—Poems and Photos by Taylor Graham, Placerville, CA
CONSOLATION
5 a.m. by my cellphone. No radio alarm,
no lights. PG&E warned us:
Be Prepared. I’ve got my LED lantern,
one bright point in a dark house.
Tinder-kindling-branchlets all ready
for a match in the woodstove.
Turn the tap—EID’s still working.
Miracle of running water!
Tea kettle on the stove, instant coffee.
No morning news on TV,
but the neighbor’s rooster is awake
and crowing.
Moon’s gone west out of sight.
East horizon’s black. A few cars pass
on the county road, bound for somewhere
beyond our red-flag power-outage zone.
No lights at houses across the swale,
the fields; no lights shining through trees
on the opposite slope. No city lights
casting a distant haze on sky.
Beautiful dark.
How bright the stars! Isn’t that
why we live here?
POWER’S OUT
Canyon’s a black hole—
no neighbor’s security
lights, no lit windows,
only some passing comets (cars)
and near-full moon, and the stars.
POWERLESS ON WEDNESDAY
All County offices are open, says
the recording. Is it true? Our power quit
in the middle of the night. We head for the Senior
Center; fitness class at 7:30. Traffic signals
working on 50 through town (but blinking red
on Main). A few cars at the Sr Ctr,
the director steps tentatively out the door.
Open? No, sorry, no power. I guess
they couldn’t change the County recording….
He tells me a Starbucks is open,
and Raleys 20 miles down the hill. I thank him
for the most news I’ve heard all morning.
Back to my car, escorted by the pair
of resident turkey-brothers, suspicious-eyed;
why is this human disturbing
the peace of a de-electrified day?
I’m driving us home. You get one of your
Charles Bonnet figments—when eyesight fails,
the brain makes images: this time,
a file of folks marching along, keeping
pace with our car; searching for a source
of wifi? Where are they going?
Osteowoowoo? Why not?
POETRY OFF THE SHELVES
Poetry tonight
at the library. Power’s
out all over town.
Chilly evening lantern-bright—
poems light the night.
FAIRYTALE’S BLACK HOLE
No one goes there
trick or treating, up the long dark
curving driveway. No cluster of masked
figures in cloaks and boots, tunics
and sandals; no kids with paperbags
outstretched for treats like
deposits in a bank account of sweets.
No parent would leave children
at the chain-and-carabiner’d gate—
not for the yelp of coyote
distant out of memory,
and the darkness
pressing in like ancient oaks.
SLASH PILES IN OCTOBER
My time for meditation among fallen oaks, picking apart the woods’ debris. Work makes firewood, helps clear the hill behind our house. Fire-season lasts all year. Work repetitious as a rosary, in the shade of living trees with sudden bursts of sun through canopy of leaves.
Twig and branch, tinder, kindling,
keep us warm in winter,
keep us fire-safe at home.
I’ve been reading about black holes and climate change: we mortal humans awestruck at a gravitational vortex 55 million light years away, but disbelieving of catastrophe right here on earth. Record floods and hurricanes, year-round wildfire-season in these hills we roam.
Twig and branch, tinder, kindling,
keep us warm in winter,
keep us fire-safe at home.
Today’s LittleNip:
RECONNECTING
—Taylor Graham
Home-power’s back on—
lights, phone, email messages
and the TV news…
It’s too much. Turn it all off.
O blessed shadow, silence.
____________________
Thanks today to Taylor Graham for her paeans to the power being shut off: the good, the bad and the ugly. About Jane Blue’s passing, she writes, “So sorry to hear about Jane Blue. A sweet, inspired lady. I hardly knew her, but I remember way back when—my first visit to an SPC event—she was so quietly welcoming.” Indeed; that was Jane.
Planning to be at Harvard University this coming Monday, October 21? Sacramento poet/writer Mary Mackey will be reading there from her collection of poetry, The Jaguars That Prowl Our Dreams, as part of the Harvard Authors Speakers’ Series. That’s at 7pm at The Harvard Coop, 1400 Massachusetts Ave, Cambridge, MA. See more about Mary’s reading at www.facebook.com/mary.mackey.313/.
Closer to home, today at noon, Third Thursdays in the Sacramento Room of the Central Library will meet for a read-around at the library on I St. in Sacramento; bring poems by someone other than yourself. Then tonight, Poetry in Davis presents Margaret Ronda plus open mic at the John Natsoulas Gallery on First St. in Davis, 8pm. And of course Poetry Unplugged at Luna’s Cafe and Juice Bar will feature readers and open mic on 16th St. in Sacramento, also at 8pm. Scroll down to the blue column (under the green column at the right) for info about these and other upcoming poetry events in our area—and note that more may be added at the last minute.
—Medusa, celebrating the poetry of starlight ~
“…poems light the night.”
—Anonymous Photo
—Anonymous Photo
Photos in this column can be enlarged by
clicking on them once, then clicking on the x
in the top right corner to come back to Medusa.