Song of a Reformed Headhunter

Daylilies by the lake a bouquet of sunsets but not a lullaby * Last night I read at a PrideWriters event, organized by Kevin Scott Hall, to benefit New Alternatives, a non-profit working for LGBT homeless youth. The upper bar at the Duplex was filled, though not to capacity, partly because of the heavy downpour just before the reading. GH, WL and JH came. Kevin read from his memoir about taking in a homeless black man from New Orleans. Ricardo Hernandez read several poems, the best of which was a beautiful one about Rene Magritte and his mother. Kate Walter read from her memoir about going back to the dating pool after a long-term relationship broke up. James Gavin read from his biography of singer Peggy Lee, a well-crafted extract about the encounters between Lee and Madonna. Sissy Van Dyke was hilarious as she translated her comedic flair into print and read from The Adventures of Sissy Van Dyke . I read three poems from Equal to the Earth . During the reading I could feel th...

Andrew Howdle has been a keen reader of my poetry for a number of years. His review of my book Equal to the Earth is informed by his intimate knowledge of my work as well as by our regular correspondence. If I suggest that his review is so far the best reading of my book, I do so not because he is highly complimentary, but because he reads it with high intelligence and broad sympathy. He is sensitive to the various ways technique contributes to emotion, and so neither is discussed in isolation or, worse, as if they are contradictory. Instead, he explains both the vision and the viscera of the work.

Googling my name idly this morning, I discover Equal to the Earth has been briefly reviewed by  The Tower Journal : This first, full-length collection of poems by Jee Leong Koh, reveals why this young man has become an almost overnight sensation. His poetry can't be classified. It is at times internal and deep, then mundane and urban and even sarcastic and humorous. His language, mythic and crass, reveals a bold desire to comprehend love and human interactions. He uses words, rhythm and images like a daring, young master. Buy this book and watch this poet's future! You won't be disappointed. The Tower Journal is edited by Mary Ann Sullivan.

Am I becoming controversial? "The Grand Historian Makes a Virtue of Necessity" is a mere reading list, according to Nicholas Liu, but Andy Quan thinks that the whole sequence "uses Asian images and ideas in ways that are not kitsch but instead playful and original and matches it with a voice that crackles with energy." Besides the question of personal taste, the different opinions pivot on a number of interesting issues, such as the reviewer's familiarity with Chinese history, his attitude to the same history, his poetics regarding historical references, his stance towards the recuperation of a lost tradition, in this case, that of Chinese homosexuality. That both Liu and Quan are part of the Chinese diaspora--Liu is Singaporean whereas Quan is Canadian--only makes the comparison more interesting. Quan's review  has just appeared in Mascara Issue Seven. The same issue publishes new poems by Patrick Rosal, and a youtube video of Franz Wright reading ...

I missed seeing this review when it first came out in April, in the Quarterly Literary Review of Singapore . It is a piece of intelligent criticism of my book. Though I disagree with several of his evaluations of phrase, line and poem, I find myself agreeing with a greater number than I am happy to admit. The comments on "The Grand Historian" and "Cold Pastoral" are particularly acute. I accept too that I am overdrawn at the Bank of Keats, as Liu so wittily puts it. He has a keen ear, and I am glad Singapore Literature has recruited an independent young critic. Koh Jee Leong's debut collection — discounting his intriguing chapbook of sonnets, Payday Loans (Poets Wear Prada, 2007) — can fairly be described as overdue. Koh is no journeyman poet, and the best of these poems make important contributions to the Singapore lyric, such as it is. (One dares to dream that had this book been published sooner, we might even have been spared some of the past few years...

It stands for Greater New York Independent Publishers Association. The audience was small tonight, at Cornelia Street Cafe, but the readers were all interesting in various ways. Four of the seven poets reading were queer, though GNYIPA is not a queer organization. I read "Hungry Ghosts," "For Lonely," and "Blowjob." Helen Dano came all the way from the Bronx, where she worked, to attend the reading, and bought a book. Perry Brass also bought a book, as well as Siddhath whom I met at the reading. The ratio of buyers to audience must be one of the highest ever for me. After the reading, I had a nice dinner with Helen at the oyster bar across the street.

Paul Stevens, the editor of The Chimaera , wrote a warm appreciation of Equal to the Earth : It would be simplistic in the extreme to categorise Jee Leong Koh as a Gay poet, or an ethnic Chinese or Singaporean poet, or an Asian-American poet, or a poet in the English tradition, or a post-colonialist poet, or whatever. His work reflects all of these contexts and more, but also handsomely transcends them and amounts to an oeuvre greater than the sum of its contexts. . . . More .

Jerry Wheeler from Out In Print reviews my book of poems: The stark simplicity of the geographic formations which adorn the cover of Singapore-born poet Jee Leong Koh’s Equal to the Earth has much in common with the poems inside. They are products of their environment – rooted and grounded in water, earth and air –and all the more beautiful for it. . . . [Read more ]

I am giving away free one copy of my book EQUAL TO THE EARTH, if you link to Chloe Miller's blog, and your name comes up in a draw. Details here . Deadline is midnight tonight. Chloe and I were at Sarah Lawrence together, and I am glad we are still in close touch. She took the route of adjunct college teaching, whereas I was lucky enough to land a job teaching in an independent school. I was a guest at her wedding, and wrote a poem for her and Han afterwards, Ideas of the Real . Her mind buzzes with all kinds of creative projects, a real inspiration to the self-made writer. Update: Marsha Pincus won the draw.

Bruce Weber has now organized this annual reading sixteen times. It went on from 2 PM to Midnight, at the Bowery Poetry Club. I arrived at 3 and stayed till about 6. Read two poems "For Lonely" and "New Year Resolution." Sold one book (thanks, Stefanie with an "f") and another was probably thieved. I hope the thief loves the poetry. Update: Just confirmed that AS bought a book from the reading. The mystery deepens. I don't care about the money. The volunteers manning the book table were juggling many tasks as best as they could. It is more romantic to think someone liked my book enough to steal it.

Scottish poet Rob Mackenzie reviews EQUAL TO THE EARTH: "Koh's formalism serves the poems rather than the other way round. They are extremely well-written, moving, pointed and refreshingly unfashionable...." Nice to be read and compared with George Szirtes' latest book. I knew Rob through the online poetry workshop PFFA. As a poet he is always innovative and yet principled. As a critter he balances judgment with generosity. His first full-length collection of poetry The Opposite of Cabbage was recently reviewed in the Times Literary Supplement . I conducted an email interview with him on his book.

In To Views features a brief interview with me. It may be a fun interview to read. *

In Cha , Moira Moody reviews Equal to the Earth , alongside Two Baby Hands , another book of poems by another Singaporean with the same last name. Fortunately the review makes no cutesy pun. It sees the two books' very different aesthetics but finally, unfortunately, shies away from any evaluation, settling for the anodyne conclusion that "Their volumes are equally promising and rigorous in the different directions they take, and together only suggest that the country's poetic climate is not easily reduced." For a very different judgment of Gilbert Koh's Two Baby Hands , read Nicholas Liu's review in QLRS. Liu enjoys wielding the knife a little too much, I think, but his opinion is incisive and well-supported. Moody, on the other hand, has doubts about my style but does not quite come out to say them. The doubts are more or less consciously expressed in her choice of words. She refers, for example, to my use of "the rigidity of form" to contain s...

Yesterday I read at Peter Chelnik's reading series, together with Susan Maurer and Patricia Carragon. The reading took place in the 140-seat Chernuchin Theater, one of four performance spaces in the American Theater of Actors. Since there were about 20 of us altogether, the raised seating looked rather forlorn, but the poetry and the attention more than made up for the numbers. Both Susan and Patricia read some really interesting pieces, and the open-mic was one of the best that I have ever heard. I read a poem from each section of ETTE: "Hungry Ghosts," "Florida," "Blowjob," "Brother" and "Montauk." I sold two books, one to EN who turned up despite a cold. JF also came, and the three of us had dinner afterwards at the Cosmic Diner, and chatted about family, heritage and intellectuality. EN told a wonderful tale about the vent that connected his parents' house to his grandparents'. JF came back at him with a mystery story: t...

 Grady Harp reviews Equal to the Earth in the November issue of O&S. The review quotes generously from the book. The magazine is a beautiful production, showcasing the work of many artists and poets. *

Steven Cordova kicked off his new reading series called "Working Authors" by featuring six poets from Best Gay Poetry 2008 , edited by Lawrence Schimel. I read last night, together with Chip Livingston, Timothy Liu, Jason Schneiderman, Emmanuel Xavier and the curator himself. The room in the LGBT center was nicely filled up. I read "Glass Orgasm" from the anthology, and "Florida" and "Montauk." The last two worked well together. Despite stumbling twice, my reading I judge was compelling. TH and EN were there, as was SS who swopped her new book The Future Is Happy for mine. The Friday before last I read at Cornelia Street Cafe, curated by Kat Georges. I did my best ever reading then. Hit every musical phrase with precision and made every structure sensible. The poems were mostly about my father, from the first section of my book. EN was there.

What little I have learned about hermeticism, I have learned it from Eshuneutics' blog. He has written about Equal to the Earth in three separate posts, each highlighting a different hermetical aspect of my writing, by looking at an individual poem. His post Sea reads that image in the book and in the poem "Fire Island." Androgyne interprets my poem "Brother" rightly against Plato's Symposium . Mermen looks at the poem of the same name, contrasting its use of hermetical imagery with Simon Lowy's.

Eshuneutics gives the best reading of my poem "Brother" so far. Read the poem first, before the post . That I did not know of hermeticism before I met Eshu is an argument for, rather than against, the validity of his interpretation.

Previously unpublished in any journal, four poems from my book Equal to the Earth are reprinted in the Arlington Literary Journal . ArLiJo is sponsored by Gival Press and edited by Robert L. Giron. From the website: The intent of Ar Li Jo is to feature a variety of authors/poets/artists from around the globe whose work provokes readers to comtemplate issues, etc. In this spirit, the editor, Robert L. Giron, invites authors/poets/artists to share their work which promotes understanding and sensitvity across borders, even if initially the work may cause one to take a double-take.

Eshuneutics reviews my poems Equal to the Earth , focusing on the alchemical meaning of the sea.(A longer review is forthcoming.) Harry Rutherford reads my book as part of the Read the World Challenge. So, for one, I am the Solutio , for another, I am Singapore. Coincidentally, both live in the UK. What do we make of this?