Meet Me at the Fair

... but I won't be your Hootchie Kootchie...


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I first came to know master potter Cate Bourke when the editor of the literary journal Anti- forwarded an email from her asking for permission to use the poem "Gift" which had been part of the special Anti- chapbook issue "Power Crazy Senior General Than Shwe" in February 2008.

Cate was then working on a series of installation pieces which went on to become "Covenant"; and I was humbled and honored that she used my poem and made it part of the second piece. Cate describes how she made my poem a "hidden text within a series of 58 prayer beads in Name of the Father. Only partially visible to the casual viewer, the text describes a reign of brutal and illegitimate power while acknowledging the challenges those of us outside such a regime typically face in developing a consciousness of its insidious impact on life".

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Cate is currently at work on a collaborative installation she calls "Mail Art 2011 / Community Building 101" -- she has mailed out uniform wooden blocks to artists and writers who have said they would like to participate. Our instructions were to inscribe images and words on the surface of the block, then mail the pieces back to her.

Before I mailed mine off to Cate, I snapped this photo. Part of the inspiration behind the collage I assembled has come from the historical background to some of the poems that are part of my most recent book, Juan Luna's Revolver (2009 Ernest Sandeen Prize, University of Notre Dame Press) -- the 1904 World's Fair and Exposition in St. Louis, Missouri, to which over 1,100 indigenous Filipino tribal peoples were taken to serve as live exhibits, alongside the newest model lawnmower, car, or kitchen device.

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And, for those of you reading my poem-a-day project at Dave Bonta's Via Negativa, here is one of my recent poems that may fit the spirit of this Blip offering.