"MURDER, DEATH AND RESURRECTION"

[Apologies ahead of time for replicating a Facebook post]

So some of you care what Eric Gamalinda thinks, and he happens to think my forthcoming book THE OPPOSITE OF CLAUSTROPHOBIA: THE OPPOSITE OF CLAUSTROPHOBIA is the best poetry book I’ve written. Of course, Eric hasn’t read all of my books (who has?) but he’s really talking about the books coming out of my “Murder, Death & Resurrection” (MDR) project, which include THE CONNOISSEUR OF ALLEYS, I FORGOT LIGHT BURNS, and the forthcoming AMNESIA: SOMEBODY'S MEMOIR.  I’m reminded of Eric’s input when X-Peri (thank you curator Daniel Y Harris) just featured an excerpt from THE OPPOSITE OF CLAUSTROPHOBIA which you can see HERE. You might also consider this Black Radish Pre-Publication Special. While all coming out of MDR, these projects are actually very different from each other so my non-biased opinion is that you won’t find it boring to have copies of all of them. (That’s it today for “marketing” moiself, which I do for the presses lovely enough to support my work—thank you all.)

Last but not least, thanks to Irene Koronas for her artwork designed to accompany the excerpt from THE OPPOSITE OF CLAUSTROPHOBIA:

"Komma Klawed Magnolia"

VTY TAUGHT AT U.C. SANTA CRUZ!

I'm delighted to share that Verses Typhoon Yolanda has been picked up for U.C. Santa Cruz's course "Typhoons, Hurricanes and Tsunamis: Global Disaster Narrative" in their Cultural Studies Department.

On Facebook, I'd addressed the book's 133 poets by saying, "You wrote and donated poems to create not just a fundraiser but a needed alternative-to-mainstream-media coverage of Typhoon Haiyan that encompassed colonialism, environmental damage, political corruption, the limits of education and parenting, misogynism ... who knew a typhoon could cover so much? And now you're being studied. Well done!"

Here also is an excerpt from a note from the course's Prof. Danielle Crawford: "I wanted to thank you for sending me a desk copy of Verses Typhoon Yolanda... The collection is both beautiful and moving. It will definitely be a wonderful addition to my class, and will be useful for my research in general.” 

I am grateful for the news.

CONNOISSEUR IS REVIEWED BY THE VOLTA!

I'm very grateful for Marthe Reed's review of The Connoisseur of Alleys in one of my favorite journals The Volta.  The review itself is beautifully written; here's an excerpt:

Though the lines insist on the loss of memory, the logic of the generated poem—the recursion on which the poems are founded—asserts that nothing is ever forgotten. Each poem is composed in eight paragraph-like stanzas, the returns both familiar and new. Tabios’ algorithmic work depends upon the vivid imagery and emotion of the original lines and the wonder to which each new configuration gives rise. Reading these poems, I entered a durational space, a state in which time flows otherwise, according to the orbits of the recurring lines. I lost track of where and when in the drifting patterns the poet has construed, finding myself midmost a language journey: “I forgot the empty chair that awaited us, its expanse the totality of a planet still unexplored.”

Go HERE for entire review.

Marthe also does something that I actually think more reviewers might consider doing -- relating the cover image(s) to the interior poems (in some of my other books, I have an "About the Cover" section where I or the artist discuss the cover art). I see many books where said art is related to the poems but it's not noted by the reviewers. Anyway....of course, I also appreciate what Marthe said about the poems, particularly as she expresses so beautifully.

Connoisseur's front and back cover images were provided by Advaita Patel who had responded to an open call for artists interested in providing art for the book, a call managed by Michelle Bautista. I'm grateful to you all.

Here, actually, is a painting Advaita made as inspired by the poems in Connoisseur:

MAIL DU JOUR

Received this today. I haven't started reading but did look at a few photos, including this I share of Jose Garcia Villa in his New York apartment -- 

I highlight this photo (instead of that Gotham group photo which included that Brit who exoticized him green) because there's a (moving) reference to it in Jessica Hagedorn's essay in The Halo-Halo Review, which will be gone offline as of September (so read it while you can). To wit, when JGV said, "Most people think I live in splendor. This apartment looks like a bodega." Yes, as Jessica notes, "Intense and proud to the end. Weren't they all?"

WHAT I LOOK LIKE IN ROMANIAN

I'm blessed to hear several of my poems have been/will be translated into Romanian. The first such translation just appeared in Contemporary Literary Horizon, no. 3 (May-June), 2016, based in Bucharest, Romania. My thanks to poet and translator Monica Manolachi for opening up this possibility.  Here's a shot of my poem "Profiles" (from Reproductions of the Empty Flagpole, the gift that keeps on giving) translated by Teodore Panait of the University of Bucharest:
(click on images to enlarge)

English

Romanian

TWENTY YEARS LATER...

I expect to finish proofing AMNESIA today when I dither over glossy vs. matte re the cover. While proofing, I paused over the two epigraphs in the book, which quote from among my first year's poems. 2016 is my 20th year in poetry and looking back at my first year, I obviously had certain expectations from Poetry. I am happy to be able to say, 20 years later: Thank you, Poetry -- you did not disappoint.

THE MOST SATISFYING READ

I've experienced so far in 2016 may well be A Picture of Everyone I love Passes Through Me with collages by Lynn Behrendt, text mixed by John Bloomberg-Rissman and remixed by Lynn Behrendt. Almost as soon as I began reading and perusing the book, I began making notes for a review (which I hadn't planned on doing prior to opening the book!).  It's that inspirational! To wit, here's the book and my notes next to my dishwashing liquid -- I had to forgo doing the dishes for the review:

Look for that review in next issue of Galatea Resurrects. Dear Other Reviewers, the deadline is coming up at June 30!