| MUSELETTER #66 | |
Hello everybody,
We apologize for the lapse in Museletter mailings -- Guide Margy was hospitalized again all last week & couldn't bring her laptop. But as always, our correspondents went right on gathering poetry news for you, so this week's Museletter brings you:
Margy Snyder & Bob Holman
Enjoy! And keep on reading & writing poems!
Poetry Guides
POETRY IS EVERYWHERE AT ABOUT
- Poems By Women
For Women's History Month, Guide Jone Johnson Lewis has put together a huge library of e-texts, indexed by poet's name -- great browsing! And it's just one of the many special resources gathered by About guides for this month's Women's History special.
NEW MEXICO/SOUTHWEST
HO XUAN HUONG AND DANA LEVIN
This piece has one purpose, to make you buy two books: Spring Essence, The Poetry of Ho Xuan Huong (Copper Canyon Press, 2000) and Dana Levin's In the Surgical Theater (The American Poetry Review, 1999). You need more poetry books, yes you do. You need to soak up the story of a poet famous in her country and until now virtually unknown outside of Vietnam, translated by John Balaban and published in October by Copper Canyon Press.
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WHY HO?
The top 5 reasons to rush out and make the purchase:
- She is the new Rumi. Equally mystic and funny.
- Her 200-year-old poems are sexy enough to rule any Lower East Side or Mission District, Sister Spit-style reading.
- She is part of a literary tradition going back thousands of years.
- Your purchase helps save a nearly extinct language.
- She is whispering hot into your ear.
Ho Xuan Huong's name translates as “Spring Essence.” She lived in Vietnam from about 1780 to 1825. She was a concubine. Or she didn't exist at all and was the pen name for an embarrassed mandarin. The few facts of her life are entwined with legend, but what we do have are the poems. Here is my translation of “Jack Fruit,” made with the help of a poetry-loving desk clerk in a little hotel in Hanoi:
My body is sweet as Jack fruit.See how it compares with Balaban's masterpiece.
Its bark is rugged, its pulp thick,
plant your sword, if you like.
Touch it. Your hands turn wet.
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WHY BUY DANA?
Dana Levin's In the Surgical Theater has won every award known on planet earth, including but not limited to:
- 1999 - American Poetry Review, Honickman First Book Prize
- 2000 - Witter Bynner Poetry Prize, American Academy of Arts and Letters, chosen by the Poet Laureate, Robert Pinsky
- 2000 - New Writers Award, Great Lakes Colleges Association
- 2000 - Balcones Poetry Prize, Austin Community College
- 2000 - John C. Zacharis First Book Award, Ploughshares Magazine
- 2000 - Finalist, Lenore Marshall Poetry Prize, Academy of American Poets
Soaking in his vat of embalming fluid, Lenin looks restful,
meditative, a high official in his bath
in his dacha, far away
from the controlled air of the mausoleum,
the school children filing past him
unblinking, the veterans who stand, expressionless.
Debov watches
as the germs crawl up and down the length
of the body, scouring, sniffing
for that open hole - The cold windows in the laboratory
condense with his breath, and the flies lie hungry
in the snow.
HERE IS THE DEAL:
You buy the books, write a review or a poem inspired by them, or a new recipe, say, Green Chili Embalming Stew or Jackfruit on a Stick, and I will publish the winner in my next Museletter. Send what you write to Poetmex@aol.com.
What in God's Green Acre do these books have to do with Santa Fe and the Southwest?, I hear you wondering. Ms. Levin teaches creative writing at the College of Santa Fe and Balaban's kickass translation was funded by the Lannan and Witter Bynner Foundations, both headquartered in Santa Fe. All provincial capitals believe they are the heartbeat of love, the raging of a new age, the cat's bark and the sweet purr of the universe's chewy center. How can we be any different?
ORANGE COUNTY/SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
NIGH-THIRTY!
Hello! Before we talk about other people, let’s talk about me for a second. I had the best damn birthday I’ve ever had, because this year, I celebrated it at “Penguins Hooked on Macaronics,” the thoroughly bizarre reading run by the thoroughly bizarre Jaimes Palacio at the Gypsy Den Grand-Central in Santa Ana. Sharing the stage was Valley Contemporary Poets co-director, Beyond Baroque board member and all around awesome poet, Amelie Frank, who also celebrated her birthday that day! That, and music from Upper Left, an awesome band comprised mostly of members of the now-defunct Dr. Awkward, with vocals by the talented Erin Keahey. I’ve known all these folks for years, and with 60-plus people in the audience, it made for a great show.
I CAN WALK LIKE A PENGUIN!
The preceding joke is only funny if you’ve lived in Massachusetts, but anyway... Here’s a list of what’s coming up at Penguins Hooked on Macaronics in the near future:
- March 12: Local favorite Ryan Strassburg celebrates his new book with special guests Mary McIlvaine & Stephine Michrina. Limited open.
- March 19: Traveling Englishman Tim Gibbard in a special engagement. Seats will go fast!
- March 26: Participating in the worldwide Dialogue Among Civilizations Through Poetry, readings featuring San Diego’s Lizzie Wann & OC's Rainbow.
- April 2: LA Times poetry-book bestseller Scott Wannberg.
- April 9: Sultry Sarah MacLay & VCP's sexiest head Brendan Constantine, plus New York’s Georgia Popoff.
- April 16: The Four City Tour continues! With Ben Trigg & Heather Melissa.
- April 23: Best friends (and hot babes) Wendy Piatt & Jeanine Jarrell.
- April 30: Call & response poetry with former OC Weekly correspondent Daniel McGinn and his lovely wife Lori.
STUFF BEING PUBLISHED -- LOCAL AND ABROAD
There are a few ‘zine type things I’m looking forward to in the near future. One of them is the April issue of Lummox Journal, which will be their annual all poetry issue. Contact the editor, Raindog, for info on how you can own your very own copy:
lumoxraindog@earthlink.netA little less local, but equally exciting, is a new ‘zine out of Tokyo, Japan, called Words: Beatnik to Hip Hop. I don’t know much about this one, but it’s being published by the very nice and exceedingly strange Kei Kunihiro (kei@mcinet.co.jp), so I have high hopes for it.
Lummox Press
P.O. Box 5301
San Pedro, CA 90733-5301
LONG BEACH SLAM STILL SMOKING
The Prime Spot has been kind enough to pass along unsolicited publicity for the Big Damn Poetry Slam in Long Beach, which we’ll now pass on to you:
“What a powerful project. No, this isn't a 'stand up mic,' and it isn't just people reading poems from a book. It is spoken word and the winners will represent Long Beach in a few months in Seattle. Last Sunday they had a guest 'perform' all the way from Worcester, Mass. (pronounced 'Wistah'). You can hear Tony Brown (and Victor Infante and Steve Ramirez) on The Prime Spot Radio Show this week (Thursday, February 23rd, 8-10pm).Things have been happening at the Que Sera. In addition to Worcester’s Mr. Tony Brown stepping in to guest host, slammers qualified for the May/Juneish LBC/OC finals include Jaimes Palacio, Ben Porter Lewis and Rachel Kaan.
The Big Damn Poetry SlamFuture features:
Sundays at 3 pm (yes, 3 pm)
The Que Sera
1923 E. 7th Street
Long Beach, CA
562.599.6170
21 and up, free
- March 11: LOB
- March 18: LBC homeboy turned SF promoter Charles Ellik
- March 25: Jerry Quickley
- April 1: UK's Tim Gibbard
- April 8: Our first big fundraiser, including Derrick Brown, Paul Suntup, Mindy Nettifee, Lizzie Wann and a passle of others!
GEEZ THIS IS GETTING LONG
Okay, this is getting waaayy out of hand, so here are a few tidbits:
- Listen to Barbara DeMarco-Barrett’s radio show, “Writers on Writing,” every Thursday at 5 pm for talk about the art and business of writing. KUCI 88.9 fm in Orange County, California and at www.kuci.org.
- Congrats to poets Lea Deschenes and Caron Andregg on their new business venture, “Quantum Redhead Productions.” We’ve also gotten a sneak peak at the new Cider Press Review literary journal published by Andregg and Robert Wynne, and it looks fabulous!
- Check out the really cool “Programs for Writers” at Cal State Fullerton, which is an exciting and innovative program (although they’ve made the horrible, horrible mistake of letting me teach in it). As local poet Jane Cassady put it, “Does this mean I owe you money for all the times you lectured me on poetry?” Yes. I want my money.
Bye! See ya in the funny papers!
READER-SUBMITTED POETRY NEWS BRIEFS
From Bob Nelson:
The SpokenWorld Show
This week (Sunday night) I talked a lot on the Spokenworld show about censorship. Specifically, one of my listeners relayed a story about a reader being pulled from the stage during performance. I would like some more views and opinions from you on censorship you may have seen or a venue that stood up for a reader. Drop me an email to bob@spokenworld.com and I'll read some of the letters next week. You can listen to this week's show at the Web site: just click on “the most recent show” link.
Calling For Poetry News Items from Our Readers!
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