Ted Kooser, US Poet Laureate from 2004 to 2006. Photo by UNL Publications and Photography.

Your high school English teacher made an effort to teach you and your bored classmates about sonnets, which have specific patterns of rhyme, and he or she used as an example a great poem by Keats or Shelley, about some heroic subject. To counter the memory of those long and probably tedious hours, I offer you this perfectly made sonnet by Roy Scheele, a Nebraska poet, about a more humble, common subject.

Woman Feeding Chickens

Her hand is at the feedbag at her waist,

sunk to the wrist in the rustling grain

that nuzzles her fingertips when laced

around a sifting handful. It’s like rain,

like cupping water in your hand, she thinks,

the cracks between the fingers like a sieve,

except that less escapes you through the chinks

when handling grain. She likes to feel it give

beneath her hand’s slow plummet, and the smell,

so rich a fragrance she has never quite

got used to it, under the seeming spell

of the charm of the commonplace. The white

hens bunch and strut, heads cocked, with tilted eyes,

till her hand sweeps out and the small grain flies.

American Life in Poetry is made possible by The Poetry Foundation, publisher of Poetry magazine. It is also supported by the Department of English at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Poem copyright ©2010 by Roy Scheele from his most recent book of poetry, A Far Allegiance, The Backwaters Press, 2010. Reprinted by permission of Roy Scheele and the publisher. Introduction copyright ©2011 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.

The concern will begin at 3 p.m. in Preston Hall, 44831 Main St., Mendocino.

The ensemble is composed of violinist Anita Felix, French hornist Janis Lieberman and pianist Marc Steiner.

They will perform works by Brahms, Saint-Saens, Tchaikovsky, Piazzolla and a work especially written for the ensemble, “Outbursts,” by Martha Stoddard.

Tickets, which are $20, are available at Fiddles and Cameras in Fort Bragg, Moore's Books in Mendocino, and at the door.

Visit the Fort Bragg Center for the Arts online at www.fbcamusicseries.com/index.html.

Ted Kooser, US Poet Laureate from 2004 to 2006. Photo by UNL Publications and Photography.

Here’s a poem of mixed feelings by Don Thompson to help us launch October.

Thompson lives in Buttonwillow, Calif., which sounds like the name of a town in a children’s story, don’t you think?

October

I used to think the land

had something to say to us,

back when wildflowers

would come right up to your hand

as if they were tame.

Sooner or later, I thought,

the wind would begin to make sense

if I listened hard

and took notes religiously.

That was spring.

Now I’m not so sure:

the cloudless sky has a flat affect

and the fields plowed down after harvest

seem so expressionless,

keeping their own counsel.

This afternoon, nut tree leaves

blow across them

as if autumn had written us a long letter,

changed its mind,

and tore it into little scraps.

American Life in Poetry is made possible by The Poetry Foundation, publisher of Poetry magazine. It is also supported by the Department of English at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Poem copyright ©2010 by Don Thompson, whose most recent book of poetry is Where We Live, Parallel Press, 2009. Reprinted from Plainsongs, Vol. 30, no. 3, Spring 2010, by permission of Don Thompson and the publisher. Introduction copyright ©2011 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.

THE BIG YEAR (Rated PG)

Color me skeptical about a movie focused on the obsession of an ornithology hobby involving competitive bird-watching.

Oops, according to “The Big Year,” the practice of watching various avian species is called “birding” and the practitioners are “birders.”

The premise of “The Big Year” is that three disparate men, each facing unique personal and professional challenges, try to do outdo each other in the ultimate North American birding competition.

Some would say, if they are not members of the Audubon Society, that birding is a peculiar, even eccentric hobby, and even more so when it is competitive.

Yet, the oddity of frantically searching for elusive birds in far-flung locales, often remote and almost inaccessible, adds quirky humor to the practice.

“The Big Year” focuses on three individuals, each with his own eccentricities, in a quest during the length of a calendar year to top the record of 732 bird-sightings.

The ability to drop everything on a moment’s notice to fly to Louisiana or Alaska to follow up on the finding of a rare species would seem to require great financial means.

This would explain corporate titan Stu Preissler’s (Steve Martin) ability to chase rumors of the latest find on an Aleutian island.

The current birding champion is contractor Kenny Bostick (Owen Wilson), so obsessed with keeping his record that he neglects his beautiful wife (Rosamund Pike), even while she is undergoing fertility tests.

The last member of the competitive trio is the one with little visible financial means, a divorced computer programmer stuck in a dead-end job.

Jack Black brings his traditional slacker/goofball persona to the role of 36-year-old Brad Harris, who will max out his credits cards while depending on help from his supportive mom (Dianne Wiest).

Meanwhile, Brad’s cantankerous father (Brian Dennehy), expressing the type of skepticism that could only come from paternal concern about a son’s future, is dubious about the whole exercise.

On the other hand, Stu’s wife (JoBeth Williams) understands his passion, but his executive assistants (Kevin Pollak and Joel McHale) are apoplectic that the boss jeopardizes merger deals by his peripatetic adventures.

Several dynamics are in play during the travels to scenic venues throughout North America. The devious Kenny, not averse to playing manipulative games, is the competitor worthy of contempt.

In a quest to overtake Kenny’s record, Stu and Brad strike up an unlikely friendship and form a cautious bond to locate as many feathered friends as possible.

Anjelica Huston has some delightful scenes as a sort of Tugboat Annie, taking the birders on an ocean cruise. Her utter contempt for Kenny is one of the film’s funniest moments.

“The Big Year” is an amiable comedy that is graciously amusing, focused more on gentle situational humor than the big laughs generated by raunchier films. After all, the PG rating is appropriate for this genial entertainment.

While the birding mania may be a foreign concept to the overwhelming majority of filmgoers, the winning trio of Steve Martin, Owen Wilson and Jack Black should appeal to the mainstream.

Each actor brings elements of his well-established comic persona to the big screen, but in a muted fashion that is entirely fitting with the oddball nature of “The Big Year.”

The film’s evident charms also extend to the beauty of a first-rate travelogue of scenic habitats and the stunning photography of lovely wild birds.

DVD RELEASE UPDATE

British TV crime series are often better than the American counterparts. Case in point, “Prime Suspect” on the Britain’s ITV network is better than the show of the same title on NBC’s fall schedule.

That is neither here nor there when it comes to “Without Motive,” and yet this British series is a dark mystery in the same vein of the British “Prime Suspect.”

You can judge for yourself with the DVD release of “Without Motive,” which aired on ITV a decade ago and now is available for the first time in the U.S.

Detective Constable Jack Mowbray (Ross Kemp) and his team spend Series 1 in search of a serial killer, who brutally murdered a young woman in Bristol.

The “Without Motive” DVD also contains Series 2, in which Mowbray, along with an investigating team rife with petty jealousies and full-blown rivalries, searches for a copycat criminal.

This British series is a gripping drama, one containing graphic violence and strong language. It would never run on our network television.

Tim Riley writes film and television reviews for Lake County News.

The show will take place from 4 p.m. to 5 p.m. on KPFZ, 88.1 FM.

Carolyn Hawley will play a recording of her rendition of Chopin's Etudes.

An etude is a musical composition for practice to develop technical skill.

REAL STEEL (Rated PG-13)

Though a comparison to “Transformers” is inevitable, the action-packed “Real Steel” is so much more than robots engaged in full-on, brutal destruction of each other.

“Real Steel” is more like the original “Rocky,” focused on a boxing competition where the underdog hero makes a comeback and gives his all.

The setting is the near distant future, where the public’s thirst for violence and carnage is greater than what mere mortal athletes can give.

The boxing world has evolved, if you will, to the point where robots have replaced the pugilists and the boxing ring has no limits in regards to personal safety.

Hugh Jackman’s Charlie Denton is a washed-up boxer who is forced, by circumstances, to hustle as a small-time robot fight promoter.

Traveling the back roads of rural America in his truck hauling a broken-down robot, Charlie tries to stay a few steps ahead of debt collectors and other unseemly characters.

The seamy underground boxing venues include a traveling carnival where Charlie’s second-rate robot is even no match for livestock.

Though he is constantly on the run, Charlie finds his life more complicated by the sudden death of his ex-wife; he discovers that he has a 12-year-old son.

The boy’s aunt (Hope Davis) wants custody of the boy, but first Charlie strikes a cash deal so that he’ll babysit his estranged son Max (a winsome Dakota Goyo) for the summer.

At this point, “Real Steel” is no longer just the story of a peripatetic fight promoter looking for his next payday at a venue not sanctioned by World Robot Boxing.

The underdog boxing story involves an alienated father-son duo reluctantly teaming up to rebuild and train a scrap-heap robot and turning it into a boxing contender.

At another level, the storytelling is grounded in a tale of redemption for the lost and forgotten souls of the father, his son and the abandoned machine they intend to revive.

Max names his junkyard robot “Atom,” which needs serious repair work. Charlie finds suitable help at the boxing gym where he once trained.

The gym is now run by the deceased owner’s daughter, Bailey (Evangeline Lilly), Charlie’s longtime friend and apparent possible love interest.

Appearing undersized and physically vulnerable, Atom does not look like the type of robot to survive a bout with machines larger and more imposing.

But cunning and guile may prove more important. The robots are operated by humans using computers and remote control devices.

The father-son team debut Atom at an underground site. To their surprise, he wins the fight and then keeps winning other bouts, and in the process establishing a reputation.

Soon enough, Atom enters the ring against established contenders at sanctioned robot boxing venues. He keeps on winning.

Meanwhile, the world champion robot is an enormous machine aptly named Zeus, a fearsome black robot that is described as “The Death Star.”

Not only has Zeus never been beaten, but also, no other robot has even survived beyond the first round with him. Does it take much to envision the Zeus-Atom showdown?

Zeus’ owners are the villains. Tak Mashido (Karl Yune is the calculating robot engineer. The striking beauty Farra Lemkova (Olga Fonda) is cold and merciless; she also looks like a Kardashian sister.

As to be expected, the big fight day comes, with challenger Atom, against all odds, going up against the formidable, undefeated Zeus. The result may be more surprising and satisfying than you would expect.

“Real Steel” has nicely choreographed fight scenes, thanks in part to Sugar Ray Leonard’s role as the film’s boxing consultant.

To be sure, “Real Steel” has plenty of hard-core action, but in the end it is a gratifying, warmhearted story that is ultimately about salvation. It’s a much better film than I had anticipated.

DVD RELEASE UPDATE

The NBC network has just canceled “The Playboy Club,” after airing only three episodes. The peacock network has had much better luck with “Chuck.”

To my surprise, “Chuck: The Complete Fourth Season” is being released on Blu-ray and DVD, complete with all 24 episodes. That can only mean that “Chuck” is just now starting its fifth season on the fall season.

An action-comedy/spy-drama hybrid, “Chuck” is about a computer nerd working a dead-end job at an electronics chain store.

In the first season, Zachary Levi’s Chuck found that his brain became the repository of CIA and National Security Agency secrets.

The fourth season has Chuck in love with his handler, Sarah (Yvonne Strahovski). His mom also comes in from the cold, escaping the evil control of an international arms dealer to become part of Chuck’s spy life.

As always, Chuck is trying to keep his professional and personal worlds separate. On some days, he outwits assassins and hordes of black-clad martial arts bad guys.

Not unexpectedly, the Blu-ray edition contains an exclusive interactive experience special feature.

Tim Riley writes film and television reviews for Lake County News.