SPC Sacramento Poetry Center
POETRY NOW NOVEMBER / DECEMBER 2010
FREE | DEAR IGUANA: WRITING PROMPTS FROM THE INTERVIEWS OF 2010
featuring MARY BETH
ASARO SY MARGARET
BALDWIN JAMES
COLLINS CHRISTIAN
DELAO CATHERINE
POETRY:
FRAGA SHADI
A YEAR IN REVIEW
GEX BURTON R.
HOFFMANN PATRICIA
HICKERSON FRANCES
LEITCH MARY
OCHER SIMON
PERCHIK GORDON
PRESTON ANN
PRIVATEER JoAnn Anglin, Arthur Butler, An SPC audience. Photos: PFA.
MEMORABLE.2010.SPC EVENTS REFLECTIONS FROM
HEATHER
SPIVA JANE
TRINA DROTAR, TIM KAHL,
STUART
CYNTHIA LINVILLE, REBECCA
DIANE
MORRISON, BOB STANLEY,
WEBSTER
MARY ZEPPA
WWW.SACRAMENTOPOETRYCENTER.ORG
NOVEMBER / DECEMBER 2010 | POETRY NOW | 1 REVIEWED: Rolling the Bones by Christopher Buckley
POETRY NOW
PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE
POETRY NOW, the Sacramento region’s literary review and calendar, is published by the Sacramento Poetry Center (SPC) and is funded in part with grants from the Sacramento Metropolitan Arts Commission. Submissions of poems, artwork, reviews, and other work of interest to the Sacramento poetry community are welcome. Note that work submitted may also appear on the Poetry Now website. POEM SUBMISSIONS Submit poems and a 30-50 word bio to the poetry editor at SPCPoetryEditor@gmail.com. Electronic submissions preferred. Submissions may also be mailed with a SASE to address below. DISTRIBUTION POETRY NOW is distributed in area bookshops, Sacramento City and County libraries, and by mail to member-subscribers. If you are interested in receiving Poetry Now, or want multiple copies to share with others, please contact us. EDITOR: Trina Drotar BOOK REVIEW EDITOR: Emmanuel Sigauke INTERVIEW EDITOR: Lisa Jones INTERVIEW CONTRIBUTOR: Dorine Jennette IN DIALOGUE: Alexandra Thomas POETRY EDITOR: Cynthia Linville STAFF: Linda Collins, Sandra Senne DESIGN/PRODUCTION: Richard Hansen COPYEDITING: Shadi Gex, Ann Wehrman
SPC THE POET TREE, also known as the Sacramento Poetry Center, is a non-profit corporation dedicated to providing forums for local poets—including publications (Poetry Now and Tule Review), workshops, special events, and an ongoing reading series. Funded primarily by members, SPC is entirely run by a volunteer board of directors. We welcome your input and your interest. BOARD OF DIRECTORS:
Bob Stanley, President Tim Kahl, Vice President Sandra Senne, Treasurer Frank Graham, Secretary Kate Asche Linda Collins Theresa McCourt Lawrence Dinkins, Jr. Rebecca Morrison Trina L. Drotar Jonathan Schouten Paco Marquez Mary Zeppa CONTACT INFORMATION: 1719 25th Street • Sacramento, CA 95816 info.sacpoetrycenter@gmail.com • 916-979-9706 www.sacramentopoetrycenter.org
2 | POETRY NOW | NOVEMBER / DECEMBER 2010
BOB STANLEY Sacramento Voices
Twenty thousand poems a year, maybe more Rising out of this city, this region where we write and read and listen. It’s a place filled with voices. The poetry venues, journals, media contributions, and people exceed this list of gratitude. American River Review Barnes and Noble Beers Books Bistro 33 Blackout Poetry bmsf.com The Book Collector Calaveras Station CA Arts Commission CA Poets in the Schools California Stage Carol’s Books Cosumnes River Journal Crocker Art Museum Doctor Andy’s Poetry and Technology Hour eskimopie.net (SPAM) Farallon Review KXPR/KXJZ and Insight La Raza Galeria Posada Lincoln Poets Los Escritores del Nuevo Sol Luna’s Café Mahogany Poets Matrix Arts Mics and Moods at Sol Collective Moore Time for Poetry Natsoulas Gallery The Other Voice
Our Life Stories Outta the Blue Poetry Series Poetry in Motion Rancho Open Mic Rattlesnake Press / Medusa’s Kitchen Red Fox Poets Red Night Poetry Roan Press Room to Write Sac365.com The Sacramento Bee Sacramento Metropolitan Arts Commission Sacramento News and Review Sacramento Public Libraries The Show Speak it Here Squaw Valley Community of Writers Stories on Stage Surprise Valley Writer’s Conference Sussurus Sutterwriters Swan Scythe Press Third Sunday Poets Time Tested Books Tomales Bay Writers Workshop UC Davis Arboretum readings UC Davis Extension Creative Writing Upstairs Gallery
and of course the Sacramento Poetry Center Special thanks to two SPC board members who left to work on new projects: Brad Buchanan, who has done much to support local poets and writers and was instrumental in founding SPC Press and the SPC Book Contest, and Stan Zumbiel, who gave over twenty years of service to SPC — hosting, editing, advising, and always helping to widen the circle. Hope to see you both at an occasional reading! A PUBLICATION OF THE SACRAMENTO POETRY CENTER
POETRY NEWS
SMALL PRESS CORNER
The Sacramento poem Submissions close December 1, 2010 The Sacramento poem is a book-length renga
that will be comprised of five-line samples from a multitude of contributors and other found sources. The samples will be edited into a form to be determined by the nature of the contributed work. All contributors will be recognized by having their name appear in an appendix which will identify which section of the poem their contribution appeared in. In other words, some anonymity will be preserved. All fiveline samples should make direct and specific reference to an element of life in Sacramento, California. Contributors need not live in Sacramento in order to submit. The book will be published by Sacramento Poetry Center Press in 2011. Submissions close for The Sacramento Poem on December 1, 2010. Submit your 5 line sample or question to Tim Kahl, tnklbnny@mongryl.com.
The Ophidian Rattlesnake Press this month launched the first edition of The
Ophidian, their online journal of poetry and art. Find it at http://
Many fine small and micro presses are in our area. Look for the following presses to be featured during the next year: Swan Scythe, Snail Mail Review, One by One, Ekphrasis, Brevities, Polymer Grove, Poemsfor-All, R.L. Crow, and many more. Each issue will feature one small or micro press. Recent Small Press Releases
blogspot.com
Trip Wires by Connie Post (Finishing Line Press)
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medusaskitchen.
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Inheritance by Margaret Kaufman (16 Rivers Press) The Place that Inhabits Us (16 Rivers Press) New Poets of the American West Edited by Lowell Jaeger (Many Voices Press) n
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WTF #7 (Rattlesnake Press).
WTF #8 Thurs. (11/18), 8pm:
POETRY EVENT CALENDARS n n n
http://medusaskitchen.blogspot.com eskimopie.net sacramento365.com
Release of Rattlesnake Press’s WTF #8, plus a poetic send-off for Christopher Fairman at Luna’s Cafe, 1414
Upcoming SPC readings
16th St., Sacramento.
7:30pm unless otherwise indicated
andrick. Copies of
November 15 Poetry and Music with William Seymour November 18
Hosted by Editor frank WTF #8 will be available at Luna’s and The Book Collector (I008 24th St.) Image: Allyson Seconds
is accepting submissions until December 31, 2010. Query for details at: snailmailreview@gmail.com. Snail Mail Review
Rancho New Voices release party November 22 Jason Koo Megan Harlan December 1 SPC Annual Benefit, 6pm December 13 John Dorsey Crawdad Nelson Gene Bloom See the SPC website for more details
WWW.SACRAMENTOPOETRYCENTER.ORG
SPC
IN THE NEW YEAR
January 17, 2011 ART BECK NEELI CHERKOVSKI DAVID MELTZER January 31, 2011 BENEFIT FOR AUTISM
CREATIVE NONFICTION WORKSHOP Wednesday nights at SPC with Rae Gouirand. Contact rgouirand@gmail. com for more information and to register. NOVEMBER / DECEMBER 2010 | POETRY NOW | 3
BOOK REVIEW
by Emmanuel Sigauke
simple, obvious or accessible; the poems shoot up moments of surprising truths, as if the poet is reminding us that we draw closer to the universal when we notice and value These poems are gems. The poet has a strong the idiosyncrasies of the local. sense of place and history. The poetry is as Take, for instance, “Back of Beyond— Californian as they are universal. One of Surf Beach, Lompoc, CA”, presented with my favorite pieces is “Poverty,” in which a promised specificity—place, town, state. the poet looks at a world of imbalances; the Sometimes we watch the waves for no larger rich concern themselves with small, multiple purpose than “a desire to understand it all,” comforts while in other parts the world and “whatever evidence of transcendence existence means working hard to access the / there is ends up flat and uninterpretable basics of life. The persona sends money to Ecuador every as beach sand.” The signs are available for individual month, “just enough / to keep hunger shuffling by in a interpretation, where “you can take whatever you want.” low cloud / of flies.” The poem takes a rather impatient Perhaps the most important thing is that we look, even argumentative tone when the persona shows the contrasts for no apparent reason other than finding something to in the lives of the poor and rich countries. He seizes the do, something that affix us to a concrete now. We can raise reader’s attention by first saying, “Listen”; then he goes on questions that connect us to the universe, where “ God will to list some facts about the issue: …let your questions rise like smoke / against the drizzling pathos of dawn.” Buckley looks at our efforts in life as far There are 900 thousand Avon ladies in Brazil. removed from the cosmic order of things, as manifestations Billions are spent each year on beauty products of the futility of our efforts, yet, in small bits and pieces, the worldwide—28 billion on hair care, 14 on skin contributions we make towards some understanding—of conditioners, despite children digging on the dumps, anything—will help us make sense of the now. selling their kidneys, anything that is briefly theirs. These are poem about time progression, of history, of 9 billion a month for war in Iraq, a chicken bone the present, and of aging. The history is of California and for foreign aid. of the world at the same time. The persona of “Rainy Day,” having already lived for 60 years, “is content to go on These are just raw facts, questioning even the very making / a fool of myself in front of the universe.” He is meaning of foreign aid. When we give, what is it that grateful to have made it this far, but does not feel festive we give? The sarcastic persona says: “I am the prince of or celebratory as he realizes how solitary he is becoming; small potatoes, / I deny them nothing who come to me most of his friends have already departed. But there are beseeching / the crusts I have to give.” consolations, however dubious. There are memories, years “Poverty” is about the crude injustice in letting fellow of youth, when materialism drove dreams. Then the big humans suffer while we seek to accumulate more wealth consolation, the certainty of the approaching end, is the for ourselves. persona’s realization that “God lives inside me like a worm.” Buckley’s lines touch, whether they are about universal With his internal company, the persona questions whether it concerns of injustice or they are about individual musings is reasonable for him to feel lonely, but the reader can already in Lompoc Beach, reflections about truths gathered and lost tell that he, indeed, is irredeemably solitary. The question of while growing up. Ordinary truths are interrogated by the companionship is also raised in the poem “Pilgrim,” where sharp, honest persona, while the possibility of high ideals the poet knows “enough not to stand / alone in the rain, of transcendence swell up in brief moments of revelation. in moonlight.” With these forces of nature, we have the But these are words and images, centered in the concrete. possibility of companionship in the cosmic order of things. I wouldn’t call the lines deceptively accessible, because in Our wishes may be drained by despair, “only to be allied / the territory of language and image, nothing is ever too with clouds, enshrined / in the salt air of home.” Rolling the Bones by Christopher Buckley Tampa University Press, 2010
4 | POETRY NOW | NOVEMBER / DECEMBER 2010
A PUBLICATION OF THE SACRAMENTO POETRY CENTER
TULE REVIEW
by Theresa McCourt and Linda Collins
THESE POEMS HIGHLIGHT OUR FADING FUNCTION AS WE AGE.
Buckley shows humans as seekers of knowledge, yet often the search leads nowhere, even where we seem to have philosophized intensely. It seems for hundreds of years, “whole civilizations have been deciphering dust.” More questions are raised more than are answered, and the few answers provided lead to more questions.The poet tells us that, despite its beauty, the sea is not “faithful to our desires,” that it is “bored with us.” This too applies to rocks, to three trees, basically all creatures. Even where we have sought transcendence, at our most Emersonian heights, we have not understood the larger purpose of our co-existence with these diverse, if not divergent, forces of nature. Perhaps it’s the mystery of existence that confounds us, both humans and all of nature. We are both victims of a higher force manifested in our incomprehension of our fate: “…the sea so much like me / then, with its grey solitude, its invisible under tow.” We have observed our surroundings, but we too have been observed; stars have “looked us in the eye all the time.” These poems highlight our fading function as we age. This applies to our sense of purpose, our understanding of the roles we play in life.The poet shows a strong awareness of these roles, in their very mundane manifestations; but when it comes to their increasing, or fading significance, we are at a loss: “Once I could have / explained exactly what I stood for. Now, beyond radiance or repose, a man is not much more than a / dream on the wind…/ residue the sea pays out as it goes….” Surely everything—the sea, the wind, the clouds, the trees—has residue. In the mix of things, what do we have? We have bones to roll, the internal stirrings framing the nature of our lives. These poems make us question our physical and spiritual worlds, whether we are centered in California, or we imagine worlds beyond ours. Here is poetry of place, centering us in time and history to question the future. Here is good poetry. WWW.SACRAMENTOPOETRYCENTER.ORG
2010 and 2011 The summer Tule Review celebrated its publication at the Sacramento Poetry Center Monday, August 2, 2010. Fourteen of the 38 contributors read their poems to a full SPC house (at least 70 people attending—with others spilling out the door). Moreover, within just a month after receiving our 300 published copies, we had none left. The day after the reading, we received many appreciated kudos for both the reading and the journal, but we want to share the following, which Kathy Kieth posted on Medusa’s Kitchen (medusaskitchen.blogspot.com) known for providing “the cauldron that boils over with the rich poetry stew that is Northern California” :; “Tom Goff and Taylor Graham read at SPC last Monday to celebrate the latest Tule Review, and I hear the joint was packed to the rafters, but that the evening’s proceedings were well-run by Editors Theresa McCourt and Linda Collins and perked right along, despite there being 14 readers! Have you seen the new Tule? It’s very elegant— glossy and perfect-bound. . . Here’s to many more...” Even better, a day later, she shared with us how she perceives the Sacramento Poetry Center lately: “SPC seems to be working hard these days and it’s looking good, with a variety of reading series which are attracting lots of people and which are, by and large, more varied in their content and readers . . . The new faces on Poetry Now and Tule Review look great, plus anthologies, more attention to the Hart workshop, contests (including youth), the SPC’s own annual workshop. It’s all good.” The winter edition of Tule Review is expected out in January 2011. Finally, a huge thank you to all our contributing poets, all those who submitted, and the folks behind the curtain: Tim Kahl, who came to our rescue so many times when we encountered technical problems; Bob Stanley, who kept us going with his upbeat attitude and encouragement; Richard Hansen, who created a beautiful layout and cover page while wrangling a ton of other priorities; and Thomas Leaver, who generously gave us the book’s lush cover image. NOVEMBER / DECEMBER 2010 | POETRY NOW | 5
ONCE AND AGAIN: BROWN BAG POETRY REDUX by Mary Zeppa
“Didn’t you used to do poetry readings?” asked a woman at a concert a couple of years ago. Turned out she remembered me from the 2000-20003 Second Monday Favorite Poem Series at the Central Library, a project of Sacramento’s first poets laureate,Viola Weinberg and Dennis Schmitz. This woman was one of the “ordinary citizens like state and city workers” for whom that lunchtime series was designed; she came as often as she could, was sad when it ended, and kept hoping it would start up again. This out-of-the-blue conversation reinforced one of my longtime ambitions: to revive, in some incarnation, that popular and stimulating poetry sharing series. The indefatigable Bob Stanley and I approached the Central Library and this January, with the cooperation and support of both administration and staff, Third Thursdays at Central, aka Brown Bag Poetry, became a reality. Lawrence Dinkins and I co-host these gatherings. At the prior reading and via e-mail, we suggest a topic (near Labor Day, for instance, Work) and encourage potential readers to “Think metaphorically as well as literally. Let your mind run free.” It’s different every time. We might have 20 attentive readers and/or listeners; we might have 8 or 9 restless ones. People wander in, sometimes by mistake. Sometimes they stay. Sometimes they come back. We might hear poems by Gerard Manley Hopkins or Stanley Kunitz; we might hear poems by local poets or poems by someone’s great aunt. They might be read from a book or a photocopy or a Blackberry, by a 16-yearold or an 80-year-old. “It brings,” to quote regular participant Melen Lunn, “otherwise ‘unlikely’ folks together, which refreshes my spirit. Lots of us tend to traffic in our social silos most of the time; this event removes me from those . . . the library space and staff (Robert Foster and Amanda Graham) are quite welcoming, including the tea table and the permission to eat lunch.” The woman from the concert hasn’t found her way back to us. But I’m keeping an eye out: there’s always next time!
SPC
THE MILLER PARTY THE ANNUAL BENEFIT TO HELP SUPPORT SPC
Wednesday, December 1st 6 - 8 p.m. Mimi and Burnett Miller’s home 1224 40th Street, Sacramento $30 at the door / $20 for members
6 | POETRY NOW | NOVEMBER / DECEMBER 2010
TIM KAHL’S 2010 HIGHLIGHTS Jim Powell and Heidi Steidlmayer
On March 8 Jim Powell appeared with Heidi Steidlmayer. Powell read from his new book entitled Substrate which provided many small scenes having to do with California’s cultural and natural history. Powell praised the both the obscure and outsized like Jerry Garcia and wild mustard and lamented the mistakes of Bob Brotherton and the extinction of the grizzly. Powell moved handily from the details of his research to the sweeping commentary of his work on the history of California. John Murillo
On April 26 John Murillo came to town from Madison, WI, where he read from his new book Up Jump the Boogie. With a style that he professed owed a lot to hip-hop, Murillo made his way through lyric narratives and poems that had a pointedly musical influence. In “Ode to a Cross-Fader” Murillo mimicked with his voice the techniques that a DJ would use on his mixer, employing fades, scratches and repeated licks. Also, he waxed poetic on the life of Etheridge Knight, Marvin Gaye and the permanent impact that Bruce Lee films (namely via scenes with “Black Belt Jones”) had on him when he was young. Christopher Buckley
Christopher Buckley read on May 24 complete with his philosophically-tinged poems that reminisced and never seemed to veer very far from his hometown of Santa Barbara of the 50’s, the town which has been the backdrop for the majority of the poems he has written. Buckley also touched on the subject of Einstein and Cesar Vallejo, on Nietzsche and the hollow he carved out in the soul of the Vietnam soldier. He also touched on the spiritual poverty of late capitalism in his poem entitled “Poverty.” Tim Z. Hernandez and Maceo Montoya
On September 6 for Labor Day Tim Hernandez came to Sacramento from Fresno and read with Woodland novelist and visual artist Maceo Montoya. Tim read poems like “Little Ricky” from his American Book Award-winning poetry collection entitled Skin Tax. He also read from his new novel Breathing In, Dust that detailed the lives of Catela, a fictional small town (based on a real town) in the Central Valley. The nine-year-old narrator of the book observes the town and discovers himself through writing to the town.
A PUBLICATION OF THE SACRAMENTO POETRY CENTER
POEMS Saturn’s Rings
Existence
She who was born between the wars and had escaped south out of the Great Depression with a fiery streak in her hair
At the river I tinker with understanding. Rain thrashes and new life begins. Hummingbirds dip with funnel-like smiles. In the belly of the watery snake a hoop of fish assembles and like broken glass they scatter. Just the sense of awareness tells me I can be happy with that.
now finds herself standing in the hall of her house excavating the contents of her handbag (not once, but three times) searching for whatever it was she thought she needed to retrieve. She looks up with a rueful smile. Last night, by satellite, from 2.2 million miles away, images of Saturn’s rings had arrived on her TV— and they looked familiar. Something akin to interference or perhaps the ribbons of shadow thrown across her kitchen counter by the loose branches of the weeping willow. But still— so much of the world seems to be speaking to her in code: in ring tones and electronic beeps, and little flashing red and green lights, while she, a woman from the time of horses, must pause, listen again for the steady clip-clop of hooves. —By Sy Margaret Baldwin
—By James Collins Abandoned Beside I spied a white cat curled up in the sun bouncing off the south side of the home— so content, so toasty, so at peace with the world— until I strolled closer and saw my cat focus into a semi-flat ball abandoned beside the house for rent. —By Diane Webster
Do
Bonefish Clouds
Cigarette Burn
Unfurled, I am like the kite out my front window; open, to let the winds of change about, directing my course. I resist the urge to dive or fall like a leaf that drops, uncontrolled. And yet relenting, becomes my course of action.
dance in a heavy sky, weighty in time’s chair my seasonal despair to change neighborhoods stands stiffly at the window wondering about sunlight and dollars that spend out of control along with concentric rain drops sliding down the pane and the bonefish clouds that gobble them.
Ice shatters the calico leaves in the fall of love changing from giggling teeth to sizzling snares twined to the crackling sensation of scorched flesh in the wake of neck scrapping lips mashed together in harmony.
--By Heather Spiva
—By Mary Beth Asaro
—By Ann Privateer WWW.SACRAMENTOPOETRYCENTER.ORG
NOVEMBER / DECEMBER 2010 | POETRY NOW | 7
POEMS Molly singing like anything I’ll surprise him I’ll show him like knowing till never was evening kissed in questions I slip into sun before him looking like all I feel his eyes warm he watching, blessed promised, splendid hungry passing I touched him shaking quick and waiting back a woman breaking natural in love he sent the night to embrace all hours all undressed flushed with fright like a school girl I go to him I’ll take him to give him the evening of my bedroom let him into the always rain cross his any I feel warm slowly for his look I take him to take all all after asking my always I say you with... I only for... I made love to... I kissed you I... you and you and just I you are peaches and I trying I knew, I saw, I never, I want I throw myself just to his mouth to that place like anything that very place like knowing himself to give that was the eye of to take to keep into his always
8 | POETRY NOW | NOVEMBER / DECEMBER 2010
Women I open in cream standing against from behind me him with his doing, like anything where you are him coming me keeping half watching my open to his promised, to him in orange I kneel wet touched with him doing was dying was shaking like pleasure all time told all words making my breaking the man I understand and a woman’s love a woman kissed like hope I, undressed, all flushed and boiling to be more beginning to never never I go to that place so terrible begging him coming along the shape of him I slip into every atom of him no questions his eyes watching give me to me I too know him all over the pleasure in that face, so natural I find the love you feel like all and all and just all —By Christian DeLaO
Promised cheap men, eyes white and teeth. My women in white kill the sun, scared in fire and moan torn. Tattooed with cigarettes they wake dying for drugs in the locked years and dream they are of the air. They are girls in red, blonds in black. They are marble in burning pools withered. They are named. —By Christian DeLaO
Foreign fingers It is only by the touch of foreign fingers The tickles. shiny, brilliant little spasms of clarity. and confusion joined in smooth marvel. That I can become my own again and dispose of your fingers. But then, again. the tickles. —By Mary Ocher
A PUBLICATION OF THE SACRAMENTO POETRY CENTER
Fields
Winter Sky
Along the sidewalk 1942
In the fields at night, the sound of cicadas rose to meet the moon before the song fell into low-lying fog, drifting, hiding dreams.
Tonight’s round full moon fills the sky before twilight, before evening’s stars appear in the night’s dark sky lighting earth’s shadow.
he followed her— growled with passion, eyebrows wobbled nerves tumbled reached for her, shadow turned fierce
—By Jane Stuart
where an arrow struck his loins collapsed in grief he fell to the cement she who had a talent for incitement could do nothing to stanch the blood seeping from his wound
Between noise and lulls, my brother and I shuddered under sheets held tight to protect our necks from demons we knew lived in those fields. In the morning, the fields felt different. The sound of laughter rose to touch the sun, laughter from men whose skin reddened before turning brown, showing stark lines of white when they rolled their sleeves to wash earth from hands hard to come clean. At noon, the fields made no noise. Under the shade of mimosa trees, my grandmother dished out cornbread, Crowder peas, sliced tomato and ham, pitchers of iced tea, hunks of pound cake. We watched the men line up in rows down wooden slabs of tables, quiet now, gulping food the way dogs do table scraps, before heading back to the fields ‘til dusk when night bugs would sing again. —Shadi Gex
Returning Home I wait for the bus, the only way to get there. Railroads long defunct. I am in the middle of a waiting line. Someone cannot find a ticket, another delay. A Swedish couple, hiking gear on their backs, make us wait another ten. Finally we board, start, and Des Moines soon fades away. Every few miles we pass a little town. JEWELL, “a gem in a friendly setting.” Flat country, furrowed deep. Farmers guiding tractors down neat rows. Tasseled corn and pig sties. MINBURN, “a little town with a big heart.” A smattering of trees, no hills, making for monotony as mile piles on mile. “Welcome, stranger, to friendly GRANGER.” Finally the four corners. The six miles left so familiar, every sign, tree and post sets the clock backward for a lifetime. So many memories, so long ago. And then, MANNING, “big enough to serve you, small enough to know you.” —By Burton R. Hoffmann
WWW.SACRAMENTOPOETRYCENTER.ORG
—By Patricia Hickerson
Untitled I tighten a gift for you and the ivy across the street slipping through my fingers --for just an instant a fuse stretching along the bricks and workers below have decided to open a mountainside --it’s a small thing, the string absorbing your gift as if there will always be a wall ready to fall and in winter the leaves year to year remember their same shape and never any taller, know exactly where and you still living in another city --I’m mailing you what it means not to know, that in my hands even cardboard has an edge even string reaches an end --you will open this box and clearly a great :the knot not any other place. —By Simon Perchik
NOVEMBER / DECEMBER 2010 | POETRY NOW | 9
POEMS
The Library Café
Evening Coming by the Sea
With Nothing
Steel-grey the water there steel up the sad smile steel over the choppy cap girdle in the chill evening’s a comin the duck’s scooping up the last of dinner the seagull resting its head on the edge of the wind tall mast bolster steal your night’s sleep feel the dawn’s smile rise beyond the cold, chilly water anew, the morrow
I raked our back yard of leaves there was a cool sunshine out and the blue jays inspected the combed lawn I left as I moved with nothing to the shower and soapy water the garden dust was washed away and with nothing I hung the bath towels like robes of priests or monks to dry in the sun’s light as I my self was clearly embraced with only the fresh blue after noon air
At the library café, the spines on the bookshelves could be young aspen just a thousand feet above Bitterroot Camp, and clustered in family groups like the crusts of sliced winter bread. The morning firewood smoke washes into this room, and the camp host collects overdue hunting fees from his green four-wheeler. I clean my glasses. The rising sun pushes —By Frances Leitch the Earth’s shadow down. The girl with brunette hair draped over pages upon the counter, reads about Eve, trapped in a wood without paper, cloth, or a voice for words nothing can describe. Non-Fiction is to the left. The water fountain is stainless steel. Ground squirrels scamper over the linoleum. Someone cocks the hammer. —By Gordon Preston
—By Gordon Preston The Teacup
Feathers
When she accidentally swept the full teacup off the table with one uncertain gesture, the wrens in the garden broke into alarm calls. They twitched in and out of the rose trellis flicking their loosely-hinged tails. The room became shadowy. The ghost of her mind began crying. As she looked down, the thick green hedge behind the roses swallowed the wrens. She knew there could be no turning back, no possibility of return.
It was the cold breeze of morning stirring too much fear. It was the window reflecting winter branches that the bird Flew into. Then it was the low note of the oboe you played Over and over that kept the color grey alive in the studio Where the artist once had lived, the portrait of the seascape held Baptismal waters for the native, or those who think like natives Hung near the fireplace like a full moon of August, showing us Its own seas of Rains, Nectar, and Fertility. I am in need today Cushioned under sheets of clouds, once white, praying down On the landscape its verses of mist, to bury in a soft pillow the Memory of every feather collected in both day and night, spring Or autumn to place as offerings, as forgiveness in the just now Hollowed out shallow grave.
—By Sy Margaret Baldwin
—By Gordon Preston 10 | POETRY NOW | NOVEMBER / DECEMBER 2010
A PUBLICATION OF THE SACRAMENTO POETRY CENTER
DEAR.IGUANA WRITING PROMPTS FROM THE INTERVIEWS OF 2010 by L. A. Jones and Dorine Jennette
THIS YEAR’S INTERVIEWS—with Lori Ostlund (January/February), Tim Kahl (March/April), Matthew Zapruder (May/June), Robin Ekiss (July/August), and Ewa Chrusciel (September/October)--made us want to write. So to wrap up the year, we used these five poets as inspirations to invent five writing prompts for you. We invite you to adapt these prompts to suit your needs, and/or to share them with a friend.
{
1)
Inspired by Robin Ekiss’s work with historical figures and domestic scenes: Choose a famous person, living, dead, or fictional. Imagine Person X’s breakfast table. What food is being served? Who cooked it? Who is serving it? Who else is present, if anyone? What are the smells and sounds? What conflicts are in the room? What does Person X long to say, but feel unable to say? This is the first line/s of your poem.
2) 3)
Inspired by Lori Ostlund’s work with humor and pathos: Write a poem that ends with the remark (excerpted from Ostlund’s interview): “Maybe the donkeys didn’t think it was so funny.”
Inspired by Tim Kahl’s use of song in poetry, and Matthew Zapruder’s use of collage: Recall a news story that has grabbed your attention, though you don’t fully know why. Then turn to your favorite popular songs and look for a couplet that (intuitively) seems connected. Do a timed freewrite on the subject, repeating the song lines or key words from the news story any time you get stuck. Keep the hand moving. Don’t stop until your timer goes off (at least fifteen minutes).
WWW.SACRAMENTOPOETRYCENTER.ORG
}
LET THE POEM SURPRISE YOU.
4)
Inspired by Ewa Chrusciel’s letter poems: Write a letter to an animal or object. Weave in and out of treating the addressee as a literal animal/object and as a metaphor for something else. Disagree with its politics, question its motives or fidelity, describe its movements or how it was made or came into your presence. Read its horoscope. Be playful, perhaps using vibrant and ecstatic words. Let the poem surprise you.
5)
Inspired by Zapruder and Kahl’s variety of styles: Do you lean toward ideas in your poems? Do you avoid ideas, preferring sound, wordplay, or image? Have you been avoiding first person or using it in almost every poem? Write a poem that pushes you against your pattern. Abandon ideas for sound. Get on your soapbox and rant. Throw away narrative and go for an irrational lyric. Risk taking a stand or being funny/silly.
NOVEMBER / DECEMBER 2010 | POETRY NOW | 11
EVENTS 2010 IN REVIEW
!X – Sac City Ethnic Theater Workshop – March by Bob Stanley
Earth Day Reading – April by Trina Drotar
For the last four years we’ve been fortunate to have the Ethnic Theater Workshop at SPC, and this year may have been the most electrifying yet. In a time when government fails to support education, this group spoke out eloquently – they create a kind of theatrical poetry – to present a series of vignettes on a single theme – and this year’s theme was education. The presentation was fiery at times, tender at others, but always direct, energetic and clear. I look forward to seeing, hearing, and hosting Angela’s new troupe in 2012 and beyond. Don’t miss !X!
The Environmental Students Organization (ESO) on the CSUS campus contacted SPC early in the year and wanted to put together a slam poetry event. I volunteered to work with the students because I currently attend CSUS. I spoke with representatives of their organization, after first learning more about what a slam event consists of, and determined that they wanted either traditional poetry or spoken word, not a slam contest. My next task was to find poets for this event. I began with Bob Stanley, recruited Bill Gainer and Martha Ann Blackman while attending a reading at Luna’s, which is where I also recruited Robert Grossklaus. I emailed Alexa Mergen and JoAnn Anglin, and I also asked NSAA. To my surprise, every poet responded with enthusiasm. The event was to take place at the Buzz Café on the CSUS campus on Earth Day,April 22, 2010. To my surprise, there was no microphone available (CSUS, it seems, has only 2, and both were being used), so Bob Stanley raced to SPC and borrowed the equipment. In the meantime, we entertained the guests as best as we could, over the rather loud hum of the refrigeration equipment. A surprise poet, Sandy Thomas, also read. A couple of students played guitar and sang, and others read the words of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Rachel Carson. The evening was a success. The students enjoyed the readings, the poets enjoyed the students, and the students promised t-shirts for the poets next year. Yes, we are hoping to make this an annual reading on campus. I’d better contact Jasmine Greer and set something up for next April.
SPC Annual Writing Conference – April by Trina Drotar
The April 2010 SPC Writing Conference offered morning and afternoon workshops by Indigo Moor, Peter Grandbois, Toni Mirosevich, Joseph Lease, and Donna de la Perriere. Indigo supplied each attendee with a selection of poems and asked attendees to write him with poems they generated from the workshop. Toni’s afternoon class focused on memoir, but this writer generated one poem, and many ideas, from the request Toni made for each of us to look in our pockets and use that as a starting point. She passed around some fish eyes, which were the important part of a piece she’d written. We shared writing, watched bits of a film, and laughed. Each presenter also gave a public reading. Watch Poetry Now, the SPC website, or Facebook for news about the 2011 conference.
12 | POETRY NOW | NOVEMBER / DECEMBER 2010
A PUBLICATION OF THE SACRAMENTO POETRY CENTER
REFLECTING BACK ON 2010 READINGS by Cynthia Linville A Marathon of Love Poems, a reading for Beer Week, a Celebration of Walt Whitman, and a 125 Birthday th
Party for The Crocker Museum are among my favorite readings of 2010. A Marathon of Love Poems.
On February 19, I hosted the second annual reading of poems about love, lust, and heartache at SPC. Twenty poets read their original work in a 90 minute presentation to a standing-roomonly crowd. Chocolate, fresh fruit and Girl Scout cookies were served. Beer Week Celebration.
Also in February, Tim Kahl and Bob Stanley hosted a reading in celebration of beer at River City Brew Pub near Old Sac. Tim donned his lederhosen, and most readers wrote an original piece for the occasion. In addition to Bob,Tim and me, Richard Hansen and Shawn Aveningo read. Open mic followed. I bought a beer for the audience member who guessed closest to the correct number of beer names that appeared in my poem (21; someone guessed 16), “Brewing It Up at River City.” The Essential Leaves of Grass.
February was a banner month for Sacramento poetry. James Lee Jobe and Stuart Canton (SLiC) hosted a Walt Whitman reading at The Book Collector. A number of my composition students from Sac State attended this dramatic reading.Yuyustu Sharma from Nepal made a guest appearance, joining 11 other readers. The Crocker’s Birthday.
In May, The Crocker turned 125 and held a huge birthday bash that included two hours of poetry reading. The reading was bittersweet as Quinton Duval was scheduled to host the first half hour, yet he was terribly ill and passed away a few days later. Victoria Dalkey hosted his spot and
WWW.SACRAMENTOPOETRYCENTER.ORG
included a reading of some of Quinton’s poems. ElectroPoetic Coffee (Lawrence Dinkins and Ross Hammond) performed in the second spot, and I hosted the last two half hours. Catherine Fraga read an original poem she wrote about Margaret Crocker for the occasion (read it on page 14). For the finale, former Sacramento poets laureate Viola Weinberg and Dennis Schmitz filled all the seats and more.
BREWING IT UP AT RIVER CITY —For Beer Week, February 2010
Look at that old frothingslosh in the corner. That old engine oil he’s drinking is going to give him delerium tremens. And I don’t give a fiddler’s elbow for that arrogant bastard at the end of the bar drinking moose drool. Sure, it’s polygamy porter tonight, but tomorrow it’ll be alimony ale. Hey check out this seriously bad elf on my left; yes, the one with the long hammer. I wish he would slide his woodenhead up next to my blue moon. I’d like to give him a happy ending. But he only has eyes for the old speckled hen sitting next to him. And of course it’s smuttynose on my right who wants to take me for a Belgian triple in Devil’s Canyon. Slim chance! He’s a sick duck. It looks like I’ll be finishing my evening with not tonight honey. It’s just a bunch of dead guys here. (Note: italicized words are beer names) —Cynthia Linville
NOVEMBER / DECEMBER 2010 | POETRY NOW | 13
REBECCA MORRISON 2010 HIGHLIGHTS
Hot Poetry in the Park In early 2009, Costa Apostolos from Friends of Fremont Park approached Sacramento Poetry Center, offering the park as a venue for poetry events. In the spring of 2009, we held a day-long poetry festival for children. We also launched the Hot Poetry in the Park series, a showcase for hometown favorites such as Ruebi Freyja, Keely S. Dorran, Phillip T. Nails and Robert Lozano, who had to borrow Michael Grosse’s spelunking light in order to read as darkness descended. A reading by the McKinley Park Poets drew a large crowd as many passersby stopped to enjoy poetry in the sunset of this beautiful park. SPC’s partnership with Fremont Park allows us to bring our poetry to a wider audience while helping create a family-friendly environment. Poets and Writers provided funding for this series, and the City of Sacramento waived event fees. Please visit http://fremontpark.net for their community calendar. Yuyutsu RD Sharma’s Visit I first read Yuyutsu RD Sharma’s poetry in a chalet in the Swiss Alps. Six months later and six thousand miles away,Yuyu brought his “Himalayan” poetry from the top of the world to the flatlands of Northern California. Several hundred people enjoyed poetry, photography and writing workshops at the Headquarters for the Arts and the campuses of Sacramento State and UC Davis. I had the pleasure of taking Yuyu on quick trips to the Pacific Ocean and the Sacramento River. Poets and Writers, Center for Arts & the Muse at the University (CAMU), Sacramento State University, Calaveras Station and the UC Davis English Department sponsored his visit. I extend special thanks to Trina Drotar for her help in hosting Yuyu and to Andy Jones for helping with the UC Davis venue. WHAT MARGARET GAVE —for Margaret Crocker (1822-1901)
the gift of gazing the invitation to climb into and over and around through and under to test the edges and continue traveling until we reach a pear glazed with sun a woman’s supple brown shoulder lines of India ink sailing across canvas there is often no way to halt the imagination a pebble strewn path water dripping the shadow of a walnut tree at dusk we have questions and all the answers have merit the gift of art is the never stopping. —Catherine Fraga 14 | POETRY NOW | NOVEMBER / DECEMBER 2010
EDITOR’S MESSAGE continued from page 16
One of the most interesting sites I saw this past summer was along J Street between 10th and 11th. Artwork adorned the Copenhagen building, but it wasn’t the artwork that held my attention as much as it was the poem, the words, that accompanied the artwork, which I later discovered illustrated the poem. The words were penned by Sacramento poet Sandy Thomas, and the artwork was in chalk (for the 20th anniversary Chalk It Up) by Jen Cimaglio and Stephanie Oliveira. It was a pleasure to discover this and to see a poem in large letters along a busy street where so many people pass daily. Please visit our website, www.sacpoetrynow.wordpress.com, to read the poem and view the images. I recently learned of a San Francisco corner in North Beach (Broadway and Columbus) that honors writers with a public art installation called “The Language of the Birds.” These are just a few ways in which we, as poets and writers, share our words with those who might not otherwise hear them. I don’t want to forget Richard Hansen’s Poems-For-All that I understand he scattered in Scotland this summer. I encourage you to contact me at PoetryNowEditor@ gmail.com with information about other public poetry sightings. If the people won’t come to the poetry, we can bring the poetry to the people. Happy New Year! Trina
SPC presents
FIRST WEDNESDAYS POETRY SERIES Hosted by Bob Stanley 6pm. Central Library, 828 I Street. Sacramento
A PUBLICATION OF THE SACRAMENTO POETRY CENTER
CONTRIBUTORS has been published in The Poet’s Haven, Snow Island Review and The Furnace Review. She grew up in SC and graduated from Francis Marion University with a B.A. in English-Liberal Arts and Creative Writing. MARY BETH ASARO
was born and raised in England and lives in the California Sierras. Her poems have appeared in Calyx, Hanging Loose, and Earth’s Daughters. SY MARGARET BALDWIN
CHRISTIAN DELAO experiments with novel
forms of music, photography, painting, drawing, and poetry. An L.A. native and former pizza delivery driver, he lives in Sacramento as a high-tech guru. teaches writing at Sacramento State University. Catherine has published her work in numerous literary journals and was nominated for a Pushcart Prize in Poetry. She is the author of one book of poetry, Running Away with Gary, the Mattress Salesman. She was awarded a month long writer’s residency in Portugal in January 2008. CATHERINE FRAGA
journeyed to the Bay Area in 1978 and taught literature in high school for 19 years before graduating from CSUS with her M.A. in December 2010. Her poetry has been published in local literary journals and in Poetry Now. Shadi is also the social network specialist for SPC. SHADI GEX
in NYC, was a Warner Bros. dancer and Barnard graduate. She has worked as teacher, copy editor and Penthouse fiction writer. Her poems have been published in Passager, Echoes, Choices, Rattlesnake Review, WTF, Convergence, Poetry Now, and Yolo Crow.
teaches English at CSUS, is poetry editor of Poetry Now and managing editor of Convergence: an online journal of poetry & art. She hosts a local reading series, and her poetry has appeared in Sacramento News and Review, The Sacramento Bee, SacPress, Medusa’s Kitchen, Rattlesnake Review, Song of the San Joaquin, Brevities, Cosumnes River Journal, and WTF. CYNTHIA LINVILLE
was born in Moscow in 1986, grew up in Tel Aviv and now lives in Berlin. MARY OCHER
is an attorney whose poems have appeared in Partisan Review, The New Yorker and elsewhere. For more information, including his essay “Magic, Illusion and Other Realities” and a complete bibliography, please visit his website at www. simonperchik.com.
SIMON PERCHIK
GORDON PRESTON has had poems in Blue
Mesa Review, Comstock Review, Cutbank,The Missouri Review, Rattle, and Tar Wolf Review. He was 54 when Finishing Line Press published his first chapbook, Violins. Now 60, he teaches reading and writing to the children in Modesto, CA.
is a poet, photographer, and retired teacher who grew up in Cleveland, OH, and has lived in CA most of her life. She writes: “ . . . one of my first poems reads, ‘… and you and I are walking in the forest munching a carrot.’ The years since twenty-something bring back some of that ability to be carefree.” ANN PRIVATEER
is a freelance writer who has been published in various publications and online journals. She loves taking care of her two young boys and reading and writing. Visit her website at www. heatherspiva.blogspot.com. HEATHER SPIVA
poems have appeared in Shadow Quill, Writer’s Bloc, Pegasus, Poets’ Podium, Ink, In My Bood, The Electric Muse, Lyric, Mobius and more. JANE STUART’S
lives in Colorado and works in the production department of her local newspaper. She drives in the mountains to help rejuvenate her being and to find ideas for poetry. Her poems have been published in Bellowing Ark, the Aurorean, Icon, and Philadelphia Poets. DIANE WEBSTER
PATRICIA HICKERSON, born
craft of writing has spanned 20 years: poetry, short stories, news and magazine articles, and public relations. Her poems have appeared in The Archer and LITE: Baltimore’s Literary Newspaper. She teaches writing workshops for Cuesta College. FRANCES LEITCH’S
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NOVEMBER / DECEMBER 2010 | POETRY NOW | 15 Mail to: 1719 25th Street, Sacramento, CA 95816
SPC Sacramento Poetry Center
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NOVEMBER / DECEMBER 2010
EDITOR’S MESSAGE
It’s been a great year for Poetry Now. Richard Hansen does amazing design layout for each issue. We’ve added new features. We are increasing the number of book reviews, and we will continue to grow Poetry Now throughout the next year and beyond. TRINA L. DROTAR None of these issues could exist without the content. I extend thanks to Lisa Jones and Dorine Jennette for choosing interesting poets to interview; Cynthia Linville for always maintaining integrity in her poem selection; Emmanuel Sigauke for his book reviews; Sandra Senne for mailing Poetry Now; Linda Collins for keeping our mailing list updated; Shadi Gex and Ann Wehrman for their copyediting assistance; Alexandra Thomas for “In Dialogue;” the publishers who graciously send review copies and who agree to be featured in “Small Press Corner;” the many people who send notices about workshops, book releases, calls for submissions, and other news; and Bob Stanley for his support. As many of you know, I travel widely for poetry and other literary and art events. Some of the events I’ve attended this year have included: Neeli Cherkovski and David Meltzer in Grass Valley; Ann Menebroker, A.D. Winans, Art Beck, and Bill Gainer in San Francisco;William O’Daly in Placerville; Lyn Hejinian, Debra DiBlasi, Nick Flynn, Steve Church, Doug Rice, and Camille Roy in Fresno; CSU SummerArts; Cosumnes River writing conference; Watershed Environmental Poetry Festival in Berkeley; and I will attend a November reading by Paul Fericano in Santa Barbara. There are certainly many other events at SPC, in Davis, in Livermore, in Berkeley, and points north and east and west and south of Sacramento to visit, and I encourage each of you to seek out these events and let me know about them. Send photos or stories or information. CONTINUED ON PAGE 14
This is the final issue of 2010.
POETRYNOW
A PUBLICATION OF THE SACRAMENTO POETRY CENTER
The Poet Tree, Inc., also known as The Sacramento Poetry Center, is a non-profit corporation dedicated to providing forums for local poets— including publications, workshops, and a reading series.
POETRY NOW THE POET TREE, INC. 1719 25TH STREET SACRAMENTO, CA 95816 NONPROFIT ORGANIZATION U.S. POSTAGE PAID SACRAMENTO, CA PERMIT NUMBER 1956
16 | POETRY NOW | NOVEMBER / DECEMBER 2010
LUNCH SERIES
Hosted by Mary Zeppa and Lawrence Dinkins. Noon. Central Library, 828 I Street. Sacramento
BROWN BAG
THIRD THURSDAY
The Sacramento Poetry Center presents