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I’m really excited and honored to share that I’ll be reading this Friday evening at the Center for Book Arts in Manhattan with one of my favorite living authors and human beings, Douglas Kearney. A National Poetry Series winner, editor of the Best American Experimental Poetry anthology, and astoundingly intelligent shape-shifting/genre bending author whose performances animate the page incredibly, Douglas is a role model and aspirational figure for me. 

Curated by former Queens Poet Laureate Paolo Javier, the Center for Book Arts reading series pairs authors with outstanding visual artists to design event-specific, limited edition broadsides to commemorate the night. I’m thrilled that my poetry will be graphically represented in this way by visual artist Elizabeth Sheehan. 

Click here to RSVP. 

Here’s the formal announcement:

@ the CENTER FOR BOOK ARTS’ BROADSIDE SPRING READING SERIES

MAY 20th, 6:30 PM – 8:00 PM

With Douglas Kearney & Sueyeun Juliette Lee

The Center’s Broadside Reading Series produces 12 limited-edition letterpress-printed broadsides each year, featuring the poetry of New York-based writers of diverse backgrounds. Our Spring 2016 series is organized by Guest Curator Paolo Javier. Poet laureate of Queens (2010-2014), Javier has published several collections of poetry, including Court of the Dragon (Nightboat Books), which Publisher’s Weekly calls “a linguistic time machine”.
Douglas Kearney has published three collections of poetry and teaches at CalArts. His third poetry collection, “Patter”, was a finalist for the California Book Awards in Poetry. A collection of his opera libretti, “Someone Took They Tongues.”, is available now.
Sueyeun Juliette Lee works for a women’s shelter in Denver and was a 2013 Pew Fellow in the Arts for Poetry. Her third collection, “Solar Maximum”, was published in 2015.
Suggested donation: $10 / $5 members
Guests receive a free letterpress broadside, produced by artists at the Center. 

The Center’s Literary Programs are supported, in part, by public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature, and from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, in partnership with the City Council.

The Center for Book Arts

28 West 27th Street, 3rd Floor

New York, NY 10001
(212) 481-0295

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I’ll be sharing new work with Joshua Ware and Nico Peck as part of the John Oates House Reading Series, curated by Erica Lewis next Saturday March 19th in San Francisco! Spaces are limited so if you’d like to attend, RSVP via the Facebook event page. 

With immense gratitude to Laura Goldstein and Jen Karmin at the Red Rover Series for hosting me for what proved to be an incredible weekend, I’m amazed to say that my performance installation Blue Light and Wave was briefly reviewed by Art in America. 

The work would not have been possible without support from the Pew Foundation, Kunstnarhuset Messen in Norway, Counterpath Press and Gallery for rehearsal space, and Colorado Creative Industries for financing part of my appearance at the IN>TIME Performance Art Festival. 

I’m thinking, too, of my friend Bjørn Otto Wallevik who helped shoot video on site, Julia Cohen for hosting me in Chicago, and Jonathan Hamilton for videography support on a new project. 

I’m grateful and happy. Yay. 

Rockstar speculative author Peter Tieryas and I talk about devastation and writing in my new book Solar Maximum over at Entropy. I love his questions! 

If the weather permits, I will be flying out to Houston this Thursday, February 13th, to participate in a series of encuentros, or public talks and workshops, with the Antena Project at the University of Houston’s Blaffer Art Museum. I will be one of eleven featured artists who will be participating over the weekend. Antena Project has worked hard to make the encuentros as transnational and multidisciplinary as possible while maintaining their focus on language experimentation and social justice. I am honored to be a participant, to be part of the conversation, and to learn from the other artists and discussants.

To get a sense of the scope of the weekend, here is the list of the featured artists:

Benvenuto Chavajay (Sololá, Guatemala), Jamal Cyrus (Houston), María-Elisa Heg (Houston), Autumn Knight (Houston), Sueyeun Juliette Lee (Philadelphia), Ayanna Jolivet McCloud (Houston), Nuria Montiel (Mexico City), Kaia Sand (Portland), Efraín Velasco (Oaxaca), Cecilia Vicuña (New York/Santiago), and Stalina Villarreal (Houston).

Antena is a language justice and language experimentation collaborative founded in 2010 by Jen Hofer and John Pluecker, both of whom are writers, artists, literary translators, bookmakers and activist interpreters. I have known Jen Hofer for several years now–primarily through her Tiny Press Practices class at California Institute of the Arts. She has featured my press, Corollary, for several years now as part of her curriculum.

In addition to performing, I’ll also be leading a one-hour workshop on my creative language practice. I’ll be inviting participants to think about their relationship to the territories they live and move in, and how these spaces structure our psyches. I’ll also be discussing how we can actively seek imaginative elsewheres that can help us transform our inhabitance of these spaces, thereby deepening our ability to be fully ourselves in the world.

Below is the schedule of events. Please also go visit the encuentro website. Antena is dedicated to fostering bilingual conversation, and in that spirit, I present the itinerary in both Spanish and English. If you are in Texas and near Houston, please consider attending.

 

Register online, at Antena @ Blaffer, or at the door.

Inscríbete en internet, en Antena @ Blaffer, o en la entrada.

Before 2/7: $20 (students $10) / Antes de 2/7: $20 (estudiantes $10)

After 2/7: $25 (students $15) / Después de 2/7: $25 (estudiantes $15)

 

ENCUENTRO FULL SCHEDULE:

Friday, February 14
Note: daytime events are open only to registered participants; evening program is open to the public

10:00am – 12:00pm      Panel discussion: Efraín Velasco, Ayanna Jolivet-McCloud, Stalina Villarreal, Benvenuto Chavajay, Tony Macías

12:00pm – 1:00pm         Lunch at Blaffer Café (provided)

1:00pm – 3:00pm           Workshop: Nuria Montiel

3:30 – 5:30pm                 Think, Listen, Make: Group Exercises in Text-based Visual Work: Sueyeun Juliette Lee and Benvenuto Chavajay

5:30 – 7:00pm                  Dinner break (on your own)

7:00pm – 9:00pm            Public presentations/performances @ Blaffer Art Museum: María-Elisa Heg,

Ayanna Jolivet-McCloud, Nuria Montiel, Kaia Sand, Cecilia Vicuña (via Skype)

(Introductions by Antena)

 

Saturday, February 15
Note: daytime events are open only to registered participants; evening program is open to the public

10:00am – 12:00pm       Panel discussion: Cecilia Vicuña (via Skype), María Elisa Heg, Sueyeun Juliette Lee, Jamal Cyrus

12:00pm – 1:00pm          Lunch at Blaffer Café (provided)

1:00pm – 3:00pm            Workshop: Kaia Sand

3:30pm – 5:30pm            Think, Listen, Make: Group Exercises in Text-based Visual Work: Autumn

Knight and Efraín Velasco

5:30pm – 7:00pm            Dinner break (on your own)

7:00pm – 9:00pm            Public presentations/performances @ the Eldorado Ballroom, 2310 Elgin St.: Jamal Cyrus, Autumn Knight, Sueyeun Juliette Lee, Efraín Velasco, Stalina Villarreal, Benvenuto Chavajay

(Introductions by Antena)

TO REGISTER, YOU CAN PAY ONLINE AT ANTENAANTENA.ORG, AT ANTENA @ BLAFFER OR AT THE DOOR.

Before 2/7: $20 (students $10) / Antes de 2/7: $20 (estudiantes $10)

After 2/7: $25 (students $15) / Después de 2/7: $25 (estudiantes $15)

 

ENCUENTRO HORARIO COMPLETO:

Viernes, 14 de febrero
Nota: los eventos durante el día están abiertos solo a participantes registrados; el programa en la noche es abierto al público en general

10:00am – 12:00pm       Mesa de discusión: Efraín Velasco, Ayanna Jolivet-McCloud, Stalina Villarreal, Benvenuto Chavajay, Tony Macías

12:00pm – 1:00pm          Comida en el Blaffer Café  (se proporcionará)

1:00pm – 3:00pm            Taller: Nuria Montiel

3:30pm – 5:30pm             Pensar, escuchar, hacer: Ejercicios de grupo sobre trabajos visuales basados en texto: Sueyeun Juliette Lee y Benvenuto Chavajay

5:30 – 7:00pm                  Cena (cada quién por su cuenta)

7:00pm – 9:00pm            Presentaciones y performances en público @ Blaffer Art Museum: María-Elisa Heg, Ayanna Jolivet-McCloud, Nuria Montiel, Kaia Sand, Cecilia Vicuña

(por Skype)

(Introducciones por Antena)

 

Sábado, 15 de febrero
Nota: los eventos durante el día están abiertos solo a participantes registrados; el programa en la noche es abierto al público en general

10:00am – 12:00pm       Panel de discusión: Cecilia Vicuña (via Skype), María Elisa Heg, Sueyeun

Juliette Lee, Jamal Cyrus

12:00pm – 1:00pm          Comida en el Blaffer Café (se proporcionará)

1:00pm – 3:00pm            Taller: Kaia Sand

3:30pm – 5:30pm             Pensar, escuchar, hacer: Ejercicios de grupo sobre trabajos visuales basados en texto: Autumn Knight y Efraín Velasco

5:30pm – 7:00pm             Cena (cada quién por su cuenta)

7:00pm – 9:00pm             Presentaciones y performances en público @ the Eldorado Ballroom, 2310 Elgin St.: Jamal Cyrus, Autumn Knight, Sueyeun Juliette Lee, Efraín Velasco,

Stalina Villarreal, Benvenuto Chavajay

(Introducciones de Antena)

PARA INSCRIBIRSE, PUEDES PAGAR POR PAYPAL ANTENAANTENA.ORG, EN LA INSTALACIÓN DE ANTENA @ BLAFFER O EN LA PUERTA DEL EVENTO.

 

I am *so so pleased* to be included in [out of nothing]’s latest issue on TIME. I share some work that I wrote referencing the joint military exercises between the US and South Korea. North Korea always responds with incredible rhetoric, and I was fascinated by the way these distant events really effected me on a personal level through the language circulating around it. I’m also astounded to be in incredible company!

NOTE: You have to watch the whole video in order for the full table of contents to appear. It IS an issue dedicated to time…

with Thomas Brewster Trudgeon, Felipe W Martinez, Elizabeth Colen, Nate Pritts, Tyrone Williams, Bill Basquin, Feliz Lucia Molina, & more!

It happened.
It happened to her.
It happened to her and we are all here.
It happened in the middle of the night.
She was happy and well.
He arrived and he was beautiful.
She left us.
It was cloudy when the sun rose.
It rained and was gray.
The sun went down and rose again.
It happened.

It happened to him.
He was with her and then he wasn’t.
He loved her and waited.
It happened and it was shocking.
It cast a strange light.
Dark and glowing, her name sounded new and the same.
Dark and glowing, how everything changed that remained.

It happened to us.
There are many of us, and we loved her.
Some of us were waiting for her before she arrived.
Some of us waited a long time and were excited.
She was born.
She cried and smiled.
Her voice took shape and it was the clear sky at noon.
Some of us watched her grow.
Some of us knew her later.
We wrestled and studied and shared things with her.
We took walks and ate food together.
We played and sang.
We delighted in her.
It happened.
We all called her name.

She slept as straight as a starling pinion in her bed.
She savored the good things.
She told stories and fell asleep at movies.
She came home each day.
She laughed and her laughter was the brightest lily.
She gazed at us with clear, dark eyes.
She startled at the gorgeous dawn.
She sewed and painted and planted.
She made things with her hands. Her fingers were smooth and long.
She cooked and touched and comforted.
She spoke the truth and it was gentle.
She helped children and friends.
She helped neighbors.
She helped everyone she knew.
She helped and in her helping she loved.
She loved quietly.
She loved without demand.
She loved with all of herself.

for Peggy Jin Thrash (nee Chung)
April 13, 1977 — August 1, 2013

My sister, an actor and writer, invited me to go see Natsu Onoda Power’s newest work, “The T-Party.” Here’s a pretty good description from the Washington Post, which reviewed the show.

I was a tiny bit familiar with Onoda Power’s work previously, since she directed Young Jean Lee’s play “Songs of the Dragons Flying to Heaven,” which went up at Studio Theatre a few years back. My sister was cast in that production. She’s the one in the middle.

That play deserves its own post, btw. I’ll try and do more posts about the DC Asian American theater scene.

Onoda Power is brilliant. Last year, she put up a show called “Astro Boy and the God of Comics,” which I TEAR MY HAIR for missing. SOB.

“The T-Party” opens with a series of smaller parties–a karaoke party, a birthday party, (the bridal shower wasn’t running last night)–to which you receive an invitation from a cast member. These parties take place in different parts of the theater. I attended the karaoke party, where we were all asked/invited to sing various songs that explored gender play (eg Kate Perry’s “I kissed a girl” and Aerosmith’s “Dude looks like a lady”).

After these mini parties, we were ushered into the theater, which was a Prom. Some of the cast, in eveningwear, were dancing, and audience members were invited to dance as well. There were a few staged interactions (a fight between a man and a woman over the fact that the woman was enjoying dancing with another woman) before the Prom Queen and King were announced. The Queen was trans, and when she came up to accept her sash, she gave a short speech on how bittersweet it was to win this award, given all the hardships she’d endured at high school. She described how there are some people who possibly voted for her in order to mock her. She elegantly refused the sash.

This short scene was a wake up call that we weren’t entering a gender-queer utopia.

What followed were a series of vignettes that made smart use of dance, story-telling, sound and music, all of which ran me through a whole gamut of emotions. They explored the various experiences of trans and queer identities, ultimately advocating for their plurality, beauty, and difficulty.

My favorite scenes were a dramatic reading of a scholarly summary of dolphin sexual habits, a live music video about a lost unicorn, a lesbian coming out story set to a tango, and a staged blog post. I loved how these various stories got at the diversity of experiences that are grouped together under the banner of “trans” or “queer,” and how challenging it can be for those who move within this community to relate to each other, given those differences. We’re all different. Our differences can lead us to misunderstand and hurt each other or ourselves. But we can still find ways to be together. We have to be creative. We need to be open. I loved this show.  I loved the variety of bodies that were performing. I loved the range of talents they all brought with them. There were some incredible singers, poets, and dancers. The boundaries between their lives and the production’s narratives was porous. We were all invited to be on stage, so to speak.

I was especially touched by the incredible humor that this production exhibited. Humor is a powerful tool. I don’t know how to access it myself, but I love seeing it. It reflects the absurdity of our condition so beautifully. It’s one of our most powerful responses to pain and hatred.

All of this has me thinking about my little craft, the sometimes hermetic world of experimental writing that I dwell in. I love poetry. I love writing. I love how it can transform thought. I love the way it challenges and moves me. I also struggle with how it can reach more people.

My mother, for example, is a native Korean speaker. She’s an incredible communicator, but her English is definitely non-standard, and she’s not a confident  reader. My siblings do a lot of translating and explaining for her when it comes to texts or forms, things like that. She’s always been supportive of my efforts as a writer. She’s been to a few readings of mine and has my books. But I know that she experiences the work quite differently because of our language barrier.

I’d like to make something that my mother can encounter and relate to. I’ve been designing some new work towards this end. I’ve been incorporating more images in my poetry over the years, but I’m also thinking about performance and the Korean language, etc etc. I recently performed a dance at a reading I gave in Philadelphia. My mother designed and fabricated the dress I wore, and my ex covered it in calligraphy.

So much of my work emerges out my experiences with my family and where I came from, but so little of it is accessible to them. We’re different, but I want us to breach those things and come to a new understanding. We are not one, but many. I want us to have all, more.