White Rabbit: Issa's Sunday Service, #27

This past week was the birthday of rock great, Grace Slick, from one of my favorite 60's bands, Jefferson Airplane (a choice for which I took much flack from close friends). This week's selection is "White Rabbit," which is the second Grace Slick number to land on the Litrock list (here's the first, in case you missed it). Whether it's James Joyce or Lewis Carroll, Slick was always on the, umm, high end of things and this is a classic that just keeps on giving. It's presentation by the band is unusual for a song that hit the charts with staying power; the music builds dramatically, centered around the words and Slick's voice, in a style almost perfect for poetic presentation.


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Heading back to March 1993 and dipping into Lilliput Review #41, I found a couple of poems not previously featured. Enjoy.





The Center Of Evolution

the silence of a field
that points through the depth of a leaf
that formed all that potato
frying in your face

Stacey Sollfrey

this

isness of monarch
on lantana bloom,

two horny toads spied
in one week, late heat ...;

a sprinkle of rain
to prove the phenomenon

is all there is,
and is enough

Sylvia Manning

And one from the master:





eyeing the potato
on the banked fire...
crow

Issa
translated by David G. Lanoue

best,
Don