GALATEA RESURRECTS #18 IS FRESH!

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GALATEA RESURRECTS ANNOUNCEMENT:

Galatea Resurrects is delighted to release its 18th Issue with 104 new reviews! We invite you to peruse them and other poetry features at http://galatearesurrection18.blogspot.com/ For convenience, I reprint the Contents below.

Happy Reading!
Eileen Tabios
Editor, Galatea Resurrects (A Poetry Engagement)

======================
GALATEA RESURRECTS #18



EDITOR’S INTRODUCTION
Eileen Tabios


NEW REVIEWS
T.C. Marshall Reviews GLOWBALL by Steven Farmer and SOME MATH by Bill Luoma

Eileen Tabios Engages AS IF IT FELL FROM THE SUN: AN ETHERDOME ANTHOLOGY: TEN YEARS OF WOMEN’S WRITING, Edited by Colleen Lookingbill & Elizabeth Robinson

Patrick James Dunagan Reviews ONE SLEEPS THE OTHER DOESN’T by Jacqueline Waters

Peg Duthie Engages PARROT ON A MOTORCYCLE: ON POETIC CRAFT / Papoušek na Motocyklu: O Řemsle Básnickém by Vítězslav Nezval; translated by Jennifer Rogers; designed by Amy Mees and Mark Wagner

Lucy Biederman Reviews RAMBO GOES TO IDAHO by Scott Abels

Prem Kumari Srivastava Reviews POEMS COME HOME by Sukrita and translated by Gulzar

Tom Hibbard Reviews UNTITLED by Reed Altemus

T.C. Marshall Reviews PLANISPHERE by John Ashbery

Eileen Tabios Engages CHINOISERIE by Karen Rigby

Peg Duthie Engages THE NEIGHBORHOODS OF MY PAST SORROW by Jesse Millner

Graham Sutherland Reviews LONG DISTANCE by Steven Cordova

Thomas Fink Reviews THE BIGGER WORLD by Noelle Kocot

rob mclennan Reviews EITHER WAY I’M CELEBRATING by Sommer Browning

Tom Hibbard Reviews SELECTED POEMS by Nick Demske

Lucy Biederman Reviews THE RABBITS COULD SING by Amber Flora Thomas

T.C. Marshall Reviews THE LIGHT BEFORE DAWN by Drum Hadley

Eileen Tabios Engages 100 POEMS by S.S. Prasad

rob mclennan Reviews MY DARLING NELLIE GREY by George Bowering

Gerald Schwartz Reviews THE WAY WE LIVE by Burt Kimmelman

T.C. Marshall Reviews WHAT IT IS LIKE: NEW AND SELECTED POEMS by Charles North

Kathleen Kirk Engages SHE RETURNS TO THE FLOATING WORLD by Jeannine Hall Gailey

Patrick James Dunagan Reviews NOTES FROM IRRELEVANCE by Anselm Berrigan

Lucy Biederman Reviews SAY SO by Dora Malech

T.C. Marshall Reviews STRANGER IN TOWN by Cedar Sigo

Eileen Tabios Engages DRAFT 96: VELOCITY by Rachel Blau DuPlessis

Tom Beckett Reviews HUMANIMAL: A PROJECT FOR FUTURE CHILDREN by Bhanu Kapil

rob mclennan Reviews SONNETS: LOUISE LABE by Edward Byrne

Eileen Tabios Engages HAVE by Marc Gaba and CATCH LIGHT by Sarah O'Brien

Eric Wayne Dickey Reviews WILD PLACE by Erica Goss

Peg Duthie Engages YES, WE ARE STILL DANCING by Susan Amstater, Connie Dillman, and Jacquelyn Stroud Spier

Eileen Tabios Engages WE / CUM ::: COME / IN THE YIELD FIELDS /AMONGST STATUES WITH INTERIOR ARMS and ASYMPTOTIC LOVER//THERMODYNAMICVENTS, both by j/j hastain

Peg Duthie Engages ENJOY HOT OR ICED: POEMS IN CONVERSATION AND A CONVVERSATION by Denise Duhamel and Amy Lemmon

rob mclennan Reviews KILLDEER by Phil Hall

Eileen Tabios Engages ENGINE EMPIRE by Cathy Park Hong

Annmarie Lockhart Reviews MOTHER EARTH by Adam Fieled

Emily Geris Reviews TORCH SONG TANGO CHOIR by Julie Sophia Paegle

Dee Thompson Reviews REBIRTH OF WONDER, POEMS OF THE COMMON LIFE by David M. Johnson

Neil Leadbeater Reviews NDAKINNA: OUR LAND by Joseph Bruchac

Lucy Biederman Reviews THE NORMAL HEART AND HOW IT WORKS by Rachael Lyon

Bev Sandell Greenberg Reviews AN OPEN DOOR IN THE LANDSCAPE by Elisabeth Harvor

Tom Beckett Reviews HYPERGLOSSIA by Stacy Szymaszek

Therese Halscheid Reviews MEANWHILE: POEMS by Kathleen O’Toole

j/j jastain Engages E.S.P. by Michael Leong

Gerald Schwartz Reviews CARPE DIEM: NEW AND SELECTED POEMS by Michael Perkins

Charles P. Ries Reviews UNEXPECTED SHINY THINGS by Bruce Dethlefsen

Tom Beckett Reviews COEUR DE LION by Ariana Reines

Jeff Harrison Engages ILLUMINATIONS by Arthur Rimbaud, translated by John Ashbery

Neil Leadbeater Reviews IF NOTHING ELSE by Harold Bowes

Anatoly Molotkov Reviews THE ANGLE OF SHARPEST ASCENDING by Ingrid Wendt

Nicholas T. Spatafora Reviews GIRL IN THE MIRROR by Jack Lynch

Tom Beckett Reviews LOOKING UP HARRYETTE MULLEN: INTERVIEWS ON SLEEPING WITH THE DICTIONARY AND OTHER WORKS by Barbara Henning


John Bloomberg-Rissman reviews
50 POEMS FROM 50 BOOKS IN (ABOUT) 50 DAYS:
"the mirror says” from ENTREPOT by Mark McMorris

"Flower Flower” from PINKO by Jen Benka

“Either Way I’m Celebrating” from EITHER WAY I’M CELEBRATING by Sommer Browning

“Dark Card” from DARK CARD by Rebecca Foust

“consider my dear” from AAAAAAAAAAAALICE by Jennifer Karmin

"Kingdom Animalia" from KINGDOM ANIMALIA by Aracelis Girmay

“Sheena Is a Punk Rocker” from DEAR PRUDENCE: NEW AND SELECTED POEMS by David Trinidad

“3. Designer Vagina” from THIRTEEN DESIGNER VAGINAS by Juliet Cook

“[Chinese characters] / Please forgive me” from YINGLESHI: SINOPHONIC ENGLISH POETRY AND POETICS by Jonathan Stalling

“Getting Closer to the Big Bang” from BLACK SEEDS ON A WHITE DISH by Shira Dentz

“Permanent Water” from MERCURY by Ariana Reines

“Ligature Strain” from LIGATURE STRAIN: POEMS by Kim Koga

“Either She Was” from EITHER SHE WAS by Karin Randolph

“Live From The Kaukasus” from AND IF YOU DON’T GO CRAZY I’LL MEET YOU HERE TOMORROW by Filip Marinovich

“Affirmation” from YOUR OX-HEAD MASK AS PROOF by George Kalamaras

“Network 1: The Knot” from THE NETWORK by Jena Osman

“Self-Stalked” from SHOT by Christine Hume

"flash of mask" from AND I WOULD OPEN by Jill Stengel

“Narcissus 2000” from STUPID BIRDS by Logan Ryan Smith

“Between” from MR. MAGOO by Steve Tills

“Survivor” from RUINS by Margaret Randall

“You’re my sister” from THE BOUNTY: FOUR ADDRESSES by Kate Schapira

"The Earth Is Flat and So's My Ass" from THE MYSTERY OF THE HIDDEN DRIVEWAY by Jennifer L Knox

"Paxil” from HOLD TIGHT: THE TRUCK DARLING POEMS by Jeni Olin

THE VAST PRACTICAL ENGINE by Eric Hoffman

“[Wake me from sleep]” in O BON by Brandon Shimoda

“Wherein Proliferation is Explained to the Surrogates” in IATROGENIC: THEIR TESTIMONIES by Danielle Pafunda

“Magdalene’s Prayer” in MAGDALENE & THE MERMAIDS by Elizabeth Kate Switaj

"0% APR" in SEDNA by Michael Helsem

"Warm All the Time Now" in PERSONATIONSKIN by Karl Parker

“XXX” in SARD by Philip Byron Oakes

“’is it true your father was a swan’” in PALM TO PINE by Sunnylyn Thibodeaux

“The Fox-Wife Dreams” in SHE RETURNS TO THE FLOATING WORLD by Jeannine Hall Gailey

“Deep in Snow” in GUESTBOOK by Rick Snyder

“#5” in DISPATCH by Marci Nelligan / Nicole Mauro

“Hitler’s Mustache: The Mustache Is a Riddle: Except It Can’t Be Answered” in HITLER’S MUSTACHE by Peter Davis

“Three Sets of Teeth” in WHEN YOU BIT … by Adam Fieled

“Enjoy Your Symptom” in TESTIFY by Joseph Lease

“Secret Weapon” in SECRET WEAPON: SELECTED LATE POEMS BY EUGEN JEBELEANU (translated from the Romanian by Matthew Zapruder and Ralph Ioanid

"Confession of a Corpuscle: Cancer-Parable of Plutocracy (For the Bush Money Boys)" in MILLENIAL HARVEST: THE LIFE & COLLECTED POEMS OF CHARLES GREENLEAF BELL

“Explanation” in DRIVING MONTANA ALONE by Katie Phillips

“Voodoo VIII: Spiritual Cleansing and Blessing” in BLOOD DAZZLER by Patricia Smith

“Ranges” in PART: SHORT LIFE HOUSING by cris cheek

“(one) Alone in that cage” in FROM IDYLLS &RUSHES by Susana Gardner

“Apologies to the Spider” in THE STEEL VEIL by Jack Marshall

“The Double Rainbow (Mānoa Valley)” in TONTO’S REVENGE by Adam Aitken

CITY by C.J. Martin

“(metal work)” in IN WAYS IMPOSSIBLE TO FOLD by Michael Rerick

“Elders” in PRINCESS OF THE WORLD IN LOVE by Stan Apps

“8.october.2002” in KEY BRIDGE by Ken Rumble

AFTERWORD to 50 POEMS IN 50 BOOKS IN 50 DAYS


FEATURED POET
Sandy McIntosh


INTERVIEW
Thomas Fink Inteviews Sawako Nakayasu


THE CRITICS WRITE POEMS
John Bloomberg-Rissman

Peg Duthie


FROM OFFLINE TO ONLINE
Dana Wilde Reviews VANISHING ACT: POEMS by Bruce Holsapple

Alan Ramon Clinton Reviews THE FEELING IS ACTUAL by Paolo Javier


ADVERTISEMENT
Invitation to "The Balloon Poem" (with Free Books Offer)


BACK COVER
Driven to Poetry!

THE WRITING JOB

--yesterday, concocted "The Balloon Poem" and wrote its inaugural poem

-- three days ago, edited/typed a draft of a poem into a more final form

INTRODUCING THE BALLOON POEM!

Delighted to introduce a poetic form:


            The Balloon Poem

! Badda bing. So a "Balloon Poem" (is a type of "concrete poem" which) has the following two characteristics:

1) visually shaped so that the text forms an orb followed by a "string" of words, per example below; and


2) the words in the orb should bespeak something floating, airy, light et al while the words in the string should bespeak a grounding of the words in the orb.

Of course, the interpretations of lightness and grounding are subjective. For example, in the example below, what grounds (or tethers) the words relating to how I actually spent this Memorial Day Weekend is the dilution of weekend or holiday-related breaks to keep working, with nod here ("If you still have a job, you keep working...") to Great Recession. And this knowledge makes more special -- "grounds" -- everyday experiences so that, at least in the poem, one relishes ("floats" along, if you will, in) the small pleasures of the everyday ....


MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND 2012: A BALLOON POEM



                                                                                 Relish

                                        corn ... hamburgers (of course) … sunshower

                           2004 Trevor Jones … “Battleship” … popcorn … chocolate

               -covered vanilla ice cream balls … left-over fried rice & meatloaf … pear

               tart … “Tower Heist” … bagels with lox & onion/chive cream cheese … but of

          course: coffee, coffee, coffee … swordfish grilled in home-grown Meyer lemons …

          Sunday is always “laundry day” … fresh, yellow squash … a haircut for Mom … new

               shoes—as ever, the latest from Van’s—for El Hijo … adorable son shows me

                           a fresh way of tying shoelaces (such an artist!) … review images of

                                   paintings from Haiti … “If you still have a job, you keep

                                            working on holidays & weekends” … shop

                                                                                 TARGET



                                                                                 for

                                                                                 kitty

                                                                                 litter

                                                                                 Nap

                                                                                 E-mail

                                                                                 Nap

                                                                                 Yum:

                                                                                 David

                                                                                 Eyre’s

                                                                                 sugar-

                                                                                 dusted

                                                                                 pancakes!

                                                                                 E-mail

                                                                                 Nap

                                                                                 You

                                                                                 keep

                                                                                 working—

                                                                                 The

                                                                                 New

                                                                                 Dinosaurs?

                                                                                 Weekends

                                                                                 Holidays …

                                                                                 Walk

                                                                                 dogs

                                                                                  Pet

                                                                                  cats

                                                                                  Ketchup?

                                                                                  Catch
                                                                                 
                                                                                  up!

*****

As with the hay(na)ku, I like thinking of new poetic forms but that doesn't always make me the form's best practitioner. If this moves you to write a balloon poem, please share with me! (Email Moi at GalateaTEN@aol.com)  And, Poet-Teachers: isn't this a fun way to introduce/teach poetry?  And, yeah, the first five poets to send me their samples can get five free books (chosen by Moi please) from the Community Bookshelf! Go forth and balloon, Peeps!

KITCHEN TABLE PRESS

Want to know what a so-called "Kitchen Table Press" looks like?  Well, here's my kitchen table offering up the inaugural shipment of orders for BEAUTIFUL EYES, judiciously recycling mailers since I get so many from the review copies sent me for Galatea Resurrects.  I am also a tree-lover!

So, don't you want to support the press I headquarter on moi kitchen table?  BEAUTIFUL EYES is ... beautiful!  Share with your kiddos!

THE WRITING JOB

It's working, by the way.  My blogging any actual writing (vs blathering) activity is increasing my poem-output (and we all know the world needs even more poems from Moi - hah!).  To wit:

TODAY,
--edited a draft of a poem into a more final form (then submitted it to a journal!)

MOI FINAL ANSWER

on Final Deadline for next issue of Galatea Resurrects is this coming Sunday, May 27!  I hope to release the next issue next week.  So you reviewers can still squeeze out a few if you so want!

THE WRITING JOB

TODAY,
--edited/typed an existing poem draft into a more final form

CROWDS FOR POETRY?

I am trying to join the 21st century.  Hence, I am watching closely some attempts at crowd-funding for poetry projects, partly because of the first item in the following update below to my Bought Poetry List.  It still seems to me that for crowd-funding to succeed there has to be crowds.  That's been a problem--this lack of crowds--for poetry, notwithstanding Horseless Press' recent success.  But I am delighted by their succcess and for now will focus on saying Congratulations! 

Now, let's buy Poetry!  Here's what I've done recently:

CLOUDFANG : : CAKEDIRT by Daniela Olszewska, THE SOFT PLACE by Kate Schapira and other HORSELESS PRESS publications viz Kickstarter http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/2049449313/o-yes-daniela-olszewska-and-kate-schapira-horse-le


DISAPPOINTED PSALMS by Brian Clements


UNPROTECTED TEXTS by Tom Beckett


WELL THEN THERE NOW by Juliana Spahr


LIFE ON MARS: POEMS by Tracy K. Smith


DUENDE: POEMS by Tracy K. Smith


MIGRITUDE by Shailja Patel


SENTENCE: A JOURNAL OF PROSE POETICS #9, Ed. Brian Johnson

KICKSTARTING A TRULY MARVELOUS WRITER!

Allen Bramhall, one of those writers deserving of more attention and whose writing chops are so obviously on display HERE, HERE and HERE (I can provide more examples; there are many!) is writing a memoir that promises to be brilliant, fascinating and interesting regardless of whether you know him.

Now, Allen is availing himself of that 21st century development called Kickstarter which uses crowd sourcing to finance projects. Go HERE for more information.

I hope you will join me in supporting his project. It is so, one notes wearily what too many of us know, difficult to finance fine writing nowadays. I think your karma would get a boost with a contribution. And if you know his writings, any investment will offer returns far exceeding anything the government has achieved (okay, a low threshhold but ...). This is a modest way to support a writer who persists in his craft and art -- such persistence in today's age deserves admiration and support.

LET'S ALL KICK TOGETHER NOW!

THE WRITING JOB

TODAY,

--annotated text for a first draft of a poem

--edited/typed an existing poem draft into a more final form

FEATURE MOI IN THE MUDDY RIVER!

Thanks to editor Zvi A. Sesling for choosing me to be one of the Featured Poets for the latest issue of Muddy River Poetry Review!

It's neat to see the FIVE POEMS  from a manuscript-in-progress all together. Because the manuscript is of poems that I'm chiseling out of the prose blocks in my first U.S. book, Reproductions of the Empty Flagpole. Hence, the new manuscript's title of Sculptures from Reproductions of Emptiness.

Here's a photo of my sculpting -- for text, that is annotating -- process:

A word can never be empty. I had no narrative intention going into these poems, yet they manage ultimately to communicate something ... and it's cool figuring out what the poem wants to say since, for this grouping, I was more clueless than usual.

Hope you enjoy the clarity in mud!

A READING LIFE

At my busiest, I can’t not read. I can’t even go to sleep unless I read myself to sleep. So, here’s yet another update of my Recently Relished W(h)ine List below. In the Publications section, note that if you see an asterisk before the title, that means a review copy is available for Galatea Resurrects! More info on that HERE.


PUBLICATIONS
AS IF IT FELL FROM THE SUN: AN ETHERDOME ANTHOLOGY: TEN YEARS OF WOMEN’S WRITING, Edited by Colleen Lookingbill & Elizabeth Robinson, featuring Merle Bachman, Faith Barrett, Margaret Butterfield, Erica Carpenter, Valerie Coulton, Caroline Crumpacker, Susanne Dyckman, Kelly Everding, REnata Ewing, Amanda Field, Kate Greenstreet, Anne Heide, Brydie MPherson Kuchi, Erica Lewis, Susan Manchester, Linda Norton, Roberta Olson, Megan Pruiett, Lisa Rappoport, Sarah Suzor, and Stacy Szymaszek (I can’t say enough great things about this anthology. It is intense, gorgeous, moving, smart, …. ABSOLUTELY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!)

EUNOIA, poems by Christian Bok (fabuloso!)

100 POEMS by SS Prasad (sufficiently mischievous to keep one’s interest)

PITCH: DRAFTS 77-95, poems by Rachel Blau DuPlessis

POST MAIDEN, poems by Steve Tills (adept and engaging!)

DARWIN, prose poem by Tony Lopez

GOAT IN THE SNOW, poems by Emily Pettit

HUMANIMAL, multi-genre meditative text by Bhanu Kapil

APART, poetry/non-fiction by Catherine Taylor

* VERSE, Vol. 27, Nos. 2 & 3, literary journal co-edited by Brian Henry and Andrew Zawacki

NOTES FROM MY TRAVELS: VISIT WITH REFUGEES IN AFRICA, CAMBODIA, PAKISTAN AND ECUADOR by Angelina Jolie (partial research for new poem, which then became the core of new manuscript)

A WIDOW’S STORY, memoir by Joyce Carol Oates (riveting page-turner)

BEATIFUL EYES, illustrated children’s book by Gayle Romasanta and Ramon Abad, with Tagalog translations (ENCHANTMENT: You should read it, too!)

AGENT 6, novel by Tom Rob Smith

THE SECRET SPEECH, novel by Tom Rob Smith

TIME TO HUNT, novel by Stephen Hunter

HOT SPRINGS, novel by Stephen Hunter

BREAKING POINT, novel by Dana Haynes

CRASHERS, novel by Dana Haynes

FORCE OF NATURE, novel by C.J. Box

SHATTER, novel by Michael Robotham

THE INNOCENT, novel by David Baldacci

THE ABDUCTION, novel by Mark Gimenez

EXTREME DENIAL, novel by David Morrell

TO THE DEATH, novel by Patrick Robinson

NORTHWEST ANGLE, novel by William Kent Krueger

THE WITNESS, novel by Nora Roberts

AN ABSOLUTE SCANDAL, novel by Penny Vincenzi

PLAIN SONG, novel by Kent Haruf

EVEN TIDE, novel by Kent Haruf


WINES
2007 Peter Michael “La Carriere” chardonnay
1998 Rockford Moppa Springs Barossa Valley
2006 Dutch Henry merlot NV
2006 Saxum Broken Stones
2006 Dancing Hares NV
2009 Long Meadown Ranch red house wine
2002 Hutton Vale Grenache Mataro
2002 Puligny Montrachet Clos de la Mouchere Jean Boillot & Fils

THE WRITING JOB

TODAY,
--handwrote first draft of a poem

GALATEA RESURRECTS EXTENDS REVIEW SUBMISSIONS

Yes today's technically the deadline for review submissions  to Galatea Resurrects.  But I'm behind (as usual), and so can keep taking more reviews for at least another week!  So, ye late and/or busy ones: continue to have at the writing of those engagements!

MOI WISHES YOU HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!

Yep, whilst I can receive Mommy Day Wishes, I actually send some to you, World ... through moi BEAUTIFUL EYES!  What am I talking about?  Just that my first foray into children's lit has just resulted in it being picked up by the San Francisco Unified School District for kindergartners at the Bessie Carmichael and Longfellow school.

How's zat! Love Moi some kindergarteners!

Which, by the way, means you need to pick up your copy quick (click on this LINK on how to do so).  Because it's a limited press run, it's perfect for a gift for your kiddo (even saving it for the holidays; it's not like there's anything like it out there!), and its copies may run out for textbook purposes!

"IF YOU LABEL ME, YOU NEGATE ME"

is the quote from Soren Kierkegaard used as an epigraph -- to my grateful appreciation! -- in Joey Madia's new review of the relational elations of ORPHANED ALGEBRA. I'm grateful for the review, of course, but mostly moved by how Joey chose to do his review by taking off on the idea that the poet only begins the poem. And so in engaging with my and j/j hastain's book in this manner, Joey came up with some interesting takes, e.g. the excerpts here:

Through her deft and vivid prose-poems, Tabios tackles the underlying social ramifications of the seemingly innocent scenarios posed in the service of our children learning their math. Math that revolves around an antiquated Industrial model that has no place in the New Millenium, and yet still persists, for the American education system, as an extension of the Corporate–Military–Industrial complex, is more interested in producing Worker-Bees and Consumers than Citizens and Thinkers. No Child Left Behind (NCLB), which is one of the most oxymoronic, inaccurate, and reprehensible monikers ever put forth by any government anywhere (and which is, thankfully, beginning to go away), in its effort to clamp down on the critical thinking and arts-based curriculum beginning to take hold around the country prior to its “adoption,” put all the emphasis on the Standardized Test—the shortest way, in their Other-driven thinking—of making a Standardized American, who could then join the military or a corporation that would then created a Standardized World.

Thank you, Joey, for calling it a "rare book that ... forces us to see with a different set of eyes and subsequently change our Newly Provoked Thoughts to Actions, enlivening our heart and engaging our Humanity. " See entire review HERE.

***

I was preening over the fabulous reviews the book has received to date to the hubby because I like to preen at the hubby.  "Great," he replied.  "All you need now is the subway token...."

Heeeeee...I am appreciative, but, yes, there are limits to believing one's P.R. ...  But I insist: preen!

BOXING AS FIRST "DRAFT, LAST DRAFT" & THE BRUCE LEE POETICS

Notes (Gleaned Specifically for Poetry) from May 11, 2012 Boxing Session:


--going through the form of ducking a punch before hitting a one-two/jab-cross combination. A lot of work mastering the footwork of ducking so as not to dilute stability on ground. However you move, you want to be able to immediately attack from whatever stance you're in; also, if your stance is not stable you're more likely to be vulnerable to hits. Anyway, we began in slow motion as I attempted to learn the form. When we sped up the pace, I became more adept at it. This relates to, with practice, learning (partly with muscle memory) to be technically proficient by not having the thinking process interfere with the manifestation-of-form a la Mayweather (or, more (?) deftly, think Bruce Lee's water as form).  This reminded me of my favored writing style: "first draft, last draft." But it's something (at least for me) that one can come to only after years of writing. Much of the research and editing work goes on (for me) mentally and even subconsciously such that when you later put word on page the result should be in (near) final form.

--as I practice receiving--rather, avoiding--a punch, it's almost primitive how one's instinct is to back away. Especially for someone short like me (and thus needing to box nearer to the opponent due to limited reach), it's important that I can avoid a punch without necessarily moving backwards. To duck is not synonymous with back-tracking. Again, the importance of the body. Again, the significance of body in writing poems -- that the poem needs the physicality (the grit) of experience and not just the expanse of imagination. As well, (sometimes) when you write the poem, you want to get close to the subject -- for me, if I can't get close to a subject I won't bother writing a poem because it won't be effective; on the other hand, some of my best poems are when I allow the intimacy with pain and with the recoil.

--Oh ho! Au contraire, boxing is not supposed to be a conversation, according to my trainer. If you're successful, it should actually be a monologue! Nay, a one-sided lecture! Recall the letter I posted HERE about how one does forms (one's form? is) based on responding to the opponent's acts. And in that sense it's a "conversation." But to be a successful boxer, says Julio, you don't want an engagement by giving the opponent a chance to put forth hir punches. Nay, you just want to be doing what it takes to prevent the opponent from even having a chance to talk with hir fist! Okay: Moi is just reporting here. I am here to serve all sorts of real martial arts experts -- the blog is just the arena and, heck, I'm not even refereeing. I'm just ... listening (whilst I sip a Diet Coke. Sip.)  In this sense, the metaphor fails: Moi may be doing "boxing poetics" but boxing is not poetry.  Because poetry listens ... to and engages the other.

--It's worth repeating what Bruce Lee says about form(lessness): "Empty your mind...Be formless, shapeless, like water. Now you put water into a cup it becomes the cup, you put water into a bottle it becomes the bottle, you put water into a teapot it becomes the teapot. Now water can flow or it can crash, be water my friend..." I was actually thinking about it when I was working on a recent poem that was intended to be written as a hay(na)ku sequence. As I wrote it, it became clear that the minimalist constraints of the hay(na)ku could not capture what the poem was trying to say. So it became an interrupted hay(na)ku sequence, with the "interruption" being italicized prose and sometimes italicized prose paragraphs. My job as a poet, there, was simply to be open to how the form can morph. Sure, water can become a cup if poured into a cup. But water can also ... overflow.

--Moi often overflows. I'm learning boxing but it's not just boxing but research for the poem. I often research by reading. But the wise person who doesn't want to be bored knows to experience instead of read about certain research. As a result, my boxing training sessions become more than about boxing.  Because when a thing is about living, the thing becomes more than the thing itself (got that, Grasshopper?)

--One thing that is so amazing to me about boxing is how much I'm relishing its gestures. I say this as someone to whom the act of punching is so alien. It's a revelation: I LOVE PUNCHING!

Gads: the satisfaction of hearing a punch done correctly, as affirmed by its sound when my gloved fist hits the trainer's mitts in the right way, the right form. And through that relishing, the gesture ceases to be alien and I become better at it such that I can easily imagine becoming (if I improve) one with the punch. As with poetry, it makes all the difference for Love to exist. Through Love, the poet becomes the poem [Cue cheesy music, why not?]. "Be water, moi friend..."

GAZE INTO MOI BEAUTIFUL EYES!

[As a publisher, I'm so tickled to have the chance to publish this book. Please spread the word -- I promise it will enchant adults as much as the kiddos!]


[Please Forward]

MERITAGE PRESS ANNOUNCEMENT

 BEAUTIFUL EYES

A bilingual children’s book by Gayle Romasanta, Ramon Abad and translators Carmen and Pat Romasanta, in both printed chapbook and e-book formats

Release Date: 2012

Print chapbook: $12.00 from Meritage Press (email MeritagePress@aol.com)

E-book: $9.99 from Meritage Press’ Lulu account



Meritage Press is delighted to announce its latest release, the bilingual children's book Beautiful Eyes with text by Gayle Romasanta, Tagalog translations by Carmen and Pat Romasanta, and illustrations by Ramon Abad. More information is at its book link: http://meritagepress.com/beautiful.htm

Beautiful Eyes is based on the timeless motor skills and memory game taught to Filipino babies. An adult says to the baby, “Beautiful Eyes!” Based on memory, a baby will open and close her eyes, batting them for all to see! Beautiful Eyes also emphasizes the beauty that is the Filipino self. It aims to nurture this sense of self early on in the baby years for little ones to take into adulthood—and for adults to remember this sense of self as they read to their children.

This enchanting project can be ordered as a chapbook directly from the publisher for $12 + $2 shipping (email: MeritagePress@aol.com). It is also available from http://www.lulu.com/shop/gayle-romasanta-and-ramon-abad/beautiful-eyes/ebook/product-20064455.html as an e-book which can be read on iPhone, iPad, Kindle and other tablets that can read the PDF format. Kindle users may need to download the ebook to their computer then email the file to their Kindle. See Kindle instructions on transferring files to Kindle. For a full list of available devices, go to http://connect.lulu.com/t5/Digital-Media-eBook-Downloading/What-devices-can-I-view-my-eBook-on/ta-p/31639 (see 3rd column-PDF).

Meritage Press is proud to support this project, a needed addition to bilingual children’s literature involving Filipino culture.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR AND ILLUSTRATOR:
Gayle Romasanta was born in Manila, Philippines and moved to the United States when she was 1 ½ years old. When she was five she wrote a short story about the little people who lived underground. After this story, she knew she wanted to be a writer. Along the way she learned to play the violin, joined a funny theater group, went to art school, and had two babies. She continues to write and publish her creative writing.

Ramon Abad was born in Iligan City, Mindanao, Philippines and moved to the United States when he was almost 2 years old. When he was four he would draw on everything: on walls, in books, and on recycled paper from his dad’s work. Now as a grown-up he draws on a computer, but he still also draws on recycled paper.

Chapbook ISBN: 978-0-9826493-3-6
E-book ISBN: 978-0-9826493-4-3

For more information, please email the publisher at MeritagePress@aol.com

MOI MIDDLE NAME

With spring, the flowers have sprung!

Here's another view with the hummingbird feeder ... and we have huge cheerful hummingbirds!

I mostly leave the flowers in the garden, except for roses which I love to bring into the house:

What poetry teaches: bring the outside in to eliminate an outside, to let the inside be the universe.  Such be the lesson of the roses.

THE WRITING JOB

TODAY,
--edited an existing draft into a more final form

Okay!  A new long poem.  It was unexpected, but I'm Grateful...

Unexpected because it was out of the scope of two manuscripts-in-progress.  But its existence just generated a new manuscript if I'm to combine it with some other older poems.  New manuscript-in-progress title:
***

How cheered I am by this sudden bounty of unpublished manuscripts.  Three! haven't had three unpublished manuscripts in years! My last published book was commissioned into its being, as I might not have put it together if I didn't have an offer for book publication when an opening surfaced in Marsh Hawk Press' lineup...

... even as I think of Joyce Carol Oates' riveting memoir, A WIDOW'S STORY, where the prolific author notes something about -- ... it's only when we stop doing when we then can we see our true selves. 

But perhaps it's in the doing that we're making our selves.  Anyway, I hope not to see myself for a while. 

THE AWAKENING OF A

THE WRITING JOB

--edited an existing first draft of a poem. Edit not finished. It looks to be a long poem -- perhaps to exceed 25 pages.  I am grateful: I don't write that many long poems, especially nowadays...

THE WRITING JOB

--annotated a book for first draft of a poem.
(Book: NOTES FROM ALL MY TRAVELS: VISITS WITH REFUGEES IN AFRICA, CAMBODIA, PAKISTAN AND ECUADOR by Angelina Jolie)

COME ONE, COME ALL TO THE RESURRECTION!

So far, the next issue of Galatea Resurrects looks to cover at least 92 books.  This includes a close reading of one poem each from 50 books.  But it's not too late to participate by sending in your reviews -- the deadline is May 13 and I likely can wait an extra week if you alert me to such. 

So dear Poetry Reviewers, do consider this a reminder to engage with the book(s) you have and share your reviews for the next issue!

Moiself is implicated--as I write this, I am eye-ing those four poetry books I'm supposed to review and yet am so ... behind ... oh moi back!

JAB MOI WITH YOUR FIRST LINE!

Notes (Gleaned Specifically for Poetry) from April 20, 2012 Boxing Session:

--the jab is a taunt, a feint, an exploration, a set-up. From that jab, the boxing "conversation" (see letter below) may begin. Hence, the jab can be a metaphor for the poem's first line

--boxers (or any jousters across martial arts forms?) actually don't want to be filled with adrenaline as they begin a bout. Irony: the boxing arena replete with adrenalin from the excited audience et al. But within that storm the boxer ideally wants to be as cool as possible. Heart beat is often slow, if measured. Among other things, adrenalin tightens up the body and you want the body as loose as possible to engage. Reminds me of the volta from, say, the effective haiku. As opposed to a poem where the energy is constantly brimming across all or most words and lines.

--Practice, practice, practice (see letter below re Ali practicing the taking of punches). Write, write, write until the memory becomes muscled memory--you can tell this if the writing the first word of a poem immediately tips you into that "space" from which poems flow.

--As I cheerfully told Julio my trainer, when it comes to martial arts I'm just a tourist. No one knows this better than my Kali teacher Michelle who shares the letter below in response to some of my notes on gleaning poetic notes from my pathetic boxing exercises. If you're in the Bay Area, I recommend hitting sticks with Michelle; click on the link and you see her sipping a cuppa java, which is how I usually picture her in moi mind: one hand holding up a coffee cup to her lips while the other hand (just one hand) takes down two men with black belt finesse. Not a drop to be spilled! Anyway, here's her letter, the poetics of which would be that a poem, too, should be a "conversation":

I read your post on learning various boxing combinations.

I've always taught my students that sparring is a conversation. Part of the reason a person doesn't throw cross cross cross is because people typically aren't recordings and the combinations are in response to the opponents reactions to the first punch. Jab, they go this way to walk into the cross. A constant call and response. And like any language learning, the first things you get are individual words, then learning to speak in sentences, then actually learning to listen to what the other person is saying.

Ali was as eloquent a boxer as he was a speaker. While he would drop his hands and taunt his opponent to go ahead and hit him, it was a rare fighter who fall for his gimme. Alternatively, he was also known during practices to simply ride the ropes and learn to take punches using the ropes to dissipate the power.

Tyson controlled a match through sheer domination. He talked over his opponents and wouldn't let them get a word in at all. I've actually been wanting to go to Vegas and watch his 1-man show. He's a lot smarter than his public image makes him out to be.

Throwing a punch both provides opportunity to strike, yet creates a vulnerability. Punch high, leaves your stomach open. Punch low, leaves your face. There is a need to lay one's self out yet find a way to protect what's vulnerable.

Hope boxing is fun! It's certainly quite a workout!

-Michelle

Yes dears, this Chatty One also is here to serve you sports fans...