Mark Doty's Deep Lane

I attended Mark Doty's reading from his book Deep Lane on Thursday at the Lillian Vernon Creative Writing House. He was much older than I thought, and read his poems in a calm, matter-of-fact manner, even thought he had just been caught in a thunderstorm coming from Long Island. Two poems stuck out for me. One of them was "Deep Lane", which was an actual road near his house in Long Island. I was surprised that such an acclaimed poet could be inspired by something so simple as the road in front of his home. He commented that it was the most beautiful name for a road that he had ever heard. The other poem he read was called "Ghost" and it was about his family. Doty said that he has not written a poem about his family for many years, especially after his father did not speak to him for the last five years of his life. It was interesting to hear how artists have periods in their lives where they write about certain topics, or don't write about certain topics. The poem was really interesting though. One thing from the poem that I remember is that a man is sitting on the bench, and when he gets up, he notices that his left leg is a couple inches shorter than the right. And, I thought that it was such an interesting way to represent grief. The death of one person affects you as a leg being shorter would. In that way, grief is annoying, always, and irreparable.

Reading Review: "Leaves of Grass" at Housing Works

(First of all, let me just say that I don't take my Whitman poetry lightly, because he is my absolute favorite poet and Song of Myself is probably my favorite poem of all time.)

On April 27th, I attended (most of) a Walt Whitman reading of Leaves of Grass in honor of National Poetry Month. Before even going, I was really excited about this because, as mentioned, Whitman is very special to me. I wasn't sure what to expect, however, and I was pleasantly surprised by how enthusiastic everyone (audience and readers alike) was. The event ran from 1-4 pm which was a long time, so I stayed until about 3 before I decided to make my commute back to LI.

For those of you who don't know, the Housing Works Bookstore is located in SoHo, not too far away from campus at all, and I would definitely check the place out (event or no event) if you haven't gone there already. It's a really nice space and draws a fantastic crowd-- everyone there was really happy to be there and really enthusiastic about Whitman, which was nice because I don't think I actually knew anyone who enjoyed his work that much.

That being said, I've read Leaves of Grass so I kind of knew what to expect. I was most excited for Song of Myself, which was read wonderfully. One of the readers happened to be a TA I had last semester for my American Literature class (no surprise, she was OBSESSED with Whitman actually), and she did a really great job. I ended up sending her an email a few days later complementing her on a job well done! There are some pictures of the event up on flickr and other various sources of the internet if you feel like checking out any of the speakers! They were all really great, and there were a LOT of them (52 to be exact) so that was a bit overwhelming.

Besides the actual reading of Song of Myself, my favorite part of this event was the vibe. It was a buzzing, cheery crowd that was really respectful of the readers and knew when to talk and when not to talk (something that definitely irritates me about crowds is when they're rude and don't stop talking once a speaker has started). Despite not knowing anyone prior to arriving, I actually made some good conversation with other people there that I hadn't known, and there were a decent amount of literature/creative writing undergrads that I had never met before, so that was a great experience.

Overall, it was a great experience and I'd absolutely go to an event there again, if the opportunity arose!

Reading Review: Children's reading on Long Island

At the end of April, I went to Barnes and Noble with my niece and nephew (2 and 3) to a children's reading of a book called Chicky Chicky Chook Chook by Cathy MacLennan. I was honestly skeptical about this at first (thinking that I might just giggle at it the whole time or possibly even fall asleep) but actually, there were a few interesting things I noticed during the reading that made me think about words and sounds and how they affect even the youngest of "readers".

There were probably 30 toddlers with parents, siblings, babysitters, etc, and none of the adults really looked too enthused to be there, except maybe the very new parents with children < 1 year old who hadn't really gotten over the thrill of parenting yet. Needless to say, it was a loud crowd, and the reading was at 3 pm on a Saturday, so the crowd was either post-nap babies or "my mommy kept me up for this are you kidding me I just want to take a nap" babies (why would anyone do that to their child?). It was definitely interesting, but not unexpected. We didn't have to wait too long until the reader (who wasn't the author, unfortunately, but was a pretty enthusiastic employee with whom i was honestly impressed) came in, handed out snacks for the kids (and maybe also for me) and got started.

The book contains pretty much all animals-- bees, chicks, cats, etc-- and most of it is alliterated and rhyming, which doesn't really surprise me considering it's a children's book. But the onomatopoeia from beginning to end was what kept my niece and nephew not only captivated during the reading, but remembering and singing it later. That's is what really struck me. I didn't realize how much those modes of diction can sway our memories. It made me think of the different ways we use rhymes, jingles, and acronyms to aid our memory. And then of course I started thinking about all of the annoying commercial songs for products and everything about marketing and...it was all just very thought-provoking despite the fact that I was expecting to take a nap for an hour or so.

I never really thought that I would ever want to write a children's book, but after going to that reading and thinking about all of the ways children learn and the way full-grown adults use similar methods just as effectively, I think I would want to give it a shot. I'm making a queer portfolio next semester, and I might consider including a children's book in with the other pieces I plan on writing.

It was definitely an interesting experience!

A Reading at the KGB Bar

            Last night, I went to a prose reading at the KGB Bar. It was my first time going there and the room was relatively small and dimly lit, and was a very comfortable and intimate space. The room quickly filled up with people eager to listen to the two readers, Steph Cha and Daniel Friedman, read excerpts from their books. Interestingly, both readers had graduated from law school before becoming fiction writers, and Steph Cha had even read Daniel Friedman’s book and recommended it highly.

Daniel Friedman went first and first read from his novel Don’t Ever Get Old. He read from the first chapter of his book for five minutes, in an animated voice and tones perfectly suited to the various tones of the story, and then decided to switch over from his book to read from a new piece he had written, which he read from his phone, which I thought was pretty funny. I enjoyed hearing him read his work because it was interesting to see how differently the words and tones of a piece come off when they are being read in the exact way the author intended.

            While Daniel had carried himself with confidence and enunciated well, Steph Cha, seemed to have a more difficult time doing so. She announced from the get-go that it was only her fourth time ever reading her book aloud to others and she was clearly uncomfortable and far less fluid than Daniel had been. It was more difficult to understand what she was saying and I was less captivated by her words than I had been by Daniel’s, probably for that reason. Also, she began by reading for five minutes from the first chapter of her novel Follow Her Home, and then switched over to reading a chapter, which was further into the book, after explaining what happened in the first forty pages so that her audience could understand the context in which everything was happening. I didn’t particularly like that because I felt like it took me out of her piece, which was already somewhat uncomfortable to follow because of the low, unsure voice she was reading it in.

A Reading at the Birthplace of Walt Whitman

In support of one of my best friends from home, I went home to Huntington, Long Island to go to a poetry reading, during which she was reading one of her own poems. Maddie (my friend) had entered her poem into the Poetry for the HART-Teen Poetry Project, which was a poetry contest open to submissions from young poets ages 14-18. Local area poets, youth group leaders, and representatives of the Public Art Advisory Committee reviewed all poetry entered and picked a small selection to be read at this reading, where young poets could receive awards based on the merit of their poetry.

The location was Walt Whitman’s birthplace historic site, which is located in Huntington Station, and was a beautiful and symbolic place to hold the reading filled with quotes from Whitman’s poetry. Chairs and lights were set up around a small stage so that people could come and watch their siblings, friends, children, and young writers, read their poetry in a very intimate setting.

            The topics of the poems varied quite a bit. There were poems about beloved pets, lost relationships, loneliness, love, loss, and fear. What stood out to me most from this reading was the power of the passion expressed by those who read their poetry. There were many people who did not enunciate well and read their work timidly, without much confidence or conviction, and then there were those who stood up and spoke the words they had written and used the power of their convictions to work to their advantage. In many cases, those who read blandly and quietly did actually have beautifully written pieces and some of those who spoke out loudly and passionately did not have the best rhyme schemes, messages, or words but were the ones whose poems stood out and moved the audience most. To me, this reading exemplified the power and importance of individual artistic expression through poetry, and it was an incredible experience to watch someone I love be recognized for her talents.

Teacher vs Student

On April 4^th, I went to a reading at the Lillian Vernon Creative Writers House. There were two poets who read, and it had been emphasized from the beginning that one of the poets, Alex Dimitrov, had been the student of the other poet, Marie Howe. That fact held my attention throughout the reading. I was determined to see how the work of a poetry professor and that of one of her students differed. It was incredible to me that they had once had a relatively generic relationship (teacher and student) but then progressed to be presenting and praising each others work, as well as their own, together in front of a crowd of people waiting eagerly to hear their poems.

It was the first poetry reading that I had ever been too and I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. I had never read much poetry other than Shell Silverstein and Shakespeare’s work and the generic poems I was forced to read in high school, and I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. Alex Dimitrov went first and his poems were surprisingly sexual. Each piece he read had a kind of sexual undertone, or blatantly discussed sex, and, embarrassing as it is to say, before that reading I had no idea how incredibly relatable, funny, beautiful, and real modern poetry is. The only poetry I had really been exposed to was that of writers who had been dead for a very long time, and I’d never had much of a reason to seek out new poetry. Listening to Alex Dimitrov read his poetry was inspiring and gave me the incentive to go out and read more poetry. I probably would have bought his book if I’d had any money.

In contrast, Marie Howe’s work was relatively boring. I’d been excited to see what her work would be like after enjoying the work of her student so much, but I was disappointed in what I heard from her. Her work didn’t have that same relatable, real feeling to it that Alex Dimitrov’s did. It could be because of how much of a role religion played in her work, which tends to be a turn off for me, but I didn’t enjoy her poetry. In spite of that, I enjoyed my first poetry reading a lot more than I expected to.

Fire and Forget: Short Stories from the Long War

Jack Breene

Fire and Forget: Short Stories from the Long War- Response

April 26, 2013

CW- Maffei

            One of the things I noticed about the three stories that were read was that there was not a lot of action in any of them. I was surprised considering how war is the epitome of action packed but the more I heard, the more I understood. In a war like the two our country has been involved in for better part of a decade, boredom is a prevalent experience amongst the soldiers.

            The first story featured a soldier in Hawaii on leave, about to go back. The second was about the flight back to America after a tour in Iraq. And the third was about two soldiers who were on guard duty in a very remote location. In all three, there wasn’t much dialogue. The majority of the stories took place in the heads of the narrators, which I thought was an appropriate way to portray the mentality of a soldier in the 21^st century. 

            One thing that I didn’t like about the stories I heard, and many depictions of contemporary soldiers, is the untapped looks at heroism. In the age of economic imperialism, it seems like the glory of war has been completely stripped of its soldiers. I think this loss is a bigger one than literature and movies give it credit for considering how that used to be the largest compensation for risking your life in battle. Now soldiers fight because it’s their job, not their role in society.

            After the Q&A session following the reading, one of the authors commented on how having a volunteer army drastically changes the conception of war but I didn’t think any of the pieces  I heard reflected this change.

             

Bones Will Crow: An Anthology of Burmese Poetry

This afternoon at 5 PM I attended the Burmese Poetry reading of Bones Will Crow (2012), which was a part of a bigger literary event call PEN World Voices Festival of International Literature. This was an anthology put together by James Byrne (an NYU alumni) and consisting of the works of 15 Burmese poets; the anthology contained the Burmese and English versions of said poems. Two of the Burmese poets, Zeyar Lynn and Khin Aung Aye, were present at the reading and were the ones reading the Burmese versions of about four of their respective poems, while editor James Byrne read their English equivalents after each reading.

This reading took place at West 10^th, known as the Writers House or Lillian Vernon Creative Writers House, which was exciting because it was the first time I had ever been to one of these small yet elegant NYU establishments; it felt very intimate. What was really interesting about the reading was the fact that it centered on Burmese poetry of all things. I soon realized why; Burma had a history of fifty years under military regime, under which any form of publication was closely watched and censored. This forced Burmese writers to find clever ways of expressing their messages to the public without being direct or too obvious, leading to marvelous poems that are metaphors in and of themselves.

One thing that really interested me was poet Zeyar Lynn’s explanation of a Burmese poetic tradition of writing from the heart; this meant that poems were often cathartic pieces, chalk-full of emotional language. Lynn himself chose to go in another direction, and write more from the head than the heart, engaging his readers to think more deeply about issues, especially political ones, which he often referred to in his marvelous pieces. I remember one of his pieces having to do with “beards” that was rather comical, but simultaneously witty and striking.

Coincidentally, again about war.

Thursday 25th April, I attended a book reading event of the English house on 10th St. There, the book "Fire and Forget" was presented and three different stories was read by three of the writers. The book is a collection of short stories, each written by a different author. "Fire and Forget" is the product of a workshop held at the English house during which veterans expand their writings through workshops. In this one, they decided to come together to write different stories.

The firs story was set in Hawaii, with a soldier about to set off to war. The second, was about a soldier returning home to his wife. The third, was guard duty in Iraq. What I found interesting was that none of the three stories presented illustrated warfare directly, but rather, the relationships between people, such as a soldier and his wife and soldiers and the locals.

The styles were really interesting but I learned most of what I could utilise in my own work, through the Q&A session afterwards.

The writers felt better working together in a group, reading each other their stories as they were working on them. They liked this because it kept their stories grounded in reality. They were able to call each other out on the "bull shit" they may have inadvertently brought up in their story. That is, something that may never have in war.

Their writing was also something like a little therapy session for each of them as they used it to help themselves come to terms witht he war, an to help themselves with adjusting to life as a civilian once more. One of the stories brought up how human touch, just giving your wife a hug, can become something so foreign when all you've known is the feel of your gear, weapons and ammo against your body for weeks and months on end.

Finally, a question was asked about memories and how they affected the writing. This i found most intriguing because one of the answer given by the three presenting writers was that sometimes, when writing from your memory, you can blur your memory so that you're not sure which one happened. You can be convinced you story happened even though it never occurred yet pulled elements from the original event. However, using your memories and experiences have proved to be great writing material, though they cautioned that it should used carefully.

This was the reading event I attended. In a way, it was similar to other one I attended, Our Man In Iraq, where both books seemed to focus on the psychological effects of war, yet they came from very different perspectives. All in all, as great as I found the readings, I felt as if I learned more from the discussions that followed, especially when the writers talked about how the wrote their stories.

Ageless Erotica

On Saturday, April 27^th, I went to a reading of Ageless Erotica, a collection of pornographic stories written by senior citizens about senior citizens. 

The experience was really interesting for me—naturally, I went into it expecting to be a little uncomfortable, simply because the erotic literature market is and almost always has involved young, attractive men and women. However, all of the contributors were incredibly charismatic, and despite the risqué subject material, they all seemed confident in their readings. While I can’t say I enjoyed every excerpt that was read, and “old age” is a long time away for me, each of the contributors took a clear delight in what they had written, and that was interesting for me to see.

 

Joan Price, the editor, was in particular a delight to see and hear speak. Though she didn’t contribute any fiction to the collection, she was well-versed in the subject, and she had an obvious passion for spreading awareness about the topic. I don’t want to buy the book, simply because it’s not something I’m particularly interested in, but the reading was definitely eye-opening and I wouldn’t mind reading books about alternate portrayals of sexuality, even if I never actually read the products of these alternate portrayals.