritores del Nuevo Sol's writing group workshop and potluck this Saturday beginning at 11 AM at La Raza Galeria Posada, 1024 22nd St., Sacramento. Bring up to 3 pages of your own work to read, if you wish. Info: Graciela Ramirez, 916-456-5323 or joannpen@comcast.net.
Elizabeth Alexander Wins $50,000 Jackson Poetry Prize
Elizabeth Alexander has won the inaugural Jackson Poetry Prize, sponsored by Poets & Writers, Inc. Given to honor an American poet of exceptional talent, the prize provides what all poets need—time and the encouragement to write. Oy. Such a deal. I tell you this, not because this is a local gal, but to remind you that there is a little bit of money in poetry, here and there...
Tomales Bay in October:
Kate Asche, from the UC Davis Graduate Creative Writing Program (coordinating the Tomales Bay Workshops under director Pam Houston) writes: We want to make you aware of The Tomales Bay Workshops, which is an annual six-day writing conference this fall (Oct. 24-29) held at The Marconi Conference Center (www.marconiconference.org) on beautiful Tomales Bay, a little north of San Francisco. We have an extraordinary group of writers lined up to lead the workshops this year, including Jack Driscoll, Cornelius Eady, Judith Freeman, Pete Fromm, Heather McHugh, and Howard Norman. Our keynote speaker will be the lovely and accomplished Joy Harjo. We are now accepting applications for general admission (due by June 15—but send now, because we fill up quickly!) but are also calling for applicants to our fellowship competition. Each year, we try to give away at least six full-ride fellowships; these pay the whole $1300 conference fee and include room, food, and workshop enrollment. FELLOWSHIP APPLICATIONS ARE DUE APRIL 15 (applications arriving on Monday, April 16 will still be considered). Applications (and additional information) can be found in our brochure, or on our website at http://extension.ucdavis.edu/unit/arts_and_humanities/ (scroll down to the bottom to "Featured Courses" and click "The Tomales Bay Workshops"). Please do not hesitate to contact me at tomales.bay.workshops@gmail.com with any questions or concerns.
_______________________
THE ALLURE OF FORMS
—Coral Bracho
Blissful dance. Scream
of the shadows in light.
Night that pours its animal shrill
into the morning's joy.
There it ramifies,
bursts, intertwines itself. It blossoms
on its clearest edge. It's the allure of forms
in their steep nearness, their engulfed
proximity. Rivers become entangled with, yet do not merge,
an obscure lightning, an arborescent
flame. Fauna
sliding between the blazes.
It's the pleasure of opposites: the scattered pondering,
the swarming and resonant jungle.
(translated from the Spanish by Monica de la Torre)
_______________________
—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 April 11. Snakelets 10 (for kids-12) is available; next deadline is May 1.
Books/broadsides: Current releases are Skin Stretched Around the Hollow by Steve Williams and littlesnake broadside #32 by Brad Buchanan: Ultrasound. Next release: April 11, 7:30 PM, at the Snake’s Third Annual Birthday Bash and Buffet at The Book Collector: 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.
Something new: Rattlesnake Interview Series with B.L. Kennedy also premieres April 11; #1 is Ann Menebroker.