I love writing poems about the most ordinary of things, and was envious, indeed, when I found this one by Michael McFee, who lives in North Carolina. How I wish I’d written it.

Saltine

How well its square
fit my palm, my mouth,
a toasty wafer slipped
onto the sick tongue
or into chicken soup,

each crisp saltine a tile
pierced with 13 holes
in rows of 3 and 2,
its edges perforated
like a postage stamp,

one of a shifting stack
sealed in wax paper
whose noisy opening
always signaled snack,
peanut butter or cheese

thick inside Premiums,
the closest we ever got
to serving hors d’oeuvres:
the redneck’s hardtack,
the cracker’s cracker.

American Life in Poetry is made possible by The Poetry Foundation ( www.poetryfoundation.org ), publisher of Poetry magazine. It is also supported by the Department of English at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Poem copyright 2012 by Michael McFee from his most recent book of poems That Was Oasis, Carnegie Mellon Univ. Press, 2012. First printed in Threepenny Review #107, Vol. 27, no. 3, (Fall 2006). Poem reprinted by permission of Michael McFee and the publisher. Introduction copyright 2013 by The Poetry Foundation. The introduction's author, Ted Kooser, served as United States Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress from 2004-2006. They do not accept unsolicited manuscripts.

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – The Spring Dance Festival’s 32nd event will take place on Saturday, May 4, at 1 p.m. and 7 p.m., and on Sunday, May 5, at 2 p.m.

The theme for this year’s festival is “Dance and Shout.”

This yearly production is the primary fundraiser for the Lake County Arts Council.

Over the years it has been produced in many venues. It was presented in the gym at the Clear Lake High School for many years, and on the stage at the Marge Alakszay auditorium a few times, before the Soper-Reese Community Theatre was ready for public use.

The Soper-Reese has turned out to be a wonderful facility for presenting dance. Along with the professional sound system and great theater lighting, the large stage allows full range to the dancers’ movements.

Every one of the comfortable seats in the house has a full view of all dancers participating, from the tops of their heads to the soles of their slippers.

The Spring Dance Festival involves most of the dance schools in Lake County as well as many individual dancers and independent dance groups, men and women, from all parts of Lake.

This year there will be 32 acts, each averaging a few minutes long. The age of the dancers will be from 12 to 83 years, with many being in high school.  

The extensive training and study, combined with expert choreography and professional costuming, bring beauty to the stage. While the Spring Dance Festival is a great entertainment deal, it is more than that.

Tickets are $20 for premium reserved seats, $15 for general assigned seat admission, and $10 for age twelve and younger, and are available at the Soper-Reese box office, Fridays 10:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., at 275 S. Main St. in Lakeport, or by calling 707-263-0537; at the Travel Center in the Shoreline Shopping Center, Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.; or on the Web at www.soperreesetheatre.com .

More information is available on the Web site www.lakecountyartscouncil.com or by calling the Lake County Arts Council at 707-263-6658.

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Several years ago, Lake County Theatre Co. staged the world-famous “The Rocky Horror Show” to sell-out crowds which flocked to Lake County from all over the state.

“Rocky” is a cult classic which draws attendees of all ages and backgrounds and gives them a chance to get “wild and crazy.”

The audience becomes part of the show, complete with their own costumes and dance moves, a very unique theater experience. So what is the problem?

There is no problem, just an opportunity for the community to become even more involved.

LCTC is looking to bring “Rocky” enthusiasts together to begin their involvement early.

This is a call for all individuals who would like to participate in this show on a leadership basis. The company is looking for people who feel they know this show well enough to produce or even direct the production.

Tim Barns, director of the previous production, has offered his expertise as a consultant to anyone who would like to take on the challenges and fun of directing or producing this show.

He feels that there are many folks out there that know this show intimately and would like to be more involved in the next version of it.

The “The Rocky Horror Show” is scheduled for next fall so there is plenty of time to prepare, but not plenty of time to show interest in becoming the director or producer.

If you are intrigued with this opportunity, call 707-355-2272.

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Lake County Theatre Co.’s production of “Rumors” is now open at Gard Street Auditorium in Kelseyville.

“Rumors” will be the third in a string of classic presentations which included “Miracle on 34th Street” and “Cuckoo’s Nest.”

Written by Neil Simon, “Rumors” is sure to be another crowd pleaser for the Lake County audiences.

As those familiar with Neil Simon know, Simon is a master of subtle comedy that takes the life situations of normal individuals and makes them abnormally funny. “Rumors” is no exception.

The plot centers on a couple who is celebrating their 10th wedding anniversary by throwing a dinner party for their friends.

As the the guests arrive, they discover that the food has not been prepared, the couple is nowhere in sight and “somebody” may have shot “somebody” in the ear lobe.

How do close friends, business associates – and the police – react to such a scenario? Audiences will need to attend Gard Street School Auditorium on Gard Street in Kelseyville to discover the answers to these questions.

But another important note should be mentioned about the Gard Street School Auditorium. Until recently, loyal LCTC theater goers bravely seated themselves in metal folding chairs and tried to ignore that uncomfortable arrangement.

Then a “miracle” occurred. An anonymous donor gifted the theater company with over 100 comfortable, padded theater seats.

They have been installed at the Gard Street auditorium and are ready for a comfortable evening of theater entertainment.

The show will run from April 26 through May 12, Fridays and Saturdays at 7 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m.

Tickets are $15 for reserved, $12 for general and $2 less for students, seniors and LCTC members.

General and reserved tickets are available at Wildhurst Tasting Room in Kelseyville, 707-279-4302, and general seating tickets are available at The Party Shop in Lakeport, 707-263-7800, and can be purchased online at www.lakecountytheatrecompany.com .

For further information, feel free to call 707-279-2595.

NORTH COAST, Calif. – The 24th annual Mendocino Coast Writers Conference, which will take place July 25-27 at the College of the Redwoods campus in Fort Bragg, has extended deadlines for scholarship requests, and applications for the Master Class in Short Fiction with Peter Orner.

The new deadline for all scholarship applications is Wednesday, May 15.

The conference offers both full fee and partial financial assistance to adult writers; and full-tuition aid to Five Under Twenty-Five, up to five young writers who live or attend school in one of five Northern California counties: Del Norte, Humboldt, Lake, Mendocino or Sonoma.

Applicants for the master class now have until May 30 to submit their writing for consideration.

Author of two novels and winner of two Pushcart Prizes, Orner was a Guggenheim Fellowship recipient.

In describing his workshop in Short Fiction, he noted, “Short stories are a kind of high wire act in prose.”

He will focus on some of the elemental things that make stories vital: what gets us in the gut and the heart, as well as the head.

There are no changes in the May 15 deadline for the Registered Participants Contest.

The three-day conference offers outstanding faculty in all genres teaching the craft of writing at beginning and advanced levels.

For full details on workshops, scholarships and registration procedures, please visit the conference Web site at www.mcwc.org or contact staff by phone and leave a message at 707-485-4031.

This column originates in Nebraska, and our office is about two hours’ drive from that stretch of the Platte River where thousands of sandhill cranes stop for a few weeks each year.

Linda Hogan, one of our most respected native writers and writer in residence for The Chickasaw Nation, perfectly captures their magic and mystery in this fine poem.

The Sandhills

The language of cranes
we once were told
is the wind. The wind
is their method,
their current, the translated story
of life they write across the sky.
Millions of years
they have blown here
on ancestral longing,
their wings of wide arrival,
necks long, legs stretched out
above strands of earth
where they arrive
with the shine of water,
stories, interminable
language of exchanges
descended from the sky
and then they stand,
earth made only of crane
from bank to bank of the river
as far as you can see
the ancient story made new.

American Life in Poetry is made possible by The Poetry Foundation ( www.poetryfoundation.org ), publisher of Poetry magazine. It is also supported by the Department of English at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Poem reprinted from Sing: Poetry from the Indigenous Americas, Ed. by Allison Adelle Hedge Coke, The Univ. of Arizona Press, 2011, by permission of Linda Hogan and the publisher. Introduction copyright 2013 by The Poetry Foundation. The introduction's author, Ted Kooser, served as United States Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress from 2004-2006. They do not accept unsolicited manuscripts.