Jean Vengua

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Notes by Ariadne Unst on Jean Vengua.
Books: PRAU.
Poetry. Time line. Links and Books.

Poetry of Jean Vengua.

PRAU (2007)

BUY PRAU (2007)

• Her first book of poems.
• Winner of The Filmore Tabios, Sr., Memorial Poetry Prize.

• Presented in four sections.
  1. Momentum -- a section of memories. Favorites include:
     • "This Isn't Kansas" where she "dredges up old boats, ... praus".
     • "Voyeur / Voyager" a luminous collage from "A stringer of verbs, always hungry".
     • The brilliant prose poem "Momentum", dedicated to her son, telling her parents' astonishing experiences.
     • "My Own River", the "pungent, sweet styx flowing under".
     • "This is Not to Explain", a poignant poem dedicated to her (deceased) husband.

  2. Displacements / In Place. Favorites include:
     • "Catatonia", a prose poem on WWW self-hypnotism/addiction.
     • The magnificent "Glowrius" a delicious erruption of typography.

  3. Ghost Vessels. Favorites include:
     • "Amanuensis" where "you think why not make friends with your own demons". Like many of her poems this has no upper-case, allowing the poem to skate along at Olympic speed.
     • "Erosion".
     • "Wednesday, August 25, 2004", dedicated to her Mark Young, telling why she blog, and ending with:

     Once, on some opiate I confused that street lamp for the full moon. Tonight, stone sober, I almost make the same mistake.

  4. Rowing / Breathing, many of whose poems are in the hay(na)ku form. Favorites include:
     • "To the Bachelors and their Artifacts".
     • "The Hokum Flower".
     • "The Conditions", ending:

Nothing is specific, everything leans into the subjunctive. What is perceived as conditional is the air I breathe.

"To praunce" comes in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Probably means what a Prau does -- or a prow -- prancing with the horses of the sea.

Her titles are especially good -- and inspired this:

Stammering in the night of crows not always the catatonia of debit erosion and aching shifting into pilgrimage of the paper river GLOW ri us

Time Line.

2000

Poems in: Babaylan: An Anthology of Filipina and Filipina American Writers. Aunt Lute.

2003

Poems in: Going Home to a Landscape, Calyx.

2004

Essay: "Abilidad and Flux: Notes on a Filipino American Poetics" in Pinoy Poetics, Meritage Press.

2005

Edited (with Mark Young): The First Hay(na)ku Anthology. [Information on the Hay(na)ku.]

2006

• Chapbook: The Aching Vicinities (Otoliths Press). Available online in Otoliths Issue one, http://the-otolith.blogspot.com/ .
• Prose poem: "The City and the Garden" in Bay Poetics, Faux Press.

2007

• Poems: PRAU.
• Interview with Tom Beckett in E-X-C-H-A-N-G-E-V-A-L-U-E-S The First XI Interviews (2005--2007).
• (December) Edited (with Mark Young): The Second Hay(na)ku Anthology.
  [Information on the Hay(na)ku.]
• Poems published in Ping Pong, Henry Miller Library.

Links and Books.

Links and Books.

• Laureate: the Poets Laureate of Britain
• Laureate: the Poets Laureate of the U.S.A.
• Best Poems by the Best Poets - Some Lists of Winners.
• Other Books of Poetry Form.

Related pages: Books of Poetry Form. Alphabetic list of poetry forms and related topics. Poetry Home-Sweet-Home. How to Write Poetry.

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Copyright © 2007-2009 by Ariadne Unst, except for quotations. All rights reserved.