Song of a Reformed Headhunter

Off to China today, with nine students, and another teacher. We will spend three days in Beijing, a lot of time in Kunming, a day in Dali, four days in Shaxi and three days in Shanghai. Shaxi and Shangahi are new to me, and I am looking forward to seeing both. My last trip to China was two years ago. I had a very good time, though I was experiencing China very much as an anxious first-time chaperone. I did write some poetry based on my experience, and I hope this time will give me much to think about too. I will be back on June 30, and until then this blog is probably on hiatus.

Attended the 24th Annual Lambda Literary Awards last night and presented the gay and lesbian poetry awards with J. Bob Alotta. GH, who egged me to accept Don Weise's invite to be a presenter, was there too. The lesbian poetry award went to Love Cake , by Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha and the gay award to A Fast Life: the Collected Poems of Tim Dlugos , edited by David Trinidad. I was too nervous, really, to enjoy the reception before the ceremony, though I was glad that GH had the chance to talk to Armistead Maupin, the recipient of this year's Pioneer Award, and to Olympia Dukakis, who was presenting the award to the author of the Tales of the City series. GH kept urging me to talk to people but since I was doing this event with half a heart, I was uneasy with myself and resentful of him. He was so good at talking to the celebrities and thought up great lines for me to use during my presentation. I resisted him throughout, thinking and thinking that we are such diff...

Just returned from a weekend with T and D who live in Kingston, near Woodstock. Friday night, after dinner at an Italian restaurant called Mint, we drove into Rhinebeck to Upstate Cinemas to watch "The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel." A good-fun, feel-good movie, it followed a group of British retirees who traveled to India to stay at the eponymous hotel. The ensemble acting was good though the roles hardly stretched the talents of Judi Dench, Bill Nighy, Tom Wilkinson, Maggie Smith and Dev Patel. India was seen very much through the eyes of these Britishers (a recent widow, a former civil servant, a retired High Court judge, an ex-governess), but it was to the credit of the firm, directed by John Madden, that it fleshed out a few Indian characters such as Dev Patel's hapless romantic. The dialogue was sharp, and the plot provided a couple of surprises ("twist" is too strong a word). On Saturday, after eating lunch and walking about in Rhinebeck, which boasts the ...

The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center season-finale-d with a somewhat strange program of French music. Two works by Saint-Saëns and, after the intermission, one by Ernest Chausson. Not exactly the way to go out with a bang. The program was neither populist nor adventurous, and so it fell between the stools. I know Camille Saint-Saëns through his symphonies, and so was keen to hear his Trio No. 1 in F Major for Piano, Violin, and Cello (1864) and his Sonata No. 1 in D minor for Violin and Piano (1885). As the date indicates, the Trio was a youthful work. I did not care very much for it. I did enjoy the piano-playing of Juho Pohjonen, and was glad that he returned for the Sonata. He and violinist Elmar Oliveira made a fine pair. The music of the Sonata was captivating, and the musicians gave a passionate account of it. Someone three seats away described Saint-Saëns as an academician. There was nothing academic, however, about the performance, my neighbor and I agreed afterwards. ...

Watched Mike Bartlett's play Cock yesterday at the Duke with GH, TM and J. John could not decide between M (for Man) and W (for Woman). Directed by James Macdonald, the play focused quite relentlessly on gender and sexuality. At first the play seemed rather simple-minded about the complexities of people. After all, we are more than our gender. But it convinced me in the end that its single-mindedness paid off dividends. The choice was that much more stark. The play opened in 2009 at the Royal Court Theater in London. It moved here with the creative team, but with an American cast. Cory Michael Smith was appropriately a cipher to the audience and to himself as John. As M, Jason Butler Harner was over-the-top and so provided a nice contrast with the cool and gentle Amanda Quaid as W. Quaid was the revelation of the evening, to my mind. Quick-witted and full of suppressed energy, she more than held her own against the men. Cotter Smith, as M's father who came to dinner to fight...

I have five poems in PN Review 205 . Also, in the issue, poems by Sinéad Morrissey, Tara Bergin, Vénus Khoury-Ghata, David C. Ward, Alex Wylie and others. Get a copy! Subscribe! I am particularly taken by Tara Bergin's poem "Looking at Lucy's Painting of the Thames at Low Tide Without Lucy Present." Its every move is a surprise, but all are united by the opinionated, offhand voice. The work of Simon Jarvis is new to me. His three short poems are sharp and evocative, especially the perfect "Colloquium." Of the reviews, I enjoy David C. Ward's take-down of William Logan's selected early poems Deception Island . Who but Logan would allow himself to be blurbed as "the most hated man in American poetry"? I agree with Sasha Dugdale's estimation of Tiina Aleman's translation of Doris Kareva (conscientious but ultimately unsuccessful), and has bought Luljeta Lleshanaku's Haywire on the strength of Dugdale's strong recommendatio...

"This Mother's Day, Amnesty [International] is inviting you to write a message of solidarity for Afghan women. We'll put it on a kite -- kite flying is a popular pastime in Afghanistan -- and fly it during the NATO Summit in Chicago, May 20-21, where President Obama and Afghan President Karzai will be discussing Afghanistan's transition." To President Obama and President Karzai meeting in Chicago on May 20, 2012 without a single Afghan woman at the table  I am shouting but you don’t answer— One day you’ll look for me and I’ll be gone from this world.       Zarmina, a landai The pay phone is ringing, ringing— For love, yet another woman has set herself on fire.