New episode with my neighbor SAEED JONES, who talks about poetics, prose, place, and persona in this fun chat (lots of laughs!). We also bonded over growing up in the south, how he depicts it as a character, and correcting "the Southern canon".
To listen: https://t.co/FOAJln3Ofo
πππ@asianchaππππππ | Anna Nguyen reviews Junko Takaseβs πππ¦ πππ’ π»ππ£π π·πππππππ’π πππππ (2025), trans. Morgan Giles: "... offers an incisive critique of the workplace lunch and the presumed pleasures of eating."
ππππ: https://t.co/XzGNJvbRfA
πππ@asianchaππππππβAnna Nguyen on ππππππ‘ πΉπππππ: "When we first encounter Dr Wong, he is in his natural habitat, a laboratory in HK. Is science understood and taught differently in Hong Kong than in Germany & the wider Western world?"
https://t.co/VlJ0mkf5EB
keep thinking about this poem i wrote 10 years ago (& i think it might be the only thing i read at the event on friday) & how much has changed (especially in the orientation of any kind of not right wing βmovement,β which yeah i think is in a worse position in terms of liberatory potential now). also thinking abt writing a Summer 2026 poem, especially since iβm abt to be at a poetry reading in the middle of an oakland street again (for the first time since 2016):
new love poem for pride month!
big thanks to Queer Poem-A-Day for publishing βOde to the Profoundly Gay Night We Just Had.β this oneβs about a particularly memorable (and hot) anniversary night.
you can read it & listen to me read it here:
https://t.co/GkB7osMHQ3
My least favorite received idea about writing is that one must find one's voice, as if it's there inside you, ready to be turned on like a player piano. Like character, its very existence depends on interaction with the world.
Sarah Manguso, 300 Arguments
Anna Nguyen reflects on Giorgio Biancorossoβs π ππππ₯πππ ππππ πΎππ-π€ππ through memories of dubbed television dramas, pop songs, and the afterlives of borrowed music. She ultimately argues that Wongβs politics remain insufficiently examined.
https://t.co/RBu04V97CY
While imperial/white feminists stay silent there is incisive, empire defying work being done by anticolonial feminists. Read, learn, think, and cite!
PS citation is political and yes, a form of resistance. Anticolonial citation is essential to liberation!
βHow will you live now?β
β Bhanu KapilΒ
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This poem appeared in The Vertical Interrogation of Strangers by Bhanu Kapil, published by Kelsey Street Press, 2001. Shared here with deep gratitude.
I have been thinking of ways to write about sampling, particularly the politics of the practice. And here Iβve tried, connecting Wong Kar-wai, citations, sampling, and Prince (βsampling the sample that was already sampledβ).
πππ@asianchaβAnna Nguyen reflects on Biancorossoβs π ππππ₯πππ ππππ πΎππ-π€ππ through memories of dubbed dramas,translated pop songs & the layered afterlives of borrowed music. She argues that Wongβs politics remain insufficiently examined.
https://t.co/RBu04V97CY
πππ@asianchaβAnna Nguyen reflects on Biancorossoβs π ππππ₯πππ ππππ πΎππ-π€ππ through memories of dubbed dramas,translated pop songs & the layered afterlives of borrowed music. She argues that Wongβs politics remain insufficiently examined.
https://t.co/RBu04V97CY
βMurderers love to say they protect and serve.β
β Natalie Wee (@natweewriter)
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This poem appeared in Protean Magazine, 2024. Shared here with deep gratitude.
On a run and heard an odd human-made cat sound. Turned around with an angry face and saw my elderly neighbor. She said βI meowed because I know you like cats and I was trying to get your attention.β
LOL.
sometimes (often?) someone's feedback in workshop is more about wanting a poem to be easier to read (for them) than about trying to help the poem open into greater (stranger) possibilities
New episode with the wonderful @doctora_nature , who talks about writing both FRESH BANANA LEAVES & GROWING PAPAYA TREES, the binary of Western/Indigenous scientist, defining an Indigenous scientist, positionality statements, + more!
To listen: https://t.co/RoVpOYidDq
It's odd when people hate academics but act exactly like them in terms of the performance of mastery, elitism, industry or organization specific jargon, disdain for poor and working-class people, rabid individualism, careerism, alienation from community, and commitment to class reproduction.
mary ruefle was right when she said that people would rather read an essay about poetry than read a poem. it reminds me of when people in a museum read the explanatory caption before having their own experience of the art. you fear not "getting it" when you should fear not living