Myth of Arrival

Right! When I am not here in this part of cyberland I can be found at myspace listening to the Monolators or the Uganda rapper Ronnie Spider or the amazingly amazing radio show Hand of the Grandfather! However, I just made an exciting discovery I want to share with everyone. The poet Larry Mitchell now has his own myspace profile!

Those who don't know Mr. Mitchell, he is a Potawatomi poet and Vietnam veteran who has written Potawatomi Tracks: (The Ballad of Vietnam and Other Stories) (Heliographica Press, 2005). In his own words:

A year of active combat duty in Vietnam has left its scars on one Native American. After his tour of duty he struggled with drug use, homelessness, alcoholism, and was a victim of racism and discrimination. After 30 years he has discovered that he was really suffering from the effects of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Potawatomi Tracks serves as a chronicle of these events and struggles.

William H. Mcdonald Jr., President of The Military Writer's Society of America, writes:

I read Larry's personal account of his tour of duty several years ago. I was moved then by how unique and profoundly different his prose chronicled his own actual personal experiences. This is so much different than other veteran accounts. It reflects a cultural and spiritual dimension not seen in so many other memoirs. If you think you understand all that happened to us Vietnam veterans–this will open up new portals to understanding that have not been touched on by any one else. It is truly a personalized but universal life experience that will take the reader on a journey of the heart. This should be on your list of books to read about the Vietnam War. A truly riveting read!

I highly recommend this to everyone! You can get the book at Amazon, or visit his website.

But I do not want to forget to mention Larry's poetry. That's how I discovered him. I read this poem, Min Wah Min, on his blog recently. It is in the tradition of poets like Langston Hughes who combined deeply emotional topics with the seemingly "simplistic" form of the Blues (what white critics called it in Hughes' case), only to show us all that there was nothing "simple" about the Blues or his poetry or this one by Larry:

From the dawn till the sunset,
All I wanted was to be with you. Min Wah Min, Kate.
I was down on my knees asking you to marry me.

There is Love in the Ojibwa North Country.
There is Love on the Sweet Grass Road.
And in the cry of the loon on the lake.
Wedding bells from the town says we are one now.

My Love for you, will stand the test of time.
An' if two was one, it surely would be me and you.
I love you more than blood on the rez.
More than turquoise rings on the Great Painted Desert.
Your love will make me forget the pain.
You are soft and gentle as the rain.

Whatever way you do it, read what Larry has to say. I am waiting for the mail system to hurry up and get me my copy of Potawatomi Tracks … expect more updates as they happen.

If today's chalk talk/ homework assignment is to find one secret website on your favorite poet and share it with your friends, then I must thank Laura, who helped me by sending me this link to Red Poppy, a Pablo Neruda on-line project. A Pablo blog!

So Laura, thank you and let me share this photo I found earlier today, "Neruda looking out to sea."

"Feminism is for everybody," wrote bell hooks, and I couldn't agree more. So with that in mind, I list here a collection of grrl 'zines that need your support. Originally I was looking for information on a San Francisco 'zine called electricfemme. But it has either folded or changed addresses and my search did not take me as far as I hoped.¹

I did find many other interesting publications, however. The only requirement I had when trolling through cyberspace was that they must include poetry, or poetry-like writing (there is a lot of "fiction" that might be poetry and a lot of "poetry" that might be fiction, for that matter).

* GeekGirl from Australia has an interesting Art section that includes various writing. It was reviewed on Grrl Zine Network as: "web site with lots of fun and interesting stuff (like gallery: wallpapers - sound - bugs - archives - monthly cycles: news - hot flushes - arts - entertainment - snitch city)!"

* Hermana, Resist's flyer reads: "Living in the Rio grande valley, the holidays & new year's, renewal and winter, being hungry, numbers, the working poor, obligations, Durham-a sea of nice white crisp whiteness, elite hipsters, cubicles,revolution-when it meant something to me and a primer on racism- - and so much more. half size. 40 pages. wt: 2 oz."

* Bamboo Girl has just come out with issue #11. They describe their manifesto as: "challenging issues of racism/ sexism/ homophobia from the point of view of smart, loud, non-traditional girls of color, especially from that of the feminist Pinay (Filipina)-mutt perspective. There's more to life than straight white male patriarchy. Pro-Asian/ Asian mutt, pro-female, pro-f*ck oppression."

* “I believe in the power of dreams,” Lynne L. writes at Java Turtle. Issue #4 is out, "the coffee-oriented comic anthology." I highly recommend both Java Turtle and Lynne's Blackgirl Stories.

* Cherrybomb says they are: "an indie arts and culture magazine by, for and about real women. It's a space for us to share stories, exchange ideas, and inspire each other in print. Our goal is to create something we'll all want to read and share with our friends–something less academic than Ms, but still intelligent, and feminist; something less trashy and fashion oriented than Cosmo, but still sassy and funny!" Grrl Zine Network adds: "The issue on “Cutting Out the Middle Man” highlights women making art, music, film and poetry outside the commercial mainstream- ladies doing it their way, on their own time and their own dime.”

* Mimi Thi Nguyen, who might be in Ann Arbor, MI as I write this, says: "I've been writing for alternative and mainstream non-academic publications for over ten years. Here are some of those publications, including my Punk Planet columns." I recommend her journals as well.

* Finally in things you should spend your hard earned money on, Planting Seeds has a CD, spoken word: poet tongues on fire. It looks exciting.

Hurrah for Alternative Presses!

1. If anyone knows how I can get hold of the editor, Qianya, please drop me a line. Cheers! [back]

Once again, NY Uke Fest has come and gone and I missed it! The Fabulous Heftones were there, however. I was in Altu's last night with Shelby, working a cross-word puzzle and eating yummy Ethiopian food, when who should enter by Lynn, who actually does play a Heftone, who told us all about Uke Fest and their new CD, In the Garden. They are going to have a CD release party in the near future (if it is after November, though, probably not in an garden) and I recommend both the CD and the party to one and all, I love their music.