Thursday, September 30, 2004
Tuesday, September 28, 2004
This was in my in-box:
Sent : Tuesday, September 28, 2004 10:01 PM
To : shinyu32@hotmail.com
Subject : book series submissions
I am producing a book series that features a generation, namely the generation born 1960-82. The sole mission is to present this generation's realities, as opposed to simplified cliches and stereotypes created by consumer marketing demographics. We just release Volume 5 bringing to nearly seven hundred the number of voices included in this series, voices from around the world, voices from all cultures and walks of life. I am now accepting Volume 6 submissions.
I hope you'll visit our website and read more and feel motivated to send some material. Previously published pieces work too. Our site is at http://www.evenstar.net/mwe/
I hope this finds you well.
Marlow Peerse Weaver
publisher/editor
In briefly browsing the website - past contributors include Catherine Daly, Jesse Glass, and Erin Belieu.
Sent : Tuesday, September 28, 2004 10:01 PM
To : shinyu32@hotmail.com
Subject : book series submissions
I am producing a book series that features a generation, namely the generation born 1960-82. The sole mission is to present this generation's realities, as opposed to simplified cliches and stereotypes created by consumer marketing demographics. We just release Volume 5 bringing to nearly seven hundred the number of voices included in this series, voices from around the world, voices from all cultures and walks of life. I am now accepting Volume 6 submissions.
I hope you'll visit our website and read more and feel motivated to send some material. Previously published pieces work too. Our site is at http://www.evenstar.net/mwe/
I hope this finds you well.
Marlow Peerse Weaver
publisher/editor
In briefly browsing the website - past contributors include Catherine Daly, Jesse Glass, and Erin Belieu.
Monday, September 27, 2004
Sunday, September 26, 2004
We should have a new semi-permanent address shortly. Can't get a definitive move-in date as contingent on certain artists vacating the studios. "It's not the MacDowell Colony," the manager of the space says to me over the phone, or in other words, still working out the bugs and creating the infrastructure.
Reach me for the next 2 weeks at:
7627 Rolling Acres Drive
Dallas, TX 75248
and I'll be back in Boston on October 7 for the Simmons Chinese Poetry Conference. See some of you than...
Reach me for the next 2 weeks at:
7627 Rolling Acres Drive
Dallas, TX 75248
and I'll be back in Boston on October 7 for the Simmons Chinese Poetry Conference. See some of you than...
Renunciation of one's belongings becomes somewhat easier when faced with a shortage of square footage. At the last minute had to downsize many much loved pieces of furniture and bicycles - 2 chairs which we dragged from a thrift store on Washington Ave in the South End to Brookline 3 years ago, a Huffy Sea Trail 3 speed bicycle with vintage leather seat and my own mountain bike, 2 triangular end tables and some embroidered Chinese pillows which we inherited from our friend Sandy. I watched Door 2 Door pick up our shipping crate this morning - the worker on the forklift swearing, "Man alive, what's in this thing!". But we stayed well under the 2,000 pound max and the crate is safely on the trailer and off it disappears to some warehouse. Now an empty house that needs to be scrubbed down and last minute things to pack. Almost on our way. Flying out to Dallas tomorrow afternoon/evening and off the blog for a little while at least. Death death and more death. I have never felt so unenlightened.
Thursday, September 23, 2004
Date: Tue, 14 Sep 2004 02:38:31 -0400
From: Carla Murphy
Subject: Call for writing - SABLE Lit Mag
SABLE is a UK-based international lit mag dedicated to showcasing the work and cultures of aspiring writers of color. We accept all work but preference is given to those born or living in non-Western countries in an effort to offer exposure to and learn from these writers.
For our Women's Issue (due out March 2005), I am looking for writers to contribute:
- essays (3,000 wds)
- memoir of an unacknowledged woman poet or prose writer
- profile of an author accomplished in one genre and less well known in
another
- poetry for our In Translation section where work is published in both the
indigenous language and English.
Men are welcome to contribute so long as their work focuses on women.
Check out: www.sablelitmag.org
From: Carla Murphy
Subject: Call for writing - SABLE Lit Mag
SABLE is a UK-based international lit mag dedicated to showcasing the work and cultures of aspiring writers of color. We accept all work but preference is given to those born or living in non-Western countries in an effort to offer exposure to and learn from these writers.
For our Women's Issue (due out March 2005), I am looking for writers to contribute:
- essays (3,000 wds)
- memoir of an unacknowledged woman poet or prose writer
- profile of an author accomplished in one genre and less well known in
another
- poetry for our In Translation section where work is published in both the
indigenous language and English.
Men are welcome to contribute so long as their work focuses on women.
Check out: www.sablelitmag.org
Drinking champagne with chambord and making lists of all that's left to do for our move. Just back from a reading in NY last night at Verlaine with Eileen Tabios and Murat Nemet-Nejat. Murat read some fabulous poems from a new Turkish poetry anthology that he edited, including some Orhan Veli translations. Eileen read from her new Menage a Trois book. Eileen in person is effervescent and full of cheer. She had a big contingency at the reading which had an overall interesting audience - largely Asian. Before the reading began, the host called for silence during the reading and for the turning off of all cellphones - it was the most well behaved audience at a poetry reading I had ever seen. Eileen drew the big crowd. We were unfortunately competing with both a Nick Flynn reading and an Eileen Myles premiere at the Poetry Project. It was good to see MacDowell colony friends Tia, Tom, Simeon, and Ferenc, all highly talented and diverse artists. On my way over to Verlaine with Tia, we had a Moby sighting - TEANY is just down the street from Verlaine.
It was a busy 3 days. I stayed in North Soho with another MacDowell friend, a talented sculptor. Spent Tuesday with ex-blogger/poet/collage artist/Naropan Michael Smoler and hung out with my collaborator Ferenc and discussed a book project that we hope to develop on his brother John. Actually got to meet John at the Cyril Weinberg adult day care facility. John has severe Downs Syndrome. He is about 4'8" and whispers and is so totally devoted to his brother. Powerful to see the 2 of them together. Spent some time later with a filmmaker friend who was busy this week meeting with potential backers on a new film. He pointed out that blogging is not really like journaling, as there is an awareness of audience. Very true - so many things that I don't say, that should say. And maybe that will change when I leave Boston. I am entirely too polite. Isn't this after all a pillow book?
Went to the Yoko Ono show at Printed Matter in Chelsea. On the back wall - a large map of the world with ink pads and rubber stamps with the phrase "imagine peace" stamped all over the globe. Eileen's reading reminded me in part of Yoko's spirit - the spirit of participation. The Printed Matter show was very poorly organized, posters and broadsides hung way above eye level and scattered amidst publications for sale. Very hard to take in, but Yoko's work always creating a certain mental spaciousness. Checked out also shows at Brooke Alexander and the Drawing Center, both institutions who seem to support visual textual works. Finally saw Walter de Maria's work at two Dia installations. The Earth Room - what a smell - and how do they keep all that soil from drying up?! Someone please tell me.
We are moving and it is all quite heartbreaking and full of tears and passionate outbursts. I am aware of having avoided groups of loved ones at our party, for the sheer inability to deal with loss and transition. That and the mindfuck enacted on me by one of our NESA guests who took it upon himself to introduce me to enlightenment. An intellectual grasp of one's feelings, is not at all the same as the ability to feel one's feelings in the heart. There is no such thing as being too smart to be fooled by or to choose one's sadness. One simply feels.
It was a busy 3 days. I stayed in North Soho with another MacDowell friend, a talented sculptor. Spent Tuesday with ex-blogger/poet/collage artist/Naropan Michael Smoler and hung out with my collaborator Ferenc and discussed a book project that we hope to develop on his brother John. Actually got to meet John at the Cyril Weinberg adult day care facility. John has severe Downs Syndrome. He is about 4'8" and whispers and is so totally devoted to his brother. Powerful to see the 2 of them together. Spent some time later with a filmmaker friend who was busy this week meeting with potential backers on a new film. He pointed out that blogging is not really like journaling, as there is an awareness of audience. Very true - so many things that I don't say, that should say. And maybe that will change when I leave Boston. I am entirely too polite. Isn't this after all a pillow book?
Went to the Yoko Ono show at Printed Matter in Chelsea. On the back wall - a large map of the world with ink pads and rubber stamps with the phrase "imagine peace" stamped all over the globe. Eileen's reading reminded me in part of Yoko's spirit - the spirit of participation. The Printed Matter show was very poorly organized, posters and broadsides hung way above eye level and scattered amidst publications for sale. Very hard to take in, but Yoko's work always creating a certain mental spaciousness. Checked out also shows at Brooke Alexander and the Drawing Center, both institutions who seem to support visual textual works. Finally saw Walter de Maria's work at two Dia installations. The Earth Room - what a smell - and how do they keep all that soil from drying up?! Someone please tell me.
We are moving and it is all quite heartbreaking and full of tears and passionate outbursts. I am aware of having avoided groups of loved ones at our party, for the sheer inability to deal with loss and transition. That and the mindfuck enacted on me by one of our NESA guests who took it upon himself to introduce me to enlightenment. An intellectual grasp of one's feelings, is not at all the same as the ability to feel one's feelings in the heart. There is no such thing as being too smart to be fooled by or to choose one's sadness. One simply feels.
Sunday, September 19, 2004
Heading to the city tomorrow for a mid-week reading:
Kundiman & Verlaine
presents
an evening of poetry & libation
with readings by:
Eileen R. Tabios
Murat Nemet-Nejat
Shin Yu Pai
Wednesday, September 22
Verlaine
110 Rivington St.
(Ludlow & Essex Sts., Manhattan's Lower East Side)
212-614-2494
$5 suggested donation
Doors open at 5:30pm, reading at 7pm
Open bar, 6-7pm
Sponsored by Grey Goose Vodka & Gekkeikan Sake
*****
Readers' Bios:
Eileen R. Tabios has written several books of poetry including the recently-released Menage A Trois with the 21st Century, as well as a collection of selected prose-poems, Reproductions of the Empty Flagpole. She will release a new book next year entitled I Take Thee, English, For My Beloved which melds together poems, novel, play, art essays. Author of the infamous poetics blog, "The Chatelaine's Poetics" (http://chatelaine-poet.blogspot.com), Tabios is the founder of Meritage Press (http://meritagepress.com ). a ultidisciplinary literary and arts press based in St. Helena, CA, where, as a farmer, she researches the poetry of wine.
Shin Yu Pai is the author of Equivalence (La Alameda, 2003) and Ten
Thousand Miles of Mountains and Rivers (Third Ear Books, 1998). Works on Paper is forthcoming from Convivio Bookworks. She is an artist in residence in the South Side on Lamar Studio Program based at the University of Texas at Dallas.
Murat Nemet-Nejat was born in Istanbul, Turkey, and has been living in the United States since 1959. Poet, translator and essayist, his recent work includes Eda: An Anthology of Turkish Poetry (Talisman, 2004), the poems Steps (Mirage, 2003), A Thirteenth Century Dream (CypherJournal.com, 2004), Aishe Series and Other Harbor Poems, Io's Song and the essayThe Peripheral Space of Photography (Green Integer, 2003). Other works: Pitcher, A Work-In-Process (A,Bacus, 2002); The Blind Cat Black and Orthodoxies(Sun & Moon, 1997); Io's Song (The Little Magazine, CD-Rom issue of visual poetry, 1995); Questions of Accent (The Exquisite Corpse, 1993); I, Orhan Veli (Hanging Loose Press, 1989); The Bridge (Martin Brian & O'Keeffe, London, 1977).
MISSION STATEMENT
Kundiman is a non-profit organization committed to the discovery and cultivation of emerging Asian-American poets. Through instruction and collaboration programs with established Asian-American poets, Kundiman hopes to advance the quality of the work of Asian-American writers. Through literature, we aim to celebrate and promote evidence of strong and positive Asian-American culture and identity.
www.kundiman.org
Kundiman & Verlaine
presents
an evening of poetry & libation
with readings by:
Eileen R. Tabios
Murat Nemet-Nejat
Shin Yu Pai
Wednesday, September 22
Verlaine
110 Rivington St.
(Ludlow & Essex Sts., Manhattan's Lower East Side)
212-614-2494
$5 suggested donation
Doors open at 5:30pm, reading at 7pm
Open bar, 6-7pm
Sponsored by Grey Goose Vodka & Gekkeikan Sake
*****
Readers' Bios:
Eileen R. Tabios has written several books of poetry including the recently-released Menage A Trois with the 21st Century, as well as a collection of selected prose-poems, Reproductions of the Empty Flagpole. She will release a new book next year entitled I Take Thee, English, For My Beloved which melds together poems, novel, play, art essays. Author of the infamous poetics blog, "The Chatelaine's Poetics" (http://chatelaine-poet.blogspot.com), Tabios is the founder of Meritage Press (http://meritagepress.com ). a ultidisciplinary literary and arts press based in St. Helena, CA, where, as a farmer, she researches the poetry of wine.
Shin Yu Pai is the author of Equivalence (La Alameda, 2003) and Ten
Thousand Miles of Mountains and Rivers (Third Ear Books, 1998). Works on Paper is forthcoming from Convivio Bookworks. She is an artist in residence in the South Side on Lamar Studio Program based at the University of Texas at Dallas.
Murat Nemet-Nejat was born in Istanbul, Turkey, and has been living in the United States since 1959. Poet, translator and essayist, his recent work includes Eda: An Anthology of Turkish Poetry (Talisman, 2004), the poems Steps (Mirage, 2003), A Thirteenth Century Dream (CypherJournal.com, 2004), Aishe Series and Other Harbor Poems, Io's Song and the essayThe Peripheral Space of Photography (Green Integer, 2003). Other works: Pitcher, A Work-In-Process (A,Bacus, 2002); The Blind Cat Black and Orthodoxies(Sun & Moon, 1997); Io's Song (The Little Magazine, CD-Rom issue of visual poetry, 1995); Questions of Accent (The Exquisite Corpse, 1993); I, Orhan Veli (Hanging Loose Press, 1989); The Bridge (Martin Brian & O'Keeffe, London, 1977).
MISSION STATEMENT
Kundiman is a non-profit organization committed to the discovery and cultivation of emerging Asian-American poets. Through instruction and collaboration programs with established Asian-American poets, Kundiman hopes to advance the quality of the work of Asian-American writers. Through literature, we aim to celebrate and promote evidence of strong and positive Asian-American culture and identity.
www.kundiman.org
Friday, September 17, 2004
My favorite RSVPs to our party have been from Kort's friend Mint who says, "I'll stop by, please serve low carb." and from my dear friend Walker who says "You don't seem like Texans." Which brings up the inevitable question of what is the stereotypical image that people have of Texans? And what relationship does/can place have to our identities? You can bet that I will not be putting on an extra 50 pounds in what may be the fattest state in America according to Morgan Spurlock's "Super Size Me" or rubbing elbows with Republicans and supporters of Bush. What defines "Texan"? For me, Texas is defined by Southern hospitality, ethnic diversity, great museums, funding for the arts, and the best Mexican food you'll find North of the border, the place where Kort grew up, the place where I lived and labored for a year, had about 100 lovely ladies surrogate mothering me and my fledgling career in the arts, and made many wonderful friends who are still very much in my heart. A launching pad for the next big adventure. And on the down side, there's driving...
Here is what we're serving for our Ganesha feast day farewell soiree - I don't know how much of it is low carb option...
pappadum
various chutneys
vegetarian samosa
turkish delight
ginger senbei
homemade rum balls
Asian mochi
etc.
If you're coming, bring your dancing shoes. We've cleared the living room for dancing for our somatic minded friends!
Here is what we're serving for our Ganesha feast day farewell soiree - I don't know how much of it is low carb option...
pappadum
various chutneys
vegetarian samosa
turkish delight
ginger senbei
homemade rum balls
Asian mochi
etc.
If you're coming, bring your dancing shoes. We've cleared the living room for dancing for our somatic minded friends!
Thursday, September 16, 2004
WORD/DANCE at the Chicago Cultural Center
Word/Dance is a performance event featuring the work of four poets (Jim Harrison, Shin Yu Pai, Dulce Maria Loynaz and John Koethe) and four choreographers (Jan Bartoszek, Mei-Kuang Chen, Maray Gutierrez and Deb Loewen). This event, a partnership between Hedwig Dances and The Poetry Center of Chicago, presents work that focuses on themes of custom and place through the fusion of word and movement. Each of the four works probes these themes from various perspectives.
The evening includes a performance by Wild Space Dance Company, one of Wisconsin’s most creative performing groups. Wild Space Dance Company will perform “Art of the Ordinary,” a new work created by its artistic director Deb Loewen in collaboration with John Koethe, the Poet Laureate of Milwaukee. The dance is based on Koethe’s poem, “North Point North.” It investigates the forces that shape identity in contemporary midwestern culture by melding movement, visual art, spoken word and music.
Hedwig Dances artistic director Jan Bartoszek will choreograph a dance inspired by Jim Harrison’s poem “Moving.” Harrison’s work is anchored in rural northern Michigan where he has lived and worked. Bartoszek spent her youth in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula and the performance work echoes memories of northern life.
Shin Yu Pai’s poem “Recipe for Paper” is the springboard for a dance by Hedwig artistic associate Mei-Kuang Chen. Pai and Chen are collaborating on the performance, a reflection on the ancient Chinese invention of papermaking and its implications in contemporary life.
Maray Gutierrez will render a new work based on Cuban poet Dulce Maria Loynaz’s work, “Cheche.” It is a poem of admiration for a florist and her commitment to her métier.
Hedwig Dances is the dance company in residence at the Chicago Cultural Center. Under the artistic direction of award-winning choreographer Jan Bartoszek, Hedwig Dances performs at local and national venues.
Word/Dance will be performed in the dance studio at the Chicago Cultural Center, 77 E. Randolph on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, November 4 -6, 2004 at 7 p.m. Tickets are $18; students and seniors $15. For information contact Hedwig Dances, 773.871.0872 or www.hedwigdances.com.
Word/Dance is a performance event featuring the work of four poets (Jim Harrison, Shin Yu Pai, Dulce Maria Loynaz and John Koethe) and four choreographers (Jan Bartoszek, Mei-Kuang Chen, Maray Gutierrez and Deb Loewen). This event, a partnership between Hedwig Dances and The Poetry Center of Chicago, presents work that focuses on themes of custom and place through the fusion of word and movement. Each of the four works probes these themes from various perspectives.
The evening includes a performance by Wild Space Dance Company, one of Wisconsin’s most creative performing groups. Wild Space Dance Company will perform “Art of the Ordinary,” a new work created by its artistic director Deb Loewen in collaboration with John Koethe, the Poet Laureate of Milwaukee. The dance is based on Koethe’s poem, “North Point North.” It investigates the forces that shape identity in contemporary midwestern culture by melding movement, visual art, spoken word and music.
Hedwig Dances artistic director Jan Bartoszek will choreograph a dance inspired by Jim Harrison’s poem “Moving.” Harrison’s work is anchored in rural northern Michigan where he has lived and worked. Bartoszek spent her youth in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula and the performance work echoes memories of northern life.
Shin Yu Pai’s poem “Recipe for Paper” is the springboard for a dance by Hedwig artistic associate Mei-Kuang Chen. Pai and Chen are collaborating on the performance, a reflection on the ancient Chinese invention of papermaking and its implications in contemporary life.
Maray Gutierrez will render a new work based on Cuban poet Dulce Maria Loynaz’s work, “Cheche.” It is a poem of admiration for a florist and her commitment to her métier.
Hedwig Dances is the dance company in residence at the Chicago Cultural Center. Under the artistic direction of award-winning choreographer Jan Bartoszek, Hedwig Dances performs at local and national venues.
Word/Dance will be performed in the dance studio at the Chicago Cultural Center, 77 E. Randolph on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, November 4 -6, 2004 at 7 p.m. Tickets are $18; students and seniors $15. For information contact Hedwig Dances, 773.871.0872 or www.hedwigdances.com.
Wednesday, September 15, 2004
I have been a total insomniac for the last few weeks. Strange dreams and restlessness underlying lowgrade anxiety and depression. Yesterday morning, 2 different dreams, 1 of plucking pearls, and another of beetles crawling all over my body and in my bed. I wake up Kort in the midst of my beetle dream, and he says everything is ok, go back to sleep.
It's always harder to take something apart than to build something new.
75% of our apartment is packed and labeled in boxes. And we are having a party here our Saturday. We must be insane. Yet, it's always easier when on our way out to see loved ones in large groups. Hard to coordinate schedules in general, try to get everyone in one big visit.
I have several unexpected job prospects in Dallas. The question always comes down to how to balance work with creativity. What is compromised, what is gained, what is lost. What are the priorities. What is deferred. What can be lived with. What brings joy. What fulfills desire.
It's always harder to take something apart than to build something new.
75% of our apartment is packed and labeled in boxes. And we are having a party here our Saturday. We must be insane. Yet, it's always easier when on our way out to see loved ones in large groups. Hard to coordinate schedules in general, try to get everyone in one big visit.
I have several unexpected job prospects in Dallas. The question always comes down to how to balance work with creativity. What is compromised, what is gained, what is lost. What are the priorities. What is deferred. What can be lived with. What brings joy. What fulfills desire.
I am reflective tonite and recently about leaving Boston and the many poets and people who have come into my life here. Though I feel as if I have always stayed somewhat on the peripherary of the community, there are many people who I am very grateful to for publishing and encouraging my work - Chris, Jim, Dan, and Michael. And still others who invited me to read and to share my work with their audiences - Jim, Afaa, Ruth, Judson Evans, Harris Gardener, Rebecca King, Doug Holder, Elizabeth Doran, Sue Roberts, Ann Killough, Aimee Sands, Rhina Espaillat, Sand T, and the staff of the Cambridge Arts Council. My life is richer because of each of you. When I look back at the evolution of my work up until this moment, I can see very clearly the influence that Boston has had on my work in the past 3 years- a movement towards experiment and play and away from the lyricism that characterized my earlier work, the poems in Equivalence. It's hard to say whether or not this shift in my work is good or bad, merely a shift, and a different phase of my work which will change again as I transplant myself into another community which is new but also familiar in the way that Boston was when I decided to return here in 2001. Poets of Boston, I will remember you.
Went to Chris Rizzo and Christina Strong's poetry reading at Wordsworth tonite. As most people have already heard, the store filed for Chapter 11 and is in the process of closing down. Gone are the cookbooks and child care books that lined the shelves of the reading area. The top floor of the store is completely empty and because the store was technically closed, we had to keep the door locked. Pre-reading some random guy, probably a college student, knocked on the door asking if the "Fantasy Football" Lecture was taking place at the store and walked away when told that there was a poetry reading. Sad and eerie to be there, reflecting back on the vitality and energy of the Boston Poetry Massacre which seemed so very recent. Jim arrived straight off the NY- Boston Fung Wah Bus and the reading got underway. Chris read from his new manuscript "Zing" and some amazing new sonnets. Christina read from a a project, "anti-eratio" which will be published later this year by Anchorite Press. Amanda and James from Gloucester were in attendance with newborn Abigail and a few other regular faces. I am very sad to see the store closing and even sadder to see Jim lose his position.
I just received in the mail American Zen: A Gathering of Poets, a new anthology of Buddhist writings by a range of American poets, edited by Larry Smith and Ray McNiece. You can purchase a copy by printing out the order form here:
http://members.aol.com/_ht_a/lsmithdog/bottomdog/orderform.htm
Please puchase directly from the press vs. ordering on Amazon.
Some of the highlights of this anthology include works by Jane Hirshfield, Anne Waldman, Andrew Schelling, Diane di Prima, Chase Twichell, and Sam Hamill and poems by a wonderful young writer based in California named Mac Lojowsky. Here is one of Mac's poems:
In the Cage of Doves
How long since I sat last?
Two, maybe three years,
except for that one time drunk
on the Lowell River -
but I've been busy.
You know how it goes;
long nights from long days,
long months from long weeks.
At some point,
you find yourself somewhere.
I find myself thinning a pepper tree
above an old farmhouse
in Southern California.
Next to the house sits a dove coop -
constant call of "coo-coo, woo-woo"
through the chainsaw's growl.
On break, I walk over to the cage.
Locked in this cage
sits a stone statue of Buddha
below ten white doves.
The Buddha is buried neck deep in shit.
I go inside the cage,
bow to Buddha,
dove shits on my head.
This is far from Enlightenment,
it is closer to a lesson
that I have not learned.
http://members.aol.com/_ht_a/lsmithdog/bottomdog/orderform.htm
Please puchase directly from the press vs. ordering on Amazon.
Some of the highlights of this anthology include works by Jane Hirshfield, Anne Waldman, Andrew Schelling, Diane di Prima, Chase Twichell, and Sam Hamill and poems by a wonderful young writer based in California named Mac Lojowsky. Here is one of Mac's poems:
In the Cage of Doves
How long since I sat last?
Two, maybe three years,
except for that one time drunk
on the Lowell River -
but I've been busy.
You know how it goes;
long nights from long days,
long months from long weeks.
At some point,
you find yourself somewhere.
I find myself thinning a pepper tree
above an old farmhouse
in Southern California.
Next to the house sits a dove coop -
constant call of "coo-coo, woo-woo"
through the chainsaw's growl.
On break, I walk over to the cage.
Locked in this cage
sits a stone statue of Buddha
below ten white doves.
The Buddha is buried neck deep in shit.
I go inside the cage,
bow to Buddha,
dove shits on my head.
This is far from Enlightenment,
it is closer to a lesson
that I have not learned.
Monday, September 13, 2004
Thanks to Frank Sherlock for the invitation to read at La Tazza this weekend! La Tazza is a funky little bar space on Chestnut Street in a part of downtown Philadelphia also known as "Old City". Good sound system with a great juke box cranking out tunes by Jeff Buckley and the Smiths. The majority of the audience members were there to hear local Philly poet Ish Klein, but we had a nice turn out of about 20 or so. Ish's long poems read like dramatic monologues. Picked up a couple of new magazines courtesy of C.A. Conrad, a copy of Black Spring, and a sound poetry CD produced by Conrad. Reconnected with an old classmate from Naropa, Tim Martin, who is now based in Bryn Mawr, just outside of the city. Tim runs King of Mice Press which is currently soliciting for chapbook sized manuscripts for his Vole series. (For further details, check out his post on the Buffalo List.) Also met Molly of Molly's Bookstore on 9th street who was an early Naropan in the days of Sam Kashner. She now edits with Ish a little zine called "Joss".
Spent Sunday at the Philadelphia Art Museum and Rodin Museums. Sadly the Mutter Museum of medical oddities was closed for a special event. Of all the museum spaces I have been to, the Philly Museum wins in terms of environment and integration of architectual spaces. The collections include an in-door Japanese tea garden, a reconstructed palace from Beijing, that once belonged to Duke Chao, one of the emperor's eunuchs, and a beautiful gallery for Indian artwork that incorporates the ruins of three separate shrines, each centuries old, to create the interior of a temple with figurative columns and intricate carving. Each of these galleries includes an educational video that is subtly incorporated into the design of the gallery. To view the videos, the viewer has to push a button to start the tape - in this way, the video never runs on a continuous loop, and so the sacred space of the gallery is not constantly disrupted with noise and commentary. We headed straight for Duchamp's "The Given" - the last piece made in the artist's lifetime, commissioned for the Museum. The viewer must walk thru a gallery of Duchamp's ready mades (including the famous urinal) back to a dimmed room where one is confronted with a large cracked wooden door with two eyeholes. You get up close and peer thru the holes and are greeted with the image of a fallen figure holding a lighted lamp with a waterfall in the background. Strange and beautiful work. Other notable works at the Philly Museum included Cy Twombly's series "50 Days at Iliam". This is a mainly textual work applied to large scale canvases. As a whole, the series worked, but there were definitely stronger pieces than others, like the family tree of the "House of Priam". On our way out the door, we stopped to see Irving Penn's latest photographic series - "Underfoot" - a series of close-up images of gum and trash on concrete that turn these bits of debris underfoot into abstract shapes and form.
The Rodin Museum is just down the street and boasts the largest collection of Rodin outside of Paris. This collection had in its possession a number of studies and plaster castings that showed the artist's process throughout final execution of his works. My favorite piece at the Rodin museum, a small work called "Figure of Balzac as a seal" - literally, the author, elongated and drawn out, wrapped in a cape, with one paw forward, looking very seal-like.
Spent Sunday at the Philadelphia Art Museum and Rodin Museums. Sadly the Mutter Museum of medical oddities was closed for a special event. Of all the museum spaces I have been to, the Philly Museum wins in terms of environment and integration of architectual spaces. The collections include an in-door Japanese tea garden, a reconstructed palace from Beijing, that once belonged to Duke Chao, one of the emperor's eunuchs, and a beautiful gallery for Indian artwork that incorporates the ruins of three separate shrines, each centuries old, to create the interior of a temple with figurative columns and intricate carving. Each of these galleries includes an educational video that is subtly incorporated into the design of the gallery. To view the videos, the viewer has to push a button to start the tape - in this way, the video never runs on a continuous loop, and so the sacred space of the gallery is not constantly disrupted with noise and commentary. We headed straight for Duchamp's "The Given" - the last piece made in the artist's lifetime, commissioned for the Museum. The viewer must walk thru a gallery of Duchamp's ready mades (including the famous urinal) back to a dimmed room where one is confronted with a large cracked wooden door with two eyeholes. You get up close and peer thru the holes and are greeted with the image of a fallen figure holding a lighted lamp with a waterfall in the background. Strange and beautiful work. Other notable works at the Philly Museum included Cy Twombly's series "50 Days at Iliam". This is a mainly textual work applied to large scale canvases. As a whole, the series worked, but there were definitely stronger pieces than others, like the family tree of the "House of Priam". On our way out the door, we stopped to see Irving Penn's latest photographic series - "Underfoot" - a series of close-up images of gum and trash on concrete that turn these bits of debris underfoot into abstract shapes and form.
The Rodin Museum is just down the street and boasts the largest collection of Rodin outside of Paris. This collection had in its possession a number of studies and plaster castings that showed the artist's process throughout final execution of his works. My favorite piece at the Rodin museum, a small work called "Figure of Balzac as a seal" - literally, the author, elongated and drawn out, wrapped in a cape, with one paw forward, looking very seal-like.
Thursday, September 09, 2004
Two calls for work:
"The New Wave of First-Generation Women" to be published by Seal Press, fall 2005
First-generation women straddle two cultures, often struggling to carve an identity that finds a place in both, which may or may not be accepted by either, a struggle that I am intimately familiar with. My father emigrated from Greece when he was eighteen and married my mother, an Irish-American, against his family's wishes a recipe that served up multiple culture clashes to me and my siblings.
Many foreigners immigrate to the U.S. to give their children a better life than they had, a motivation that weighs heavily on their offspring. Adolescent girls from all walks of life struggle with identity; first-generation girls struggle with additional layers of cultural identity and family expectations of what females should do and be, fueled by their mother-country's mores.
I am seeking first-person essays from women in their late teens through early thirties who:
Immigrated to the U.S. during childhood.
Are American-born of at least one foreign-born parent who immigrated as an adult.
This anthology aims to spark a conversation about the generation of first-generation women who will help shape the 21st century‹specifically women in their late teens through early thirties‹and ways in which the sociopolitical climate has come into play in their lives. This anthology will collect emerging as well as established writers and give voice to all women. Essays from women of all nationalities, religions, belief systems, socioeconomic classes, sexual orientations, and abilities are encouraged to submit.
Here is a list of possible topics:
White but Not White: What it means to check "other."
Tongue-Twisted: True tales of full immersion.
Home at Work: Growing up in the family business.
Not So Great Expectations: Surviving your parents' American dream.
Minority with a Capital M: Coming of age as a minority of minorities.
Empty Promised Land: Fleeing persecution only to find more of the same with a different spin.
Legal Alien and Proud: Arguments against citizenship.
I Pledge Allegiance: What citizenship means to you.
Eye of the Beholder: Body image and beauty clashes between the old and new country.
Permanent Makeover: Fitting into the dominant culture via radical means.
Borderlines: Issues special to those who hail from or whose families hail from one of the countries bordering the U.S.
Ethnic Enclaves: Why you live in Chinatown or Little Italy or Polish Hill.
The Hyphenated American: Carving a path between cultural identities to find your voice.
Gender-Bending Firsts: First-generation women who have struggled with sexual identity and/or to be accepted in nontraditional roles.
Immigration Backlash: What immigration means post-9/11.
Going It Alone: Women who left family behind to sponsor husbands and/or children after becoming citizens themselves or who have obtained legal residence status and held down jobs that allow them to send money home to afford their families more opportunities.
Native Informant: Being called on to represent "your people" to "real" Americans.
Born in the U.S.A.: American-born females of foreign-born parents who prefer the American landscape and why.
About the Editor
Angela Jane Fountas is a writer, editor, and creative writing teacher. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in Diagram, Faultline, Pindeldyboz, Rewrite, Uncapped, and The Writer. Her short story "Lydia" was nominated for a 2004 Pushcart Prize. She earned her MFA in creative writing from the University of Alabama and founded Writehabit.org, a website in support of emerging writers, in 2001.
Submission Guidelines
Previously published pieces and simultaneous submissions are okay (but
please make this clear in your cover letter).
Deadline: November 1, 2004
Length: 3000 to 6000 words, negotiable
Format: Essays should be word-processed, double-spaced, and paginated and
should include your name, mailing address, email address, and telephone
number
Include: Cover letter with brief bio
Fee: $100 fee on publication, plus two copies of the book
Submission Instructions
Electronic submissions are preferred. Email submissions as .doc or .rtf
format to anthology@writehabit.org. If you must mail your submission, send
it to Angela Fountas at 10039 49th Ave NE, Seattle, WA 98125.
Any questions? Email Angela Fountas at anthology@writehabit.org.
The Risks of Sunbathing Topless and Other Hilarious Stories from the Road: A Travelers' Anthology
We travel to escape, to reinvent, to reconnect, and for adventure. We travel because it's fabulous or freeing‹or because it's supposed to be. There are other reasons, too: to spice up a relationship or leave one behind; to renew a friendship or find a fling; to feel deprived, to feel dangerous; above all, travel holds surprise.
We travel with girlfriends, boyfriends, friends, spouses, kids; we travel alone, or with people we just met yesterday on the boat. Above all, we travel as women: Only we know just how messy an adventure can get if we forget the Tampax on the 3-day kayaking trip, or fall in love in a place where condoms aren't sold‹and this anthology is the place to tell all such hilarious travel tales.
I'm looking for witty, unpredictable first-person essays about women's humorous mishaps and comic misadventures on the roads of the world (or the roads of your home state). Writing beyond the anecdotal is encouraged; the focus on humor shouldn't preclude touching on larger issues about relationships, growing older, career, and of course, the singular state of being female. Foremost, the essays should be funny and fun to read.
So, this is calling all backpackers, 5-star hotel lovers, hikers, beach loungers, partyers, and all others who can bare the truth about their most intriguing, unexpected, and hilarious moments away from home. Whether you love Travel and Leisure and Lonely Planet‹or you firmly believe that a place isn't worth visiting once it's on "Rue Rick Steves" I'm hoping to hear from you. Essays can be surprising, revealing, or poignant--but above all, they should be funny and relevant.
Submission guidelines:
3,000-5,000 words, accompanying itineraries or funny travel tips welcome.
Essays should be typed or word-processed, double-spaced and paginated.
Include your address, phone number, email address, and a short bio with your manuscript.
No manuscripts will be returned without an SASE.
Deadline: September 10th
Fee and two copies of the book upon publication
Submission instructions:
Email submissions as Word attachments with email title "passport" to
chynoweth@kendra.com or mail to:
Kate Chynoweth
331 Bellevue Avenue East #306
Seattle, WA 98102
"The New Wave of First-Generation Women" to be published by Seal Press, fall 2005
First-generation women straddle two cultures, often struggling to carve an identity that finds a place in both, which may or may not be accepted by either, a struggle that I am intimately familiar with. My father emigrated from Greece when he was eighteen and married my mother, an Irish-American, against his family's wishes a recipe that served up multiple culture clashes to me and my siblings.
Many foreigners immigrate to the U.S. to give their children a better life than they had, a motivation that weighs heavily on their offspring. Adolescent girls from all walks of life struggle with identity; first-generation girls struggle with additional layers of cultural identity and family expectations of what females should do and be, fueled by their mother-country's mores.
I am seeking first-person essays from women in their late teens through early thirties who:
Immigrated to the U.S. during childhood.
Are American-born of at least one foreign-born parent who immigrated as an adult.
This anthology aims to spark a conversation about the generation of first-generation women who will help shape the 21st century‹specifically women in their late teens through early thirties‹and ways in which the sociopolitical climate has come into play in their lives. This anthology will collect emerging as well as established writers and give voice to all women. Essays from women of all nationalities, religions, belief systems, socioeconomic classes, sexual orientations, and abilities are encouraged to submit.
Here is a list of possible topics:
White but Not White: What it means to check "other."
Tongue-Twisted: True tales of full immersion.
Home at Work: Growing up in the family business.
Not So Great Expectations: Surviving your parents' American dream.
Minority with a Capital M: Coming of age as a minority of minorities.
Empty Promised Land: Fleeing persecution only to find more of the same with a different spin.
Legal Alien and Proud: Arguments against citizenship.
I Pledge Allegiance: What citizenship means to you.
Eye of the Beholder: Body image and beauty clashes between the old and new country.
Permanent Makeover: Fitting into the dominant culture via radical means.
Borderlines: Issues special to those who hail from or whose families hail from one of the countries bordering the U.S.
Ethnic Enclaves: Why you live in Chinatown or Little Italy or Polish Hill.
The Hyphenated American: Carving a path between cultural identities to find your voice.
Gender-Bending Firsts: First-generation women who have struggled with sexual identity and/or to be accepted in nontraditional roles.
Immigration Backlash: What immigration means post-9/11.
Going It Alone: Women who left family behind to sponsor husbands and/or children after becoming citizens themselves or who have obtained legal residence status and held down jobs that allow them to send money home to afford their families more opportunities.
Native Informant: Being called on to represent "your people" to "real" Americans.
Born in the U.S.A.: American-born females of foreign-born parents who prefer the American landscape and why.
About the Editor
Angela Jane Fountas is a writer, editor, and creative writing teacher. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in Diagram, Faultline, Pindeldyboz, Rewrite, Uncapped, and The Writer. Her short story "Lydia" was nominated for a 2004 Pushcart Prize. She earned her MFA in creative writing from the University of Alabama and founded Writehabit.org, a website in support of emerging writers, in 2001.
Submission Guidelines
Previously published pieces and simultaneous submissions are okay (but
please make this clear in your cover letter).
Deadline: November 1, 2004
Length: 3000 to 6000 words, negotiable
Format: Essays should be word-processed, double-spaced, and paginated and
should include your name, mailing address, email address, and telephone
number
Include: Cover letter with brief bio
Fee: $100 fee on publication, plus two copies of the book
Submission Instructions
Electronic submissions are preferred. Email submissions as .doc or .rtf
format to anthology@writehabit.org. If you must mail your submission, send
it to Angela Fountas at 10039 49th Ave NE, Seattle, WA 98125.
Any questions? Email Angela Fountas at anthology@writehabit.org.
The Risks of Sunbathing Topless and Other Hilarious Stories from the Road: A Travelers' Anthology
We travel to escape, to reinvent, to reconnect, and for adventure. We travel because it's fabulous or freeing‹or because it's supposed to be. There are other reasons, too: to spice up a relationship or leave one behind; to renew a friendship or find a fling; to feel deprived, to feel dangerous; above all, travel holds surprise.
We travel with girlfriends, boyfriends, friends, spouses, kids; we travel alone, or with people we just met yesterday on the boat. Above all, we travel as women: Only we know just how messy an adventure can get if we forget the Tampax on the 3-day kayaking trip, or fall in love in a place where condoms aren't sold‹and this anthology is the place to tell all such hilarious travel tales.
I'm looking for witty, unpredictable first-person essays about women's humorous mishaps and comic misadventures on the roads of the world (or the roads of your home state). Writing beyond the anecdotal is encouraged; the focus on humor shouldn't preclude touching on larger issues about relationships, growing older, career, and of course, the singular state of being female. Foremost, the essays should be funny and fun to read.
So, this is calling all backpackers, 5-star hotel lovers, hikers, beach loungers, partyers, and all others who can bare the truth about their most intriguing, unexpected, and hilarious moments away from home. Whether you love Travel and Leisure and Lonely Planet‹or you firmly believe that a place isn't worth visiting once it's on "Rue Rick Steves" I'm hoping to hear from you. Essays can be surprising, revealing, or poignant--but above all, they should be funny and relevant.
Submission guidelines:
3,000-5,000 words, accompanying itineraries or funny travel tips welcome.
Essays should be typed or word-processed, double-spaced and paginated.
Include your address, phone number, email address, and a short bio with your manuscript.
No manuscripts will be returned without an SASE.
Deadline: September 10th
Fee and two copies of the book upon publication
Submission instructions:
Email submissions as Word attachments with email title "passport" to
chynoweth@kendra.com or mail to:
Kate Chynoweth
331 Bellevue Avenue East #306
Seattle, WA 98102
This bizarre Japanese video game reminded me of a certain poetry party that happened earlier this summer....
Received in the mail the upcoming exhibitions scheduled at the Rose Museum at Brandeis. In late September, look for the opening of Francesco Clemente's "Tandoori Satori and Commonplace". And just opened in the Rose Building is "The Empty City" by Yun-Fei Ji - we saw this show at the Provisions Library in Washington D.C. last month and this is a MUST see. The artist presents a visionary view of the displaced inhabitants and environmental destruction of China's Three Gorges Dam project through the use of traditional Chinese inkpainting techniques.
We took a break from packing tonite to eat at our favorite local Taiwanese restaurant Shangri-La. Here were our fortune cookie messages which seemed like very ausipicious coincidence and made us laugh out loud:
Shin Yu's
"All the effort you are making will ultimately pay off."
Kort's
"This is a good time to consider formally helping others."
Shin Yu's
"All the effort you are making will ultimately pay off."
Kort's
"This is a good time to consider formally helping others."
Wednesday, September 08, 2004
Michael Rothenberg, author of Unhurried Vision (La Alameda Press, 2003), is looking for new works:
I am looking for Elegies for a feature of Big Bridge of Elegaic writing. They can be personal about friends or family or written towards a country. But having lost a very best friend recently and having heard from others who have had loss recently, it seems that it would good to allow for a place of mourning, or elegaic feelings, and the forms these expressions take.
Please contact me at walterblue@bigbridge.org
Best,
Michael Rothenberg
www.bigbridge.org
I am looking for Elegies for a feature of Big Bridge of Elegaic writing. They can be personal about friends or family or written towards a country. But having lost a very best friend recently and having heard from others who have had loss recently, it seems that it would good to allow for a place of mourning, or elegaic feelings, and the forms these expressions take.
Please contact me at walterblue@bigbridge.org
Best,
Michael Rothenberg
www.bigbridge.org
Polvo is looking for writers, artists, and poets for our next issue of Polvo Magazine coming out early October 2004. Polvo magazine is great exposure to Chicago's artistic community for emerging and established artists.
Polvo's newest issue will be centered on the exploration of the human body and ritual practices. If your work is focused on these topics submit it to polvoarte@yahoo.com.
Requirements:
1. Essays should not exceed 250 words
2. Images should be high resolution JPEGS with 250DPI.
3. All submissions should be accompanied with a 3-line bio and contact information.
***DEADLINE: SEPTEMBER 15, 2004***
ABOUT POLVO MAGAZINE: Polvo Art Studio's newsmagazine is edited and contributed by a volunteer, international team of artists, critics, and writers. Polvo's magazine is distributed to Chicago's artistic and cultural community as well as in various cities across the USA, South Africa (Johannesburg), Australia and Mexico. Polvo is published through Polvo Art Studio, a Chicago-based alternative art space http://www.polvo.org.
Polvo's newest issue will be centered on the exploration of the human body and ritual practices. If your work is focused on these topics submit it to polvoarte@yahoo.com.
Requirements:
1. Essays should not exceed 250 words
2. Images should be high resolution JPEGS with 250DPI.
3. All submissions should be accompanied with a 3-line bio and contact information.
***DEADLINE: SEPTEMBER 15, 2004***
ABOUT POLVO MAGAZINE: Polvo Art Studio's newsmagazine is edited and contributed by a volunteer, international team of artists, critics, and writers. Polvo's magazine is distributed to Chicago's artistic and cultural community as well as in various cities across the USA, South Africa (Johannesburg), Australia and Mexico. Polvo is published through Polvo Art Studio, a Chicago-based alternative art space http://www.polvo.org.
Tuesday, September 07, 2004
I just sold my 10 year old Fender Squire guitar to a woman in a girlpunk band called "The Poundcakes". Sob. I know it will go to a good home where it will be played and treated well, yet a feeling of sadness about letting go of this belonging. I do very much feel that certain objects, particularly musical instruments and cameras must be played or used and not removed from circulation.. so better perhaps that it goes back into the world. I bought that guitar for my 19th birthday at the Guitar Center on Comm Ave in Boston and never learned to play it, and than last year an ex-boyfriend gave me a beautiful red restored Fender made in Mexico "taco-caster" with a note that said, "Here is your next challenge." But there are so many challenges! And here I am almost a year older, 29 on the 28th and we depart for Dallas the day before. Double sigh. Right now, I could stand a few less challenges.
I have some mixed feelings on "The Brown Bunny", Vincent Gallo's new film which I saw this weekend at the Kendall. The film moves at what feels at times like a glacial pace - long sequences of the opening motorcycle race, the landscape from the inside of a car, driving thru small town America - sequences that extend as long as the melancholic songs chosen to accompany the images. The dialogue is "minimalist" but also at times simply weak and terribly written. Example - Bud Clay, the protagonist, randomly finds himself in a pet shop. The viewer sees him checking out the rabbits. "Are these the bunnies?" Clay asks. He fires off a round of questions related to bunnies - how long they live - on average 5-6 years. All bunnies? Yes. That is supposed to tie back some how to the brown bunny which belongs to Clay's ex-girlfriend, Daisy. The assumption being that the rabbit outlived 5-6 years, and perhaps also the couple's relationship. I think that part of the problem with this film is that Clay is not fully developed as a character, and both somewhat emotionally repressed and depressed, and as a result, the viewer/audience can have a tendency to associate Gallo's identity/ego with the film's main character which than makes the artist subject to all sorts of accusations of narcissism and self-servitude and ego masturbation. I think it was a risky film to make, though it definitely had its problems, and the fact that people are talking about it, lingering over it, even if they hated it, says something. I'm left to contemplate the misogynistic tendency towards women in the film and to question what was Bud's experience of love, real, delusional, self-centered, or simply naive, if he could allow the person that he loved to suffer beyond reason and to not intervene.
Saturday, September 04, 2004
Friday, September 03, 2004
Yesterday, a black cricket appeared in the windowsill of our stairwell and has since disappeared. Crickets are good luck in the Chinese culture, so let's hope this little creature is bringing us some luck during a very difficult time and not like eating through boxes of books and such. Hard to think of crickets without recalling my days at the Dallas Museum of Art where there was a serious cricket infestation, in the elevators, in the offices, in the hallways. It didn't bother me so much - liked to think of the idea of all that energy converging.
Now officially in the season of "last month's rent". Have started gathering books and clothes into boxes. Putting items for sale on Craig's list. Sold Kort's desk to a Harvard grad student studying Chinese history this morning. On the way to his car, one of the drawers fell out, hit the ground, and cracked. I think he was too preoccupied to notice but Kort and I picked up the drawer and brushed the dirt off of it and I felt really sad. A perfectly good desk ruined.
Moving is stressful and expensive and time consuming and did I say stressful?
Items for sale:
Fender strat/squire w/ soft case: $150
Tripod: $20
Laserjet 3100 (fax, copier, printer unit): $200
Lacie CD Burner, 32 x 10 x 40 speed, MAC compatible: $100
Moving is stressful and expensive and time consuming and did I say stressful?
Items for sale:
Fender strat/squire w/ soft case: $150
Tripod: $20
Laserjet 3100 (fax, copier, printer unit): $200
Lacie CD Burner, 32 x 10 x 40 speed, MAC compatible: $100
Thursday, September 02, 2004
Wednesday, September 01, 2004
I watched Jacques Demy's "The Umbrellas of Cherbourg" last night. A friend and filmmaker, Michael Wilson, recommended this film and cited it as "a movie that changed my life". The film was made in 1964 and re-released in 1990. The story centers on two main characters, Genevieve (a young Catherine Deneuve) and Guy. Genevieve is 16 years old and works in her mother's umbrella shop where business is barely afloat. Genevieve loves Guy, a 20 year old mechanic who works at Aupin's gas station who gets drafted for the Algerian War. The two are very much in love but when Guy gets drafted, Genevieve doesn't have the emotional fortitude to wait it out for his return. Genevieve and Guy make love together on their last night and the next day he goes off to war. Genevieve gets pregnant and her mother tries to set her up with Roland, a traveling businessman in the jewel business. For Roland, it was love at first sight - Genevieve and her mother, Mrs. Emery had walked into a jewelry store and tried to sell her mother's pearl necklace to make rent on their shop. The owner of the jewelry store offered to consign the piece, but wouldn't purchase it outright. Mrs. Emery gets upset, and Roland, who is a friend of the jewelry merchant and observes the entire interaction, offers to buy Mrs. Emery's necklace. Mrs. Emery keeps Roland on the hook and doesn't tell him about Genevieve's pregnancy hoping that in time, her daughter will come around to Roland's overtures. And she does, she eventually marries him, after Roland tells her that they will raise her child together as their own. Months later, Guy returns from the war and learns of Genevieve's news from his dying Aunt Elise. Guy has been injured in the war and loses his job at the gas station shortly after returning for losing his temper. Aunt Elise dies when he is out drinking and spending the night with a different Genevieve. His Aunt's caregiver, a young beautiful woman named Madeleine, delivers the news to Guy. Guy is all alone and asks for Madeline to stay and help him. Eventually, he decides to use his inheritance from his dead Aunt to go into business for himself, opening his own gas station. Guy turns his life around and credits Madeleine for her support and faith throughout the hardships. He asks her to marry him, and Madeline who has always clearly had affections for Guy accepts. Years later, they are married and have a young child together, Francois. It's Xmas eve and Guy is working at the filling station. Genevieve pulls up in fancy car, wearing a fur coat, with her daughter (also Francois) in the passenger seat. Genevieve gets out of the car to talk to Guy in private, few things are said, and she gets back in her car and leaves. The movie ends shortly thereafter.
"Umbrellas of Cherboug" is an opera, Demy's tribute to the Hollywood musical. Michel LeGrand composed the score. The interior scenes are beautifully shot in vivid color - rich French wallpapers, peeling outer walls -- the saturated colors in this film evoked for me the beauty of Wong Kar-Wai's "In the Mood for Love", and the same general historical period. What works for this film - a simple plot centering on a few key characters, the timeless theme of love and loss, and the hardships of war.
"Umbrellas of Cherboug" is an opera, Demy's tribute to the Hollywood musical. Michel LeGrand composed the score. The interior scenes are beautifully shot in vivid color - rich French wallpapers, peeling outer walls -- the saturated colors in this film evoked for me the beauty of Wong Kar-Wai's "In the Mood for Love", and the same general historical period. What works for this film - a simple plot centering on a few key characters, the timeless theme of love and loss, and the hardships of war.
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