POETS ON ADOPTION--May Update

POETS ON ADOPTION Announcement:

We are pleased to share that ten more poets contributed in May to POETS ON ADOPTION. Representing a wide variety of experiences, they are

Jim Bennett May 2011
(in England, was adopted as a baby. as a parent, adopted two children)

Peter Boskey May 2011
(was adopted as a baby from Korea by U.S.-American parents. brother to two siblings who were both also adopted as babies from Korea)

Sunu P. Chandy May 2011
(awaiting final government and court approvals in India in order to complete adoption of an 18 month old baby girl from South India)

Mary Krane Derr May 2011
(had four near misses, from different angles, with adoption. was a maternity services & adoption social worker)

Karen G. Johnston May 2011
(in the U.S., fostered, then adopted a son and daughter)

Leza Lowitz May 2011
(in Japan, adopted a two-year-old son)

Leslie McGrath May 2011
(adopted a baby girl from Korea)

Penny Callan Partridge May 2011
(was adopted domestically in the U.S.    adopted a daughter and son. co-founded Adoption Forum in Philadelphia and is former President of the American Adoption Congress)

Karen Pickell May 2011
(was adopted as a baby domestically in the U.S.    sister to an adopted brother. has two adopted stepchildren, one of whom was adopted from Korea)

Michele Wolf May 2011
(adopted a baby girl from China)

More information on the Call of Participation is at http://poetsonadoption.blogspot.com/2011/03/call-for-participation.html -- please do spread the word!

Eileen Tabios
PoA Curator
http://poetsonadoption.blogspot.com
GalateaTen@aol.com

BOY / MAN IN SUIT!

Sniffle. What a day! Today, Michael insisted on modeling his very first suit for us after Mom hemmed his pants (thanks Mom!)! Here's a prevoo of his graduation outfit (well, yes, I gotta switch his daily white athletic socks to darker, more formal socks)!



"Twas surreal -- looking at him in a suit, I just had so many flashbacks of the past two years of his blossoming. O moi gawd: he's a young man! Here's a close-up of him, this time wearing his future high school baseball cap!



And here's the Handsome One with another furrier but equally Handsome Achilles!



No need to explain why Mama Moi is all teary-eyed ... ! Wasn't it just yesterday he was doing THIS?!

SUPER CEREBELLUM AND OTHER ... CRINGES!

Poof. There go more of moi feathers...! I'm so proud I'm fit to bust! To wit:

Last night Michael's class presented their "Capstone" projects to an audience of parents and friends. These were the final leg of a multi-genre approach to understanding a topic well enough to create several projects around it. For Michael, he chose the topic of what comprises the brain, some positive and negative effects that affects its development, and how alcohol damages the brain. He created a research paper complete with MLA notes (I don't even do MLA notes). Then he taught the brain to a class and made it fun by, after teaching them the brain parts and what it controls, asking the students to create superheroes from brain parts, e.g. Super Cerebellum or stuff like that. He projected drawings of the superheroes on the screen that enlivened what could otherwise have been a hum-drum slide show on what the brain looks like. BUT THAT'S NOT ALL!

Then he presented a short film of himself dissecting a sheep brain! Because a sheep brain is very much like a human brain! We're all sheep! It was ... gross! And all super and lovely at the same time! Here is my Super Son (and now I know why he so wanted to get that t-shirt from the Gap):



Those knees, btw, belong to the head creative honcho of Pixar, a very nice man. Jest sayin'...

Okay, now, proud Mama is left with just one more question: how to dispose of the sheep brain in her refrigerator without El Hijo causing a stink. It's hidden behind the butter dish at the moment so that Mom doesn't cook it by mistake. I've read about this, you know -- having kids' science experiments in the fridge. I feel I've passed yet another major parenting threshold, courtesy of ye olde sheep brain which I did not did not did not want to feel ... until I remembered that I'm a poet and thus supposed to be open to all experiences and so, to my son's delight, I felt said sheep brain ... and it was spongy and cringe-inducing. Just what I needed: more raw material for a spongy and cringe-inducing poem. World, await!

WITHIN THE WORMHOLE

Spent some time recently with several publications by j/j hastain -- intriguing stuff: j/j unzips the zipper that would be a seam between life and words, and revolutionizes the lyric by doing so. Relatedly, here's moi blurb (unedited) for j/j/'s next book, a womb-shaped wormhole:

This is one beginning for a world attempting to make itself in advance of its articulation. But it can be articulated by scents, which is to say, traces ... like musk, patchouli, mustard, "split truffles," or even attar of long-dead altars and imagined memories. In this beginning lie the orgasms of fractals, revealing how fractions require flesh as condition precedent to existence--for who we may not at first recognize is nonetheless not that different from you and me.
--Eileen R. Tabios

And here's the rest of my updated Recently Relished W(h)ine List below. Note that if you see an asterisk before the title, that means a review copy is available for Galatea Resurrects. And I'm looking looking looking for reviewers to get books offa moi floors and to hit 100 new reviews for the next issue! Yeah! More info on that HERE.


PUBLICATIONS
A WOMB-SHAPED WORMHOLE, poems by j/j hastain (see above blurb)

ELEVATORS, poems by Rena Rosenwasser (elevates connoisseurship wonderfully!)

AREAS OF FOG, poems by Joseph Massey (ravishing)

* FRAGMENTS OF A FORGOTTEN GENESIS, poems by Abdellatif Laabi, Trans. by Nancy Hadfield and Gordon Hadfield (magnificent)

SELVAGE: FOR COUNTRY, poems by Tsering Wangmo Dhompa (consistently a welcome read)

BEFOREHAND, visual poetry by Cecilia Vicuna

CAN WE TALK HERE, poems by Carmen Gimenes Smith

GO THIS WAY QUICKLY, poetry card by kari edwards (robust, nifty and just plain kewl)

FIELD WORK: NOTES, SONGS, POEMS 1997-2010 by David Hadbawnik (great premise, great job!)

THE PEOPLE THEY BROUGHT ME: POEMS IN THE ADOPTION COMMUNITY by Penny Callan Partridge (what a lovely premise -- presenting poems as well as people the the poet met as a result of those poems. Separate from the adoption issue, gads I wish I'd thought of that concept first!)

FABULAE, poems by Joy Katz

AMERICAN INCIDENT, poems by Brian Henry

WE IN MY TRANS, poems by j/j/ hastain

ASYMPTOTIC LOVER//THERMODYNAMIC VENTS, poems by j/j/ hastain

AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF MY GENDER, poems by j/j hastain

COCKBURN, poems by j/j hastain

OUR BODIES, poems by j/j hastain

PRURIENT ANARCHIC OMNIBUS, poems by j/j hastain

RESTITUTIONS FOR A NEWER BOUNTIFUL VERB, poems by j/j hastain

THE ULTERIOR EDEN, poems by j/j hastain

IT IS WORTH CONSIDERING, poem mini-book by j/j hastain

[A CROONED COCOON...], poetry collage by j/j hastain

COCKBURN, poems by j/j hastain

VISITING DR. WILLIAMS: POEMS INSPIRED BY THE LIFE AND WORK OF WILLIAM CARLOS WILLIAMS Co-Edited by Sheila Coghill & Thom Tammaro (my initial response HERE)

ON THEIR OWN: WHAT HAPPENS TO KIDS WHEN THEY AGE OUT OF THE FOSTER CARE SYSTEM, study by Martha Shirk & Gary Stangler

THE GIRL'S GUIDE TO HOMELESSNESS, memoir by Brianna Karp

IT'S NOT OKAY WITH ME, memoir by Janine Maxwell

SMALL FURRY PRAYER: DOG RESCUE AND THE MEANING OF LIFE, autobiography by Steven Kotler (a gem)

SUE'S MEMORIES OF HOME, memoir by Sue Sword (a fundraiser pretending it's a book; read it from curiosity)

COLD WIND, novel by C.J. Box

THE LAST DETECTIVE, novel by Robert Crais

NO GOOD DEEDS, novel by Laura Lippman

BAD BLOOD, novel by John Sanford


WINES
2005 Stonewell Wines "Red Nectar" cabernet Barossa Valley
2002 Hutton Vale Grenache Mataro Eden Valley
2006 Pirathon shiraz Barossa Valley
200[8?] Monterosso zinfandel Dry Creek Valley
2007 Pahlmeyer
2008 Astrale & Terra reserve merlot

YOU'RE WELCOME,

Jon Pineda, who writes an interesting poetry writing prompt regarding the caesura--check it HERE!

POETRY--IT'S NOT MERELY WORDS!

A recent post on POETS ON ADOPTION is Penny Callan Partridge's contribution, which excerpts from her book THE PEOPLE THEY BROUGHT ME: poems in the adoption community. I'm delighted Ms. Partridge contacted me, even as she was just about to enter surgery! Her contribution is really powerful -- my favorite of the four excerpts is her encounter and engagement with Korean-American poet and adoptee Mi Ok Bruining, an encounter that first began when she was facing Ms. Bruining's abhorrence of adoptees using multicultural experiences as a metaphor for their loss experiences: "To Mi Ok, I might have had losses through adoption; but they had not been increased exponentially by the additional losses of country, culture, and language, or by the additional burdens of racial difference and racism. I had not grown up as the only person of my race in my family and my town. I had not been asked by photographers to open my eyes 'wider,' as one of Mi Ok’s poems recounts."

The two poets would come to fashion an epistolary relationship spanning years, until one day Ms. Partridge came across an obituary of Czeslaw Milosz. The obituary inspired another poem that would mention Ms. Bruining, to wit:

In “The Adopted Woman Reads an Obituary,” I was again connecting thoughts about a multicultural person—in this case Czeslaw Milosz, the subject of the obituary—with adoptee experience. The following stanza is one of nine:

I can’t even read the Times
without musing adopted.
Like the death of Czeslaw Milosz
who did translation
but thought you could write true poems
only in your other tongue.
So where does that leave the
adopted who come from Korea
but grow up in English?
Can your mother tongue be
your adoptive mother’s tongue?
Isn’t Mi Ok Bruining
a powerful poet in English?
But look how she incorporates
Korean. The adopted can
surely appreciate this
mixing of two mother tongues
more than anyone.

Mi Ok responded to my obituary poem by sending me a fable she had written about an Irish-American adopted by Asians. This twist to the usual transracial adoption story still leaves me relatively speechless. Is that because it forces me (Irish-American, no less) to imagine myself growing up with Asian parents? Is it because I read this fable partly as the European-American mother of an African-American son? Am I vicariously overwhelmed by the task Mi Ok has taken on: overturning what people are used to, widening their mental horizons, helping them see things in completely new ways, helping them see hard things? Yes to all that and more.

I have apologized to Mi Ok for my silence, but I am sure Mi Ok knows silence can have many causes. Applause, for example, can be merely polite while a silent audience can mean a spell cast that no one wants to break. Silence can mean a nerve has been touched. It can mean awe. On the other hand, if my ongoing conversation with Mi Ok has taught me anything—yes, and if poetry has taught me anything—it’s that words we don’t have today may still come to us over time. So we can keep responding to each other.

Powerful stuff. And I agree in terms of her response to Czeslaw Milosz's opinion. There's more than one way to write poetry -- and sometimes, one writes powerfully specifically because the mother tongue is lost...or fragmented, diluted, slipping away.... I came across this issue somewhat recently whilst reading FRAGMENTS OF A FORGOTTEN GENESIS by Moroccan poet Abedellatif Laabi, translated from the French by Nancy Hadfield and Gordon Hadfield. I could only engage the English translation as I'm not fluent in French -- but I would certainly consider the Hadfield's translations to be poetry in the sense that what comes through (that is, transcending words) is the intensity from which Laabi created his poetry; Laabi's is an intense poetics root source reflecting colonialism and how he once was arrested, imprisoned and tortured by the Moroccan government.

Anyway, I've always thought the intersection of adoption and poetry to be a potent mix, ever more powerful due to its complexities. Read more HERE. And, as always, I welcome more poets sharing their adoption experiences and how it may or may not affect their poems and/or poetics.

GO COYOTES!

Yesterday was New Families Orientation at Sonoma Academy which Michael will attend this Fall. So proud of the Hijo. Of course, we left with goodies, such as the sweatshirt featuring SA's mascot name: COYOTE! And a baseball cap for Achilles!



So proud!

SONG OF MOISELVES

What a fun ride to the bus I had with Michael this morning as we discussed his graduation poem! He took me up on my suggestion to title it "Song of Myself", so that I discussed Walt Whitman's earlier Song which had inspired me to suggest the title. This is how poems most healthily live -- as part of everyday conversations instead of within coteries or academia or ___fill-in-the-blank.

Speaking of SONGs OF MOISELF, I am newly-featured on 8 RED GATES. I don't know the people behind this new site, which makes me more gratified that I came to their attention. I'm also happy that this isn't a purely literary site -- the site also focuses on athletes, artists, designers, organizations, performers, (political) leaders, singers, etc. from the "Asian Renaissance in the West." YEAH! I'm on the same site as speed skater and Dancing with the Stars champ Apolo Ohno! Or, how about Ai Wei Wei, Asian Pacific Environmental Network, the energetic dancers Quest Crew, politician Ben Cayetano, Sun Tzu (Sun Tzu? laugh), Kinki Kids (I highlight them without knowing who/what they are but loving their name) -- to paraphrase Whitman, they and you are all part of Moi.

Anyway, I seem to be the first up among the identified Writers (soon to come, too, would be Beau Sia, Eiji Yoshikawa and Soon Ok Lee) -- Moi sings HERE. And what's always interesting about strangers' response(s) to one's work is discovering which poem(s) moved them. I'm glad 8 RED GATES focused on "Sk[e]in" as it's a poem that risked being lost in the focus of its context, a haybun on a failed adoption (that's haybun which incorporates hay(na)ku, not haibun). By lifting the individual poem out of the haybun, 8 RED GATES was able to give the poem its individual due--by their read, the poem evokes "the qualities of silk, wind and song with just a few lines", which is far different from my initial intent of exploring how "skin" is comprised of "skeins" of different matters, pasts, contexts and so on. But that their read differs from authorial intent is of course fine -- and, in this case, wondrous. Thank you, Lori and 8 RED GATES. Here is the poem which I, too, am reconsidering anew:


Sk[e]in



silk stiffens wind

wind smolders silk





silk lengthens song

song sunders silk





silk stiffens song

song stroking wind





silk sunders wind

wind smolders song




'

OSMOSIS POETICS

So Michael's school has started preparations for the upcoming graduation ceremonies. For Michael and his classmates, they are to prepare a "graduation speech" that each will deliver as part of the ceremony -- since it's a graduating class of 23, they all can have that space. Well, I've already been feeling emotional of late over mi hijo becoming a middle school graduate. Then Michael informed me recently -- and we worked on it tonight! -- that he wanted to present his "speech" as a poem. Wow: I nearly lost it. But I still bawled out with zero cool, "A poem! What a fantastic idea!"

I'll post the poem closer to his graduation day and after he's tinkered some more with it. What I do want to share is that the theme is "I Was, I Am, I Will Be." Michael discussed seven elements of his life, including

Past: I never read books
Present: I read books everyday
Future: I hope to write a story about my life for a book

Maybe I will lose it now...This is still one of the best parts of our adoption story -- to see a child so conscious of his poor education just fluorish to appreciate books so much he'll even aspire to write one!

*****

Here is Michael recently when we visited Mom in the hospital. He had given his Abuelita a foot massage.



Michael wasn't being angelic, though, when he decided to give Mom a foot massage. It's just that my brother had just taught him the concept of "brownie points"... Boys will still be boys ...

Meanwhile, Mom is now back home, recovering well. Thanks to Leny for visiting Mom at the hospital and the red rose she brought! Yes, the roses have now started to bloom ... as they should and it's all good.

THE NAME IS "POLLOCK. JACKSON POLLOCK"

The University of Iowa Press has an interesting series--anthologies of poems inspired by the poetry and/or life of various poets, like Emily Dickinson, Walt Whitman and Robert Frost. Their latest is Visiting Dr. Williams co-edited by Sheila Coghill and Thom Tammaro. It contains a Foreword by Paul Mariani. Said Foreword references one of my favorite painters, except Mariani calls him "Jackson Pollack."

Nice job, Iowa. Can't recall the ubiquitous last name of a 20th century great? Forgive the snark but this artist's brush deserves better. Anyway, here is Jackson Pollock by his painting "Summertime":



The anthology series is actually a good idea. I enjoyed Visiting Dr. Williams, though there was something predictable about the editors' choices. Still, it's worth it just for Joseph Massey's contribution -- his poem is, for me, the anthology highlight. Joseph is so talented -- I've long admired him from afar, and reading his poem in this anthology reminded me to acquire his books (long been on my To-Do List), and off I go to do exactly that!

ON POMPOUS POET-CRITICS

Read yet another article on how ___'s poetry sucks because the poems don't address the critic's view of social/cultural/political injustices. You know, that's simply not apt, even as such criticism heightens that pompous critic's (usually poet-critic's) cultural capital. Because the basis for assessing a poet's response to social/cultural/political injustice is how the poet behaves as a person, rather than the poems s/he releases.

For example, a poet who, say, writes only about the moon might be at the front lines of various activist efforts, whether it's volunteering at the Food Bank, organizing political protests, working on behalf of the impoverished elderly, etc.

If you don't want to read more clichetic moon poems, it's fine to call them cliches. But don't criticize the poet because the poems are about the moon. You'd just be a dictator then, de facto saying, write only about THIS and not about THAT.

And surely we know how the reverse is so true. How some poets who are admirable activists against abuse write ... banal or otherwise awful poems. Are those poets to get a pass because their topics are more politically correct (though only by some people's standards because what's politically correct is not an objective standard either)?

Then, of course, there are the poets who simply feel aspects of their personal lives are none of the business of their poems' readers. So you don't even know that poet as a person even as you might criticize one of hir poems using charges more apt to levy against a person rather than a poem.

This discourse, the POV raised, of course stems from the larger issue of a very flawed, but sadly too often used, basis for criticism: a criticism that looks at a poem based on what it is not, versus what it is or posits it strives to be.

MOI IS ONE BIG MOTHER!

A true loving son! Michael tattoed a heart with "MOM" on his biceps! Then he ordered Bart to yell out Mother's Day Greetings at me! Then he wrote me a poem!

WHATTA DAY!

Okay, so this all happened via his handmade cards, but I still love the whole experience, to wit:







As for that poem, Michael did an internet search for a Mom's Day Poem ... but he wrote it himself with his own boy hand! How lucky can this Poet-Mom be?!

Yes, there's a typo in that last line. But I didn't react the way Amy Chua might have, that Chinese Dragon Mom who once threw back handmade cards or card at her daughter as she proclaimed, "I deserve better!" But I did tell him that for that infraction I shall be the one to choose his wife someday....Not!

Fortunately, they also gave Moi a 90-minute deep tissue massage for the morning ... EXACTLY what I need and want. Off I go!

TO WRITE AS GRAVITY

I'm honored that Lantern Review asked me to share a favorite writing "prompt" (writing exercise) as part of their celebration of May as Asian Pacific Islander American Month. In response to their prompt (heee), Moi blathers HERE about how you may write as if you are gravity, or as visually exemplified by this painting!


"Black Lightning" by Theresa Chong

Self as Gravity -- another idea cheerfully concocted by my Type-A insomnia.

GO RICHARD

There's some poets out there trying to max out their cultural capital viz economic commentary. But only one, in my read, has been savvy enough to reference the Glass Steagall Act, specifically its repeal. You go, Richard Lopez!

As for those other poets, they usually make Moi ... laugh.

AS REGARD THE HIJO ...

Hm. I'm not sure about the brother's influence. Like, this week I was helping Michael fill out a questionnaire for drafting up his graduation speech -- O MOI GAWD, I'm going to be Mom to a middle school graduate!!! Who'da thunk...! Anyways, Moi digress....

...so I was helping out on Michael's questionnaire and one of the questions was, "Do you have a motto to live by?"

Of course I assumed Michael had none. I was already checking "None" when he piped up, "Yep!"

Surprised, I queried, "What's your motto?"

Proudly, he declaimed:

When you fall off Mount Everest, don't think about the others. Focus on your own survival.

What ....?! Dazed, Moi asked, "Where'd you come up with that?!"

He said, "Tio Fil!"

I turned to my brother and glared. My glare must have shot through the newspaper he'd hidden behind because he slowly lowered it. He insisted, "Self-survival is important! You can't help others without helping yourself first!"

Sure. But with the narcissism that too many people tell me is "age appropriate" behavior for peeps of Michael's age, I'd really rather focus him on something else for now. Somehow, my chats about compassion and kindness are rolling off the little duck's back!

Later, my brother tried to make up. He offered to give Michael a new slogan. It involved General Patton. I walked away. Here are the two culprits with their BMX bikes. Fil and his son William made a bike for Michael's birthday:


As a bit of juvenilia, I mean, info we should all know--to quote the brother, "BMX bikes are all-around bikes used for racing, doing stunts/tricks and cruising around. Back then, BMX bikes are what kids rode before transitioning to an off-road/dirt motorcycle. It became so popular that it spawned its own organization and made bike manufacturers develop a new line of bicycles. Michael has an S&M Challenger bike, circa 1997. This particular model was hand built in Santa Ana, CA; and designed for racing around a BMX dirt track. There is an S&M Owner's Group that he can join if he wishes to do so..."

Brother, I most assuredly am not having my son join any club whose name begins with "S&M..." Kapischkie? And I love how, when I raised my Iphone to take a photograph of them, Achilles and Gabriela ran over to make sure their furrinesses were included.

SEARCHING FOR ABSINTHE

Recently enjoyed Mark Young's latest book, GEOGRAPHIES, which shows him, too, to be a master of the deadpan. Though, interestingly, my favorite or one of my favorites is the rare exception to his deadpanness, this hay(na)ku:

Le Pont Mirabeau

His
translations of
Apollinaire reek of

formaldehyde when it's
absinthe we're
after.

A hoot! And here's the rest of my updated Recently Relished W(h)ine List below. Note that if you see an asterisk before the title, that means a review copy is available for Galatea Resurrects. And I'm eagerly looking for reviewers to get books offa moi floors and to hit 100 new reviews for the next issue! Yeah! More info on that HERE.


PUBLICATIONS
* ARCTIC POEMS by Vicente Huidobro, Trans. by Nathan Hoks (some gorgeous lines. a real beauty, this one)

GEOGRAPHIES, poems by Mark Young (see above)

SO LATE, SO SOON: NEW AND SELECTED POEMS by Carol Moldaw (lush, gorgeous, fabulous)

MY LIFE AS A DOLL, poems by Elizabeth Kirschner (the most searing poetic read I've experienced in recent memory)

IN THE MONEY MACHINE, poems by Minnie Bruce Pratt (admirable political lyricism)

NICK DEMSKE, poems by Nick Demske

HELSINKI, poems by Peter Richards

* ACOUSTIC EXPERIENCE, poems by Noah Eli Gordon

LOOKING UP HARRYETTE MULLEN: INTERVIEWS ON SLEEPING WITH THE DICTIONARY AND OTHER WORKS by Barbara Henning (every poet should have their "Barbara Henning"!)

19 NEW AMERICAN POETS OF THE GOLDEN GATE, Edited by Philip Dow (disappointed that Jack Gilbert had to result to bashing another poet to make his points in his intro to his own poems. took more than a bottle to get that sour taste out)

INSIDE THE PAINTER'S STUDIO, visual art interviews by Joe Fig (fabulous!)

THE INSIDER'S GUIDE TO HIGH SCHOOL: A PARENT'S HANDBOOK FOR THE NINTH GRADE YEAR by Tim Healey and Alex Carter (do not even think of laughing at Moi!)

A PLACE TO CALL HOME: THE AMAZING SUCCESS STORYOFMODERN ORPHANAGES, study by Martha Randolph Carr

THEY CAGE THE ANIMALS AT NIGHT: THE TRUE STORY OF A CHILD WHO LEARNED TO SURVIVE, autobiography by Jennings Michael Burch

THE ARCHIPELAGO: A BALKAN PASSAGE, memoir-travelogue by Robert Isenberg

ON THAT DAY EVERYBODY ATE: ONE WOMAN'S STORY OF HOPE AND POSSIBILITY IN HAITI, memoir by Margaret Trost

FAREWELL, MY SUBARU: AN EPIC ADVENTURE IN LOCAL LIVING, memoir by by Doug Fine

RETURN TO THE OLIVE FARM, memoir by Carol Drinkwater

LONG QUIET HIGHWAY: WAKING UP IN AMERICA, memoir by Natalie Goldberg

FORWARD FROM HERE, memoir by Reeve Lindbergh

WILLIAM AND KATE: A ROYAL LOVE STORY, biography by Christopher Andersen

FOR MY NEXT ACT ... WOMEN SCRIPTING LIFE AFTER FIFTY, psychology by Karen Baar

DEWEY'S NINE LIVES: THE LEGACY OF THE SMALL-TOWN LIBRARY CAT WHO INSPIRED MILLIONS, biography by Vicki Myron with Bret Witter

THE SENTRY, novel by Robert Crais

HOSTAGE, novel by Robert Crais

STALKING THE ANGEL, novel by Robert Crais


WINES
2003 Dutch Henry merlot NV
2004 Samuel's Gorge McLaren Vale shiraz
2005 Hobbs Grenache Barossa Ranges
2007 Bramosia Donna Laura Chianti Classico Toscano Sangiovese
2008 Nero Di Avola Sicily
1990 Guigal Hermitage
2009 Dutch Henry pinot noir Mount Veeder
2001 Artadi Vinas De Gain Rioja
2006 Trevor Jones virgin chardonnay (don't ask Moi about that virgin)

POETS ON ADOPTION--April Update

We're delighted that 15 poets shared their poetry and adoption experiences during the month of April at Poets on Adoption. We continue to look for new poets to participate; please pass the word on our Call to Participate. Meanwhile, joining our 17 March poets are the following April poets:

Kate Adams April 2011
(daughter of attorney Philip Adams (1905-1997) who completed over 5,000 adoptions in his career and was a founding member of the Academy of California Adoption Lawyers)

Jim Benz April 2011
(was adopted as an infant domestically in the U.S.    brother to adopted sister)

Mary Anne Cohen April 2011
(surrendered baby son for adoption and is an adoption reform activist)

Phillippa Yaa de Villiers April 2011
(in South Africa, was adopted at 9 months)

Jennifer Kwon Dobbs April 2011
(was adopted by U.S.-American parents)

CB Follett April 2011
(adopted two baby boys and one baby girl domestically within the U.S.)

Samantha Franklin April 2011
(was adopted as a baby domestically in the U.S.)

Joy Katz April 2011
(adopted a baby boy from Vietnam)

Dana R. LePage April 2011
(was adopted as a baby in Korea by U.S.-American parents. sister is also Korean adopted while not biologically related)

Laura McCullough April 2011
(adopted two children from Taiwan)

Carol Moldaw April 2011
(adopted a baby girl from China)

Giavanna Munafo April 2011
(was adopted as a 6-week-old domestically in the U.S.    sister to adopted brother)

Martina Robinson April 2011
(honorary auntie to friends' adopted children)

Dee Thompson April 2011
(adopted 13-year-old girl from Russia. 3 years later, adopted 10-year-old boy from Kazakhstan)

Jan VanStavern April 2011
(was adopted as a baby domestically within the U.S.    sister to adopted brother. as a parent, adopted a 10-month-old girl from China)

If you are a poet with adoption experience who would like to participate, feel free to email me at GalateaTen@aol.com

Eileen R. Tabios
PoA Curator, Poet & Adoptive Mom

MOTH AS MOTHER

The very well-dressed Mark Young announces the 21st issue of Otoliths!

The expense of getting a new designer outfit for the Royal Nuptials means there's no money left in the budget to appropriately acknowledge the fact that Otoliths is celebrating its fifth birthday, so we'll just have to let the issue speak for itself, & it does, as elegantly as ever.

Once again it's a wide-ranging compendium, containing text & visual work from Kirsten Kaschock, Tom Beckett, Marilyn R. Rosenberg, J. D. Mitchell-Lumsden, Martin Edmond, Ed Baker, Eileen R. Tabios, Nava Fader, Michael Caylo-Baradi, Curt Eriksen, Eeva Karhunen, Howie Good, Jennifer L. Tomaloff, Andrea Jane Kato, John M. Bennett, Sheila E. Murphy & John M. Bennett, Sheila E. Murphy, Patrick Williamson, Michele Leggott, Beni Ransom, Philip Byron Oakes, Jim Meirose, Cilla McQueen, Thomas Fink, Theodoros Chiotis, Christopher Mulrooney, Keith Higginbotham & Matt Margo, Raymond Farr, Cherie Hunter Day, Jane Joritz-Nakagawa, J. D. Nelson, NF Huth, Patrick Cahill, Mark DuCharme, Pam Brown, SJ Fowler, Tony Brinkley, Cecelia Chapman, David Mitchell, Felino Soriano, Jamie Bradley, Peter LaBerge, Charles Freeland, Corey Wakeling, Jeff Harrison, Jen Besemer, dan raphael, Yoko Danno, Joshua Comyn, Emma Smith, Cassandra Atherton, Michael Rothenberg, Bill Drennan, sean burn, Kit Schluter, Caleb Puckett, Rosaire Appel, Robert Gauldie, Zarah McGunnigle, Bella Li, Hala Hoagland, Marcia Arrieta, Reijo Valta, Gregory Kan, Lawrence Bernabe, Housten Donham, Sam Langer, Bob Heman, & Gustave Morin.

The issue is dedicated to Robert "Bob" Gauldie, painter, poet, scientist, & regular contributor, who died suddenly, in Utrecht, on April 5.

Got a poem innit, "MOTH ER." Thanks for including Moi, Mark. Happy Anniversary!