tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-62890702011-11-13T11:52:12.394-08:00barbara jane reyes' [in progress] blog archives 12/2003 - 12/2007Barbara Jane Reyesnoreply@blogger.comBlogger5201100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6289070.post-38365189842820647462007-12-31T09:29:00.000-08:002010-06-16T12:42:50.697-07:00

Starting in January 2008, I will be blogging at: http://www.barbarajanereyes.com. Please update your bookmarks, links, and all. Salamats!

Barbara Jane Reyesnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6289070.post-10506542071559627092007-12-30T22:19:00.000-08:002009-12-04T15:39:22.230-08:00

Or more like: thoughts on beginning the new year. (1) Well, I've been lagging on the formatting of my contributors' more formalistically challenging poems for OCHO, which, by the way, will be available via Amazon, as a book and in Kindle version. I am deathly afraid of fucking up on n-spaces, for lack of a better term, in Nathaniel Mackey's poems; these n-spaces seem to want to change when

Barbara Jane Reyesnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6289070.post-6530830350085074782007-12-28T22:20:00.000-08:002008-06-27T16:57:38.313-07:00

Things and projects and stuff in motion over here. (1) I have compiled 20 pages of poems into a chapbook entitled, "Easter Sunday," which I have submitted to a small (micro?) press for consideration. I'd been thinking about the possible connection between these manuscript-less poems, whether there are threads linking them together somehow, how or if, as Jim Murdoch had commented, they were/are

Barbara Jane Reyesnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6289070.post-80148975856788994002007-12-21T22:20:00.000-08:002008-01-24T09:13:25.296-08:00

Ugh. I wrote this awesome comment in response to Judith's comment on private/public and self-policing borders. But now my comment's been lost. I want to blame this on my most recent blog skin tinkering, but let's not be all negative and blame-y. Maybe my comment will show up in the next time zone or something.Anyway. Judith asks a really good question regarding conventional narrative literary

Barbara Jane Reyesnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6289070.post-13863624914010439642007-12-20T22:21:00.000-08:002008-01-11T22:22:02.723-08:00

I have been thinking about my manuscript-less poems lately. These are the poems that never made it into the books. I have been wondering what to do with them, if anything must be done with them. I'd decided that I can't force them into a book manuscript, and that not all poems belong in book. I am wondering if I am really OK with that idea, that not all poems belong in book. Still, it kind of

Barbara Jane Reyesnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6289070.post-45956395778042518762007-12-19T22:22:00.000-08:002008-01-12T14:02:49.331-08:00

I am glad to have been introduced to the work of Charlotte Perkins Gilman, and particularly "The Yellow Wallpaper," in a feminist lit survey grad seminar a couple of years ago, if only briefly. I think I may have also read some of her critical writing. I am certain it's time for me to delve into her work. Her poetry is formalistically uncomplicated, and this worked for my undergrad lower division

Barbara Jane Reyesnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6289070.post-57462621882921252852007-12-18T22:23:00.000-08:002008-06-27T16:58:27.044-07:00

What's up, Flips, Pinoys, Pinays:Maganda Magazine is a publication I believe in hardcore. Of course, Maganda is where I got my start as a poet and editor, and I don't think I need to reiterate how in need of a Filipino American literary, artistic, cultural, scholarly publication our community was at the time of its creation, and how we are in need of this space now. I can't help but think that

Barbara Jane Reyesnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6289070.post-31388820391567229612007-12-17T22:23:00.000-08:002008-06-27T16:59:23.239-07:00

Much to say about this very quick in and out of New York, where Bhanu Kapil and I had a fantastic and well-attended reading full of such interested and interesting, articulate and attentive folks, and during which I learned what a Nor'easter is.Poet groupie moment first: upon leaving the Bowery, and while we were all still milling about outside, a woman who attended the reading approached me, and

Barbara Jane Reyesnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6289070.post-79417424930203420182007-12-14T22:24:00.000-08:002008-06-27T16:59:54.619-07:00

Marilyn Hacker's essay following Adrienne Rich's poem is here. This is a phrase I've keyed in on, and am thinking on:"...the enforced generational or sisterly enmity between (powerless) women..."My questions: Why is this enmity enforced? For what purpose(s) is this enmity enforced?How is this enmity enforced? By whom is this enmity enforced? Do we women consent to this enmity? Why do we consent

Barbara Jane Reyesnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6289070.post-7810337265259633542007-12-13T22:24:00.000-08:002008-01-11T22:26:15.319-08:00

[Addendum: today's reading consists of "The Young Insurgent's Commonplace Book," by Marilyn Hacker on Adrienne Rich's "Snapshots of a Daughter-in-Law." Here.] I want to say that my mother exhibited or enacted a prescience when she named me Barbara, given my social problem with gender and domesticity, given the story of the Greek martyr Saint Barbara (link 1 | link 2). Saint Barbara's wealthy and

Barbara Jane Reyesnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6289070.post-31046996574678086742007-12-12T22:26:00.000-08:002008-01-11T22:27:09.352-08:00

I am understanding a little bit more my preoccupation with domesticity and how this finds its way into the poetry or poetic projects.Some things: In my family, gender roles are not traditionally delineated. I have taken this with me into my education, into my careers, into my home life. I am interested in preserving some amount of privacy for my home life. In fact, I will guard this privacy

Barbara Jane Reyesnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6289070.post-28129799109046949382007-12-11T22:27:00.000-08:002008-01-24T09:13:25.297-08:00

1) I feel a poem coming on. It's admittedly silly. Yesterday's string of poet emails included this question: Under what set of circumstances would you throw down $54K on a 1926 Macallan? And for some, it would entail some deep and true love, or mending one's relationship with Jesus after funding grad school. I say this: it would entail someone resurrecting Akira Kurosawa from the dead, so that we

Barbara Jane Reyesnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6289070.post-41169834320753627552007-12-10T22:28:00.000-08:002008-01-11T22:28:38.944-08:00

Imagine that; inspired by/at a poetry reading. I am glad to have attended Chad Sweeney's reading at Pegasus Books this past weekend. He was celebrating the release of his first full-length collection, entitled, An Architecture, just released by BlazeVOX Books. In fact, the books shipped in the very morning of his reading, so that was rather fortuitous.What I have always appreciated about Chad is

Barbara Jane Reyesnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6289070.post-89028855873867069882007-12-07T22:28:00.000-08:002008-09-02T14:51:55.181-07:00

I am wondering why Akira Kurosawa chose Richard Gere to play the part of Clark in Rhapsody in August. I am thinking of some popular APIA community complaints of alleged "Yellow Face," or even "Brown Face," for not all Asians are "yellow." I'm not yellow. Hyphen Magazine editor Harry Mok has just posted some of his thoughts on the casting call for the new Kung Fu, and so I think about David

Barbara Jane Reyesnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6289070.post-67199797800998919312007-12-06T22:29:00.000-08:002008-01-24T09:13:25.297-08:00

[Addendum: I keep wondering who in our community would be qualified to write this book. I don't think it's me. I have been told someone is writing a book on Filipino American "taste," but I don't know exactly what this writer's project or thesis is.] On the recurring theme of my Americanizations of Filipino foods, and thinking on Sunny's interest in how traditional Filipino dishes change with

Barbara Jane Reyesnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6289070.post-61620976122783364472007-12-06T22:11:00.000-08:002007-12-06T22:12:32.189-08:00

THE SEGUE READING SERIES @ THE BOWERY POETRY CLUB WELCOMES YOUPLEASE COME AND HEARBarbara Jane Reyes and Bhanu KapilDecember 15th, Saturday4 pm-6 pm (punctual)The Bowery Poetry Club308 Bowery, just north of HoustonNYCBARBARA JANE REYES is the author of Gravities of Center (Arkipelago, 2003), and Poeta en San Francisco (Tinfish, 2005), which received the James Laughlin Award of the Academy of

Barbara Jane Reyesnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6289070.post-64653510372039160122007-12-05T22:30:00.000-08:002008-01-11T22:30:34.856-08:00

[Some revisions below.] A couple of things here. Since Oscar recently blogged about why he blogs, I am reminded to revisit that same question. In addition to grappling with the questions of poetics and politics in a public forum, where dialogue may actually happen, I too am interested in tracking my progress on certain specific projects, whether it's in the intellectual work/thinking out the

Barbara Jane Reyesnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6289070.post-88178716261428801872007-12-01T22:31:00.000-08:002008-06-27T17:00:23.085-07:00

Sacramento Poetry Center is ahead of the curve. They are the first poetry organization to formally invite me and Oscar to read as co-features in their reading series. We have settled on January 7, 2008. And it is going to rock.I think it's exciting, especially since I've been generally experiencing folks that seem to not know how to publicly treat or regard poet couples, and I suspect this has

Barbara Jane Reyesnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6289070.post-45190401322158427632007-11-30T22:31:00.000-08:002008-01-11T22:32:34.172-08:00

Thank you to Lee Herrick and In the Grove, for the Pushcart Prize nomination of my poem, "A Genesis of We, Cleaved." Recognition is always nice, affirmation that my work and I must be doing something right.* * * Tara Betts has recently posted on being a working poet, and that earning honoraria is a part of this working. A local API poet/educator invited me to speak in his Asian American

Barbara Jane Reyesnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6289070.post-77777102326883805332007-11-29T22:32:00.000-08:002008-08-30T12:12:06.995-07:00

[Errata: My bad; it's been brought to my attention that Eleanor Coppola did not direct Hearts of Darkness. Not changing my blog post.] Shhhh! Don't tell anyone I had not previously seen Eleanor Coppola's Hearts of Darkness until yesterday evening at Sunny's (after Oscar finally pried himself away from Guitar Hero), though I had previously read sections of her book, Notes, while in the thick of

Barbara Jane Reyesnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6289070.post-32815728865334266382007-11-28T22:33:00.000-08:002008-01-24T09:13:25.297-08:00

Again, I've been having e-conversations with various folk regarding teaching the work of Filipino American authors in literature, creative writing, and presumably Ethnic Studies courses of various educational and community institutions — how to go about doing so, what texts are selected and why. One educator's assumption was that text selection is based upon the Filipino American writer and/or

Barbara Jane Reyesnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6289070.post-24520509830940785742007-11-25T22:34:00.000-08:002009-09-25T16:59:40.626-07:00

I can say a couple of things about Beowulf, the golden tits and much bare ass IMAX 3D experience. First thing; I think I exhausted use of my eyes yesterday evening. Next thing; I am scratching my head at Ray Winstone as Beowulf, only because the CGI version of him turned out looking much like Sean Bean. So I thought of Sean Bean throughout my being visually assaulted by this film, and I therefore

Barbara Jane Reyesnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6289070.post-1928533349965568232007-11-24T22:35:00.000-08:002008-01-11T22:35:32.500-08:00

Rich Villar is asking, "where do you write," and "where is your place." For me, it's pretty much anywhere and everywhere something hits me and has to be written down. These days, for better or for worse, it's in my cubicle at my day job in Oakland Chinatown, where I am surrounded by so much language and cultural translation, women's health and public health issues being hashed out in very

Barbara Jane Reyesnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6289070.post-45579979989793297412007-11-23T22:36:00.000-08:002008-01-11T22:36:34.639-08:00

Reading Yoko Ono's Grapefruit bits at a time, we talk more and more about how Yoko is the opposite of the Korean grocer's wife, the Vietnamese nail salon worker, the Filipina domestic worker, and how most of us are located somewhere in between what I've set up here as binary opposites. This is of course no fault of Yoko's, having the privilege and visibility that she has. But I think about how

Barbara Jane Reyesnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6289070.post-2888319069208760732007-11-20T22:37:00.000-08:002008-01-11T22:37:42.437-08:00

The December 2007 issue of MiPoesias is up. Have a look see at the full color poet photo spreads. I have five new (and new-ish) poems in this issue: "The Bamboo's Insomnia," "The Bamboo's Insomnia 2," "Killer of Ferdinand Magellan," "We Spoken Here," and "Upland Dance."

Barbara Jane Reyesnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6289070.post-25509824372734833182007-11-20T11:08:00.001-08:002007-11-20T11:08:41.197-08:00

The December 2007 issue of MiPoesias is up. Have a look see at the full color poet photo spreads. I have five new (and new-ish) poems in this issue: "The Bamboo's Insomnia," "The Bamboo's Insomnia 2," "Killer of Ferdinand Magellan," "We Spoken Here," and "Upland Dance."

Barbara Jane Reyesnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6289070.post-88746281914105195322007-11-19T22:37:00.000-08:002008-01-24T09:13:25.298-08:00

(1) My baby sister just passed the Bar, and in the aftermath of celebration, I remembered again why I no longer drink tequila.(2) My "Duyong" poem series will be appearing in the forthcoming issue of Fairy Tale Review, an awesome journal that comes out of University of Alabama. (3) I am almost halfway finished writing an essay on the poetic line, for Center: A Journal of the Literary Arts. (4)

Barbara Jane Reyesnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6289070.post-49478599423568746482007-11-18T22:38:00.000-08:002008-01-11T22:39:35.298-08:00

I am happy to report that all was lovely at yesterday's Maganda Magazine Fall Reception. The editors and students are all such nice and lovely people; I had some good conversations with a few of them, and made a realization that the year I started working on the magazine was around the time that some of them were born. I am quite pleased that it's still doing its thing, as many of the student run

Barbara Jane Reyesnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6289070.post-16953377646351936532007-11-16T22:39:00.000-08:002008-01-11T22:40:19.201-08:00

I finished Art Spiegelman's Maus II the other night, and I am thinking that it's the artist's emotional exhaustion which gives us this rather abrupt ending. Or maybe it's really not that abrupt in its continuing density; that is, in my mind, I don't think the story has ever had a chance to wind down. Even post-Auschwitz, even as Vladek skips ahead to finding work in Stockholm, I still feel the

Barbara Jane Reyesnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6289070.post-47572474658491010232007-11-15T22:40:00.000-08:002008-01-24T09:13:25.298-08:00

A brainstorm.Key word here is "thinking." I bring this up now because I am generally discontended with my community right now. I realize that in saying things about backlash response to national recognition and awards and all, well I am perhaps not being so constructive. I am so looking forward to this weekend's Maganda Magazine Fall Reception, not just because of the possibility of Milo flavored

Barbara Jane Reyesnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6289070.post-15381064979506433292007-11-14T22:41:00.000-08:002008-01-24T09:13:25.298-08:00

I've just been invited by one of the current Maganda Magazine editors-in-chief Adrien Salazar to be a featured performer at their Fall Reception. Of course I said yes. I will be sharing the mic with a lineup of student poets/performers, and this ought to be some fun. First of all: Naia [Gelato] Lounge. They have Milo flavored gelato there (sometimes). Second: Maganda is where I was first

Barbara Jane Reyesnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6289070.post-21296148707980934932007-11-13T22:42:00.000-08:002009-12-23T14:55:15.739-08:00

I have decided that my official theme songs are now (intro music) Nickelback's "Rockstar," and (outro music) Nine Inch Nails' "Survivalism." The online Life Expectancy calculator tells me I can expect to live to the age of 94. Papa's age. Anyway. I continue to think about Filipino food because the holidays are upcoming, and because I spent some time with my family this past weekend, and that,

Barbara Jane Reyesnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6289070.post-6412723641113685102007-11-12T22:42:00.000-08:002008-01-11T22:43:27.533-08:00

Moving right along here.I'm really not sure what'd taken me so long to finally get to reading Art Spiegelman's Maus. I'm almost through Maus II, and exhaling having gotten through the Auschwitz portion of the story. I think rather than discussing what I imagine has already been discussed about this work and the effectiveness and affectiveness in telling us Vladek Spiegelman's story of surviving

Barbara Jane Reyesnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6289070.post-24843322506838524272007-11-11T22:43:00.000-08:002008-01-11T22:44:22.821-08:00

So here's the thing about Friday evening's reading: Jimmy Santiago Baca had to cancel last minute, and this could've meant a tremendous waste of time in rush hour traffic from Oakland to Santa Rosa. But I am glad to report this waste of time wasn't the case at all.A couple of things. Pre-reading social interactions among poets is always interesting to watch. Sitting directly in front of us was a

Barbara Jane Reyesnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6289070.post-57563435622690529302007-11-09T22:44:00.000-08:002008-01-11T22:45:26.281-08:00

Have a look see, here. Chris Chen's introduction and talk is brilliant, and I wish there were a transcript of this somewhere publicly accessible. I think he brings up a lot of very insightful and important points about tropes, expectations of Asian American homogeneity, and how these create limitations upon our artistic freedoms. Really, much of what he's presented here has influenced my recent

Barbara Jane Reyesnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6289070.post-32614569076942529252007-11-07T22:45:00.000-08:002008-01-24T09:13:25.299-08:00

[some edits]Subsequent to the Chicago Review’s publishing of Juliana Spahr’s and Stephanie Young’s now notorious essay, “Numbers Trouble,” on gender disparity in the US experimental poetry scene, these two authors initiated a project entitled “Tell US Poets,” and issued a call for information on feminism as it exists for women writers in the world outside of North America. I responded to Spahr

Barbara Jane Reyesnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6289070.post-5212944876676065672007-11-06T22:47:00.000-08:002008-01-11T22:48:16.199-08:00

Yesterday's blog post was good exercise; it's the meat of an essay in process/progress for XCP: Cross Cultural Poetics Issue 20, since editor Mark Nowak has recently asked me for work for that issue. Some empathetic backchannels with a couple of fierce and beautiful feminist of color writers/educators who are workin they asses off, some good if not challenging conversation with Oscar, and

Barbara Jane Reyesnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6289070.post-64328241182560310482007-11-05T08:33:00.000-08:002007-11-05T11:50:44.324-08:00

From MiPOesias: MiPOesias Magazine (web)Guest edited by Evie ShockleySWIMCHANT OF NIGGER MER-FOLK (AN AQUABOOGIE SET IN LAPIS)By Douglas Kearney OCHO #12Guest Edited by Grace CavalieriFoxholeBy David Wagoner OCHO #12Guest Edited by Grace CavalieriGraduating Towards ForgivenessBy Herbert Woodward Martin MiPOesias Magazine (Print)Edited by Amy KingKiller of Ferdinand MagellanBy Barbara Jane

Barbara Jane Reyesnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6289070.post-8435423236829695482007-11-02T22:48:00.000-07:002008-01-11T22:49:19.671-08:00

The thing about this Bay Area rapper who came up in the 90's, who went by the name of Paris (I always loved that he graduated with a degree in economics): I noted that (at least on his first two albums; I am not too well-acquainted with his later work) when he was addressing his community, his timbre and tone were relatively gentle, if not pointed, and filled with messages of being proactive,

Barbara Jane Reyesnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6289070.post-53826436226496038212007-11-01T22:49:00.000-07:002008-01-11T22:50:16.821-08:00

My fucking God. I have so much to write about Amiri Baraka's current Bay Area visit, which is jam packed with events, a couple of which we've attended. I hope he doesn't think we are stalking him (but yay, a copy of Poeta en San Francisco is safely in Mr. Baraka's possession). He been workin his ass off, relishing the opportunity to engage in Q and A, meaningful and relevant to arts and literary

Barbara Jane Reyesnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6289070.post-54847400803818950572007-10-31T22:50:00.000-07:002008-01-11T22:51:09.921-08:00

Do you have your tickets to the theatrical release of Star Trek: The Menagerie? I do. Been following the casting for Star Trek XI? I have. John Cho as Hikaru Sulu is interesting casting here. Talented as he is, I don't know that this is John's genre, though George Takei approves. If I may brag shamelessly for a second, can I just say that John was an old drinking buddy, poetry and harebrained

Barbara Jane Reyesnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6289070.post-81932001421601411912007-10-30T22:51:00.000-07:002008-01-24T09:13:25.299-08:00

It's that time of the year again, folks. You know, the time of year when editors of various publications find me online and ask me for stuff. I like this time of year; 'tis an opportunity to take my half-baked writing and finish the damn things. I've already promised work, which is as of yet, not totally written, to a few of these editors, and this means I better get writing. Some essay and poem

Barbara Jane Reyesnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6289070.post-85588400522827528762007-10-29T22:52:00.000-07:002008-01-11T22:53:03.305-08:00

Last week, typical week at work. I have been poring over state and county materials pertaining to clinicians as mandated reporters of sexual assault, domestic violence, child abuse, and elder abuse, in an effort to update our agency's internal policies and procedures. This is what I do; I research, recommend, write, and revise. In the cubicles adjacent to me are the RN Manager and Prenatal

Barbara Jane Reyesnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6289070.post-73267628933841029782007-10-26T22:53:00.000-07:002008-01-11T22:54:03.054-08:00

Since considering my inventory of girl accessories (HK-AK-47, HK vibrator, Christian Soldier low rise thong), I've been thinking more about accessories, artifacts, the objects that identify you when (for whatever reason) you cannot corroborate your own story, and/if for example, your dental records are unavailable.As well, I am reading news reports of So Cal wildfire fatalities, bodies burnt to a

Barbara Jane Reyesnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6289070.post-88591264976275602942007-10-25T22:54:00.000-07:002008-01-11T22:55:11.915-08:00

posted 25 October 2007, Thursday I took this photo with my cell phone yesterday evening at City Lights Book Store, which is why the immense Lawrence Ferlinghetti is so faraway and tiny in the frame. It was standing room only as he sat at a table with his bottle of chilled San Pellegrino, reading excerpts from Poetry as Insurgent Art, just recently released by New Directions Publishing.

Barbara Jane Reyesnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6289070.post-18900778889428374712007-10-24T22:55:00.000-07:002008-01-11T22:56:03.379-08:00

Whew! I've had a lot of scotch and bourbon these last few days, and my head hurts. Some things I am thinking as perhaps it's time to really plough through this writing project which I keep starting and stopping, starting and stopping. It's like poetic process with a stutter, and this doesn't suit me. I'm getting impatient with myself. OK, so some objects or artifacts or curiosities I am thinking

Barbara Jane Reyesnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6289070.post-48918658163278806742007-10-22T22:56:00.000-07:002008-01-11T22:57:04.487-08:00

Really well attended reading yesterday afternoon at the BAM/PFA, and as well, I felt the audience was generally pretty attentive and interested in the work we were all presenting. (Much to my relief) Chris Chen, who curated and hosted yesterday's event, clarified neatly for us what he meant by "post-identity" Asian American poetry, in which we are presented two binaries (my paraphrase and

Barbara Jane Reyesnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6289070.post-70312505148149693652007-10-19T22:57:00.000-07:002008-01-24T09:13:25.299-08:00

At what point do(es) my/our claim(s) to war become no longer valid? I am asking this, thinking more on my Papa, who, as many of you know, passed away in June, at the age of 94. When I returned to the Philippines over the summer, my mother, aunts, and I were going through his old photo albums and papers, where I found a print out of a speech which I believe he delivered at his 2000 UP Med School

Barbara Jane Reyesnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6289070.post-43228596584343892352007-10-17T22:58:00.000-07:002008-01-11T22:58:48.746-08:00

Since Oscar posted that awesome "Silent Poem," by Robert Francis today, I have been thinking about a poem I'd recently started writing. I put it down for a good minute so that I could go looking for words, which brought me back to Theresa Hak Kyung Cha's Dictee. And then I put it all down again.A couple of places I have gone to look for words today: The Taguba Report on Treatment of Abu Ghraib

Barbara Jane Reyesnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6289070.post-64684446987061631652007-10-16T22:59:00.000-07:002008-01-11T22:59:53.481-08:00

OK, so regarding my previous musings on identity politics, I am currently stitching together some thoughts on what that all means. I will try to be as tactful as I can here, since previous, current, ongoing community experience has come to reveal to me that women who are walang hiya are truly a source of hiya to the community, and even to other women who claim to aspire to be walang hiya. There's

Barbara Jane Reyesnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6289070.post-51697117012619965842007-10-11T23:00:00.000-07:002008-01-11T23:01:49.507-08:00

Graphic novel, or graphic novel-esque items. Let's start with the film The 300, which obviously began as Frank Miller's graphic novel, and which I finally got to see over the weekend. I haven't read the graphic novel but perused it briefly in our local, awesome comic book hang out. Actually, what really interested me the most about the DVD was all the extras, and getting to hear Frank Miller talk

Barbara Jane Reyesnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6289070.post-73286783253340894712007-10-10T23:01:00.000-07:002008-01-24T09:13:25.299-08:00

The entire entry can be found here. I've excerpted a couple of passages which are useful to my current lines of thinking: Identity politics as a mode of organizing is intimately connected to the idea that some social groups are oppressed; that is, that one's identity as a woman or as a Native American, for example, makes one peculiarly vulnerable to cultural imperialism (including stereotyping,

Barbara Jane Reyesnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6289070.post-77250043323129853882007-10-09T23:02:00.000-07:002008-01-24T09:13:25.299-08:00

Today, a couple of links and blog excerpts, on Filipino-ness in Literature, which may or may not be relevant to me as I look forward to participating in the upcoming Asian American Poetry Now reading at the Berkeley Art Museum.From Ian Rosales Casocot (Monday, October 08 blog post) here:Artists and writers who credit their native traditions for their accomplishments take pride in the fact that

Barbara Jane Reyesnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6289070.post-88977730718330601652007-10-09T10:15:00.001-07:002008-01-24T09:13:25.300-08:00

In this interview, Barbara tells us what it’s like to be a Filipino poet writing about her homeland in San Francisco. Youth and Campus Bulletin (YCB): Please tell us more about the Fil-American poetry groups in your area. Barbara Jane Reyes (BJR): I do not have a formal group of Filipino–American poets in San Francisco, but I have made both personal and professional connections with

Barbara Jane Reyesnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6289070.post-1047399983672264802007-10-09T10:13:00.000-07:002007-10-09T10:14:22.289-07:00

Poetry ReadingAsian American Poetry NowBerkeley Art MuseumLocation/Entrances2626 Bancroft Way2621 Durant AvenueBetween College and TelegraphOctober 21, 2007; 3:00 p.m.Gallery CHow are young Asian American poets grappling with some of the issues that have engaged the artists featured in One Way or Another? Eight West Coast– and New York–based Asian American poets, from the same generation as the

Barbara Jane Reyesnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6289070.post-39894972464448858532007-10-08T23:04:00.000-07:002008-01-24T09:13:25.300-08:00

I've been thinking more and more about this "Filipino American" and/or "APIA" literary or poetry "community" thing, and definitely my spending last week in private colleges and universities prompted these lines of thinking about community. So I am thinking of community, how for the last couple of decades of my contact and involvement with various Filipino American and APIA communities, these have

Barbara Jane Reyesnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6289070.post-75942291896766912612007-10-05T23:05:00.000-07:002008-01-24T09:13:25.300-08:00

Wow am I tired. It's been a good week of discussions with students and educators. Tuesday, as you all may know, I was at Saint Mary's College, and yesterday I spent the day at Stanford, hosted by Stephen Hong Sohn and the English Department, all of whom were very energetic and enthusiastic about my visit, reading, and talk. The entire reading, talk, and Q&A lasted I think a good hour and a half,

Barbara Jane Reyesnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6289070.post-10529086424428681182007-10-03T23:06:00.000-07:002008-01-11T23:07:24.575-08:00

Disclaimer: this is by no means instructional or definitive. These are just my thoughts based upon some recent community art/literature event experiences.Properly, I suppose, is relative. I'd just left Maile Arvin a comment on her blog, in response to her wonderful reading for the closing night of Kearny Street Workshop's APAture. I've mentioned Maile here before, as I have seen her read perhaps

Barbara Jane Reyesnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6289070.post-50196218205480712822007-10-02T23:07:00.000-07:002008-01-24T09:13:25.300-08:00

Saint Mary’s College of California’s APASA & the MFA Program in Creative Writing Present: A NIGHT OF FILIPINO-AMERICAN WRITING Tuesday, October 2, 20077-9 P.M.Delphine Intercultural Center WITH Barbara Jane Reyes, poet Cielo Lutino, nonfiction writer Rashaan Alexis Meneses, fiction writer at Saint Mary’s College of CaliforniaDelphine Intercultural Center1928 Saint Mary's RoadMoraga, CA

Barbara Jane Reyesnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6289070.post-36039301217395255712007-10-01T23:08:00.000-07:002008-01-24T09:13:25.300-08:00

[...]extend the arm taut flat palm face down flick the wrist just so palay ibon hangin[...]Suffice it to say I am happily being moved to writing something that may actually not have to do with war and sexual violence. Yesterday's Ifugao Music and Dance Ensemble of Banaue performance was really quite beautiful, especially because of how relatively unsanitized it appeared to me. Now, the caveat

Barbara Jane Reyesnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6289070.post-20133818580489475642007-09-27T23:09:00.000-07:002008-01-11T23:10:22.788-08:00

Thanks to Leny Strobel, for pointing to alternet.org, where there are some excellent collections of essays and articles on masculinism, sex, sexuality, pornography, war, et al.American soldiers taking trophy photographs of tortured and raped Iraqi prisoners, submitting these to pornography websites, the degrading of women on these pornography sites becoming more "extreme," you know, the kind of

Barbara Jane Reyesnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6289070.post-30386952581226486732007-09-26T23:10:00.000-07:002008-01-24T09:13:25.300-08:00

This is where we will be on Sunday afternoon! So exciting! A perhaps not-so-side-note: given my own Northern Philippine ancestry (Mama was from Baguio, Papa from La Union), I am happy to be seeing some Northern Philippine cultural events in the Bay Area. I think there are a good number of Filipino Americans who, in their "quest" to reclaim an indigenous past, however specious that logic may be,

Barbara Jane Reyesnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6289070.post-51060371559204158942007-09-25T23:11:00.000-07:002008-06-11T10:26:33.594-07:00

I was going to write a bit about Kon Ichikawa's The Burmese Harp, based upon the novel of the same name by Takeyama Michio, since I am somewhat back on my Japanese cinema preoccupation. But Tony Raynes' "Unknown Soldiers" essay really tells you pretty much most of what I'd say here. An excerpt: Takeyama, writing in 1946, would not have been aware of the extent or magnitude of the

Barbara Jane Reyesnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6289070.post-36743537841825841632007-09-24T23:13:00.000-07:002008-08-30T11:47:01.609-07:00

Can somebody please tell me *why* this film is titled Sansho the Bailiff? The character of Sansho the Bailiff appears sometimes, and while he is the slave owner of the two major characters, Zushiô and Anju, I don't know that Sansho even is the driving force behind the narrative Mizoguchi presents to us here. In fact, I am almost sure that the driving force here is really the absent (exiled)

Barbara Jane Reyesnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6289070.post-14881434169565390612007-09-22T23:14:00.000-07:002008-01-11T23:14:58.507-08:00

I am sorry to say that reading Neil Gaiman's Stardust was a generally unmemorable read for me. What is memorable is Charles Vess' visual art accompaniment. In fact, if you take a look at the DC Vertigo graphic novel cover, you will find that it is Neil Gaiman and Charles Vess' Stardust. Vess' art is so lovely and lush, and in the case of this collaboration, it compensates for some rather

Barbara Jane Reyesnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6289070.post-5974286302259226752007-09-21T23:15:00.000-07:002008-01-24T09:13:25.301-08:00

I've been spending the last few days (weeks?) (years?) hatin' on how APIA poets such as myself, and such as Truong Tran, are oftentimes by "our own communities," labeled or referred to as "the avant gardes," "the experimental poets," and even as "postmodern" and "informed by l=a=n=g=u=a=g=e poetry." This last descriptor I find especially preposterous.I am starting to think that when APIA

Barbara Jane Reyesnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6289070.post-63587247708925043662007-09-19T23:16:00.000-07:002008-01-11T23:16:52.036-08:00

Thinking on Patricia Smith's recent blog post on the Harriet blog. I can't look at the pictures of what American soldiers are doing to Iraqi women prisoners of war on Linh Dinh's blog (scroll down to the entry entitled "but is she a blonde?"). They are making my stomach turn, and they are making tears well up. "Disturbing" is a mild term; pornographic is really what it is. He links to another

Barbara Jane Reyesnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6289070.post-66242679693147699772007-09-18T23:16:00.000-07:002008-01-11T23:17:41.605-08:00

It started with my very belated reading of Gaiman's The Sandman: Fables and Reflections, which, for whatever reason I'd lapsed from reading when I was buried in reading the rest of The Sandman series. This was well before I'd ever finished college (do the math; I was pretty old when I graduated). I realize I'd forgotten so much of it, not just little details, but big chunks of the story.

Barbara Jane Reyesnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6289070.post-81354220461360031202007-09-17T23:17:00.000-07:002008-01-11T23:18:33.029-08:00

[Revised]We, Spoken Here Dearest Poetess, Kindly stop cursing, for it is vulgar and unladylike. Dearest Poetess, Kindly lower your voice, for it is vulgar and unladylike. Dearest Poetess, Kindly stop speaking for us, for it is not your place to tell us who we are. Dearest Poetess, Kindly stop asking questions, for it is not your place to ask us for anything. Dearest Poetess, Please

Barbara Jane Reyesnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6289070.post-25781075000712293452007-09-16T23:18:00.000-07:002008-01-11T23:19:49.586-08:00

Speaking of invasive. I am told mushrooms aren't invasive? But I think I can justifiably say that the mushroom to the right has invaded our otherwise neatly contained pot of succulents and cacti. The mushroom just sort of appeared, yesterday as a bulbous, almost tumorous round mass, which looked as though the pincushion cactus it's now dwarfing was trying to surprise us with something new,

Barbara Jane Reyesnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6289070.post-63868622848730335712007-09-14T23:19:00.000-07:002008-01-11T23:20:52.734-08:00

On Invasive and Exotic Species, from invasive.org: Any species, including its seeds, eggs, spores, or other biological material capable of propagating that species, that is not native to that ecosystem; and whose introduction does or is likely to cause economic or environmental harm or harm to human health.And once again with the excerpt from James Lu's essay, "Enacting Asian American

Barbara Jane Reyesnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6289070.post-66196995694068165862007-09-13T23:21:00.000-07:002008-01-24T09:13:25.301-08:00

This morning, it started with an article that Ms. Corn Shake linked to. There's this image:Macaque and dove in love. Now, I'm sorry. I'm very sorry for perverting all that is adorable in this world, but I couldn't help but think about how we transfer and/or impose our own humanness upon primates. Certainly, that this macaque is a cute little monkey makes it seem benign. Humans and primates,

Barbara Jane Reyesnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6289070.post-82941255274589518782007-09-12T23:22:00.000-07:002008-01-11T23:22:49.259-08:00

These are not white sheets. These are white people.

Barbara Jane Reyesnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6289070.post-62412064375290697292007-09-11T23:23:00.000-07:002008-01-24T09:13:25.301-08:00

...each entwines the other's crabbed advance...The above quote is from the beginning of Nathaniel Mackey's Preface to Splay Anthem, in which he discusses his two serial poems which are at times mirrors of one another, which are at times understudies for one another. He then describes them like this: They are one another's "twin or contagion." con·ta·gion (kən-tā'jən) n. 1.a. Disease

Barbara Jane Reyesnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6289070.post-58350391879506649572007-09-10T23:24:00.000-07:002008-01-11T23:24:43.541-08:00

I wanted to write my own "we" poem, after Oscar wrote his "we" poem, after hearing Nathaniel Mackey speak to his reluctant relationship with the "I," and telling us he prefers the "we" instead. I am thinking about what it means to allow oneself the "we," which is different, I think, from allowing oneself the "I." Allowing oneself the "we," I think brings up issues of community and membership

Barbara Jane Reyesnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6289070.post-65918367214208771782007-09-09T23:25:00.000-07:002008-08-20T11:07:57.656-07:00

Approaching Nathaniel Mackey to thank him for giving us such a dope performance and to ask him to autograph my copy of Splay Anthem, and in a moment of poet groupie, the following dialogue ensued:NM: You're the Poet in San Francisco, aren't you?Me: [!!!!!] [inner girlie squeal] Yes, I ... I am.NM: Yes, I recognized you from your author photo.Me: [!!!!!] [inner girlie squeal] Oh, really? You, um,

Barbara Jane Reyesnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6289070.post-17378434808057305272007-09-06T23:26:00.000-07:002008-01-11T23:26:52.087-08:00

Ah, why I love graphic novel I believe is apparent in the effectiveness of Gene Luen Yang's graphic novel American Born Chinese, in communicating a "minority experience" in America, to what I'd consider "unlikely" to be receptive folks. Then again, I am reminded that comics or graphic novel world is already peopled with social "others" of various types. I'll add that something about the visual

Barbara Jane Reyesnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6289070.post-48439422258650896012007-09-04T23:27:00.000-07:002008-01-11T23:28:00.827-08:00

Oliver de la Paz describes Joseph O. Legaspi's much awaited first book, Imago, as searing, naked, and honest. Now, I am still reading the manuscript version of Joseph's Imago, which I requested from Joseph so that I could conduct a first book interview with him for Boxcar Poetry Review, and I realize I have been needing to take breaks in my reading, precisely for its being so searing, naked, and

Barbara Jane Reyesnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6289070.post-89977899175253646702007-08-30T13:06:00.000-07:002008-01-12T13:07:00.540-08:00

I stayed in yesterday afternoon while my fellow employees were picnicking in much too hot dry heat for my allergies to deal. Not a bad thing, for I was able to have some stillness and quiet and finally read Rafael Alberti's Concerning the Angels (Sobre los Angeles), on which I hadn't been able to concentrate previously. First thing: I am thinking about the angels which appear in Jack Agüeros'

Barbara Jane Reyesnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6289070.post-71560633398807815322007-08-29T13:07:00.000-07:002008-01-12T13:08:00.327-08:00

[Currently on iTunes: War, "The World is a Ghetto."]I started writing about Francisco X. Alarcón's Snake Poems over at Goodreads: I haven't decided whether or not I *like* this book yet. The project itself is very interesting: to create a space of dialogue in response to the (loaded) Spanish translations of (a Spanish Catholic clergyman) Ruiz de Alarcón of a compilation of Nahuatl spells and

Barbara Jane Reyesnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6289070.post-14767969345837164452007-08-27T13:08:00.000-07:002008-01-24T09:13:57.581-08:00

(1) A bit more on Adrian Castro's Cantos to Blood and Honey. There is the long poem, "The Cantos," which I believe is the very center of the book/collection, and which is comprised of sixteen parts. Took me a minute to get rolling on this, and I also had to let go of my need to understand every detail, every allusion in it. So my understanding of "The Cantos," is not an Ezra Pound thing, though

Barbara Jane Reyesnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6289070.post-83373924234073355792007-08-25T13:09:00.000-07:002008-01-12T13:09:52.493-08:00

I was first going to say that it's interesting to have come into Adrian Castro's work via his second book, Wise Fish: Tales in 6/8 Time, which I read maybe a little over a year ago or so. Interesting but not unusual. Now that I've gotten halfway through Castro's first book, Cantos to Blood and Honey, introduced by Victor Hernández Cruz, I am thinking of some basic definitions and distinctions for

Barbara Jane Reyesnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6289070.post-75562277932184942692007-08-24T13:10:00.000-07:002009-07-18T10:51:57.318-07:00

I started and finished Corpse Watching by Sarith Peou in one sitting yesterday evening, and am thinking on Ed Bok Lee's use of the word "reticence," which he used twice — once to describe Peou's lack of social behavior in the Minnesota prison where he is serving time, and another time to describe the work itself — in his foreword. First thing: you can read Laura Moriarty's review here, in which

Barbara Jane Reyesnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6289070.post-25268803213140456312007-08-20T13:11:00.000-07:002008-01-24T09:13:57.581-08:00

I was going to blog about Kon Ichikawa's The Burmese Harp, but then I've gotten sidetracked by a few emails from some local English professors. It's time to start thinking about creating and/or crafting a couple of presentations and/or talks for students, surrounding my work as an APIA/Filipino American author, as well as process issues. October is generally a busy month for me. On the 2nd, I

Barbara Jane Reyesnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6289070.post-46243948370237680932007-08-17T15:54:00.000-07:002007-08-17T15:56:37.514-07:00

Poeta en San Francisco reviewed by Nicole Cartwright Denison at Blue Fifth Review here.

Barbara Jane Reyesnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6289070.post-51561770427172039272007-08-16T13:12:00.000-07:002008-01-12T13:13:52.551-08:00

*Truong Tran*Sarah Gambito*Matthew Shenoda*Craig S. Perez*Brian Dean Bollman *Debbie Yee *Ching-In Chen*Jennifer K. Sweeney *Linh Dinh* * * And while my line-up is still incomplete (I want to tell you all who's promised to send me work, but I don't want them to think I am publicly nagging them — I'm not; I'd just be very happy to include them), I just thought I'd put it out there because I think

Barbara Jane Reyesnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6289070.post-81167625539514096992007-08-14T13:14:00.000-07:002008-01-12T13:14:47.667-08:00

Oscar has a very nice post (and pictures!) on our recent trip to Minnesota for Bryan Thao Worra's On the Other Side of the Eye book launch event at the Loft Literary Center. I was so impressed by how much energy Bryan and Ka invested in this very genuine celebration. Bryan's earned this. And it impresses me to see a poet, his family, and his community work so hard to promote his work.

Barbara Jane Reyesnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6289070.post-83214351244838738412007-08-13T13:15:00.000-07:002008-01-12T13:15:47.490-08:00

posted 13 August 2007, Monday Will definitely write more soon, and will post pictures of Bryan Thao Worra's release party for On the Other Side of the Eye. I understand over 100 books were sold at this very well-attended event at the Loft, and I was so glad to have been a part of it. As well, copies of Poeta en San Francisco sold out, so it was a successful event all around. The Twin

Barbara Jane Reyesnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6289070.post-29706857597550741672007-08-09T13:15:00.000-07:002008-01-24T09:13:57.582-08:00

Many thanks to Karen Liquete of Manila Bulletin, who has just interviewed me for a forthcoming issue. A couple of excerpts:Who are your favorite Filipino poets? Why? In 1993, while I was studying Comparative Literature with Cristina Pantoja-Hidalgo at UP Diliman, I read poems by Marjorie Evasco — excerpts from her book, Dreamweavers, and poems included in the journal Caracoa. What I especially

Barbara Jane Reyesnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6289070.post-10355032900381174632007-08-08T13:17:00.000-07:002009-08-25T21:33:22.788-07:00

Books finished/read last night:Joy Harjo's A Map to the Next World: Poems and Tales, in which I believe the terms, "poems," and "tales" are loosely applied to the writing included herein. This is not to say that there are not many very meaningful things being said here, nor is this to say there are not many wonderful, revelatory poetic moments happening in this work. There is just so much

Barbara Jane Reyesnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6289070.post-51324086465643552612007-08-07T13:17:00.000-07:002008-06-11T10:27:02.799-07:00

posted 7 August 2007, Tuesday We didn't time our viewing of Kon Ichikawa's Fires on the Plain with either Hiroshima Day or the passage of HR 121 and Japanese Prime Minister Abe's categorial denial of the existence of the Imperial Army's systematic sexual abuse of so many women during WWII. It happens that we tend to be quite simpatico with ourselves, so there is that. What I wanted to say

Barbara Jane Reyesnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6289070.post-15394483042650315862007-08-06T13:18:00.000-07:002008-01-12T13:19:26.138-08:00

It's Hiroshima Day, which reminds me of Mahmoud Darwish's Memory for Forgetfulness, which he wrote in Beirut, in 1982, simultaneously commemorating (?) the day of the Israeli invasion of Lebanon and the American atomic bombing of Hiroshima. This book is one long prose poem, reflections (lamentations?) about time, and how one's perceptions of time change based upon the urgency of one's

Barbara Jane Reyesnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6289070.post-64424027881233307132007-08-03T13:20:00.000-07:002009-05-04T10:58:36.116-07:00

One typically does not think of Filipinos when discussing San Francisco poets, certainly Silliman doesn't discuss Filipino poets when discussing San Francisco poetry, but here we've been for decades, not figuratively in the shadow of the North Beach Beat Poet Greats, with Manilatown on the border of Chinatown and the Financial District, decades-long haunted and "invisible," and now reemerging.

Barbara Jane Reyesnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6289070.post-16918241536469519332007-08-02T13:22:00.000-07:002008-01-12T13:22:51.216-08:00

Word.Poet Laureate news here. An excerpt:Mr. Simic, speaking by telephone from his home in Strafford, N.H., described himself as a “city poet” because he has “lived in cities all of my life, except for the last 35 years.” Before settling into academia, he held a number of jobs in New York, including bookkeeping, bookselling and shirt sales. He originally wanted to be a painter, he said, until “I

Barbara Jane Reyesnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6289070.post-24971480308172260432007-08-02T13:20:00.000-07:002008-01-24T15:12:35.262-08:00

When poetry feels like home.Tony Robles and Jack HirschmanJanice Mirikitani and Al RoblesJeff Tagami, Shirley Ancheta, and Oscar PeñarandaOscar Peñaranda, Jaime Jacinto, and meShirley Ancheta and Jeff Tagami Al Robles with guitar accompanistJeff Tagami and Al Robles Oscar with Jaime Jacinto

Barbara Jane Reyesnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6289070.post-24913980927846251182007-08-01T13:23:00.000-07:002008-01-12T13:24:22.343-08:00

So as per Cipher's questions on the "interlingual poetry" going on in Poeta en San Francisco, and since he will be teaching my book next quarter (How does one survive the quarter system?), and as well, since Bei Dao's admonition that writing poetry in languages other than your own makes you a liar, I am thinking about what it means to claim bilingual as my language, as a poet, as a Filipina, etc

Barbara Jane Reyesnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6289070.post-88441209236371115012007-07-31T09:25:00.001-07:002007-07-31T09:26:40.718-07:00

New review of Poeta en San Francisco, written by Tara Betts, in Issue 1 of Make/Shift Magazine here.

Barbara Jane Reyesnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6289070.post-63185728162650261892007-07-30T13:24:00.000-07:002008-01-12T13:25:35.754-08:00

"If you write poetry in languages other than your own, then you are a liar," responded Bei Dao to a question from the editor of his first book of poetry ever. This first book was published in China, and then subsequently banned in China. This editor wanted to know in what language(s) Bei Dao currently writes poetry.I love Bei Dao's candor. I do not know if it's because the language enables him to

Barbara Jane Reyesnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6289070.post-41587321938476123452007-07-29T13:26:00.000-07:002008-01-24T09:13:57.583-08:00

Added: "Killer of Ferdinand Magellan." My only tender point with this piece is making sure that the old cat Filipino Veteran does not come off as a wacky guy. To be somehow "off," or elsewhere with how he comes to believe history, and how he comes to understand the "why's," or how he comes to his own understanding of these "why's," does not a wacky man make. At least I don't think it ought to.

Barbara Jane Reyesnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6289070.post-30505039372999958092007-07-27T13:26:00.000-07:002008-01-24T09:13:57.583-08:00

A bit of a challenge, incorporating numerological reading into this piece, when I can't claim to understand any of it. Then again, my speaker doesn't get it. The old cat does, but he can't look like a loony as she tells us what she retains of his numerological reading. The speaker doesn't think he's a loony, though she finds his story to be humorous. I have made his Filipino Veteran status more

Barbara Jane Reyesnoreply@blogger.com