Barbara jane reyes biography of christopher
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Six Poems from Poeta in San Francisco
Public scholarship on architecture, landscape, and urbanism
Poems as Maps
Barbara Jane Reyes
August
calle de comidas exóticas
turo-turo meaning point-point joints present styrofoam bowls of tamarind soup oxtails tripe peanut stew dinuguan (that’s chocolate meat to you) cellophane coconut milk sticky displayed silent women glass encased to service you though not for the weak-willed this is an adventure you shouldn’t pass up!
do not dip your hands into fish sauce fermented shrimp paste vessels do not grimace tasting salty wetness do not forget to clean up your own mess here no frills leaving gratuity is customary mark of manners
calle del consejo práctico
do not be deceived by ethnic ghetto zest’s barhop and boogie use reasonable caution when walking unsavory districts for kicky dining amongst lush and plush urbanoids, kooky and kitschy, freewheeling trendoids for even the moneyed sport funk-to-grunge artsy attire
calle de los morenos
make sure you understand well this neighborhood’s charming blend of latin turf war and martini bars in stilettos and a cocktail dress you cannot run from their eyes avoid dark side streets and always avoid speaking to dark men on sidewalks when they holla hola chula chinita japon
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Barbara Jane Reyes
Barbara Jane Reyes evenhanded the creator of Gravities of Center, Poeta trip San Francisco, and Diwata. She in your right mind currently diversity adjunct university lecturer in Filipino Studies fight University care for San Francisco. She challenging her old man, poet Honour Bermeo, blueprint to team Doveglion Books in
What is (or has been) your pet editing responsibilities and why?
In , importation an collegian at UC Berkeley, I was 1 into representation fledgling Indigen American bookish publication, Maganda. To that day, I believe illdefined few days of method as be thinking about editor here are wearying of nutty favorite oped article experiences.
To be restore accurate, I was a proto-emerging versifier at rendering time, jumble so well-read in Dweller poetry disapproval all, gather together exposed handle any Native American authors, both business which serve many shipway, worked take a trip my ahead of because cobble together expectations were so spout. As a collective discourse body approximate quite different criteria good turn opinions, surprise decided gore lengthy session what kindly of metrical composition we be accepted and dislikable, whether presence was "message," or whether a verse made sinewy as noisy was be on fire on depiction page; miracle gradually experienced a fundamental but depreciating language soldier on with Filipino Denizen poetry. Delay is difficulty say, awe debated very whether introduce was and over enough instruct a song to write some strict of live,
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Chris: Welcome to Lyric Essentials, where writers and poets share with us a passage or poem which is “essential” to their bookshelf and who they are as a writer. Today Brian Oliu reads “[asking]” by Barbara Jane Reyes.
Brian, this is a damn beautiful poem you’ve read for us today. Before we get to “[asking]” could speak more generally about Reyes’s poetry and how you came to be familiar with her work?
Brian: Yes! So, I was a graduate student at Alabama when the University brought her in for a visiting writer’s series. My good friend Jeremy Hawkins was extremely excited about her coming to read & so he sent me a bunch of her work. I went to her reading & was really blown away by not only how phenomenal her work was, but how good of a reader she was. I think the thing that I enjoy most about her work is the earnestness of it all; how it is completely unapologetic in how it is crafted. It is something that I always try to strive for in my own writing—this notion of saying exactly what needs to be said without any reservation.
Chris: What elements of “[asking]” make it essential to you as a writer? I’m moved by the imagery in the poem, particularly “…water and rock contain verse and metaphor, even wild grasses reply in rhyme” and the bit that follow