Tinderbox poetry6/30/2023 The meta-poetic style urges readers to approach the collection as an intentional effort to undermine the narratives presented by anti-communist Indonesian powers and the American government. One thing that sets Oka’s collection apart is the overarching sense that the poem’s speakers are continuously aware of their participation in creating alternative histories. Coincidences are sparks that flew from the flame which was thrown into a box woven of human wire.” While Taylor and Bennet draw on real people, Oka invents her “ghosts” and includes the disclaimer, “Resemblances to characters living and dead, fictional and non-fictional, are coincidental. This works to historicize the fictionalized narrative that carries through the collection, reminding readers of the concrete implications of both surviving genocide and living as a survivor in diaspora. Like Vang, Oka makes use of numerous textual features to create poems which resemble telegrams, official interviews and retooled government documents. ‘Open,’ it/says with it stern and/painted edge.” The poem is situated outside the three acts, effectively acting as a prologue through which readers understand the compulsion that drives Oka to create and enliven the characters that populate the poems.Īs a collection, A Tinderbox in Three Acts invites comparisons to recent documentary-style collections from Mai Der Vang ( Yellow Rain ), Courtney Faye Taylor ( Concentrate ), and Joshua Bennet ( The Study of Human Life ). The poem closes with the speaker committing to uncover her history: “My shovel makes the rocks leap. With shovel//by the sea.” As the poem progresses, the speaker unpacks the silence that pervades familial relationships, as well as the stark contrast between the Pacific Northwest and Indonesia. The first poem in the collection, “Apologia,” immediately evokes Seamus Heaney and his poem, “Digging,” as the speaker describes how she has “mistaken a rock//for a voice. As the title suggests, Oka arranges the collection into three acts which work to contain and further the histories of an invented cast, which Oka refers to as “ghosts.” The author begins the collection with a foreword that offers brief yet essential information around the historical context that inspires the collection, setting the stage for a deliberate and effective counter-public to the colonial histories that perpetuated silence around the genocide for decades. UC Clermont is located at 4200 Clermont College Drive, Batavia, Ohio 45103.Cynthia Dewi Oka draws on newly classified documents around the 1965 genocide of millions of Indonesian people in her stirring fourth collection, A Tinderbox in Three Acts. As always, we warmly invite the local community to join us at these events.”Īll Poetry Series events are open to the public. “We’re all looking forward to hearing the poems and writing advice of these two exciting contemporary poets. “The UC Clermont Poetry Series has been bringing local and national poets to the college for more than 10 years to read from their work, talk with audiences and conduct master classes,” said Phoebe Reeves, professor of English. Lusby will be on campus April 8 for a Q&A with the author at 9:05 a.m., followed by a master class on publishing a literary journal at 11:15 a.m., and a reading, reception and book signing in the UC Clermont Library at 1:25 p.m. She is also the author of two chapbooks, “Blackbird Whitetail Redhand” (Porkbelly Press, 2018) and “Imago” (Dancing Girl Press, 2014) and the winner of the 2015 Fairy Tale Review Poetry Contest. Her poems have appeared most recently in The Cincinnati Review, Passages North, The Account, North Dakota Quarterly and Tinderbox Poetry Journal. Lusby’s debut poetry collection “Catechesis: A Postpastoral” (2019) won the 2018 Agha Shahid Ali Poetry Prize from the University of Utah Press, judged by renowned poet Kimiko Hahn. Then on April 8, UC Clermont will welcome poet Lindsay Lusby. in the UC Clermont Park National Bank Art Gallery, and a writing workshop at 11:15 a.m. 12 for a Q&A with the author at 9:05 a.m., followed by a reading and reception at 10:10 a.m. A former Hodder fellow at Princeton University, she is currently an assistant professor at Ball State University.ĭidden will be on campus Feb. Didden is the author of “The Glacier’s Wake” (Pleiades Press, 2013). Didden has a PhD in English and Creative Writing from the University of Missouri, and her poems and essays appear in journals such as Poetry Northwest, Ecotone, Poetry, 32 Poems and The Kenyon Review. The UC Clermont College Poetry Series will welcome two authors to the college’s Batavia campus this spring.Īuthor Katy Didden will visit the college Feb.
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