#kundimanforever

[chenchenwrites]

Now accepting 2019 Kundiman Asian American Creative Writing Retreat applications!

Faculty include Hala Alyan, Myung Mi Kim, Craig Santos Perez, Tania James, & Shawn Wong! Open now through 1/15! Apply and spread the word. 

Ahhhhh. The Kundiman Retreat legit changed my life. Look at the giddiness on my face in this pic, from the 2016 Retreat! What a beautiful home group, led by the brilliant Margaret Rhee. What courage & community, what trees & shorteralls. Give yourself this gift! Apply, apply!

[chenchenwrites]

Had a fabulous time reading with Mary Jean Chan today for Transatlantic Poetry. Big thanks to R.A. Villanueva and Robert Peake. And to Kundiman for sponsoring/supporting. We got to talk about aesthetic tendencies/identities, endings, spare vs. expansive poems, dream logic, and the poets we're glad to be writing alongside. (With shout-outs to Sam Herschel Wein, Kazumi Chin, Chloe Honum, Keegan Lester, Jessica Smith, Michelle Lin, Ashley Mag Gabbert, & Jennifer S. Cheng.) 

Also, had fun chatting with Mary Jean and R.A. afterwards, about book titles, PhD programs, salvaging lines from abandoned poems, and different metaphors for the “poetry brain,” including the hairdo of Frankenstein’s bride, and Krang. 

[chenchenwrites]

Thanks to the amazing Porochista Khakpour for reading & sharing. It was a joy to meet you at Kundiman last year. ・・・ oh my heart, finally had a chance to properly sit with the work of my dear @chenchenwrites his debut When I Grow Up I Want to Be a List of Further Possibilities. I met Chen at @kundimanforever last summer (I was teaching there) & fell in love with his poetry (I sent one to @theferocity at Buzzfeed Reader which ran early this year). But today, on a plane to a talk in Pittsburgh, I looked closely and was so wowed, and my mind went to family, all the many ways Chen writes of it. And then I was thinking hard of when I first met Chen and the magic of Kundiman, and how they have been welcoming to us West Asians and how it's been so hard to find communities in America but somehow I have had the great fortune of finding some. And I was again marveling at the twist & turns of these poems--ecstatic, irreverent, doleful, so much!--when I landed on this one and then gave into crying, crying maybe for all of us really

[hyejungkook]

Poem 57 - Linked Verses - Restringing the Mala - “Sundays” by Sarah Gambito from Loves You (Persea 2019)

[chenchenwrites]

Pics (mostly taken by Rigoberto González! thank you!) from Saturday night’s beautiful Patron Circle Dinner, honoring those who have donated most generously to Kundiman. 

Thanks to Cathy Linh Che for inviting me to share some poems & a testimonial about Kundiman’s life-changing impact. &: my love & my thank you, Cathy for all that you do as Kundiman’s heart-building Executive Director!! 

Love & thanks to Kyle Lucia Wu, Programs & Communications Director, for all that you make happen. 

Love & thanks to Sarah Gambito (happy bday!!) & Joseph O. Legaspi, co-founders & true wise magic-makers, for your vision & labor. 

Love & thanks to members of the Junior Board—so good to meet you. 

Love & thanks to Allison Albino for opening up her home & cooking so much glorious deliciousness!! 

& big thanks to Joseph for hosting me over the weekend. So sad I got sick & couldn’t be a more fun houseguest! But glad, glad, glad I got to be a part of this night.

&: 

[posted this on Twitter, but want to keep a record of it here] 

ask: where are you needed? how can you be an elder, now?

i don't believe in graduation, i believe in rite of passage.

people meet me and i'm such a nice person but my poems are so RUDE.

we're writing into a future my son can live in.

—Sarah Gambito, at a Kundiman gathering

[chenchenwrites]

I recently became a recurring donor to Kundiman because I have witnessed what powerful change & community is possible when we work in truly collaborative & big-hearted ways. The Kundiman Writers Retreats I’ve participated in (2014 & 2016) were unforgettable experiences that led to deep friendships. Kundiman-sponsored readings & events are among my all-time favorites in the poetry world. & I look forward each year to learning of the new winner of the Kundiman Book Prize. 

Please consider supporting the future of Asian American literature by becoming a recurring donor or giving what you can.

[chenchenwrites]

From left to right: (1) with fellow poet Duy Doan, a Kundiman graduate this year, (2) with fellow poet and first-time retreat participant Troy Osaki, at the Kundiman Public Reading, (3) with everyone - Kundiman fellows, staff, & faculty - at Fordham University, Rosehill Campus. 

Been looking at these wonderful #Kundiman16 photos (from back in June) by the uber-talented Jess Chen and just feeling...so much. Joy. Warmth. Some sadness that this retreat can’t happen every week. But also. Strength in knowing that the community is bigger than the retreat, than any one program or event. Check out more of Jess’s photos on the official Kundiman Facebook page.  

[chenchenwrites]

I am Dutch & nothing I am doing has anything to do  with the Chinese lyrics of the pop song, which roll phrase  by phrase across my knees & the multicolored tulips. 

Got a new poem in the 7th anniversary issue of Cha, alongside super cool work by Ravi Shankar, Zhang Jieqiang, Camille Rivera, fellow Kundiman fellow Henry W. Leung, & others. Many thanks to the editors!