HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

Two favorite Holiday Season greetings this year are Sheila Murphy's annual Season's Greetings poem-card, and a handwritten (!) letter from Rebecca Loudon!  THANK YOU!  And to you all, from Moi and the extended family:

Rebecca's handwritten letter is especially special to me.  I have these intermittent daydreams of living in a small town where the population numbers in the hundreds or hundred and I'm helping develop a "Main Street" by starting/operating a combined post office/library.  I don't know where these dreams come from, but I'm sure they say something about me.  Anyway, part of this dream is that there's no internet et al and the only way to communicate with the outside world is through letters, specifically handwritten letters.  So, THANK YOU REBECCA!  YOU DID BRING THE HOLIDAY SPIRIT!

I LOVE MY LOCAL PUBLIC LIBRARY!

because, this Holiday season, it created this lovely Christmas tree!

I understand there are similar trees in the White House this year! Good choice, Michelle Obama!

THANK YOU, TIMO TUHKANEN

Timo Tuhkanen is a Finnish composer, artist, translator and poet. Timo recently contacted me because he apparently was working on new compositions related to some Enheduanna and Gabriela Silang poems in my book, MENAGE A TROIS WITH THE21ST CENTURY.  Well, what an honor!

About his composition, Timo explains:

“Much of my composing is related to a mixed media and conceptual art approach, I make films and write as well as compose and all of these elements are for me a singular output; in them materialise specific types of ideas, some of which create combinatory and layered meanings.

I have been reading these poems intensively when working on the pieces, in the case of Enhedhuanna I even found the name of my composition from your text. I feel that though it is not necessary to read them to understand the music, they are integrally linked to what I have written and I would like this information to be available for anyone interested in reading or playing my music.

The compositions are ‘a body unable to hold’ for 6 stringed instrument and voice, the name taken from Enhedhuanna. This piece has been performed on microtonal electric guitar.”

[Eileen Note to Tom Beckett: can you play Moi on your guitar? Heh.]

Timo also recently finished the final score and you can see it at  
http://issuu.com/pteronpressmusic/docs/cut_score_timotuhkanen Below is the text written on the first page:

“The composition CUT is the second composition in a series of compositions dealing with the works, poems and prose, of Eileen R Tabios. Explicitly CUT looks at “Gabriela couple(t)s with the 21st century”, a poem about Gabriela Silang, a female rebel leader during the Spanish occupation of the Philippines in the 18th century. 

It is in the poetics of the missing, the illogical, that form becomes incomplete, and it is this that the allegory, my composition, aim at, and towards which all the musical material gears up towards. It is an expression of The cut, an allegory through the absence of material: through a corporeal Musica Povera.

This piece was composed between the 18th – 22nd.11.2013

Thank you, Timo.  It’ll take me more time to feel my way through your engagement with my poems but I wanted to post now to show my gratitude and to introduce you to some of my readers!  I adore what you say about your aesthetic:

For me ideas choose their materials.

I like scents and types of pressures.

That’s just lovely!

MORE THAN A THOUSAND WORDS

I'm on my way to releasing my hundredth book so I'm no slacker when it comes to my work. But it's not art-making but parenting that I've found to be the most complicated--the hardest --task. And the most affirming -- here are some recent pictures of my blossoming child (this blog, too, is just my refrigerator door for his pics -- my real life refrigerator, by the way, is so fancy you can't stick images on it (what was I thinking?!) I love my book covers, but wouldn't trade a single one for any of these photos taken, respectively, while debuting a new suit for the Homecoming Dance, hanging with his soccer teammates (dig those soccer shoes!), and harvesting pumpkins (small this year but still cheerful!) with the dawgs:

>

Poetry ... as a way of Life!

A PEEK INTO HOW MOI GETS HER BOOKS PUBLISHED

Love my publisher Marsh Hawk Press! I send them pretty thick manuscripts--see BRICK and SON OF A BRICK. Their fearlessness in the face of BIG POETRY (what commercial consideration?) inspired me, too, as a publisher -- see the two-volume bricks I've put out by Allen Bramhall and John Bloomberg-Rissman, as examples. (I could go on longer here as to how the poetry contest system and academic-assignment markets have artifically determined limits on poetry book length, but why bore us all...?)

Anyway, as ever, I recently sent Marsh Hawk a relatively thick manuscript for my next book. What does my savvy in-house editor say? GO BIGGER! I'm offering a reductive summary of what was a larger, more complicated discussion -- but the effect is (partly) I'm going longer again! Technically, one could say I just switched from a verse collection to a multi-genre collection. Heart Moi the multi-genre!

And one of the side-effects is reprinting some prose I've written on the visual arts ... which leads me to a morning email from an artist who expressed thanks for having first written on her. She's 31 now. Apparently, she was only 23 when I first wrote on her work and so it was quite meaningful for her. I learn that, just 8 years later ... but who's counting the years? Not Moi. I only count my white hairs.

Speaking of white hairs, I've had this idea for a long time -- that I keep all the white hairs I pluck out of moi purty head (yes, I know I'm not supposed to do it but sometimes it's like an addictive itch, like popping pimples). Then I use the white hairs to "draw" -- to make marks against, lessee, a white page so it can join the "white on white" genre, or against colored or black paper for a more dramatic impact. I could title it "Aging" or "Mortality" et al. But that titling would be too obvious, not complicated enough ...

... which is what my beloved in-house editor (whose name is no secret but I don't want to mention here because my blog jokes don't do justice to his intellect) said about my manuscript. Great poems but I might want to deepen its context/concept, include some "dialogic relations" (he's in academia; he talks this way sincerely).

I riposted, "Y'all just want more bricks by Moi. I know it!"

Unlike my shallow, jokey responses, he continued to go at length at how I need to stop futzing around and get back to widening the margins that currently propose the limits of poetry. I don't share my initial reply of BUT I JUST WANNA SIT ON MOI BUTT AND LAZILY FEEL IT GET LARGER! I mean, isn't it enough that the poems are good? (Thank you to the poet-editors who are currently gobbling them up for their journals -- I have 22 more new poems not yet published so shoot me an email if you want some.)

I'm also trying to save the world on another continent.

But, okay, you want more blather from Moi? On that, I can deliver asleep (and have to many an unlucky recipient). So, the manuscript that I thought I'd finished and finished titling? You know, REPRODUCTIONS OF THE LOST FLAG: STIGMATA SCULPTURES ...? That is now just Part I (a thick Part I) of my next book. Which means I have to go through another rumination of a new title for the updated, THICKER version. My first cuts at the title -- which I'm not totally satisfied it but share for the blog file are:

POST STIGMATA
PRAYING PAST STIGMATA

I know. Gotta keep ruminating.

And it's the least I can do to be part of Marsh Hawk Press -- a group of savvy, experienced poets who've been around enough to know that poetry's scope is not just radiant but can irradiate. And that'd be some ineffective radiation if you don't, ambition-wise, GO BIG.

Thank you, Marsh Hawk Press.

SON-SHINE!

Last year, Michael had a poem published in his school's annual literary/arts journal. Either the school librarian or a teacher must have submitted it on his behalf to Pine Tree Poetry since he didn't know anything about said Pine Tree Poetry. Don't know anything about them either. But they've taken his poem for republication in the Pine Tree Poetry 2013 Collection. Dear Reader: I am sure you can just imagine how BURSTING-WITH-PRIDE I am. Yes you can! Yes. You. Can.

MOI SON THE SUN

In a dusty corner (Moi don't dust) of the house library, there's an old photo of Moi when I was probably 19. Here 'tis:

I never knew that photo even got Michael's attention, until he gave me the following FANTABULOUS drawing for my birthday!

Interesting parody style -- isn't he such a brilliant artist! Such a line! (Work with Mama Moi here; just Nod your head at your computer screen.) And do you see his inscription? It sez:

Mom, Happy Birthday!
You looked beautiful and still do. :)

Sniffle. When your son calls you "beautiful," it has a different meaning from when that same compliment comes from someone else. I never knew that, until I received it. I am blessed...

OTOLITHS: BRIGHTENING (E-)PUBLISHING OF POETRY

It's worth a pause to note Otoliths's wonderful accomplishments in poetry (e-)publishing, as directed by the very bright Mark Young. Please hearken over to HERE and if you want to do yourself a favor, order some books!

So happy the journal will continue to live on ...!

HEART-ING POETRY

I guess I shouldn't be surprised that I love poetry more than I thought, that is, I'm posting more frequently (every morning and evening when I'm in town) on updating the list of poetry publications I've genuinely loved reading. Check it out at Link In To Poetry -- it's up to 34 recommendations this morning. These are books I love for their own words, regardless of the identity of their author, their style of poetry, what kind of wine they drink, et al. Unmediated love (to the extent such can be unmediated). And, given the expanse of moi heart, looks like it'll be updated at least daily so you are invited to continue visiting...! Publisher links are also available in case you want to follow through after your visit ...

THOSE POETS WHO SPEAK "THE LANGUAGE OF LIGHT" AND THUS PERHAPS SPEAK FOR US ALL

Art: ... The prayer that leads to stigmata,...
--Eric Gamalinda

I've said in the past, Judge Moi by what she reads -- and then I've mentioned my ongoing "Relished W(h)ine List" through which I post everything I read (to its completion); I don't discriminate between bad and good in that list; if I finish a book, it gets on that list (I don't list books I don't finish reading). And I do think this Relished List says something about Moi. (And since truly horrendous books don't end up being read to their "The End"s, it does say something good about a bad book to get onto the list...)

But perhaps a more accurate picture will be portrayed by a list still in its relative infancy, The LinkedIn Poetry All-Stars list. For example, my Recommendation #8 is a book by Eric Gamalinda. And so, go HERE for one of his poetics prose I published in PINOY POETICS -- I heart it and highly recommend you read Eric's "Language, Light and the Language of Light"... thus learn.

Another excerpt--this one I'm feeling is particularly timely today:

The reality of a poet living in contemporary society involves, unfortunately, constantly submitting himself to the judgment of a small elite of industry people, many of whom may not even be inspired by the music, history, art and poetry that inspire the poet, and whose only purpose, to put it a little unkindly, is to sustain the very industry that feeds them. I often wonder how many of these people, because they have been trained and conditioned to think only in certain terms, understand the work that artists do and the aesthetics and faith that compel them to create. In any case I believe they constitute a kind of barrier that insulates author from audience. I am thus inclined to praise the work of small presses, but more especially the inevitability of more widespread self-publication in the future, the democratization of publishing, which new technology makes increasingly possible: to demolish the authoritarianism of the industry and the institutions that support it, which I regret to say includes even the academe on one hand and the “spoken word” scene on the other, two poles that have contributed to creating a kind of herd mentality in poetry, a common, generic, “acceptable” set of voices. There is a tendency among poets in the academe and spoken word scene to mimic one another, particularly in diction and delivery; read any journal or go to any performance and you’ll see how everything is the same. This, however, is not necessarily a bad thing: If anything, it is an indication that we have reached the same crisis that made a poet like Rimbaud inevitable and necessary, a poet who would deviate and speak only for himself, not just TO an audience, and certainly not TO A MARKET, and in so doing perhaps speak for us all.

"THE LinkedIn POETRY ALL-STARS"

is a list of poetry publications that I've read and loved/love (this list will be updated over time as I read and love what I read). I read poetry frequently and stylistically as widely as I can.

Why LinkedIn? After joining it this year, I realized I could use it as a forum for recommending (others') poetry. My choices mostly reflect poetry readings beginning in 2013, though if I recall a poetry book I read pre-2013 and loved, I'll add it on the list.

I am fortunate in having roles that expose me to much poetry (e.g. editing the most fun online poetry review, Galatea Resurrects, and I do try to read every single review copy sent, whether or not I review it). I hope my "LinkedIn Poetry All-Stars" (sorry but that title amuses Moi) will be another way for people to discover poetry that might not otherwise receive their attention.  That's really all I'm doing: paying attention and drawing attention to ...


LINKED-IN POETRY RECOMMENDATIONS:
Most publications are poetry collections, unless stated otherwise.

[UPDATE:  The list of LinkedIn Poetry Recommendations has been moved to http://linkedinpoetry.blogspot.com/  Please go to that link for all recommendations, which will be updated frequently.]



#18: THE HISTORY OF VIOLETS by Marosa Di Giorgio, Trans. By Jeannine Marie Pitas (Ugly Duckling Presse, Brooklyn, 2010)

#17: LARYNX GALAXY: PROSE POEMS by John Olson (Black Widow Press, 2012)

#16: THE MIDDLE ROOM, a poet's memoir by Jennifer Moxley (Subpress, 2007)

#15: CHINOISERIE by Karen Rigby (Ahsahta Press, 2012)

#14: MADNESS, RACK, AND HONEY: COLLECTED LECTURES (on poetry) by Mary Ruefle (Wave Books, 2012)

#13: FRIGHT CATALOG, poetry and visual poetry by Joseph Mosconi (Insert Blanc Press, 2013)

#12: RED WALLS by James Tolan (Dos Madres Press, 2011)

#11: 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 (EtherDome Chapbooks / Instance, 2012)

#10: A THING AMONG THINGS: THE ART OF JASPER JOHNS (essays / art criticism / meditations which also reveal something about ars poetica) by John Yau (Distributed Arts Publishers, 2008)

#9: HAD SLAVES by Catherine Sasanov (Firewheel Editions, 2010)

#8: PEOPLE ARE STRANGE (short stories w/ poetry references) by Eric Gamalinda (Black Lawrence Press, 2012)

#7: THIRTY-FIVE NEW PAGES by Lev Rubinstein, note-card poems translated from Russian by Philip Metres and Tatiana Tulchinsky (Ugly Duckling Presse Eastern European Poetry Series No. 28, 2011)

#6: VARIATIONS ON PAINTING A ROOM: POEMS 2000-2010 by Alan Baker (Skysill Press, 2011)

#5: COUNTERPART by Elizabeth Robinson (Ahsahta Press, 2012)

#4: NEW ORLEANS VARIATIONS AND PARIS OUROBOROS by Paul Pines (Dos Madres, 2013)

#3: IN THE LAURELS, CAUGHT by Lee Ann Brown (Fence Books, 2013)

#2: ALL IS FORGOTTEN, NOTHING IS LOST (novel involving poets and ars poetica) by Lan Samantha Chang (Norton, 2010)

#1: HE LOOKED BEYOND MY FAULTS AND SAW MY NEEDS by Leonard Gontarek (Hanging Loose Press, 2013)


More to come...

Happy Reading!
Eileen R. Tabios

TEENSPEAK

I don't usually heart "teen speak" but, this time, I don't mind -- thanks Michelle for sending this to Moi from Michael's Facebook:

Hm. I do have to come up with a better way to describe what being a poet means rather than lapsing to showing the physical output (book).  I mean, I could always tell him to read my blog but then he'd just "mock" me with probably a barfing motion.  Teenagers....sigh.  Still, I think it's pretty BIG IN ALL CAPS for a 17-year-old boy to say this in public -- a BLESSING!

THE RIGHT ATTITUDE!

Last night was the Baseball Banquet for Michael's school, graciously hosted by the faboo Frank Winery.  Here is the JV team, on which -- to my and his father's pride -- Michael played (he's at top left of the shot on whose image you can click to enlarge).

We've been so proud of of Michael's attitude in baseball.  He's not gotten much playing time since most of his teammates grew up playing the game in Little League et al.  This is basically his second year playing/learning baseball.  But, last night, the Coach said about him that toward the end of the season, he let Michael play in the last three games and he batted 4 for 7!  I have no idea what that means but the Coach said the stats made him think that he should have played Michael more!

It's all good.  So inspiring.  Almost makes me want to write a baseball poem ...

Speaking of poems, have I mentioned that Michael got a poem published in his school's annual literary journal?  I haven't mentioned that yet?  No?  Well, he did!  And here's the poem!

JOHN



Do you know this kid? His name is John.
I bet you know John.
You might not even know you know John.

You see him sometimes, isolated,
Not socializing with others.

You see him sometimes skipping lunch.
You see him swallow hard, watching others
toss part of their sandwiches
or apples into the trash cans.

Maybe you don’t see John at school
and you wonder where he is.
Have you ever guessed why John
was absent from class?

Maybe he is helping his dad on a job
to be able to support the family.

How many are we in our English class?
I count 19 students.
Did you know that one out of five kids
in the United States is poor?

19 students in our class.
This means that, on average,
Maybe three or four of us are poor.

I bet you know John.
You might not even know you know John.

Mom is so proud ...

MADE WITH LOVE

is the title of my latest mini-book over at SitWithMoi, with the help of a book designed by Dusie's Susana Gardner (see prior post).  It's all so enchanting to ... make things with love!

GALATEA RESURRECTS CONTINUES RESURRECTING...

Busy. As for creative writing -- one of the major focuses of my life and yet just a part of daily life activities -- I'm working on three manuscripts-in-progress.  So the blogging has slipped of late.  Except that I'm also preparing to release the next issue of Galatea Resurrects.

I haven't closed the issue yet for ye last-minute straggler reviewers, but so far have 52 new reviews.  While that's a huge amount of new reviews by most standards, it's only (cough) 52 when I've seen Galatea's count go into three figures in the past.  So this occasions the stray thought of whether I should continue the publication.  But then, in reviewing the issue-in-progress, I realized that this upcoming issue will review fourteen (14!) poetry publishers new to Galatea (bringing the count of publishers reviewed to date to 474 publishers in 17 countries).

I guess that means it's still too early to pull the plug.  So many books, so few venues for exposure!

Entonces, even as I finish putting together the next issue, please do note the new Submissions Deadline for the subsequent 21st issue of Galatea Resurrects: Nov. 27, 2013.  Do go HERE for more information!

THE GLORIOUS VARIETIES OF MOI MIDDLE NAME

Now, unlike with that country song, moi hubby did promise me a rose garden!  So, we mostly leave the mountain to rest in its natural glory.  But the hubby did carve out a rose garden whose blooms I can bring into the house.  And, with spring sprung the roses have bloomed!  Here's what I brung to the kitchen:

Here's where they came from:

You most definitely should click on the images to enlarge.  As for Moi?  I'm delving deep into the closet for more vases!

YOUR SMILE IS IMMORTAL

I was in Southern California where we placed Mom's ashes into the grave site she shares with Dad. 

Afterwards, we proceeded to my childhood church where the wonderful congregation offered lunch and then held a memorial celebrating Mom's life. 

I love that smiling photo of Mom.  As my niece Treva said, Mom always had a smile for everyone.  Thanks to UMC for the loving day -- a wonderful cap to Mom's transition home.  It truly was lovely to hear everyone's memories of Mom.  Your testimonies affirmed how Mom was such a good gold egg.

Agyamanac unay.  Nagsayaat ti am amin nga imbaga yo.   Agyaman kami amin nga familia ni Mama.  Agyaman kami kadacayo. Dios ti agngina...

"OH GOOD: MOI CAN CONTINUE TO DEGENERATE..."

for some reason, was one of my initial responses to Barry Schwabsky's contribution to a celebration of the 90th birthday of his teacher, Daniel Hoffman, over HERE. 

A more important reaction was my thought of how complicated it can be to teach/model compassion ... and I'm glad Mr. Hoffman was successful with Mr. Schwabsky. 

I once wrote to Mr. Hoffman.  He replied.  Utterly gracious of him.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, Daniel Hoffman.

And Barry Schwabsky?  Bless you, dear ...

Oh, and Jose Garcia Villa?  Calm down: you know I love you.

POETRY SEEDS FROM POEMS-FOR-ALL!

Oh joy!  I received 38 -- yes, THIRTY-EIGHT!!!!! -- mini-books today in the mail for SitWithMoi's "Books on Chairs" project!  Here's a photo (I added a 39th by Ed Baker as his book comes from the same series):

These gems are from the wonderful poetry project, Poems-For-All curated by Richard Hansen.  Thanks, Richard, for the gift!

The group includes some unexpected gems.  Like, I was going to make a mini-book (using a Sixteen Rivers catalogue) over "16th & VALENCIA" by San Francisco poet lariat Alejandro Murgula.  But PFA beat me to it, which is okay and just illustrates how great minds (can) think alike!  I also noticed some "Rimbaud poems" by Sean Finney which I would end up publishing in Sean's first poetry book, THE OBEDIENT DOOR!  What a small world, a mini-world!

Anyway, please remember that you, too, are invited to SitWithMoi's "Books on Chairs" project!

VALENTINE = MINI CHAIR!

My son just made me the absolutely best Valentine's Day present this Mom can receive -- a miniature chair!  You must check out the loving details over where I'm sitting with it!  Meanwhile, here's a photo, coming as it did with my favorite flowers:

You are INVITED to put a book on it!

Here's a photo; one of them is my loving son: