The Betrothed
Painting by John Godward
CHERISH
—Raymond Carver
From the window I see her bend to the roses
holding close to the bloom so as not to
prick her fingers. With the other hand she slips, pauses and
clips, more alone in the world
than I had known. She won't
look up, not now. She's alone
with roses and with something else I can only think, not
say. I know the names of those bushes
given for our late wedding: Love, Honor, Cherish—
this last the rose she holds out to me suddenly, having
entered the house between glances. I press
my nose to it, draw the sweetness in, let it cling—scent
of promise, of treasure. My hand on her wrist to bring her close,
her eyes green as river-moss. Saying it then, against
what comes: wife, while I can, while my breath, each hurried petal
can still find her.
____________________
Poetry and dance tomorrow:
Coming tomorrow to The Sacramento Ballet Studios, 1631 K St., Sacramento, 5:30 PM: A Woman’s Journey: The Tamsen Donner Story, An Evening of Poetry and Dance. Sacramento’s poetry and dance communities will come together for a special evening in which local poets Frank Graham, Indigo Moor, Rebecca Morrison and Mary Zeppa will read excerpts from Ruth Whitman’s book of poems, Tamsen Donner: A Woman’s Journey, which inspired choreographer Ron Cunningham to begin this new work. Sacramento Ballet dancers will improvise to the readings as Cunningham creates A Woman’s Journey; accompanying music will be selected from the work of composer Aaron Copland. A question-and-answer session with the choreographer, the dancers and Sacramento Poet Laureate Julia Connor will follow.
Ruth Whitman described her book as Tamsen Donner’s Lost Journal. Donner, born in 1801, “was a teacher, wrote poetry, and had been married and widowed before she moved to Springfield, Illinois where she met and married her second husband, George Donner...Tamsen had published poetry in the Sangamon Journal in Springfield and wrote a letter about the journey to her friend, Allen Francis, editor of the newspaper. But most of what she wrote—her diary, her poems, and all but three letters—has been lost.” In 1974, Whitman “followed her path along the Oregon and Mormon trails and along the Hastings cutoff across the Salt Desert to the Sierra mountains.” That trip was the genesis for Tamsen Donner.
Admission for this event, which will be held at The Sacramento Ballet Studios, 1631 K St., Sacramento, is free, but an RSVP is requested: call the Ticket Coordinator at (916) 552-5800, extension 101.
Wrestling with our angels:
Dare you see a soul at the White Heat?
—Emily Dickinson
When you want to make the reader feel pity, try to be somewhat colder—that seems to give a kind of background to another's grief, against which it stands out more clearly. Whereas in your story the characters cry and you sigh. Yes, be more cold… The more objective you are, the stronger will be the impression you make.
— Anton Chekhov
Wresting with the Angel: White-hot Heat, Necessary Coldness: A Poetry Workshop with Kim Addonizio and Susan Browne will be held November 9-11 at Esalen, Big Sur, CA. They say:
Join us for our second year at the amazing Esalen for reading, writing new work, delicious food, hot tubs on the ocean, and transformative energy. In this workshop we will read poems that we admire for their authenticity of feeling and compelling use of detail, imagery, metaphor, and structure to learn the ways poets have balanced emotion with intellect, passion with the power of craft. We will explore some strategies for creating poems that use techniques that unlock the emotional, dramatic, and spiritual energy of a piece of writing. There will be writing prompts, sharing of first drafts, and discussion of, among other issues of poetry writing, what keeps us from intense emotion on the page and how to handle it once it's there. The workshop is open to writers at all levels. We are interested in meeting each writer at his or her own level of development. Take it for fun, to further your craft, to explore deeply some issue that you are remembering or facing now, to find new inspiration. Esalen fees cover tuition, food and lodging and vary according to accommodations, ranging from $475 to $1060. The least expensive rate is for sleeping bag space which can be very comfortable, but it's limited, so you need to sign up for it early. Some work-scholarship assistance is available, as well as small prepayment discounts and senior discounts. If you have questions about the workshop itself, please email Kim (kimaddonizio@comcast.net, www.kimaddonizio.com) or Susan:browne1dvc@aol.com/, but please register directly with Esalen at 831-667-3005 or visit www.esalen.org (http://www.esalen.org/workshops/searchfiles/workshps.leader.lasso)
Kim Addonizio is a nationally-acclaimed poet who has published four collections, including What Is This Thing Called Love and Tell Me, a Finalist for the National Book Award. Her work has appeared in the country’s leading literary journals, in textbooks and anthologies, and has been selected three times for inclusion in Best American Poetry. Her awards include two NEA Fellowships and a Guggenheim Fellowship. She has taught at both the graduate and undergraduate level at several colleges and universities, and has been on the faculty of numerous writers conferences. Kim has also published two novels with Simon & Schuster: Little Beauties and My Dreams Out in the Street, and is the co-author of The Poet’s Companion: A Guide to the Pleasures of Writing Poetry.
Susan Browne was selected as the winner of The Four Way Books Prize by Edward Hirsch; her first book, Buddha’s Dogs, was published in 2004. Susan’s poetry has appeared in Ploughshares, River City, The Mississippi Review, Gargoyle, Margie and other literary journals and anthologies, such as 180 More: Extraordinary Poems for Everyday, edited by Billy Collins. She has received awards from the Chester H. Jones Foundation, the National Writer's Union, the Los Angeles Poetry Festival, and the River Styx International Poetry Contest. She is a professor at Diablo Valley College in Pleasant Hill, California, and also teaches private workshops in Oakland.
_____________________
STILL LOOKING OUT FOR NUMBER ONE
—Raymond Carver
Now that you've gone away for five days,
I'll smoke all the cigarettes I want,
where I want. Make biscuits and eat them
with jam and fat bacon. Loaf. Indulge
myself. Walk on the beach if I feel
like it. And I feel like it, alone and
thinking about when I was young. The people
then who loved me beyond reason.
And how I loved them above all others.
Except one. I'm saying I'll do everything
I want here while you're away!
But there's one thing I won't do.
I won't sleep in our bed without you.
No. It doesn't please me to do so.
I'll sleep where I damn well feel like it‚
where I sleep best when you're away
and I can't hold you the way I do.
On the broken sofa in my study.
_____________________
THE OTHER LIFE
—Raymond Carver
Now for the other life. The one
without mistakes.
—Lou Lipsitz
My wife is in the other half of this mobile home
making a case against me.
I can hear her pen scratch, scratch.
Now and then she stops to weep,
then—scratch, scratch.
The frost is going out of the gournd.
The man who owns this unit tells me,
Don't leave your car here.
My wife goes on writing and weeping,
weeping and writing in our new kitchen.
_____________________
THE LITTLE ROOM
—Raymond Carver
There was a great reckoning.
Words flew like stones through windows.
She yelled and yelled, like the Angel of Judgment.
Then the sun shot up, and a contrail
appeared in the morning sky.
In the sudden silence, the little room
became oddly lonely as he dried her tears.
Became like all the other little rooms on earth
light finds hard to penetrate.
Rooms where people yell and hurt each other.
And afterwards feel pain, and loneliness.
Uncertainty. The need to comfort.
____________________
—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.) For more info about the Snake Empire, including guidelines for submitting to or obtaining our publications, click on the link to the right of this column: Rattlesnake Press (rattlesnakepress.com).
SnakeWatch: Up-to-the-minute Snake news:
Journals: The latest issue of Rattlesnake Review (#15) is available for free at The Book Collector, 1008 24th St., Sacramento, or send $2 to P.O. Box 762, Pollock Pines, CA 95726. Next deadline is November 15. The two journals for young people, Snakelets and Vyper, are on hiatus; no deadlines this Fall.
September's releases: The Snake returned with a bang on Wednesday, September 12, presenting Susan Kelly-DeWitt's new chapbook about growing up in Hawaii, Cassiopeia Above the Banyan Tree, at The Book Collector. Also available now: a littlesnake broadside from dawn dibartolo (Blush), and a continuation of B.L. Kennedy's Rattlesnake Interview Series (#4—frank andrick).
Coming in October: Rattlesnake Press celebrates Sacramento Poetry Month on Wednesday, Oct. 10 (at The Book Collector, Home of the Snake, 1008 24th St., Sacramento, 7:30 PM) with the release of Spiral, a rattlechap by Kate Wells; Autumn on My Mind, a littlesnake broadside by Mary Field; and #5 in the Rattlesnake Interview Series by B.L. Kennedy, this one featuring Sacramento Poet Laureate Julia Connor. Also released that night will be Conversations, Volume One of the Rattlesnake Interview Anthology Series (a collection of B.L.'s conversations with eleven Sacramento poets)—plus other surprises (and cake!). Be there!
