Sina Queyras

More Lives of Poets

So, the lives of the poets. Or, the non-academic poets. I have known so many variations over the years. The organic farmer poet, the poet who compiles on scraps of paper and carries their poems in plastic bags. The poet who doesn’t work at all, the many versions of the mom poet that include the mom/crossing guard poet and the mom/teacher/organizer/arts promoter poet. There is a couple who alternate working and supporting each other every few years, and the poet who makes films. There are of course, many book store poets, and a few fishermen poets. I have not heard of an opera singing poet, or a surgeon poet, or an architect poet, though I have met doctor poets and lawyer poets. You get the idea. Forgive the inconsistent formatting…and still, there are a few to add. I’ll tack them on the end here when they roll in.

03.20.10 PERMALINK | COMMENTS (2)

Craig Santos Perez

Anthology Spotlight: The Space Between: Negotiating Culture, Place, and Identity in the Pacific

Recently received my copy of this beautifully produced anthology a few weeks ago. Edited by Marata Tamaira, The Space Between: Negotiating Culture, Place, and Identity in the Pacific, is a “collection of graduate student essays, poetry, and art explores the indigenous Oceanic concept vā, a space marked by tension and transformation as well as confluences and connections. The art of Maui-born Roxanne Chasle is featured on the cover and throughout the volume. The Space Between is available electronically via ScholarSpace, the institutional digital archive of Hamilton Library, University of Hawai`i, Mänoa.”

I sent the editor a few questions and she was kind enough to respond:

03.20.10 PERMALINK | NO COMMENTS

Sina Queyras

All sides now: a correspondence with Lisa Robertson

R’s Boat arrived on my desk this week. Once I cracked the cover the book claimed the rest of the morning. It was time allotted for other tasks, but that is what poetry can do. It can arrest. All the other noise of the world shushes, as it should. Poetry cares little for accolades. Good poetry, I was taught, is in conversation. It creates more. On a good day, I believe that is poetry’s ambition. More poetry.

03.18.10 PERMALINK | COMMENTS (4)

Craig Santos Perez

Graphic Poetry Spotlight: Jai Arun Ravine’s The Spiderboi Files

a few years ago, achiote press (the press i co-founded) published a chapbook that included new poetry by Padcha Tuntha-obas and an essay by Alysha Wood titled “Translation as strategy within the work of Padcha Tuntha-obas and other poly-lingual texts.”

Since then, “Alysha Wood” has transformed into Jai Arun Ravine, a “trans-identified, multi-disciplinary writer, dancer, visual and performing artist of mixed race who has previously published and presented work under the names Alysha Wood and Woo Wood. Jai received an MFA in Writing & Poetics from the Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics at Naropa University and a BA in Interdisciplinary Studies from Hollins University. Jai is a proud Kundiman Fellow.” Jai is working on a new project that I am very excited about…

03.16.10 PERMALINK | COMMENTS (3)

Sina Queyras

On the matter of career

Poetry as career is always a contentious subject. My rather light-hearted attempts to open up the discussion this week make it seem as though I have a light-hearted approach, which couldn’t be farther from the truth. It’s an important question. As important as the poet-critic question. And as someone who comes into contact with young would-be poets it’s a question I take very, very seriously.  Perhaps too seriously in fact, because you know, there is a lot of joy in poetry and these discussions make it seem more fraught than fun.

03.16.10 PERMALINK | COMMENTS (40)

Sina Queyras

Who or what is a poet critic and why is the academy so up in Poetry’s face?

What is a poet critic? Can a poet be “successful” outside of the academy? If not, why? Who, or what, is upholding the system that creates (or maintains) a hierarchy in the poetry community that sees the academic poet at the peak? Or is there really a peak? Is the latter simply an illusion that drives the MFA industry?

03.13.10 PERMALINK | COMMENTS (30)

Craig Santos Perez

Teachability, Pedagogy, and Why You Can Easily Find My Book At Used Bookstores

so some say that poetry is dead because it stays within the academic classroom, overlooking how important the classroom is to creating lifelong poetry readers / writers, as well as how important course adoption is to keeping books alive and relevant and in print.

when i design a syllabus, i try to choose books that i think will engage and challenge my students. while at the native american literature symposium this past weekend, i began to think about this process more because i kept hearing an interesting word at many of the panels. this word was….

03.10.10 PERMALINK | COMMENTS (5)