Tunnel to Light

I will be publishing in this blog all five video poems. This is "Tunnel to Light" featuring my poem, Leslie Kell's beautiful art and designed by the very talented video artist Matthew Janke. It was funded and exhibited on Luminaria 2012 in San Antonio on May 5th. You can find all of the videos on this youtube channel: Kell Creative

Illuminations

Benjamin Alire Saenz, a distinguished poet, novelist and University of Texas - El Paso professor, selected my digital project Illuminations: Tunnel to Light for the literary section of Luminaria 2012. It all started with Luminaria 2011, when I first experienced the sheer joy and exhilaration that is San Antonio's Luminaria. It was 360 degrees of art, all kinds of art, and people, lots of people taking it in with open arms and bright eyes, and running from one venue to another so they don't miss a thing. Then, last fall, I went to Austin and visited Real gallery a unique place showcasing wonderful art. Upon entering the gallery, my eyes paused on an art piece by Austin artist Leslie Kell. I was so captivated by her fantasy work, I bought a print and then called up the artist and offered her to participate in the project. Then Benjamin Saenz liked it and thus, Illuminations was born. It consists of five videos created by four young digital artists, Dioni Gomez (USA), Matthew Janke (USA), Devin Kent (USA) and Nikola Barbov (Bulgaria), using only Leslie's art and five of my poems. None of us knew each other before this project, which makes it quite risque, but I thought we could channel all that adrenaline into something fresh and interesting. Judgment Day, aka Luminaria, is May 5th, Saturday in San Antonio. We'd love to have you experience these amazing visuals set to words and music, and against a supermoon. Because this month's full moon coincides with the moon's perigee this Saturday — its closest approach to Earth — it will also be the year's biggest. Join us on Stage 9, at 7:45pm, or 9:15pm, or 11pm. Like our facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/IlluminationsatLuminaria.

The Quintessential Shopping Mall Love Story

I love shopping, especially when it is necessary. It takes me a week to complete a day of shopping. Hunting down the perfect match between me and the product is a an exhausting adventure. But some unions are made in heaven, and some people understand that the business principle of optimizing satisfaction stems from rather spiritual aspirations. Here is the poem The Quintessential Shopping Mall Love Story, published in Public Republic, I wrote commemorating a rare new year's shopping trip with my husband. Needless to say, he acts like a very traumatized human being every time I mention the word "mall." He has also tried to teach me the male way of shopping, which includes a prior visualization of the product, a beeline to the item and a credit card transaction, all in less than 2 minutes. Oh, the sacrilege!

Cannons and Slippers

In 2010, The Evergreen Review published my humorous poem Cannons and Slippers . The Evergreen Review was founded in 1957 by Barney Rosset, the publisher of Grove Press. He provided a tribune for pivotal debuts and further writings by Beckett, Genet, Bukowski, Kerouak, Borges, Nabokov, Neruda, etc. According to the submission guidelines, Barney Rosset, who passed away this February at the age of 89, was the first one to read all submissions and made all final decisions. I feel very lucky and honored that one of the smartest and most influential publishers and editors of American letters appreciated the humor and irony with which I invariably approach themes from popular culture. Understandably, after this Schwarzenegger-inspired noir poem, I digressed towards communication with Andy Warhol on the issue of contemporary visual culture.