Friday, August 31, 2007

CATCH ME CATCHING UP WITH MOISELF!

Yay. I fulfilled four more Tiny Books orders yesterday. Not to worry -- I'm catching up!

And speaking of catching up on other matters, please don't forget two things that I hope weren't lost in the recent flurry:

THE SPECIAL RELEASE OFFER for Garrett Caples' new poetry collection COMPLICATIONS...

..as well as consider participating in the very welcoming CHAINED HAY(NA)KU PROJECT! Nearly 20 poets have sent in their hay(na)ku chain collaborations so far! Join the PARTY, why dontcha!!!!

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Thursday, August 30, 2007

THE COLOMBIANS ARE COMING!

Very pleased to announce a new imprint from Meritage Press, to wit

               THE COLOMBIAN POETRY PRIZE

Series editors are moiself and Sandy McIntosh. I hope to share more good news about this in the future....but, for Moi, it was established in relation to this ongoing Conjuration which, most recently, has required:

St. Helena
San Francisco
Stanford
Los Angeles
Atlanta
San Francisco
St. Helena
San Francisco
Manila
Santo Tomas
Vigan
Galimuyod
Vigan
Santo Tomas
Manila
San Francisco
St. Helena
Calistoga
St. Helena
San Francisco
St. Helena
Napa City
St. Helena
New York
San Francisco
Internet for "20 Hour Course"
St. Helena
Manila
St. Helena
Santa Rosa
St. Helena
Santa Rosa
St. Helena...

Make it so, Angels. I've done what you've requested. It's your turn. Make it so, Angels. Make it so...!

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Wednesday, August 29, 2007

GALATEA RESURRECTS FOR THE SEVENTH TIME!

And Galatea flares her lovely wings again! You can access the new issue of Galatea Resurrects HERE. But I'm also reprinting the Table of Contents below this lovely photo of Moi Dawgs (which debuted in this issue's "Editor's Introduction"):



ISSUE NO. 7
August 31, 2007

EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION
By Eileen Tabios


NEW REVIEWS
Jessica Bozek reviews AFTER YOU, DEAREST LANGUAGE by Marisol Limon Martinez

Nicholas Manning reviews POEM FOR THE END OF TIME AND OTHER POEMS by Noelle Kocot

Eileen Tabios engages THE STEAM SEQUENCE by Carly Sachs

Brian Strang reviews BROKEN WORLD by Joseph Lease

Brenda Iijima reviews A HALF-RED SEA by Evie Shockley

Patrick James Dunagan reviews A FIDDLE PULLED FROM THE THROAT OF A SPARROW by Noah Eli Gordon

Nicholas Grider reviews INSECT COUNTRY (A), INSECT COUNTRY (B), and the INSECT TUTELAGE BLOG by Sawako Nakayasu

Patrick James Dunagan reviews TRAFFIC: A PUBLICATION OF SMALL PRESS TRAFFIC, ISSUES 1 AND 2, (2005-2007) edited by Elizabeth Treadwell

Teresa Carmody reviews [one love affair]* by Jenny Boully

John Bloomberg-Rissman reviews THE BODY ACHES and NOT EVEN DOGS by Ernesto Priego

Nicholas Grider reviews NETS by Jen Bervin

Patrick James Dunagan reviews HOUSE ORGAN #58 Win/Spr ’07 edited by Kenneth Warren

Nicholas Manning reviews GUESTS OF SPACE by Anselm Hollo

Rochita Loenen-Ruiz reviews THE GODS WE WORSHIP LIVE NEXT DOOR by Bino A. Realuyo

Jennifer Bartlett reviews THE SECOND CHILD by Deborah Garrison

Eileen Tabios engages BROKEN/OPEN by Jill Jones

Laurel Johnson reviews THE ELEPHANT HOUSE by Claudia Carlson

Alysha Wood reviews a(A)ugust by Akilah Oliver, with collages by Brenda Iijima

Eileen Tabios engages BELLUM LETTERS by Michelle Detorie

Steve Halle reviews POSIT by Adam Fieled

Paul Klinger reviews THE BOOK OF OCEAN BY Maryrose Larkin

Michelle Detorie reviews BIRDS AND FANCIES by Elizabeth Treadwell

Eileen Tabios engages ERRATUM to and including A SPY IN THE HOUSE OF YEARS (LEVIATHAN PRESS, 2001) by Giles Goodland

Craig Santos Perez reviews NAMES ABOVE HOUSES by Oliver de la Paz

Christopher Mulrooney reviews OSIP MANDELSTAM: NEW TRANSLATIONS edited by Ilya Bernstein

Craig Santos Perez reviews ANYWHERE AVENUE by Oscar Bermeo

Christopher Mulrooney reviews STIGMATA ERRATA ETCETERA by Bill Knott, with collages by Star Black

Nicholas Grider reviews THE STATES, Vols. 1 and 2 by Craig Foltz, designed and edited by designed and edited by Ellie Ga, and with photographs by William Gillespie, Justin Ulmer, Martin Bland, Sabra Cox, Kristina Del Pino, Simona Schneider, Florence Neal, Jon Ciliberto, Stephen Mead, Christa HOlka, Don Goede, Lyn Lifshin, Shelton Walsmith, Marie Kazalia, Rebekah Travis, Lara Khalil, Tracy Lee Carroll, Jennifer Stahl, Barbara Henning, Jade Doskow, David McConeghy, Jared Zimmerman, Alice Arnold, Robert Matson, Mary Wrenn, Julia Marta Clapp, Tina Burton, Jim Simandl, Philip Metres, Chris Hampton, Hayley Barker, Thomas Ciufo, Meredyth Sparks, Shannon Shaper, Renae Morehead, Ryn Gargulinski, Robert S. Dunn, Jen Hofer, David Gatten, Jerilyn Myran, Shara Shisheboran, Courtney Fischer, ARiana Smart Truman, Tod Seelie, David W. Lee, Katherine McDowell, Mike Mahaffie, Willile Baronet, Karen Lillis, Paul Yoo, Justin Simonsen and Elizabeth Willis.

Beatriz Tabios engages BRIDGEABLE SHORES: SELECTED POEMS (1969-2001) by Luis Cabalquinto

Carlos Hiraldo reviews THE SALESMAN'S SHOES by James Roderick Burns

Nicholas Manning reviews FOLLY by Nada Gordon

Alysha Wood reviews trespasses by Padcha Tuntha-obas

Kristin Berkey-Abbott reviews THE MCSWEENEY BOOK OF POETS PICKING POETS edited by Dominic Lumford

Joe LeClerc reviews THE ENEMY SELF: POETRY & CRITICISM OF LAURA RIDING edited by Barbara Adams

Hugh Fox reviews LIBIDO DREAMS: NEW AND SELECTED POEMS by Glenna Luschei

Laurel Johnson reviews THE MOUNTAIN IN THE SEA by Victor Hernandez Cruz

Craig Santos Perez reviews THE WIND SHIFTS: NEW LATINO POETRY edited by Francisco Aragon

Kristin Berkey-Abbott reviews PUNK POEMS by John Burgess

Julie R. Enszer Reviews SUGARING by Ann Cefola

Julie R. Enszer Reviews TEAHOUSE OF THE ALMIGHTY by Patricia Smith

Julie R. Enszer Reviews CINEPHRASTICS by Kathleen Ossip

Julie R. Enszer Reviews THE PARAGON by Kathrine Varnes

Julie R. Enszer Reviews KALI’S BLADE by Michelle Bautista

Julie R. Enszer Reviews three books by Rochelle Ratner: QUARRY, COMBING THE WAVES, and PRACTICING TO BE A WOMAN


FEATURE ARTICLES
"Objections to the Beauty-Object: A Reading of Two Poems by Barbara Guest" by Catherine Wagner

"The Ocean At Night: An Inside Look at the Poetry Process" by Aimee Celino Nezhukumatathil


FROM OFFLINE TO ONLINE: REPRINTED REVIEWS
Catherine Wagner reviews 19 VARIETIES OF GAZELLE: POEMS OF THE MIDDLE EAST by Naomi Shihab Nye and EMAILS FROM SCHEHEREZAD by Mohja Kahf

Catherine Wagner reviews CATALOGUE OF COMEDIC NOVELTIES: SELECTED POEMS by Lev Rubinstein, Translated by Philip Metres and Tatiana Tulchinsky

Catherine Wagner engages four books by Alice Notley: DISOBEDIENCE, MARGARET AND DUSTY, MYSTERIES OF SMALL HOUSES and SELECTED POEMS


"ADVERTISEMENT"
Poetry Feeds The World!


BACK COVER
Winepoetics!

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Tuesday, August 28, 2007

LET GARRETT CAPLES COMPLICATE YOUR LIFE!

MERITAGE PRESS ANNOUNCEMENT

COMPLICATIONS
Poems by Garrett Caples
ISBN-13: 978-0-9794119-1-5
ISBN-10: 0-9794119-1-2
Price: $16.00
Release date: Fall 2007
Distributors: Small Press Distribution, Amazon.com & www.MeritagePress.com
For more info: MeritagePress@aol.com

Meritage Press is delighted to announce the release of -- and a SPECIAL RELEASE OFFER for -- Complications, the second full-length poetry collection by Oakland-based poet Garrett Caples.  Reflecting the moral disintegration of the post-9/11 world, Complications is an even wilder, darker, funnier exploration of poetic consciousness than its predecessor, The Garrett Caples Reader.  From semiotic reportage to automatic writing, oulipian constraint to straightforward elegy, Complications is an eclectic tour de force in the service of a fundamental proposition: "surreality is real."

Praise for The Garrett Caples Reader
"a wonderful book of prose and poetry."
--Philip Lamantia

"a lovely piece of work all the way through."
--Robert Creeley

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Born in Lawrence, MA in 1972, Garrett Caples is a poet living in Oakland, CA. He is the author of The Garrett Caples Reader (Angle Press/Black Square Editions, 1999), er um (Meritage Press, 2002), and The Philistine's Guide to Hip Hop (Ninevolt, 2004). He has published numerous essays, articles, and reviews. He currently writes on hip hop for the San Francisco Bay Guardian.

*************************

SPECIAL RELEASE OFFER:
Meritage Press is pleased to offer a Release Special through September 30, 2007. For $13.00, you can obtain a copy of COMPLICATIONS—a reduced rate from the book's retail price of $16.00—plus free shipping/handling (an approximate $4.00 value) to U.S. addresses. Just send a $13.00 check made out to "Meritage Press" to:

Eileen Tabios
Meritage Press
256 North Fork Crystal Springs Road
St. Helena, CA 94574

For international orders, please contact us through MeritagePress@aol.com

*************************

ALSO FORTHCOMING OR NEW FROM MERITAGE PRESS:

FRAGILE REPLACEMENTS by William Allegrezza

PRAU by Jean Vengua (Filamore Tabios, Sr. Poetry Memorial Prize)

And a series of "Tiny Books" measuring 1 3/4 x 1 3/4" inaugurated by ALL ALONE AGAIN by Dan Waber, followed by STEPS: A NOTEBOOK by Tom Beckett and "…AND THEN THE WIND DID BLOW: JAINAKU POEMS by Ernesto Priego.

Meritage Press is a multidisciplinary literary and arts published based in St. Helena and San Francisco, CA. Our website is at http://www.meritagepress.com

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APPARENTLY, THEY'RE TALKING ABOUT MOI

over here...and elsewhere Jean admits, as is often the case when one talks about Moi, "I don't know where to begin..."

Heee. Seriously -- thanks, folks. The Light...appreciates the attention since, if youse think about it, it's usually the Light giving attention.

And as the book starts to make its way around, I start to receive feedback which looks to be the most interesting I might yet receive for my books. My first backchanneled feedback was literally this:

               "Damn You. And that's a compliment."

Fullstop. No other explanation. Heee. But maybe that's all I'd want to know!

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Sunday, August 26, 2007

WHINED & DINNED

I rarely read poetry while traveling. Perhaps it's because traveling means that I would be unlikely to give any reading material my full attention. Thus, my latest W(h)ines List includes 20 books whose titles and authors I can't even recall...

PUBLICATIONS
CROSS SECTION, poem-broadside by Michael McClure (Thanks Jim M.!)

AT SEVENS AND EIGHTS, poem-broadside by Duncan McNaughton (Thanks again, Jim!)

ALL THE PAINTINGS OF GIORGIONE, poem by Elizabeth Willis

ANTHROPY, poems by Ray Hsu

BEAUTY [IS THE NEW ABSURDITY], poems by Jennifer Scappettone

LETTERS TO EARLY STREET, poems by Albert Flynn DeSilver

ERRATUM to and including A SPY IN THE HOUSE OF YEARS (LEVIATHAN PRESS, 2001), poetry by Giles Goodland

TRUE, memoir by Rae Armantrout

STAGE PRESENCE: CONVERSATIONS WITH FILIPINO AMERICAN PERFORMING ARTISTS, Edited by Theodore S. Gonzalves (manuscript form)

CHEERS TO MUSES: CONTEMPORARY WORKS BY ASIAN AMERICAN WOMEN, curated by Asian American Women Artists Association

ANIMAL, VEGETABLE, MIRACLE: A YEAR OF FOOD LIFE, memoir by Barbara Kingsolver with Steven L. Hopp and Camille Kingsolver

THE NEW OUTDOOR KITCHEN, study by Deborah Krasner

TILL THE OLD MEN DIE, novel by Janet Dawson

THE BANCROFT STRATEGY, novel by Robert Ludlum et al

PRIMAL FEAR, novel by William Diehl

NIGHT OF THE HAWK, novel by Dale Brown

BETRAYAL IN DEATH, novel by J.D. Robb

NIGHT GAME, novel by Christine Feehan

About 20 historical romances all seeming like each other to deflect from tropical heat and humidity as well as transpacific air travel


WINES
2004 Luce Abbey Roncalli
2000 Napa Valley Reserve
2002 Napa Valley Reserve
2005 Altamura Napa Valley Sauvignon Blanc
2004 Caymus Vineyards Napa Valley Zinfandel

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Saturday, August 25, 2007

CONJURATION STATUS

This most important Conjuration is making those wings flap harder than they ever have. Fortunately, the Poetry over the past 10-plus years over-engineered the steel skeletal structure pulsating those feathers...

St. Helena
San Francisco
Stanford
Los Angeles
Atlanta
San Francisco
St. Helena
San Francisco
Manila
Santo Tomas
Vigan
Galimuyod
Vigan
Santo Tomas
Manila
San Francisco
St. Helena
Calistoga
St. Helena
San Francisco
New York
San Francisco
Internet for "20 Hour Course"
St. Helena...

Make it so, Angels. Make it so...!

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Friday, August 24, 2007

LET MOI SENTENCE TOI!

"Of all the journals in circulation dealing with the prose poem, Sentence seems the best equipped for the task of filling some of the space [vacated by the demise of The Prose Poem: An International Journal]. Sentence spans the expanse of what is currently being done with the prose poem... and is surely as good a place as any to seek out the best of what is now in circulation."
—American Book Review

"(Sentence) is the best magazine of its kind since Peter Johnson's legendary The Prose Poem: An International Journal… Clements has gathered poems showing that form is not simply the structure of a paragraph, but a textual canvas of moving parts."
—Ray Gonzalez, Bloomsbury Review

Some of the prose poems in The Light are in this brand-new issue of SENTENCE: A JOURNAL OF PROSE POETICS, No. 5.

The poems Sentence took from me are not just prose poems; they also reflect my "list as (auto)biography" approach.

Here's the official announcement from stellar editor Brian Clements:

Sentence 5 is now available, including:

Feature section on The Prose Poem in East-Asia, edited by Steve Bradbury with co-editors and translators Don Mee Choi, Jeffrey Angles, Andrea Lingenfelter, Sawako Nakayasu, and Hiroaki Sato; translations of Lu Xun, Shang Qin, Liu Kexiang, Hsia Yu, Xi Chuan, Jiao Tong, Hung Hung, Ye Mimi, He Chuanfu, Ch?oe Sung-ja, Yi Yon-ju, Kim Hyesoon, Kasuya Eiichi, Takahashi Mutsuo, Suzuki Shiroyasu, Ito Hiromi, Hirata Toshiko, Yuko Minamikawa Adams, Abe Hinako, and Tatehata Akira.

Prose poems by Joe Ahearn, Kazim Ali, Erica Anzalone, Sally Ashton, Edward Bartók-Baratta, Bill Berkson, Raymond L. Bianchi, Daniel Borzutzky, Geoff Bouvier, Jenny Browne, Christopher Buckley, Kevin Cantwell, Peter Conners, Mark Cunningham, Chloe Daimyo, Jon Davis, Neil de la Flor, Carrie Etter, Kass Fleisher, Charles Fort, Angela Jane Fountas, James Fowler, Alex Galper (translated by Mike Magazinnik and Igor Satanovsky), Christine Gelineau, Daniel Grandbois, James Grinwis, Kelle Groom, Maurice Kilwein Guevara, Richard Gwyn, Tanesia Hale-Jones, Kalev Hantsoo, Kevin Haworth, Karen Holman, Brooke Horvath, Ann Howells, David James, Brian Johnson, George Kalamaras, Luke Kennard, Jill Khoury, Rauan Klassnik, Michael Koshkin, Richard Kostelanetz, David Lazar, Robert Hill Long, Sandy McIntosh, Michael Meyerhofer, Steve Myers, Andrew Neuendorf, Ed Orr, Virgilio Pinera (translated by Alexander Cuadros), Emma Ramey, Jessy Randall, Kristin Ryling, Catherine Sasanov, Liana Scalettar, Siobhan Scarry, Jim Scrimgeour, Ravi Shankar, Jay Snodgrass, D. E. Steward, Julia Story, Robert Strong, Wayne Sullins, Eileen Tabios, Steve Timm, Nick Twemlow, Alexandra van de Kamp, Monique van den Berg, and Mark Yakich.

Joe Ahearn reviews Daniel Rzicznek, Sally Ashton reviews Noah Eli Gordon, Brian Brennan reviews Gloria Frym, Thomas Fink reviews Sheila E. Murphy, Brooke Horvath reviews Etal Adnan and Sherwood Anderson, Matthew W. Schmeer reviews Skip Fox, Ellen McGrath Smith reviews Elizabeth Willis, Rebecca Spears reviews John Olson, Jerry McGuire reviews Peter Johnson, Chris Murray reviews PP/FF: An Anthology; and an essay by Brian Johnson.

Due to increased postal and shipping rates, Sentence must increase subscription rates. New rates are $15/$28/$36 for 1/2/3 issues. Send check made to Firewheel Editions to Box 7, Western Connecticut State University, 181 White St., Danbury, CT 06810 or subscribe using PayPal at the website: http://firewheel-editions.org. Customers from outside North America and the Carribean must include an extra $6 per copy for delivery. Sentence is also available from EBSCO and Amazon.com.

Forthcoming features: The Prose Poem in Italy (#6) edited by Luigi Ballerini and Gian Lombardo, Native American Prose Poems (#7) edited by Dean Rader.

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Thursday, August 23, 2007

I'M A FAN OF KEVIN KILLIAN!

I can't think of when an art-related article has so entertained Moi! Go HERE to see why I adore Kevin Killian!!

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ON SCALE (aka TRASH POETICS)

My three longest books -- ENGLISH (504 pages), Silences (402 pages) and now The Light (366 pages) -- allow me to do something because of their scale:

write poetry books manifesting the trash can. Not "trash". The "trash can." More specifically, a full trash can.

By which I mean, these three long collections are not neat or neatly-ordered. But though there could be the individual shitty poem here or there (as judged by the reader whose prerogative it is to so assess, albeit on both thin and thick collections), the all of it is not a mess. Because their "arc" is a really strongly-built trash can. If I did my job right, that trash bucket won't leak, collapse or fray.

So. I invite you to rummage through my trash. After all, in such repositories do I also dispose of diamonds.

And yes. I am one of those: Moi loves to talk trash!

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FROM OFFLINE TO ONLINE POETRY REVIEWS

An important feature of Galatea Resurrects is its space for reprinting online various poetry reviews that were first published in print publications and have not yet been disseminated in the internet.

Unfortunately, this is also the section which I often don't have time to pursue. So consider this a notice, indeed, an invitation. If you have a review which has not yet received online publication but was previously published in print, contact me and I may reprint, with full acknowledgements of course to the print publisher. Pass the word around as well. Email Moi at GalateaTen@aol.com

Sip. 2% milk.

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Wednesday, August 22, 2007

MY MOST IMPORTANT "LIST AS AUTOBIOGRAPHY"

Am in San Francisco for a couple of days. Someday, I hope to share why this poem is so important to Moi:

Conjuration

St. Helena
San Francisco
Los Angeles
Atlanta
San Francisco
St. Helena
San Francisco
Manila
Santo Tomas
Vigan
Galimuyod
Vigan
Santo Tomas
Manila
San Francisco
St. Helena
Calistoga
St. Helena
San Francisco...

Make it so, Angels. Make it so....!

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BECAUSE I'M HAPPY, 5 MORE FREEBIES!

Well, my earlier freebie offer for The Light ... -- because "Poetry is a Gift" -- swiftly got taken up by five peeps. And because I am in such a danged cheerful mood this moment, I'll do it again! To wit:

Be among the first to email me at GalateaTen@aol.com and you get a free copy of The Light Sang As It Left Your Eyes (Marsh Hawk Press, Fall 2007). Email me your name and snailmail addy.

For the rest of you, the shipment arrives today at SPD and you also can order from Amazon and BarnesandNoble.com.

Then there's the $750.00 edition (heh) ... (check left-hand column box HERE).

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MOI NEXT GIGS MAY BE THE LAST

If you scroll down the left-hand column of Moi blog, you'll see a summary of forthcoming gigs. Pencil them in, Peeps. When this CONJURATION goes through, it's likely I won't be doing any more readings after 2007. As Poet, I evaporate...

All to make Moi an even more rarefied event than s/he already is. Sip. From the Golden Chalice of Poetry...

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Tuesday, August 21, 2007

STAGE PRESENCE: MORE THAN "YOGA BOOTY BALLET"

Am in the middle of reviewing the final manuscript for STAGE PRESENCE edited by Theo Gonsalvez. It's ground-breaking. I can't wait to release it. Theo and I must have been going back and forth on it for about [five] years? STAGE PRESENCE, along with PINOY POETICS, is why I founded Meritage Press. Yes, I've done many other projects since but these two books were the impetus for my becoming a publisher. The artists in STAGE PRESENCE (the link has to be updated) are

1. Eleanor Academia (music)
2. Jessica Hagedorn (music)
3. Joel Jacinto (dance)
4. Danny Kalanduyan (music)
5. Allan Manalo (theater)
6. Alleluia Panis (dance)
7. Reme Grefalda(theater)
8. Pearl Ubungen (dance)
9. Gabe Baltazar, Jr. (music)
10. Ralph Pena (theater)

It'll be interesting to feature Jessica Hagedorn as, not a poet but as, a bandleader.

A brilliant foreword by Ricardo D. Trimillos.

If you don't know these names, you will want to know them. Here's an excerpt below from the essay by Pearl Ubungen, the first movement artist with whom I did a collaboration with a poem providing the "music" to Pearl's dance. I was honored to work with Pearl as I empathize with how she incorporates cultural activism into her work, as in the brilliant community-involved Tagulaylay):

Dance training has the potential to be very powerful because the deep somatic practices are placed in a performance context. Internal to the body are traces of lineage and ancestral memory that can be drawn into the creative process of making and performing work. This is significant at a time when the body has been so stripped of embodiment and the influences of very aggressive technology and mass media pervert notions of how we "think" about the body. I am really talking about two intertwined strands--which I referred to as the subtle/subversive body earlier. Somatic practice in itself doesn't address the contextual -- but can be a pathway to deepening those traces. For example: These days more of our time is spent in relationship to computers. Rather than a face-to-face conversation, we have text messages or even computer-based viewing that allows us to "see" the other person. This cannot be equated with the kind of embodiment that occurs when we are in each other's physical presnce -- face-to-face/body-to-body. Furthermore, the body becomes more constricted; less full of its organic presence when technology drives its daily activities. In terms of a radical artistic approach to the legacies of colonialism, racism, classism, etc., it is my belief that that the body needs to come more into itself and serve as the essential ground for making work. For me this means more stillness, contemplation and a simplification of one's daily activities. This is what I've come to learn through meditation practice and study. Another aspect of the culture that we are challenged with is the body being hyper-involved in body-based activities but from a materialistic/entertainment-based attitude. In other words, the urban physical body culture now tells everyone "yoga booty ballet" is what we need to have a great bod. This distorts how we relate to the body as a source of home or wisdom from which we can source intelligence and creativity.

So, please to anticipate the Meritage Press release of STAGE PRESENCE! The performers are philosophers in their own right, but despite such and the complexity of the discussed contexts, the artists' words are deliberately accessible viz kuwentuhans (conversations). Because this poet believes in this instance: Words should not create distance, but offer bridges.

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Monday, August 20, 2007

SOMEDAY, A WOMAN WILL GET TINY

Busily working on next issue of Galatea Resurrects -- if all goes well, it should be released sometime next week.

Meanwhile, for those who hang on to every word from Moi, here's a feminist Nota Bene:

I know the authors of the Tiny Books are, so far, all male. But I have also solicited female poets for this series. One's manuscript is delayed, and the others are even further behind. So it's not from lack of trying, peeps. (This result reminds me of a topic on some List not that long ago about poetic productivity and gender. Anyhooo...) Not to worry, sooner or later, a fem poet will be dancing through a Tiny Book.

If not, I'll channel kari edwards to transcend the issue...

And, yes yes, I owe YOU a Tiny Book. I am working on it, working on it, fighting the arthritis et al...! Patience, por favor!

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Sunday, August 19, 2007

TINY BOOKS GOES INTERNATIONAL

Meritage Press Announcement

TINY BOOKS GOES INTERNATIONAL (OF COURSE) FOR POETRY TO KEEP FEEDING THE WORLD!

Meritage Press (MP) is pleased to announce the third title in its series of Tiny Books that aligns poetry with fair trade and economic development issues affecting Third World countries.

MP's Tiny Books initially utilize small books (1 3/4" x 1 3/4") made in Guatemala by artisans paid fair wages, as sourced by Baksheesh, a fair trade retailer. All profits from book sales then will be donated to Heifer International, an organization devoted to reducing world hunger by promoting sustainable sources of food and income.

We are delighted to announce that MP's third Tiny Book is

               "…And Then The Wind Did Blow..."
               Jainakú Poems

               by Ernesto Priego

Ernesto Priego was born in Mexico City. He lives in London. He blogs at Never Neutral and is the author of the first single-author hay(na)ku poetry collection, Not Even Dogs . The "jainakú" is Mexico's version of the hay(na)ku poetic form.

With Tiny Books, MP also offers a new DIY, or Do-It-Yourself Model of publishing. You've heard of POD or print-on-demand? Well, these books' print runs will be based on HOD or Handwritten-on-Demand. MP's publisher, Eileen Tabios, will handwrite all texts into the Tiny Books' pages and books will be released to meet demand for as long as MP is able to source tiny books -- or until the publisher gets arthritis.

This project reflects Meritage Press' belief that "Poetry feeds the world" in non-metaphorical ways. The Tiny Books create demand for fair trade workers' products while also sourcing donations for easing poverty in poorer areas of the world.

MP's other Tiny Books, which also are still available, are

               all alone again
               by Dan Waber

and

               Steps: A Notebook
               by Tom Beckett

Dan Waber is a visual poet, concrete poet, sound poet, performance poet, publisher, editor, playwright and multimedia artist whose work has appeared in all sorts of delicious places, from digital to print, from stage to classroom, from mailboxes to puppet theaters. He is currently working on "and everywhere in between". He makes his online home at logolalia.com. Meritage Press tapped Mr. Waber to inaugurate the series partly for his work in minimalist poetry.

Tom Beckett is the author of Unprotected Texts: Selected Poems 1978~2006 (Meritage Press, 2006), and the curator of E-X-C-H-A-N-G-E-V-A-L-U-E-S: The First XI Interviews (Otoliths, 2007). From 1980-1990, he was the editor/publisher of the now legendary critical journal, The Difficulties. Steps: A Notebook is Tom Beckett's first hay(na)ku poetry collection. The hay(na)ku is also a form that lends itself to minimalism.

Each Tiny Book will cost $10 plus $1.00 shipping/handling. To purchase the Tiny Books and donate to Heifer International, send a check for $11.00 per book, made out to "Meritage Press" to

Eileen Tabios
Meritage Press
256 North Fork Crystal Springs Rd.
St. Helena, CA 94574

Please specify which of the three Tiny Books you are ordering.

For more information: MeritagePress@aol.com

*****

FUNDAISING UPDATE:

As of Aug. 18, 2007, Meritage Press' Tiny Books has sold enough Tiny Books to finance the donation equivalent of about twelve gift packets of honeybees! Here's the buzz about bees from Heifer International:

"From India to the Dominican Republic, bees from Heifer International help struggling families earn income through the sale of honey, beeswax and pollen. Beehives require almost no space, and once established, are inexpensive to maintain. As bees search for nectar, they pollinate plants. Placed strategically, beehives can as much as double some fruit and vegetable yields. In this way, a beehive can be a boon to a whole village. Although most Heifer partners keep bees as a supplement to family income, beekeeping can be a family's livelihood. Your gift provides a family with a package of bees, the box and hive, and training in beekeeping."

Then of course there are the chickens, goats, water buffalos, pigs, ducks....all of which can help ease hunger around the world. Meritage Press thanks you in advance for your sweet support and hopes you enjoy Tiny Books -- small enough to become jewelry, but with poems big enough to resonate worldwide.

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Saturday, August 18, 2007

RADIANCE AT MIDNIGHT!

So, had dinner tonight with Rhett and Michelle, both gifted with the ability to see beyond. Rhett thinks I can, too. When I asked him what made him think that, he said that, in part, it's because of a comment I made to him years ago -- that I'm continuously talking with ten other voices in my head.

Overhead, the Fallen Angels look at each other...then begin to snicker.

Which is to say, the Chatelaine is cooing. Because THE LIGHT has arrived!

Coooooos: coo-coo-coo....Peep into Moi Loving Eyes....!



And it'll be at SPD next week, as well as already available for order at Amazon and BarnesandNoble.com!

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Friday, August 17, 2007

THANK YOU FOR THAT S.O.B. aka "THE LIGHT...!"

Well, Fedex screwed up. My author copies of new book (!) The Light Sang As If Left Your Eyes, was supposed to have arrived by now. Hopefully, Friday!

Eager to see it, I'd emailed publisher Marsh Hawk Press to see if they'd gotten their copies. Yep, sez MHP Managing Editor Sandy McIntosh.

Well, he didn't exactly say "Yep." He more said, "Looks good but heavy. We're calling it Son of a Brick."

He refers, of course, to my prior MHP book nicknamed the "Brick."

But as I cheerfully riposted, "Well, that be better than Sonafa...."

Speaking of The Light...., I'm with Gabe Gudding on poets using their blogs to reprint THANKS to those who helped birth poetry books. I'm reprinting mine below -- and the best part is that if you or your journal are mentioned, you get a comp copy (send me your snailmail addy to be sure, if you want, at GalateaTen@aol.com):

From The Light's acknowledgment sections:

For their support of this project, Agyamanac Unay to David Baptiste-Chirot, Michelle Bautista, Nick Carbo, Claudia Carlson,Thomas Fink, Paolo Javier, Karri Kokko, Rebeka Lembo, Andrew Lundwall, Paolo Manalo, Cody McCafferty, Sandy McIntosh, Lory M. Medina, Chris Murray, Ernesto Priego, Bino A. Realuyo, Leny M. Strobel, Jean Vengua, Mark Young, Alfred Yuson, as well as the Flips (organized by Vince Gotera and Nick Carbo) and Pagbabalikloob Listserves. I am also grateful to my husband Thomas Pollock, as well as the "Ten Billion Peeps" who have read and responded to my blogs.

Thanks to The Monterey Fund and Oenophiles For Poetry for grants that provided publication support for this project.

"April in Los Angeles," "April, I am Eye-ing You Down" and "The After-Death History of my Father" were drafted on the author's blog, THE CHATELAINE'S POETICS. My gratitude to blogland for your support, input, encouragement and love.

Thanks to the following publications for first publishing [or accepting] some of the poems (some in earlier versions): Ars Poetica (Ed. Dan Waber); BAMBOO RIDGE (Eds. Darrell Lum and Eric Chock); Asia and Pacific Writers Network (Guest Ed. Ivy Alvarez); DISASTER3 (Ed. Marcus Civin); Dis*Orient (Eds. Thorsten Lee and David Maruyama); Dragonfire (Ed. Henry Israeli); Five Fingers Review (Ed. Jaime Robles); Galatea Resurrects (quoted in a review by John Bloomberg-Rissman); Ink Lake Inks (Ed. Mike Gullikson); Listen Light (Ed. Jesse Crockett); Litter Magazine (Ed. Alan Baker); MiPOesias (Ed. Didi Menendez and Guest Ed. Nick Carbo); Munting Nayon (Netherlands); Otoliths (Ed. Mark Young); OurOwnVoice (Eds. Reme Grefalda and Aileen Ibardaloza); Poemeleon: A Journal of Poetry (Ed. Cati Porter); Sentence: A Journal of Prose Poetics (Ed. Brian Clements); Rogue Poetry (Ed. Michael Wells); Sugar Mule (Ed. Marc Weber and Guest Ed. Sheila Murphy); The Duplications (Ed. Jonathan Mayhew); The Onion Union (Ed. Marcus McCann); *~W_O_M_B~*~ (Ed. Michelle Detorie); and Zafusy: Contemporary Poetry Journal (Ed. Jody Porter).

"SCUMBLE-D", "The Mushroom Chapter," "The Bread of Florence," "Mont Blanc," "WIND FALLS", "MAGANDA BEGINS" (previously titled "Athena Begins") and "Athena" were first published in the author's poetry collection DREDGING FOR ATLANTIS (Otoliths, Rockhampton, Australia, 2006).

"It's Curtains" was first published as a limited edition chap by Dusie (Ed. Susana Gardner, Switzerland, 2006).

"List(ing) Poem: Towards the New Filipino Society" was featured as a broadside by FOURSQUARE (Ed. Jessica Smith). It was also presented as a visual poetry/installation in "CHROMATEXT RELOADED," an exhibit of poem-paintings sponsored by the Philippine Literary Arts Council and held at the Cultural Center of the Philippines (Manila), 2007 (Curators: Sid Hildawa, Jean Marie Syjuco & Alfred A. Yuson). The poem and the Artist Statement also were first published by OurOwnVoice (Ed. Reme Grefalda).

"Ifugao Red" was published in Saints of Hysteria: A Half Century of Collaborative Poetry (Eds. Denise Duhamel, Maureen Seaton, and David Trinidad, Brooklyn, Soft Skull Press, 2007). "Brown-ing Moon" and "Skim the Sheen" were published in Sugar Mule Anthology of Collaborations (Guest Ed. Sheila E. Murphy & Ed. Marc Weber, Colorado Springs, CO, 2007). "Sentences," "Ifugao Red," "Maganda Begins" and "Athena" were published in E-X-C-H-A-N-G-E-V-A-L-U-E-S: the first XI interviews (Ed. Tom Beckett, Otoliths, Rockhampton, Australia, 2007).

"SCUMBLE-D" was presented as a broadside for my reading with Ron Silliman in the Inverse Poetry Reading Series, curated by Scott Glassman, in Philadelphia (September 2006).

"The First Face Transplant" was interpreted into visual art by Sandra Simonds through Wildlife Poetry Magazine (2006).

"From The Tibetan Hallway of Transition" was published as a broadside by Second Avenue Press (Ed. Paolo Javier, New York, 2000).

Rebeka Lembo's Spanish and Italian translations, Ernesto Priego's Spanish translations, and Paolo Manalo's Tagalog translations are published with the translators' permissions.

The poems in Appendix I first appeared in the author's poetry collection Menage A Trois With the 21st Century (xPress(ed), Espoo, 2004). Thanks to editor-publisher Jukka-Pekka Kervinen for this opportunity.

Nick Carbo's poem "Any Tunay na Lalaki at the Shark Bar" was first published in Secret Asian Man (Chicago, Tia Chucha Press, 2000) and is published with the author's permission.

Cody McCafferty's poem "On That Note" was featured on Chris Murray's Texfiles Blog and is published with the author's permission.

Ernesto Priego's hay(na)ku poem "Someone/ you love/ sleeping with your" is published with the author's permission.

Jean Vengua's untitled prose poem is published with the author's permission.

*****

Tell ya what. If you've read this far and don't see your name -- be among the first five to email me at GalateaTen@aol.com and you can get a comp copy of The Light...! Poetry -- it is always and ever a Gift.

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Thursday, August 16, 2007

CHEERS TO MUSES

is a lovely anthology that allows me to pay homate to my kali teacher Michelle "Gura" Bautista. And I will be HERE Friday eve for the book launch, which also allows a look at the related art exhibition! Some great artists are included! So you should be there, too!

Here's more Info:

CHEERS TO AAWAA!
Cheers to Muses Anthology Release Party


WHEN: August 17, 2007, 6:00 to 8:00 p.m.

WHERE: Chinese Culture Center, 750 Kearny Street, 3rd Floor (Hilton Hotel, San Francisco Chinatown)

Cheers to Muses  Exhibition: June 15-August 25; Gallery Hours: Tues.-Sat. 10-4 p.m.

ABOUT THE ANTHOLOGY
Cheers to Muses: Contemporary Works by Asian American Women consists of 128 pages richly illustrated with 46 color plates. Featuring 64 artists and 77 visual and literary works by artists ranging in age from 14 to 85. (Paperback; $24.95 list price; ISBN-10: 0-9787359-0-0; ISBN-13: 978-0-9787359-0-6) Orders: www.aawaa.net

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Wednesday, August 15, 2007

IT TAKES A VILLAGE

Well flap flap. It's sure taking a global village to keep this Conjuration ongoing --

San Francisco
Los Angeles
Atlanta
San Francisco
St. Helena
San Francisco
Manila
Santo Tomas
Vigan
Galimuyod
Vigan
Santo Tomas
Manila
San Francisco
St. Helena
Calistoga...

...and we haven't even discussed the biggie that will require a foray into Latin America. "Discuss"? Actually, I ain't discussin'. Am just flappin' as I gotta keep the flames burning beneath those Angelic wings. Whoooosh, ye Fallen Ones:

Make it so.

*****

And whilst I'm armchair-flappin', I'm still in catch-up mode after having been IN FLIGHT but off line for 12 days. But, yes, I'm ready to take the rest of the reviews for the next issue of Galatea Resurrects. But do check out the updated list HERE of available review copies (next issue's deadline is Nov. 5). And if you think you're owed a Tiny Book, you probably are. I have a stack to handwrite and deliver to y'all. Thanks in advance for your patience.

Whooooosh.

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Thursday, August 02, 2007

WHERE THE SUN BLACKENED MY HAIR, ILOCANDIA

which is to say, I'm about to go HERE and will thence be offline until August 15.

When I return, I immediately launch into preparing the next issue of Galatea Resurrects (GR) for its August release. So reviewers, pls try to send me your reviews by the deadline of Aug. 17 -- though, to help prevent an email jam while I'm offline, I'd prefer emails to be sent after Aug. 15 (whether on GR or other matters).

Until then, I leave you with Marjorie Evasco's simply fabulous essay on Filipina women writers, which includes "What Are They Like" by Lina Reyes:
What treasures do they hold then that
Battalions pursue them in earnest?

Do not look for treasures, Sir, though they have
Women of long lashes, sun-blacked hair.
Think instead of the proud way they once lived–

You--and you know who you are among those reading me--I leave you with Marjorie's paper which, to me, is as good as any portal into Babaylan poetics.

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"SURREALITY IS REAL"

is how I am living nowadays...and speaking of which, here's the best cover to a poetry collection ever achieved by Jeff Clark's Quemadura. An unbiased view, of course.

And, Crag Hill snaps some shots of Tom Beckett's Tiny Book! It's worth noting that all of the books are different, but the pics are nifty, I sez again with unbiased eyes.

Speaking of poetry books, here's my latest list of relished w(h)ines:

BOOKS:
POEMS by Joan Murray (Thanks Shanna for the .pdf)

OTOLITHS, Issue 5, Part 1, Edited by Mark Young

PARLOR, poems by Sarah Mangold

A PURE BOWL OF NOTHING, poems by Mary Kasimor

SIDEWALK PORTRAIT: FIFTY FOURTH FLOOR AND FALLING, poems by Rick Henry

COR-RE-SPON-DENCE, poems by Jessica Bozek and Eli Queen

IMAGINING A BABY, poem by Bob Marcacci

A GUNLESS TEA, poems by Marco Giovenale

RECOLLECTED (for Ted Berrigan), poems by Jared Hayes

CAGED (for John Cage), poems by Jared Hayes

I WEAR A FIGLEAF OVER MY PENIS, poems by Geoffrey Gatza

EPIGRAMITITIS, epigrams by Kent Johnson

STEP ON A CRACK, novel by James Patterson and Michael Ledgewidge

ROSES ARE RED, novel by James Patterson

THE HUSBAND, novel by Dean Koontz

ALONE, novel by Lilsa Gardner

FREE FIRE, novel by C.J. Box

THE BAILEY CHRONICLES, novel by Catherine Cookson

3 historical romances whose titles I can't recall as they passed for popcorn plane reading while doing the red-eye to three cities in 2 days


WINES:
2003 Dutch Henry chardonnay
1999 Behrens & Hitchcock "Cuvee Lola" NV
[just two? What can I say? Beer encroached this period....]

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Wednesday, August 01, 2007

FRESHET POETICS

"One of the most beautiful words in English describes these waters streams where a river becomes the sea—they are called freshets."

"...what is being Filipino? For me, it is the grand conspiracy to be ourselves—once more or at last, or for the first time ever. I don't know what or where it is, when it is going to be. It is both an act and a possibility...Maybe it is a place, a feeling, a heart, a memory. The memory of one and the memory of many. It is a decision to remember. It is the rejection of oblivion."
--Marne Kilates


Have you been reading one of the greatest Filipino poets out there -- Marne Kilates? Coz you should have been. And if you want to know where I'll be for the first half of August, you can read him too HERE and HERE as he's synchronistically blogging about the Ilocos, my birthplace and also for "19th CENTURY ILOCANO POET Leona Florentino, [who] couldn't study because he was a woman, privately instructed first by her mother, then by a priest, both of [whom] saw her talent early, before long her poem was included in an in an international anthology published in France".

Leona is one of the three poets to whom I dedicated Reproductions of the Empty Flagpole...where, in the U.S., I began this freshet turning into YOUR sea, oh lovely Peeps.

And Marne's photos! Gorgeous. Check 'em out to see the logic as to why your Chatelaine is hirself quite GAWWWWW-JUUUUICE!

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READING OTOLITHS

The second thing I read at newly-released Otoliths #6 is "Karri Kokko reading Tom Beckett," to which I re...:
The shadows, the half-veiled--

The angles, the left field--

The grey areas, the smoked mirrors--

Brilliant. Great job, Karri.

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