Thanks, Grinnellians! ... Leviathan

Friends at Grinnell College . . . thanks for hosting me for a poetry reading in the Writers@Grinnell series there this evening. Honestly, you were the best audience I've had in quite a long time. I felt very welcomed. And I felt a synergy among us that really enlivened my performance. So thanks! From the bottom of my heart. I know that's a cliché but my gratitude is certainly heartfelt. Gratitude and props to Dr. Carolyn Jacobson for coordinating the evening, providing great publicity, and giving such a generous introduction. And many thanks also to Dr. Shuchi Kapila, English department head, for your hospitality. And thanks also to my daughter Amanda for a truly lovely visit. It was a genuine treat for your old man to give a reading at your school. I love you, hon! Congratulations on your last semester at Grinnell. Here's the new, one-day-old poem I read tonight. (Terza rima in pentameter, if you're into such esoterica.) Leviathan My friend Janine has a tiny terra cotta serpent made of arches, loops of red fire-hardened clay. When you set up the curves in a row, a line on an obsid- ian table-top, let's say, or any other shiny surface, water-like, what you get is an illusion, mirage, fantasy — a dotted stitch sewn by your eyes: four small arcs, at one end (rising) the head of a velociraptor, at the other (diving) the tail of a rattlesnake. On this coffee table of dark stone, a mirror clouded by years of creosote mist, Loch Ness breached by mesozoic shimmer, coils of a beast that should have been long dead. St. George, England's patron . . . it was him or this monster, devil-vermilion-scaled ophid- ian champion. Chalk one up for good Sir George. Or is this Quetzalcoatl? Feathered god dipping in and out of clouds, a large pterodactyl-winged, emerald-eyed messiah. Or Poseidon’s messenger, the huge sea-snake sent to devour Andromeda, killed by Perseus, conquistador of the Gorgon. Whose hair was made of small snakes, dread- locks each exactly like these curls of auburn. The sea-dwelling Orc the hippogriff-riding Ruggiero bested to save Angelica. The Kraken. The Basilisk. The Wyrm. Treasure-heaping Wyvern: Grendel’s cousin, Beowulf’s fate. Geryon, snake with scorpion tail, winging Dante downward into abyss. Bahamut. The Giant Anaconda. Ouroboros. Dragon, dragon, dragon. But no, it’s not like that. It’s just a little hocus-pocus, a parlor trick. Just a sea serpent of brick-red, kiln-fired curlicues. And yet, she must also be a Titan somehow. Somewhere inside the terra cotta smoulders a small flame of a Leviathan. — Vince Gotera         Parking Lot Border Florida State University   Quetzalcoatl (www.ravenmedium.com) Constellation diagram, Cetus the Sea Snake (sent by Poseidon to eat the maiden Andromeda). From Chandra Observatory. Ruggiero saving Angelica from the Orc sea serpent (Orlando Furioso by Ludovico Ariosto [1516], art by Gustave Doré, from Wikipedia.) I wrote this poem as a response to Robert Lee Brewer's Poem-a-Day Challenge for National Poetry Month, in his Poetic Asides blog sponsored by Writer's Digest. During the month of April, Robert issued a prompt each day, accompanied by a sample poem he had written from that prompt. This poem was inspired by a prompt to write an animal poem. In "Leviathan," I have ranged freely, pretty loose and easy, with a coterie of legendary or literary animals that fall within the general herd of sea serpent/dragon/reptile/amphibian/dinosaur/snake. While the topic may be loosey-goosey, the craft is tight: roughed-up pentameter with terza rima (aba bcb cdc . . .), often slant rhymed, sometimes distantly. Pentameter: the BAS- | il-ISK | the WYRM | TREAS-ure | HEAP-ing  (line 28) /   WY-vern | GREN-del's | COUS-in | BE-o- | wulf's FATE  (line 29). Terza Rima (starting at line 8): arcs / rattlesnake / Loch //  mirror / shimmer / him or //  dead / ophid- / god //  etc. Then the middle rhyme word cotta in the last stanza is grouped with the a rhyme at the top: cotta and set up. Fun, eh? In any case, back to the reading at Grinnell College: here are a couple of photos, courtesy of Molly McArdle. Thanks again for a magical evening, everyone!       Vince Gotera's poetry reading Writers@Grinnell reading series Grinnell College, 30 April 2009 Photos by Molly McArdle Oh, also, a couple of students bought Ghost Wars but didn't ask for them to be signed. Yes, they were already pre-signed, but if you like I can sign them more personally. Just tell Amanda. Quite easy to arrange. Added 1 April 2012:  I just found out that "Leviathan" was published by the University of Iowa's arts and writing website, The Daily Palette. Quite fitting I found that out today because I'm now taking up again Robert Lee Brewer's poem-a-day challenge, as part of National Poetry Month, 2012. Hope I end up again this time with a poem as lovely and lucky as "Leviathan." Take care, everyone.