Flowers for Walt
Photo by Jeanine Stevens, Sacramento
Photo by Jeanine Stevens, Sacramento
WHEN I HEARD THE LEARN'D ASTRONOMER
—Walt Whitman
When I heard the learn'd astronomer,
When the proofs, the figures, were ranged in columns before me,
When I was shown the charts and diagrams, to add, divide, and measure them,
When I sitting heard the astronomer where he lectured with much applause in the lecture-room,
How soon unaccountable I became tired and sick,
Till rising and gliding out I wander'd off by myself,
In the mystical moist night-air, and from time to time,
Look'd up in perfect silence at the stars.
____________________
Thanks, Walt, and thanks to Jeanine Stevens, who sent Walt a photo of her lilacs in her Tahoe kitchen for his birthday. Head on down to the cemetery today to celebrate Walt's birthday, which was last Thursday:
•••Today (Sat., 6/2) from Noon-2 PM: Words of Walt: A Walt Whitman Birthday Celebration and Open Reading will be held once again at the Oddfellows Lawn (Old City Cemetery) on Riverside Blvd and Broadway in Sacramento. The Sacramento Poetry Center first took the poems of Walt Whitman in among the Civil War veterans' graves at Oddfellows Lawn to celebrate the man about 23 years ago. The SPC Oddfellows event was held only a couple of times, but this year, to celebrate Whitman's birthday (May 31), all are invited to return to the scene and participate in an open reading of Whitman's work. Bring your favorite Whitman poems and passages and a sack lunch, if you choose to, for an informal open reading of Whitman in the round among the graves of those who shared in the most significant years of Whitman's life, and whom the old nurse loved so well. Only Walt, please. There are so many great tributes to him, as well as a few notable slams, but this time is just the words of Walt. We will meet at the Civil War Monument on the Riverside edge of the cemetery (between the Riverside gate and Broadway—look for the signs) and begin reading at noon. You might also bring a cushion or folding chair if you wish. Hosted by Patrick Grizzell. Free. Info: 916-979-9706.
Thanks to Walt also for the astronomy poem, as our blue moon begins to fade.
_____________________
—Walt Whitman
When I heard the learn'd astronomer,
When the proofs, the figures, were ranged in columns before me,
When I was shown the charts and diagrams, to add, divide, and measure them,
When I sitting heard the astronomer where he lectured with much applause in the lecture-room,
How soon unaccountable I became tired and sick,
Till rising and gliding out I wander'd off by myself,
In the mystical moist night-air, and from time to time,
Look'd up in perfect silence at the stars.
____________________
Thanks, Walt, and thanks to Jeanine Stevens, who sent Walt a photo of her lilacs in her Tahoe kitchen for his birthday. Head on down to the cemetery today to celebrate Walt's birthday, which was last Thursday:
•••Today (Sat., 6/2) from Noon-2 PM: Words of Walt: A Walt Whitman Birthday Celebration and Open Reading will be held once again at the Oddfellows Lawn (Old City Cemetery) on Riverside Blvd and Broadway in Sacramento. The Sacramento Poetry Center first took the poems of Walt Whitman in among the Civil War veterans' graves at Oddfellows Lawn to celebrate the man about 23 years ago. The SPC Oddfellows event was held only a couple of times, but this year, to celebrate Whitman's birthday (May 31), all are invited to return to the scene and participate in an open reading of Whitman's work. Bring your favorite Whitman poems and passages and a sack lunch, if you choose to, for an informal open reading of Whitman in the round among the graves of those who shared in the most significant years of Whitman's life, and whom the old nurse loved so well. Only Walt, please. There are so many great tributes to him, as well as a few notable slams, but this time is just the words of Walt. We will meet at the Civil War Monument on the Riverside edge of the cemetery (between the Riverside gate and Broadway—look for the signs) and begin reading at noon. You might also bring a cushion or folding chair if you wish. Hosted by Patrick Grizzell. Free. Info: 916-979-9706.
Thanks to Walt also for the astronomy poem, as our blue moon begins to fade.
_____________________
ANOMALY
—JoAnn Anglin, Sacramento
the blue moon, the extra toe
splat of yellow in field of red
brown face in the pinks
we cast our grappling hook
curiosity, dilate our pupils
love the brazen, if only briefly
swing on the moon, not the star
spoon up the stringy nectar
pull ourselves up for a gander
croon to the blue night
blink-blink in the novelty, too-
easy metaphor. who can resist?
hug the little oddness for its oddity
back into our plumpish norm
but first, we’ll take the rays
_____________________
Thanks, JoAnn! JoAnn Anglin responded to the Blue Moon give-away, which ended last night at midnight. And here's one from Taylor Graham:
BLUE MOONS
—Taylor Graham, Somerset
Have you ever actually seen a blue moon?
I mean a sapphire once-in-a-blue-moon?
It’s announced again by Almanac: Jupiter
will rise to beam down on this Blue Moon.
I’ve heard that old folks can go crazy
waiting to witness just one more blue moon.
I’ve heard that young folks are born
crazy to serenade their first blue moon.
How many months of wages does it take
to turn a silver dollar into a blue moon?
A bride wears her old, her new, her borrowed,
and (modestly concealed) her blue moon.
Mr. Moon’s alone again, except for a stone
by the door-post — such an old blue moon.
Ms. Moon is searching all the old texts
to prove it’s a “She,” the lovely blue moon.
And this old rhymer listens out the window
for the song of bats on tonight’s blue moon.
_____________________
Thanks to both of these fine poets, and to everybody else who drops everything and sends their hard-won work to The Kitchen. This website really is about you, you know.
Still, we all know the moon isn't blue, it's green.
CIVILE CONVERSATION
—Stefano Guazzo, 1574
They make them believe,
according to the Proverbe,
that gloe wormes are lanterns,
and that the moon is made of greene Cheese.
_____________________
One more, from Thomas Hardy, who would've been 167 today:
AT A LUNAR ECLIPSE
—Thomas Hardy
Thy shadow, Earth, from Pole to Central Sea,
Now steals along upon the Moon's meek shine
In even monochrome and curving line
Of imperturbable serenity.
How shall I link such sun-cast symmetry
With the torn troubled form I know as thine,
That profile, placid as a brow divine,
With continents of moil and misery?
And can immense Mortality but throw
So small a shade, and Heaven's high human scheme
Be hemmed within the coasts yon arc implies?
Is such the stellar gauge of earthly show,
Nation at war with nation, brains that teem,
Heroes, and women fairer than the skies?
—JoAnn Anglin, Sacramento
the blue moon, the extra toe
splat of yellow in field of red
brown face in the pinks
we cast our grappling hook
curiosity, dilate our pupils
love the brazen, if only briefly
swing on the moon, not the star
spoon up the stringy nectar
pull ourselves up for a gander
croon to the blue night
blink-blink in the novelty, too-
easy metaphor. who can resist?
hug the little oddness for its oddity
back into our plumpish norm
but first, we’ll take the rays
_____________________
Thanks, JoAnn! JoAnn Anglin responded to the Blue Moon give-away, which ended last night at midnight. And here's one from Taylor Graham:
BLUE MOONS
—Taylor Graham, Somerset
Have you ever actually seen a blue moon?
I mean a sapphire once-in-a-blue-moon?
It’s announced again by Almanac: Jupiter
will rise to beam down on this Blue Moon.
I’ve heard that old folks can go crazy
waiting to witness just one more blue moon.
I’ve heard that young folks are born
crazy to serenade their first blue moon.
How many months of wages does it take
to turn a silver dollar into a blue moon?
A bride wears her old, her new, her borrowed,
and (modestly concealed) her blue moon.
Mr. Moon’s alone again, except for a stone
by the door-post — such an old blue moon.
Ms. Moon is searching all the old texts
to prove it’s a “She,” the lovely blue moon.
And this old rhymer listens out the window
for the song of bats on tonight’s blue moon.
_____________________
Thanks to both of these fine poets, and to everybody else who drops everything and sends their hard-won work to The Kitchen. This website really is about you, you know.
Still, we all know the moon isn't blue, it's green.
CIVILE CONVERSATION
—Stefano Guazzo, 1574
They make them believe,
according to the Proverbe,
that gloe wormes are lanterns,
and that the moon is made of greene Cheese.
_____________________
One more, from Thomas Hardy, who would've been 167 today:
AT A LUNAR ECLIPSE
—Thomas Hardy
Thy shadow, Earth, from Pole to Central Sea,
Now steals along upon the Moon's meek shine
In even monochrome and curving line
Of imperturbable serenity.
How shall I link such sun-cast symmetry
With the torn troubled form I know as thine,
That profile, placid as a brow divine,
With continents of moil and misery?
And can immense Mortality but throw
So small a shade, and Heaven's high human scheme
Be hemmed within the coasts yon arc implies?
Is such the stellar gauge of earthly show,
Nation at war with nation, brains that teem,
Heroes, and women fairer than the skies?
As all things do, she's beginning to fade...
—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 Review #13 is available at The Book Collector; RR #14 will be out in mid-June. (Next deadline, for RR #15, is August 15.) VYPER #6 (for youth 13-19) is in The Book Collector; next deadline is Nov. 1. The new Snakelets, #10 (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. There will be no Snake readings/releases in July or August.
—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 Review #13 is available at The Book Collector; RR #14 will be out in mid-June. (Next deadline, for RR #15, is August 15.) VYPER #6 (for youth 13-19) is in The Book Collector; next deadline is Nov. 1. The new Snakelets, #10 (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. There will be no Snake readings/releases in July or August.