Susan M. Schultz on trans-pacific gender / genre

Susan M. Schultz’s New thresholds, new anatomies! Trans-pacific gender / genre in work by Jai Arun Ravine, Eileen Tabios and j/j hastain is live at Jacket2!

THEOFFCENTER Blog Salon 2: On Queer Economies

Thanks to Jesse Hewit and Ernesto Sopprani for inviting me to participate in THEOFFCENTER Blog Salon No 2: On Queer Economies. My piece, LUNCH BREAK, is inspired by a piece Pamela Lu wrote for the Poetic Labor Project in 2010.

Open Letter to Harriet Staff at the Poetry Foundation

On Thursday December 8, 2011, I saw that Poetry Foundation’s Harriet the Blog had posted, under Poetry News, a piece that quoted from Craig Santos Perez’s amazing essay on the publication of my book, which wove in my past and present selves, and from my essay on Doveglion about the making of the book, which Barbara Jane Reyes asked me to write.

Out of the Harriet post’s entirety, only 4 short paragraphs were written by its author. And in 3 of those very short 4 paragraphs, I was mis-gendered 4 times.

My questions to you, Harriet Staff member, are: Did you actually read our posts? Did you bother to read my bio? Craig uses my name, Jai, throughout his essay, and uses the gender-neutral pronoun, ze, once. In my bio on Doveglion I use they, ze and hir.

So really, why did you decide to use she and her, not once, not twice, but four times?

This violent act of mis-gendering is absolutely unacceptable.

By 12:36pm PST on Friday December 9, 2011, Craig had been able to contact someone among you to change the pronouns. However, you still missed one. You still missed one! Four times in 3 very short paragraphs, and you still missed one.

I would like to reiterate that this violent act of mis-gendering is absolutely unacceptable.

I request that The Poetry Foundation issue an apology regarding this post and detail the steps they are taking to educate their Staff members to ensure that trans and gender non-conforming authors written about on their website are referred to and represented appropriately and with respect.

Jai Arun Ravine (December 9, 2011)

PANK Magazine, Queer Two

Three visual poems from a working project KAH RAH OH GAY are up at PANK Magazine’s Queer Two issue! These pieces are still frames extracted from the collision between karaoke VCDs, Thai-English pocket dictionaries and recurring dreams about my ballet teacher. Thanks to the editor Tim Jones-Yelvington. Thanks also to Monica Ong Reed for valuable feedback.

Review of The Spiderboi Files at Hyperallergic

I’m super floored by this awesome review of The Spiderboi Files at Hyperallergic by Emerson Whitney, “Exploring Gender in an Unexpected Package“! Emerson, who gave you a copy of the book? Hmmm, I wonder!

SPD Open House; and then entwine travels

I am honored to be reading at the Small Press Distribution December Open House with Pamela Lu, Marvin K. White and Donna de la Perrière! Thanks to Laura Moriarty! More information from SPDetails:

SPD DECEMBER OPEN HOUSE

Pamela Lu, author of one of SPD’s all time best-sellers, Pamela: A Novel, will be one of the readers for the next SPD Open House. Pam has a new book from Kenning Editions called Ambient Parking Lot. Ambient Parking Lot also happens to be one of the first SPD books available as an ebook—check it out through the Kindle Store at Amazon.com and other ebook providers! Also reading will be Marvin K. White, Donna de la Perrière and Jai Arun Ravine, all of whom have hot new books at SPD. It will be fabulous! Save the date!

The SPD Open House will be Sunday, December 4th. Readings at 2, doors open at 1, 20-50% discounts all day!

***

แล้ว and then entwine travels!

I am incredibly excited to announce that แล้ว and then entwine will be taught at SUNY Binghamton, University of Pittsburgh and CalArts during the 2011-2012 academic year! Many thanks to Jeffner Allen, Soham Patel, Jenny Johnson and Jen Hofer for the honor of being taught. Jeffner Allen will also be teaching Tom / Trans / Thai.

Gratitude to Jen Hofer for teaching Is This January and The Spiderboi Files, Volume 1 at CalArts in Spring 2011, and Danielle Vogel for reaching Is This January at the University of Denver in Spring 2011.

Staff Pick Sale at Small Press Distribution

Thanks to Zack Tuck for selecting แล้ว and then entwine as a Staff Pick! You can buy it now through Small Press Distribution for 40% off!

Interview with Tomoaki Hata and C.Snatch Z. on “The Night Is Still Young” at Drunken Boat #14

Thanks to Tamiko Beyer, I had the opportunity to interview photographer Tomoaki Hata and performer C.Snatch Z. on the drag performance scene in Japan documented in Hata’s The Night Is Still Young. Read the interview at Drunken Boat #14!

SPD and Summer Stock

แล้ว and then entwine is now available through Small Press Distribution!

And my tribute to Akilah Oliver is live at Summer Stock, thanks to Jared Hayes.

Is the body the place where the sentence ends?

Craig Santos Perez on the publication of แล้ว and then entwine

Craig Santos Perez on the publication of แล้ว and then entwine.

I am humbled and moved by Craig’s threading of all the parts of me, woven through the work of Padcha Tuntha-obas and the Tinfish Press family.

Gratitude, gratitude, gratitude.

“แล้ว and then entwine” available now from Tinfish Press!

I am excited to announce that my first full-length book of poetry, แล้ว and then entwine, has just been published by Tinfish Press and is available for order!

Infinite gratitude to editor Susan Schultz and guest editor Craig Santos Perez for their support of this project! I am honored that this work has been selected by Tinfish and grateful to Sumet (Ben) Viwatmanitsakul for the incredibly gorgeous design that brings the heart of the book to life!

Read a “Behind the Poetry” of the dramatic pitfalls, acorn squash curries and blizzards that contributed to the immaculate conception of the book at Doveglion! Thanks to the wonderful Barbara Jane Reyes for inviting me to write this piece!

I am ready to share this text with you!

~

I would also like to announce that my short experimental film on Thai and Thai American trans-masculinities, tom / trans / thai, is available for screenings and presentations at colleges and universities, queer and trans youth groups and support groups, house parties…just to name a few!

For the Red Rover Reading Series on July 16 in Chicago, I read excerpts of the book against clips from the film in a transgender, transnational cross-examination of two trips, two timelines, two mediums. I am interested in presenting both the book and the film side-by-side, since they deal with shifting and changing notions of what it means to be Thai.

If you know of a class, group, reading series, film festival, conference or organization that would be interested in having me present either or both of these projects, please forward their info or have them contact me!

Stay tuned for a Bay Area launch party coming soon!

Happy August 1, Lammas, Lughnasadh, First Harvest!

Announcing “แล้ว and then entwine” forthcoming from Tinfish Press!

My first full-length book of poetry, แล้ว and then entwine, is forthcoming from Tinfish Press! I am incredibly honored to be joining the Tinfish family, among two of my favorite texts – Poeta en San Francisco by Barbara Jane Reyes and from unincorporated territory [hacha] by Craig Santos Perez. Heartfelt thanks to Craig for guest editing and supporting this book! See his announcement and a reveal of the gorgeous cover!

Stay tuned to Doveglion in July (thanks to an invitation from Barbara!), where I’ll be writing about the 6+ years in the making of this book!

The OFFCENTER Blog Salon No 1: On Mapping Our World

My essay “Illuminations, Lineages and Gestures” is live at this virtual roundtable centered around the state of queer performance in the San Francisco Bay Area. Other contributors include fabulous artists like Anna Martine Whitehead and m.a. brooks. Thanks to Ernesto Sopprani!

IS THIS JANUARY

Every day for the month of January 2011, I am writing a short letter to each page of my chapbook.

Is this January? Dear page 31, My mother doesn’t trust her instincts, so it took me 20 minutes to drive to the next exit, turn around, get back on the freeway and find the dollar store. I hadn’t meant for the line to be saucy, but the whole page pulses and ripples beneath. What do I mean by “like” a language? This is the end, and I’m not explaining anything. I’m signing off as the person I am in this instant.

Is this January? Dear page 30, Last week my mother said her dad had Chinese blood and her mother royal, appearances being contrary. It might have been today that we kissed in a cemetery under a midnight sheet of snow. Strange choices, but you saw my hometown and that didn’t change a thing. I keep talking about you and my mother, which means I was still searching for love like a womb. In Thailand I want to make out with a dee who won’t be weirded out when I tell her I’m attracted to toms too.

Is this January? Dear page 29, I don’t want to give you my weight. I’m nearing the end, and I’m not waiting for you either.

Is this January? Dear page 28, I don’t want to tell you anything.

Is this January? Dear page 27, In order to move you have to shift your weight through your pelvis.

Is this January? Dear page 26, Some years start in April. Some Januaries are false, others actually points of take off. I’m going places, and I’m so glad that you’re far enough away in time that you’ve completely disappeared.

Is this January? Dear page 25, My stomach was up hungry last night thinking about MAMA kow soy and what it’s gonna be like, which is unusual for T minus 40 days. Or is it? A month is long enough to anticipate an arrival that turns out to be nothing like I imagined.

Is this January? Dear page 24, I got sick many times worrying about the future. You sent individually wrapped packets of sleepytime tea with notes saying, “I’m here.” I can’t believe I actually believed that.

Is this January? Dear page 23, With a sore beak I cut out every organ rotten with fever. I eat pho ga. Even without an internet connection I have feelings.

Is this January? Dear page 22, Ga dam. I am a scary crow, an outsider. I would rather read the text behind you that your body partially obscures.

Is this January? Dear page 21, In a dream I am crossing an intersection burnt harsh white. I can’t see anything, but I continue to cross in slow motion before what I know is sure to hit. This is just one of many recurring dreams in which I am moving forward without really knowing what comes next.

Is this January? Dear page 20, I just hit BUY on SFO – BKK roundtrip. The slash between two halves that is both a deletion and an international date line.

Is this January? Dear page 19, I don’t have anything to say about Neruda. Today I discovered that there’s an entire lifestyle magazine dedicated to toms, and a hot luk kreung tom named Zee. OMG, I think I’m a lesbian.

Is this January? Dear page 18, I used to stuff these letters into my joints and jambs – the source of all the mystery and the creeking. A creeker is what they called kids who lived by creeks that always flooded. When I was landlocked I missed hearing that sound. I missed swaying side to side as a way to move closer.

Is this January? Dear page 17, I was talking to you on the phone when you said, “I think this would be really good with scallops.” I wrote this before I met you, so of course this page foreshadows the giant pelvis ship we have yet to build. In Susan Howe’s “The Midnight,” there is a slip of paper on which someone wrote, “we without cannot – haunt.” I am a miniature submarine floating in the fog on the Vancouver set of “The X-Files.” “why huntress / why fathom.” I’m glad this “you” isn’t you.

Is this January? Dear page 16, I called my mom today. No one picked up the phone.

Is this January? Dear page 15, In junior high I still thought I was conceived through a partition. This is related to my fear of touch.

Is this January? Dear page 14, Six years ago my eyelashes froze while waiting for the bus. Even through four feet of snow and state lines I obsessively checked my email.

Is this January? Dear page 13, Erosion. Erasure. “She left me standing on the mountain. She left me standing there.”

Is this January? Dear page 12, Seven years ago today I wrote, “can’t think of anything else to say.”

Is this January? Dear page 11, John Yau wrote, “It is January, and you are in Bozeman, Montana. I thought I would begin this while you were in the air, above the floor plan of the clouds, their exhumed disarray and brittle gleam.” The difference between your hand and “when” is a falling vowel.

Is this January? Dear page 10, I have this I <3 MOUNTAINS bumper sticker. The people who think the mountains in WV aren’t really mountains are stupid.

Is this January? Dear page 9, I’m good at putting words between us.

Is this January? Dear page 8, I used to have this letter opener, but it was always easier to use my hand. It’s not like this is an actual conversation.

Is this January? Dear page 7, I think I was remembering a certain yellow hill on a postcard, and a yellow hill with yellow grass. Both are places that no longer exist. The postcard – ash. The hill – sold.

Is this January? Dear page 6, Writing to you today is harder. I wanted to make some joke about GPS navigation systems, iphones and tracking devices. I wanted to locate you in space. P.S. I hated living in Boulder, but you already know that. Even the nostalgia for West Virginia, for two syllables in Thai script, is less visceral than a desert infected with whiteness. I was so sure I wanted what was most difficult to describe.

Is this January? Dear page 5, It took me years to write that letter. For years I only moved my right hand.

Is this January? Dear page 4, Syntax shapes text like the specter of your body / my spectral desire shapes my loss, which is becoming more meaty than ghost.

Is this January? Dear page 3, I thought it would be cheesy to insert myself into the sentence like that.

Is this January? Dear page 2, I laid cloth over a map stuck with sticky tack to the wall. I turned the wall over to be continued. The ink is so dry I can’t even bleed through to the beginning.

Is this January? Dear page 1, I laid cloth over a map and wrote you a letter without ever leaving my shoebox room with the one dull red sharpie.

Spiderboi in Masculine Femininities Zine

“theridion grallator,” “unisex” and “princess or soldier” panels from THE SPIDERBOI FILES are now live in Masculine Femininities Zine, Issue 4! Thanks to Raju Rage!

Spiderboi in Drunken Boat #12

“nausea of night” panel from THE SPIDERBOI FILES appears in Drunken Boat #12, thanks to Tamiko Beyer! Plus, you can listen to me read the piece to you.

Queer Profile at Creative Loafing

An interview I did with Edna Nelson as part of a series of profiles on queer artists is live at Creative Loafing/The Daily Loaf.

Lantern Review, Issue 1

I have an excerpt of my long manuscript, LLAo, in the fabulous first issue of Lantern Review, along with so many other amazing writers and Kundiman Fellows!

Delirious Hem: We All Belong to a Love Song Called Kundiman

Ching-In Chen has curated a Kundiman Feminist Poets Feature at Delirious Hem, containing work by so many fabulous Kundiman fellows! I contributed two pieces:

Taken Names: The Poetic Lineage of Jai Arun Ravine

A Moving Vehicle: The Poetry of Margaret Rhee

and Margaret Rhee’s amazing hybrid essay regarding my work!

Our Subversive Anatomies: The Embodied Feminist Poetics of Jai Arun Ravine

SPT Gevirtz and Tabios Reading Report at KSP

I reported on Susan Gevirtz and Eileen Tabios’ reading at Small Press Traffic on May 7, 2010 for the Kelsey Street Press blog. Thanks to Amber DiPietra!