Checking: 45 Canadian poetry collections to watch for in fall 2021
Celebrate the Moon Festival with Your Own Haiku – 這個中秋淺吟俳句
Celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival with a fun and interactive poetry appreciation event hosted by Anna Yin at Zoom Meeting。 There will be haiku and photo matching activities, fun moon-view games, and the poetry guessing game “Mirrors and Windows” that will help you write your own poetry. To join please register at Vancouver Public Library site. Thanks Diann.
Letter from George Elliott Clarke with Chinese Translation by Anna Yin
My friends–and comrade poets/translators:
Anna Yin’s editorship of Mirrors and Windows (just published), an INTERNATIONAL anthology of poems that she has translated from English into Chinese and from Chinese into English is a landmark–an exquisitely rendered, intellectual/artistic touchstone–for the continued conversation between English (Canadian) poets and those of China that she has been singlehandedly enhancing (on the Canadian side) for at least a decade now.
Anna’s Poundian contribution to our mutual enrichment is graced spectacularly by poet-publisher Michael Mirolla of Guernica Editions, who not only agreed to publish this significant volume, but has graced it with a memorably elegant, yet plain cover–like the moon-over-water that so besotted Li Po. Once again, Guernica has served notice that it is an international heavy-hitter.
We are so lucky to have this unprovincial press in our literary culture–just as we are lucky to have the pioneering, cosmopolitan sensibility of Anna Yin uniting Occident and Orient via East-West Poems in Translation (which is the subtitle).
Not to be political, I will say that I think this kind of outreach and intellectual community is urgently needed at a time when anti-Asian racism has reared its very ugly head and also at a time when Western vs. China/Russia rivalry has given rise to some pseudo-warmongering, particularly from the West.
But I don’t stress that. I stress that this book is a fine achievement. Please consider ordering copies. AND let us extend this model to other translation anthologies of other Canadian ‘multicultures.’
Blessings to Anna & Michael!
Triumphant creativity to us all!
–GEC
George Elliott Clarke
4th Poet Laureate of Toronto (2012-15)
7th Parliamentary Poet Laureate of Canada (2016-2017)
朋友, 诗人和翻译同仁，
安娜主编的《镜子和窗户》（刚刚出版）这部东西诗及译诗选是英译中，中译英的一个里程碑，一个精心演绎的、智慧和艺术的试金石。是她至少有十年的(在加拿大方面）英语（加拿大）诗人与中国诗人之间持续对话的一种坚持。
安娜的庞德式的奉献推进了东西文化的彼此丰富相互弘扬，得到诗人兼出版商、格尔尼卡出版社的迈克尔-米罗拉强力支持，他不仅同意出版这本重要的书，并且为它设计了令人难忘的优雅而朴素的封面– -就像让李白深爱的月之于水面。格尔尼卡再次展现一个国际重量级作品。
我们非常幸运，我们的文坛中拥有无边界的出版社–正如我们很幸运，拥有安娜的先锋性、世界性的《东西方诗歌翻译》把西方和东方结合起来（这是副标题）。
我不是要讲政治，我想说的是，我认为在反亚裔种族主义抬头的时候，在西方与中国/俄罗斯的竞争已经引起了一些伪战争主义，特别是来自西方的战争主义的时候，这种外联和知性的互通是迫切需要的。
但我并不强调这一点。我强调的是，这本书是优秀成果。
请考虑订购。让我们把这种模式扩展到加拿大 “多元文化 “的其他翻译选集。
祝福安娜和迈克尔!
祝愿我们所有人都能获取创造力的胜利!
乔治·艾略特·克拉克
第四届多伦多桂冠诗人(2012-15)
第七届加拿大国家桂冠诗人(2016-2017)
(trans by Anna Yin)
Histrionics: A Medley of Haiku and Haibun–Review by Patrick Connors
Review by Patrick Connors
One has to appreciate the wry sense of humor in the title of Hans Jongman’s latest poetry collection. Histrionics are exaggerated behavior designed to attract attention. Jongman’s work is very concise and reflective, clearly the product of deep contemplation and a positive self-image.
“What I like the most about the poetry is its unpretentiousness,” said Chris Faiers. “Hans is an old master of the haiku form, so I should have expected nothing less than the best. But so many haijin have become arrogant and self-promoting these days that it’s refreshing to read a collection which isn’t trying to impress the reader, but rather presents great poetry without a lot of superficial blather.”
Jongman begins “What It Is” with a short, anecdotal essay about a trip to see his doctor. From such an everyday experience, we gain insight into the author’s reverie, and empathy for the physician. He follows the essay with this haiku:
a cold front
has cleared my sinuses
and the waiting room
“Haibun combines prose and haiku,” Jongman explained. “The two disciplines compliment each other and equally deserve the same meticulous care for detail.
The haibun is the narrative, the story of a writer’s personal experience complemented by a haiku, or multiple haiku. The haiku should not be a synopsis or reiteration of the preceding prose but should be reflective of the interrelationship between prose and the haiku. The haiku should stand on its own, on its own merit.”
“Amsterdam” begins with a minimalist yet fascinating telling of the history of Holland’s capital city. It’s very pleasant to read, and very easy to visualize, although I have never been there. But the reader is startled into a further awareness at the end:
cloudburst
a thunderclap reverberates
between the gables
“My role was to make the book more balanced, to make sure it was laid out well,” said Anna Yin, publisher of SureWay Press. “I made some recommendations with design which fit in with Hans’ family history and personal experiences.”
Yin made reference to Jongman’s homage to the masters of haiku and haibun, and how much she appreciated it. “I published this book because it is very high quality. As soon as I read the poetry, I immediately loved it.”
Jongman’s final poem of the book, titled “Covid-19”, is a fitting denouement both to this collection and the pandemic. It is a series of inter-woven haiku, done in a manner which only a master of the form could portray. I will not post any of it here, because I want you to get the book and seek it out for yourself. You will thank me later!
To order a copy of the book, please contact the author: [email protected]
Thanks Chris Faiser’ Riffs & Ripples from ZenRiver Gardens for supporting.
Poetry and Translation with Anna Yin, I am nobody, 星子有话说– 诗歌创作和翻译漫谈
湖畔沙龙：诗歌创作和翻译公众讲座 （7月17日, 2021）
主讲诗人：星子安娜 主持： 诗人古土。
分享加拿大双语诗歌创作/出版/翻译等经验以及有关轶事。
Hu Pan School invited Anna Yin to share her processes of writing poetry and translating poetry. Host: Poet Gu Tu (诗人古土）Speaker: Anna Yin (Language : Chinese)
An evening with Anna Yin at Aurora Public Library
John Robert Colombo’s letter for Tracing the True North
John Robert Colombo
42 Dell Park Avenue / Toronto M6B 2T6 / Canada
Phone 1 (416) 782 6853
E-mail [email protected]
Webpage www.colombo.ca
19 May 2021
Dear Anna Yin and Terry Barker:
Many thanks are due to the two of you for drawing my attention to Tracking the True North, the reading of which gave me great pleasure, that of reminding me of what I already knew and of introducing me to what was new to me.
SureWay Press has produced an agreeably informative text and a volume that has the distinguishing characteristics of being two essays and indeed two texts in one – a detailed and exact narrative about conceptions about the “lost past” and a wealth of commentaries on ever-present (albeit hard-to-find) source materials.
I am sorry you did not notice in passing Colombo’s All Time Great Canadian Quotations (1994), which has hundreds of chronologically arranged quotations, the first of which begins in 1,000 B.C. (from the Vedas) and the last to A.D. 1995 with Judith Merril embracing the vision of the Voyager Interstellar Record then approaching outer space. There is also is the “Polar World / Tropical Valley” section of the final thirty pages of Mysterious Canada (1988) which covers some of your material from highly imaginative and conceptual perspectives including the Theosophical one.
The author has done an amazing amount of reading and has bravely embraced the imaginative and intuitive dimensions of human desire, illusion, knowledge, history, hope, and achievement. It puts “Canadian” history in the widest of possible perspectives. I hope Tracking the True North sets the compasses of young readers spinning and awakens their sense that history is a story that may indeed be true.
Congratulations,
JRC
George Elliott Clarke Presents 5 Poets Breaking into Song
The Poets: Ayesha Chatterjee, Giovanna Riccio, Lisa Richter, Andrea Thompson, Anna Yin
The Composers, Singers, & Pianist: Emily Hiemstra, David Jaeger, Juliet Palmer, James Rolfe, Karen Usha, Gao Yuan, Mark Harry,
Hosts: George Elliott Clarke and Yang Wang (May 14, 2021)
Thank Sponsors: George Elliott Clarke, League of Canadian Poets, East and West Learning Connections.
Histrionics: A Medley of Haiku and Haibun (Hans Jongman)
Jahangirnagar University hosting Anna Yin’s talk to Celebrate World Poetry Day
Thank Department of English, Jahangirnagar University for inviting Anna Yin to talk about her poetry journey and read poetry for them. They hope together we celebrate the World Poetry Day of 2021. You are welcome to join us on March 22.