#Taiwanese poet

[shihlun]

「沒有企望／苦役已成為我們的習慣／在這橡皮筋的時代」

白萩 PAI Chiu

（1937-2022）

[randomrichards]

THE SADNESS:

Couple on the run

Disease makes people deranged

Escape a mad world

[fwoopersongs]

[Book Rec + Reaction/Thoughts] The Lantern and the Night Moths 灯与夜蛾 by Yilin Wang

An anthology of translated poems by five modern or contemporary poets and accompanying essays by the translator, @yilinwriter.

You can find the pronunciation guide and list of corrections here!

The cover art, a beautiful expression of the tone of this collection, is by Taiwanese artist Ciaoyin (check out her gorgeous insta!). I'm looking forward to the arrival of the physical book as my tab absolutely does not do it justice xD

Anyway! The official release date is 02 April 2024 though there have been some very thoughtful reviews by early readers already. Here, here, here and here.

(It was an ARC that I received too… though in the time it took to put this together, the ebooks have already gone out to readers >.< typical snail yj!) 

Instead, I’ll tell you who I think would be interested in this book or might benefit from reading it, then share things that are cool about it from the perspective of a bilingual hobbyist translator + lover of ancient poetry and lyrics.

Who should read it?

If annotations, translator’s notes and reflections spark joy for you...

If you’ve ever read poetry translations and been intensely curious about what goes on under the hood...

If you’re a translator yourself wanting to hear another voice...

Definitely check this out!

Also if you’re CN+EN bilingual and have ever read something in English that references Chinese terms and concepts etc. except ONLY in English, pinyin or wade-giles and been utterly frustrated by the ensuing guessing game (like me) Fear Not.

That will not be a problem here.

I really appreciate how Chinese words are used naturally where needed for concepts and quotes - they are also translated for those who can't read Chinese so no one is left out. It made this book of and about translation (and more) super comfortable to read! The solution is so simple, so direct, so rarely used that I am amused.

Oh, but do note that the Chinese characters are in simplified though!

The poems are organised by their writers who are listed here by order of birth year, not appearance in the book:

秋瑾 (Qiu Jin, 1875 to 1907)

废名 (Fei Ming. 1901 to 1967)

戴望舒 (Dai Wangshu, 1905 to 1950)

小西 (Xiao Xi, 1974 to _)

张巧慧 (Zhang Qiaohui, 1978 to _) 

Altogether, that covers nearly the last 150 years up to now. I’ve never really been into poetry by poets in such relatively recent times, in part because I’d been holding on to this stereotype of them spurning Classical Chinese and ancient poetry in the first half of the 20th century (not entirely true, as I came to realise xD). It made sense and was understandable, but felt sad.

Yet am I the target audience for this book?

Very much so.

In ways I didn’t think I would be too! It was so much fun to experience this both as a reader and a translator that I thought I’d share it here, where we are appreciating Chinese poetry together.

If you didn’t think you’d enjoy modern Chinese poetry, hey, give it a chance!

Oh yeah - on the way home a while back, I was talking to a friend about translation and was surprised to hear that her impression was that it ought to be a straightforward process. Like isn’t it a 1:1 conversion? At some point, ‘what’s the difference between something google translate might return, and how you would say it?’ was asked, and oh that was a delightful question to my ears! I showed her one of my comparison sheets where an original text is laid out alongside multiple translations line-by-line, briefly explaining some common and unique choices and how the people who had translated those probably arrived at the various interpretations. She was pretty amazed to see that the answer to her question was: very different. Hey, it’s a complicated process!

But there’s only so much one can explain in the space of a train ride. That’s why The Lantern and the Night Moths is a book I would also rec to someone like this friend of mine - open minded and curious but never having the chance to think about or encounter the craft of translation.

Like Yilin says, ‘the meaning of a word cannot be fully expressed in one single translation, nor through a series of translation attempts’. She then explains why with great attention to detail and some solid examples from one of the poems with word choices loaded with subtle connotations :D

What's interesting about it?

Okay, for one, Yilin shared a playlist of music that she listened to while working on this book. Here is the link to the spotify one and the one on youtube. Check them out! They sure put me in the mood to read xD (favs: 别知己, 小神仙 & 去有風的地方) Afterwards, this made so much sense like - ah! an audio moodboard.

She's also putting together these adorable mini profiles of each poet along with a cmedia and tea rec to match their vibes. Go see them on her instagram xD

Now to business...

structure

What really helped keep the reader’s focus was the way each section is organized, how the poems and accompanying essay were presented and finally the short bio of each person right at the end. 

The poets are first introduced through five or six of their poems, works well suited to this purpose. Their voices, distinct through the vision, ambition and emotion of their words, are brought across by Yilin’s sensitive, thoughtful and poetic translations into English. These translations were also creative and transformative in a way that made so much sense after reading one of her reflections on the process, how she ‘must guide it with gentle hands to ensure its spirit is kept alive and intact during this transformative, and often excruciating process’. A rebirth into another language!

Personally, I’ve come to think of reading translations as looking at a work through another’s eyes. So it’s delightful when the translator’s presence is discernible, and even more so when the reader is given insight into their intention and process via commentary. 

Yilin’s essays coupled with the poets’ bios at the end provide a means to go back and appreciate their works in context of their circumstance and inspirations. Similarly, to read the translations with a changed perspective.

I don’t know how much of a thing this is with translated poetry anthologies in English - can count the number I’ve read with both hands lol, and they’re all of the ancient chinese poetry variety - but I really like this design.

drawing on poets who came before them

Remember how we’re always recognizing traces of inspiration from ancient works (to them) in poetry of the various dynasties? 李商隐 Li Shangyin of Tang for example, was influenced by 楚辞 Verses of Chu and folklore and mythology such as that in 山海经 Classic of Mountains and Seas, 李白 Li Bai frequently references poets and history of the 魏晋 Wei-Jin era, and 王维 Wang Wei was clearly familiar with Buddhist scriptures which were translations themselves! 

Just like the late Táng poets whom he praised for boldly deviating from the voices before them, Fei Ming used popular references and tropey shorthands ‘in contexts utterly different from the original, reimagining them anew’. Dai Wangshu, too, ‘boldly re-envisioned what modern poetry could look like by revisiting the classics’. In fact, in his very relatable ‘To Answer the Visitor with Classical Imagery’, I see Li Bai’s 春夜宴桃李园序, Qu Yuan’s 离骚 and lots of - as the title says - classical imagery, as if pulling out painting after painting to describe a feeling.

And Dai Wangshu’s faith in the translatability of poetry, that ‘poetry isn’t what is lost in translation, but rather, what survives it’ reminds me of what a friend, @xiakeponz, said that I agree with so much - because readers can ‘experience something in their own individual way through (your) shared humanity rather than language alone’.

poetic tradition and beyond

Between the lines of contemporary poets Zhang Qiaohui and Xiao Xi, I can really see the charm of plain vernacular, how it can be beautiful, incisive and clever in turns. Even as it seems to have moved further than ever from the structure and language of literary Chinese, the themes that inspired common motifs remain a part of life. Mother and divinity, homesickness, finding oneself, tributes to admirable spirits and the issues that trouble society - just in a new form and with different ways of expression.

Qiu Jin

So many FEELINGS about what Qiu Jin was doing - ‘I awaken the spirits of women, hundreds of flowers, abloom’. I would love if she could see the world now. So many things for her to rouse and fight against, but at the same time just as many to be proud of. I am so in awe of her, but now hearing her loneliness and struggle there is a soft spot in my heart for those too. 

conclusion

So so so…

Qiu Jin’s admirable fire and lonely resolve. Zhang Qiaohui’s precious ability to express beauty in the mundane and in pain. Fei Ming’s utter delight! He is having so much fun and when* I’m vibing, I feel it too. Xiao Xi’s critical eye and keen observation of the world. Dai Wangshu’s whimsical charm and passion for translation. Finally, Yilin Wang, the connecting thread wound through them all, bringing them together so that we may be acquainted. 

*Reading his poetry is like unwrapping a seamless, many layered present. A gift that keeps giving - if only you have a key 😅 Fortunately, Yilin has halved our struggle 🤣

I’ve had such a great time with them all. And if you come, I hope you will too!

[queerasfact]

Queer Calendar 2023

We put together a calendar of key (mostly queer) dates at the start of the year to help us with scheduling - so I thought I’d share it around! Including pride and visibility days, some queer birthdays and anniversaries, and a few other bits and bobs. Click the links for more info - I dream one day of having a queer story for every day of the year!

This is obviously not an exhaustive list - if I’ve overlooked something important to you, feel free to add it in the reblogs!

January

3 - Bisexual American jazz-age heiress Henrietta Bingham born 1901

8 - Queer Australian bushranger Captain Moonlite born 1845; gay American art collector Ned Warren born 1860

11 - Pennsylvania celebrates Rosetta Tharpe Day in honour of bisexual musician Rosetta Tharpe

12 - Japanese lesbian author Nobuko Yoshiya born 1896

22 - Lunar New Year (Year of the Rabbit)

24 - Roman emperor Hadrian, famous for his relationship with Antinous, born 76CE; gay Prussian King Frederick the Great born 1712

27 - International Holocaust Remembrance Day

February

LGBT+ History Month (UK, Hungary)

Black History Month (USA and Canada)

1 - Feast of St Brigid, a saint especially important to Irish queer women

5 - Operation Soap, a police raid on gay bathhouses in Toronto, Canada, spurs massive protests, 1981

7 - National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day (USA)

18 - US Black lesbian writer and activist Audre Lorde born 1934

12 - National Freedom to Marry Day (USA)

19-25 - Aromantic Spectrum Awareness Week

March

Women’s History Month

1 - Black Women in Jazz and the Arts Day

8 - International Women’s Day

9 - Bi British writer David Garnett born 1892

12 - Bi Polish-Russian ballet dancer Vaslav Nijinsky born 1889 or 1890

13 March-15 April - Deaf History Month

14 - American lesbian bookseller and publisher Sylvia Beach born 1887

16 - French lesbian artist Rosa Bonheur born 1822

20 - Bi US musician Rosetta Tharpe born 1915

21 - World Poetry Day

24 - The Wachowski sisters’ cyberpunk trans allegory The Matrix premiers 1999

April

Jazz Appreciation Month

Black Women’s History Month

National Poetry Month (USA)

3 - British lesbian diarist Anne Lister born 1791

8 - Trans British racing driver and fighter pilot Roberta Cowell born 1918

9 -  Bi Australia poet Lesbia Harford born 1891; Easter Sunday

10 - National Youth HIV & AIDS Awareness Day (USA)

14 - Day of Silence

15 - Queer Norwegian photographer and suffragist Marie Høeg born 1866

17 - Costa-Rican-Mexican lesbian singer Chavela Vargas born 1919

21-22 - Eid al-Fitr

25 - Gay English King Edward II born 1284

26 - Lesbian Day of Visibility; bi American blues singer Ma Rainey born 1886

29 - International Dance Day

30 - International Jazz Day

May

1 - Trans British doctor and Buddhist monk Michael Dillon born 1915

7 - International Family Equality Day

7 - Gay Russian composer Pyotr Tchaikovsky born 1840

15 - Australian drag road-trip comedy The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert premiers in 1994

 17 - IDAHOBIT (International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia, Intersexism and Transphobia)

18 - International Museum Day

19 - Agender Pride Day

22 - US lesbian tailor and poet Charity Bryant born 1777

22 - Harvey Milk Day marks the birth of gay US politician Harvey Milk 1930

23 - Premier of Pride, telling the story of the 1980s British activist group Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners

24 - Pansexual and Panromantic Awareness and Visibility Day; Queer Chinese-Japanese spy Kawashima Yoshiko born 1907

26 - queer American astronaut Sally Ride born 1951

29 - Taiwanese lesbian writer Qiu Miaojin born 1969

June

Pride Month

Indigenous History Month (Canada)

3 - Bisexual American-French performer, activist and WWII spy Josephine Baker born 1906

5 - Queer Spanish playwright and poet Federico García Lorca born 1898; bi English economic John Maynard Keynes born 1883

8 - Mechanic and founder of Australia’s first all-female garage, Alice Anderson, born 1897

10 - Bisexual Israeli poet Yona Wallach born 1944

12 - Pulse Night of Remembrance, commemorating the 2012 shooting at the Pulse nightclub, Orlando

14 - Australian activists found the Gay and Lesbian Kingdom of the Coral Sea Islands in 2004

18 - Sally Ride becomes the first know queer woman in space

24 - The first Sydney Mardi Gras 1978

25 - The rainbow flag first flown as a queer symbol in 1978

28 - Stonewall Riots, 1969

28 June-2 July - Eid al-Adha

30 - Gay German-Israeli activist, WWII resistance member and Holocaust survivor Gad Beck born 1923

July

1 - Gay Dutch WWII resistance fighter Willem Arondeus killed - his last words were “Tell the people homosexuals are no cowards”

2-9 - NAIDOC Week (Australia) celebrating Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture

6 - Bi Mexican artist Frida Kahlo born 1907

12 or 13 - Roman emperor Julius Caesar born c.100BCE

14 - International Non-Binary People’s Day

23 - Shelly Bauman, owner of Seattle gay club Shelly’s Leg, born 1947; American lesbian cetenarian Ruth Ellis born 1899; gay American professor, tattooist and sex researcher Sam Steward born 1909

25 - Italian-Australian trans man Harry Crawford born 1875

August

8 - International Cat Day

9 - Queer Finnish artist, author and creator of Moomins Tove Jansson born 1914

9 - International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples

11 - Russian lesbian poet Sofya Parnok born 1885

12 - Queer American blues musician Gladys Bentley born 1907

13 - International Left-Handers Day

22 - Gay WWII Dutch resistance fight Willem Arondeus born 1894

24 - Trans American drag queen and activist Marsha P Johnson born 1945

26 - National Dog Day

30 - Bi British author Mary Shelley 1797

31 - Wear it Purple Day (Australia - queer youth awareness)

September

5 - Frontman of Queen Freddie Mercury born 1946

6 - Trans Scottish doctor and farmer Ewan Forbes born 1912

13 - 1990 documentary on New York’s ball culture Paris is Burning premiers

15-17 - Rosh Hashanah

16-23 - Bisexual Awareness Week

17 - Gay Prussian-American Inspector General of the US Army Baron von Steuben born 1730

23 - Celebrate Bisexuality Day

24 - Gay Australian artist William Dobell born 1889

30 - International Podcast Day

October

Black History Month (Europe)

4 - World Animal Day

5 - National Poetry Day (UK)

5 - Queer French diplomat and spy the Chevalière d’Éon born 1728

8 - International Lesbian Day

9 - Indigenous Peoples’ Day (USA)

11 - National Coming Out Day

16 - Irish writer Oscar Wilde born 1854

18 - International Pronouns Day

22-28 - Asexual Awareness Week

26 - Intersex Awareness Day

31 - American lesbian tailor Sylvia Drake born 1784

November

8 - Intersex Day of Remembrance

12 - Diwali; Queer Mexican nun Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz born c.1648

13-19 - Transgender Awareness Week

20 - Trans American writer, lawyer, activist and priest Pauli Murray born 1910; Transgender Day of Remembrance

27 - Antinous, lover of the Roman emperor Hadrian, born c.111; German lesbian drama Mädchen in Uniform premiers, 1931

29 - Queer American writer Louisa May Alcott born 1832

December

AIDS Awareness Month

1 - World AIDS Day

2 - International Day for the Abolition of Slavery

3 - International Day of Persons with Disabilities

8 - Pansexual Pride Day; queer Swedish monarch Christina of Sweden born 1626

10 - Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners host Pits and Perverts concern to raise mining for striking Welsh miners, 1984

14 - World Monkey Day

15 - Roman emperor Nero born 37CE

24 - American drag king and bouncer Stormé DeLarverie born 1920

25 - Christmas

29 - Trans American jazz musician Billy Tipton born 1914

[fate-magical-girls]

Comparing fairy tales with their inspirations from legendary sagas produces a weird effect, because you can see where the stories have been simplified and the behavior of the protagonists sanitized.

The Goose Girl whose position was stolen by her handmaiden and was reduced to speaking to her beheaded horse Falada was a club-footed princess who originally agreed to switch places with her maid because she was self-conscious about her feet and feared her prince was short and ugly. She was also mother of Charlemagne.

The Goose Girl at the Well who was exiled for saying she loved her father like meat loves salt was a British queen who led an army to rescue her father who had been driven insane by her abusive sisters.

Sleeping Beauty, who was cursed to sleep for a hundred years, was a Valkyrie who masterminded the death of her prince when he was brainwashed into marrying another woman, and then threw herself onto his pyre so she could die with him.

The youngest brother of the Wild Swans, whose arm remained a swan wing because his sister ran out of thread to make the tunic that would break his curse, became a knight in a swan boat that avenged a noble maiden's honor and had children with her that would give rise to the royal line of Bouillon.

Cinderella was a successful courtesan and a self-made woman, who had no fairy god mother, but did have a fling with fable-teller Aesop as well as an epic rivalry with her sister-in-law, who happened to be one of the greatest poets of their age. Alternatively, she was a queen of Egypt to died before seeing her family enslaved by the mad Persian king Cambyses.

The mystical husbands of East of the Sun and West of the Moon, The Iron Stove, and the Feather of Finist the Falcon were originally the god Eros, and the Beauty that had to find her husband after losing him was his wife Psyche.

Often the animal husband takes the form of a snake. In certain myths among the indigenous Taiwanese, the animal husband is a snake and the ancestor of their people. In Baltic and Slavic stories, the snake husband is never accepted by his wife's family, who kill him through deceit. Meanwhile, a 9th century Chinese story makes the husband into a Yaksha, and the lovers are eventually parted because the wife cannot stay in the realm of the Yaksha.

Related to the animal husband theme, the Beast was a tragic man from Tenerife with hypertrichosis, and Beauty was a noblewoman who was married to him almost as a joke. Though they lived a long and happy life together, four of their seven children were stolen away and sent to live in foreign courts because they shared their father's condition.

The Girl Without Hands was a Mercian queen who ruled her nation with iron fists, and was involved in more than one assassination.

Maid Maleen's original name was Brangaine, the maid of Tristan and Iseult. In most variants of the tale, it is the guilty bride who substitutes her maid in the bridal procession to hide her loss of virginity that is the actual protagonist. When the prince questions her about the children she has born, she is forced to reveal the tokens that her lover left with her, and the prince realizes that he himself is the lover in question, and apologizes and proceeds with the wedding.

The speechless Little Mermaid's beloved prince was a Swedish duke, brother to the king, named Magnus Vasa. He was afflicted with psychotic episodes throughout his life, and had assistants assigned to look after him. He never married but had a longtime affair with a commoner woman who cared for him. During one of his episodes, he jumped into a moat, claiming to have seen a woman there. This became the basis for a class of ballads called Herr Magnus and the Mermaid, which describes how Magnus lost his heart and then his mind to the mermaid after initially rejecting her. This then became stories of the tragic mermaid's rejection and revenge.

[journalofanobody]

The Last Hurrah

The last attempt of marketing my little book, in Taipei. Framed photos of the pages, postcard, and the book itself. No books sold. It a sad sort of thing, because those who have actually purchased my book are enjoying it, picking it up to look at again, now and then.

The publisher who set up this table at the arts event in Taipei sent the photo with the following comment:

"The women who appreciate your book are all in the top 10%. Pity I can't write poetry. They LOVED the poems, and bought the postcards because Taiwanese are not used to spending a lot at such events."

Well, there's some consolation in some of that but, the fact remains, none sold. So there we are.

If anyone here in Tumblr would like to lend moral support to a poet, my book is still available at Amazon or at Book Depository--the latter option offers free shipping. I'm not holding my breath.

[allsadnshit]

Re taiwanese american novelists if you want unsolicited recs: anelise chen (really liked her novel so many olympic exertions but it has so pretty heavy themes so cw), she also has some fun essays online to read I would rec. stay true by hua hsu was so good (memoir tho not novel), activities of daily living, fiona and jane, charles yu. These are all contemporary tho. heard good things about k-ming chang. Also permission to come home is a book about asian american mental health written by a taiwanese american i think, also haven't read but heard some good things. same re collected schizophrenias. Also heard good things about Victoria Chang - poet and essayist.

thank you for these! I am readying the Anelise Chen one right now <3

[rockislandadultreads]

Book Recommendations: Reflective and Thoughtful Reads

Activities of Daily Living by Lisa Hsiao Chen

How do we take stock of a life - by what means, and by what measure? This is the question that preoccupies Alice, a Taiwanese immigrant in her late thirties. In the off-hours from her day job, Alice struggles to create a project about the enigmatic downtown performance artist Tehching Hsieh and his monumental, yearlong 1980s performance pieces. Meanwhile, she becomes the caretaker for her aging stepfather, a Vietnam vet whose dream of making traditional Chinese furniture dissolved in alcoholism and dementia.

As Alice roots deeper into Hsieh’s radical use of time - in one piece, the artist confined himself to a cell for a year; in the next, he punched a time clock every hour, on the hour, for a year - and his mysterious disappearance from the art world, her project starts metabolizing events from her own life. She wanders from subway rides to street protests, loses touch with a friend, and tenderly observes her father’s slow decline.

Moving between present-day and 1980s New York City, with detours to Silicon Valley and the Venice Biennale, this vivid debut announces Lisa Hsiao Chen as an audacious new talent. Activities of Daily Living is a lucid, intimate examination of the creative life and the passage of time.

The Poet’s House by Jean Thompson

Carla is stuck. In her twenties and working for a landscaper, she’s been told she’s on the wrong path by everyone - from her mom, who wants her to work at the hospital, to her boyfriend, who is dropping not-so-subtle hints that she should be doing something that matters.

­Then she is hired for a job at the home of Viridian, a lauded and lovely aging poet who introduces Carla to an eccentric circle of writers. At first she is perplexed by their predilection for reciting lines in conversation, the stories of their many liaisons, their endless wine-soaked nights. Soon, though, she becomes enamored with this entire world: with Viridian, whose reputation has been defined by her infamous affair with a male poet, Mathias; with Viridian’s circle; and especially with the power of words, the “ache and hunger that can both be awakened and soothed by a poem,” a hunger that Carla feels sharply. When a fight emerges over a vital cache of poems that Mathias wrote about Viridian, Carla gets drawn in. But how much will she sacrifice for a group that may or may not see her as one of their own?

A delightfully funny look at the art world - sometimes petty, sometimes transactional, sometimes transformative - The Poet’s House is also a refreshingly candid story of finding one’s way, with words as our lantern in the dark.

Don’t Cry for Me by Daniel Black 

As Jacob lies dying, he begins to write a letter to his only son, Isaac. They have not met or spoken in many years, and there are things that Isaac must know. Stories about his ancestral legacy in rural Arkansas that extend back to slavery. Secrets from Jacob's tumultuous relationship with Isaac's mother and the shame he carries from the dissolution of their family. Tragedies that informed Jacob's role as a father and his reaction to Isaac's being gay.

But most of all, Jacob must share with Isaac the unspoken truths that reside in his heart. He must give voice to the trauma that Isaac has inherited. And he must create a space for the two to find peace.

With piercing insight and profound empathy, acclaimed author Daniel Black illuminates the lived experiences of Black fathers and queer sons, offering an authentic and ultimately hopeful portrait of reckoning and reconciliation. Spare as it is sweeping, poetic as it is compulsively readable, Don't Cry for Me is a monumental novel about one family grappling with love's hard edges and the unexpected places where hope and healing take flight.

Three Rooms by Jo Hamya 

“A woman must have money and a room of one’s own.” So said Virginia Woolf in her classic A Room of One’s Own, but in this scrupulously observed, gorgeously wrought debut novel, Jo Hamya pushes that adage powerfully into the twenty-first century, to a generation of people living in rented rooms. What a woman needs now is an apartment of her own, the ultimate mark of financial stability, unattainable for many.

Set in one year, Three Rooms follows a young woman as she moves from a rented room at Oxford, where she’s working as a research assistant; to a stranger’s sofa, all she can afford as a copyediting temp at a society magazine; to her childhood home, where she’s been forced to return, jobless, even a room of her own out of reach. As politics shift to nationalism, the streets fill with protestors, and news drip-feeds into her phone, she struggles to live a meaningful life on her own terms, unsure if she’ll ever be able to afford to do so.

[wikiuntamed]

On this day in Wikipedia: Friday, 19th April

Welcome, आपका स्वागत है (āpakā svāgata hai), 환영 (hwanyeong), ยินดีต้อนรับ (yin dee dtôn rab) 🤗 What does @Wikipedia say about 19th April through the years 🏛️📜🗓️?

19th April 2023 🗓️ : Death - Moonbin Moonbin, South Korean singer and actor (b. 1998) "Moonbin (Korean: 문빈; January 26, 1998 – April 19, 2023) was a South Korean singer, actor and dancer under the label Fantagio. He was a member of the South Korean boy group Astro and its sub-unit Moonbin & Sanha. ..."

Image licensed under CC BY 3.0? by 티비텐

19th April 2017 🗓️ : Death - Lu Chao-Hsuan Lu Chao-Hsuan, Taiwanese guitarist, performer and educator. (b. 1929) "Lu Chao-Hsuan Chinese: 吕昭炫; pinyin: Lǚ Zhāoxuàn (6 November 1929 - 19 April 2017) was a guitar composer, performer and educator. He was born in Guishan district, Taoyuan and attended the 21st International Guitarist Symposium in Japan in 1962, where he performed “Hometown” and “Willow,” which later..."

19th April 2013 🗓️ : Event - Boston Marathon bombing Boston Marathon bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev is killed in a shootout with police. His brother Dzhokhar is later captured hiding in a boat inside a backyard in the suburb of Watertown. "The Boston Marathon bombing, sometimes referred to as just simply the Boston bombing, was a domestic terrorist attack that took place during the annual Boston Marathon on April 15, 2013. Brothers Dzhokhar and Tamerlan Tsarnaev planted two homemade pressure cooker bombs that detonated near the finish..."

Image licensed under CC BY 2.0? by Aaron Tang

19th April 1973 🗓️ : Event - Socialist Party (Portugal) The Portuguese Socialist Party is founded in the German town of Bad Münstereifel. "The Socialist Party (Portuguese: Partido Socialista, pronounced [pɐɾˈtiðu susiɐˈliʃtɐ], PS) is a social-democratic political party in Portugal. It was founded on 19 April 1973 in the German city of Bad Münstereifel by militants who were at the time with the Portuguese Socialist Action (Portuguese:..."

19th April 1922 🗓️ : Birth - Erich Hartmann Erich Hartmann, German colonel and pilot (d. 1993) "Erich Alfred Hartmann (19 April 1922 – 20 September 1993) was a German fighter pilot during World War II and the most successful fighter ace in the history of aerial warfare. He flew 1,404 combat missions and participated in aerial combat on 825 separate occasions. He was credited with shooting down..."

19th April 1824 🗓️ : Death - Lord Byron Lord Byron, English-Scottish poet and playwright (b. 1788) "George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron (22 January 1788 – 19 April 1824) was an English poet and peer. He is one of the major figures of the Romantic movement, and is regarded as being among the greatest of English poets. Among his best-known works are the lengthy narratives Don Juan and Childe..."

Image by Thomas Phillips

19th April 🗓️ : Holiday - Christian feast day: Emma of Lesum "Emma of Lesum or Emma of Stiepel (also known as Hemma and Imma) (c. 975-980 – 3 December 1038) was a countess popularly venerated as a saint for her good works; she is also the first female inhabitant of Bremen to be known by name. ..."

[thaoworra]

What creative, political, and liberatory possibilities emerge at the intersections of Asian America, Buddhism, and literature? This roundtable brings together five prolific authors—Quyên Nguyễn-Hoàng, Tsering Yangzom Lama, Shin Yu Pai, Ryan Lee Wong, and Bryan Thao Worra—to discuss the cultural and spiritual influences in their work. In a panel conversation moderated by Chenxing Han, these writers will share how a wide range of Buddhist traditions—in conjunction with their Vietnamese, Laotian, Tibetan, Taiwanese, Korean, and Chinese heritages—shape their artistic practice and political commitments.

If you’re able, please join us in person at the Michigan League to welcome our guest speakers, who are visiting from Pittsburgh, New York City, Seattle, the San Francisco Bay Area, and Vancouver, Canada. After the author readings and roundtable discussion, there will be time for audience Q&A followed by an informal reception and book signings. Please stay to enjoy light refreshments and to meet the authors one-on-one!

This event is sponsored by the Department of Asian Languages and Cultures and co-sponsored by the Department of American Culture, the Asian/Pacific Islander American Studies program, the Nam Center for Korean Studies, the Department of Comparative Literature, the Center for Southeast Asian Studies, and the Lieberthal-Rogel Center for Chinese Studies with local bookshop Booksweet organizing the book signings.

Panelists Quyên Nguyễn-Hoàng is a writer and translator born in Việt Nam. Recent publications include Masked Force (Sàn Art), a pamphlet-catalogue on Võ An Khánh’s war photographs, and Chronicles of a Village (Penguin SEA), her translation of a novel by Nguyễn Thanh Hiện. Her work has appeared in Poetry, Jacket2, Modern Poetry in Translation and other venues. Currently studying at Stanford University, she has received support from the PEN/Heim Fund and the Institute for Comparative Modernities, among other honors.

Tsering Yangzom Lama’s debut novel, We Measure the Earth With Our Bodies, won the GLCA New Writers Award as well as the Banff Mountain Book Award for Fiction & Poetry. Tsering holds an MFA in Writing from Columbia University and a BA in Creative Writing and International Relations from the University of British Columbia. We Measure the Earth With Our Bodies is published in English in Canada, the United States, and India. Translations are available or forthcoming in French, Italian, Dutch, Polish, Bulgarian, Tibetan, and Arabic.

Shin Yu Pai is currently the Civic Poet of The City of Seattle. She is the author of 13 books, and has received awards for her work from the Academy of American Poets, 4Culture, The Awesome Foundation, and Artist Trust. Shin Yu is host and writer of “Ten Thousand Things”—an award-winning, chart-topping podcast on Asian American stories. She received her MFA in Creative Writing from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago and earned an MA in Museology from The University of Washington.

Ryan Lee Wong is author of the novel Which Side Are You On, a finalist for the PEN/Hemingway Award for Debut Novel. He organized the exhibitions Serve the People at Interference Archive and Roots at Chinese American Museum, and has written on the intersections of arts, race, and social movements. Ryan holds an MFA in Fiction from Rutgers-Newark and served on the Board of the Jerome Foundation. He lived for two years at Ancestral Heart Temple and is the Administrative Director of Brooklyn Zen Center.

Bryan Thao Worra is a Lao American poet. With 20+ awards and fellowships, he is the author of 9+ books of poetry on the Lao American diaspora. He has presented at the Library of Congress, Poets House, Kearny Street Workshop, the Singapore Writers Festival, and the Smithsonian, and is the author of over 100 publications. He has documented Lao Theravada Buddhist temples in the US for over 15 years. His newest book American Laodyssey is forthcoming from Sahtu Press in Spring 2024.

Moderator Chenxing Han is the author of Be the Refuge: Raising the Voices of Asian American Buddhists; one long listening: a memoir of grief, friendship, and spiritual care; and over twenty articles and book chapters for both academic and mainstream audiences. She is a frequent speaker and workshop leader at schools, universities, and Buddhist communities across the nation, and currently serves as the Khyentse Visitor in the Department of Asian Languages and Cultures at the University of Michigan.

[staticdive]

Antzu - Love Is A Desert Rose

Antzu is the professional name of award-winning recording artist, Andrew Huang. He made his solo professional debut in 2016 with the album “Troubadour”. That record introduced a multi talented singer, songwriter, and poet who was once dubbed “The First Modern Mando-Pop Poet Singer”. Born in Taiwan, Huang was raised in the United States by his American father and Taiwanese mother. He began playing…

[straycatboogie]

2023/03/22 English

BGM: Massive Attack - Daydreaming

Today was a day off. This morning I went to AEON, and at where I read Natsuki Ikezawa's "The Navidad Incident: The Downfall of Matias Guili" until the third chapter with Silent Poets' "Potential Meeting". I was really impressed by Ikezawa's clever technique. In this book, he mixes various essences smartly. The fictional country Navidad and Japan's political affair, Japanese culture, and romance... although this might be once I already wrote, in this book the vast dreaming of Latin American literature and Japanese concept "mono no aware". Once I had read the comment "this is a palody of Latin American novels", but I never can write such a brief review easily. Before building any biases, I need to read the book steadily. It's important. I got drank by this book. A really rich book.

This afternoon, I talked with a staff from my group home. After that, I read "Donald Keene's Tokyo shitamachi diary". TBH I had believed that Donald Keene must be a person of "retrospective" (or anachronism). But this book broke such a narrow bias of mine.  Indeed, in this book he writes about various authors' faces (as Yukio Mishima, Kobo Abe, etc). However, he also writes about the memories of the Pacific War so much. He is really a liberal and global intellectual against my image. His clear and neat Japanese must be the one I should follow. I borrowed Keene's books because of Shohei Ohoka's "Seijyo Press", but I almost try to read them rapidly without thinking deeply. My mind is really scattered by these ideas.

Japan won the WBC game against America. I had never expect this result. Indeed, this news has a certain impact and this afternoon I was attracted by Twitter's timeline and news without doing any other activities. On Discord we were involved by the fever... no, that depended on the servers. A server didn't care this result (yes, "one of the servers I join"). TBH, this evening I went to the "danshu" meeting and talked about this a little. We talked like "We should have the spirit of 'never give up'", and "I don't want to in the mood of drinking alcohol as a celebration". Yes, it depends on the communities I belong to neatly. How this world can be? One of the things I can say is that I can touch such various worlds because of learning English.

After that, I went back to my group home, and read Wen Yuju's "At the country not mine" a little. I had read one of her books which was a collection of letters with Yusuke Kimura. Although this might be from my "masculine" character, but I felt her writing was really charming. I want to make the word "translingal" because she has lived in the "gap" between the Japanese language and Taiwanese language like the "transgender" people (who are living in the "gap" between male and female). I learned that she has her blog. I read the latest article and found it was really thrilling. She doesn't want to be used by anyone. "Kind" presses and fans would "use" her writings, but she denies that and tries to write as she wants. It is easy to blame her as naive because of this, but I want to support this "weakness". I am also a reader who wants to learn the "'charming' senses of language" like Yoko Tawada. I have to think about this again.

[rawrmeansilyindinosawr]

Pooperz

every song i listen 2 from now ONN / mo0bin forwarDDt HAZ to hav the redbone tune underneath it (song can b layered a bunch) n Thtz w NO eggceptions n settling . :-] N if u fuk me thru a soundcloud ad Thts how I kno u love me <3 .!!! i wrote a lil poetry zine on “on loving a trans boy” Cuz. like. idk. Not 2 get 222 personal but (Also if 222 is ur angel number i HATE U AND fuck U!!!!) it diff to experience as a queer person whut it lik to giv someone they T shot n lik actually see them grow n change thru it .!

Part of the poem i wrote (it on my poetry Ig account and tumblR) :

“the first time u intertwine ur body with him u will feel the pain it took for him to get here. yet all the strength. the battle the bruises the scars. u change ur semantics. and pay attention to his movements. resonate with the feeling of familiarity in a body torn open but completely soft. and the clothes are off. and we are both nude. but the vagina still remains an open wound. something u can not bandage. only describe as something reclaimed.”

Deezz NUTZ jk i mean Dis Week ish has been sad n i hav been doin 2 much blow n spiraling upwards Alwayzz n finding out u kan txt tha Suicide hotline now instead of Kall <3 *_* :-D !!!!! Also b4 they connect u with somEoNe they Ask if Ur Gay lmao cuz there a specialist Gay Person who knowz how to talk to u in a better way.?! i Tink watching Ded Poet Society triggered meH LOl. wellbutt anywayZzz.!!!! Nyfw w is overrrrr n I had nothing 2 do wiff it :/] but moi bestie dante Had a styling gig n wuz AMWZINGGGGGG.!!! :3 we went to a fashion show n Skipt line while he farted rly loud < im sry im puttin u on blast rn Babezz. > then blamed iT on Meh which bc of swiss army man A24 movie i WilL take tha blame cuz intimacy exists rly in Flatchulance n also sharing toilet 2gether in the backstage models bathroom of tha Fashion show resNorting old K we find our nostrils then Mixing rando drinkz we find on the makeup tablezz n bein surprised Dere r keBoobZ there n Pb n J sammyz. liK oK go OFF n actually b a professhh Fashion Show…!!!! den we fake watched tha superbowl at Hush in midtown N almost lost Praying”Gods FavZ” purse n i was caught littering my almond chocolate soy Milk on a stripper stage . Run!!!!! also dat E pill wuz rly cute it wuz pink n crown shaped but Wuz everything kinda not as happy and super blurry..!!! ?

Dissh week i also Swuirted to clairo nitecore edition :-]] n h8 havin adhd but at least im kNo how 2 eat salami by the Chub. (thts whut google calls it.) Hehehhehehehehe. gettin moi diagnosis finalized Tmrw hopefully n Gettin on Summ medicinez. im v adhd hyper fixated Rn on ice spice who Wuz also suppoSt 2 pull up 2 dat fashion show we were at butt didn’t. 4 now , everything Reminds meh of her</3 ….. Orange cones on tha st , pepper grinderzz/ shakers (spice) , 5 chinese spice , my friends dog “lunch” boXxx cuz his name rhymes w munch n n n n n Yah lik honestly Everything . ?!.?!

WakiNg Up w Negativez in my account cuz my Boss not bossa Nova forgot 2 paY meH ovEr thA course of Tha Last month N i didn’t even kno til i wuz in my Sexy crushes bed listening 2 Imogen heAp N In Tha Clurbb mixx by Sandalz n they wrote poetry 4 ffivee hours straight n My tummy hurteD fuz i was drinkin truffle SoY saUce from the bottle and i wuz manically checking my Bank statements 2 submit to Snapp HRA crackle Pop Rice Krispieeezzz. Also all of dis happened w a singulaR Vegan Taiwanese green onion pAnc@Ke on the floor on a chacoochie board with bulgolgi and kimchi n more truffle soy sauce . Untouched .

alSo found Untouched by the Veronicas on soundcloud but lik sped up n Holy shit i hav loved this song forever but literally lik YO diss is my heart..?!!!!!! “And I don't give a damn what they say, or what they think, think

'Cause you're the only one who's on my mind

I'll never, ever let you leave me

I'll try to stop time forever

Never wanna hear you say goodbye

I feel so untouched and I want you so much

That I just can't resist you

It's not enough to say that I miss you

And I need you so much

See you, breathe you

I want to be you

You can take, take, t-take, take, time, time

To live, live the way you gotta, gotta live your life

Give me, give me, give me all of you, you

Don't be scared, of seeing through the loneliness

I want it more, more, more

Don't even think about what's right or wrong, or wrong or right

'Cause in the end it's only you and me

And no one else is going to be around

To answer all the questions left behind

And you and I are meant to be

So even if the world falls down today

You've still got me to hold you up, up

And I will never let you down, down”

<33333

Y does it feel like moi crush doesnT like me rn. :-[ N Y do lesbians Always hav the MOST unstable Housing situationZ??? then either wanna UHaul with U or move to ASTORIA .?!? Also i hope all of u make assumptions about my sexuality bcuz i Rly rly rly like whipt cream from the Can , and raw . Emphasis on whiPped. n Cream. n RAWr xD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

MEOW MEOW RAWR RAWR GRERRR!!!!!!!!!!!!1 i kant keep rereading the msg i didn’t Send i ended up calling n yelling n Thts whut got meh bLocked. :-[[ Rugratzs .!!! i luv staying up watching movies w my friends ex’s Im tryna get wiff and Accidwntally thinking K is coke and feeling lik SHIT butt watchin every1 giv intense eye contact n cleanin da house n then losing tha dog Lik WHTFFF.?! Then All of a sudden that plug pulls up N everyone is confused N also randomly the guy living upstairs has my iPhone location N pulls downstairs 2 hangs:-]]] i always wonder if I’m popular but in reality i am just breaking oUt on my ForeheAd cuz all i eat is fried Chiggen N moi green haired browneyedd luver looks like invader zimm sometimezz alotta Da time n i think they r SKUTE.!! n i lik their lisp! im SAD sad my 2/2 cis male friend is gOnna print out a sign on his door Dat Says “blood OathinG” with a Red Circle around it n a Line around it basically sayin NOOOOOoooOoOoOoT allowed.!! butt ima blood oath wiffhh invader Jim dish nxt week n it is a PLANZZ.!!

i wrote a poem ab our phone Kall tht has impacted meh m my heart n also this is a snippet of 1 of my poems in my new book i still writing Kalled STRAWBERRY DELIRIUM :-}}”my friends don’t wanna die anymore they wanna live . they don’t wanna slip away to shreds with fentanyl test strips. they still wanna snort k n apologize for being gay but we all r human longing for all of this…” N another poem tht explainzz this blog title. Cuz i luv my fwendz n shared a moment in which we found popperz.

“Felt that rush on my head

as i laid in ur bed

and found a vile hidden

under ur pillow

u laugh and i manically panic

turning bright lite crimson red

And when it spills all over ur arms

drip dropping like tap water

i snort it all off ur arms

and i h a t e the way it makes me feel

similar to the feeling like ill fall

when im in my platform shoes

going up n down ur spiral stair case that looks like slices of cheesecakes

and u sigh scream cuz u never liked them at all

and hate is a strong word but so is love

And i hate the way the poppers make me feel

but i do love you “

okIkkkKkkkKkk i kinda hate that poem but whatever. sooo Vday wuz cute it is n0T only single awareness day but reflecting on ur situationsjips day n feeling sad ab it day but whatev. NormalZe watching cHaterbAte on the subWay n mindIng ur FooOoking Business?..!! my Friends say if i were a sammicH i wuld b a caprese. butt i feel like a ruben. #misunderstood <\3 i hav been watching SM hellokitty n Fwendzz n realized am kuromi and hello kitty is my friend .!!! N i listen to metal N rock w my headphonezz Real Hi n Loud n mak moi own clothes .! N i hav a crush on badtzmaru cuz they look like a penguin dyke n their gender is X.!! <3 <3 🐧 🫶🏻👩🏻‍❤️‍👩🏻 they r epitome of sapphic Desirezz n untoxic uhaul luv<3 :-]

tIL nxt week.?? Carl wheezer luver n Cali King bed listener on Max volume on subway N my big three is adderal sun , ketamine moon , cocaine rising <3 Also no i did NOT clog tha toilet at a house party after party this week N no i did not need help unclogging it N no i don’t even poop or do popperz cuz i’m PERFECT…!!!!!!!<333

Xoxo,

Rennybabycutebabyangel plz buy my clothes n ask ab my story sale / failed depop. :-]

[charred-notebooks]

Error 400 – 418

I miss you

400 Bad Request

I want you

403 Forbidden

I want you so much

402 Payment Required

I want to see you

404 Not Found: Page Cannot Be Displayed

(The most likely causes are that you are not connected to the

internet or that the address you entered is incorrect)

I only want to see you

415 Unsupported Media Type

I must see you!

426 Upgrade Required

I wanna bite you

423 Locked

WTF? How I’d love to lock you up

405 Method Not Allowed

I hate you more than anything

451 Redirect

O I love you

401 Unauthorized Uncommitted

Love you love you love you

403.11 You have exceeded the number of allowed attempts

I love you!!

418 I’m a teapot

— Amang Hung

"Error 400 – 418" poem by Taiwanese poet-filmmaker Amang Hung (translated by Steve Bradbury) from the collection Raised by Wolves, read by me.

[mangoslixes]

Roast Duck Elegy

by K-Ming Chang

In the window of my grandma’s

             restaurant, a whole roast duck

                          dressed in my clothes. I eat the chives

             from its chest wound, tie it a twine

waist. My grandmother orders me

             from a display of the dead, welds me

                          a crown from cutlery. Tells me the story

             of a soldier eating his legs

all night, bone

             his only light source. In this family,

                          forgetting is famine. A body is having

             no choice but to eat. On the menu,

we misspell chicken fingers

             as children fingers. We eat

                          our gods out of grief, lose teeth

             to new last names. I conflate hunger

with faith, fry my prayers

             in cornmeal & paste. The first summer

                          I waitress, my grandmother warns me

             white people don’t like dark

meat. The first white man to pay me

             strokes my knee beneath the tablecloth,

                          knocks the pen from my hand to watch

             me pick it up. Says, how do I order

one of you off the menu?

             My grandmother still spells duck

                          like fuck, still beats me for eating

             before my father. Need

is a hierarchy: how

I’ve only ever seen my mother eat

leftovers. On Sundays, she cleaves

beaks, stuffs severed necks

with psalms. She dices

my garlic breath, my bigger

breast, says a full stomach is the best

flotation device. When crossing

a sea, leave everything

that sinks: jewelry, kitchen

knives, children. Bring your tongue

but not its language. Name the body

but not what slaughtered it, my grandmother

carries a roast duck to bed on the first night

she’s a bride. As if hunger is a buffer, as if

the difference between a woman & meat

is wings. For months, she pretends she isn’t

pregnant. She starves herself to shed

a son & grows three

mouths of teeth. My father born

five-limbed & fat. Proof the body

will live for anyone

but itself. Proof I’m alive

because a man did not

die. Because a woman

was willing to.

[shihlun]

白紗一幅映燈光，燦爛如晝照華堂，紛紛群履來如織，快賭極東戰爭場。 此中奇幻開天地，炮烟彈火土毫芒，陸地激鬬方壯烈，鐵船又戰太平洋。 憲擲龍拏在一紙，死傷勝敗須臾耳，旌旗烽熢現眼前，不愁地隔千萬里。 幻燈自此妙入神，千秋猛士長不死，廾紀風雲戰局新，流傳何必垂青史。 今夜我為觀戰人，戰場雖假戰事真，滄波揚波艦沒水，大砲轟天人化塵。 堆骨如山血流水，敵輕生命何不仁，干戈慘狀至此極，使我見之心酸辛。 我聞寫真非易得，櫛風沐雨臨絕域，萬死之中倖一生，探得鱺珠方返國。 按圖作劇百媚生，不藉火光藉電力，莫言見影不聞聲，公輸視此無顏色。

-- 陳瑚〈觀日露戰爭活動寫真有感〉C. 1904