This may be the only poem ever written in which a person claps the mud from a pair of shoes! 

Michael McFee’s poetry is just that original, in all of his books. 

His most recent is That Was Oasis (Carnegie Mellon Univ. Press, 2012), and he lives in North Carolina.

Ovation

He stood on his stoop

and clapped her sneakers together

hard, a sharp report,

smacking right sole against left,

trying to shock the mud

from each complicated tread,

spanking those expensive footprints

until clay flakes and plugs

ticked onto the boxwood’s leaves

like a light filthy sleet

from the rubber craters and crannies

where they stuck weeks ago,

until her shoes were banged clean

though that didn’t stop

his stiff-armed slow-motion applause

with her feet’s emptied gloves,

slapping mate against mate

without missing a beat,

half-wishing that hollow sound

echoing off their neighbors’ houses

could call her back.

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. They do not accept unsolicited submissions. Poem copyright 2010 by Michael McFee, “Ovation,” (River Styx 83, 2010). Poem reprinted by permission of Michael McFee and the publisher. Introduction copyright 2015 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.

I’ve seen many poems about the atomic bomb drills that schoolchildren were put through during the Cold War, but this one reaches beyond that experience. John Philip Johnson lives and writes in Nebraska, and has an illustrated book of poems, Stairs Appear in a Hole Outside of Town.

There Have Come Soft Rains

In kindergarten during the Cold War,
mid-day late bells jolted us,
sending us single file into the hallway,
where we sat, pressing our heads
between our knees, waiting.

During one of the bomb drills,
Annette was standing.
My mother said I would talk on and on
about her, about how pretty she was.
I still remember her that day,
curly hair and pretty dress,
looking perturbed the way
little children do.
Why Annette? There’s nothing
to be upset about—
The bombs won’t get us,
I’ve seen what’s to come—
it is the days, the steady
pounding of days, like gentle rain,
that will be our undoing.

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. They do not accept unsolicited submissions. Poem copyright 2014 by John Philip Johnson, “There Have Come Soft Rains,” from Rattle, (No. 45, Fall 2014). Poem reprinted by permission of John Philip Johnson and the publisher. Introduction copyright 2015 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.

LAKEPORT, Calif. – On Sunday Sept. 13, members of the Lake County Symphony Association as well as the general public will once again have the chance to hear and see the orchestra’s chamber group in a free concert to be held in conjunction with the Association’s annual meeting.

It will take place at 3 p.m. at Lakeport’s Soper Reese Theatre, 275 S. Main St., which also serves as the concert hall for the symphony.

The theater waives its normal fees to accommodate the meeting.

John Parkinson, longtime music director and conductor of the symphony, has selected music from the baroque and classical periods including one movement of Overture No. 2 by English composer William Boyce as well as a Bach composition written originally as a sonata for just flute and harpsichord but which has been expanded to include string orchestra with some solo parts.

Entitled “Konzert in C Major,” it will feature symphony lead flutist Patricia Jekel as flute soloist, accompanied by other soloists in the string sections.

Another selection, “Concerto Op. 6, No. 7, for string orchestra,” is by Arcangelo Corelli, which also has solos that play along with the orchestral group. Among those soloists in both the Bach and Corelli pieces will be violinists Andi Skelton, Jeff Ives, and Marta Fuller, violist Jenness Hartley and cellist John Weeks.

The orchestra will also play the first movement of “Divertimento No. 10” by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart who remains one of the most enduringly popular composers of the classical period.

The last selection is also from Mozart. It is the first movement of a very familiar chamber work entitled “Serenade for Strings in G,” also known by the familiar name of “Eine Kleine Nachtmusik,” or “A Little Night Music.”

Along with the free concert there will be free refreshments for those attending.

There also will be a few mandatory business items to be conducted, mainly the confirmation of selection of officers to the LCSA board of directors.

The meeting will start promptly at 3 p.m. This concert is open to the general public who might be interested in joining or who want more information about the LCSA – and remember, you are encouraged to bring prospective new members, too.

LAKEPORT, Calif. – Blues legends from two states come together in the Golden State Lone Star Revue playing at the Soper Reese Theatre on Friday, Oct. 2, at 7 p.m.

Reserved seating tickets are $25 and $20. Dance floor will be open. The concert is a benefit for Valley Fire Relief.

The event is sponsored by Lincoln Leavitt Insurance and Strong Financial Network.

Chief among the Revue players is lead guitarist Little Charlie Baty, former leader of Oakland’s “Little Charlie & the Nightcats.” Guitar World magazine puts him in the same class as Eric Clapton and Buddy Guy for his fast and fluent style, and remarkable solos. Baty has recorded 12 albums and toured the globe for over 25 years.

On the harmonica is Grammy nominee, Mark Hummel, a West Coast blues scene regular. He recently won best album of the year at the Blues Music Awards in Memphis.

New Yorker magazine says he’s “a seasoned showman who knows more than a thing or two about how to please an audience.”

Also starring is guitarist Anson Funderburgh, a native Texan who has played with Delbert McClinton, Boz Scaggs, Jimmie & Stevie Ray Vaughan and Ronnie Earl.

He has won several W.C. Handy awards and is known for his classic Stratocaster tone as defined by Otis Rush in the 1950s.

Rounding out the Revue are R.W. Grigsby on bass and famed Texas drummer Wes Starr. Together, they’ve played with a who’s who of noted blues musicians including Omar & the Howlers, Jr. Brown, Asleep at the Wheel and Carlene Carter.

Tickets are now available at www.soperreesetheatre.com ; at the theater box office on Fridays from 10:30 am to 5:30 pm; or at The Travel Center, 1265 S. Main St., Lakeport, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday.

The theater is located at 275 S. Main St., Lakeport.

For more information call 707-263-0577.

Will Ferrell’s fake baseball documentary about the sport’s oldest rookie trying to play every position during Cactus League spring training games over the course of a single day is the sum total of HBO’s “Ferrell Takes the Field.”

The driving force of this one-hour special, aside from the comic actor playing out a grown man’s sports fantasy, is the worthy cause of HBO and Major League Baseball collaborating to raise money for organizations fighting cancer.

Ferrell’s fraternity brother at University of Southern California, Greg Pollard, suffered the devastating curse of cancer during his collegiate days when the promise of his athletic prowess on the baseball field was so unfortunately cut short before he could go pro.

Pollard makes a fairly brief appearance in “Ferrell Takes the Field,” as do a number of baseball luminaries. At least, Pollard gets to make a pitch for his charitable College for Cancer, which supports cancer survivors with college scholarships.

The HBO special has great intentions with its benevolent purpose, but the focus is almost exclusively on the comedic actor, even when he’s not trying to play all nine positions, plus the designated hitter.

As a fan of comedy, I may not be alone in thinking that Ferrell is not the funniest guy in America by any stretch of the imagination. In this special, it often appears that he’s striking a pose for what he may believe is comedic gold.

Others may disagree, but I would argue that, since “Old School” and the first “Anchorman,” many of his more recent films are not exactly stellar, or even all that funny. I mean, think of “Get Hard,” for one.

As a baseball fan of longstanding, I am actually a prime candidate to be interested in “Ferrell Takes the Field.” The reason for this is that I have attended spring training in Arizona for the past couple of decades, since the late 1980’s when only 8 teams played in the desert.

This annual trek to the desert during the month of March has allowed me to become intimately familiar with every single ballpark, of which there are now ten complexes that are the spring homes to a total of fifteen major league teams.

Therefore, I was curious as to how Ferrell would manage the logistics of visiting five ballparks in order to play on ten teams, allowing the opportunity to play at least for one complete inning per game.

By the way, Bert Campaneris, who makes an appearance in this special, was the real-life inspiration for the actor’s gambit to play every position.

On Sept. 8, 1965, Campaneris, in only his second major league season, went 0-for-3 playing all nine positions for the Kansas City Athletics in a game against the California Angels. 

Nearly fifty years later, on March 12, 2015, Ferrell was aiming for the same feat, though doing it with ten teams on a rotation basis with little rhyme or reason. The first game was hosted by the Oakland Athletics, playing the Seattle Mariners.

Taking the field for Oakland, wearing a team jersey with the number 19, Ferrell managed to survive a half-inning before being traded mid-game to the Mariners. This was the pattern established for the remainder of the day.

One of the funnier things that happened is how Ferrell didn’t take it very well when he was cut by Oakland, and as a result, he engaged general manager Billy Beane, famous for “Moneyball,” in some nasty conversation, with an observation that serves as a nice gag during the roll of the end credits.

What’s a bit askew with Ferrell’s attempt to ingratiate himself, even if only for a brief moment, with his teammates is the palpable sense that many of the ballplayers were either not in on the joke, as many of them appear baffled, or maybe they were slightly bothered by this vanity project that detracts from the game.

That “Ferrell Takes the Field” is really about Ferrell and not the game itself is made obvious when the actor is schlepped from one ballpark to the next in a van full of crew members who have really nothing to say while Ferrell rambles on about his improbable journey.

You may wonder how he made it to five ballparks in a day. Well, for starters, the three day games are within easy driving distance, as the home for the Athletics, Angels and Diamondbacks are all located on the east side of the greater Phoenix area.

Meanwhile, the two night games, with Ferrell landing by helicopter on the field of the White Sox at Camelback Ranch, are held on the west side.  

A nice touch in his final game with the San Diego Padres is when Ferrell dons a uniform with the number 20. The reason for this is a sign of respect for the late, great Padre Tony Gwynn, a Hall of Famer who, like Bert Campaneris, wore the number 19 during his career.

Unless you’re in the know about the Cactus League or just happen to be a not very selective Ferrell fan, “Ferrell Takes the Field” is not really a major league entertainment worthy of an hour of your precious time and could be easily skipped. 

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

LAKEPORT, Calif. – Plan on attending the Rita Hosking concert this Saturday night at the Soper Reese Theatre.

Prepare for an enjoyable evening of music and fun while supporting Anderson Marsh State Historic Park.

The concert is sponsored by the Anderson Marsh Interpretive Association and features the Rita Hosking Trio, InVoice, the Contreras Brothers and the Johnsen Family Band.

Tickets are $25 per person and available at the Soper Reese box office the night of the concert or can be purchased online via the Soper Reese Web site, www.soperreesetheatre.com .

Refreshments will be available in the lobby, including Petaluma Creamery cheeses and Thorn Hill Winery will be pouring their excellent wine.

Doors open at 6:30 p.m. and Hosking will play at 8:30 p.m.

Rita Hosking’s style of country-folk has been lauded for story and sense of place, and her performances praised for capturing the audience.

Honors include winner of the 2008 Dave Carter Memorial Songwriting Contest at the sisters Folk Festival, finalist in the 2009 Telluride Troubadour Contest and more.

A descendant of Cornish miners who sang in the mines, Hosking grew up with deep regard for folk music and the power of the voice.