Abbondanza!

Photo Courtesy of Katy Brown, Davis

NATURE WATCH
—John Joseph Bowman, Roseville

She watched it all from her kitchen window.
First, the robin, plump and determined,
gathering things for the nest—dry weeds,
leaves, twigs to put in the boxwood.

Then the eggs—three—perfect, robin egg blue.
The next day, the snake, green-striped and thin, coiled
in the boxwood atop the nest of eggs,
warming them for dinner.

__________________

Welcome to the Kitchen to newcomer John Bowman for his rather ominous contribution, ophidian though it is, and thanks to Bill Gainer for introducing John to Medusa. We’re celebrating Earth Week with a give-away—send me a Seed of the Week poem about Fruits of the Earth and I'll send you a copy of Emily and the High Cost of Living by Kathy Kieth from Tiger's Eye Press—or any rattlechap of your choosing from Rattlesnake Press—free. Send 'em to kathykieth@hotmail.com or P.O. Box 762, Pollock Pines, CA 95726. There's a deadline on this SOW though: postmarked or e-mailed by midnight, Sunday, April 25.

This is the official Earth Day in the middle of what we've been calling Earth Week, and the day is packed/packed/packed with readings:

•••Taylor Graham will be reading at Folsom Lake College today with Jennifer Pickering O'Neill, Tim McHargue, and Tom Goff. That's 1-2:20pm in the El Dorado Center Library.

•••Also today (4/22), 5-7:30pm: Way Cool, Daddy-O! Coffeehouse Poetry: in Celebration of Earth Day! Poets from the Sacramento area (NSAA, Bill Gainer, Alexa Mergen, Bob Stanley, Martha Ann Blackman, Robert Grossklaus, and JoAnn Anglin) will read environmental poetry at The Buzz Café, CSUS Student Union. Additionally, CSUS students will also read at this event. Event is co-hosted by the CSUS Environmental Student Organization and the Sacramento Poetry Center.

•••At 7:30pm: A Night of Poetry with Andrea Gibson, winner of the 2008 "Women of the World Poetry Slam", plus special opening guest Buddy Wakefield, plus open mic. CSUS, University Union Ballroom. Free. Co-sponsored by the PRIDE Center, the University Union UNIQUE Programs and ASI. This event is in support of PRIDE Week. All ages permitted. However, some content might not be suitable for children. No alcohol sold or permitted at venue.

•••Then at 8pm, head over to Poetry Unplugged at Luna’s Café, 1414 16th St., Sacramento, for BL Kennedy’s last night of hosting that venue as he presents Ed Mycue, Nancy Keane, and Todd Cirillo. [Is it true, what I hear, about 60 open mic readers scheduled?]

•••OR, from 8-11pm: Flatmancrooked's Annual Reading Thingy sponsored by the Davis Cultural Action Committee. Free drink to the first 100 guests, second free drink with the purchase of any Flatmancrooked book. Readers from the FMC Anthology, Not About Vampires, include Andy Dugas, N.A. Jong & Kevin Walsh (recipient of the 2009 FMC Fiction Prize), and from the FMC Slim Volume of Contemporary Poetics: Julia Halprin Jackson, Shideh Etaat, Chris 'Whitey' Erickson & Andy Jones w/a special tribute to Atlanta, GA from Executive Editor Elijah Jenkins (open mic to follow). John Natsoulas Gallery, 521 1st St., Davis (www.natsoulas.com).

__________________

NURSED AND NURTURED
—Patricia A. Pashby, Sacramento

Leaning on stakes,
bare root saplings
weather seasons
of winter storms
and summer sizzle—
nursed and nurtured
to a harvest of succulent
mellow yellow apricots
and deep purple plums.

________________

SKETCH OF SPRING
—Patricia A. Pashby

Soften into the artistry around me,
breathe in the fullness of spring—
the flowering branches, the fragrance,
the blush of each blooming thing.

There is no place for words to go
but to sketch a heartfelt poem.
I’ll wrap it up in eight lines or so—
a quatrain, and bring it home.

___________________

THE FRUIT FELL RIPELY DOWN
—Joyce Odam, Sacramento

Fox-child
of the old pretend
I know
where you go
when the moonlight
bends
in the trees
and the trees come alive
in the night.
I followed you
again
and saw
old branches
lift and gesture
in a winter-dance
in that forgotten
orchard.

Fox-child,
your sly smile
lit the dark
where no life grieves
and the music
clapped
its broken-fingered
leaves
and you, an acrobat,
gamboled
in such a hungry
pleasure
that old lucent ghosts
of fruit
fell ripely down
to taste
your laughter.


(First appeared in The Goodly Co.)

_________________

GATHERING UP THE OLD FRUIT
—Joyce Odam

Gathering up the old fruit of those
delicious trees . . . Scattering
the bird shadows before they form
their own starvations around us . . .
Hunger is not the only message here.


(First appeared in The Lilliput Review)

__________________

THE TREES SO FULL OF FRUIT
—Joyce Odam

The trees were so full of fruit this year that
you had boards to hold the branches up and
still the limbs broke with the weight and
bent their leaves to the ground and the
birds came droving and you cursed
the birds: those goddam birds, you
said, and there was so much
fruit we could not eat it all
nor give that much
away.

__________________

HOW FATE CHOSE
OUR TOO MANY TOMATOES
—Tom Goff, Carmichael

Our patio tomato crop
has cropped up like a bumper;
the little spheres refuse to stop,
but come in plump and plumper.

They’re Nora’s triumph, born of twelve
well-nurtured tiny seedlings.
These wonders we must eat or shelve
sprang up with little wheedling.

But oh, alas, our Tippy’s loose,
our cockapoo fruit-stealer.
She leaps upon the vines and chews
(tomatoes are no squealers)

in silence, gobbling one by one.
Our bumper pool, reduced.
Before their green’s turned red, she’s done:
her mouth grass-stained with juice.

Moral:
Abundance isn’t fruition
if it's finished off by attrition.

__________________

Today's LittleNip:

One must ask children and birds how strawberries and cherries taste.

—Goethe

__________________

—Medusa (with thanks to Pat Pashby for Today's LittleNip)

Photo by Art Beck, San Francisco

Growing Like the Dickens

Photo by Michelle Kunert, Sacramento

BLUEBERRY LANE 1938
—Patricia Hickerson, Davis

birdcall dawn in the pine barrens
the echoing forest
we pick blueberries
Grandma and I
big fat summer-smooth berries
roll through our fingers
her skeletal fingers stiff and strong
my small straying hand
crushes midnight juice
stains the sand deep purple
we two bent under the Jersey giants
their silent figures straight and tall
needles sharp and seer

smell of sweat
beads dot Grandma’s brow
I smear my lips
for a Cupid’s amethyst bow

time to go home

for love of a berry!
tooth-crisp and merry!
I’ve lost my way—
these sandy barrens:
it all looks the same,
but Grandma knows.
which way? I turn here, there
through a blueberry maze
no, this way, she says
Grandma’s a country girl
grew up by a creek

no barrenness of blueberries
thrown into the breakfast bucket
berries lolling in thick cream
under a blanket of sugar

_________________

We’re celebrating Earth Week with a give-away—send me a Seed of the Week poem about Fruits of the Earth and I'll send you a copy of Emily and the High Cost of Living by Kathy Kieth from Tiger's Eye Press—or any rattlechap of your choosing from Rattlesnake Press—free. Send 'em to kathykieth@hotmail.com or P.O. Box 762, Pollock Pines, CA 95726. There's a deadline on this SOW though: postmarked or e-mailed by midnight, Sunday, April 25.

Richard Hansen at The Book Collector has found a stash of Goldvarg: What Makes Bones Talk, the wonderful memorial collection of Phil Goldvarg poems (with illustrations by Barbara Noble) that was published by 24th street irregular press and AMP Press in 2006. Richard is selling these at the bargain rate of $5; get ‘em while he still has some left.


New from Lummox Press and R.D. Armstrong—

—A new collection of poems by Gerald Locklin and short stories by Beth Wilson called Modest Aspirations. The book is available on the Lummox website (www.lummoxpress.com), and as usual it costs $15 + shipping. Also still available: Drive By: Shards and Poems by John Bennett, and Sea Trails by Pris Campbell...two really fine books recently published by Lummox.

Gerald Locklin is now a Professor Emeritus of English at California State University, Long Beach, where he taught from 1965 through 2007, and continues as an occasional part-time lecturer there and in the Master of Professional Program at the University of Southern California. He is the author of over 125 books, chapbooks, and broadsides of poetry, fiction, and criticism, with over 3000 poems, stories, articles, reviews, and interviews published in periodicals.

Beth Wilson was born and raised in Oklahoma. She got a Bachelor’s degree in English from the University of Central Oklahoma, and a Library Science degree from the University of Oklahoma. It was while she was studying creative writing at UCO that she met the poet and author Gerald Locklin. As a full-time reference librarian and mother of two small children, Beth writes short stories and poetry whenever she can find a few minutes strung together. She uses her own observations and experiences from the “heartland” as well as stories she gathers from her husband and friends to fuel her writing. Her chapbook, School of Sky, was nominated for a Pushcart Prize. She prefers to write near a window so she can look outside and see what the weather is doing.

___________________

AWAITING THE DAY
—Mitz Sackman, Murphys

Lined up along the living room window sill
My summer garden sits in miscellaneous plastic boxes
Awaiting the frost clearance date, frog jump time
Gazing with longing at the sun and rain outside
They stand stalwart, turning each day towards the window
I have to rotate them each evening to prevent leaning
They can hardly wait to stick their toes
Into the warm earth
Feel the sun on their faces
Grow beautiful tomatoes, peppers and eggplants
Meanwhile
They gaze with envy at the broccoli, collards and parsley
Growing happily outdoors

__________________

VEGETABLE GARDEN
GROWING LIKE THE DICKENS
—Richard Zimmer, Sacramento

Great Expectations for the garden.
Earlybird tomatoes on the vine.
Beefsteak tomatoes doing fine.
Even old Marley wouldn’t mind
Dragging his chains at harvest time.

It was the best of times.
It was the worst of times,
But still the cucumbers grew.
The lemon yellow kind.
Delicious salads come to mind.

Red and green bell peppers
Planted in the spring.
It is a far far better thing
That I’ve ever done.
I’ll have a juicy one.

Basil, sage and cilantro,
Growing green and thick
Almost ready to be picked.
Growing in pots by my door.
Even Oliver Twist
Couldn’t ask for more.

___________________

APRIL HAY
—Taylor Graham, Placerville

It’s a cold steady rain whose forecast sent us
scrambling to get our new-mown hay in windrows
drying; raked up, hay-stacked in the middle
of the field, under tarps, safe

before sky clouded over, wind rummaging loose
edges, whispering a coming storm.
The sheep have turned their clockwise circuit
toward the barn.

The new-mown field opens all its small green
mouths for rain. How thirsty we’ll be in August,
how starved our sheep for this between-
storms hay.

_________________

Photo by D.R. Wagner, Elk Grove

Today's LittleNip:

spring rain
browsing under my umbrella
at the picture-book store

—Masaoka Shiki

___________________

—Medusa

Fruits of the Earth

Photo by Katy Brown, Davis

DEAR LIFE…
—Charles Mariano

having a hard time
with this latest
bump in the road
and too many scabs
to count

plus, got my foot
stuck on yesterdays
and flatout refuse
to give it more gas

is it me?

there’s something sticky
on the kitchen floor
the mold in the sink
just moved
and my imaginary cleaning lady
up an quit
this morning

my shirt
has coffee stains
and some unnamed sauce
from last tuesday,

and the music
playing
over and over
in my head
won’t go past 1970,
drives me to drink

worst of all, dear life,

the parking meter
outside
expired twenty years ago,

and i’m outta quarters

__________________

Thanks to Katy and Charles for today's postings! Let's celebrate Earth Week (and the generosity of Mother Earth) with a give-away—send me a Seed of the Week poem about Fruits of the Earth and I'll send you a copy of Emily and the High Cost of Living by Kathy Kieth from Tiger's Eye Press—or any rattlechap of your choosing from Rattlesnake Press—free. Send 'em to kathykieth@hotmail.com or P.O. Box 762, Pollock Pines, CA 95726. There's a deadline on this SOW though: postmarked or e-mailed by midnight, Sunday, April 25.

__________________

DIRT POOR
—charles mariano

we lived in the projects
and Daddy lived away
in a rundown rental
on Cone avenue
in Merced

but despite our poorness
Daddy insisted
on farming

he worked graveyard
at Castle AFB
then hit the fields in the morning
pruning, weeding, picking
for someone else,
until finally
scraping enough,

to lease a small piece
of land
mostly tomatoes,
but bellpeppers, squash, chilis
and more

he’d drag us out there
to plow, cultivate, weed,
then pick
until our blisters
had blisters

every cent
went to this failed garden
until finally
Daddy’s green thumb
came through

we weren’t
any great success
but Daddy,
so humble and proud
just beamed,


when the fruits
of his backbreaking labor
came through
in lush greens
and reds
bountiful and plenty

after long, suffering years
of nothing
when everyone
all of them
made fun of him,

this big, beautiful garden
under a bright
radiant sun,
a masterpiece,

from his heart

____________

BROKEN HOME
—charles mariano

every night
after a long day
of working the fields
daddy came to us
without fail

his skin
caked hard from the sun
eyes burnt
to a squint

his old pick-up
a pathwork
of blue, orange, and rust,
barely driveable

the door creaked

as he stepped down
stomped the pavement
to knock the dust,
then used a wet rag
to wipe a clean spot
on his face

stooped shoulders
dusty felt hat
his body
exhausted, beaten

by the time
he reached the screen door
he’d be smiling
scooping us up
kissing and squeezing
one by one
then leave

every day
through the window
waited for that truck
ached for him

_______________________

GROWING SEASON
—charles mariano, sacramento

as summer
raged into June
Daddy rousted us
one by one
before light
to beat the fierce heat

we loaded up the flatbed
with more bundles
of long wooden sticks
sharp on one end
and tied them together
with sturdy twine

the sun
peeked over the hood
of the battered dodge,

“hurry up boys, a hundred-six today!”
yelled Daddy from the shed

at the field
a leased 18-acre spread
on Gerard avenue in Merced,
we dropped the bundles next to the
long furrowed rows
of young tomato plants

we used a large metal pipe
closed on one end, hollow inside
with handles,
for pounding sticks

Jimmy Boy
placed a long line of sticks
into the ground,
next to the plants,

then Junie and i
would come up behind
and pound them in

i’d reach up and over
each stick
let the metal pounder
slide to the end
raise up, then down
gently at first, until secure
then a few hard thrusts
and on to the next

after days of pounding
hands blistered to hard callous
arms and shoulders
aching,

i stopped,
looked back at the
finished rows
wiped the sweat
from my sunburned face
then gazed ahead
at the hundred miles
yet to go

after the sticks pounded deep
we’d string each row
with twine
under every plant
from large spools
both sides

in a few weeks
a dazzling red harvest,
gleaming bright
bursting, spreading
held up
and out,
with sticks and twine
for easy picking

i kneeled into the first row
dragged my lug up close
then gently pulled,

the first jewel

________________

Today's LittleNip:

You can throw yourself flat on the ground, stretched out upon Mother Earth, with the certain conviction that you are one with her and she with you... As surely as she will engulf you tomorrow, so surely will she bring you forth anew.

—Erwin Schrödinger

________________

—Medusa

Photo by Katy Brown

Perhaps This Is Not Language

Photo by Carl Bernard Schwartz, Sacramento

MAKING YOUR NAME
—D.R. Wagner, Elk Grove

The wind, in from the desert,
Ruined from running through
The litany of winter, barely able
To speak. Still, now it attempts
To say your name. Blows through
The vowel sounds, leaving them
In the trees. Chases birds across
Alfalfa. Their bodies make letter forms,
Change into wheels. Unable to land
They find shelter in the ditches,
Clutching weed stalks, rocking.

Walking past the cottonwoods,
I hear it clearly for an instant,
Your name. Impossible in such
Late weather, but there, nevertheless
Or perhaps it is other, a scraping
Sound of branches against themselves,
Well above the ground. Perhaps
This is not language, this time.
Perhaps I am wrong.

Wind inside my coat, through
The neck, forcing words from my mouth.
They make your name, as if I had
No choice, as if I were the desert,
Or, at best, a part of winter too,
Full of hands, waving, waving.

___________________

Poets were saddened to learn of the passing of NorCal Poet Bill Ludington last week. Go to Bob Stanley’s County Lines (sacmetroarts.org/CountyLines.html) to learn more about Bill and to read some of his poetry.


This (Earth) Week in NorCal Poetry:

(For a more complete listing, go to eskimopie.net)

•••Monday (4/19), 7pm (note earlier time): Hot Poetry in the Park Poetry Series at Fremont Park, corner of 16th and Q Sts., Sacramento. The McKinley Park Poets, several of whom worked for the Peace Corps in Chile, will hold a benefit reading for Chile. Donations requested. Guests are invited to bring a picnic to enjoy while listening to the poets. This will be INSTEAD OF the regular Monday night reading at the Poetry Center. (In case of rain, the reading will move to the Sacramento Poetry Center at 25th and R.) Info: fremontpark.net/2010/03/hot-poetry-in-the-park-coming-soon

McKinley Park Poets:

Bill Davis: Born up a Kentucky holler, international justice systems reformer: Kosovo, Palestine (not going so well), Argentina, Georgia (a little trouble with the Russians), ex-Peace Corps Chile

Connee Davis: Quiet seer/poet of details missed by most, retired speech therapist, world traveler, also of Chile Peace Corps fame

Andy Anderson: Thousands of irreverent poems, a few should pass muster, life devoted to Indian health care, Europe-phile, loves the bike trail, Peace Corps Chile, bad dresser

Mary Antoine: Used to drive race cars, now racing attorney/RN specialist in health law, real redhead raising a real teenager

Rebecca Morrison: Hold on to your seats and your clothes, a poet extraordinaire inspired by hot love, cool nature and European romantic meals

•••Monday (4/19), 7:30pm: Tiffany Higgins and Judy Halebsky read at Pegasus Books in Downtown Berkeley (2349 Shattuck Ave.): www.pegasusbookstore.com

•••Tues (4/20) and Thurs. (4/22): Folsom Lake College celebrates Earth Week with “Literature of the Wild”. Scheduled readers include Taylor Graham, Jennifer Pickering O'Neill, Tim McHargue, and Tom Goff. Public Invited! Bring poetry, prose, creative fiction or non-fiction or read from a favorite “wilderness” work or writer—or just come and listen! Two readings: Tues. (4/20), 12-1:15pm in FLI-20 (Community Room) and Thursday (4/22), 1-2:20pm in the El Dorado Center Library. Info: 530-642-5637 or 916-608-6611 or contact Kathy Leland at lelandk@flc.losrios.edu/.

•••Tuesdays, April 20 to June 8, 6-9:15pm: Poetry Writing and Translation Workshop with William O'Daly, UCD Extension, at the Sutter Square Galleria, 2901 K St., Sacramento. The course will focus on the generating and constructive critiquing of participants’ poetry, supported by readings in the anthology, A Book of Luminous Things: An International Anthology of Poetry, edited by Czeslaw Milosz, and in The Art of the Poetic Line, by James Longenbach. Info: U.C. Davis Extension website; click on “Poetry and Translation Workshop” for a course description and other information:
extension.ucdavis.edu/unit/arts_and_humanities/course/listing/?unit=ARTS&prgList=WRT&coursearea=Writing

•••Weds. (4/21), 6pm: Sac. Int’l Film Festival presents a screening of the documentary, Red Poet: The Story of Jack Hirschman. Q&A with the filmmaker, Matthew Furey, and reading by Jack Hirschman after the movie. $10 admission for Jack's film and reading will also get you into the Thinking People's Shorts Showcase at 6pm and the short film, Lychee Thieves. 24th Street Theater, 2791 24th St., Sacramento: www.sacramentofilmfestival.net or www.ncwfonline.org/april212010.html/. Sponsored by the Sacramento Poetry Center and Poets & Writers.

•••Weds. (4/21), 7-8:30pm: Our House Gallery Poetry Series at Our House Gallery, 1004 White Rock Rd. #400, El Dorado Hills, Montano de El Dorado Center (south of Hwy 50 on Latrobe Rd. at White Rock Rd.). Info: 916-933-4278. Open mic event; free for all ages.

•••Thurs. (4/22), 5-7:30pm: Way Cool, Daddy-O! Coffeehouse Poetry: in Celebration of Earth Day! Poets from the Sacramento area (NSAA, Bill Gainer, Alexa Mergen, Bob Stanley, Martha Ann Blackman, Robert Grossklaus, and JoAnn Anglin) will read environmental poetry at The Buzz Café, CSUS Student Union. Additionally, CSUS students will also read at this event. Event is co-hosted by the CSUS Environmental Student Organization and the Sacramento Poetry Center.

•••Thurs. (4/22): 7:30pm: A Night of Poetry with Andrea Gibson, winner of the 2008 "Women of the World Poetry Slam", plus special opening guest Buddy Wakefield, plus open mic. CSUS, University Union Ballroom. Free. Co-sponsored by the PRIDE Center, the University Union UNIQUE Programs and ASI. This event is in support of PRIDE Week. All ages permitted. However, some content might not be suitable for children. No alcohol sold or permitted at venue.

•••Thurs. (4/22), 8pm: Then head over to Poetry Unplugged at Luna’s Café, 1414 16th St., Sacramento, for BL Kennedy’s last night of hosting that venue as he presents Ed Mycue, Nancy Keane, and Todd Cirillo.

•••Sat. (4/24), 2-4pm: An Afternoon of Poetry at the Arden-Dimick Library (Watt and Northrop in Sacramento), featuring Indigo Moor, Kathleen Lynch and Bob Stanley.

__________________

Todd Cirillo writes: This Thursday, the infamous poet and promoter B.L. Kennedy takes the stage one last night to hold the award-winning Poetry Unplugged Poetry Series at Luna's Cafe, 1414 16th St., Sacramento. He asked Six Ft. Swells' own Todd Cirillo to be among the featured readers; also reading will be Nancy Keane and Ed Mycue on this historic and wonderfully disreputable evening. You can find Todd on youtube.com or on facebook at Six St. Swells Press, and see also an interview with him in the April 15 edition of SN&R: www.newsreview.com/sacramento/content?oid=1403008

Scroll down Medusa's skinny blue box on the right, by the way, for a photo of BL with Ted Finn (well, the back of Ted Finn...). BL was instrumental in bringing Ted out of "retirement" a few years ago for the Rattlesnake Press Conversations series, which spawned a SpiralChap of Ted's work: Damn the Eternal War.


EDUCATION
—Todd Cirillo, Grass Valley

In the course
of our love
through the many
verbal and non verbal
statements,
the thousands of steps
to and from
one another’s open arms,
the good times
and bad,
you believed that
life and relationships
are lessons
to be learned.

I feel
that I have
retained those lessons well.

For example,
I remember
that it was you
who taught me
that everything
looks perfect
from far away.

_________________

THE BEST TIME FOR COUNTRY MUSIC
—Todd Cirillo

No bouquet of flowers
will fix this break,
nor any amount
of wine, whiskey
or new women.

Only
the road,
you
and Waylon Jennings

singing,
“all the places
must be better
than the ones
we’ve left behind.”

__________________

ROBBERY OF THE HEART
—Todd Cirillo

My heart
has
no lock
that can
keep
you
out.

__________________

Today's LittleNip:

Viewed from the distance of the moon, the astonishing thing about the earth...is that it is alive...Aloft, floating free beneath the moist, gleaming membrane of bright blue sky, is the rising earth, the only exuberant thing in this part of the cosmos...It has the organized, self-contained look of a live creature, full of information, marvelously skilled in handling the sun.

—Lewis Thomas

Photo by Jane Blue, Sacramento

___________________

—Medusa

As Earth Week Begins

THE FAWN
—Edna St. Vincent Millay

There it was I saw what I shall never forget
And never retrieve.
Monstrous and beautiful to human eyes, hard to believe,
He lay, yet there he lay,
Asleep on the moss, his head on his polished cleft small ebony

hooves,

The child of the doe, the dappled child of the deer.

Surely his mother had never said, "Lie here
Till I return," so spotty and plain to see
On the green moss lay he.
His eyes had opened; he considered me.
I would have given more than I care to say
To thrifty ears, might I have had him for my friend
One moment only of that forest day:

Might I have had the acceptance, not the love
Of those clear eyes;
Might I have been for him the bough above
Or the root beneath his forest bed,
A part of the forest, seen without surprise.

Was it alarm, or was it the wind of my fear lest he depart
That jerked him to his jointy knees,
And sent him crashing off, leaping and stumbling
On his new legs, between the stems of the white trees?

___________________

—Medusa

Pleasure's A Sin

Photo by Carl Bernard Schwartz

LOST THE CONNECTION
—Carl Bernard Schwartz, Sacramento

Sorry, could you spare just a moment of your time?
I seem to have lost my connection here,
like something essential is missing.

It’s like trying to fill in the correct answers
on the wrong answer sheet…

Or like when an individual with good judgment
is presented a menu of poor choices…

Or like finally finding the right terminal,
only to learn you’re at the wrong airport.

You get the idea.

So somehow I’m just hanging here in midair
with no way to maneuver
(forget spell check, thank you, I just got lucky!)
my way out of here.

Maybe you have some extra kite string I could borrow?
It’ll only take me a moment.

Thanks! You’re an angel.

__________________

Our Kitchen has more and more links: click on Kel Munger’s All Poet’s Corner at Sac. New & Review for a ‘way cool, complete listing of all the poets she’s published—and don’t forget to submit poems to her, too! And check out Bill Gainer's poem at www.newsreview.com/sacramento/content?oid=1399555


Teen Poetry Contest in Stanislaus County:

The Aileen Jaffa Young Poets Contest is currently accepting submissions. This is open to all students in Stanislaus County. Winning poets may win prizes and have their poems published. Each student may submit up to three entries at $1 per entry. Poems may be any style, no longer than 24 lines. The deadline is Friday, April 30. Entry forms are available at county schools, the McHenry Museum (www.mchenrymuseum.org), or by e-mailing Cleo Griffith at cleor36@yahoo.com


Poetry Month at Fairytale Town

Did you know it’s Poetry Month at Sacramento’s Fairytale Town? Fairytale Town is offering a Can You Haiku? activity to celebrate National Poetry Month: children can pick up a haiku template and follow the instructions to create their own creative version of this Japanese poem. Children who turn in a Haiku on Mondays at the box office receive $1 off their admission, and the poem will be placed on the Haiku wall in King Arthur’s Castle. Go to www.fairytaletown.org/going-on/calendar to download haiku info, or stop by the Fairytale Town box office.


Upcoming Workshops:

(For more workshop listings, scroll down past Danyen on the B-Board to HANDYSTUFF)

•••Sunday (5/2), 1-4pm: Salvatore Salerno will lead a workshop entitled "Making a Poem: The Best Words in the Best Possible Order." The workshop will be held at Homeword Village, 2000 Mable Ave., Modesto. There is a $15 fee. If you'd like more info, please e-mail Gillian Wegener at concord3@sbcglobal.net and she will forward your email to Sal.

•••Sat. (6/19), 11-3pm: Memoir Writing Workshop by Linda Joy Myers, author of The Power of Memoir: How to Write Your Healing Story (memoriesandmemoirs.com), and Founder of the National Association of Memoir Writers (www.namw.org). The Workshop is entitled "How to Write Your Memoir and Still Go Home for the Holidays", and will be held at the Off-Center Stage behind the Center for the Arts in Downtown Grass Valley. This will be a hands-on workshop where participants will gain practical skills and address the concerns they face when writing their stories. Workshop limited to 25 participants. Tickets at The Center for the Arts, www.thecenterforthearts.org or call 530-274-8384.

Workshop schedule:
—Free Reading and Book Signing from 9:30-10:30am
—Memoir Workshop 11am-3pm
—Extended workshop from 3-4pm for therapists who want CEU credits

__________________

DESERT SOUL DANCE
—Mitz Sackman, Murphys

Needing to get away
To think to hear, to listen, to heal
I drive into the desert
A stark beautiful place
Gray shadowed with falling light
Across the shale-broken desert floor
On the horizon stand the chocolate mountains

In the distance a thin reed of sound emanates
Musical, compelling
Winding through the air
The flute strains of the dancer
Calling along the mountain paths

Calling, calling
To me, to you, to the world
To no one in particular
The dancer calls us to risk
Spirit of the sacred fool in each of us
The dancer plays the path
Of the growing spirit
Floating in the mountain air reverberates
Let go, let go, let go

__________________

BRING BACK THE DESERT HOUSE
—Tom Goff, Carmichael

Seeing the vibrant hummingbirds
top-spinning nectar-crazy among the sage and desert
succulents in the UC Berkeley Botanical Garden,

I muse on our one family trip
to the Arizona desert country, car whisking past
saguaro, saguaro, saguaro: brilliant December sun.

And then, in Phoenix, we visited Gammy,
who said soft kind things, kissed
our seven-year-old cheeks with wrinkled lips,

bought us little kachina dolls on a short jaunt
to Scottsdale. Seeing Camelback, imagining
donkey rides downslope into the Grand Canyon

(Ferde Grofé even then the soundtrack),
we wanted more desert, more lizards,
more lizards, more desert. How in the world

did Arizona Trailways muster those
extravagant photos of cactus blossom,
wildflowers and honeybees alive just fine

in the mud-snow gaps between ice-laden high desert pines?
Now Gammy’s brick house, orange trees
bent low with Christmas fruit, is vapor, displaced

by hospital administration buildings, just another
glass and steel behemoth in downtown Phoenix.
Bring back the desert house I loved

with the elder lady in it: that would be once-killed
bird again come aloft from fire and ash, flight
expanding on a pincushion of arid heat. That would

be saguaro made browsing beast, gently crawling
and thornless, that would be giant insect made
delver and keeper of sacred water, that

would be desert miracle.

Photo by Carl Bernard Schwartz

_________________

Today's LittleNip:

PLEASURE'S A SIN, AND SOMETIMES SIN'S A PLEASURE
—Lord Byron (Don Juan)

What is the end of Fame? 'tis but to fill
A certain portion of uncertain paper:
Some liken it to climbing up a hill,
Whose summit, like all hills, is lost in vapour:
For this men write, speak, preach, and heroes kill,
And bards burn what they call their "midnight taper,"
To have, when the original is dust,
A name, a wretched picture, and worse bust.

__________________

—Medusa

Believe You Know

Photo by Katy Brown

ONCE UPON A TIME IN MARRAKECH
—Katy Brown, Davis

The sultry moon attracts the moth
flittering among the night-blooming jasmine
on the garden wall nearest the desert by Marrakech.

A restless woman paces their house
trailing her finger over his things while
a sultry moon attracts a swarm of flickering moths.

She wraps in his shirt and longs for his touch
before wandering outside where they used to sit
by the garden wall nearest the desert enfolding Marrakech.

She recalls the stories her grandmother told
of a maiden as bewitched by a mage as
a fragile white moth attracted to the sultry moon.

The maiden-moth attempted to reach
the unreachable moon, pulled by the magic
over the garden wall, toward the vast desert near Marrakech.

If she could only fly to him now, or draw him back to her . . .
but in the silver light, hers is the only shadow under
the sultry moon which attracts the moth
beyond the garden wall nearest the desert by Marrakech.

___________________

This weekend in NorCal poetry:

•••Tonight (Friday, 4/16), 7:30pm: The Other Voice, sponsored by the UU Church of Davis, features two widely published poets: Katy Brown and Joyce Odam in the library of the church located at 27074 Patwin Rd., Davis. Open Mike and refreshments follow the reading, so bring along a poem or two to share.

•••Friday (4/16) and Sat. (4/17): Sacramento Poetry Center's FREE 2010 SPC Annual Writing Conference at R25, 1719 25th St., Sacramento, with presenters Joseph Lease, Toni Mirosevich, Donna de la Perrière, Flatman Crooked, Tim Kahl, Indigo Moor, Peter Grandbois and Foshang (with Lawrence Dinkins and Mario Ellis Hill). Info: www.sacramentopoetrycenter.org/conference.htm/.
Registration: Tim Kahl at tnklebnny@frontiernet.net

•••Friday (4/16 and every third Friday), 7pm: A Showcase of Poetry and Music, a new monthly showcase for literary, musical, performance and visual arts hosted by author/songwriter R.S. Marquez. This month features Rachel Leibrock, frank andrick and Joe Montoya, with music by Ruben Reveles and Professor Esteban Villa. Film projections by Picasso and Renoir. Meet and greet at 7, performances to follow. La Raza Galeria Posada, 1022 22nd St. (between J and K). Free. Info: 209-337-5960 or 916-446-5133 or www.larazagaleriaposada.org

•••Fri. (4/16 and every last Friday of the month), 8-10:30 PM: TheBlackOutPoetrySeries inside The Upper Level VIP Lounge, 26 Massie Ct., Sacramento (located inside of Fitness Systems Healthclub, by Cal State Skating Rink; exit Mack Road East to Stockton Blvd and then make a left on Massie, right past Motel 6). Features R & B sensation J Ali, lady poet Anna Marie and Kelly Freeman Richardson plus open mic. $10. Info: 916-208-POET or fromtheheart1@hotmail.com

•••Sat. (4/17), 5-9pm: "1000 Poems on Main Street" will kick-off the 2010 3rd Saturday Artwalk season in Placerville. Poetry will come alive at "POETSpaces"—cubbies, doorways, and alcoves, sponsored by Downtown Placerville merchants, with recitations, posts, and readings. El Dorado County Poetry Out Loud finalist Rebecca Shields is the 2010 Artwalk Youth Liaison. Twitter your way into the world of poetry with "POETweets" (twitter.com@1000PoemsMainSt). All are welcome to participate in 1000 Poems on Main Street. Send poetry for inclusion to ARTWALK@eldoradoartscouncil.org. Or better yet, drop by Artspace (459 Main St., Placerville) and write out either your favorite poem or an original poem of your own for posting on the walls of the gallery. Red Fox Underground Poets (Brigit Truex, Irene Lipshin, Kate Wells, Moira Magneson, Taylor Graham, and Wendy Patrice Williams) will give a reading from 6-7 p.m. at Artspace.

•••Sat. (4/17), 11:30am: While you're in Placerville, stop by the “Poetry Aloud” reading for the whole family at the Placerville library at 345 Fair Lane in Placerville; bring poetry of your own or favorites by somebody else.

•••Sat. (4/17), 12 noon: Central Valley Haiku Club meets at Eastern Empire restaurant, 460 Howe Av., Sacramento. Info/map: www.valleyhaiku.org/index.html

•••Sat. (4/17): Lassen County Arts Council (807 Cottage St., Susanville) presents a celebration of National Poetry Month, featuring Lassen County’s Joelle Fraser and UNR’s poet and professor Ann Keniston. Both writers will conduct a morning workshop at 10am entitled “From Mini-Memoir to Poem: How to Get a Handle on a Significant Memory,” and there will be an evening reading at 7pm with refreshments, both events at The Lassen County Arts Council on Cottage St. This opportunity is provided to the public through the Lassen County Arts Council, Poets & Writers and The James Irvine Foundation. Contact the arts council (www.lassenarts.org) to register. The workshop fee is $25, which includes the evening reading. It is free to students and seniors.

•••Saturday (4/17), 7pm: Terry Moore will be celebrating the release of his new book, Born To Love You, at Underground Books, 2814 35th St. (off 35th and Broadway), Sacramento—plus a special Black Men Expressing Poetry Tour, and guest author Kristine Smith. $3 at the door.

•••Sunday (4/18), 11am: El Camino Poets Chapter of California Federation of Chaparral Poets, Inc. will be meeting at the Hart Senior Center, 27th & J Sts., Sacramento. Bring 8 copies of a poem of your own to workshop.

•••Sunday (4/18), 1-3pm: Modesto Poets Laureate Celebrate National Poetry Month at the McHenry Museum, 1402 I St., Modesto. Ed Bearden, Modesto’s PL, and the Poets of the San Joaquin will host past Modesto PLs Arlene Mattos and debee loyd, followed by refreshments and open mic. Info: Ed Bearden at 209-522-9600 or Cleo Griffith, 209-543-1776 or cleor36@yahoo.com

•••Monday (4/19), 7:30pm: Sacramento Poetry Center presents Hot Poetry in Fremont Park: Feat, the McKinley Park Poets: Robin Aurelius, Mary McGrath, Bill Davis, Connee Davis, Debra DeBondt, Mary Antoine, and Andy Anderson. Bring a picnic to eat during the reading.

•••Monday (4/19), 7:30pm: Tiffany Higgins and Judy Halebsky read at Pegasus Books in Downtown Berkeley (2349 Shattuck Ave.).

__________________

DESERT POEM
—Michelle Kunert, Sacramento

When my brother and I were taken to Death Valley
we thought we were being punished
with another of Dad's ideals of 1950's-style road trips
like he had with his Mom and Dad
But in the mid-1980's
his favorite pit stops were now gone
No solace to "reconnect" as a family—
only finding the occasional tourist trap "gift shops"
Rising heat was no help
to our potential flaring tempers
as we had to sit together in the back seat
with not enough water or juice
and the air conditioning just huffing along
Seeing just lots of empty space
like the surface of the moon or Mars
as we bitterly complained "Are we there yet?!"
Not yet having game boys or cell phones
couldn't wait to get to a real place
Today I still think deserts
are where to send people who don't behave
such as junkies hanging around the American River
Such as if you abuse our nice riparian preserve
with its wonderfully wooded and grassy paths
and are found hiding in the bushes brewing meth
Or you beat up and rob a cyclist
or else just won't follow rules for being "homeless"
Instead of jail,
to be dropped off at a dead no-place,
leaving your survival up to its elements.

__________________

THE DREAMING GIRL
—Joyce Odam, Sacramento

("Sasho's Journey", 1990—Wonsook Kim Linton)

Where does the brown bear lead? They are
in a cave. The walls of the cave are missing.

Night is showing through
with its sky and hidden moon—

its green rain and the lost distance.
She carries a handful of red flowers . . .

~

They are on an ice floe in a desert night.
The land is shrinking around them.

The bear is pulling her through the melting.
The ice is the color of sand.

The sea is a deepening mirror.
A white bird rides on her shoulder . . .

~

They are in a crude tapestry. Part of it
is missing. The ravels slowly work

around them—mending the fraying world.
Still, they seem resolute

in their calmness—the bear and the girl
going somewhere dreamily together . . .

__________________

SHE TURNS INTO A DESERT
—Joyce Odam

Now she is in
the center of herself
coiled as always
layering herself
around her visibility.

She pulls her circle in.
No one knows her.
She wants to be known.
She wants to be private.

Why is she not loved!
From somewhere deep
she feels her own weeping
but she will not weep.

She turns into a desert,
parches,
becomes wrinkled and fragile.

Something peels her.
She resists.
Something peels her.
She must mend herself.

Why do they disturb her
now!
She pulls her circle in.


(First published in One Dog Press, May, 1996)

Joyce Odam
Photo by Katy Brown

___________________

Today's LittleNip:

poetry's ridiculous write it feel proud
strut look in the mirror believe you know

—Ikkyu

____________________

—Medusa