THE BUILDING OF THE SKYSCRAPER
—George Oppen
The steel worker on the girder
Learned not to look down, and does his work
And there are words we have learned
Not to look at,
Not to look for substance
Below them. But we are on the verge
Of vertigo.
There are words that mean nothing
But there is something to mean.
Not a declaration which is truth
But a thing
Which is. It is the business of the poet
'To suffer the things of the world
And to speak them and himself out.'
O, the tree, growing from the sidewalk—
It has a little life, sprouting
Little green buds
Into the culture of the streets.
We look back
Three hundred years and see bare land.
And suffer vertigo.
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This week in NorCal poetry:
•••Monday (4/28), 7:30 PM: Sacramento Poetry Center presents William O’ Daly in a night of translation. One of the country’s foremost translators of Pablo Neruda, Daly’s book titles include: Still Another Day; The book of Questions; The Yellow Heart; The Sea and the Bells; The Separate World; Winter Garden; and the forthcoming The End of the World The Hands of the Day. William O’ Daly has spent the last seventeen years translating the late and posthumous poetry of Pablo Neruda. He has published six books of Neruda translations (see above) with Copper Canyon Press, as well as a chapbook of his own poems, The Whale in the Web. He is also putting the finishing touches on a historical novel based on China's Cultural Revolution, which he and his co-author have been working on for over a decade. A resident of Auburn, California, he makes his living as a teacher, editor, instructional designer.
•••Tuesday (4/29), 6:30-8:30 PM: Carmichael PoetryFest at the Carmichael Library, 5605 Marconi Av., Carmichael: A reading by Sacramento Poetry Center Board Member Stan Zumbiel and lectures by Board Members Tim Kahl and Board President Bob Stanley. Stan Zumbiel was born in the Midwest, but very early in his life was transplanted to the central valley of California, spending time in Auburn and Lincoln before ending up for good in suburban Sacramento. He started writing poems in 1967 while serving in the Navy. He raised four children, taught both middle school and high school, and became involved with the Sacramento Poetry Center about 1985. He lives with his wife, Lynn, in Fair Oaks, and continues to write.
Tim Kahl, Professor at Sacramento City College and Sierra College, is an SPC Board Member and published poet in many publications, including Prairie Schooner, South Dakota Quarterly, Berkeley Poetry Review, Indiana Review, Nimrod and The Texas Review. He will speak about the musicality of poetry in “Head Melodies: Bringing Song into Verse”, looking at how music (especially popular song) in many cultures offers its cadences, rhythms and forms to verse. Tim translates verse from Austrian and Portuguese and spends what time is left coaching youth in soccer and baseball.
Bob Stanley, SPC Board President, has served on the SPC board since 1999, and he has served on a number of non-profit boards in the past, including Wellspring Renewal Center and Alameda Poets. He currently teaches English at Sierra College and Sacramento City College. Bob will talk about “Who’s Reading Whom?”, the amazing diversity of good poetry that’s available from new writers.
Open Mike lead by Elizabeth Krause, SPC Board Member and UC Berkeley Graduate. Free, including refreshments. Info: 916.264.2920. [Next week's reading (May 5) will be a Cinco de Mayo open reading hosted by Art Mantecon.]
•••Thursday (5/1), 8 PM: Poetry Unplugged at Luna's Cafe, 1414 16th St., Sacramento. Open mic before and after.
•••Friday (5/2), 7:30 PM: The Other Voice, a poetry reading series sponsored by Unitarian Universalist Church of Davis, presents readers from The Yolo Crow, a quarterly literary journal celebrating the writings of the people of Yolo County. The journal began with two writers having coffee while thumbing through Writer’s Market. When one expressed a wish for someplace local to send out work, the other said, "So, start something." Three years and ten issues later, here they are, a gift to Yolo County and the world. The featured poets for Friday’s reading (which will be held in the library of the church located at 27074 Patwin Road in Davis) are Chris Campbell, Peter Goblen, Susan Wolbarst, Ronald Lane, and Sherman Stein. Refreshments and Open Mike follow, so bring along a poem or two to share. (By the way, this will be the last Other Voice reading until Sept.)
•••Friday (5/2), 7:30 PM: May 2 marks the anniversary of the death of mimeo era poet William Wantling. Poet and Wantling Scholar Kevin Jones and others will read their favorite Wantling poems and discuss his importance and impact as a poet. The Book Collector, 1008 24th St., Sacramento. Info: 916-442-9295.
•••Friday (5/2), 7 PM: An evening of entertainment including songs, dance and poetry by the Poets on the Roof in Stockton, followed by the one-act play, Black Country. A time of shotgun shacks, country gardens, juke joints, little churches and good music! Social hour and dance to follow. Valley Brew Co. Banquet Rm., 157 W. Adams, Stockton, CA (off Miracle Mile). Admission $10. Sponsored by The Society of American Heroes. Info: 209-470-5554.
•••Sat. (5/3), 7 PM: Both Susan and Joe Finkleman will be reading individual poems (no two-voice poetry this time) as part of the Sacramento City College literary magazine (Susurrus) reading, to be held on the Sacramento City College campus in Room A6 of the Auditorium Building.
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EUROPE’S MAN
—Marie J. Ross, Stockton
He said our eyes met
his turning a passionate
gleam.
He said “suddenly the
ballroom whirled transparent”
when he asked me to dance.
His flashy clothes and broad
shoulders were irresistibly
pasted to my eyes, in color
red, in color of future adventure.
He spoke with an accent suave,
impressing, and I knew he’d be
my downfall, my pulse racing.
We kissed under ribbons of
moon, embraced like a million
arms of flame, we became one,
he my only treasure, my only
love-man passion, or so I thought.
There she stood on the platform,
all dolled up in french couture,
people rushing, suitcases clicking
on cracks in the pavement.
He flung his arms around her, she clung
like a cobra snake, kissing him, kissing him,
too long, too sweet.
My heart sunk, peeled from a thousand salty tears,
as I left my head hanging low in a world I’d never
trust again.
Not until another man from Europe beguiles me,
whisks me on the dance floor of my weakness.
Thanks, Marie. Marie Ross sent us this poem in response to our "The heart once broken" Seed of Last Week.
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SARA IN HER FATHER'S ARMS
—George Oppen
Cell by cell the baby made herself, the cells
Made cells. That is to say
The baby is made largely of milk. Lying in her father's arms,
the little seed eyes
Moving, trying to see, smiling for usTo see, she will make a household
To her need of these rooms—Sara, little seed,
Little violent, diligent seed. Come let us look at the world
Glittering: this seed will speak,
Max, words! There will be no other words in the world
But those our children speak. What will she make of a world
Do you suppose, Max, of which she is made.
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PEDESTRIAN
—George Oppen
What generations could have dreamed
This grandchild of the shopping streets, her eyes
In the buyer's light, the store lights
Brighter than the lighthouses, brighter than moonrise
From the salt harbor so rich
So right her city
In a soil of pavement, a mesh of wires where she walks
In the new winter among enourmous buildings.
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LittleNip for a Monday:
Maybe this world is another planet's hell.
—Aldous Huxley
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—Medusa
Here's Medusa's weekly menu of features. Contributors are welcome to submit to any and all of these!
Monday: Weekly NorCal poetry calendar
Tuesday: Seed of the Week: Tuesday is Medusa's day to post poetry triggers such as quotes, forms, photos, memories, jokes—whatever might tickle somebody's muse. Pick up the gauntlet and send in your poetic results; and don't be shy about sending in your own triggers, too! All poems will be posted and a few of them will go into Medusa's Corner of each Rattlesnake Review. Send your work to kathykieth@hotmail.com or P.O. Box 762, Pollock Pines, CA 95726. No deadline for SOW; respond today, tomorrow, or whenever the muse arrives. (Print 'em out, maybe, save 'em for a dry spell?) When you send us work, though, just let us know which "seed" it was that inspired you.
Wednesday: HandyStuff Quickies: Resources for the poet, including whatever helps ease the pain of writing and/or publishing. Favorite journals to read and/or submit to; books, etc., about writing; organizational tools—you know—HandyStuff! Tell us about your favorites.
Thursday: B.L.'s Drive-Bys: Micro-reviews by our irreverent Reviewer-in-Residence, B.L. Kennedy. Send books, CDs, DVDs, etc. to him for possible review (either as a Drive-By or in Rattlesnake Review) at P.O. Box 160664, Sacramento, CA 95816.
Friday: NorCal weekend poetry calendar
Daily (except Sunday): LittleNips: SnakeFood for the Poetic Soul: Daily munchables for poetic thought, including short paragraphs, quotes, wonky words, silliness, little-known poetry/poet facts, and other inspiration—yet another way to feed our ever-hungry poetic souls.
And poetry! Every day, poetry from writers near and far! The Snakes of Medusa are always hungry.......!
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SnakeWatch: News from Rattlesnake Press
New in April: Ann Menebroker’s new chapbook (Small Crimes); Ted Finn's SnakeRings SpiralChap of his poetry and art (Damn the Eternal War); and Katy Brown's blank (well, not really) journal of photos and prompts, MUSINGS (For Capturing Creative Thought). All of these are now available at The Book Collector and will soon be available through rattlesnakepress.com.
Coming in May: Join us on Wednesday, May 14 for the release of Among Summer Pines by Quinton Duval; a littlesnake broadside, Before Naming, by Stephani Schaefer; and Volume Three of Conversations, our third book of interviews by B.L. Kennedy. That's at The Book Collector, 1008 24th St., Sacramento, 7:30 PM.
Also in May: Deadline for Issue #18 of Rattlesnake Review is May 15. Free copies of Issue #17 are available at The Book Collector, or send me two bux and I'll mail you one.
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). And be sure to sign up for Snakebytes, our monthly e-newsletter that will keep you up-to-date on all our ophidian chicanery.