Larissa Shmailo's Blog, page 7
April 13, 2019
FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE - SLY BANG PARTY READER BIOS
Take a look at the impressive bios of the readers for From Russia with Love: A SLY BANG Book Party on May 13!
Our sponsor Dr. Regina Khidekel received her MA in Art Theory and History and Ph.D. from the Academy of Arts in Leningrad. She is an art critic and curator, the Art Director of the Diaghilev Art Center (1990-1993) and founding director of the nonprofit arts organizations, Russian American Cultural Center in New York (1998) and the Lazar Khidekel Society (2010), and member of AICA and SHERA. A frequent contributor to the magazines in Russia and ArtNews in the USA, Khidekel is the author of a number of catalogues and books, including “It's the Real Thing.” Soviet and Post- Soviet Sots Art and American Pop Art - Minnesota University Press (1998), Artists from St. Petersburg (2006), Homage to Diaghilev;s Enduring Legacy (2009), Russian Avant-garde: Work-in-Progress in Russian Constructivist Roots: Present Concerns - Maryland University (1997), Traditionalist Rebels: Nonconformist Art in Leningrad in Forbidden Art - Curatorial Assistance, LA (1998),and Lazar Khidekel in Malevich's Circle: Confederates, Students, Followers in Russia, 1920s-1950s -The State Russian Museum (2000).
Emcee Andrey Gritsman, a native of Moscow, immigrated to the United States in 1981. He authored seven volumes of poetry in Russian and five collections in English and received the 2009 Pushcart Prize Honorable Mention XXIII and was nominated for the Pushcart Prize several times between 2005 – 2010, and also was on the Short List for the PEN American Center Biennial Osterweil Poetry Award. Poems, essays, and short stories in English have appeared or are forthcoming in more than 90 literary journals. His work has also been anthologized in Modern Poetry in Translation (UK), Crossing Centuries (New Generation in Russian Poetry), and The Breath of Parted Lips: Voices from the Robert Frost Place. Andrey edits the international poetry magazine Interpoezia and runs the Intercultural Poetry Series.
Anna Halberstadt has been widely published in Russian, English, and Lithuanian. Eileen Myles s first collection of poetry in Russian translation by Anna Halberstadt “Selected Selected” was published by “Russian Gulliver” in Moscow in April 2017. Anna’s translations of poetry by Edward Hirsch into the Russian “Nocturnal Fire “were published by Evgeny Stepanov’s Publishing House in 2017. Halberstadt was a finalist in the 2013 and 2015 Mudfish poetry contests and in the Atlanta Review 2015 contest. Anna was a semi-finalist for the Paumanok Poetry Award 2015 and a winner of the International Merit Award in Poetry 2016 International Poetry Competition in the Atlanta Review and awarded a Poetry prize 2016 for a group of poems in Russian by Children of Ra journal. Her “Vilnius Diary” in Lithuanian has become one of TOP10 books, published in Lithuania in 2017, named by the Lithuanian news site Lt.15. It was also chosen for the list of most important books in translation 2017 by the Lithuanian Translators Association. Нalberstadt was named Translator of the Year by the literary journal Персона PLUS 2017 for her translation into the Russian of Bob Dylan’s poem “Brownsville Girl.”
Elizabeth L. Hodges has been editor of the print journal St. Petersburg Review, www.stpetersburgreview.com, since 2006 and the digital Springhouse Journal, springhousejournal.com, since 2014. Her book of poetry, Witchery, was published by MadHat Press in 2016.
Irina Mashinski was born in Moscow; she graduated from the Physical Geography Department of Moscow University where she later completed her Ph.D. studies. She is co-editor, with Robert Chandler and Boris Dralyuk, of The Penguin Book of Russian Poetry (Penguin Classics, 2015) and of Cardinal Points, the Journal of Brown University’s Slavic Department. Irina Mashinski is the co-founder (with the late Oleg Woolf) and editor-in-chief of the StoSvet literary project. She is the author of ten books of poetry and translations (in Russian). Her first English-language collection, The Naked World, is forthcoming from Spuyten Duyvil.
Alexander Veytsman writes poetry and prose in both English and Russian languages. His original poems, translations, as well as short stories and essays, have appeared in more than 30 publications in Russia and the United States. Over the years, he served on the editorial boards of The Word and Interpoeziya literary journals, in addition to chairing the Compass Translation Award under the auspices of Cardinal Points journal. A native of Moscow and a graduate of Harvard and Yale universities, Alexander currently lives in New York City.
Anton Yakovlev's latest chapbook Chronos Dines Alone, winner of the James Tate Poetry Prize 2018, was published by SurVision Books. He is also the author of Ordinary Impalers (Kelsay Books, 2017) and two prior chapbooks: The Ghost of Grant Wood (Finishing Line Press, 2015) and Neptune Court (The Operating System, 2015). His poems have appeared in The New Yorker, The Hopkins Review, Measure, Amarillo Bay, and elsewhere. He has also written and directed several short films. The Last Poet of the Village, a book of translations of poetry by Sergei Yesenin, is forthcoming from Sensitive Skin Books.
Larissa Shmailo is a poet, novelist, translator, editor, and critic. Her new novel is Sly Bang; her first novel is Patient Women. Her poetry collections are Medusa’s Country, #specialcharacters , In Paran , A Cure for Suicide, and Fib Sequence . Her poetry albums are The No-Net World and Exorcism, for which she won the New Century Best Spoken Word Album award. She has been published in Plume, the Brooklyn Rail, Barrow Street and over 30 anthologies. Shmailo is the original English-language translator of the first Futurist opera Victory over the Sun by Alexei Kruchenych, performed at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Brooklyn Academy of Music, the Garage Museum of Moscow, and theaters and universities worldwide. Shmailo also edited the online anthology Twenty-first Century Russian Poetry and has been a translator for the Eugene A. Nida Institute of Biblical Scholarship on the Russian Bible. Currently, she is guest-editing an upcoming Russia and politics issue of Matter. Please see more about Shmailo at her websitewww.larissashmailo.com and Wikipedia ttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Larissa_Shmailo
Our sponsor Dr. Regina Khidekel received her MA in Art Theory and History and Ph.D. from the Academy of Arts in Leningrad. She is an art critic and curator, the Art Director of the Diaghilev Art Center (1990-1993) and founding director of the nonprofit arts organizations, Russian American Cultural Center in New York (1998) and the Lazar Khidekel Society (2010), and member of AICA and SHERA. A frequent contributor to the magazines in Russia and ArtNews in the USA, Khidekel is the author of a number of catalogues and books, including “It's the Real Thing.” Soviet and Post- Soviet Sots Art and American Pop Art - Minnesota University Press (1998), Artists from St. Petersburg (2006), Homage to Diaghilev;s Enduring Legacy (2009), Russian Avant-garde: Work-in-Progress in Russian Constructivist Roots: Present Concerns - Maryland University (1997), Traditionalist Rebels: Nonconformist Art in Leningrad in Forbidden Art - Curatorial Assistance, LA (1998),and Lazar Khidekel in Malevich's Circle: Confederates, Students, Followers in Russia, 1920s-1950s -The State Russian Museum (2000).
Emcee Andrey Gritsman, a native of Moscow, immigrated to the United States in 1981. He authored seven volumes of poetry in Russian and five collections in English and received the 2009 Pushcart Prize Honorable Mention XXIII and was nominated for the Pushcart Prize several times between 2005 – 2010, and also was on the Short List for the PEN American Center Biennial Osterweil Poetry Award. Poems, essays, and short stories in English have appeared or are forthcoming in more than 90 literary journals. His work has also been anthologized in Modern Poetry in Translation (UK), Crossing Centuries (New Generation in Russian Poetry), and The Breath of Parted Lips: Voices from the Robert Frost Place. Andrey edits the international poetry magazine Interpoezia and runs the Intercultural Poetry Series.
Anna Halberstadt has been widely published in Russian, English, and Lithuanian. Eileen Myles s first collection of poetry in Russian translation by Anna Halberstadt “Selected Selected” was published by “Russian Gulliver” in Moscow in April 2017. Anna’s translations of poetry by Edward Hirsch into the Russian “Nocturnal Fire “were published by Evgeny Stepanov’s Publishing House in 2017. Halberstadt was a finalist in the 2013 and 2015 Mudfish poetry contests and in the Atlanta Review 2015 contest. Anna was a semi-finalist for the Paumanok Poetry Award 2015 and a winner of the International Merit Award in Poetry 2016 International Poetry Competition in the Atlanta Review and awarded a Poetry prize 2016 for a group of poems in Russian by Children of Ra journal. Her “Vilnius Diary” in Lithuanian has become one of TOP10 books, published in Lithuania in 2017, named by the Lithuanian news site Lt.15. It was also chosen for the list of most important books in translation 2017 by the Lithuanian Translators Association. Нalberstadt was named Translator of the Year by the literary journal Персона PLUS 2017 for her translation into the Russian of Bob Dylan’s poem “Brownsville Girl.”
Elizabeth L. Hodges has been editor of the print journal St. Petersburg Review, www.stpetersburgreview.com, since 2006 and the digital Springhouse Journal, springhousejournal.com, since 2014. Her book of poetry, Witchery, was published by MadHat Press in 2016.
Irina Mashinski was born in Moscow; she graduated from the Physical Geography Department of Moscow University where she later completed her Ph.D. studies. She is co-editor, with Robert Chandler and Boris Dralyuk, of The Penguin Book of Russian Poetry (Penguin Classics, 2015) and of Cardinal Points, the Journal of Brown University’s Slavic Department. Irina Mashinski is the co-founder (with the late Oleg Woolf) and editor-in-chief of the StoSvet literary project. She is the author of ten books of poetry and translations (in Russian). Her first English-language collection, The Naked World, is forthcoming from Spuyten Duyvil.
Alexander Veytsman writes poetry and prose in both English and Russian languages. His original poems, translations, as well as short stories and essays, have appeared in more than 30 publications in Russia and the United States. Over the years, he served on the editorial boards of The Word and Interpoeziya literary journals, in addition to chairing the Compass Translation Award under the auspices of Cardinal Points journal. A native of Moscow and a graduate of Harvard and Yale universities, Alexander currently lives in New York City.
Anton Yakovlev's latest chapbook Chronos Dines Alone, winner of the James Tate Poetry Prize 2018, was published by SurVision Books. He is also the author of Ordinary Impalers (Kelsay Books, 2017) and two prior chapbooks: The Ghost of Grant Wood (Finishing Line Press, 2015) and Neptune Court (The Operating System, 2015). His poems have appeared in The New Yorker, The Hopkins Review, Measure, Amarillo Bay, and elsewhere. He has also written and directed several short films. The Last Poet of the Village, a book of translations of poetry by Sergei Yesenin, is forthcoming from Sensitive Skin Books.
Larissa Shmailo is a poet, novelist, translator, editor, and critic. Her new novel is Sly Bang; her first novel is Patient Women. Her poetry collections are Medusa’s Country, #specialcharacters , In Paran , A Cure for Suicide, and Fib Sequence . Her poetry albums are The No-Net World and Exorcism, for which she won the New Century Best Spoken Word Album award. She has been published in Plume, the Brooklyn Rail, Barrow Street and over 30 anthologies. Shmailo is the original English-language translator of the first Futurist opera Victory over the Sun by Alexei Kruchenych, performed at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Brooklyn Academy of Music, the Garage Museum of Moscow, and theaters and universities worldwide. Shmailo also edited the online anthology Twenty-first Century Russian Poetry and has been a translator for the Eugene A. Nida Institute of Biblical Scholarship on the Russian Bible. Currently, she is guest-editing an upcoming Russia and politics issue of Matter. Please see more about Shmailo at her websitewww.larissashmailo.com and Wikipedia ttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Larissa_Shmailo
April 10, 2019
TONIGHT ON POETRY THIN AIR TELEVISION!
TONIGHT - Part 1 of the first SLY BANG launch airs on Mitch Corber's Poetry Thin Air television show featuring readings by Annie Finch and Thaddeus Rutkowski and emcee Ron Kolm. Catch the show on Manhattan Neighborhood Network at 8:30 pm or on BRIC Brooklyn Cable Access at 11:00 pm.
April 9, 2019
For National Poetry Month: MADWOMAN
Day 9 of National Poetry Month:
MADWOMAN, published in Ginosko
Here I am again walking among these vague and tepid people they evoke a slight feeling of distaste in me they smell my pain they have no idea I just hold my phone the cellular phone I use for a disguise and I talk, talk to the ultimate answering service I walk and I talk to God
when you died I ripped the electrodes out of my skull and ran away from the land of cables and TV sets great battles of television were fought here great battles were lost Soho is no different from uptown or downtown it’s all money and talking and bars sex and cars job job job so I went to see the trees
The trees were luminous the leaves forming patterns of light on the ground and as the light played on my hair and my cheeks I realized that no one ever dies they just become trees even Marilyn Monroe was alive in a leaf I saw for an instant your face all aquiver in the shaking of a fern in the light of the wind and I kissed the trees so I knew you were not dead not really you would not be so cruel as to die really die
Under the West Side Highway I met all the men who lived there and one girl she was 22 pregnant and had AIDS I didn't stay long but I stayed long enough under the West Side Highway I slept with Jesus in a cap talked madman Spanish with Tito and the dirty apostles knew there would always be enough loaves and fishes for me knew that no matter how hard it got I would always be safe and held near close to God it was my destiny to be greatly loved
I chose then to be close to God to throw away my clothing and be close to God there were times when not even a shirt came between me and God
Under the West Side Highway I spoke to Jesus his face always changing now Alex who lived in a tent near the wall now Panama drinking wine now Juan in his tin and cardboard hut
You followed me watched me you were worried how would I get home and back to the life I had known and I said look who's talking you died after all it's hardly for you to criticize me if I go off the beaten path a little too
And as for the others they worried too unknown to them the protection I had and had always had I said to them all don't worry I will love you pray you home look can't you see….I am your guardian angel and you thought I was just homeless and mad as though God hadn't made the whole world just for me
Well now I am cured I go to the bank I take pills I sit in restaurants have a job I worry about money and whether my new boyfriend has AIDs we don't even have sex he's too busy with his job it's just as well none of these men have anything that would compel you or keep you through the night its just banging bones after all
You see very few men have souls and very few men have courage the few who have the courage to follow their souls are mostly all dead lost in leaves people kill them you know I don't know any more I take pills and talk into the cellular phone sometimes I think I hear your voice sometimes I think I hear you and then no it’s just the pills I get a hum in my ear its not you I know you are not dead but you're not here either and I miss you
I am cured so they say but you can't really ever take the gift of madness away once you have been stripped by God of everything clothing family freedom senses you are his for life and I was stripped oh yes dear lord of everything every last thing God took everything leaving only my soul but I found that was enough
And you you people think you have things but really the next breath you take is the only thing you have so how different are you from me
Look at us again we the homeless and see us for who we are the archangels of God
You cannot take the gift of madness away I will always know about trees will always see the arch of my lover's neck in the patterns of their light I will know that the patch of sky between the birch tree and the willow is him his azure face and I will always hear the voice of God wherever I go no pill can block him out no TV set can drown his voice no fool can block the face of God from me
Look at me madwoman I am Magdalene I am Joan of Arc I am St. Marilyn Monroe and I will always be your angel baby I will always be your saint pray to me
MADWOMAN, published in Ginosko
Here I am again walking among these vague and tepid people they evoke a slight feeling of distaste in me they smell my pain they have no idea I just hold my phone the cellular phone I use for a disguise and I talk, talk to the ultimate answering service I walk and I talk to God
when you died I ripped the electrodes out of my skull and ran away from the land of cables and TV sets great battles of television were fought here great battles were lost Soho is no different from uptown or downtown it’s all money and talking and bars sex and cars job job job so I went to see the trees
The trees were luminous the leaves forming patterns of light on the ground and as the light played on my hair and my cheeks I realized that no one ever dies they just become trees even Marilyn Monroe was alive in a leaf I saw for an instant your face all aquiver in the shaking of a fern in the light of the wind and I kissed the trees so I knew you were not dead not really you would not be so cruel as to die really die
Under the West Side Highway I met all the men who lived there and one girl she was 22 pregnant and had AIDS I didn't stay long but I stayed long enough under the West Side Highway I slept with Jesus in a cap talked madman Spanish with Tito and the dirty apostles knew there would always be enough loaves and fishes for me knew that no matter how hard it got I would always be safe and held near close to God it was my destiny to be greatly loved
I chose then to be close to God to throw away my clothing and be close to God there were times when not even a shirt came between me and God
Under the West Side Highway I spoke to Jesus his face always changing now Alex who lived in a tent near the wall now Panama drinking wine now Juan in his tin and cardboard hut
You followed me watched me you were worried how would I get home and back to the life I had known and I said look who's talking you died after all it's hardly for you to criticize me if I go off the beaten path a little too
And as for the others they worried too unknown to them the protection I had and had always had I said to them all don't worry I will love you pray you home look can't you see….I am your guardian angel and you thought I was just homeless and mad as though God hadn't made the whole world just for me
Well now I am cured I go to the bank I take pills I sit in restaurants have a job I worry about money and whether my new boyfriend has AIDs we don't even have sex he's too busy with his job it's just as well none of these men have anything that would compel you or keep you through the night its just banging bones after all
You see very few men have souls and very few men have courage the few who have the courage to follow their souls are mostly all dead lost in leaves people kill them you know I don't know any more I take pills and talk into the cellular phone sometimes I think I hear your voice sometimes I think I hear you and then no it’s just the pills I get a hum in my ear its not you I know you are not dead but you're not here either and I miss you
I am cured so they say but you can't really ever take the gift of madness away once you have been stripped by God of everything clothing family freedom senses you are his for life and I was stripped oh yes dear lord of everything every last thing God took everything leaving only my soul but I found that was enough
And you you people think you have things but really the next breath you take is the only thing you have so how different are you from me
Look at us again we the homeless and see us for who we are the archangels of God
You cannot take the gift of madness away I will always know about trees will always see the arch of my lover's neck in the patterns of their light I will know that the patch of sky between the birch tree and the willow is him his azure face and I will always hear the voice of God wherever I go no pill can block him out no TV set can drown his voice no fool can block the face of God from me
Look at me madwoman I am Magdalene I am Joan of Arc I am St. Marilyn Monroe and I will always be your angel baby I will always be your saint pray to me
April 1, 2019
Watch the SLY BANG Launch Videos!
If you missed the first SLY BANG launch, no worries! Here are the videos for the event.
SLY BANG LAUNCH PART 1 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_cMWm...
features Thaddeus Rutkowski, Annie Finch, and host Ron Kolm and will air on the television show Poetry Thin Air on Manhattan and Brooklyn Cable Access April 10, 8:30 pm.
SLY BANG LAUNCH PART 2
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BMgDB...
features Don Yorty, Ron Kolm, and my reading from Sly Bang and will air on Poetry Thin Air on April 17, 8:30 pm.
Thanks to everyone who turned out for this great read! Save the date for From Russia with Love: A SLY BANG Book Party May 13!
SLY BANG LAUNCH PART 1 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_cMWm...
features Thaddeus Rutkowski, Annie Finch, and host Ron Kolm and will air on the television show Poetry Thin Air on Manhattan and Brooklyn Cable Access April 10, 8:30 pm.
SLY BANG LAUNCH PART 2
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BMgDB...
features Don Yorty, Ron Kolm, and my reading from Sly Bang and will air on Poetry Thin Air on April 17, 8:30 pm.
Thanks to everyone who turned out for this great read! Save the date for From Russia with Love: A SLY BANG Book Party May 13!
March 31, 2019
DEATH AT SEA
In memoriam my husband, Steven Charles Werner
(May 3, 1955 - March 26, 1985)
The heart, someone wrote once,
Couldn’t walk a straight line,
Couldn’t pass the drunk test if it tried.
Some men play the odds; their heads count cards
But their hearts bet inside straights.
They can’t bluff, ever,
Show their hand, most times,
And always give the pot away.
Steven died at sea
Holding the dead man’s hand, aces up.
A poker-faced corpse surfaces on the water:
I see
The orange safety vest
Inflated around his neck
Mocking God and me
Now, now, now, now, now ---
Too late.
I held his wake in Vegas,
Sat Shiva in casinos
Where there were no windows, no daytime, no peace.
I put him in a casket,
A greedy one-armed bandit
It still asks me for coins
For its insatiable slot.
I hate the beach
The deadsea beach
The sunblocked snorkeled oily beach
The scuba lungs
The deadgrass skirts
The blind bikinied sunglass beach
I hate the sea
The soulless sea
The sentient, malevolent swampy sea
It don’t care if you live
It won’t cry if you die
It boasts like Yaweh
It spits in your eye
The sea
The stupid sea.
But I love the albatross
That took Steven’s soul,
And I love the lighthouse and the shore,
And I love all sailors, both sober and drunk,
Who won’t kill a bird no matter what,
And I love the salt and I love the storm,
And I loved Steven, beyond most doubt,
And if I knew then
What I know now
Could I have walked on water
And pulled him out?
(May 3, 1955 - March 26, 1985)
The heart, someone wrote once,
Couldn’t walk a straight line,
Couldn’t pass the drunk test if it tried.
Some men play the odds; their heads count cards
But their hearts bet inside straights.
They can’t bluff, ever,
Show their hand, most times,
And always give the pot away.
Steven died at sea
Holding the dead man’s hand, aces up.
A poker-faced corpse surfaces on the water:
I see
The orange safety vest
Inflated around his neck
Mocking God and me
Now, now, now, now, now ---
Too late.
I held his wake in Vegas,
Sat Shiva in casinos
Where there were no windows, no daytime, no peace.
I put him in a casket,
A greedy one-armed bandit
It still asks me for coins
For its insatiable slot.
I hate the beach
The deadsea beach
The sunblocked snorkeled oily beach
The scuba lungs
The deadgrass skirts
The blind bikinied sunglass beach
I hate the sea
The soulless sea
The sentient, malevolent swampy sea
It don’t care if you live
It won’t cry if you die
It boasts like Yaweh
It spits in your eye
The sea
The stupid sea.
But I love the albatross
That took Steven’s soul,
And I love the lighthouse and the shore,
And I love all sailors, both sober and drunk,
Who won’t kill a bird no matter what,
And I love the salt and I love the storm,
And I loved Steven, beyond most doubt,
And if I knew then
What I know now
Could I have walked on water
And pulled him out?
March 24, 2019
EXORCISM (FOUND POEM)
Adapted from “Group Dynamics,” People of the Lie─The Hope for Healing Human Evil by M. Scott Peck.
I stand on holy ground
I stand on holy ground
I stand on holy ground
I stand on holy ground
I stand on holy ground
Consecration: On the morning of March 16, 1968
Elements of Task Force Barker
Charlie Company Task Force Barker
Moved into a small group of hamlets
In the Quang Ngai province of South Vietnam
Collectively known as My Lai
It was a routine mission
To search and destroy
A typical mission
To search and destroy
The soldiers were poorly trained and hastily assembled
They were tired, poorly trained, and hastily assembled
They had sustained casualties from booby traps and mines
They had not engaged the enemy but sustained casualties
Had had no military success for over a month
The soldiers were poorly trained
The soldiers were probably not aware of the Geneva Convention
Which states it is a war crime to kill a civilian
A punishable crime to kill a civilian
To kill a soldier or enemy who has surrendered
Who is wounded and has laid down his arms
To kill a non-combatant
They were probably not aware of the Law of Land Warfare
In the Army Field Manual, the U.S. Army Field Manual
Which specifies that orders in violation of the Geneva Convention
Any order in violation of the Geneva Convention
Is illegal and not to be obeyed
The soldiers were poorly trained
The written orders were ambiguous
The My Lai orders were ambiguous
Just waste the place, a Louie said
A Louie might have said
Though essentially all elements of Task Force Barker
Were involved in some way in the My Lai operation
The primary element of ground troop involved
Was C Company 1st Battalion of the 20th infantry
Of the 11th Light Infantry Brigade
When Charlie Company moved into the hamlets of My Lai
They found no combatants not a single combatant
Only old men and children, unarmed women, men, and children
All civilian and unarmed
The troops of C Company killed five to six hundred
The troops of C Company killed five to six hundred
The troops of C Company killed five to six hundred
Civilians on that day
The killings took a long time
The people were killed in a variety of ways
In some instances troops would simply stand at a hut
And spray it with fire or throw hand grenades
In other instances villagers including small children
Were shot as they attempted to escape
The killings took a long time
The most largescale killings occurred at My Lai 4
There the first platoon of Charlie Company
Commanded by Lieutenant Calley
Herded villagers into groups of twenty or more
Who were then shot down by rifle fire
Machine guns and hand grenades
The killings took a long time
The number of soldiers can only be estimated
Perhaps only fifty actually killed the civilians
Perhaps just two hundred watched them shoot the civilians
Only just some two hundred directly witnessed the killings
By the end of the massacre approximately 500
Knew of operation My Lai
None of them reported the crimes
A helicopter pilot in flyby to the mission
A warrant officer in air support in flyby to the mission
Could see from the air what was happening in the hamlets
He landed, tried to talk to the troops on the ground
Then went airborne and radioed headquarters from his copter
Told his superior officers what he saw at My Lai
They did not seem concerned
The soldiers were poorly trained
Lieutenant Calley was convicted
For his crimes at My Lai 4
But not his Captain Medina
His superior officer
Not Lieutenant Colonel Barker
Who Commanded Task Force Barker
Nor Lieutenant Barker’s com
Who said,
Boys let’s bring that coonskin home…
In Iowa in ’66 a boy gets into trouble
Sells some pot and gets himself caught
And he gets himself in trouble
And the judge says join the Army
Or you’re going to do some hard time
The boy signs up for Nam
I stand on holy ground
I stand on holy ground
I stand on holy ground
I stand on holy ground.
I stand on holy ground
I stand on holy ground
I stand on holy ground
I stand on holy ground
I stand on holy ground
Consecration: On the morning of March 16, 1968
Elements of Task Force Barker
Charlie Company Task Force Barker
Moved into a small group of hamlets
In the Quang Ngai province of South Vietnam
Collectively known as My Lai
It was a routine mission
To search and destroy
A typical mission
To search and destroy
The soldiers were poorly trained and hastily assembled
They were tired, poorly trained, and hastily assembled
They had sustained casualties from booby traps and mines
They had not engaged the enemy but sustained casualties
Had had no military success for over a month
The soldiers were poorly trained
The soldiers were probably not aware of the Geneva Convention
Which states it is a war crime to kill a civilian
A punishable crime to kill a civilian
To kill a soldier or enemy who has surrendered
Who is wounded and has laid down his arms
To kill a non-combatant
They were probably not aware of the Law of Land Warfare
In the Army Field Manual, the U.S. Army Field Manual
Which specifies that orders in violation of the Geneva Convention
Any order in violation of the Geneva Convention
Is illegal and not to be obeyed
The soldiers were poorly trained
The written orders were ambiguous
The My Lai orders were ambiguous
Just waste the place, a Louie said
A Louie might have said
Though essentially all elements of Task Force Barker
Were involved in some way in the My Lai operation
The primary element of ground troop involved
Was C Company 1st Battalion of the 20th infantry
Of the 11th Light Infantry Brigade
When Charlie Company moved into the hamlets of My Lai
They found no combatants not a single combatant
Only old men and children, unarmed women, men, and children
All civilian and unarmed
The troops of C Company killed five to six hundred
The troops of C Company killed five to six hundred
The troops of C Company killed five to six hundred
Civilians on that day
The killings took a long time
The people were killed in a variety of ways
In some instances troops would simply stand at a hut
And spray it with fire or throw hand grenades
In other instances villagers including small children
Were shot as they attempted to escape
The killings took a long time
The most largescale killings occurred at My Lai 4
There the first platoon of Charlie Company
Commanded by Lieutenant Calley
Herded villagers into groups of twenty or more
Who were then shot down by rifle fire
Machine guns and hand grenades
The killings took a long time
The number of soldiers can only be estimated
Perhaps only fifty actually killed the civilians
Perhaps just two hundred watched them shoot the civilians
Only just some two hundred directly witnessed the killings
By the end of the massacre approximately 500
Knew of operation My Lai
None of them reported the crimes
A helicopter pilot in flyby to the mission
A warrant officer in air support in flyby to the mission
Could see from the air what was happening in the hamlets
He landed, tried to talk to the troops on the ground
Then went airborne and radioed headquarters from his copter
Told his superior officers what he saw at My Lai
They did not seem concerned
The soldiers were poorly trained
Lieutenant Calley was convicted
For his crimes at My Lai 4
But not his Captain Medina
His superior officer
Not Lieutenant Colonel Barker
Who Commanded Task Force Barker
Nor Lieutenant Barker’s com
Who said,
Boys let’s bring that coonskin home…
In Iowa in ’66 a boy gets into trouble
Sells some pot and gets himself caught
And he gets himself in trouble
And the judge says join the Army
Or you’re going to do some hard time
The boy signs up for Nam
I stand on holy ground
I stand on holy ground
I stand on holy ground
I stand on holy ground.
March 19, 2019
POETIC KISS OF DEATH (humor)
If you have ever suffered through a bad poetry reading, you will no doubt be familiar with these 8 tell-tale signs of literary mildew.
1. "I wrote this poem this morning . . . ." —Translation: The poem is long, unedited, repetitious, and was written while the poet was hung over from last night's Headshrinker Bar's open mike.
2. "This poem is about betrayal and lost love." —Translation: "I caught my boyfriend and best friend doing it last night and I will not be afraid to cry a lot during this reading."
3. "Brothers and sisters, the man says . . ." —Translation: This will be a rambling poem of political outrage, although it will never be clear (a) what the issue being discussed is; (b) who the man is.
4. "This poem appeared in . . . " —Translation: Beware! The poet is about to read you her entire literary bio, starting (but showing no signs of ending) with her publication in the Eastern Secaucus-Meadowlands Stadium and Refreshment Stand Review at age fourteen.
5. "For your information, the muse of poetry is . . . " —Translation: The poet has over $100,000 in student loans, and is lacing his poem with references to prove that his MFA was worth it.
6. "It's language poetry. Just let it wash over you." —Translation: The poet couldn't write a poem with meter or meaning to save her life.
7. "I love the pluralism of voices supported by the open mike." —Translation: Poet couldn't get a feature at a decent venue.
And last but not least:
8. "I have my new full-length book and handmade chapbooks for sale . . . "—Translation: You are about to be shook down for $25 for 40 typo-ridden pages of poetry. Leave the venue before the poet leaves the stage.
1. "I wrote this poem this morning . . . ." —Translation: The poem is long, unedited, repetitious, and was written while the poet was hung over from last night's Headshrinker Bar's open mike.
2. "This poem is about betrayal and lost love." —Translation: "I caught my boyfriend and best friend doing it last night and I will not be afraid to cry a lot during this reading."
3. "Brothers and sisters, the man says . . ." —Translation: This will be a rambling poem of political outrage, although it will never be clear (a) what the issue being discussed is; (b) who the man is.
4. "This poem appeared in . . . " —Translation: Beware! The poet is about to read you her entire literary bio, starting (but showing no signs of ending) with her publication in the Eastern Secaucus-Meadowlands Stadium and Refreshment Stand Review at age fourteen.
5. "For your information, the muse of poetry is . . . " —Translation: The poet has over $100,000 in student loans, and is lacing his poem with references to prove that his MFA was worth it.
6. "It's language poetry. Just let it wash over you." —Translation: The poet couldn't write a poem with meter or meaning to save her life.
7. "I love the pluralism of voices supported by the open mike." —Translation: Poet couldn't get a feature at a decent venue.
And last but not least:
8. "I have my new full-length book and handmade chapbooks for sale . . . "—Translation: You are about to be shook down for $25 for 40 typo-ridden pages of poetry. Leave the venue before the poet leaves the stage.
March 18, 2019
New poem in MATTER
TERMS OF ALLEGIANCE
(poem inspired by work as a “namer” for advertising)
My product needs you. Watch the silver surfaces, the waving waters, wonder why the woman is humiliating the man—hold that anxious thought. We have you now; pledge unconscious
allegiance to us. The words reverberate: aim, aptitude, authority; you are not sure you can measure up. Hold that feeling of self-doubt: we will bring authenticity, balance, direction, a compass for your life. Now, buy Boson (never mind what it means, it is a solution).
We are anodyne, access to numbness and a world without doubt; we are the antidote. Buy
Allele (the sound alone is uplifting, lulling). Buy Asana (our sharp penetrating products are as
beneficial as yoga). Watch: we offer you a bright shore, an ascendant future, halycon nights, a
champion for your battles, a compass in the fog, clarity, concord, electric force.
In your indecisive world, you are on the cusp of a decision: leap! To buy is action, affirmation, connection; the diagram of your life is finally here! We are your doctrine and domain, your
emergent path to an elemental, firsthand, and entire existence. We are your focus, your formula,
your fulcrum. The world is frightening and ridden with woes; you are daily subject to death by
a thousand cuts. We are your lightship, your sure haven, your journey’s landing, your way through the matrix’s maze, your locus, your hope.
STOP: Your problems, which are legion, cannot be solved outside of the mercantile world. We
control the immaterial and will share its aura if you buy. Without us, you are a zygote, small and unformed, without viability, validity, or worth. We are the membrane through which you must
pass. Listen: you have problems you have never dreamed of which we alone can resolve. Buy
Synergy, buy Thoughtfulness, buy it all and survive. Watch the silver surfaces, the waving water, the woman humiliating the man, and buy.
https://mattermonthly.com/2019/03/10/...
***
Larissa Shmailo is a poet, novelist, translator, editor, and critic. Her new novel is Sly Bang; her first novel is Patient Women. Her poetry collections are Medusa’s Country, #specialcharacters , In Paran , A Cure for Suicide, and Fib Sequence . Her poetry albums are The No-Net World and Exorcism, for which she won the New Century Best Spoken Word Album award. Shmailo is the original English-language translator of the first Futurist opera Victory over the Sun by Alexei Kruchenych, performed at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Brooklyn Academy of Music, and theaters and universities worldwide. Shmailo also edited the online anthology Twenty-first Century Russian Poetry. Please see more about Larissa at her website www.larissashmailo.com
(poem inspired by work as a “namer” for advertising)
My product needs you. Watch the silver surfaces, the waving waters, wonder why the woman is humiliating the man—hold that anxious thought. We have you now; pledge unconscious
allegiance to us. The words reverberate: aim, aptitude, authority; you are not sure you can measure up. Hold that feeling of self-doubt: we will bring authenticity, balance, direction, a compass for your life. Now, buy Boson (never mind what it means, it is a solution).
We are anodyne, access to numbness and a world without doubt; we are the antidote. Buy
Allele (the sound alone is uplifting, lulling). Buy Asana (our sharp penetrating products are as
beneficial as yoga). Watch: we offer you a bright shore, an ascendant future, halycon nights, a
champion for your battles, a compass in the fog, clarity, concord, electric force.
In your indecisive world, you are on the cusp of a decision: leap! To buy is action, affirmation, connection; the diagram of your life is finally here! We are your doctrine and domain, your
emergent path to an elemental, firsthand, and entire existence. We are your focus, your formula,
your fulcrum. The world is frightening and ridden with woes; you are daily subject to death by
a thousand cuts. We are your lightship, your sure haven, your journey’s landing, your way through the matrix’s maze, your locus, your hope.
STOP: Your problems, which are legion, cannot be solved outside of the mercantile world. We
control the immaterial and will share its aura if you buy. Without us, you are a zygote, small and unformed, without viability, validity, or worth. We are the membrane through which you must
pass. Listen: you have problems you have never dreamed of which we alone can resolve. Buy
Synergy, buy Thoughtfulness, buy it all and survive. Watch the silver surfaces, the waving water, the woman humiliating the man, and buy.
https://mattermonthly.com/2019/03/10/...
***
Larissa Shmailo is a poet, novelist, translator, editor, and critic. Her new novel is Sly Bang; her first novel is Patient Women. Her poetry collections are Medusa’s Country, #specialcharacters , In Paran , A Cure for Suicide, and Fib Sequence . Her poetry albums are The No-Net World and Exorcism, for which she won the New Century Best Spoken Word Album award. Shmailo is the original English-language translator of the first Futurist opera Victory over the Sun by Alexei Kruchenych, performed at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Brooklyn Academy of Music, and theaters and universities worldwide. Shmailo also edited the online anthology Twenty-first Century Russian Poetry. Please see more about Larissa at her website www.larissashmailo.com
March 14, 2019
PRAISE FOR LARISSA SHMAILO’S SLY BANG!
If you are looking for something to get out of your ordinary line of thinking, Larissa Shmailo’s Sly Bang ought to do the trick. The book is a psychological sci-fi filled with nonsensical gadgets, absurd dialogue, and all-out madness, a battle royale of good against evil, of womanhood against male perversion that follows William Burroughs’s Naked Lunch in reverse, if we consider the gender roles of the protagonists. Lovers of Nikolai Gogol’s Madman’s Diary and Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot and Franz Kafka’s stories will also enjoy this book, as opposed to religious and concrete minds who by all means should stay away from a book like this.
—Darryl Wawa
Generously infused throughout with humor, ebullient psychosexualism, and quasi-hypothetical political scenarios, this manic mind-trip, where alternate realities collide full-force culminating in orgasmic fits and fantastical flurries, Sly Bang is a bit like eating chocolate cake on a roller coaster. Crazy. Delicious. Chaos.
—K.R. Copeland
Sly Bang is a whirlwind. And if you are looking for a sedate involvement with linear literature, Sly Bang is not for you. This is the shock of the new in a whirlpool of the past. Just open the book and hang on. This is visceral energy in words. . . In Sly Bang, Larissa Shmailo’s technical skills pop on every page. She is in control of this insanity from the start, and to prove it she floods us with new icons created one after another like stamped plastic ducks. She creates an assembly line of literary riches.
—RW Spryszak
Larissa Shmailo's sci fi thriller Sly Bang is a twisted and compelling thrill ride of a novel that not only transcends the form of that literary genre— it blows it up. It's a novel about an attempt to destroy the universe by reverse engineering the Big Bang. It deals with taboo subjects and is raunchy. funny and brutally intense. I also like that's there's a character named Brave McQ.
—Michael W McHugh aka McQ
Astounding! Will make you recalibrate the word “risk.”
—Maggie Balistreri
Available on Amazon and Spuyten Duyvil at http://www.spuytenduyvil.net/sly-bang...
—Darryl Wawa
Generously infused throughout with humor, ebullient psychosexualism, and quasi-hypothetical political scenarios, this manic mind-trip, where alternate realities collide full-force culminating in orgasmic fits and fantastical flurries, Sly Bang is a bit like eating chocolate cake on a roller coaster. Crazy. Delicious. Chaos.
—K.R. Copeland
Sly Bang is a whirlwind. And if you are looking for a sedate involvement with linear literature, Sly Bang is not for you. This is the shock of the new in a whirlpool of the past. Just open the book and hang on. This is visceral energy in words. . . In Sly Bang, Larissa Shmailo’s technical skills pop on every page. She is in control of this insanity from the start, and to prove it she floods us with new icons created one after another like stamped plastic ducks. She creates an assembly line of literary riches.
—RW Spryszak
Larissa Shmailo's sci fi thriller Sly Bang is a twisted and compelling thrill ride of a novel that not only transcends the form of that literary genre— it blows it up. It's a novel about an attempt to destroy the universe by reverse engineering the Big Bang. It deals with taboo subjects and is raunchy. funny and brutally intense. I also like that's there's a character named Brave McQ.
—Michael W McHugh aka McQ
Astounding! Will make you recalibrate the word “risk.”
—Maggie Balistreri
Available on Amazon and Spuyten Duyvil at http://www.spuytenduyvil.net/sly-bang...
March 12, 2019
"I am not your insect" in Noon Anthology
Delighted that my poem "I am not your insect" will be included in Noon: An Anthology of Short Poems (Isobar Press of Tokyo and London) edited by Philip Rowland. The text of the poem, which appears in my collection #specialcharacters (Unlikely Books 2014) follows below.
I am not your insect
Your underfoot, your exterminated, your bug. My unabashedly hairy legs, whose gymnopédies twitch like a chorus for a fatal Sharon Stone, delight in ces mouvements qui déplace les lignes, in the motion, the quiver, le mort, the catch. Mother Kali, you have made me what I am: feminine, brilliant, entirely without fear. Like my mother, I watch and pray for prey – that it be there, that it give gore, that I feel it die, that there be more
I am not your insect
Your underfoot, your exterminated, your bug. My unabashedly hairy legs, whose gymnopédies twitch like a chorus for a fatal Sharon Stone, delight in ces mouvements qui déplace les lignes, in the motion, the quiver, le mort, the catch. Mother Kali, you have made me what I am: feminine, brilliant, entirely without fear. Like my mother, I watch and pray for prey – that it be there, that it give gore, that I feel it die, that there be more
