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NOTEPAD ARCHIVE
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January 25, 2007

Happy New Year 2007. The holiday season was jam packed, with lots of work at the bookstore. My brother also moved in with us temporarily. And well, there were parties to go to.

WORKSHOPS: In December, I was hired by the Chaffee Arts Center and Crossroads Arts Council, both of Rutland, VT for a two-day residency at Castleton Valley Middle School and Proctor High School. This included classroom writing workshops and all-school assemblies. A reporter from the Brandon Reporter interviewed me. He promised to send me an email when the article got published. But I never received it. The paper is so small, it doesn't have a website--none that I could find, anyway. If anyone has a copy of the article, please forward it along. Next month I will be taking poetry workshops with Patrick Donnelly, a poet whose work I really enjoy. Take the time to read his first book, The Charge, published by Ausable Press. I'm looking forward to this very much. SHOWS: Contrary to rumor, I will NOT be at the Feb 18th Poets of the Past reading at the Twilight Tea Lounge. I'm hoping to get on the March or April slate. We'll see. Sunday, Feb 11th at 1 pm is the next Write Action open reading. It'll be at the resurrected Common Ground Restaurant, 25 Elliot Street. Everyone is welcome to come and prepare SEVEN MINUTES of work to read. Names are picked out of the hat. I will be submitting mine along with everyone else. QUARTER POEMS: If it works out that I can have it redesigned by February, I will have a plethora of love poems for all of you to purchase. The printshop I had been using has left town, leaving me without the ability to print the poems with the same amount of ease as before. That plus the holiday frenzy has kept me from printing off more. In the mean time, I have still been selling them at both Everyone's Books and The Twilight Tea Lounge. I've made some $1 and $3 variety packs, which have been pretty popular. The come wrapped in resealable plastic pouches. a friend told me that they look like candy. J PUBLICATION: Get your hands on the February 2007 copy of The Commons. It's a local independent news monthly. My poem, "another dairy closes", will appear somewhere within those pages. Also, my poems and selected prose were a part of WALKING POEM in Chicago on October 25th. It's a project created by poet and artist Jennifer Karmin. More about it here. IN THE WORKS: Nixed the Novel I started as part of the National Novel Writing Month. I am now participating in the 50 Books a Year Challenge. Updates are posted here. I have talked to a couple of artists about joining our talents on a collaboration. Hopefully something will come of all this. There is a local collaboration project in the works and I hope to be a part of a group show sometime in the near future.

Artist Colin Tedford is working on illustrating at least one poem of mine comics-style. I look forward to seeing the final product. We're hoping to submit it to around.

Sunday, October 29, 2006

Quarter Poems:

Thanks so much to everyone, especially the Twilight Tea Lounge customers for making this month's Quarter Poems sales the highest grossing of recent months. I've made more than my money back. And now earning laundry money, quarter by quarter. It's really fun to see this take off and to gain new readers.

While on vacation in Nashua, NH recently, I picked up some card sleeves (used to collect trading cards ala Magic or baseball teams) and started packaging sets of QPs in those. Now you can pick up missing sets in these convenient, easy to carry packages. Or buy them as gifts for all those on your shopping list. I've made one month and three month packages. They're available at the Tea Lounge. If you want a special mix of certain poems, that can also be done!

I really love the quarter poems project. If you have feedback for me about it, ideas, or new venues for me to try, please let me know. I'm always looking to expand my reach beyond Brattleboro.

November's theme is food. Of course. Look for them at The Twilight Tea Lounge and at Everyone's Books. Remember if you're a distance or homebound reader, subscriptions are available. < click here to subscribe >

Publications:

The new Chrysalis Reader is called Passages. Please look for it in your local bookstores. My essay, "Escape From Laos" is on page 53, opposite a really beautiful poem by my friend Lynn Martin, another rad Brattleboro writer. Other locals in the book are Wayne Carhart and Charlene Wakefield. Writings by Robert Bly, Linda Pastan and Virgil Suarez are among the other pieces here. Make sure to pick it up, or < order one from me >

I also got paid for it, too. :)

I've got packets out to other places. A chapbook for the Philbrick Poetry Award in Providence, RI. And some other poems which I really like to a few other magazines.

I've gotten some heartening rejections lately. I'd been in E-mail correspondence with one contest administrator about a poem they really liked. And though I didn‚t place, I feel we both made a good effort to understand each other. And that I was even writing back and forth with him meant that they like my work. I'll submit there again when some poems free up. And my entry to Best New Poets 2007 was read twice, so it got further than my submission last year. Maybe the third's the charm and next year I will make the cut.

Connections:

I was so happy to have met Brian Turner , Ilya Kaminsky and Martin Espada this month during the Brattleboro Literary Festival. They were each of them so charming and sincere and kick-ass poets. I unfortunately left before I could get Brian's autograph on my book. :(

The Write Action board nominated and voted me in as their newest board member this week. I'll be helping them continue the wonderful projects they do to keep this community writing and reading.

Other stuff:

I got to witness some really funky freestyle last night at Hilltown Folk's presentation of Kalmunity Vibe Collective at The Stone Church in Brattleboro. These guys are totally awesome and totally improvised. It really helped me to think about getting back into the music of my writing. The group is base din Montreal, but if you have a chance to catch them, please do.

I've been needing a good handy way of keeping track of all these poetry happenings around the area, and so need to print up a one-sheet flier for myself, of the month's events. So I thought I'd just run them off and leave them around town, so folks could also benefit. I'm planning on once monthly publication for the Windham County, Pioneer Valley region. E-mail me with your inclusions if you have them, ASAP. November issue will debut before Thanksgiving.

Tuesday, October 3 2006:

The October set of Quarter Poems is now available at Everyone's Books and The Twilight Tea Lounge. It's #29 - 32, printed on ghostly white paper. Death-themed poetry--cliche, I know. But which poet doesn't have a slew of death poems in their closet, tell me??I just arrived from Jan Frazier's poetry reading at the Putney Library in Putney, VT. I was on the verge of tears many times. She read from her chapbook "Jan Frazier's Greatest Hits", published by Pudding House Press and new poetry also. She also gave us a preview from her newest book, due out in May 07 by Wiser Books. (I forget the name of the book, sorry). It seems that the library has a poetry series going on. In November, they'll be hosting M. Helen Nelson, reading some poems she loves. She was there last year and was, I hear, a hit.

Lots of poetry this week, though: It's time again for the Brattleboro Literary Festival. friday night features Martin Espada and Ilya Kaminsky. I can't wait to get autographs... Saturday features Brian Turner, whose fabulous book, Here, Bullet, won the Beatrice Hawley award. He and Martin Espada will be reading/discussing poetry of the Spanish Civil War at the Hearts of Spain panel. Also at the festival are Maxin Kumin, Chard DeNoir and Sydney Lea. Check out the schedule at brattleboroliteraryfestival.org.

I've been busy with organizing the Mostly-Memoirs Thursday reading series that Everyone's Books is hosting with the Twilight Tea Lounge. Our first reader is Annie Downey on Thursday, October 5th, 7 pm. It'll be at the Twilight Tea Lounge, 51 Main Street. She's just written her first novel, Hot and Bothered. She'll also be featured on 1490WKVT AM that morning, so please listen. For more info, go to Everyone's Books What's New page. Other authors in the series are Michelle Sewell, Ching-In Chen, Nick Flynn and Janisse Ray.

On top of that, there will also be author events at the bookstore. Linda Faillace will be there on October 12th to present her new book, Mad Sheep, new from chelsea Green. It's the story of losing her sheep farm in rural Vermont to the USDA.

This week I got in the mail the Fall 2006 reading schedule at the Poetry Center at Smith College. Missed Charles Simic. But I am looking forward to Ellen Dore Watson, Anne Marie Macari and Terrance Hayes. Their web site is: www.smith.edu/poetrycenter.

One last thing: I got my hair cut! Early August. People are still amazed when they see me. I guess I haven't been going out much.

Friday, September 8, 2006

September Quarter Poems are available now. They're inspired by my neighborhood, my hometown. I owe so much of my creative development to being able to live here. They're nos. 25 - 28, on lime green paper. The Twilight Tea Lounge is open again for business, and you can pick up poems there. Also on sale at Everyone's Books. Or catch me on the street sometime.

Other things that keep me busy: organizing a reading series for Everyone's Books that will start in October (log on for more info); getting ready for the annual Brattleboro Literary Festival; Wednesday morning writing group, meeting new poetry-based connections through the Internet. I

lf anyone out there is interested in establishing a bicultural writer's group in town, please let me know. I'd love to meet up with you and write and share.

August 17, 2006

Due to unforeseen circumstances, August (25 - 28) Quarter Poems for this month are not forthcoming. I apologize to everyone for the lateness of this announcement. I'd toyed with the idea of publishing something for the half month, but it didn't seem like the right thing to do.

Keep your pocketbook full of change though--September's poems will all have a local hometown focus, so you're sure to want quite a few sets for friends and family. See you then.

Bastille Day 2006

Thanks everyone for all the birthday messages!

The July set of quarter poems are available now. #21 - 24, on bright orange paper, like the setting sun. These poems were written last month while attending the Kundiman retreat in VA. Two of them got workshopped there. By the way, I had a great time. The faculty and fellows were awesome. The staff was enthusiastic and supportive. I am so glad to have gotten so much work done!

Speaking of which, if any of you are in the Guilford (VT) area, Michael Nethercott has two more weeks of his Writer's Quest workshops at the Guilford Free library. I went last week and wrote four poems. He's really good at keeping the ball rolling. And the range of stories that come from it was great. I think you can drop in if you want.

Sunday, July 2, 2006

It seems a lot of you have been planning on attending the reading that Jon Power and I had scheduled for July 6th. IT IS CANCELLED. Please note this and spread the word. If you happen to the Tea Lounge on accident anyway, I think there will be some good music. Jon's left for Central America, and we couldn't make our schedules click before then. Sorry, sorry for the late notice.

In other news, I will still be turning 31 (yipes!) on Thursday, so send me some really good happy thoughts, I should catch them. I'll probably be out swimming, eating ice cream and cake, getting a massage or manicure or something like that.

I'll also be finalizing my decision on the winners of the Brattleboro Food Co-op's poetry contest (which I'm judging). The deadline was yesterday. I'm receiving the poems this morning. I can't wait! The house is jammed with boxes of comic books, poetry books, graphic novels, some clothes and dishes. We've finally let the cat out of her room so she can chase the mouse we saw. There is beautiful light here and I am looking forward to a week of rest.

I hope everyone gets as much barbequed goodness, fireworks, and neighborly cheer as needed. I plan on gorging on fried dough sprinkled with cinnamon sugar. :)

Thursday, June 22, 2006

The weather in Charlottesville is sticky, just like I like it. You need to shower twice a day but would rather sleep in bed. We're asked to workshop only new poems written while staying here at UVA and I surprised myself with something last night I felt comfortable enough to share. But too many words now are going to the slaughter before the meal. I must rest.

Four of us drove down from New York City and talked poetry and boys. The sun blazing into the rental like some apocalyptic sword. We ate in the unofficial colored persons room in the back of Frank's Diner in Maryland.

I am writing like crazy, meeting new poets, not sleeping enough, eating too much pudding, taking the infusion of inspiration and love.

Wednesday, June 14, 2006

Most of my writing time lately has been focused on honing some poems for a couple of contests I'm entering. Something local, something national. My July 6th Tea Lounge gig is cancelled. Jon had to move to Central America sooner than he thought, and our schedules just don't make it possible.

I have just scheduled an appearance at The School for International Training. It's a presentation to the Intercultural Communications Class to include a reading of my work Aden a Q & A. It's mostly students, but anyone who'd like to sit in is welcome to. Most likely it will be held in the auditorium, which is NOT wheelchair accessible (sorry!). But check in later for confirmation. It's free.

Also, I've been selling quite a few of my CDs, some mail orders and to some old friends who've just now heard about it. Let me know what you think of it, as I would like to include "blurbs" in promotional material. Tracks from the CD can be heard at www.myspace.com/phayvanh. It's also for sale in Brattleboro at Everyone's Books, Turn It Up! and In the Moment.

Next week, I'm heading down to the Univ. of Va again, for the Kundiman Foundation's Emerging Asian American Poets' Retreat. I had such great fun last time. Kazim Ali, Jon Pineda (with whom I shared a stage with in NYC recently), Arthur Sze and Jennifer Chang will be faculty this year. Catch me on the way back and I'll tell you all about it.

In the mean time, I'm housesitting as well as moving into a brand new apartment, huge and spacious. Hope to have a housewarming soon.

Tuesday, June 6, 2006

Just got back from New York, my reading at the Telephone Bar was fun--everyone did a great job, and I sold 4 poems! The weather was much nicer these last few days than it had been when I visited last month, and yep, it made me want to stay and find those nooks and crannies of the neighborhood which I can call my now. But alas, time ran short. Took the train a couple of wrong turns, but time, as I have discovered, has a way of being very elastic. Came back with just enough time to catch the 2nd half of writing group. That's on top of stopping at the Asian market in Hadley for supplies, taking the scenic route 5 home, and a brief visit to Price Chopper for writing group snacks. A good couple of days well spent.

Thursday, May 18, 2006

Verlaine is this cute lounge with orange walls and really comfortable cushy seats. We had green tea martinis, the house special. The poetry, once it got going, was really hot. Folks came out to listen, even though it was Mother's Day. Sold some Quarter Poems, got a chapbook.

New York is always fun--dinner in Chinatown and dessert at the Ice Cream Factory. Black Sesame. Yum! Rain the next morning as hard as what I'd left. Back on the Metro North, I wrote and wrote while watching the brick buildings speed by.

I look forward to coming back again in June.

Monday, May 8, 2006

CANCELLATION: Saturday, May 13th benefit at Westminster West Church. To be rescheduled for July. In the meantime, come to New York City to the Kundiman reading, see below:

MARK YOUR CALENDARS !
Support your fellow Kundies. Of course, it'll be a good reading, and lots of green tea cocktails and other spirited concoctions. Then, there's the poetry! Come one, come all. Bring friends! The more the merrier.

Kundiman & Verlaine present a night of poetry & libation with
Jon Pineda + Kundiman Retreat Alumni:
Tamiko Beyer
Ching-In Chen
Phayvanh Luekhamhan
& R.A. Villanueva

Sunday, May 14
Reading begins at 5 pm
Open Bar on Zen Green Tea liqueur drinks, 4-5 pm
$5 suggested donation
Verlaine, 110 Rivington Street
btw. Ludlow & Essex Sts. [directions: F to Delancey or V to 2nd Ave.]

Readers' Bios:

JON PINEDA was born in Charleston, South Carolina, and raised in Tidewater, Virginia. He studied in the MFA program in Creative Writing at Virginia Commonwealth University and has received a grant from the Virginia Commission for the Arts. His poetry has appeared in Many Mountains Moving, the Asian Pacific American Journal, Puerto del Sol, and other publications. He lives in Norfolk, Virginia, with his wife, Amy and their 2 children.

TAMIKO BEYER is a queer, mixed-race poet and freelance writer who lives in Brooklyn, NY. Her poetry has appeared in a variety of publications including Calyx, Crab Creek Review, DMQ Review, and Triplopia. She is a founding member of Agent 409, a NYC-based writing group that believes in the power of writing to create social change.

CHING-IN CHEN is the daughter of Chinese immigrants who grew up around Boston. Ching-In's poetry has been featured at open mics and poetry readings across the country, including Poets Against Rape, Word from the Streets, the Women of Color Alliance--Building Film Festival and APAture Arts Festival: A Window on the Art of Young Asian Pacific Americans. Her work is published in the anthology "Growing Up Girl: Voices from Marginalized Spaces." For three years, she was the host and organizer of Pusod's Mango Mic, an Asian American open mic. She currently works at the Asian American Resource Workshop, an Asian American community-based organization focused on arts, activism and education in the Asian American community, and recently helped to organize the 3rd national Asian Pacific American Spoken Word and Poetry Summit in Boston.

PHAYVANH LUEKHAMHAN was born in Champasak, Laos. Her family resettled in Brattleboro, Vermont as refugees in 1979, where she still lives. Her poetry has been featured in public art exhibits, on the radio and recently in the anthology "Embracing Relationships" (Chrysalis Education, 2005). Last year, she was named a Juried Artist with the Vermont Arts Council and is on the New England States Touring Roster. Her CD,"I Think of This Every Time I Think of Mountains" was recorded by the Vermont Folklife Center in 2004. She curates the "Twilight Thursday Reading Series" in Brattleboro, VT. Her poems sell on the street for a quarter each. They have traveled as far as the Federated States of Micronesia.

R.A. VILLANUEVA holds graduate and undergraduate degrees from Rutgers University and is currently pursuing an MFA at New York University. A teacher of British Literature and Creative Writing at a New Jersey high school, he has twice received a Geraldine R. Dodge scholarship to the Fine Arts Work Center and was awarded a place in Kundiman's inaugural Emerging Asian- American Poet s! Retreat. His work appears in The White- Shoe Irregular, The Washington Square Review, and RATTLE; an evolving "aural chapbook" of his stories, poems, and songs, And for all these Tragedies, recently made its debut at the Bowery Poetry Club and has since been featured at the Nuyorican Poets Café. He lives in New York City.

About The Kundiman Foundation: Kundiman is a non-profit organization committed to the discovery and cultivation of emerging Asian-American poets. Through instruction and collaboration programs with established Asian-American poets, Kundiman hopes to advance the quality of the work of Asian-American writers. Through literature, we aim to celebrate and promote evidence of strong and positive Asian-American culture and identity.

Friday, May 5, 2006

May set of Quarter Poems are out: 2 haikus per packet. Let me know if you want them mailed to you. I can add you to the subscription list. Reminder that I am part of the Thai dinner/cultural celebration/fundraiser at the Westminster West Church in West West, VT. It promises to be pretty full and fun. Just in time for the warm weather. Reminder also--I am part of the Kundiman-Verlaine reading on May 14th in NYC. If you're in the area, please come support the good work Kunidman is doing. $5 cover, etc. (see info on my gig list) I'm looking for an artist to collaborate with to put a poetry/art book together. E-mail me at yes@phayvanh.com, or message me here.

Monday, April 24, 2006

We rocked the Sandglass Theater Saturday night. The house sold out--folks squatting on the steps. A journalist from NPR was there recording. We moved effortlessly and seamlessly onstage as if this were all old hat to us. Well, we'd been performing it around VT all year. But not with the lighting, the staging, the pricey admission fees. We hadn't really rehearsed. Didn't know what to expect.

Yeah, Bounthan's cell phone went off during the final poem, but by then, the audience was trying to wipe away the cathartic tears we'd induced. WE ROCKED THE HOUSE!!! Yeah!!!! And I sold a few CDs, books, and some poems. Not a bad night at all. Folks drove up from Boston, from Rhode Island, from Middlebury to see us. My brother got to hear my poetry for the very first time. :)

Thanks to everyone who showed up to make it a very special night. Thank you.

Monday, April 3, 2006

QUARTER POEMS: What IS a quarter poem? These little condom-packet-sized poems folded to fit in your pocket--and they only cost 25¢ each! Each month a new, completely different set of four poems is printed, so you can have a steady supply of poetry in your life. They're for sale at Everyone's Books and at The Twilight Tea Lounge. I usually always have them on my person. I also mail them to some subscribers who live far away. There's even an upscale restaurant in town that gives them gratis to their diners. They're great as party favors, too. Really fun. Send me a message to let me know if you'd like any of them.

What do the numbers mean? I get this question a lot. It just numbers the poem so you don't make the mistake of buying the it again--or if you want multiples of that title, you know which one to ask for. Special note about April poems (9/4 - 12/4): It's actually one poem in four parts. Though each piece stands alone, they're best read in numerical order.

Tuesday, March 21, 2006

Just returned from the Boston Zine Fair this weekend. Cold and gray. Stayed in Arlington--a dry town (how was I to know?)--and rode the buses and trains back and forth. Not quite as poetic a city as New York, but rings with such familiarity, I am drawn to it like a platypus to air.

Our CD "I Think of This Every Time I Think of Mountains" is now available. The tracks here are from this live recording. Our first perfomance of the show at Middlebury College on April 30, 2005 for the Vermont Folklife Center. This recording is part of their archives and was presented as part of their Weavings of War Fabrics of Memory exhibit.

It features my spoken word in dialogue with Souphine Phathsoungneune's songs, which are performed in the traditional Laotian folk tradition. Back in Laos and Thailand, Souphine was a revered master of the lam leung folk opera tradition. Such adn influential star that the US hired him to write and sing propaganda throughout the lands during the American-Vietnam War.

Souphine has received grants from the Vermont Arts Council and the Vermont Folklife Center to continue practicing and teaching the folksong tradition. His wife is studying as his apprentice.

Both sing on the CD and are accompanied by Bounthanh Thongsouvanh on the kaen, a double-reed bamboo mouth organ. All that music you hear comes from it.

We've traveled with this program to The Champlain Valley Folk Festival and other stages throughout Vermont. Our next show is at The Sandglass Theater on April 22nd in Putney, VT.

CD is $10. Book with lyrics in both Laotian and English, includes photographs! $15. Both $20.

The show is one-night only and VERY limited seating. Reserve your tickets now. $15 or $10/students & seniors.

We're Juried Performers with the Vermont Arts Council and are on The New England States Touring roster

Saturday, March 11, 2006:

I just booked a gig at the Telephone Bar in New York! June 5th. Not sure who I'll be reading with yet... March quarter poems are still selling fast. Stop me on the street to get yours. Everyone's Books and The Twilight Tea Lounge also sell them. I'm hoping to sell out at the Boston Zine Fair this weekend. I'll be tabling both days with different zinesters. Come find me if you're in Beantown.