May Sarton
LOVE
—May Sarton
Fragile as a spider's web
Hanging in space
Between tall grasses,
It is torn again and again.
A passing dog
Or simply the wind can do it.
Several times a day
I gather myself together
And spin it again.
Spiders are patient weavers.
They never give up.
And who knows
What keeps them at it?
Hunger, no doubt,
And hope.
___________________
This week in NorCal poetry:
•••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 for several 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 Poetry Now regular who has just finished a book about cancer.
Next week (7/21), SPC will feature Yang Her's benefit for My Sister's House.
•••Wednesday (7/16), 9 PM: Poetry Night at Bistro 33 will feature the work of two talented California poets: Rebecca Morrison and Garland Thompson. UC Davis alumna Rebecca Morrison has worked at the University for 30 years. Her chapbooks include Eskimo Pie Girl Dreams (1997), Matsuyoi: 50 Haiku for the Moon (2000), The Cook Inlet Poems (2005), Border Crossing (2006), and Two Hundred Ridge Haiku for Lew Welch (2008). Morrison has also published dozens of interviews, editorials, short stories, photos, essays and articles, and she is editor and creator of the popular Sacramento-area poetry, art and music website Eskimopie.net/. She has served as Vice President of the Sacramento Poetry Center and was one of the founding editors of Poetry Now.
Also reading at Bistro 33 will be veteran poet Garland Thompson Jr., who has performed his poetry all over the United States as part of the Latino Poets Tour. A widely-published poet, Thompson is also a playwright, actor, director and producer, having worked on TV programs such as “Twin Peaks” and films such as Great Balls of Fire. The long-time host of Monterey's Rubber Chicken Poetry Slam & Open Mic, Garland Thompson is currently Pacific Grove's Poet-in-Residence.
Poetry Night at Bistro 33 takes place on the first and third Wednesdays of the month in the banquet room of Bistro 33, at 226 F Street in Davis. Beginning at 9pm, Poetry Night includes an open mic after the reading by the featured performer(s). The regular hosts of Poetry Night at Bistro 33 are Brad Henderson and Andy Jones. On July 16th the guest-host will be poet and musician Rob Roy. Andy Jones will return to welcome James Lee Jobe to Poetry Night on August 6th.
•••Thursday (7/17), 8 PM: Poetry Unplugged at Luna's Cafe, 1414 16th St., Sacramento. Featured readers, with open mic before and after.
•••Friday (7/18), 7:30 PM: GOING PUBLIC: STORIES OF GROWING UP IN THE PROJECTS: When Maryellen Burns thinks of New Helvetia, near the Old City Cemetery, she thinks of what she and her brother call ‘the last great childhood.’ When JoAnn Anglin passes Fire Station No. 5 at 8th St. and Broadway, she recalls the tiny apartment her family lived in at Callahan Homes. Tom Calloway, who worked in the Clinton administration, thought growing up on Seavey Circle was a nightmare, but later learned it could have been worse. For these, plus Retired Professor Sam Rios and writer Charlie Mariano, living in ‘the projects’ was integral to their early years.
The public is invited to hear these tales, and perhaps share some of their own at an evening of stories from these and other notable Sacramentans who grew up in public housing. “Going Public: Growing up in the Projects” takes place at Sacramento’s La Raza Galleria Posada (1024 22nd St., Sacramento, between K and J Sts.). Admission is $5 ($3 for students and seniors). The event is co-sponsored by Los Escritores del Nuevo Sol [Writers of the New Sun], the resident writers group of LRGP, and Matrix Arts, a regional non-profit arts organization for which Maryellen Burns is the director.
Assisting with the evening is Laura Martin, who hopes this evening will be a model for Sacramento Stories—a community story project series meant to capture the varied stories that make up Sacramento. Burns is working with Martin, who has created a website, www.sacramentostories.com , to which she invites the public to contribute. “Everyone has a story to tell, from the mundane to the extraordinary,” said Burns. “In the future we want to encourage sharing stories through multiple mediums of imagery—text, voice, sound, music, film and even animation.”
For information about Escritores del Nuevo Sol, established in 1993, contact JoAnn Anglin, or Graciela B. Ramirez, 916-456-5323, or see the website: http://escritoresdelnuevosol.com/.
•••Friday (7/18), 7 PM: Raven’s Tale poetry reading features Brigit Truex and Kathy Kieth at Raven’s Tale bookstore, 352 Main St., Placerville, 530-622-4540, co-sponsored by Red Fox Underground. Free; open mic after (sign up before). Info: btrue@directcon.com/. Here’s a sample poem from Brigit Truex’s rattlechap from Rattlesnake Press, Of A Feather:
SUMMER’S END
—Brigit Truex, Placerville
a map folded and refolded
tenuously holding
the landscape
coins with flattened faces
vivid green and yellow film boxes
water in a small blue bottle
weighted with foreign sand
a worm-tracked piece of wood
piebald stones
once heavy with significance
a torn scrap of paper
with an address
in a strange hand
sunsets photos and
one small perfect brown feather
•••Saturday (7/19), 7 PM: A reading of The Bridge Is Gone will be held by Monolin (Manny Moreno), a poet and life-long resident of Livingston, CA, at the Lazy S Ranch, 4255 Wellsford Rd. in Oakdale. This is a free event and open to all. Manny writes mainly of family and growing up in the valley. This is his first book, although he has been printed frequently in the poetry quarterly, Song of the San Joaquin. Yaqui/Tarascan, he participates in the Native American Church and the Sundance in South Dakota. His family settled in Livingston in the early 1900s, escaping persecution and widespread near-genocide of Yaquis in northern Sonora, Mexico. Info: Cleo Griffith, (209) 543-1776 or cleor36@yahoo.com
Directions to Lazy S Ranch: Claribel east past Claus, past Langworth to Wellsford Rd. (Oakdale). Turn right, follow the dead-end road into the ranch. You will see a large stable ahead with gravel parking. The reading will be on a stage inside the stable. Refreshments will be served.
__________________
A WINTER NOTEBOOK
—May Sarton
2
I am not available
At the moment
Except to myself.
Downstairs the plumber
Is emptying the big tank,
Water-logged.
The pump pumped on and on
And might have worn out.
So many lives pour into this house,
Sometimes I get too full;
The pump wears out.
So now I am emptying the tank.
It is not an illness
That keeps me from writing.
I am simply staying alive
As one does
At times by taking in,
At times by shutting out.
___________________
3
I wake in a large space
Listening to the gentle hush of waves.
I watch the sea open like a flower
A huge blue flower
As the sun rises
Out of the dark.
___________________
4
It is dark when I go downstairs
And always the same shiver
As I turn on the light—
There they are, alive in the cold,
Hyacinths, begonias,
Cyclamen, a cloud of bloom
As though they were birds
Settled for a moment in the big window.
I wake my hand, still half asleep,
With a sweet geranium leaf.
After breakfast
I tend to all their needs,
These extravagant joys,
Become a little drunk on green
And the smell of earth.
We have lived through another
Bitter cold night.
_________________
COCONUT
—Shawn Aveningo, Rescue
If only I liked coconut,
how much sweeter life could be.
Aunt Nadine’s feelings would be spared
as I turn down the slice of her
German Chocolate Cake,
her special recipe that took first prize
at the county fair. She reminds me
year after year
after year.
My mom could have packed those
perfectly packaged pretty pink Hostess Snowballs
in my Holly Hobby lunchbox, just like
Tammy and the other girls.
The selections on the Thai menu would
double, maybe even triple,
without my distaste for coconut milk.
I could savor an Almond Joy and
dunk Samoa’s in my java
in the early Spring.
I could have answered the personal ad
from Rupert Holmes,
“Yes, I like pina coladas and getting
caught in the rain”.
But, alas
I HATE the taste of coconut.
Hey, Rupert,
do I get points for wearing
a coconut bra in the rain?
Oh, well.
I tried.
__________________
Thanks, Shawn! Shawn Aveningo was inspired by last week's LittleNip that had coconuts in it.
__________________
Today's LittleNip:
I asked myself the question, “What do you want of your life?” and I realized with a start of recognition and terror, “Exactly what I have—but to be commensurate to handle it all better.”
—May Sarton
__________________
—May Sarton
Fragile as a spider's web
Hanging in space
Between tall grasses,
It is torn again and again.
A passing dog
Or simply the wind can do it.
Several times a day
I gather myself together
And spin it again.
Spiders are patient weavers.
They never give up.
And who knows
What keeps them at it?
Hunger, no doubt,
And hope.
___________________
This week in NorCal poetry:
•••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 for several 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 Poetry Now regular who has just finished a book about cancer.
Next week (7/21), SPC will feature Yang Her's benefit for My Sister's House.
•••Wednesday (7/16), 9 PM: Poetry Night at Bistro 33 will feature the work of two talented California poets: Rebecca Morrison and Garland Thompson. UC Davis alumna Rebecca Morrison has worked at the University for 30 years. Her chapbooks include Eskimo Pie Girl Dreams (1997), Matsuyoi: 50 Haiku for the Moon (2000), The Cook Inlet Poems (2005), Border Crossing (2006), and Two Hundred Ridge Haiku for Lew Welch (2008). Morrison has also published dozens of interviews, editorials, short stories, photos, essays and articles, and she is editor and creator of the popular Sacramento-area poetry, art and music website Eskimopie.net/. She has served as Vice President of the Sacramento Poetry Center and was one of the founding editors of Poetry Now.
Also reading at Bistro 33 will be veteran poet Garland Thompson Jr., who has performed his poetry all over the United States as part of the Latino Poets Tour. A widely-published poet, Thompson is also a playwright, actor, director and producer, having worked on TV programs such as “Twin Peaks” and films such as Great Balls of Fire. The long-time host of Monterey's Rubber Chicken Poetry Slam & Open Mic, Garland Thompson is currently Pacific Grove's Poet-in-Residence.
Poetry Night at Bistro 33 takes place on the first and third Wednesdays of the month in the banquet room of Bistro 33, at 226 F Street in Davis. Beginning at 9pm, Poetry Night includes an open mic after the reading by the featured performer(s). The regular hosts of Poetry Night at Bistro 33 are Brad Henderson and Andy Jones. On July 16th the guest-host will be poet and musician Rob Roy. Andy Jones will return to welcome James Lee Jobe to Poetry Night on August 6th.
•••Thursday (7/17), 8 PM: Poetry Unplugged at Luna's Cafe, 1414 16th St., Sacramento. Featured readers, with open mic before and after.
•••Friday (7/18), 7:30 PM: GOING PUBLIC: STORIES OF GROWING UP IN THE PROJECTS: When Maryellen Burns thinks of New Helvetia, near the Old City Cemetery, she thinks of what she and her brother call ‘the last great childhood.’ When JoAnn Anglin passes Fire Station No. 5 at 8th St. and Broadway, she recalls the tiny apartment her family lived in at Callahan Homes. Tom Calloway, who worked in the Clinton administration, thought growing up on Seavey Circle was a nightmare, but later learned it could have been worse. For these, plus Retired Professor Sam Rios and writer Charlie Mariano, living in ‘the projects’ was integral to their early years.
The public is invited to hear these tales, and perhaps share some of their own at an evening of stories from these and other notable Sacramentans who grew up in public housing. “Going Public: Growing up in the Projects” takes place at Sacramento’s La Raza Galleria Posada (1024 22nd St., Sacramento, between K and J Sts.). Admission is $5 ($3 for students and seniors). The event is co-sponsored by Los Escritores del Nuevo Sol [Writers of the New Sun], the resident writers group of LRGP, and Matrix Arts, a regional non-profit arts organization for which Maryellen Burns is the director.
Assisting with the evening is Laura Martin, who hopes this evening will be a model for Sacramento Stories—a community story project series meant to capture the varied stories that make up Sacramento. Burns is working with Martin, who has created a website, www.sacramentostories.com , to which she invites the public to contribute. “Everyone has a story to tell, from the mundane to the extraordinary,” said Burns. “In the future we want to encourage sharing stories through multiple mediums of imagery—text, voice, sound, music, film and even animation.”
For information about Escritores del Nuevo Sol, established in 1993, contact JoAnn Anglin, or Graciela B. Ramirez, 916-456-5323, or see the website: http://escritoresdelnuevosol.com/.
•••Friday (7/18), 7 PM: Raven’s Tale poetry reading features Brigit Truex and Kathy Kieth at Raven’s Tale bookstore, 352 Main St., Placerville, 530-622-4540, co-sponsored by Red Fox Underground. Free; open mic after (sign up before). Info: btrue@directcon.com/. Here’s a sample poem from Brigit Truex’s rattlechap from Rattlesnake Press, Of A Feather:
SUMMER’S END
—Brigit Truex, Placerville
a map folded and refolded
tenuously holding
the landscape
coins with flattened faces
vivid green and yellow film boxes
water in a small blue bottle
weighted with foreign sand
a worm-tracked piece of wood
piebald stones
once heavy with significance
a torn scrap of paper
with an address
in a strange hand
sunsets photos and
one small perfect brown feather
•••Saturday (7/19), 7 PM: A reading of The Bridge Is Gone will be held by Monolin (Manny Moreno), a poet and life-long resident of Livingston, CA, at the Lazy S Ranch, 4255 Wellsford Rd. in Oakdale. This is a free event and open to all. Manny writes mainly of family and growing up in the valley. This is his first book, although he has been printed frequently in the poetry quarterly, Song of the San Joaquin. Yaqui/Tarascan, he participates in the Native American Church and the Sundance in South Dakota. His family settled in Livingston in the early 1900s, escaping persecution and widespread near-genocide of Yaquis in northern Sonora, Mexico. Info: Cleo Griffith, (209) 543-1776 or cleor36@yahoo.com
Directions to Lazy S Ranch: Claribel east past Claus, past Langworth to Wellsford Rd. (Oakdale). Turn right, follow the dead-end road into the ranch. You will see a large stable ahead with gravel parking. The reading will be on a stage inside the stable. Refreshments will be served.
__________________
A WINTER NOTEBOOK
—May Sarton
2
I am not available
At the moment
Except to myself.
Downstairs the plumber
Is emptying the big tank,
Water-logged.
The pump pumped on and on
And might have worn out.
So many lives pour into this house,
Sometimes I get too full;
The pump wears out.
So now I am emptying the tank.
It is not an illness
That keeps me from writing.
I am simply staying alive
As one does
At times by taking in,
At times by shutting out.
___________________
3
I wake in a large space
Listening to the gentle hush of waves.
I watch the sea open like a flower
A huge blue flower
As the sun rises
Out of the dark.
___________________
4
It is dark when I go downstairs
And always the same shiver
As I turn on the light—
There they are, alive in the cold,
Hyacinths, begonias,
Cyclamen, a cloud of bloom
As though they were birds
Settled for a moment in the big window.
I wake my hand, still half asleep,
With a sweet geranium leaf.
After breakfast
I tend to all their needs,
These extravagant joys,
Become a little drunk on green
And the smell of earth.
We have lived through another
Bitter cold night.
_________________
COCONUT
—Shawn Aveningo, Rescue
If only I liked coconut,
how much sweeter life could be.
Aunt Nadine’s feelings would be spared
as I turn down the slice of her
German Chocolate Cake,
her special recipe that took first prize
at the county fair. She reminds me
year after year
after year.
My mom could have packed those
perfectly packaged pretty pink Hostess Snowballs
in my Holly Hobby lunchbox, just like
Tammy and the other girls.
The selections on the Thai menu would
double, maybe even triple,
without my distaste for coconut milk.
I could savor an Almond Joy and
dunk Samoa’s in my java
in the early Spring.
I could have answered the personal ad
from Rupert Holmes,
“Yes, I like pina coladas and getting
caught in the rain”.
But, alas
I HATE the taste of coconut.
Hey, Rupert,
do I get points for wearing
a coconut bra in the rain?
Oh, well.
I tried.
__________________
Thanks, Shawn! Shawn Aveningo was inspired by last week's LittleNip that had coconuts in it.
__________________
Today's LittleNip:
I asked myself the question, “What do you want of your life?” and I realized with a start of recognition and terror, “Exactly what I have—but to be commensurate to handle it all better.”
—May Sarton
__________________
—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.......!
_________________
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.