Readings Readings Readings April April April

I'm very pleased to be part of a two-city, two-day, three-poet reading tour this Thursday and Friday. I'll be pretending that I have a new book to promote, alongside two poets who certainly do: Susan Gillis (The Rapids, Brick Books, 2012) and Marita Dachsel (Glossolalia, Anvil Press, 2013). Brad Cran (Ink on Paper, Nightwood Editions, 2013) will be joining us for the first reading, as well.

The details:

It Must Be April - 4 Poets. 4 Books. One Night.
Thursday, April 18th, 2013, 7:30 PM
People's Co-op Books
1391 Commercial Dr, Vancouver
Featuring: Susan Gillis, Marita Dachsel, Brad Cran and Rob Taylor
Free! And free snacks!
Poster:

Planet Earth Reading Series
Friday, April 19th, 2013, 7:30 PM
The Moka House
#103-1633 Hillside Avenue, Victoria
Featuring: Susan Gillis, Marita Dachsel and Rob Taylor
$3
No poster!

In the coming days I'll have more info on these readings, but for now - if you're in Vancouver or Victoria, mark your calendar!

Alive at the Cent(re) Launch - Tomorrow!

All publishers are great. It's not complicated: you publish poetry books, you rock. But we all know that some publishers put a little more love into their endeavours than others. Most set up a web page for your book and organize a launch or two. The really classy publishers even throw in a cheese plate or promotional bookmark or something.

Ooligan Press, out of Portland State University, is putting them all to shame. Not content producing a poetry anthology focused on one city's worth of writers, Alive at the Center is devoted to three (Vancouver, Seattle, and Portland), with launches in each city. Not content putting up a meagre webpage with a book cover and an Amazon link, they produced a website feature where they track the production of the book from idea to completion. Not content just listing the names of the many, many contributors to their hefty anthology, they have gone to the trouble of posting detailed bios on some of them (including myself) on their website.

Three launches in three cities (in three weeks)? A website documenting the production of the book? Ok, pretty impressive. Excellent, you might say.

But do you know when words start to fail you? When you go on a publisher's site and find that they've produced a hand-drawn likeness of your face for promotional purposes:

I have one poem in this anthology. And they never told me about this. Never bragged about all the effort they put in. It's just something that they do, I guess. Yes, folks, when it comes to hustle and heart, Ooligan Press is well ahead of the competition.

Their one slip-up may have been asking me to host the Vancouver launch. It's happening tomorrow night, and I will do my best to channel their eagerness and hustle and heart. My hosting style has been described as a healthy mix of "charming and insulting", so I'll have my work cut out for me. The details:

Alive at the Center Vancouver Launch
Friday, April 12th, 2013, 7:00 - 9:00 PM
Rhizome Cafe
317 E. Broadway, Vancouver
Featuring: quick-fire readings from 20+ contributors!
Free

Yes, "readings from 20+ contributors" was not a typo. We'll be drawing names from a hat to determine the order. It should be eager, big-hearted chaos.  Come out and be a part of it!


p.s. If you want to see more hand-drawn poets, including Vancouver's own Elee Kraljii Gardiner, Chris Gilpin and Susan McCaslin, click here and scroll through the images at the bottom.

Some Comforting Ghanaian Info

Of all the areas of my writing life that fell behind while I travelled, my work with One Ghana, One Voice probably suffered the most. It turns out that being away from internet access has a negative impact on one's ability to run an online magazine.

Once Marta and I began traveling in Tanzania and Malawi, posting on OGOV came to an abrupt stop, which was both sad and ironic - my reintegration into African life and writing resulting in an extended hiatus on my African poetry site. But it did lead to one of the cutest and most heart-warming comment-section exchanges I've ever read (not that there's much competition in the "cute and heart-warming comment exchanges" category):

4 Comments - 1 – 4 of 4

Philip Nsiah said...

Have you closed shop on poetry?

March 19, 2013 at 3:34 PM


Rob Taylor said...

Philip,

No - we're sorry for the extended hiatus. We'll be back with more poems soon!

Rob

March 23, 2013 at 1:45 AM


Nana Agyemang Ofosu said...

Nsiah, Oneghana cannot close.

March 23, 2013 at 4:01 PM


Philip Nsiah said...

I am comforted.

March 29, 2013 at 3:52 AM

I'm very pleased to say that OGOV is back up and running. Our first posting is Prince Mensah's poem for, and reflections on, Chinua Achebe, who died late last month at the age of 82. You can read the poem here and the reflection here.

In addition to getting OGOV back on track, I've volunteered to be part of an exciting new initiative from Poetry Foundation Ghana - the inaugural Ghana Poetry Prize, a $1,000 prize sponsored by the foundation and open to anyone on earth.

I will be one of the judges for the contest, along with Adams Bodomo, Fredericka Alice Dadson, S.K. Okleme, and Martin Egblewogbe (whose short story collection, Mr. Happy and the Hammer of God & Other Stories, is fantastic). You can read all of the judge's bios, and discover just how much larger my face is than anyone else's, here.

Contest entries are due in by June 30th. So get submitting!

Talonbooks Launch - April 10th

When their books have trailers like this one, how can you resist?

Talonbooks is launching its Spring 2013 poetry titles on April 10th. The details:

Talonbooks Spring Poetry Launch
Wednesday April 10th, 2013, 8:00 PM
Anza Club
3 W 8th Ave, Vancouver, BC
Featuring: Readings from new books by Dina Del Bucchia, Wanda John-Kehewin, Mariner Janes, Stephen Collis and Daphne Marlatt
Free, I think (But regardless, maybe buy some books?)

Smoothing the Holy Surfaces + AG Series Ten

It has arrived! Ok, it arrived months ago, but I finally arrived to receive it!

Smoothing the Holy Surfaces is my newest chapbook, and features five poems about love and family and violence (well, more accurately, about "loving family violence"). Copies went out as a bonus supplement to anyone who subscribed to Series Nine of the Alfred Gustav Press' chapbook series, which featured chapbooks by Sandy Shreve, Gerald Hill and Douglas Burnet Smith.

Series Nine. The skinny nameless one is mine!

The chapbook was beautifully designed and assembled, as is always the case with Alfred Gustav chapbooks. I have about ten copies of my own, and if you sweet-talk and/or bribe me I might be willing to part ways with one or two of them.

If you missed out on subscribing to Series Nine, make sure you don't miss Series Ten, too. The lineup for Series Ten was recently announced, and is:

John Donlan, Call Me the Breeze
Maureen McCarthy, Nine Steps to the Door
Tara Wohlberg, ‘Cold Surely Takes the Wood’

Subscriptions are available for $10 in total for the three issues described below ($15 outside Canada). The subscription deadline is April 1st, 2013 (so act quick!). To order, send cash or cheque payable to David Zieroth at:

The Alfred Gustav Press
429B Alder Street
North Vancouver, BC
V7L 1A9

Please remember your mailing address (and include your email address if you wish updated information).

For more information: email dzieroth(at)telus(dot)net and for more background check out the Alfred Gustav Press webpage.

Long event name + Long list of readers = Long on good times

Ok, I know that's not usually the case. But as one of the co-hosts of this event, I'm confident we'll buck the trend.

Along with Daniela Elza, I'm hosting a reading this Thursday to mark the Vancouver launch of the poetry anthology Al-Mutanabbi Street Starts Here. In addition to readings from the book, a number of guest poets will read as well. The details:

A Night of Socially Engaged Writing of Peace, Provocation and Witness
March 28th, 2013, 7-9:30 PM
The Cottage Bistro
4468 Main Street, Vancouver
Guest feature: Cristine Leclerc
Reading from the anthology: John Fisher, Sita Carboni, Bonnie Nish, Fran Bourassa, and more
Special guests: Susan McCaslin, Stephen Collis, Renee Saklikar, Elena E. Johnson, and Juliane Okot Bitek
Suggested Donation: $5

I'm worried what my prolonged exposure to this volume of author bios might do to me. If I snap, you'll wish you had a front row seat. So I'll see you there, right?

Come for the poetry, stay for the host's nervous breakdown!

#GPOYWMO

I'm tired of coming late to all the coolest memes. I think I'm getting in on this one early. Thanks, Mike Hingston!

"Glimpses of Africa" Reading Tomorrow

While still in Zambia I was invited to participate in an ekphrasistic writing project in response to Claudine Pommier's Glimpses of Africa photo exhibit, which is currently on display at the Jewish Community Centre's Zack Gallery. I'd participated in similar projects (which are organized through a partnership between the Gallery and Pandora's Collective) twice previously, and a poem from one of those sessions, "Computer Monitor Ekphrasis", made it into The Other Side of Ourselves. So I was already keen on trying it again, and with a subject like "Glimpses of Africa", how could I refuse?

I've written a couple short poems on the exhibit, which I will share at the reading along with (if time permits) a piece or two that I wrote while traveling. We'll see.

The details:

Music, Poetry & Word Whips inspired by Glimpses of Africa
Thursday, March 21st
7:00-9:00 PM
Zack Gallery
Jewish Community Centre of Greater Vancouver
950 West 41st Ave. Vancouver
Featuring: Music by Nancy Newman and poetry by Jamie Reid, Chelsea Comeau, Daniela Elza, myself and more!
Free!

The fancy poster:

I hope to see you there!

March Dead Poets Reading Series

I'm flying back to Vancouver in two days. As a homecoming treat for myself (with the blessing of the rest of the organizing committee, whose support I garnered with only moderate coercion) I've inserted myself into the lineup of the next Dead Poets reading (March 10th, 3 PM, Project Space). That lineup is:

Jack Gilbert (1925-2012), read by Rob Taylor
Jane Kenyon (1947-1995), read by Bren Simmers
PK Page (1916-2010), read by Susan MacRae
Marina Tsvetaeva (1892-1941), read by Aislinn Hunter

As I blogged about previously, Jack Gilbert's death late last year left me missing poetry, and Vancouver poetry, and the DPRS series/family, very much. So I'm pleased to have the opportunity to share a few of Gilbert's poems that have had an impact on me.

At this point, I've got my reading list down to fourteen poems:

Islands and Figs (Monolithos)
Sects (Monolithos)
Games (Monolithos)
The Forgotten Dialect Of The Heart (The Great Fires)
Tear It Down (The Great Fires)
Recovering Amid The Farms (The Great Fires)
A Stubborn Ode (The Great Fires)
Trying To Have Something Left Over (The Great Fires)
Relative Pitch (The Great Fires)
Alone (The Great Fires)
Music Is The Memory Of What Never Happened (The Great Fires)
Michiko Dead (The Great Fires)
Waiting And Finding (The Dance Most of All)
The Companion (Collected Poems)

The list needs to be culled a bit (ok, more than a bit) for length, which I'm sure I'll get to before the 10th. I might also throw in a quote or two if time allows, which it very much seems like it won't.

Mostly, though, I'll be doing my bit and getting out of the way so the excellent lineup of poets and readers can proceed.

I'm especially pleased to have Aislinn Hunter joining us, Aislinn being the person who first introduced me to Gilbert's work many years ago. It was one of the best introductions of my reading life. Hopefully, at the reading I can facilitate a few introductions between Gilbert and new readers. And maybe help make a few reacquaintances, too.

I hope to see you there.

a kind of fruitful risk

Don Paterson: I do think there's a certain moral obligation towards clarity, because it's an act of communication, isn't it? He said naively. It's two monkeys, and one monkey is trying to say something that's really difficult, and slightly beyond what the language is capable of holding, and is trying to do so by the projection of the principle of equivalence into the syntagm and all that. For that reason alone, I think you're obliged to be as clear as possible. You have a greater obligation to clarity the more complex the idea you're trying to communicate. In terms of the holistic, if your aim is unity and integrity—or at least bringing two ideas together into some kind of genuine synthesis—then you're trying to get, as Hughes says, every word listening to every other word, so the whole structure is self-supporting, a cellular entity. And if you think the point you're making is a moral or ethical one... it strikes me as plainly unethical to present it in language likely to confound the reader. Actually it strikes me as so bleedin' uncontroversial as to be barely worth saying...

Ahren Warner: This is also a position that holds a certain relationship to Modernism, of which you've written elsewhere that one of the 'legacies of Modernism' is a historical trend of poets 'making themselves irrelevant' and an unfortunate paradoxical effect of this on current poets as an imperative to be 'interesting' by which, I think, you were referring towards a tendency towards over-accessibility or over-simplification. I wondered about the distinction, for you, between clarity and simplification?

DP: It's a risk. I mean, I think the risk is sounding simple, simplistic—and Frost, for God knows how long, was dismissed for that very reason. He's blatantly not simple, or anything like it, but that's the risk. I know I've said this before, but I think there's a kind of fruitful risk in also playing it as close to sentimentality as one dares—and maybe a dumb sort of clarity, and adopting an almost pretentious rhetorical height. You fall off the tightrope and make a fool of yourself, but I think you have to risk it. It strikes me that that sort of game is worth playing, because the stakes are a lot higher; potentially you win a lot more in terms of the force of what you communicate, the strength of feeling you can share with or elicit from the reader, the coining of speech that is both familiar and radically destabilizing. But you have to run the risk of looking like a pretentious dick. An idiot. A sentimental buffoon. Many of our late-mod, non-conformist friends never look so silly, but then they risk very little.

But then again... in terms of the Modernist thing... I've got a lot more sympathy than I did even five years ago, because I've been, y'know, speaking to people. Kinsella is eloquent on these matters. I'm not quite the slave to my own prejudices that I used to be. But I still come back to that idea of what kind of work the poem does. The poem can heal, and the poem can also fracture—but in both instances it can present itself as a unity. Its purpose can be to fracture—but I think it fractures more effectively when it's a unity, rather than some kind of... poem-kit that leaves the reader bleeding and covered in glue before they can even start to read it. There are certain kinds of contemporary practice where the stakes are just too low. It depends how you define 'stakes', but I think if you're trying to share stuff with somebody, to move somebody, to propose an idea that we can speak about rather than just laboriously parse and unpack, and then be too knackered to do anything else with—if we're using the poem as more than an excuse to have a conversation about fucking poetry... I think clarity is the way to go.

- Don Paterson, in conversation with Ahren Warner in Poetry London, as posted on Poetry Daily. You can read the whole thing here.

Thanks to Carmine Starnino at the Vehicule Press blog for pointing this interview out... um... two weeks ago. Nothing but breaking news here at silaron these days!