Austere and Lonely Offices

David Humphreys

MY SON'S BIRTHDAY
—David Humphreys, Stockton

Remembering such a time of pride and joy.
Look at him, now tall and fine, taking you
straight back in a bright lightning to your

own wedding day waltz with your new bride;
one two three, one two three, swung round
and round. A traffic torrent rushes, sizzles

in the rain-soaked street outside. Rosin on cello
bow, reed in oiled woodwind, the world whirls
in galaxy tempest. The world sighs in sifting sand,

whispers a nuzzling fur of comfort and affirmation.
Courage bristles a scimitar thorn. Ash billows.
Thunder rumbles kettle drums and cymbals crash.

And if he is suddenly taken away as he might so easily
be by some hit-and-run or soldier’s finishing truth of
honor, I will fold up these imaginary wings and become

my next dark shadow, tunnel-digger mole of retribution.
I will rain rage upon mine enemies. Beware.

_______________________

Thanks, David! David Humphreys will be releasing his new littlesnake broadside, Cominciare Adagio, this coming Wednesday, June 20 at The Book Collector at 7:30 PM. Come hear him and all the other luminaries who will be joining us that night, besides picking up the free poet-phernalia which will be available. See yesterday's post for more details.

David's broadside about his father who passed away is particularly germaine to today's deadline for the latest Medusa giveaway: Send me poems about dads, wry, sentimental, disgusted, or otherwise, and I'll send you a rattlechap of your choosing. Send poems, photos and whatever seems relevant—or not—to kathykieth@hotmail.com by midnight on Saturday, June 16 (that's tonight!) or snail 'em to P.O. Box 762, Pollock Pines, CA 95726. Don't forget: Medusa accepts previously-published poems and photos; just be sure to credit them.


Calendar additions:

•••Sunday (6/17), 2 PM: Jason's Cafe in Booktown Books in Grass Valley features Kirsten Casey, Judy Crowe, Betsy Fasbinder, Valerie Kack, Marina Sanford and Jaime Young. Info: gailentrekin@hotmail.com

•••Monday (6/18), 7:30 PM: Sacramento Poetry Center presents Luke Breit and José Montoya at HQ for the Arts, 1719 25th St., Sacramento. Luke Breit is the author of Words the Air Speaks [1978] by Wilderness Poetry Press; Messages: New & Selected Poets [1987] by QED Press; Unintended Lessons [1998] by QED Press, and the novel, The Tumultuous Times of Jesus Christ in the 21st Century. He has more than three decades of experience as a consultant to winning campaigns and legislative solution. Luke is also the Chair of the Environmental Caucus of the California Democratic Party. [http://www.environmentalcaucus.org/]. He is also currently a Reverend, performing marriages in the Sacramento region. José Montoya is one of the most influential Chicano bilingual poets. He is a founding member of the Royal Chicano Air Force, an artists' group that is internationally-recognized for its mural and poster work. He has published many well-known poems in anthologies and magazines. He served as Sacramento’s Poet Laureate from 2003 to 2004.


Or run away with the pirates:

Tall ships, live music, historic pirate characters, nautical-inspired crafts, kids' entertainment, games, costume contests, treasure hunts, sword-fighting and ship-to-shore cannon battles will be taking place in Vallejo this weekend at Vallejo Waterfront Park, 289 Mare Island Way, Vallejo. Free! Saturday 10 AM-dusk, Sunday 10 AM-6 PM. Info: 866-921-9277.


Speaking of pirates:

Next Thursday (6/21), 7:30 PM, Poetry Unplugged presents another Six Ft. Swells Press Book Release Party at Luna's Cafe, 1414 16th St., Sacramento, wherein Six Ft. Swells Press presents the release of the third chapbook in their Cheap Shots Poetry Series: Cocktails & Confessions: A Collection of Poetry Inspired by Lust and Libations. Free. Special guests include Ann Menebroker, Matt Amott, Todd Cirillo, Luke Warm Water, Gene Bloom, Barbara Noble and, bringing up the/her rear, Kathy Kieth—plus others too numerous to mention! Info: (530) 271-0662.

_____________________

TWO POEMS AND A REFLECTION**
—Anyssa Neumann, Germany

I. "HE SPEAKS IN YOUR VOICE, AMERICAN"

I understand
my father
more
after reading DeLillo's account
of Bobby Thomson's 1951 homer
than I ever did
living in the same house
for 18 years

How could I have been
so blind?

II. "AND THERE'S A SHINE IN HIS EYE THAT'S HALFWAY HOPEFUL"

At my age,
23,
my father had already survived
the bug-infested
snake-swarmed
lonely
damp
dangerous
jungles
of Vietnam

What right have I
to give up?

(*The titles, combined, are the first sentence of DeLillo's novel,
Underworld.)

**In the cool pallid summer dusk,
I saw my dad weep over his dad
and realized that someday
I'll be the one in the twilight,
weeping

____________________

Thanks, Anyssa! Anyssa Neumann also reminds us of this wonderful Dad poem by Robert Hayden, who is, like ex-Sacramentan-now-so-far-away Anyssa, not-so-local:

THOSE WINTER SUNDAYS
—Robert Hayden

Sundays too my father got up early
and put his clothes on in the blueblack cold,
then with cracked hands that ached
from labor in the weekday weather made
banked fires blaze. No one ever thanked him.

I'd wake and hear the cold splintering, breaking.
When the rooms were warm, he'd call,
and slowly I would rise and dress,
fearing the chronic angers of that house,

Speaking indifferently to him,
who had driven out the cold
and polished my good shoes as well.
What did I know, what did I know
of love's austere and lonely offices?

______________________

Finally, my apologies to Tom Miner, who I captioned under his picture yesterday as Tim Miner. My 7 AM eyes ain't what they used to be. Serves me right for using 9-pt. fonts...

—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 (free publications): Rattlesnake Review13 is available at The Book Collector; RR14 will be out June 20. Next deadline, for RR15, is August 15. VYPER6 (for youth 13-19) is in The Book Collector; next deadline is Nov. 1. Snakelets10 (for kids 0-12) is now available at The Book Collector; next deadline is 10/1.

Books/broadsides: May's releases are Grass Valley Poet Ron Tranquilla’s Playing Favorites: Selected Poems, 1971-2006, plus a littlesnake broadside by Julie Valin (Still Life With Sun) and a Rattlesnake Interview Broadside (#2) featuring Khiry Malik Moore and B.L. Kennedy. All are now available at The Book Collector. Rattlechaps are $5; broadsides are free. Or contact kathykieth@hotmail.com or rattlesnakepress.com for ordering information.

Next rattle-read: Rattlesnake Press will present Sacramento Poet Tom Miner at The Book Collector, 1008 24th St., Sacramento, on Wednesday, June 20 from 7:30-9 PM to celebrate the release of his new chapbook, North of Everything. Also featured that night will be a new littlesnake broadside (Cominciare Adagio) from Stockton Poet/Publisher David Humphreys, plus #3 in the Rattlesnake Interview Series by B.L. Kennedy, this one featuring Sacramento Poet Jane Blue. Refreshments and a read-around will follow; bring your own poems or somebody else's. More info: kathykieth@hotmail.com/ NOTE: For June, and for June only, our monthly Rattlesnake reading will be on the THIRD Weds. instead of the second one. And there will be no Snake readings/releases in July or August.