Poetry for the Pluriverse
Hello Good People,
I’m reaching out to share a waterfall and fresh plurilingual poems with you. I hope that are making time to breath deeply, replentish, and care for yourself and your loved ones.
During turbulent times its important to intentionally find balance and hold the possibility of the unknown in my imagination. The story of our times is still unfolding. We each have authorial power.
And now, listen to a waterfall . . .
Thich Nhat Hanh found power in simply being real. He said,
“the best thing a tree can do is to be a real tree. If a tree is less than a tree, we get into trouble. All of us. All spaces. But the trees now have begun to be less than trees. Because humans, we are less than human beings.”
I tell myself, let me just be real. Let me know the difference between real trees and fabricated panopticons.
1000 Bird Tree
I wrote the poem “1000 Bird Tree” in response to the uprooting of one particular tree where I live. This persona poem appears in Random Experiments in Bioluminescence, and lives inside the “Poems in International & Local Languages” playlist in the book’s Orality Archive. We’ve recorded the poem for you in Californian English and Nigerian Pidgin.
Listen to the Californian English version here:
Hear Àkpà Árinzèchukwu read his reinvention in Nigerian Pidgin here. (Its his birthday week too, so happy birthday Àkpà!)
About Àkpà Árinzèchukwu
Àkpà Árinzèchukwu is an Igbo writer, Fashion Designer, and Translator. A winner of the 2021 Poetry Archive Worldview Prize, a Best of the Net nominee, Pushcart, and Geoffrey Dearmer Prize, shortlisted for the FT/Bodley Head Prize, and a finalist for the 2020 Black Warriors Review Fiction Prize, his works have appeared in Kenyon Review, Adda, Transition, Prairie Schooner, The Nation, Poetry Review, and elsewhere. He is the curator of Muqabalal, a bilingual conversation series, co-host of the Muqabalal’s Poem a Day in Translation, and the Church of Poetry.
Poems for Public Libraries
I’m a fan of public libraries because they bring learning resources to communities. Please take a moment to request a copy of the Random Experiments in Bioluminescence for your local library. This way you can “gift” the book to your entire neighborhood.
You can find your library’s online purchase request form by searching: “Name of Your Library + Suggest a Purchase.”
For Angelenos, here are the links for the LA Public Library, and the LA County Public Library. You’ll need the information below to submit a request:
Book Name: Random Experiments in Bioluminescence
Author: Amy Shimshon-Santo
Publisher: Flowersong Press
ISBN: 978-1-963245-35-6
Pre-Order Link: https://www.flowersongpress.com/store-j9lRp/p/random-experiments-in-bioluminescence-by-amy-shimshon-santo-forthcoming
Pub Date: Sept 26, 2024
A million thanks,
Amy