Luba Kaftanikoff [a friend of Anne Stevenson’s mother, Louise Destler Stevenson, in County Clare, Ireland] was a round little spinster, half-poet, half-white witch, who had known Yeats. She took me for a drive to see Lady Gregory's former home in Coole Park. This was where I met a white donkey and became convinced that it embodied the soul of Yeats. We communed for a while, and I came away determined that I should cut away from any life that precluded the writing of poetry.
—poet Anne Stevenson, from a 2004 interview in The Guardian
WHITE DONKEY
—Tom Goff, Carmichael
How apropos, that Yeats’ poetic soul,
tumbled through gyres, deep histories, into death,
should float up again, distend fresh lungs with breath,
and those the lungs of a smooth white donkey, foaled
on a long-eared dam by the poetry-spirit, holy
yet passionate, ungovernable breadth
of rapture in its treading stride, that spread
the hindquarters of a poor ass, infusing the whole,
half ghost, half jack, with—what witchcraft, firebrand?
Or was the soul-magic a nothing: stark humility?
The muse of Dean Swift, Parnell—no, Ireland,
once channeled through this demi-divinity—
now coursing through such a four-footed one, shaped to bray,
as Lord Burghley, or a last dutchess, rode at play?
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Thanks, Tom! Speaking of Tom Goff, Jane Blue sends us this:
I took you up on your [Seed of the Week] "returning home" theme. Loved Tom Goff's poem [see Wednesday’s post], being a twin in an incubator myself:
RETURNING
—Jane Blue, Sacramento
It was only a rustic cabin, after all
in the wooded hills of Berkeley. My father
smoked a pipe, chocolatey tobacco,
glancing up from a typewriter, his knees
bumping a little round table.
We could smell tide flats, see a pinch
of horizon if someone held us, one twin
or the other, up to a window. We lived there
until we were three. They would be writers,
Bohemian. When we returned
there were cracks in the brick, columbine
in shady dirt under the firs, a basement
window-sash raised with a bang, in anger
and surprise. The same droop of grape
for a doorknocker that someone cared enough
to take a close-up still-life snapshot of.
What would we be if we’d lived there longer?
Wild hill children? Fairy-tale children?
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This weekend in NorCal poetry:
•••Friday (7/11), 7-9 PM: Second Friday Poetry Reading at The Vox (gallery & cafe), 19th & X Sts., Sacramento, featuring Brad Buchanan, Catherine Fraga, Stephen Sadler, Lisa Jones, Matt Veazey and Frank Graham. Hosted by Cynthia Linville. Vegan meal beforehand, prepared by Caribbean Chef Kimba, 6-7 PM. $10 or less. RSVP for the meal info@voxsac.com/. Free & Family-Friendly!
•••Saturday (7/12), 6-9 PM: Public reception for the new Modesto Poet Laureate (Ed Bearden) and the out-going Poet Laureate (Sam Pierstorff), hosted by the McHenry Museaum and the Modesto Culture Commission at the McHenry Museum, 1402 I St., Modesto. Free. Info: Cleo Griffith, 209-543-1776.
•••Monday (7/14), 7:30 PM: Sacramento Poetry Center presents Ali-Salaam and David Irabarne at HQ for the Arts, 25th & R Sts., Sacramento. Open mic will follow. Ali-Salaam is an actor, author, and activist who has performed with the South Shore Community Players in several independent films and shorts. He has done voice-over work for various projects and has also been the host for several radio programs. He studied acting and directing at the University of Massachusetts. You can see several of his screen tests at http://www.alisalaam.com/
David Iribarne is a regular contributor to Poetry Now who has just finished a book about cancer.
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Oops! Forgot this week's Drive-By on Thursday, our micro-review by B.L. Kennedy:
Cranial Guitar:
Selected Poems of Bob Kaufman
Edited by Gerald Nicosia
Introduction by David Henderson
163 pp., Trade-Paper, $12.95
Coffee House Press
Legend has it that the late Bob Kaufman was The Poet of the Beat Generation. Despite the fact that he kept no diaries or journals, published no literary essays or reviews and maintained no correspondence, he holds the title of a major surrealist poet of American origin—something that has never ceased to amaze me. For those of you who know and love the work of Bob Kaufman, Cranial Guitar: Selected Poems of Bob Kaufman is a must-have, especially since most of the poet’s work is so damned hard to find outside of this volume. So order the book from your local book dealer, or the next time you are at City Lights Books in SF, pick it up. You can’t go wrong—this is a fine dose of a major and sometimes overlooked poet of the world.
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Burning wildfires' smoke from up north
turns July dusk sun into a bright orange ball
glowing from a cloudy backdrop curtain
looking somewhat like a Japanese flag
A "Hi no Maru" for the fire fighters:
Long live their bravery
Sacramentans complain about the air's smell—
I once had to put up with worse in L.A!
—Michelle Kunert, Sacramento
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Thanks, Michelle! And Shawn Aveningo sent us this response to yesterday's LittleNip by Fred Astaire. Thanks, Shawn!
ETERNAL RHYTHMS
—Shawn Aveningo, Rescue
Hippity-hoppity pollywog donning patent
leather taps, teapots tiptoe over, and
seventy-six trombones slide as she chasses.
Asleep with toes pointed, pirouetting
in nutcracker dreams to escape mother’s
warning of plantar’s plaque.
Her creations, chorus lines across stages
of turf at halftime, golden derbies glistening
beneath blazing sun of Indian Summer.
Quarterback cradling her in his arms,
moving in tandem to fantasy of earth, wind
and fire, audience rising to their feet.
Dancer’s torso now teetering on arthritic knees,
body not as agile as mind, finding fresh
rhythms to move her, the music of poetry.
Her dance never ending.
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Today's LittleNip:
In the garden of gentle sanity
May you be bombarded by coconuts
of wakefulness.
—Chögyam Trungpa
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—Medusa
SnakeWatch: What's Up With Rattlesnake Press
The Snake will be snoozing through July and August, leaving Medusa to carry on alone. Then on September 10, we shall burst back onto the scene with Ten Poems, a new chapbook from Patrick Grizzell; #2 in Katy Brown's series of blank journals (Musings Two: Vices, Virtues and Obsessions); plus Issue #19 of Rattlesnake Review (deadline is August 15). Meanwhile, look in on Medusa every day, and, for heaven's sake, keep sending stuff! The snakes of Medusa are always hungry...
Medusa's Weekly Menu:
(Contributors are welcome to cook up something for 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 favorite tools.
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 future issues of 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 ravenous poetic souls.
And poetry! Every day, poetry from writers near and far! The Snakes of Medusa are always hungry.......!
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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.