i have a new blog (please update reader & links) !

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ok, the blog's out of the bag. i have been creating a new blog home for the past few weeks--i havent finished transferring all my links, but i'll be blogging over there for now on. please if you have a chance update your reader and your links. and please drop by and say hello and let me know what you think :)

link here for new & improved blog!

farewell blind elephant! it's been a wild ride & thanks to everyone who has commented and i hope you will continue to comment on my new blog!

stats:

81,330 total visits, 741 posts, 1,896 comments since my first post in October 2005, while i was still doing my MFA (actually the blog began because we had to blog for the class i was in: American Poetry & Poetics taught by Rob Halpern).

my first posts are a lot of class writing...i've posted my very first below (which is kinda long) for nostalgia sake:

Monday, October 17, 2005
'Creating it without naming it'


Stein equates genius with "being most intensely alive" (P&R,102) -- being "one who is at the same time talking and listening (ibid) and thus able to be "realizing the existence of living being actually existing" (108).

This motive is linked to her rejection of the noun, adjective, and comma because they keep "you from living your life as actively as you should lead it" (p&g, 131). On the other hand, "verbs and adverbs aided by prepositions and conjunctions with pronouns [possess] the whole of the active life of writing" (p&g 132).

The implication here is that "being most intensely alive" means "realizing the existence of living being actually existing" which results from living "life as actively as you should lead it."

To be a genius, one must engage in "the whole of the active life of writing", which means to privilege those parts of speech which stein has compartmentalized as contributing to the "active life" -- and to marginalize those that keep us from the active life.

Stein asserts, "A noun is a name of anything [and] once [the thing is] named the name does not go on doing anything to [it]" (p&g, 125). This leads Stein to a crucial question: "so why write in nouns" (ibid).

To be intensely and actively alive, Stein begins by avoiding nouns. But, "in coming to avoid nouns a great deal happens and has happened. It was one of the things that happened in [Tender Buttons]" (p&g, 136), where she "resolutely realized nouns and decided not to get around them but to meet them, to handle in short to refuse them by using them and in that way my real acquaintance with poetry was begun" (p&g, 137).

With this predicament of the noun preventing the active life, she establishes the difference between poetry and prose. Prose is "the balance the emotional balance that makes the reality of paragraphs and the unemotional balance that makes the reality of sentences" (ibid). Because prose is that, she claims, "great written prose is bound to be made up more of verbs adverbs prepositions prepositional clauses and conjunctions than nouns" (ibid).

Poetry, on the other hand, is "essentially a vocabulary just as prose is essentially not [...] it is a vocabulary entirely based on the noun as prose is essentially and determinately and vigorously not based on the noun" (p&g, 138). Stein's dichotomy cleaves through prose and poetry in the same way that Williams does. Both Williams and Stein conceive of poetry and prose as having different essential intentions and functions. Stein's dichotomy, however, is closer to the surface -- has to do with words themselves, particularly the noun (or the part of speech that poetry or prose privileges) -- whereas in Williams the part of speech is irrelevant because all depends on the "purpose written into" the words, not on the words themselves.

Stein furthers her definition: "Poetry is concerned with using with abusing, with losing with wanting, with denying with avoiding with adoring with replacing the noun [...] Poetry is doing nothing but using losing refusing and pleasing and betraying and caressing nouns...And so that is poetry really loving the name of anything and that is not prose" (p&g, 139).

Poetry lives in nouns; "[poetry] is a state of knowing and feeling a name [...] nouns are the basis of poetry" (p&g, 140). (forgive me, it is insistence and not repetition!).

At this point, Stein claims that in avoiding nouns in prose (in writing The Making of Americans) she "began to discover the names of things, that is not discover the names but discover the things the things to see the things to look at and in so doing i had of course to name them not to give them new names but to see that I could find out how to know that they were there by their names or by replacing their names" (p&g, 141). She called their names "with passion and that made poetry" (ibid) -- that made Tender Buttons.

In this sense, prose becomes the catalyst for the new poetry. Because prose has avoided the noun, it allowed her to discover the thing in itself without being hindered by its name. This move is similar to Williams - prose enacts the imprisonment of words to show how poetry can liberate words.

Stein formulates a more sophisticated question: "Was there not a way of naming things that would not invent names, but mean names without naming them" (ibid).

This, "the creating it without naming it" (p&g 142), was what "broke the rigid form of the noun the simple noun poetry which now was broken" (ibid). This creation leads to her idea of language as an "intellectual recreation" (ibid). In Tender Buttons, she tried "constantly [to] realize the thing" so that she could "reacreate the thing" struggling with both the "recreation [the predicament of language] and the avoidance of nouns as nouns" (p&g, 143).

Poetry is being filtered through her experiments in prose until she arrives at this brilliant articulation: "I had to feel anything and everything that for me was existing so intensely that I could put it down in writing as a thing in itself without at all necessarily using its name" (p&g,145).

Similar to Williams idea of poetry as "additions to nature", Stein aims to recreate the "thing in itself." Not only will this lead to "being most intensely alive," but if the noun is replaced by the thing in itself, it will "eventually lead to everything" (p&g, 147).

in another articulation on the role of poetry and prose, Stein decides that if one "completely replaced the noun by the thing in itself, it was eventually to be poetry and not prose which would have to deal with everything that was not movement in space" (ibid). Again, similiar to Williams, poetry becomes that which liberates (in Williams it's the word, in Stein it's the "thing in itself").

Then, what is the method of "creating it without naming it."

In "Portraits and Repetition," Stein asserts the importance of "being existing that is listening and talking is action" (p&r, 108). This idea of listening/talking creates a greater concentration on the active form of writing - writing in "the time of exisiting". Stein claims that "by looking and talking I conceived at every moment the existence of some one, and i put down each moment that i had the experience of that one inside me until i had completely emptied myself" (p&r, 119).

This method of "looking/listening/talking" resists repetition, description, resemblance, memory, and confusion of narrative time. Instead, "listening/talking" creates insistence, the thing in itself, differential emphasis, continuous moving perception, and the clarity of being existing.

This method allows "the words or words that make what i looked at be itself were always words that to me very exactly related themselves to that thing the thing at which i was looking, but as often as not had as i say nothing whatever to do with what any words would do that described that thing" (p&r 115).

This also leads her to wonder: "Did one see sound, and what was the relation between color and sound, did it make itself by description by a word that meant it or did it make itself by a word in itself" (p&r 114).

The method gives us a way to create it without naming it - to replace the noun with the thing in itself. The words that create the thing are not descriptive of that thing (which leads to resemblance, memory, and confusion) but they are words that create the thing in itself by avoiding its name. Objective detail, sound, and color can be made by a "word in itself" and not necessarily by description or by the name of those things. By avoiding nouns and their negative consequences, and by adopting the method of looking/talking/listening, one can finally discover the thing in itself (buried for so long by simple noun poetry) and live as actively as possible, to be most intensely alive within the active life of writing.

a pic & a review

so the other day i saw my book in a bookstore! pegasus, on solano ave. a rare occurrence. but at least my book is nestled comfortably between my girl mary oliver and my boy stanley plumly. click on image to enlarge.

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my review of javier o. huerta's some modifications y otros poemas is now live at THE ACENTOS REVIEW. if you dont own this book, you must! buy it here.

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Wednesday Website Wars 3: Clarence Major vs. Major Jackson

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so please do comment on the post below, but in my haste i totally forgot that today is wednesday! which means website wars! and since in the post below i mistakenly types 'major jackson' instead of 'clarence major' i thot we might compare their websites. in the last website wars, 'roz' made a comment about the 'personality' presented thru the websites--so we'll add that to our list of what we consider. again, a reminder:

same rules: which author website do you like better and why. or, if you are not into competitions, tell me one thing you like about each. or, if you havent had your morning coffee yet, tell me one thing you dont like about each. let the fun begin!

major jackson

vs

clarence major

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Contest-ing Race, Activist Judges, Numbers Trouble?

things have been hectic over here with school and a few achiote press projects, but i did want to respond to pam's comment (below) and i do hope other will chime in if you have a chance :)

first, pam writes: though I don't think National Poetry Series can really be fairly compared to Cave Canem or Kundiman or Andres Montoya. these orgs/contests are explicit in their charter to promote writers in their respective communities and are therefore activist by definition.

this is, of course, true. my point in the comparison was to exaggerate one possible consequence suggested by ethnic judges choosing non-ethnic writers. this also points to my reference to (clarence) major, who was the judge of the cave canen prize who did not choose a winner (nothing was good enough i suppose--tho i dont know the circumstances). so even in an org/contest that is supposedly 'activist by definition', aesthetics trumped identity. or, perhaps, aesthetic activism trumped identity-based activism.

the reason i find this annoying is that i would wager (tho i havent done the numbers trouble) that 95% of all poetry contests in the united states are judged by white poets. would you agree with this number? has someone already looked at this? of course, there are still many ethnic writers who would submit to these contests and win them--but i know many folks just won't submit to a contest judged by a white poet, even if the aesthetics might relate. so when ethnic judges do judge open contests it creates a interesting phenomenon. no doubt, more ethnic writers will submit to this contest. no doubt, the judge's choice will be more scrutinized.

think about the 2009 Walt Whitman Award, judged by Juan Felipe Herrera. i know there was a lot of buzz about that year's award because it was the first time since 2002 that the contest was judged by a writer of color. and is it any surprise that the last ethnic writer chosen was also in 2002 (komunyakaa chose sue kwock kim)? anyways, what i want to note is not that herrera chose a latino poet (J. Michael Martinez--who wrote the dialogue mentioned in the post below), but that Martinez' book was a finalist from the year before. apparently, his book was the first that won the year after he was finalist. so clearly, his work is amazing--but why didnt it win the year before? and what wouldve happened if herrera chose a white poet? is it so much different than major not choosing any winner?

pam also writes: the expectations of NPS are different. ideally the playing field there should be wide open, separate from allegiances to identity-based communities. in reality of course, the field is never totally open and other allegiances (collegial, style- or aesthetics-based) come into play. historically each judge/press supposedly represents a particular "aesthetic," and the resulting selection supposedly represents the "aesthetic diversity" of poetry from that year.

the NPS is strange to me. here's their statement of purpose from their website:

The National Poetry Series is a literary awards program which sponsors the publication of five books of poetry each year. The manuscripts, solicited through an annual Open Competition, are selected by poets of national stature and published by a distinguished group of trade, university, and small presses.

The specific purposes for which this organization is incorporated are:

-- To add in a meaningful way to the number of poetry books published each year, making possible books which might not otherwise be published by providing both financial support and assistance in the process of manuscript solicitation, selection, and promotion.

-- To support poetry and increase the audience for poetry by heightening its visibility among readers, broadening publisher involvement with its publication, and increasing booksellers’ willingness to display and promote it.

-- To give American poets of national renown in the identification of emerging or less well-established poets.

-- To provide the conditions and mechanisms for a group of trade, university, and small press publishers to work together on the promotion and marketing of five poetry books each year, thus providing a structural model for collective literary publishing ventures.

this does not necessarily suggest "aesthetic diversity"...but the NPS does present a kind of "publishing diversity", which does lead to some aesthetic diversity & sometimes ethnic diversity. and i wonder how the participating presses are chosen? why not alternate presses every year?

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more on the rest of pam & barbara's comments soon.

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Identity/Aesthetics

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wanted to post the three comments from below to continue the discussion here. please feel free to comment.

comments in response to this:

"attention to all esteemed poetry prize judges of color: you are supposed to choose writers of color as the winner of the prize you are judging! hello & WTF! jk"

Barbara commented:

Oy! Yeah it's that thing: not all authors of color are activists, widening the opening into the literary world for their respective communities. OR perhaps they try very hard not to appear as if they are using their positions for the benefit of their "friends," don't want to appear "small," and here I use "small" the way Jamaica Kincaid does in A SMALL PLACE.

csperez said:

haha i am too much of a young'in to remember foetry.com ;)indeed, not all authors of color are activists. soon, the cave canen or kundiman or andres montoya prize will be awarded to a white poet! jk. yeah, it's a tough position for a judge of color. damned if you do damned if you dont.

AND TODAY, Pam commented:

well, "damned if you do damned if you don't" is right.

though I don't think National Poetry Series can really be fairly compared to Cave Canem or Kundiman or Andres Montoya. these orgs/contests are explicit in their charter to promote writers in their respective communities and are therefore activist by definition. the expectations of NPS are different. ideally the playing field there should be wide open, separate from allegiances to identity-based communities. in reality of course, the field is never totally open and other allegiances (collegial, style- or aesthetics-based) come into play. historically each judge/press supposedly represents a particular "aesthetic," and the resulting selection supposedly represents the "aesthetic diversity" of poetry from that year.

I feel like that last paragraph sets up a problematic dichotomy btwn "identity" and "aesthetic" that I feel genuinely torn about. on the one hand I want there to be spaces for both the activist promotion of writers of color and other minority writers, and the (non-activist? or "purely" artistic?) promotion of various aesthetics, quite possibly some historically under-represented aesthetics. but under our current institutional systems it seems like these spaces are necessarily divided and separate. on the other hand, I hate going back to that infamous 1980s Silliman comment (which he's since revised and redacted in various forms) where he declares a dichotomy between identity-based, narrative lyrical writing (read: non-aesthetic poetry) vs. formally innovative, non-narrative non-lyrical writing (read: aesthetic poetry). naturally there are tons of writers associated with CC, K, AM and elsewhere who defy this categorical exclusion. and now that we've all read Tim Yu's book we also see that aesthetic schools can be just as identity-based in their po-politics self-positioning as ethnic communities.

I'm glad to see Martinez and Windholz reclaiming the narrative lyric as a vehicle for both aesthetics and activism. no movement that has the political in mind can possibly reject the content of "the stories that need to be told" and hope to stay relevant to the world.

so I'm thinking about Barbara's comment to the post below, and I'm thinking yeah, the question really is about this line between the aesthetic and the political. if students are reading radical poetry purely on the basis of form, then it's probably the fault of the instructor who isn't framing/contextualizing the text effectively. on the other hand, some people will try to divorce form from content (either explicit content or other implied expressions of content) no matter what, and so you will always get monstrous hybrids like neo-con poets inspired by Language writing or businessmen aping Audre Lorde.

but, but, but... I still believe/want there to be spaces for "pure" aesthetic experience, apart from allegiances to a particular school or community. political formations are dependent on the group, but I want writing & reading (some writing & reading at least) to be dependent on the individual. ergo narrative lyric.

*the reference to "narrative lyric" comes from this post.

b's comment to that post:

Hm, still sorting this out and may blog about it soon if I have time. Reminds me of something Joel Brouwer wrote on the Poetry Foundation blog - in a comment not a post - about how some/many of his students are attracted to language poetry and avant garde poetries, for purely aesthetic reasons, and not for political reasons. So that's one big thing: the disconnect *manufactured* btwn poetic and political concerns. I tend to wonder though, if this means avant garde poetries are being taught in a flawed way (i.e. educators stripping the poetries of their political significance) OR if it's the students doing this in their reception of the texts.

Now, in terms of that "narrative lyric," I have a question: does that meandering Billy Collins style poetry that always starts with the I, meandering through some mundane thing and into a profound realization - does this qualify as the narrative lyric? If so, then I think of this more of a mainstream poetry phenomenon rather than something predominantly poet of color.

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Department of WTF 2

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attention to all esteemed poetry prize judges of color: you are supposed to choose writers of color as the winner of the prize you are judging! hello & WTF! jk

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Department of WTF

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so i'll keep the voting open for the Battle below. and will draw up the discussion from 2 posts down in a bit. for now, wanted to throw a few WTFs around.

the first comes from the wonderful poet John Yau's review of Michael Gizzi's new book from Burning Deck (i'm also currently reviewing this book). now i love yau's work, but this review deserves a big fat WTF, especially this most unfortunate passage:

"(Here I would like to make a small aside. Recently, I was in Berlin for a poetry festival. After all the readings were done, we were invited to have dinner in the cafeteria of the Akademie der Künste, where the readings took place. Rita Dove, the former poet laureate, sat at a small table with her husband and two friends, and didn’t talk to anyone else, while Rosmarie sat at a large table surrounded by people, many of whom were meeting her for the first time. She was cheerful, friendly, and open.)"

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so apparently northeastern university has canceled their contest ! WTF! usually if a press is in trouble they start a contest! here's the thing: with the proliferation of contests and the economic difficulties of submitting to 20 contests a years, contests have to contest with other contests--especially hurt are the small contests from whos-heard-of university presses (i'm sure univ cuts are in play here as well).

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speaking of contests, WTF is up with Tupelo downsizing their 10,000 Dorset prize to a mere $3000 dollars! i was planning to win this prize next year but now forget it! those fancy pants french flaps dont make up for it! here's what they say:

"A note from the publisher about our Dorset Prize cash award:

As the economic upheaval continues to take an enormous toll on all publishers, particularly nonprofit literary presses, we have decided that, for the time being, it does not make good sense to offer a $10,000 award for the Dorset Prize as in recent years. We must husband all of our resources in order to honor commitments already made, and to enable us to make further commitments to superb manuscripts. When the economic climate shows a marked improvement — when we begin to see significant increases in book sales and nonprofit giving — we will, of course, consider restoring the Dorset Prize to $10,000. Meanwhile, we believe that $3,000 represents a substantial honorarium for a writer, especially combined with the editing, design, printing, and distribution of one of our extraordinary volumes of poetry. The Dorset Prize continues to offer a fitting and substantial award to a deserving poet. This continues to be the preeminent open poetry award."

Besides the Dorset Prize, Tupelo has three other prizes: chapbook, First Book, and July Open Submissions ($25). four contests in all!

(don't be fooled: the july open submissions is simply a contest (by any other name) without the $10,000, i mean $3,000 award)

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Wednesday Author Website War Round 2: Cathy Park Hong vs Sandra Beasley

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before reading, please do check out this post, where barbara has made an interesting comment--feel free to respond and i will respond also.

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so as you might remember, i recently finished my review of cathy park hong's DANCE DANCE REVOLUTION, which won the barnard women poet's prize. so i became curious as to who won the most recent barnard prize. the winner was: sandra beasley! i read some of her poems online, and they are fantastic--perhaps she will be kind enough to send me her books! i'll trade!

so let's battle. same rules: tell me which author website you like better and why. or, if you are not into competitions, tell me one thing you like about each. or, if you havent had your morning coffee yet, tell me one thing you dont like about each. let the games begin!!!

cathy park hong

vs

sandra beasley

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MARK YOUR CALENDARS: ACHIOTE PRESS & KUNDIMAN READING 9/17/09 at UC BERKELEY

Dear Friends of Achiote Press,

You are invited to Part 1 of an exciting poetry reading and collaboration between Achiote Press, PAWA, & Kundiman:

Readers: Joseph O Legaspi, Oliver de la Paz, Ching-In Chen, Debbie Yee, and Neil Aitken

Where: UC Berkeley at the Barbara T. Christian Room, 554 Barrows Hall
When: Thursday, Sept 17th
Time: 11:30: Chapbook & Book Sale and Light Reception // 12 – 2: Reading

UC Berkeley Campus Map (Barrows is in D4 quadrant of map): http://berkeley.edu/map/maps/large_map.html

This reading celebrates the publication of Achiote Press' newest chapbook-anthology: “Here is a Pen:” An Anthology of West Coast Kundiman Poets, edited by Ching-In Chen, Margaret Rhee, and Debbie Yee (the cover is pictured above)

Chapbooks will be available for purchase at the reading. All proceeds will go to Kundiman.

Kundiman is a dynamic arts organization dedicated to fostering Asian American poetry. As part of their mission, Kundiman provides a retreat for emerging Asian American poets at the University of Virginia every summer.

Special thanks to: UC Berkeley's Asian American Studies Program & Asian Pacific Islander Working Group

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Reader Bios:

Joseph O. Legaspi is the author of Imago (CavanKerry Press), winner of a 2008 Global Filipino Literary Award. Born in the Philippines, he currently resides in Manhattan and works at Columbia University. A graduate of New York University’s Creative Writing Program, recent works appeared in Callaloo, North American Review, Poets & Writers, New York Theater Review, Crab Orchard Review, Gay & Lesbian Review and the anthology Language for a New Century (W.W. Norton). A recipient of a poetry fellowship from the New York Foundation for the Arts and an Urban Artists grant, he co-founded Kundiman (www.kundiman.org), a non-profit organization serving Asian American poets. Visit him at www.josepholegaspi.com.

Oliver de la Paz is the author of three books of poetry, NAMES ABOVE HOUSES, FURIOUS LULLABY (Southern Illinois University Press), and the forthcoming book REQUIEM FOR THE ORCHARD which was selected by Martin Espada as the winner of the 2009 University of Akron Poetry Prize and will be available in the Spring of 2010. He is a recipient of grants from the Artist Trust of Washington and from the New York Foundation for the Arts. He teaches creative writing at Western Washington University and is the co-chair of the Advisory Board for Kundiman.

Debbie Yee is a trusts and estates attorney, Kundiman fellow, arts enthusiast and crafts explorer. Her poems have appeared or are forthcoming in 32 Poems, OCHO, Fence and The Best American Poetry 2009. She received her undergraduate and law degrees from UC Berkeley. Debbie blogs irregularly at www.debbieyee.com.

Neil Aitken is the founding editor of Boxcar Poetry Review and the author of The Lost Country of Sight, winner of the 2007 Philip Levine Prize. His poetry has appeared in Crab Orchard Review, The Drunken Boat, Ninth Letter, Sou'wester and many other literary journals. He lives in Los Angeles where he is currently pursuing a PhD in literature and creative writing at the University of Southern California.

Ching-In Chen is the author of The Heart's Traffic and a multi-genre, border-crossing writer. The daughter of Chinese immigrants, she is a Kundiman, Macondo and Lambda Fellow. A community organizer, she has worked in the Asian American communities of San Francisco, Oakland, and Boston. Her work has been recently published in journals such as BorderSenses, Rio Grande Review, Fifth Wednesday Journal, OCHO, Iron Horse Literary Review, Water~Stone Review, Boxcar Poetry Review, Verdad and the anthology Yellow as Turmeric, Fragrant as Cloves. A co-editor of The Revolution Starts at Home: Confronting Partner Abuse in Activist Communities, forthcoming from South End Press, Ching-In is currently in the process of editing an anthology on gender, militarism and war from the perspective of women and non-gender-conforming people of color. In Riverside, California, Ching-In is a member of the Save Our Chinatown Committee, a grassroots organization focused on the preserving the archaelogical heritage of Riverside Chinatown.

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Part 2 of our collaboration features another wonderful poetry reading on Saturday, September 19th. Details here:
http://pawainc.blogspot.com/2009/09/pawa-arkipelago-reading-series-saturday.html

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anthologies and the politics of exclusion

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so i havent read the anthology AMERICAN HYBRID, but am curious about all the criticism around its publication.

most recently are the following comments, posted over at francisco aragon's blog here. the comments are from “A Poetics of Suspicion: Chicano/a Poetry and the New” (a dialogue) by J. Michael Martinez and Jordan Windholz, forthcoming in Puerto del Sol:

On a more basic level, one must have a politically and economically viable identity in order to willingly lose it, to throw it to the wind. Those that say for aesthetic reasons that identity is dead, fragmented, or passé, often have a viable identity they do not need to worry about. Being invisible or visible as a white male is quite different than being invisible or visible as a Chicano. This invisibility itself speaks to a broader symptom in the poetics of the “new.” The invisibility of identity is a symptom of a broader ideological construction: that of the exclusion of Chicana/o voices in the broader cultural hierarchy. This is not a categorical absolute. Rather, it is a fact of this particular moment in US culture. The exclusion of a representative Chicana/o and Latina/o voices (Rodrigo Toscano, Lorna Dee Cervantes, and even Juan Felipe Herrera arguably fulfill the publication and aesthetic criteria ) in American Hybrid (and other such “avantist” anthologies) is symptomatic of this broader ideological exclusion and social disparity.

…

The historical result is what comes to be known as “official verse culture,” “the School of Quietude,” or simply “conservative” verse is in fact a nebulous space that can only be defined in the negative, by what it is not (as is the case for “avant” traditions). More, because “innovative” poetics resist and reject any sense of singularity, the narrative lyric—a form with which many foundational Chicana/o poets identify due to its ability to affirm identity while also lineating that identity’s experience—is summarily rejected, as it smacks of old romanticism. The result is a type of political hijacking on the avant-garde’s part. On one hand, the American avant-garde aligns itself with the disenfranchised in that it too resists perceived dominant culture. On the other hand, it rejects the very forms of representation by which “minority” poets largely speak.

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puerto del sol has become quite a great publication--i saw their last issue at AWP (achiote press' table was right across from their table) and i'm excited to get the upcoming issue--carmen gimenez smith has done a great job with the journal.

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i also want to draw your attention to oscar bermeo's comment in the box of francisco's blog:

Well said. I also found the "Hybrid" anthology to be lacking as well, a collection that offer a plurality of voices but instead seeks to limit the definitions of what new poetry can be.

I'm also wondering if Chicana/o and Latina/o voices are excluded from such Avant anthologies because Ethnic poetry is lumped into the reactionary category where Avant would like to consider itself ahead of current trends?

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what do you think of this unfolding discussion? i ask because i am going to be on a panel at AWP called "Hybrid Aesthetics and Its Discontents"--and i imagine this anthology will be brought up.


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Stephen Vincent's Haptics

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i heart stephen vincent's ink haptics, but check out this new project of his!

an excerpt:

The haptic mark - in whatever form it takes - gives us a rendering of a sensual apprehension of space.The marks it makes are fluid. Within any combination of marks we witness the incisions of a particular history. The group of wrinkles in an aging persons face, or the apparent cracks and scars on the bark of a tree’s trunk. These incisions - these haptics - are one of the ways in which we may publicly and intimately witness the pace, rhythm, the shape and character of an historical record. An event’s scripture, its autobiography, if you will.

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What happened on Saturday: Studio One Reading

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last night, i went to the Studio One Reading in Oakland, featuring poets Gillian Hamel & Truong Tran. it was great to hear Gillian read again (we've read together once before) and it was awesome to hear truong again--who i've heard many times and who has my teacher during mfa. one thing different about this reading is that truong read from 3 different books! pretty cool to hear some of the older work aloud.

i love the Studio One Reading Space (pictured below)...there was a full, and i mean FULL, house (like 50 people or so). and lots of tasty wines and good people. thanks to sara mumolo for putting together such a great series--and also great to see clayton banes, who is now a part of the team there.

the next Studio One Reading: Brenda Hillman & Giovanni Singleton!

some pics:






























































(note: yes, that's oscar bermeo sitting right in front of me. he pretty much goes to all the readings that i go to and he sits right in front of me just to ruin my pictures!)

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interview with truong tran

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read this fantastic interview with truong tran & lucas rivera.

excerpt:

Truong Tran: Coming to terms with language means that I'm coming to terms with the politics of language and the politics of writing. In my twenties, I had stories to tell and endings to arrive at. I thought I was being authentic but in fact I was writing into an expectation of who I should be as a writer. I don't regret responding to those expectations. I was expected to deliver the boat story and in a way I did just that. I am less inclined to do so now that I'm 40. I'm bored of that familiar story of identity. This is not to say that my writing is no longer about identity. I write what I know and imagine what I do not know. My identity will always be embedded in that equation. It’s just that identity is far more complicated at 40 as opposed to my twenties. I’ve given myself the permission to be private in my writing. Part of my writing process now is to take meaning back. The experiential component of my work is private. It is mine and mine alone. What the reader gets from this engagement is entirely theirs. Is this what you mean when you talk about accessibility? I would never write in an effort to exclude but I am more private these days.

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thanks to those who commented on the first ever Author Webpage Battle! it was very informative...and i'd say the battle ended in a tie--so both tina & victoria are winners! congrats to you both. join us next week for Battle #2.

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Wednesday's Author Website Wars: Tina Chang vs. Victoria Chang

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perhaps you remembered that i reviewed this book (one of whose editors is tina chang) at rain taxi. ron silliman linked to my review here. beneath that link is a link to a fantastic talk with victoria chang.

so, i ended up googling tina & victoria since i am unfamiliar with their work (will someone send me copies of their books please). and wouldn't you know it they both have websites. i've been thinking some about author websites and checking out other authors' webpages--mainly since i don't have one. and i def want to build one when/if my second book gets published.

thus, every wednesday on this blog i will be pitting two author websites against each other. your job: tell me which one you like better and why. or, if you are not into competitions, tell me one thing you like about each. or, if you havent had your morning coffee yet, tell me one thing you dont like about each. let the games begin!!!

TINA CHANG's website here

vs.

VICTORIA CHANG's website here

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a related question: are blogs replacing author webpages? do i need a webpage if i have a blog?

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Review Venue: The Latin American Review of Books

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nice! check out THE LATIN AMERICAN REVIEW OF BOOKS.

great reviews by francisco aragon & oscar bermeo.

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Reading Update: Kazim Ali

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picked up Kazim Ali's new novel THE DISAPPEARANCE OF SETH. only about 40 pages in so will have some comments on it later. has anyone out there read any of ali's poetry books? will anyone send me copies of his books?

in the meantime, listen to him at the fishouse here.

&

you have to read this article he wrote: "Culture of Fear: Poetry Professor Becomes Terror Suspect" effed up!

&

read this fantastic interview about his first book

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Reading Update: Al Robles

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just finished reading Al Robles' rappin' with ten thousand carabaos in the dark. love it. 5 stars if i did the goodreads thang.

read barbara jane reyes' write up on robles at the poetry foundation here.

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Dance Dance Revolution by Cathy Park Hong

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finally finally finished my review of cathy park hong's DANCE DANCE REVOLUTION (wwnorton, 2007), which won the barnard women's poetry prize judged by adrienne rich.

what i wasnt expecting when i started this review tonight is that it would end up being 2000 words. that might be hard to get published. oh well, i love this book and really enjoyed writing about it. have you read it? you should buy it if you havent.

&

read this great review of the book by Shanna Compton.

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read this interview with cathy at POETS AND WRITERS.

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read an excerpt from the book at Action, Yes Quarterly.

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Po-Comm: ACENTOS, KUNDIMAN, & KORE PRESS' THE GRRLS LITERARY ACTIVISM PROJECT

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more love to ACENTOS--oscar bermeo interviews sam 'fish' vargas here. i love reading fish, rich, & oscar talk about ACENTOS--so inspiring.

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more love to KUNDIMAN as they teamed up with ALICE JAMES BOOKS to establish the KUNDIMAN POETRY PRIZE for Asian American writers. details here.

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finally, check out KORE PRESS' THE GRRLS LITERARY ACTIVISM PROJECT. ANOTHER FOR-FREE WORKSHOP! this one is based in Tucson, AZ and services teenage girls.

info:

Who we are: GRRLS are young women or female-identified or trans individuals ages 14-19. We explore issues, find our voice, write, read out loud, take photographs, and present our words and ideas to the public.

Our writing, our art, our voices matter.

We are part of the community, we are social activists.

The GRRLS statement: In the spirit of fostering a new generation of diverse, confident, independted-minded and creative artists/citizens/leaders, the Grrls Literary Activism Workshops empower young women with the skills necessary to express themselves on social issues that matter most to them and become potent agents of change.

There is a commonly held assumption that women are given equal treatment because of the great strides made by social change movements of the last few decades, but somehow women are still rewarded for silence. We are changing that one Grrrl at a time.

More about the Grrls Project. Spring 2009 GRRLS Blog here!

The Grrls Workshops: Click here for our guidelines and goals.

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I love this section of their description:

The Kore Press Grrls Literary Activism Project

In collaboration with City High School and the Volunteer Center

Literary activism, as defined by us:

The use of written or spoken language for public expression on a social or political issue

Step One: The Writing

Each week after school, a group of girls and young women ages 14 to 18 gather to discuss the work of women writers. Through these writings and through conversation among themselves, these young women identify and become informed about issues important to their lives. They then explore their own views on these issues by writing original poetry and prose; and finally they bring their ideas and perspectives into the public sphere.

Adult facilitators select works of literature and topics to discuss; facilitate conversations; teach creative writing fundamentals; listen carefully; and offer guidance to individual participants as they look at which issues and strategies to adopt. Adults do not lecture participants on literature and/or social change issues; direct conversation toward a particular social agenda; or exert pressure to choose one publication or activism strategy over another.

Step Two: The Activism

The activism component of the project is inspired by foremothers such as the Guerilla Girls, the New York City-based band of artists whose creative street activism inspired a shift in the way women artists are represented in museums and the media. Participants have produced ‘zines, created broadsides, printed poetry on door knob hangers, ironed their words onto t-shirts, made poetry “fortune-tellers,” put their words and opinions on blogs, read out loud, and decorated a sanitary products machine full of tampons wrapped in poetry.

The very nature of literary activism is to affect the individual who experiences the author’s perspective. That the author, in this case, is a young woman insisting that her voice be given equal air time, print space or aural opportunity brings another level of importance and power to the act of publication.

All young women ages 14 to 18 are eligible to participate. For more information, to make a tax credit donation, or to enroll or sponsor your favorite grrl, contact Brooke Willock at brooke@korepress.org or 327-2127.

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When Po-Comm Goes Po-Bizz: The Sackett Street Writer's Workshop

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wow. i'm starting to think that when you get an MFA from IOWA they make you take business classes.

have you ever heard of The Sackett Street Writer's Workshop? here's their description:

The Sackett Street Writers’ Workshop was founded in 2002, and what began as eight writers meeting in the cramped kitchen of a Brooklyn brownstone has developed into a creative home for over 500 short-story writers, novelists, memoirists and essayists.

After graduating from The Iowa Writers’ Workshop and teaching creative writing at multiple universities, Julia Fierro found herself looking for a community of writers outside academia. Weary of overcrowded New York City writing workshops, and disappointed by the lack of emphasis on craft in university creative writing classes, she placed an ad on Craigslist, accepted eight writers and The Sackett Street Writers’ Workshop was born.

Each week, huddled around Julia’s small kitchen table, the writers discussed not only what makes fiction engaging, but how to incorporate these successes into their own work. As word of the workshop quickly spread, more writers applied and Julia assembled a faculty of instructors with an equal passion for teaching.

Selected from a pool of over one hundred applicants, Sackett Street instructors are professional writers, teachers and editors, who have earned MFA degrees from prestigious writing programs and have taught at major universities. Just like that first workshop in Julia’s kitchen, all Sackett Street workshops are taught in the comfort of instructor’s homes and are limited to eight writers to insure individual attention.

Today, Sackett Street writers live in all boroughs of New York City and more than half return to the workshops for multiple sessions. Alumni have been accepted at top MFA Creative Writing programs and writing conferences, have won fellowships and awards, and have completed and published short fiction collections, novels, and memoirs.

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interesting huh? their prices range from 350-400 dollars (full prices here). including their 8 week MFA application workshop.

they also have an MFA consultation:

Because Sackett Street instructors have attended some of the top MFA Programs (The Iowa Writers' Workshop, Columbia University, New York University) in the country, Sackett Street is a great place to find concrete advice on how to get accepted into not only the best MFA programs, but the programs that are best for you.

Meet one-on-one with a Sackett Street instructor to discuss what programs would be the best fit for you. Find out the difference between a small program (7 writers accepted each academic year) and a larger program (25 writers accepted a year). What schools offer the best financial aid? What are the pros and cons of attending rural university vs. an urban university? Which programs have faculty that will be most accessible? What can you do with an MFA in Creative Writing?

Instructors can help you decide which of your stories or novel excerpts will make the most impressive sample for your application, as well as assisting you in polishing that sample.

We also offer MFA Application Prep Workshops which use in-class discussion, handouts and instructor advice to help students decide which MFA programs are best for them.
The course features advice on the personal essay, recommendation letters, choosing work for manuscripts, and discussion of the pros and cons of various programs. The stories/excerpts students intend on including in their applications will be workshopped, and feedback from the instructor and class participants will help polish application manuscripts. This course is open to story-writers, novelists and nonfiction writers.

Sackett Street alumni have been accepted at more than thirty-five acclaimed graduate writing programs.

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compared to ALC, Sackett feels much more homey...much more let capitalist grandma help you with your MFA application around the kitchen table. and i guess their 8-week MFA prep workshop is quite a deal compared to ALC's MS consult. but, you have to live in NY.

so what do folks think? you like Sackett? would you use their service? are they more or less evil than ALC (and why)?

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Po-Comm: Cave Canem

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i am facebook friends with cave canem--and they had some interesting posts today. for those who don't know, cave canem is "committed to the discovery and cultivation of new voices in African American poetry."

from their website:

HISTORY

In 1996 poets and teachers Toi Derricotte and Cornelius Eady began a weeklong summer workshop/retreat designed to counter the under-representation and isolation of African American poets in writers' workshops and literary programs. From the beginning, Cave Canem has offered a safe haven for black poets—whether schooled in MFA programs or poetry slams—to come together to work on their craft and engage others in critical debate.

Beginning as an all-volunteer effort in 1996, Cave Canem has moved swiftly to become a non-profit organization with a full-time staff and an active Board, funded through individual donations and foundation and government grants.

Our program has expanded from a summer retreat to include regional workshops, a first book prize, annual anthologies, readings and events in major cities around the United States. We are a national community of emerging and established poets, a family of writers who create, publish, perform, teach, study poetry, and support each others' work.

ABOUT THE NAME When Toi Derricotte shared her dream of a retreat for African American poets with Cornelius Eady and his wife Sarah Micklem, they agreed to work together to make it a reality. In Pompeii, Italy, they found a fitting symbol for the safe space they hoped to create: the mosaic of a dog guarding the entry to the House of the Tragic Poet, with the inscription CAVE CANEM (Beware of the Dog). It symbolized for them the role that Cave Canem could play: it would protect the poets and, by breaking the chain, it would unleash these vital new voices into the literary world.

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so what caught my eye today was a video interview with toi derricotte. watch here, and listen for how many times she uses the word 'community':





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while cave canem does have BOOK PRIZES, i first learned about them through their retreat:

(from website):

Cave Canem’s week-long retreat is held annually at the University of Pittsburgh at Greensburg, in Greensburg, Pennsylvania. Adult African American poets are invited to apply. Once accepted, poets become "fellows" and are encouraged to attend three retreats within a five-year period.

Retreat residencies offer an unparalleled opportunity to study with a world-class faculty and join a community of peers. Some fellows hail from the spoken word tradition, others focus on the text. Some are formalists, others are at the cutting edge of experimentation. All are united by a common purpose to improve their craft and find safe space "where black poets, individually and collectively, can inspire and be inspired by others, relieved of any obligation to explain or defend their blackness." (Harryette Mullen)

Tuition is free. Participants are asked to pay a $500 room-and-board fee. Once accepted, they may request financial assistance; limited aid is available on a first-come, first-served basis.

2009 Program

Dates: June 21 — 28

Faculty (Confirmed as of May 3, 2009): Toi Derricotte, Cornelius Eady, Thomas Sayers Ellis, Angela Jackson, Colleen J. McElroy and Ed Roberson.

Guest Poet: Natasha Trethewey

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as you can see, it is quite competitive & does require money for room and board (i'm not sure how much application costs).

another program they have is their regional workshop, which was also announced today:

Writing in Received Form: Owning the Masters, taught by Marilyn Nelson in NYC.
Free application. Free admission.

Description of Workshop:

This workshop is designed for experienced poets who wish to pursue alternatives to free verse by employing a contemporary approach to traditional prosody. Our emphasis will be on discovering the flexible nature of iambic meter, with some attention paid to non-iambic meters, methods of using rhyme and slant-rhyme, and new understandings of the concept of rhyme—all with the goal of owning the tradition and making it new. We will discuss poems by poets in the traditional English language canon and those by contemporary English language poets who have invented new ways of interpreting the tradition, at once honoring and subverting it. Participants will be encouraged sometimes to “follow the letter of the law,” sometimes to “push the enve-
lope” of traditional form. There will be writing exercises both inside and outside of class, and participants will be expected to bring a new poem to the workshop every week.

ELIGIBILITY

African American adults not enrolled full-time in degree granting programs. Priority will be given to residents of New York City’s five boroughs and individuals who have participated in fewer than three Cave Canemworkshops. Participants are expected to attend all eight sessions. Enrollment is limited to 15.


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Po-Comm: VONA (The Voices of Our Nations Arts Foundation) 2

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oscar bermeo has a new interview live at letras latinas blog with VONA participant Vickie Vértiz.

excerpt:

This is space that exists as a result of a shared experience, through a visceral understanding of what life is like for people of color in this country. At VONA we share an understanding that frequently, our art and writing is not valued and is dismissed in this country, but there we are. At VONA your voice is invaluable, precious, and ready to be primed to be at its most beautiful.

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BAY AREA LIT SCENE at the OMNIDAWN BLOG

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check out the omnidawn blog and its features on the BAY AREA LITERARY SCENE.

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description:

This week on Omnidawn's Blog, we continue our BAY AREA LIT SCENE FEATURE: reviewing recent readings and offering poems by the readers.

Our Bay Area Lit Scene Editor is Meg Hurtado.

For Feature #3: Jason Bayani reports on the The Pegasus Books Reading Series

on the night showcasing the writers

Maile Arvin, Fuifuilupe Niumeitolu, Craig Santos Perez, Loa Niumeitolu, Caroline Sinavaiana.

In our BAY AREA LIT SCENE FEATURE, we will be reviewing Reading Series Venues in the SF Bay Area, as well as special literary and art events.

We hope these features will give you the inside scoop on some of the best spots

--to hear excellent writing being read / performed, and

--to see exciting art / cross-genre work being presented in the San Francisco Bay Area,

AND, we hope that these reviews will bring examples of the poetry of the Bay Area Lit Scene to those who can't actually be there for the events.

All previous Features remain available. Look to the right of the blog page (below "Review" lists), and click on any name under "Poetry Features, Video Features, NWF Review Features, Interview Features, and Bay Area Lit Scene Features" to access them.

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New Review Live: Language for a New Century

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my review of Language For a New Century: Contemporary Poetry from the Middle East, Asia, and Beyond, edited by Tina Chang, Nathalie Handal, and Ravi Shankar

is now live at Rain Taxi Online.

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what happened yesterday: asian pacific american & latina/o poetry reading in oakland

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before the reading, had the sunny pleasure of meeting barbara jane reyes and javier o'huerta for drinks at the jack london rendezvous spot: heinold's first and last chance bar:



















































the messed up thing is that barbara & javier wouldnt let me sit with them because they said only poets who have blogged at the poetry foundation harriet blog can sit at their table! haters!

anyhoo, after that oscar bermeo met up with us and we headed over to the reading, which was just a few blocks from jack london square. oscar & javier:























and hey, guess who else showed up? fresno poet lee herrick:























the reading was in a sexy loft that was also an artist residency space. so the readers actually read within the installation (they had to take off their shoes). unfortunately, not all my pics came out, so here's just a sampling (not all readers are pictured, but they included
OSCAR BERMEO | MAI DOAN | KENJI C. LIU | BARBARA JANE REYES | VICKIE VÉRTIZ):



















































i think the whole coffin thing was a comment on how poetry aint dead or something. i dunno, maybe you have a better interpretation?

Po-Hustle: My First Book Goes Into Second Printing

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not sure if i am supposed to share this information, but oh well i'm excited (and i can always delete it later). found out yesterday that my first book is going into a second printing! i still can't believe that all 1000 copies are out of boxes and out in the world and will probably end up soon at a used bookstore near you ;)

the book will be one year old in september and to be honest it's been a long year...lots of readings, several class visits, many trips to the post office, way too many emails.

this news, though, comes at a good time because i was starting to feel guilty that i wasnt doing enough to promote the book this summer--i had plans to finally send out review copies & blog copies, to finally try to score some interviews, to finally send the book to poets that i admire. and none of that has happened as this summer has been crazy with other things.

but with tinfish press investing in another print run, i feel motivated again to get my po-hustle on.

so thanks to all of you who bought a copy of the book! and thanks to all of you who have reviewed the book! and thanks to all of you who have promoted the book on their blogs! and thanks to all of you who taught the book! and thanks to all of you who invited me to read!

drinks at AWP are on ALC!

if you don't have my book yet, there are still 33 copies at SPD, so get your SPD on!

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Po-Comm: Rich Villar, Acentos, & Pen USA Emerging Voices

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shifting from the negativity of po-bizz to the positivity of po-comm:

you must must must read rich villar's post at his blog here. his thoughts on this ongoing conversation of is honest, funny, complex, and profound.

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and, check out rachelle cruz's thoughts on the Pen USA Emerging Voices Fellowship program at the PAWA blog, curated by Barbara Jane Reyes.

an excerpt:

The PEN USA Emerging Voices Fellowship program provided me with access into the literary world and the confidence to name myself “writer.”

Although I grew up writing poems and short stories, studied poetry during my undergraduate years, and taught creative writing to young people, I hadn't truly taken myself seriously as a writer until I became immersed in the literary community in Los Angeles through the Emerging Voices program.

The EV Fellowship challenges the idea of the writer creating in isolation, and seeks to promote community and access for writers from underserved and diverse backgrounds. I applied to the fellowship because I wanted to give my full attention to a project I started in college and was clueless about what to do next. I especially wanted a literary community that encouraged writers-of-color to write the stories that aren't often heard.

The fellowship seeks to surround emerging writers with a wealth of community resources. This is evident through the program's components: one-on-one mentorships with professional writers, leadership in community service, author evenings, public readings, master classes with a published writer, and free classes at the Writer's Program at UCLA Extension. The goal is to work on a manuscript ultimately resulting in The First Book.

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a description of the program from the PEN website:

Emerging Voices

Emerging Voices is an intensive eight-month program for writers in the early stages of their literary careers. The program includes free classes at UCLA Extension Writers’ Program; a one-on-one mentorship with a professional writer; Q&A evenings with professional writers, publishers, editors, and agents; Master classes by genre with a published PEN author; Workshops on various elements of publishing and a public speaking seminar; a $1,000 stipend. The program culminates with a public reading and reception.

The Mentorship Project grew out of PEN USA’s forum “Writing the Immigrant Experience,” held at the Los Angeles Central Library in March 1994, which explored the issues, problems and challenges faced by first and second generation immigrant writers. It was evident from the forum that many of the culturally diverse communities of writers in Southern California have special needs and are often isolated from the literary establishment. In the fall of 1995, PEN USA initiated Emerging Voices as a literary mentorship designed to launch potential professional writers from minority, immigrant and other underserved communities.

Emerging Voices serves writers from underserved communities, though selection is not based solely on economic need. Participants need not be published, but the program is directed toward poets and writers of fiction and creative nonfiction with clear ideas of what they hope to accomplish through their writing. There are no age restrictions.

--the application is $10.

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Po-Comm vs Po-Bizz: ALC, MFA, & a Free workshop for Emerging Writers of Color

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been away from blogworld for a minute, but have been thoroughly entertained by all the discussion about seth abramson's for-profit ALC and the MFA industrial complex in general. one friend emailed me and asked: "how can you stand to read any of the dribble that seth writes on his blog or in comment boxes defending ALC?"

now friends, let's be fair, seth doesn't write dribble (tho he was a defense attorney, so his defensiveness is only natural). no no, seth quite skillfully blog-comments in a style that the ancient greek rhetoricians called "dumbsiopesis"--that is, you write 10,000 words of convoluted logic to only end up saying something dumb. a rare rhetorical device, but one that seth has mastered (unlike this here blog where it only takes me a few sentences to say something dumb).

it would be fun (tho too time consuming) to take apart most of his defenses, but like silliman, i have a soft spot for defense attorneys, so i'll go easy and just focus on one thing he wrote, which segments nicely to the main point of this post.

on the advertising-blog for the creative writing handbook, seth writes in a comment (you can read the whole rather entertaining thread here):

I know that, pre-MFA, nearly every single MFA applicant in the country takes advantage of some resource or another--some free, some for-fee--to get feedback on their work. If it was easy to get free feedback, and/or if free feedback was synonymous with high-quality feedback, ALC wouldn't exist.

let's be clear, ALC exists because the founders want to make money. if they didnt exist merely for profit, they would instead have fulfilled the perceived lack of for-free feedback. for example, they could've rounded up all the talented Iowa alum and created a non-profit called 'IWAMN' ('Iowa Writers Alumni Mentorship Network'), which would provide free advice to MFA applicants and free portfolio reviews--connecting writers to possible mentors. clearly, ALC only exists because the founders werent interested in creating something based on community.

in a previous post, i asked why ALC is for-profit and ACENTOS FOUNDATION is for-free? the answer: one group is more concerned about Po-Bizz and the other is more concerned about Po-Comm. Money vs. Community.

a few of us here in the Bay Area have decided to take a first step towards expressing the spirit of community to those in the bay area who are interested in applying to an MFA or to other kinds of writing programs. here is the official announcement, from barbara jane reyes' blog:

I’ve been in a series of emails with Oscar and Craig, especially after the latest MFA Industrial Complex round of blog posts. We’ve decided to do a joint event between PAWA and Achiote Press for emerging writers of color interested in learning about community and college writing programs.

The event will take place at SFPL on 12/06/09, from 1:00 to 4:00 pm. A formal announcement is forthcoming.

• Part I: Panelists will speak on their experiences as writers of color in community writing programs such as VONA, KSW Intergenerational Writers’ Lab, Kundiman, Cave Canem.
• Part II: Panelists will speak on their experiences as writers of color in their respective MFA programs, the application process, the benefits and challenges of pursuing the MFA degree.
• Part III: An extensive Q&A.

yes, this event is free. because we know there are many writers out there (many of them being young writers of color) who can't afford for-profit services but who desire mentoring nonetheless (mentors are different than consultants). in addition, we believe that those of us with the privilege of having gone thru either MFA or community programs should help others who desire to get into these programs--for free, for community.

everyone, let's support efforts in the poetry world that value community over profit, mentorship over consultation, support over competition.

and let's warn against & shame those who don't.

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Teachability 2

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a handful of courses teaching my book this coming school year...one of which is English 273: Creative Writing and Literature at Univ Hawaii Manoa, taught by prof susan schultz. here's what she says on her blog:

"August is the month to spread the syllabic seeds, plan courses, set forth expectations, say no to cell phones, ipods, and texting in class. The syllabus is map to an undiscovered place--not a new continent, but the place you live in already whose details are still hidden. It points, like my son pointing at a bird. But that's why it's a scary thing. For me, the syllabus sets forth the promise of what books and poems can do for a (usually timid) reader; for the student, the syllabus is a mix of possibility and danger (how many tardies do an absence make?) I'll be teaching two courses this Fall, English 273: Creative Writing & Literature, and English 410: Form & Theory of Poetry. The first is an introductory course of recent vintage; I like this course because it institutionalizes the way I like to teach anyway, mixing reading and writing in equal measure. This Spring I taught it with an emphasis on documentary writing, including C.D. Wright's, One Big Self, about Louisiana prisons and Lisa Linn Kanae's Sista Tongue. This semester we'll read Eleni Sikelianos's The Book of Jon. We will also be studying and riffing off books by Craig Santos Perez, Kamau Brathwaite, Joe Brainard. And we'll begin by reading and writing haiku, poems wedded to the tangible world. The other course is upper level; in it, students think about writing as they do it. So I've put Lofty Dogmas on the reading list for its essays by poets on poetry. And, for the first time in over a decade, I'll be teaching Jerome Rothenberg and Pierre Joris's Volume 1 of Poems for the Millennium. It's still my favorite of their anthologies. I've posted drafts of my syllabi here and will be refining them over the next few days."

do check out the syllabi--pretty cool stuff! i look forward to blogging with her class in november! and, if you are not subscribed to her blog yet, you must do so here.

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& i charge only $259.99 for a poetry portfolio review

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what happens when you google: "how to get into iowa mfa"?

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Where's the Help? & Apex Express

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thanks to eduardo for giving me some help / advice in the last post...but where's everyone else at? i need some more ideas for where to submit these reviews...please dont make me beg (because i will!)

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take a listen to one of my favorite radio programs: Apex Express on Berkeley based KPFA. Apex focuses on Asian & Pacific Islander issues--i was on Apex sometime last year. anyhoo, there was a fantastic show on Aug 6, 2009--the anniversary of the Hiroshima bombing.

the show focused on nuclear bombing & its consequences in the Pacific--talking with Marshallese poet Kathy Jetnil and Chamoru scholar Migetu Tuncap.

then, the show turns to the Asian Pacific Islander American Poetry and Spoken Word Summit, which i mentioned a few posts below (i gave a workshop). the representatives from the Summit discuss its history and then share some of their poems in the second half of the show.

in all, the show is about an hour long...but well worth the listening--dig it here.

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the worst thing about being a book reviewer is...

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...falling behind. i really didnt write many reviews this year. which is to say i wrote only what i was on deadline to write. and books kept coming in, piling up. and i thank all the editors and writers who sent me review copies & i apologize for the delay.

in the past 10 days, i've finally been able to catch up: 13 reviews done (with one to go). i've begun querying editors to get these reviews out into the world...and i need your advice:

what review venues do you regularly read?
do you edit a magazine/journal that is currently looking for reviews?
where have you published reviews?

please help! i currently have 20 unpublished reviews that need a home!

i may at some point list the books i've reviewed, if anyone's interested.

p.s. i forgot to celebrate my 50th published review, which was like 1 review ago (i'm now up to 51). so yes, that's 71 reviews written in total since 2007 (as you can tell from the reviews link sidebar to the right (and down) i've also completely fallen behind on adding links to all my reviews--bleh).

i thot it would be cool to write 100 reviews by the time i'm 30 years old, but i turn 30 in February, so i dont think that's gonna happen. oh well.

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New Poetry Online & in Print

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check out the new issue of BorderSenses, in which i have one poem. also, check out their amazing community projects.

i also have a poem in the new Borderlands: Texas Poetry Review--the issue focuses on ekphrasis!

then, dig the new issue of Eleven Eleven--i also some poems there!

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finally, get your own copy of 1913 journal, one of my favorite journals/presses. i dont have a poem in the journal, but there are so many amazing contributors to the issue! plus, 1913 always makes beautiful feeling books--and this journal is no exception

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Po-Comm: PAWA (Philippine American Writers & Artists, Inc)

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another wonderful organization contributing to the po-comm (poetry community) is PAWA. from their website:

About

The Philippine American Writers and Artists, Inc. (P.A.W.A.) is a Northern California based nonprofit organization duly registered with the State of California and U.S. Federal Government.

Organized under the Nonprofit Public Benefit Corporation Law for charitable purposes, PAWA’s main goal is to create and encourage literature and arts for the preservation and enrichment of Filipino and Filipino American historical, cultural and spiritual values.

Objectives

To encourage the writing of Philippine and Philippine American literature and the arts among its members;

To create literature and the arts venue for the members;

To encourage and support Filipino-American writers and artists in their creative efforts of bringing and actively disseminating Filipino culture to various levels of readership audiences; and

To institute a forum to bridge the linkages between authors, artists and book publishers.

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note "non-profit". can you find the word "non-profit" on the ALC website?

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besides a reading series, PAWA also holds workshops for writers. info is here. it's not a free workshop, but it's very affordable ($20 for students).

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the next reading & info on upcoming events can be found at the PAWA blog here, edited by barbara jane reyes.

the next reading in the PAWA Arkipelago Reading Series:

Where: The Bayanihan Center 1010 Mission Street @ 6th Street, San Francisco

When: Sunday, August 23, 2009 at 2:00 pm

Who: Penélope V. Flores, Joaquin Jay Gonzalez III, Kevin L. Nadal, and Benito M. Vergara, Jr.

This event is free and open to the public!

Penélope V. Flores is a professor of education at San Francisco State University. She is an author, editor, and co-author of several academic and literary books, including Reflections: Readings for the Young and Old; Whisper of the Bamboo; Goodbye, Vientiane; Ethnomathematics, from the Abel to Tinalak; and The Philippine Jeepney, A Metaphor for Understanding the Filipino American Family. She has attempted to write the Great Novel– Enrique: Magellan’s slave and interpreter. It has metamorphosed into a historical novel. Lately it has shifted into a novel for young adults. Now she is convinced it would be a great children’s book.

Joaquin Jay Gonzalez III is Associate Professor of Politics and Director of the Yuchengco Philippine Studies Program at the University of San Francisco. After the September 11 terrorist attacks, he was appointed San Francisco Commissioner for Immigrant Rights and Mayor George Christopher Chair in Public Administration at Golden Gate University. He has received distinguished teaching awards from the National University of Singapore, Golden Gate University, and the University of San Francisco. He is the author of Filipino American Faith in Action: Religion, Immigration, and Civic Engagement (NYU Press), and co-editor of Religion at the Corner of Bliss and Nirvana: Politics, Identity, and Faith in New Migrant Communities (Duke University Press).

Kevin L. Nadal, Ph.D., is the author of Filipino American Psychology. He is a professor, psychologist, performer, activist, and author, who received his doctorate in counseling psychology from Columbia University in 2008. As an assistant professor of mental health counseling and psychology at John Jay College of Criminal Justice- City University of New York, he has published several works focusing on Filipino American, ethnic minority, and LGBTQ issues in the fields of psychology and education. A California-bred New Yorker, he has been featured on The Filipino Channel, the History Channel, Philippine News, and Filipinas Magazine. For more information visit www.kevinnadal.com

Benito M. Vergara, Jr. is the author of Displaying Filipinos: Photography and Colonialism in Early 20th-Century Philippines (University of the Philippines Press), and Pinoy Capital (Temple University Press). A graduate of the University of the Philippines at Los Banos, he also has an M.A. in Southeast Asian Studies and a PhD in Anthropology from Cornell University. He has taught in different universities in the San Francisco Bay Area, and writes about movies at http://filmeyeballsbrain.com.

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future readings:

09/19/2009: Oliver de la Paz, Joseph O. Legaspi, Mari L’Esperance, and Theresa Calpotura (guitar). 2 pm @ the Bayanihan Community Center.

10/17/2009: Writing Workshop with Luis Francia. 10 am @ the Bayanihan Community Center (register). Reading with Neela Banerjee, Luis Francia, Alejandro Murguía, and Jean Vengua. 2 pm @ the Bayanihan Community Center.

11/07/2009: Justin Chin, Sarah Gambito, Maiana Minahal, and Marianne Villanueva. 2 pm @ the Bayanihan Community Center.

All readings are free and open to the public.

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Po-Comm: VONA (The Voices of Our Nations Arts Foundation)

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another beautiful alternative to the po-bizz is VONA, The Voices of our Nations Arts Foundation, based at the Univ of San Francisco. i've never had the pleasure of attending VONA, though i def plan to apply in the future.

barbara highlighted a conversation between VONA participants at the PAWA blog here.

also, read oscar's report on his VONA experience here.

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some descriptions of VONA from their website:

The VONA Voices Workshop is dedicated to nurturing developing writers of color. Held at the University of San Francisco each summer, writers come from around the country and around the globe to work with renowned writers of color. Co-sponsoring VONA on the USF campus are the Creative Writing Program at USF and the School of Education.

VONA writers have come from 6 different countries, 24 different states, they range from 16 years old to 80 years old--some are students, some have never gone on to school. Some have been writing all their lives, others just discovered their voices. Many have published, others are yet to complete a major work. They have one commonality: they are serious about their writing and they know that the Voices workshop gives them a unique experience and a great community.

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note the word "community". not a single time on the ALC website can you find the word "community". why is that?

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Aug 6: the poetry of Brandon Shimoda

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been hearing a lot on the news today about the bombing of hiroshima. strange because i have just finished reviewing two books by Brandon Shimoda; the atomic bombing haunts his work in the the most unexpected ways.

do check them out: THE ALPS (FLIM FORUM PRESS) and the limited edition INLAND SEA (TARPAULIN SKY).

read a fantastic review of both books here.

Po-Bizz vs Po-Comm: The Macondo Foundation

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hmm...it seems like no one, not even seth, has answered my question from two posts ago:

so someone tell me why an organization like the ACENTOS FOUNDATION will offer FREE, OPEN TO THE PUBLIC writers' workshops in the Bronx (with some of the most respected writers around as teachers) and a group of recent alumni from IOWA set up a consulting firm and charge moneys to help young writers?

many of us are privileged in dif ways--we all have certain kinds of access in the lit world that many others dont...so why not help others for free? ALC, why not offer your privileged services for free?

build Po-Comm(unity) and not Po-Bizz(nas)!

i have more to say about AWP & ALC, but for now i want to point everyone to another alternative: THE MACONDO FOUNDATION. recent participant Francisco Aragon has just blogged about the foundation at the letras latinas blog, so check it out.

also, check out the MACONDO website here.

now, i'm not sure how much MACONDO costs (is it just you pay for your flight there?), but there's a $50 app free to be considered. also, there are some requirements as to who can apply (thus, not open to just anyone):

Eligibility
As an association of socially-engaged writers working to advance creativity, foster generosity, and serve community, the Macondo Foundation seeks generous and compassionate professional writers who view their work and talents as part of a larger task of community-building and non-violent social change. Applicants must fulfill at least TWO of the following requirements:

• Published 1 or more books of poetry, fiction, or creative non-fiction.
• Published at least three (3) poems, stories, or works of creative nonfiction in journals or magazines.
• Be currently enrolled in or have completed an MFA writing workshop.
• Completed a book-length manuscript.
• Studied under at least three different writers.

and here's what goes down:

About the Macondo Workshop
Our annual Macondo Writing Workshop is an exceptionally unique summer gathering of writers working on geographic, cultural, economic, social and spiritual borders. Begun in 1998 by writer Sandra Cisneros and named after the town in Gabriel García Marquez’s One Hundred Years of Solitude, the week-long workshop transforms San Antonio, Texas — and more broadly, La Frontera — into a space of intense artistic and cultural creativity. Every summer, the Macondo Workshop meets from the last Sunday in July through the first Sunday in August at the Our Lady of the Lake University campus in San Antonio.

The Macondo Workshop is a master's level workshop, meaning that participants are expected to be committed and well-seasoned writers capable of reviewing each other’s work with compassionate rigor and vision. Workshops are divided into two categories:

• The Famosa/o Workshops These workshops are led by different guest writers each year. Application requirements and workshop structure vary from year to year based on the guest writers' preferences and workshop logistics.
• The Infamosa/o Workshops These workshops are designed around a particular topic or literary genre.

Generally, afternoons are spent in workshop and evenings are devoted to readings and lectures or forums regarding various artistic, political, and spiritual issues related to writing. In addition, there are several events planned throughout the week to provide participants with many opportunities for quality social interaction.

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seek out community, support community, build community--

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Po-Money Po-Problems: announcing the CSP AWP Consulting Firm

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besides the silliness over ACL, the other hot topic is all the silliness over AWP--that is, everyone is hearing back about panel acceptances and rejections--and those who have been rejected are not too happy. a whole slew of good people got rejected too: here, here, here, here. the crazy thing is that some guy at AWP is calling anyone who mentions how pissed they are on their blog about being rejected! crazy.

i've studied the development of AWP over the years, and am currently editing the first ever AWP Handbook and Ranking System.

some historical background: "AWP" used to stand for "All White Poets". now, it quite aptly stands for "Abramson Writers Partnership." Yes, seth has used all the money he made with ALC to buy AWP. crazy.

so here's the lowdown: 850 panel proposals this year. they accepted about 35% of proposals. yes, that means that many panels were rejected, including yours. including many of you womens, queers, and ethnics. and--gasp--many white poet panels were also rejected! unless, of course, your panel is about either TS Eliot or the New Critics--then you're in.

why do so many people send in proposals to AWP? it's really quite simple: if professors present at a conference, their university will pay for them to go. otherwise, they prob cant afford to go. yes, that's also why people propose several panels or are on several panels--hedging their bets. yes, that's also why AWP only allows you to be on 3 proposed panels (or else they auto reject all panels your name is on!)

the funny thing about this is: how many times have you been at AWP and someone is about to go present on their panel and they havent prepared a damn thing? EVERY SECOND. why? because no one gives a shite about the presentation, they just want the free trip! that's also why SO MANY people drop out last minute, or why SO MANY panels are cancelled last minute--because when you return to your university all you have to show is the conference program that has your name listed...the reimbursements office will never know that you didnt show up. crazy.

as you can see, getting an AWP panel accepted can be worth maybe a 1000 dollars in a free ticket, hotel room, registration fee, and per diem.

So that's why i've decided to start a new altruistic business venture called CSP AWP CONSULTING FIRM. Here is our mission statement:

CSP-AWP CONSULTING is the first-ever consulting firm designed exclusively for Event proposal applicants to the annual AWP conference. All of our consultant never even applied to the Iowa Writers' Workshop and all is trained in giving professional-grade critiques of panel proposals as he has been on one panel before and was rejected this year--so he knows what not to do.

As the panel proposal process to the AWP is an almost entirely subjective one, we cannot guarantee specific results for our clients. We are committed, however, to making po-money helping clients substantially improve the quality of their proposal and roster of panelists. All of this is done with an eye towards making sure your university pays for you to attend this highly competitive conference.

SERVICES & DONATIONS:

Title of Event Critique: $10
Event Description Critique: $50
Statement of Merit Critique: $75
Biographical Notes Critique: $25

For an additional $100, you can choose from our list of distinguished poets to be on your Event Proposal. They are famous enough to get your Event accepted but famous enough to cancel last minute with no one becoming suspicious.

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if you'd like my services, please make a donation in the correct amount here:

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Po-Bizzy: MFA, ALC, ASS, LOL

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you know da kine: the iowa writers workshop alumnus who fails to publish a book, fails to win an award, fails to get the residency, the tenure track job, etc. perhaps the most pitiful creature in po-biz. not necessarily because of the failures (we all fail) but because of their twisted sense of privilege and entitlement and authority.

speaking of, have you read seth abramson's blog recently? i used to read his blog before he went to iowa, and it was quite a pitiful piece of work. he always had something about Po-Biz to complain--something he found unethical...like non-Iowa friends publishing their non-Iowa friends (gasp! close your ears youngun!). i had to stop reading his blog because it was just too embarrassing...esp his strange lover's quarrel with the poet joseph massey (sad they broke up, considering they are both fantastic poets). i started reading seth's blog again after he started going to iowa because he found much success with his book, the mfa handbook (which is in its second printing!!! cha-ching!), some big award, and his mind-blowing DISCOVERY of a once-unknown breed of white american poets that he named "american metarealism" (can you believe seth's utterance of that name is truly the first time "American Metarealism" has ever been uttered in the history of the internet! moan. okok, take a moment to change your panties!). anyways, i began reading his blog again because he is so much happier now...so feel-good. one backchannel email suggested that seth is finally getting laid...i dont know if this is true or believable but it's def true that naming a new movement is just as ejasculatorious.

and then there's the whole MFA ranking thing. yes, very useful to many. as someone pointed out to me, the major flaw in his rankings is that it doesnt take into account location (which should include literary scene vibrancy), teachers, or graduates, or courses offered...but, you know, if you are going to spend hundreds of dollars on apps, do your own damn research. clearly seth's system is flawed, but all ranking systems are flawed and incomplete.

now, folks have been up in arms about seth's new venture to make money & help MFA applicants: ALC. one backchannel email suggested that this is the inevitable outgrowth of the professionalization and commodification of poetry. this cant be denied. but i think it's more true to say that ALC is the natural development of living in Iowa city for two years with not much to do, of feeling the authority and entitlement of the IWW coursing thru your veins, of spending way too much time researching other MFA programs to fully understand why they are so inferior to Iowa.

some people have been saying that abramson & evil co. are not qualified to give such consulting advice. PLEASE! they all went to Iowa! they are OVER-qualified. i mean, think about this: if abramson trains every half-bit poet to write a Statement of Purpose that will get them into Iowa, Iowa will have to begin accepting 3 times as more applicants, and they will get entirely watered down, and will no longer be ranked #1. and then, as these poets begin to fail in the rigors of Iowa, they will have to hire ALC to help them get through Iowa. O it's a vicious, lucrative cycle.
the Iowa Alumnus Consulting Firm is evil. seriously.

but seriously, seth is evil. i mean unethical. i mean an alumnus of iowa.

maybe it's true that MFA's are like ASS-holes (as in everyone has one). shit, even i have one. inspired by barbara's blog, here's my story: after receiving a BA in Lit, Creative Writing, and Art History, i spent two years teaching (what i love). i then decided to pursue an MFA in Poetry because i had been writing poetry since college and wanted to 1) learn more about the craft of poetry 2) teach creative writing at the university level. i chose based on location...i was living in Socal and planning to move the Bay Area...so i researched (all by myself!) bay area MFA programs...and eventually applied to San Francisco State, Univ of San Francisco, and St Mary's (no I could not afford to apply to 20 schools!). i did my writing sample and Statement all by myself (no i could not afford to pay Iowa graduates for consulting). i got accepted by both San Francisco schools (rejected by St Marys) and ultimately decided to attend USF...mainly cuz i planned to work at the same time and their classes (two a semester) are always Tues/Wed 6-9 pm and that doesnt change over the two years...stable schedule. plus, i liked the idea that the cohort was small and you take all req courses with your cohort....i thot that would be good to build relationships in terms of workshop & discussion.

overall, i had great teachers (aaron shurin, rusty morrison, rob halpern, paul hoover, truong tran, susan gevirtz, and d.a.powell). plus, i had the opportunity to be a teaching assistant (2 courses with d.a.powell). i left the program feeling well-trained in both the craft & reading of poetry, as well as in the art of teaching poetry & creative writing. plus, i was helped to produce a publishable manuscript, which became my first book.

and i think that is what is missing in seth abramson's depiction (or desire) of the MFA as a 2-year "writer's colony". one of the reasons i applied to the MFA is because it's a graduate "terminal" degree: you can teach--anywhere--with this degree. granted, most MFA's programs dont prepare students to teach (thus producing crappy teachers), nor do most who attend ever intend to teach. we should perhaps differentiate between MFA programs that are training programs, and those that are "low-residency" or non-training MFAs. so much diversity of programs and experiences.

i too advise/mentor many young writers who are thinking about pursuing an MFA. i always ask, do you want to someday teach creative writing? and where do you want to live? i offer to look at their writing sample (for free) tho i never offer to look at their Statement...who cares about the statement.

so yes, i find seth's consulting firm a bit distasteful. and think about which young writers can afford such a "service"? think about which young writers can afford to apply to 15-20 schools, as seth consults. i know many pacific islanders who ask me about MFAs can't afford either.

so someone tell me why an organization like the ACENTOS FOUNDATION will offer FREE, OPEN TO THE PUBLIC writers' workshops in the Bronx (with some of the most respected writers around as teachers) and a group of recent alumni from IOWA set up a consulting firm and charge moneys to help young writers.

i wonder. lol.

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