Song of a Reformed Headhunter

in the forsythia green is overtaking yellow false positive

Last night I had a very enjoyable evening watching a staged reading of Damon Chua's new play Optimism . Written and workshopped during his Emerging Writers Residency at The Public Theater, the play weaves together two different American eras--the 1964 New York World's Fair and early 1980s Wall Street--in an intricate and telling fashion, dramatizing the story of the American dream from the point of view of a young Chinese American, who grew up in Flushing, Queens. The actors, directed by Rebecca Taichman, were all terrific: Tina Benko, Bernardo Cubria, Sanjit De Silva, Karen Huie, Marc Damon Johnson, Peter Kim and Mariko Nakasone Parker. I hope some theater company will pick up the play and give it a full-fledged production. * april twilight advancing deadline for final proofs

it's too hard in spring to study seriously the curriculum of trees

two japanese women stop by the cherry tree and remove their sunglasses

Set up a Facebook page for my new book Steep Tea. Please like it to follow the book's adventures in the world. * the paint forsythia flicks, dabs and trowels-- ground and figure

this london plane an uncertain time machine couples walk by

Edited by Iain Galbraith and Robyn Marsack, Oxford Poets 2013 An Anthology is consistently enjoyable. Substantial selection of each poet's work. Particularly glad to make the acquaintance with the poetry of Gregor Addison, David Attwooll, Paul Batchelor, Andre Naffis-Sahely and Jan Wagner. The last writes in German and is translated in the anthology by Galbraith. His poetry is of a piece with his introduction, which strikes a chord with me: A good poem can pool the maximum linguistic resources in the smallest of fields, harmonising opposites and paradoxes, allowing them to chime, amplifying musicality and meaning. t will also uphold the fundamental poetic virtues of surprise and transgression (whether in violating conventions of its own making or rules imposed from without), granting the greatest possible freedom in the most compact space....  The striking, original quality of a successful poem lies in its ability to grasp or say something that has not been put in the same way...