They say that when undergoing cancer treatment, the patient's attitude is all-important.

Here Robert King, a poet now living in Colorado, looks with wit and bemusement at his chemotherapy. His most recent book is Some of These Days, (Conundrum Press, 2013).

Embedding the Cancer Port

It's called a port, a harbor, haven, home,
a city on the coast of my chest opened
for a passage into my heart—which we say
is where emotions live—and it's embedded,

slipped into a shallow nest of flesh, a bump,
a lump under the skin on the right so
the narrow street can reach the marketplace
of the aorta, receptive to any

incoming ship, needle, boat, barge, unloading
its spices, crates of dates, barrels of poisons,
Etoposide phosphate, amethyst, amaranth,
Cisplatin, amphorae of wine and olives.

I carry it secretly under my skin
because it is easier. I carry
everything under my skin, so lightly
I barely notice, watching from the ramparts

the dangerous rocky anchorage below
where goods and evils, bundled together
and tied, arrive, waiting to be unloaded
and poured out into a welcoming country.

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 2015 by Robert W. King, “Embedding the Cancer Port,” from Nimrod International Journal, (58.2, 2015). Poem reprinted by permission of Robert W. King 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. – Artists and gallery staff are busy preparing for the Sept. 4 “First Friday Fling” at the Main Street Gallery in Lakeport.

The “fling” is a monthly celebration of the amazing artists in our county that will be showing their work at the gallery each month. 

The Sept. 4 event features the artwork of Shelby Posada, Jo Bergesen, Ben van Steenburgh III, Judy Cardinale, Richard Seisser, Jack Southwick, Steve Eichenlaub, Patty Oates, Evelyn Robison, Dennis Robison, Marcie Long, Linda Becker, Bobbi Bridges and George Knauss.

The festivities on Friday are from 5:30 to 7:00 p.m. and the public is invited. 

Come and meet the artists, enjoy the wonderful local wine on sale from the award-winning Laujor Estates Wines and be entertained by the musical talent of the county’s own singer/songwriter Jim Williams.

The Main Street Gallery is located at 325 N. Main St.

HITMAN: AGENT 47 (Rated R)

Eight years ago, Timothy Olyphant had the starring role of a humanoid killing machine in “Hitman.” He’s since gone on to better things, such as playing a determined U.S. Marshal in the long run of the TV series “Justified.”

Now, I can’t exactly remember if the original “Hitman” was good enough for a sequel, but somehow, in the back of my mind, the anticipation of “Hitman: Agent 47” to deliver the action goods at the end of summer seemed to be a reasonably justifiable expectation.

In this new “Hitman,” Rupert Friend comes along as the supposedly new and improved model known only as Agent 47, with a barcode tattooed at the back of his neck, which may come in handy when checking out the large stash of weapons he routinely needs for his assignments.

Much like his genetically engineered assassin predecessors, who apparently all used the same tailor, the baldheaded Agent 47’s indistinct style is that of sporting a crisp dark suit, a neatly starched white shirt and bright red necktie.

With his sartorial style accented by a colorful cravat, there’s no way that Agent 47 will inconspicuously blend into the scenery while running through the Berlin subway system or the streets of Singapore.

Whether intentionally drawing notice to himself or not, Agent 47, armed with an assortment of guns and knives, is on the hunt for a mysterious woman named Katia von Dees (Hannah Ware), who has become the object of attention for nefarious purposes.

Another person on the trail of Katia is the suitably-named John Smith (Zachary Quinto), another secretive man.

His intentions initially appear honorable, but he does have a curious interest in Katia’s obsession with searching for a mystery man for reasons unknown even to her.

Katia’s shabby apartment in Berlin includes a giant wall map covered in post-it notes and newspaper clippings, while large scrapbooks contain scribbled writings and renderings. She suffers a lot of flashbacks and exhibits signs of a heightened awareness of her surroundings.

We have no idea if Katia is suffering from trauma or a mental breakdown, but whatever it is, she is taking enough medications that one hopes she has decent health insurance.

Of course, a good health plan is the least of her concerns once the shadowy John Smith and Agent 47 converge on the scene.

What are we to make of Agent 47, a supposedly cold-blooded killing machine absent conscience and human feelings? Is John Smith, a capable fighting force in his own right, really empathetic when he volunteers an escape route for Katia?

At the heart of the mystery is the reclusive Dr. Litvenko (Ciaran Hands), the man who engineered the Agent program years ago and now regrets his invention.

Nefarious bad guys are looking for him to get the program refined to create even more insidious killing machines.

The question that won’t be fully answered here, lest a certain amount of surprise is removed from the equation, is who is mostly responsible for wanting to create more mayhem in an already chaotic world?

There are signs pointing to an organization called Syndicate International, based in a gleaming Singapore high-rise, complete with the obligatory helicopter pad required for the criminal mastermind’s inevitable escape.

Note to self: any time the word “syndicate” is used to describe an organization, it’s an excuse to default to understanding this to be a criminal enterprise. After all, this was the case in the most recent “Mission: Impossible” film.

A good candidate for supreme leader of the forces of evil is Le Clerq (Thomas Kretschmann), if only because he is surrounded by machine gun-toting bodyguards and never leaves his fortified high-rise lair, even to mingle with his own staff.

As the story moves along, Agent 47, an unstoppable killing force of nearly inhuman skills, exhibits traits of humanity beneath the surface. But mostly, he’s just an indestructible machine capable of wiping out platoons of armed assailants.

Strip “Hitman: Agent 47” of its precious few moments of human interaction, and what you get is an orgy of gratuitous violence that is not surprising for a film originally adapted from an eponymous videogame.

The body count is so high in this film that it is easy to imagine that Agent 47 probably killed more people in the opening minutes than James Bond ever did in the entire span of the last 50 years of the 007 franchise.

In the end, it takes more than a plethora of shootings to make an action picture truly memorable on all fronts.

“Hitman: Agent 47,” with its moments of suspense, comes up short on character development. But who has time for that when gunplay and violent mayhem take up almost the entire 96-minute running time?

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

The final season of “American Idol” looms on the horizon, and the FOX Television network is at the very beginning stages of planning auditions.

A question on the mind of TV critics at the summer press tour was what kind of send-off to expect.

Dana Walden, chair and CEO of the Fox Television Network, said the upcoming season of “American Idol” would be a “farewell of a great performing act,” and observed that the producers of the show were committed to finding the 15th American Idol, and to end on a high note.

The network is still struggling from last year, when the longtime head of FOX’s entertainment, Kevin Reilly, abruptly departed his position, creating a vacuum in the stability of FOX’s leadership.

Walden, joined by Gary Newman in sharing the top positions of executive management, have been in charge since last year’s summer press tour.

The good news for them is that “Empire,” a series that made its debut on their watch, rocketed to the position of the top-rated show on network television.

While FOX is still mired in last place among the four major networks, the success of “Empire” does not allow for a victory lap, but Walden had no problem sharing her belief that this show “sent a shock of enthusiasm and excitement through the halls of our company.”

Another question that comes to mind for critics is whether the broadcast network model is endangered by the ever constant emergence of various new media platforms, from streaming video to Netflix and Amazon jumping at full gallop into the programming business.

If there is conversation about the relevance of the broadcast network, Walden soothed the concerns of all by noting, in reference to “Empire,” that the “most talked about and biggest show of the past season was launched on a traditional broadcast network, so we feel great about that.”

So now the even bigger question is how does a struggling network, which by the way still has excellent returning series like “Gotham” and “Brooklyn Nine-Nine,” find its way back to a competitive posture?

One has to wonder if resurrecting relatively old stars of the past will do the trick. The still-handsome John Stamos, trading on his good looks in middle age, is returning to a series that has some parallels to “Full House.”

As the titular character in “Grandfathered,” Stamos’ Jimmy Martino is a successful restaurateur and man-about-town stunned to learn that he not only has an adult son (Josh Peck), but is a grandfather to a baby daughter.

The comedy premise is that this handsome and suave bachelor has to unlearn a lifetime of blissful selfishness and grapple with his new-found status of having sudden parental duties.

While John Stamos has the charisma to carry out this rather predictable comedic role, two other veteran TV actors may well fare better. Those would be Rob Lowe and Fred Savage, the latter best-known for “The Wonder Years.”

Together, Lowe and Savage star as brothers on different career paths, which come full circle back to the family legal business in “The Grinder,” a comedy that posits that you can succeed in the courtroom with the right amount of theatrics.

Lowe’s Dean Sanderson returns to his hometown of Boise, Idaho, having played the title on his hit TV legal drama “The Grinder.” His brother Stewart (Savage) is poised to take of the family law firm from their father (William Devane).

Despite having no law degree, Dean thinks his TV experience qualifies him to practice in an actual courtroom.

Much to the chagrin of his sibling, Dean shows that his flair for the dramatic leads to some very funny situations in and out of court.

When I hear “Scream Queens,” the thought immediately goes to those sexy B-movie actresses who have made a career in horror films. They would be right for a Quentin Tarantino grindhouse film.

On the FOX network this fall, “Scream Queens,” starring the pretty and talented Emma Roberts, has its horror element, but it is decidedly a black comedy about the girls of a sorority dying for new pledges.

Well, it’s also partially a murder mystery, because Roberts’ Chanel Oberlin, leader of Kappa House, ends up in a showdown with the school dean (Jamie Lee Curtis) about opening the pledging to all students, not just the elites.

When all hell breaks loose on campus with a killer wreaking havoc, the satirical “Scream Queens” takes on the aspects of slasher flick and classic whodunit.

Steven Spielberg is the executive producer of a new series based on one of his futuristic films. “Minority Report” the series picks up 10 years after the demise of Precrime, a law enforcement agency tasked with identifying and eliminating criminals.

Now in 2065, Megan Good’s police detective Lara Vega tams up with Stark Sands’ Dash, a man haunted by fragmented visions, to attempt to stop the murders he predicts. “Minority Report” is a drama of crime and conspiracy, but a timeless story of friendship, purpose and redemption.

Miami is always a great location for crime stories. Set in this sunny coastal Florida city, “Rosewood” has a different take on crime by teaming Morris Chestnut’s Dr. Rosewood, a private pathologist, with tough detective Annalise Villa (Jaina Lee Ortiz).

Together, they uncover clues to help the Miami police department to solve the most challenging cases.

This sounds like the premise of “Quincy, M.E.,” but the late, great Jack Klugman would be no match for Chestnut’s Rosewood in the charisma and looks department.

For a sure sign that a network has no problem trading on former glory for its programming, look no further than the return of “The X-Files” this winter for a six-episode event series reuniting David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson as the iconic FBI agents Fox Mulder and Dana Scully.

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

LAKEPORT, Calif. – Watershed Books will host local author Steve Bartholomew and a reading of his new book on Friday, Sept. 4.

The event will be held from 3 to 5 p.m. at the store, 305 N. Main St. in Lakeport.

There will be conversation, refreshments and a preview of Bartholomew's newest, rip-roaring novel, “Tunnel 6.”

Call 707-263-5787 for more information.

KELSEYVILLE, Calif. – The last event of the Summer Poetry Series is this Wednesday, Aug. 26, at 6 p.m. at the Saw Shop Gallery Bistro, 3825 Main St. in Kelseyville. 

Hosted by Lake County Poet Laureate Casey Carney, the reading features poets KC Patrick, Fran Ransley and Sandy Stillwell, with a collaborative performance by poet Sam Flot and saxophonist Jim Leonardis.

Open mic sign-ups are at 6 p.m.

Five poets will be invited to share up to five minutes of poetry each.

The $10 admission includes a glass of wine, an appetizer and $20 in Saw Shop bucks, to be redeemed at the patron’s convenience.