Poetry reading at The Late Shift Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts

We have come back from the Late Shift Refugee week special (at the Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts, Norwich) where I read 5 of my poems – 2 specifically about Vietnam. We didn’t have much time after my reading as I was there with my family.

Also, [here] is a link to an article about me for Refugee Week in The Norwich Evening News.

As for the day job – I have passed my exams, finished my training and am looking for a Consultant Histopathology job…somewhere in the UK…

Refugee Week (Norfolk)

15-21/06/2009 Refugee Week (Norfolk)

I should be here during the week:

• (Sun 7th June) Refugee Week on Future Radio. I was on air in The Platform show (5-6pm), and possibly the next Sunday 14th.
• Wed 17th June Late Shift Refugee Week Special. Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts, UEA. (5-8pm, more specific time later)
• Sat 20th June Living Library (I will be a book, you can borrow me). Outside the Forum, Millenium Library. (12-5pm)

Interview by Stash Kirkbride for Future Radio

I was interviewed by Stash Kirkbride from Future Radio today, we discussed cleave poetry and my being a refugee. This is for the lead up to The Refugee Week in Norwich.

The interview including some of my cleave poems will go out on The Platform Show, Sunday, 5-6pm (7th June and possibly the next Sunday).

I will be involved in some of the events on Refugee Week, including the Living Library on Saturday 20th June (outside the Forum, Millenium Library, Norwich) where you can borrow me as a living book.

The state of poetry?

Here are 2 quotes that I think are true of the state of poetry and how we should approach it.

The Well-Educated Mind: A Guide to the Classical Education You Never Had by SW Bauer

pp341-342

In 1983, Philip Larkin, reflecting on the growing abstruseness of “academic” poetry, remarked that poets – thanks, in part, to the impossibility of earning any money writing poetry unless they also teach and write about writing poetry – have become critics and professors, and thus pass judgement on poetry as well as writing it. The result is that poetry is in danger of becoming the province of experts: “It is hardly an exaggeration,” Larkin writes, “to say that the poet has gained the happy position wherein he can praise his own poetry in the press and explain it in the classroom, that the reader has been bullied into giving up the consumer’s power to say ‘I don’t like this, bring me something different.’”

p342

In the meantime, the careful reader of poetry should be willing to work hard at understanding poetry: to take it on its own terms, chew it over, reflect on it, and analyze its forms, and then to praise it or to conclude, “This is a disorganized mess” and put the book down.

Six Thinking Hats by Edward de Bono

My latest read is Six Thinking Hats by Edward de Bono. The concept is brilliant – a highly efficient way of thinking. It helps demystify the creative myth further.

“I am often asked whether creativity is a matter of skill, talent or personality. The correct answer is that it can be all three. But I do not give that answer. If we make no effort to develop the skill of creativity, it can only be a matter of talent and personality.  People are much too ready to accept that creativity is a matter of talent or personality, and since they do not have this, they had better leave creativity to others.” A quote from Six Thinking Hats by Edward de Bono (pg.139).

Six Thinking Hats by Edward de Bono

Back from Premieres and poetry

UPDATE:

Here are youtube videos of the poetry & music

The Premieres & Poetry event went very well yesterday. Thanks to the friends who came to support me.

A video of the event will come out later, but for now, here is my part:

My reading of the cleave poem “Migration” and performing of “Rendezvous under a Saigon sunset” went as well as I could have wished. Lots of positive feedback, which was great as this was my first ‘gig’.

Click on the youtube links to see them:

• Migration
• Rendezvous under a Saigon sunset

The music to these poems was amazing – the composer is a highly talented young composer called Oliver Leith.

The rest of the night was amazing to watch and listen to – live poetry and live new music (conductor, flute/piccolo, oboe, clarinet/bass clarinet, trumpet, two cellos). The highlights for me was the singing by a professional Russian singer and Luke Wright’s performance of his poem “Colonel Crompton Goes Off”.

My thanks to the EMFEB orchestra and Owen Bourne for a brilliant evening.

Premieres and Poetry tomorrow

Tomorrow, I will be ‘performing’ 2 poems at the Premieres & Poetry event at the Poetry Society Cafe in Covent Garden, London. I am somewhat nervous as I always am, before any public speaking. Hopefully the London crowd are not too hard and that my poems will be well received.
I am most interested to listen to the musical response pieces to my poems. This juxtaposition of 2 different ‘pieces’ to form one piece is very cleave like in its concept.
I aim to record my performance.

Well, onward and upward!

ptdiep

The Origins of Creativity

This book has been my light reading for the last few weeks. I am on the final chapter.

It has much to say on creativity, with articles from a variety of creatives.  A great read, but beware, you may not believe in the creative myth after reading it.

The Origins of Creativity by Karl H. Pfenninger (Editor), Valerie R. Shubik (Editor)

Table of contents

Product Description
After Newton died in 1727, a monument was erected in the Scientist’s Corner of Westminster Abbey. It was decorated with a pile of four books and adorned with cherubs holding a prism, a telescope and newly minted coins. The implication is clear. Newton’s towering intellect and god-given gift for creative thinking was the origin of his inspiration. Not far away, at the front of the monument to Newton, is the tomb of Charles Darwin, who published On the Origin of Species, which first discussed the evolution of man. The proximity of the monuments is telling. If we are to define the single, most unique human attribute evolution has produced, it must be our ability to think creatively. Thinking is the ultimate human resource. Breaking through the barriers posed by dogma, and reaching beyond the limits of established patterns of thinking to discover what is new and useful is the engine that drives society. This book, which had its genesis in a conference organized by Karl Pfenninger, and held at Aspen, Colorado, entitled ‘Higher brain function, art and science: an interdisciplinary examination of the creative process’, brings together articles by thirteen contributors from the fields of science, art and music. Two of the contributors have been awarded Nobel prizes, and all are distinguished representatives of their fields. The Origins of Creativity is organized around four central themes of creativity: the creative experience in art and science; the biological basis of imagination, emotion and reason; creative powers and the environment; and the mind’s perception of patterns. The views of artists, who couch their ideas in more metaphorical language, mingle with the analytical thoughts of scientists who strive to understand how the brain generates images and ideas. The voices of creators – artist, scientist, mathematician – and of those who study creative activity – neuroscientist, psychologist, philosopher – generate a broad spectrum of views on creativity whose integration offers new insights and becomes a creative act in itself. This book offers insights into the origins of human creativity to scientists, artists, and general readers. Its inter-disciplinary authorship presents a uniquely broad perspective on current research, and the style throughout is accessible and engaging.

A mention on likestarlings

Likestarlings is a place for talking in poems.

The poets involved so far:

• A F Harrold
• Adam Burbage
• Caleb Klaces
• Charles Johnson
• David Hart
• David Hawkins
• Geoff Sawers
• George Ttoouli
• Helen Mort
• Jane Griffiths
• Joe Dunthorne
• Kirsty Logan
• Meredith Andrea
• Milorad Krystanovich
• Nicky Arscott
• Peter Blegvad
• Rebecca Farmer
• Suzanne Batty
• Tess Biddington
• Zoë Brigley

Likestarlings mentioned The Cleave webzine on their blog today:

One of the people to get in touch Dr Phuoc-Tan Diep, who runs Cleave Poetry webzine, a similar and ambitious online experiment in collaborative poetics, we recommend it.

New British Poet Laureate 2009?

In the midst of wading through 1000-page books for revision at night and being a doctor in the day, something disturbed me – the poet laureate discussions.

When I came to Great Britain as a refugee I was too young to understand why my parents chose Britain.

Our culture is based on duty, honour, sacrifice and family as well as on love. Now I look back and I assume they chose Britain because it is built on the graves of brave men and women who knew about duty, honour, sacrifice and family.

The current economic crisis is built on something other than these values which made Britain great. It is built on me-ism, on what my country can do for me, NOT what I can do for my country. What does this have to do with the Poet Laureate?

Everything.

There is much grumbling about wanting to write ‘my own’ poetry and not write poetry to order, as writing poetry to order can cause slight discomfort due to public redicule for a less than good poem. So what?

I think there are 2 main points here:

1. the ability to write good poetry to order
2. duty and honour

Point 1 – I think it is possible to write good poetry to order. I have written 2 poems to order “Migration” and “wedding cleave” (which are good for my stage as a poet). Creativity is a process and a skill that can be aquired and improved upon, if you don’t subscribe to the myth of creativity. If I, a new poet, can write poetry to order shouldn’t a poet laureate or poet laureate nominee be able to do it in their sleep?

Point 2 – I love this country. It is my country now. I would stand up and take a bullet for The Queen and for Country. If I were ever asked to write a poem for Queen or Country I would think it a glorious honour and do it with joy.

Where do our children find role models for poetry these days if not the Poet Laureate.

The Poet Laureate should be able to teach the poetic craft (many are professors of creative writing/poetry no less!) and to show that it is a joy and an honour to serve Queen and Country through poetry.