WHEN SHE LEAVES—William S. Gainer, Grass Valley
Who's going to tell me
winter is over,
spring has arrived,
summer is coming
and that fall
will once again
be beautiful?
Who?
There is no other
voice
to be heard.
__________________
Thanks, Bill! William S. Gainer and the Grass Valley After Hours crew will be reading Thursday night; see below. Lots of readings this week, in fact, half of them in Davis:
This week in NorCal poetry:
•••Today, Tuesday (2/19), 3 PM: Rae Gouirand writes: Ander Monson is going to be giving a reading this Tuesday afternoon on the UCD campus as part of a campus visit (he's a candidate for one of the creative writing positions), and he's told me that the reading is indeed open to the public, so I wanted to help spread the word, given that I'm one of his biggest fans. Ander edits the online journal, DIAGRAM (which is itself worth checking out), and has published in the last three years three astoundingly good books: a novel in short stories that I find completely thrilling (Other Electricities, his first book, which earned the rare distinction of a glowing NY Times review for an indy press first book); a wonderful book of poems (Vacationland); and a smashing collection of essays (Neck Deep) that won the Graywolf Press Nonfiction Prize last year. The reading's in 126 Voorhies Hall, the UCDavis English building (at the corner of 1st & A Streets in downtown Davis). If parking really close to the building is tight, a nice alternative is to use the public lot behind Borders (at 1st & E) and walk the four blocks.
•••Wednesday (2/20), 9 PM: Poetry Night at Bistro 33 in Davis presents Robin and Keith Ekiss, 226 F St., Davis. Robin Ekiss earned her M.A. in creative writing from UC Davis. A former Stegner Fellow in poetry at Stanford and the recipient of a 2007 Rona Jaffe Foundation Writer’s Award for Emerging Women Writers, she has been an artist in residence at the MacDowell Colony, Millay Colony for the Arts, and Headlands Center for the Arts. Her poems appear or are forthcoming in The Atlantic Monthly, POETRY, Ploughshares, TriQuarterly, APR, and elsewhere.
Robin’s husband, Keith Ekiss, is the Jones Lecturer in Poetry at Stanford University and the past recipient of scholarships and residencies from the Bread Loaf and Squaw Valley Writers’ Conferences, Santa Fe Art Institute, Millay Colony for the Arts, and the Petrified Forest National Park. His poems and translations have appeared in Blackbird, New England Review, Gulf Coast, Modern Poetry in Translation, and The Christian Science Monitor. Open mic will follow the featured performers. Admission is free, and all are welcome. Info: 530-756-4556.
•••Weds. (2/20), 7:30 PM: California State University, Sacramento presents noted educator, anthologist, editor, poet and blogger Paul Hoover with Nguyen Do in Mariposa 1001 at CSUS. Paul Hoover and Nguyen Do will be presenting a dual-language performance of poems from their newly-published anthology of contemporary Vietnamese poetry (roughly 1956 to present) entitled Black Dog, Black Night [Milkweed Editions, 2008]. This anthology is the first to feature the innovative work of those writers of the Nhan Van movement, who absorbed modernist influences of the West. For this, many of these writers lost the sponsorship of the powerful state-sanctioned Vietnamese Writers Association and were relegated to the outside of Vietnamese literary society. Until recently, their work had been prohibited from being published in Vietnam for over 50 years. The anthology endeavors to chronicle the work of these and other “outsiders” in contemporary Vietnamese poetry. Nguyen Do, a former Sacramento City College student, left Vietnam in the late 1990s after learning from a friend connected to a powerful government official that he was no longer welcome.
•••Thursday (2/21), 7:30 PM: The Nevada County Poetry Series continues its tenth year of celebrating poetry by presenting Four Ways to Heartbreak (an evening of danger, love, loss, romance, deceit and heartbreak without regret) with Bill Gainer, Julie Valin, Chris Olander, Todd Cirillo. $5 general, seniors and students, $1 for those under 18. Refreshments and open-mic included. In an attempt to ease the pangs of those still suffering from the dreaded Post Valentine Day Disillusionments, the poets Bill Gainer, Julie Valin, Chris Olander and Todd Cirillo will be reading from their most intimate new and used poems. In commemoration of the event, Six Ft. Swells Press is releasing the chapbook, Lost Valentines, featuring all four poets. This is the fourth in the press's acclaimed Cheap Shots Poetry Series and will be available at the reading. Tickets can be purchased at the door for $5 general, seniors and students, and $1 for those under 18. Refreshments and open-mic included. The show will be in Off Center Stage (the Black Box theater, enter from Richardson Street) at the Center for the Arts, 314 W. Main St., Grass Valley, CA. For more information call (530) 432-8196 or (530) 274-8384.
Rattlechapper William S. Gainer is known for the openness of his confessional poetry and is recognized as one of the founding contributors to the modern movement of "After Hours" poetry. Gainer says, "My poetry is written with an economy of words. I believe that the strongest way for poetry to achieve its goal, to express an emotion or feeling, is through the minimal poem." Gainer has read and worked with a wide range of poets and writers, including readings on KUSF with Punk-Rocker Patti Smith and a recent performance with California's Poet Laureate, Al Young. Gainer is nationally published and continues to be a sought-after reader; he can be previewed on youtube.com (search Bill Gainer).
Julie Valin has been writing poetry since she got her first bra. Granted, the poems rhymed, but at least she had proper support. Now she is a new mom to a 3-month old poetess who brings beauty to her world on a daily basis. Valin is the co-publisher of Six Ft. Swells Press and her chapbook, Night Songs for Heavy Dreamers, has acquired lamplight poetry readers in a few dark places. Valin hopes to be able to write poems again someday that aren't about binkies, diapers, or that rhyme with "moon."
Chris Olander is a bio-educator with California Poets in the Schools. On stage, he blends performance techniques with spoken word to create an "Action Art Poetry." Olander says, "...I become the poem. I use contemporary events to bring forth and reveal mythic themes and archetypes that social and religious institutions repress..." For the last nine years Olander has been one of the organizers and featured readers of the acclaimed Berkeley Watershed Poetry Festival. He is a co-founder and current board member of the NCPS. His book, December Birds Poems, remains an underground phenomenon.
Rattlechapper Todd Cirillo has read his poetry in New York City, New Orleans, San Francisco and Sacramento and has been asked on stage to read from Kerouac's On the Road to the accompaniment of the famed musician, David Amram. Cirillo is co-founder, editor, publisher, and "buyer of the next round" of Six Ft. Swells Press: www.myspace.com/sixftswells. B.L Kennedy says of Cirillo's poetry, "Todd is either, cool and fast, like a midnight train is to the underbelly of the beast, or soft and lyrical as a Sinatra melody." Cirillo is the author of three chapbooks of poetry and is a co-author, with Will Staple and Bill Gainer of the notorious book, Roxy. It is noted, "He (Cirillo) was born in the dark and musical waters outside of New Orleans—when the moon was just right."
•••Thursday (2/21), 7 PM: Yosefa Raz will read her poetry in the Blanchard Room of the Yolo County Library in Davis at 317 W. 14th St. Raz is an Israeli-American poet whose first book, In Exchange for a Homeland, was published in 2004 by Swan Scythe Press. She is a graduate of the U.C. Davis creative writing program, and now lives in Berkeley, where she is working on her doctorate. The reading is sponsored by Israel Peace Alternatives.
•••Thursday (2/21), 8 PM: Poetry Unplugged at Luna’s Café, 1414 16th St., Sacramento, presents Frank Dixon Graham, current Poetry Editor of Poetry Now. Open mic before and after. Info: 916-441-3931.
•••Friday (2/22), 7:30 PM: The Avid Reader in downtown Davis presents Susan Kelly-DeWitt reading from her new book, The Fortunate Islands. Here is the link to the event: http://avidreader.booksense.com/NASApp/store/IndexJsp;
jsessionid=abcrt33MTdS1ghnfQAdCr?s=storeevents&eventId=366534
•••Saturday (2/23), 7-9 PM: The Caution Tour Comes To Sacramento, featuring poets Ner City (2007 Show Stoppa Slam Champ), Tamara Blue from Pasadena, and Judah 1 from Los Angeles. Plus: Live band LSB and the Super Love Poem Competition winner. Guild Theater (Off 35th & Broadway), Sacramento. $7.00. Open mic for all ages. Info: T-Mo (916)208-POET.
___________________
WAKING—IN NEW PLACES
—William S. Gainer
To fall into
the focus
of the dust
on the bathroom mirror
is only spooky
when you realize
what you’re doing,
before that
it all
makes sense.
__________________
A DIFFERENT KIND OF LOVE POEM
—William S. Gainer
The world is full of them,
the fools.
I’ve been there myself,
sometimes wishing I wasn’t,
sometimes wishing I was
and sometimes
just not knowing the difference.
They’re there.
Some waiting to push the button,
just to hear the boom
and some waiting
to dust off
their champion—
after the loss,
just because
they need
someone to love.
That’s what I’m doing,
trying to write a love poem,
about you and me,
with the shades pulled
and the doors closed,
sitting in the cool,
alone—
together.
You in your slip,
with one barrette
in your hair,
me in my shorts,
with one sock on,
trying to figure out a way
to steal a line
from John Prine,
just so I can tell you,
“if you need a fool
to love you—
I know one.”
___________________
—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.) Medusa cannot vouch for the moral fiber of other publications, contests, etc. that she lists, however, so submit to them at your own risk. 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: News from Rattlesnake Press
New in February: The Snake had a massive celebration on February 13 with the release of To Berlin With Love from Elsie Whitlow Feliz and Don Feliz, a new broadside from Carlena Wike (Going The Distance), and a new SnakeRings SpiralChap from Sam and Kathy Kieth (Sex—For Animals...). All of these publications are now at The Book Collector and will soon be available on the rattlesnakepress.com website, as well.
Coming in March: Rattlesnake Press will be releasing a chapbook from Ann Privateer (Attracted to Light), a littlesnake broadside from Jeanine Stevens (Eclipse), and a brand-new issue of Rattlesnake Review (#17). Join us to celebrate all of this at The Book Collector, 1008 24th St., Sacramento, on March 12 at 7:30 PM.