“The author must keep his mouth shut when his work starts to speak.”
—Friedrich Nietzsche
Category / Writing
New poem: ‘Benevolent Assimilation’ in re:asian magazine
Thank you, re:asian magazine, for including me in the “firsts” issue!
The poem touches upon things I’ve been thinking about since grade school when I first read the phrase “benevolent assimilation” as a U.S. description of its colonial policy with the Philippines.
The magazine has also published a photo I took of the home my Lolo — grandfather — grew up in Cavite.
Here’s an excerpt from the poem:
Something like fear structured my feelings around the word
Philippines and whatever it was that connected me to it
Check out the full poem on the re:asian website here and let me know what you think — either here or on the re:asian site.
Thank you, Mithila Review!
My new speculative poem, Instructions for Astronauts, appears in the new edition of The Mithila Review!
It has also been made into a video. Check it out:
Ajapa Sharma, one of the co-founding editors of the journal, writes in the introduction:
When we read Michael Janairo’s submission “Instructions for Astronauts” for this issue, it resonated with some of the themes of our favorite space-based films and series. SyFy’s series based on James S.A. Corey’s Hugo award winning books, The Expanse has been our staple since season 2 of the series started airing in February. Against all criticisms, we’ve also thoroughly enjoyed Ridley Scott’s Prometheus and are eagerly waiting to watch Alien: Covenant later this year. Janairo’s poem captured elements that have traditionally been a part of science fiction’s visual corpus and his stellar voice quality made it all the more adaptable for a film. Working with Michael’s poetry, it became evident that good visual material can only come from excellent writing. The visual, after all, is an innovative translation of a textual script. The hope is that the video will become a medium through which Janairo’s poetry can travel far and wide.
Excerpt From: Salik Shah, Editor. “Mithila Review – Issue 8.”
Federal Arts Funding Beyond ‘Piss Christ’
The short version: Bullies who favor guns over culture distort facts so they can gut federal arts funding; here are some facts.
The news
“The president’s budget would eliminate the NEA’s $148 million budget, the NEH’s $148 million budget and the CPB’s $445 million budget, as well as $230 million for the Institute of Museum and Library Services, which supports libraries and museums across the country.”
Here we go again. A GOP budget plan to ax arts funding. Right-wingers cheering it on, saying things like arts are elitist and that people who want arts should pay for it themselves . This all seems to be a reflection of a couple different ways of looking at the world: the libertarian one, in which everyone needs to do everything for themselves (except maybe national defense?); and a kind of anti-intellectualism in reference to culture that can be summed up as “if I don’t understand it, it must be elitist.”
I’m reminded of a story told by a former newspaper colleague who recounted a meeting with an adult person in public. That person, recognizing her from her photo in the newspaper, said something like, “You write those movie reviews, right? You must be a millionaire.”
Thank you, World Haiku Review
A letter in support of NEA and NEH to my members of congress
I sent the following letter to my three federal representatives, my member of the House and my two senators. I used a form letter provided by the American Alliance of Museums, of which I am a member, as a starting point. I am not in the habit of writing letters to my representatives. Nor am I in the habit of marching in the streets and in the airport, but I have done all of these things since January 21, 2017, because what is happening in America is not normal. And the current administration’s stated plans to ax the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities strikes me as just as petty, short-sighted, and mean-spirited as anything else to come out of it so far. If you find some value in the NEA and NEH, or in this letter, please contact your own representatives to let them know.
Thank you for all you have done and continue to do to fight against the new administration and its unconstitutional ways. Also, thank you for your support of the arts in general, and of the Capital Region in particular.
On Friday night at an art gallery opening at Collar Works Gallery in Troy, NY, I met a young college graduate who is pursuing her dream as an artist. She remembered meeting me when I was the arts editor at the Times Union, the main newspaper in the Capital Region, and she was a high school student whose art work I chose to feature in the newspaper. That was a moment in her life that gave her the courage to pursue her dream.
A note about the erasure poem ‘Heart Heal’
An erasure poem is part of a tradition of using pre-existing texts, stripping away some of the words, and revealing a new creation with what remains. The erasure part echoes the kind of blacking out of text used when classified information is made public. A good definition can be found on the Found Poetry Review’s website at http://www.foundpoetryreview.com/about-found-poetry.
My erasure poem comes from page 46 of the book The Art of the Deal, attributed to but not really written at all by Donald Trump. Continue reading →
Heart Heal: An erasure poem from Art of the Deal
“Heart Heal”
never
never
never
never
Instead, I become much tougher
#poetsandwritersstandagainsttrump
#writersresist
For more information about this protest poem, visit Poets and Writers Stand Against Trump
POETS & WRITERS STAND AGAINST TRUMP 01.20.2017 AT 8PM
I plan on taking part.
Help spread the word!
POETS & WRITERS STAND AGAINST TRUMP : JANUARY 20th, 2017 AT 8PM
On Friday, January 20th Donald J. Trump will be sworn in as The President of the United States of America.
This will be a very sad day indeed. And as poets and writers everywhere we need to speak up and say what needs to be said, and share those words with our nation and the world.
So here’s what we do.
At EXACTLY 8pm on the evening of Friday, January 20th I’m asking all my friends and fellow writers and poets to simultaneously all post a poem or prose piece against the election and presidency of Trump. Post it on Facebook, Twitter, Tumble, WordPress …
EVERYWHERE.
That’s it, that’s all we need to do but we must all be united in this protest.
No matter who you are, what country, what race or what nationality this is…
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