(The excerpt below is from a larger article about the poet and teacher Elliott Coleman in the recent Fortnightly Review: )
I was 20 years old, applying to Johns Hopkins graduate Writing Seminars from a small Midwestern college. I had come to campus to meet Elliott Coleman, the director and founder of the program. He had read my application and invited me to lunch at the Faculty Club. Looking back now and understanding the processes of application and the competition for a position in the Writing Seminars, I realize how remarkable his attention was, but he showed that kind of attention to students, making each feel important and valued.
Having a servant prostrate herself at my feet is not something I had ever imagined I would experience. It seemed so of another century. But this morning as I was leaving SinhaRaja’s home, the cook and her daughter came to the front...
As all writers know, writing is not like riding a bike. Every time you sit down to write, it feels like the first time. The same anxieties, the same doubts, the same indecisions that you had in the past happen again. It’s no wonder that so many talented and brilliant writers stop writing. I think it takes a kind of stubbornness and unwillingness to let go to be a writer. These traits are not necessarily healthy or admirable, but they are necessary to write. This is especially true when you haven’t written for a period of time. The more time that lapses between the last time you wrote and the next, the harder it becomes...
Sunlight blazed on the orange robes of a half dozen Buddhist monks strolling along the Kandy Lake outside the Temple of the Sacred Tooth. (Catholics have nothing...
I recently had the great good fortune to meet Edmund Keeley and his wife Mary Stathatos-Kyris at a party at the home of Landon and Sarah Jones. I am ashamed to admit that it is evidence of my very bad education that I wasn't familiar with Dr. Keeley's work. Generously, Lanny told me just how accomplished was the charming gentleman with whom I was able to chat for a few moments. I won't give you the full boat, but you can certainly go here for his long list of credentials and accomplishments, although I'm sure you're all far better educated...
Pakistan: the world’s most dangerous country, read American papers.
America: the world’s most dangerous country, read Pakistani papers.
A Pakistani novelist, a Vietnamese short-story writer and a Syrian-born poet/translator spoke with eloquent hope about the idea that, scattered across the globe, we are more alike than we are different. But their conversation shined a spotlight on opposing worldviews that stem from varied cultural, historical and religious backgrounds.
Perhaps the clearest examples of those discordant views during the panel titled “East-West Storytelling” came from Nadeem Aslam, author most recently of The Wasted Vigil, set in Afghanistan, and also of Maps for Lost Lovers, about Pakistani emigrants living in England. He mentioned that he reads here in our newspapers about the most dangerous country...
What a menu! The range of tones and places, of subjects and genres was mind-boggling. And mind-enhancing.
Tabucchi's conjectures: "The protagonist of the story we have lived is not us. It's the story we lived." Enough in that story and conjecture and readeriness to last a while: "All the rest is conjecture.. but that's your problem, not mine." Superior practice of best kind of theorizing -- not in your face, but your mind.
All of us loved Atxaga's poems, all, especially about the Zebra and the counting, and the running -- to make up the gap between 24 and 26... unforgettable, like the cry: "Crocodiles, crocodiles, crocodiles...". This was poetry as poetry, truly amazing.
This panel was billed as a discussion about the discovery of 'unbearable truths', as mediated through the milieu of the former German Democratic Republic. It was much more about poetry, and that was fine with me.
Poetry is Better than Prose
The earlier panel Left/Right Literature uttered the profound question of whether literature is capable of truly reflecting the horror of war. The Austrian author Gstrein observed that novels often fall short of communicating war, because it is always more horrible than words can express. Combined with this is the fact that novels often present thematic linkages of characters and events that do not necessarily happen in real war. Rather, war is disjointed and unpredictable. So what could capture such an elusive...
Resonances: Writers on the Great Works. Tuesday, April 28
Muriel Barbery, George Packer, Salwa Al Neimi, Jose Manuel Prieto.Questi gli ospiti ai quali Esther Allen, che insegna qui, al Baruch College, ha chiesto di parlare del libro più importante della loro esperienza di lettori.
La scelta è caduta su questi scrittori (doveva esserci anche Antonio Tabucchi, l’unico che ho letto, ma putroppo ha dato forfait due...
A merging of poetry and image to make both more meaningful was the focus of the film event on Tuesday night moderated by filmmaker Ram Devineni, a perfect start to the PEN World Voices (at least, this was my starting event.) The short films included ones from Santiago de Chile, France and Israel. The centerpiece of the event was an almost-complete documentary, Ginsberg’s Karma, by Rattapallax Films and edited, directed and producted by Devineni, about poet Alan Ginsberg’s journey to India in 1961 at the age of 35—a trip that changed him forever, the filmmakers say. Performance poet Bob Holman, who made the echo journey to India that is the heart...
Reginald Asangba Taluah’s poem “A Voice from Within” begins with an invocation in the tradition of song from the Upper East Region of Ghana. He likes to remind people that “in some African languages mere conversations stand as poetry and tno to mention the occasions when the drums, flutes and other instruments are accompanied in euphony by the potent voices of performers.”
“Since most great literature in Africa is to be found in Oral traditions one needs to get back to these roots in order to portray that heritage,” writes Taluah.
WITH JONATHAN COHEN IN THE LAND OF ERNESTO CARDENAL
Pluriverse: New and Selected Poems, a new book of translations edited by SUNY Stony Brook professor Jonathan Cohen of the life-work of the celebrated poet Ernesto Cardenal — “one of the world’s major poets” (Choice) and “the preeminent poet of Central America today” (Library Journal ) -- was celebrated at that campus on Apri 1, 2009, when Cohen appeared at the Stony Brook Poetry Center.
The book, published by New Directions, effectively follows Cardenal’s poetic development across six decades, from the early Imagist-influenced 'exterioso' poems and romantic epigrams of the early 1950s, to the increasingly political and theologically activist verse he wrote -- including his classic revolutionary documentary poem “Zero Hour.” From there it...
When Nii Lantey recited his poem “Obunkutu” last fall at the University of Legon , the entire audience cheered. Nii explains that “Obunkutu is a sacred appellation to warriors about to embark on a war expedition. It is enigmatic of a warrior charge. It is an invocation of unity among warriors for victory in battle, an incantation for uncountable warrior soldiers from the land of the dead to join the living in battle. It is a vibration of deadly resolution to fight.
“Obunkutu is no joke and must not be mentioned in peaceful times. It is bloody and...
Featured Poet: Spoken Word Poet Rhyme Sunny Reciting “Rose”
When I heard Rhyme Sunny recite his poem “Rose,” I was delighted by how he stepped into a long tradition of working the rose as a trope for love and relationships, but found something fresh and original in Rhyme Sunny’s poem. The poem reminded me of Guillaume Apollonaire’s famous poem “Rosemonde.” Since I don’t have printed copy of Rhyme Sunny’s poem, I thought I would share Appollonaire’s poem (without accents because they won’t translate on the website) and you can compare it to the video recording of Rhyme Sunny’s recitation. Enjoy.
Featured Poet: Novisi Dzitrie reading “Ol’ Driver Grand-Papa”
Watch the video on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O1GS2B6M_Cw
Novisi Dzitrie comments on his own work and on poetry in Ghana:
As a young poet I feel there is a generational gap so far as the literary scene and the poetry scene for that matter in Ghana is concerned in that we have not consciously or otherwise followed the exploits of trailblazers like Ama Atta Aidoo and Ayikwe Armah.
This I believe poses a great challenge for the young writers in Ghana today. I recall the joy I had when...
The Ghana Poetry Project
Featured Poets: Crystal Tettey and Black
Watch Crystal Tettey "There Are Still Kids" and then Black riff on the refrain from the poem on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_g1m2KrqPPE
The two performances by Crystal Tettey and Black offer a fascinating interaction and collaboration between two <!--more-->poetic sensibilities. At first blush, one might think that the Ghanaian Spoken Word Poet Black was mocking Tettey, but in actuality he is paying tribute to her and her art by taking up the refrain from her poem “There Are Still Kids” and expanding on it. This kind of collaborative performance occurs all the time...
Or go to link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UkLP6V3C414&feature=channel_page
Mariska Taylor-Darko’s “I Love Ghana” resonates with the same kind of expansiveness as the poems of Walt Whitman. Taylor-Darko’s work celebrates the Ghanaian identity with exuberance and vivid, figurative observation. A mother of two boys, she began writing late in life. She lives in Accra. She describes her thoughts on poetry: “Poetry is one of the most satisfying ways of expressing my innermost feelings and a way ofnarrating and revealing what I as an individual have experienced. I love Poetry and Poets. Poetry in Ghana is now being understood by the young and many more...
Go to this link to watch her reading:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pTWvuHnqidE
“Poetry is an earth pot that holds powerful words,” writes Nana Nyarko Boateng, “reaching smells, a garland of images, a cocktail of emotions, spirit music.” Boateng is a 22 year old poet attending the University of Ghana where she is studying English and Political Science. She writes, “The centerpiece of our poetic culture is performance, the oratory, the music and involvement of the audience has become less apparent in contemporary Ghanaian poetry; the proverbial “horse tail” seems to be held not in full grips. There is a gap...
Now that I have returned from Ghana, I am editing the video recordings I made of Ghana poets reading their work. Beginning in January I will be posting poets reading one or two poems as well as posting a text version of the poem they are reading. I will include biographical information on the poets and their thoughts on poetry in general.
While in Ghana, i was struck by the lack of literary culture. Ghana is not a place where people read for pleasure. As a result, there are almost no publishing houses or bookstores for the general reader. Bookstores either stock religious books or textbooks for schools. If a writer wants to publish a book, he or she must self publish. As well,...
Now, let me admit to something: In the midst of writing part of this essay while aboard a train, I fell asleep a few minutes ago, and have awoken now to the sound of two voices near me, both voluble--one speaking French, the other Spanish, both attending heartily to their respective cell-phone conversations.
At first, I do not remember ever reading Guo. My sleepiness shuts that door. The sound of two overheard languages, separate and yet mingling, is enticing, and so I don't mind being woken. But then, I don't have to work at understanding French or Spanish, for I can't understand them. Not really. Only vaguely can I follow the sense, in small clusters of sounds, and not in...
In his apt introductory comments for the presentation “DISCOVER NEW CATALAN FICTION,” author Collum McCann likened the Catalans’ to his own Ireland. “Writing makes lives visible, and great writing make lives valuable,” said McCann. Referring to ‘the only Irishman in Shakespeare’ who asks the drunken question “What Ish My Nation?” he explained that “We Irish are always writing on the nature of our identity, only we prefer the question to the answer. It seems to me the Catalans are in the same boat.”
The Instituto Cervantes, on East 49th Street between Second and Third Avenues, turns out to be a small, brick-and-ironwork haven, with a cloistered garden and, on the basement level, a little theater with what may well be the most comfortable upholstered seating of any theater in New York. Some 30 persons gathered there on Friday to hear Nabeel Yasin, the soft-spoken, silvery, and, once, grimly persecuted Iraqi poet who came of age during Saddam Hussein’s 1970’s regime. Although Mr. Yasin was the star of the panel, the principal spokesperson there was the young British journalist Jo Tatchell, whose book, Nabeel’s Song, abiography of Yasin and his middle-class family in their native Baghdad, will be published...
