Lorna Dee Cervantes posted this today:
FROM Regina Chavez y Sanchez:
My beloved husband, Trinidad Sánchez, Jr., died today at the Methodist Hospital. He was such a loving man, gentle spirit and leader. His words and laughter will live on forever. The poet, activist and teacher must live on in all of us!
It has been a long time since I have heard anything from my dear friend Eduardo (as in Mr. E. C. Corral, if you please) … but that has more to do with the fact I have not been keeping up with other people's poetry blog for months and months. So today I clicked over to Lorcaloca and found this (which I rudely stole and am sharing with you) … I am so jealous!
We are looking for five or six more poets for our anthology tentatively titled Collections, Fetishes, & Obsessions. This anthology will be a showcase of poets who often return to the same themes, subject matter, or imagery across a body of work. We have already accepted a large number of outstanding poets from an overwhelming response to our first call for work late last year. Right now as we finish the manuscript and begin sending off proposals to publishers, we are interested in finding five or six additional poets whose writing focuses on one or more of the following categories:
1) a specific actor or actress
2) a specific singer or song
3) a specific writer or artist, or a specific text or artistic work by a writer or artist
4) a specific name-brand item
5) a specific place
6) a specific televison show or movie
7) a specific fictional character
8) a particular kind of foodPlease do NOT send us poems about lost or unrequited love, death, motherhood, lust, sex, racism, feminism, home, the environment, the moon, animals, or alcoholism (unless they somehow relate to the eight categories listed above). These were the most popular topics we received in response to our first call for submissions, and we've got those bases covered. The quirkier, funnier, more bizarre, or more specific your particular obsession in your work, the better your chances of being included in our project.
Please also remember that we are most interested in a things that appear over and over again across a wide body of work. We don't necessarily want to see the only 3 poems you've ever written about Archie Bunker. Poets who are accepted will be asked later to also contribute a 300-500 word essay that discusses why their poetic obsession is important to them, their work, and the larger context of contemporary American poetry.
Please send 5-7 of your best poems in one attached document (.doc, .rtf, and .txt formats are fine — please do NOT copy and paste your work in the body of an e-mail, as this makes printing more difficult), along with a short note about yourself, to Stephen Powers & Michalene Mogensen at: . (E-mail submissions only this time, unless you query first for a postal address. The postal address listed in last year's call for submissions is no longer valid.)
DEADLINE: August 1st.
a death a day
"In the first 27 days of June, 27 soldiers and marines were killed [in Anbar Province] . . . New York Times, June 29, 2006
Birdie Jaworski brought this to my attention recently.
For those of you who know or have a loved one in the military; for those of you who wish to speak about our military presence in Iraq; for those of you wishing to do something, Michelle Buchanan has put together Operation Poem, the goal being to write a poem for every soldier that has died so far in combat. She writes:
We will not call you a casualty.
We will not number you. You are
our mothers and fathers, our aunts
and uncles, brothers and sisters,
husbands and wives, friends, lovers
and neighbors, our cousins
and grandparents.
We will write for you.
We will remember you.
I encourage everyone to submit to this. Regardless your political stance on what is happening in the Middle East, what we are doing affects all of us.
Thank you.
Strength
… mastery of bravura … command of laughter …
In the Rider-Waite deck a fertility goddess, an archetype of the merry fields, clasps together the jaws a beast of power, a golden lion. Flowers are in her hair and she wears the symbol for eternity, the number 8 on its side, like a crown.
Some have seen the Strength card as the art of brute strength needed in vanquishing enemies of superior power However, control, dynamism and discipline combined with eloquence wins over brute strength any day of the week. In other words, what we really value is the mastering of challenges that present themselves to us by our cunning.
Around the world the lion is a potent sexual symbol, while the female figure might represent the higher consciousness of the reader. Unlike the Chariot (VII) which warns of one's own dogma, bullheadedness, fanaticism in the face of delicate situations, Strength is not so a measure of physical prowess but rather how tactful a person can manipulate that prowess for their own purpose. After all, the story teller reminds us, laughter is the greatest tool of them all.
***
The Card
A young woman swims up through the darkness to meet a circling hammerhead shark. She is Afrekete, the sea goddess and Trickster figure of the Dahomey people of West Africa.
A Trickster is a character from religion and mythology who is both clever and mischievous with what they do. They usually appear to teach the audience some sort of moral or lesson through their bad behavior but in the end survive their perils and challenges using the same craft and cunning that got them in trouble. In the American Southwest, Coyote is a popular Trickster archetype; whereas in Southeastern storytelling it is Brer Rabbit who outwits his enemies again and again.
In storytelling it is important to remember that the Trickster, while at first seeming foolish or even malicious, helps to set our cultural norms and remind us of what is acceptable and illustrate for us the dangers of breaking those norms. Thus, while it is true that Afrekete, "daughter of Agbe and Naete," (Leach, 375) through her bravura, verve and guile, "protects all that is valuable in the sea" (Ann, 2), because she is a Trickster, she is always getting herself into trouble since as well since "she is … fond of gossip" (ibid.) and can't help but brag to everyone around her. Still, it requires defiance, strength and stubbornness to overcome one's own challenges, even if they are self-made. This is where Afrekete is at her best, since she is very stubborn in her own way and in the end masters her own difficulties to the cheers and applause of the audience.
***
Strength/ Afrekete in a Reading
If you discover you have drawn the Afrekete to your reading, rejoice in the chance this gives you to laugh at your own frustrations. The circling hammerhead shark represents all our difficulties, challenges, adversaries we face on a daily basis. Think of the sea goddess as your ability to deal with those challenges light-heartedly and with humor. It might not be easy, but how much more pleasurable is it to laugh away your challenges than to fear and let them crush you? However, even if she seems foolish or childish at first, we must always show respect to Afrekete, daughter of the Dahomey. When we forget our place and mock the Trickster, that is when trouble is sure to strike. If Afrekete appears reversed in your reading it is a sign of abuse of power at one level or another. Contemplate how you are using attempting to get through the situation. Have you forgotten to laugh? Sometimes the world's biggest problems can be dispelled simply by laughing them away.
***
What a shame that such things happen on such
nice days. Careful now, children. Let wind blow
away your boy-cinders. Let waves wash much
of your girl-cinders. A boy and girl go
down the beach. Two hammerhead sharks follow
the boy and the girl. They sing, "this boy whelp
is all ash! This girl whelp is all ash! Tomorrow
they'll leave Lagos to look for goop and kelp."
Sharks have to sing this way, they cannot help
it. But then Afrekete, great laughter's
girl, swims by. When you see her, give a yelp
and fall down in prayer. Even girl tricksters
like prayer. Above all if you're a hammer
head thug. Above all a child of cinder.
Notes
[line 8] Lagos is the largest city in Nigeria and located on the coast.
***
Works Cited
Ann, Martha and Dorothy Myers Imel. Goddesses in World Mythology. Santa Barbara, Calif.: ABC-CLIO. (1993)
Leach, Marjorie. Guide to the Gods. Edited by Michael Owen Jones, Frances Cattermole-Tally. Santa Barbara, Calif.: ABC-CLIO. (1992)
Ruelaine Stokes, our coordinator of the Old Town Poetry Series, sent me this email yesterday that I am passing along to you. Whatever we can do to help, I am sure we will:
With great saddness, I am passing on the news that our beloved and enormously gifted poet Trinidad Sanchez, Jr. suffered a massive stroke on July 18th and is in the Intensive Care Unit at Methodist Hospital in San Antonio. Trino, as he is known to friends, has worked in the Lansing Schools, has appeared at WayStation Books numerous times, joined the NUpoets at Gregory's, appeared as a poet at the LCC Black History Month reading, and joined the Old Town Poets at the Creole Gallery for a fabulous reading the February before last.
Listening to Trino read, you felt like you had known him all your life. And he is not only a brilliant poet and performer. . . . . . . . . he is an artist who dedicated his life to encouraging and teaching others to write and to perform. . . . "to get out there and do it."
The word on Trino is that the stroke is massive and doctors do not give much hope for his survival. But he is surrounded by people who love him, and poets and friends have come from many places to read poetry to him and to be by his side. On Friday, the 21st, he woke up from the coma he had been in & is responding to those around him although he can only say a few words. . . .
He is not insured. I would be interested in working together with anyone interesting in co-organizing a benefit performance to raise money for his care.
Whatever we can do to help, Ruelaine, I am sure we will.