the weight of dew
Posted by Daniela Elza on Jan 09 2012 | 2 Comments »
My first full length poetry collection is coming along. Edits are all done. Cover is done. Soon off to the printer.
The first launch will be on
Sunday, March 11th, 2012
5:30-7:30 pm.,
at the Railway Club, (Back Room ),
579 Dunsmuir Street Vancouver, BC V6B 3K4
phone: (604) 681-1625
Cover photo by fellow poet, photographer, and mathematician Robin Susanto.
Introduction by Aislinn Hunter.
And here is the back cover with blurbs by Tim Lilburn and Cathy Ford.
Hope to see you there.
Happy Solstice
Posted by Daniela Elza on Dec 22 2011 | Comment now »
Yesterday we went to the Sun Yat Sen gardens for the Winter Solstice. Here are some images from the lanterns that filled the gardens. There were a lot of people but mostly what you saw was the dark studded with lantern lights. This turning of the light is always a turning point for me too. I wait for this day.
Heaven reflects Earth,
or Earth reflects Heaven.
The words were floating around, so it is your pick.
Happy day after Winter Solstice and Happy Holidays.
a boundary to looking
Posted by Daniela Elza on Dec 06 2011 | Comment now »
“For there is a boundary to looking.
And the world that is looked at so deeply
wants to flourish in love.
Work of the eyes is done, now
go and do heart-work
on all the images imprisoned within you; for you
overpowered them: but even now you don’t know them.”
—Rainer Maria Rilke
(from the poem Turning-point)
upcoming reading on Dec. 1
Posted by Daniela Elza on Nov 26 2011 | Comment now »
I will be reading this upcoming Thursday Dec. 1st at the Kranky Cafe alongside Heather Haley, and Miranda Pearson. Series hosted by Garry Thomas Morse who promises a preamble. Click here for the bios and more info.
The Kranky Reading Series
Thursday, December 1, 2011 at 7pm
Poets Daniela Elza, Miranda Pearson, and Heather Haley will read at the Kranky Cafe on Thursday, December 1.
*Preambled by Garry Thomas Morse
Kranky Cafe #216-228 E.4th avenue
(East of Main west of Scotia)
Vancouver, BC
Hope to see you there.
please meet Baikusheva Mura, she is 1300 years old
Posted by Daniela Elza on Oct 30 2011 | 3 Comments »
Today I met Baikusheva Mura. She is an inhabitant of our planet that is 1300 years old.
Baikusheva Mura (Black Fir).
Pinus Leugodermis.
Age: 1300 years.
Circumference: 7.8m.
1930 meters above sea level.
Height: 26m.
She was found in the year 1897.
(I was not sure if to refer to the tree as a he or a she. I will refer to her as she since in Bulgarian fir is in the feminine. So why not. This helps sort it out a bit.)
A view of the top of her:
A view of the middleof her:
View of the bottom:
A view of her roots:
The whole of her:
The skin (or the scales) of her:
A different angle of the whole tree:
And me so happy to be here. So hard to leave. We had just barely met. I took so many photos. Wish I could put them all up. This tree is about as old as the country of Bulgaria.
So much to say, so much to share. I cannot even tell what language we spoke. I am in love again.
pre.occupied: intersection, street, direction
Posted by Daniela Elza on Oct 16 2011 | 6 Comments »
Yesterday we purposefully stumbled onto the Occupy Vancouver rally at the Vancouver Art gallery. I do not have too many words since I am still processing it. Also my words are focused on revisions for the manuscript for my upcoming book, as well as my conference presentation. But here are some iphone photos:
There was a good feeling about the place for the time I was there. On the steps of the art gallery people took turns talking. Each had 5 minutes. What I heard were eloquent, erudite expressions for the world we are sustaining and how we can create a better one. I was impressed and touched. I was not there for too long but in that short time I heard two poets speak as well (one a student in grade 12 and the other a spoken word poet). So good to see the poets there. Of course they have to be. This is poet territory with our quiet revolutions. See love backwards in revolution. That was on a sign I could not zoom in on.
The expressions were varied and not necessarily always in agreement. Which was also touching. There was no feeling of: if you are not with me you are against me.
Talking of directions:
There were places one could make a sign if they did not have one. Some random signs.
And this was my favourite. A very busy intersection downtown looked like this yesterday:
And the photo of the day:
If you do not get a chance to go out and support this phenomenon at least consider thinking about it. Do not give up if it is too hard contemplating this. It is. And giving up is not an option. Let it occupy you. Devote a small space of yourself to it. Let it grow.
happy thanksgiving and thanks receiving
Posted by Daniela Elza on Oct 08 2011 | 2 Comments »
If I do not think of the origin of Thanksgiving I can relax into this holiday and focus on giving thanks. (Alright, even if I think of it, but that takes more work). Giving thanks is worthwhile to do on any day of the year.Once a year it is great to see the flash light pointed directly at it.
It has been a very busy year and I have raced through quite a bit of it. Ok, that is a lot of its, but, hey, I have a special relationship with it now. It means a lot more than a little pronoun.
With my graduation this year, I want to thank all the people who accompanied me. It is not a journey without its challenges, obstacles and deep inner searching, questioning. Which, of course, gives me a headache on some days. That is what I do now, by default.
I would like to thank Mother Tongue Publishing for being in care of the weight of dew, my debut full length collection of poetry coming out in the Spring next year. They make such beautiful books and I trust my baby is in good hands there. (You can tell It is not going to get less busy anytime soon.)
Here is the cover of the book so far. Thank to Robin Susanto for taking that shot.
I want to thank all those journals out there who tirelessly put out new voices. One of which was and is mine. (This will be a long post. Can you feel it. Looking for short cuts now.)
Still every day the challenge remains: to carve spaces and places, and times to be quiet, to be thankful, to “sing along ourselves.” (This idea came from an email exchange with a friend who, when I asked who was singing alongside him in his video, said I am singing in the background with me).
Today I wish that to you (and me) both literally and metaphorically, and, ok, lets add philosophically, why not?
I thank my friends and family for allowing these spaces to exist and for time to be stolen out of busy days.
And remember to receive thanks as well. Thanks giving is even more complete when there is someone to receive the thanks…no matter how far or immaterial the recipient. (Don’t you love that word immaterial. So tricky.)
Remember to share and… do not overeat. (Oh, well, if you have to.)
I keep forgetting to bring my Thanksgiving poem to readings. Should, one of these days.
the roaming poets
Posted by Daniela Elza on Oct 02 2011 | 2 Comments »
Yesterday they predicted 60% chance of rain. With such a grim prediction, I set off to be part of the 100% chance for poetry in Qulaicum Beach in front of the Old School House Arts Centre. This was to be the inaugural Roaming Poets event. It was conceived as a continuation of what the Random Acts of Poetry started seven years ago, but ran out of funding. Thank you to the League of Canadian Poets for supporting this event.
On the 8:30am ferry with raincoat, my biggest umbrella, and the hope that all of you I asked to bring some sun and a poem would take me up on it.
The ferry was pretty full and animated with the noise of the cafe and the few baseball teams of what looked like high school boys. I used my time on the ferry to read and write and think. To immerse myself in Another Gravity.
Kim Goldberg picked me up at the Departure Bay terminal in Nanaimo. We first had a visit with Joe Rosenblatt and his house full of art, his lovely wife, and… and … his very friendly cats. See, if you did not have a lap they would make one to climb into.
Then we headed out to the first location the Roaming poets were to read- the Old School House Arts Centre. Where I finally met David Fraser, the brain behind this event.
(Thank you Kim for these photos).
After an hour of the three of us taking turns reading poems with open mic volunteers we strolled down to the courtyard in front of the library, where we read for another 40 or so minutes. This time in full sun, in full view of the fountain and the Bailey’s coffee house and in full view of the people coming in and out with their books in the crook of their elbows or under their arms.
Thanks to all of you who stopped by to listen, to comment, to read, and thank you to the sun which shone against the 60%-chance-of-rain odds.
We then gathered around the table at David’s house. We has to step over a passionate passion flower at his door step to get in and were swallowed by another house full of art, books, dogs and a cat, and good company. David and his wife treated us to a delicious dinner of Mediterranean chicken on rice, asparagus, tomatoes with mozzarella cheese, wine and good conversation. If I talked too much I would not know it, that is how busy I was talking. While we ate the home made lemon meringue pie we were treated to a poem about the time David worked as a baker. Well, we asked for it.
the book of It loves old buildings with clocks in them. So it asked to stay.
100,000 poets for change, the Word on the Street
Posted by Daniela Elza on Sep 25 2011 | Comment now »
Yesterday I participated in the Vancouver 100, 000 poets for change, an event that takes place simultaneously in 550 cities and 95 countries around the world. Vancouver is one of the 20 Canadian cities participating. The event for Vancouver was to clean up shorelines in the heart of the city, an action that hopes to inspire the community to work toward healthy watersheds and forest ecosystems in our province. We were the spots on the rocks on False Creek East, near Science World.
Here we are after the clean up. There was also a high school class that came along and helped. And us, poets.
Here is the trophy we found. A rock with words wrapped around it. (One of us thinks the language of the print might be Farsi.)
Then we went to the Carnegie Centre. My first time there. Check out the amazing stairway. Beautiful building with beautiful spaces. At the top there is a room with a huge skylight. So much light.
The reading included poets reading from the Enpipeline project— a long poem, 1173 kilometers of collaborative poetry. It is a long line. Somewhere in there I have two of my poems. The idea is to go dream vs dream in a collaborative poem designed to engulf and overwhelm the structures that allow proposals like the Enbridge Northern Gateway Pipeline proposal to emerge.
Here, after the reading at the Carnegie Centre. (The orange and yellow paper/tape is the visual for the pipeline and its relative length.)
Thank you to Mary Woodbury of Moon Willow Press, Christine Leclerc (Enpipe Line project) and Rita Wong for the organizing of this event. Let’s make it even stronger next time. Clean up is not so bad to do. Once you start focusing on, looking for stuff you do not want you begin to see it everywhere. Even on your way to the library, or that restaurant. Being attentive to that may help us be more careful not to trash so easily. It may…