[-empyre-] Decolonial Poetry & Play in the Pacific

[Craig Perez]

Thanks so much, Margaret!

Yes, playing with the space of the page is an important part of my poetry.
Iʻve written before about articulating an "oceanic poetics" in which I see
words as islands, sentences as archipelagoes, and the space as oceanic with
rhythmic currents and unseen depths of meaning. I write more about this
here:
https://www.academia.edu/30082881/_On_Writing_from_the_New_Oceania_The_Ottawa_Poetry_Newsletter_2016_
.

I also think about the page as a kind of mapping. In the Pacific, as
elsewhere, there's a long history of colonial mappings that reduce our
islands & ocean to territorialized spaces. So in my work I try to play
(subvert, re-imagine, de-territorialize) colonial maps.

Yes, I also work as an editor & publisher. I have co-edited four
anthologies of Pacific islander literature and I co-founded Ala Press, the
only press in the US dedicated to Pacific literature (we have published
around 10 books thus far). It's nice to think of this labor as creating a
space (anthology or collection) for other voices to gather and inter-play.
For those interested, here is the press: www.alapress.org and here is one
anthology that I co-edited that just came out this year:
https://www.amazon.com/Effigies-Allison-Adelle-Hedge-Coke/dp/1784631833/.

Cheers,
Craig

On Wed, Oct 23, 2019 at 6:12 AM Margaret Rhee <mrheeloy at gmail.com> wrote:

> Thank you Craig for your message, and for participating. Such a honor to
> engage with your work and continue the thread on poetry, activism, and
> decolonial play. I've always been moved by your collaborative work across
> mediums such as poem-videos and visual art, and your work on the page in
> your collections too. I've inserted an excerpt from your first collection
> from unincorporated territory [hatcha] that to me, exemplifies the play on
> the page, that is all at once decolonial and experimental in terms of the
> visual.
>
> It's incredible to think of land, the ocean, and the poem in this way. It
> certainly reminds me of Maria's play with poetry and of Jerry's work on
> environments too. I wonder if you can speak more to your work in the visual
> and when thinking about oceans, land, environments, and poetics?
>
> I've also been moved in your collaborations as a publisher of Pacific and
> POC poetry in your practice. I wonder if you can speak more to this work of
> fostering Pacific poetry, and social justice movements through poetry
> readings and publishing as an activist practice? Always moved by your
> interventions, and excited to hear from others for this week.
>
> warmly,
>
> Margaret
>
> ---
> "The Page Transformed" Interview with Craig Santos Perez:
>
>
> http://www.lanternreview.com/blog/2010/03/12/the-page-transformed-a-conversation-with-craig-santos-perez/
> [image: image.png]
>
> On Tue, Oct 22, 2019 at 12:36 PM Craig Perez <csperez at hawaii.edu> wrote:
>
>> ----------empyre- soft-skinned space----------------------
>> Hafa adai and Aloha!
>>
>> Thanks, Margaret, for the invitation to join this exciting discussion.
>>
>> My poetry focuses on my home island of Guahan (Guam), my current home of
>> Hawaiʻi, and the larger Pacific and our diasporas. Thematically, I address
>> issues of decolonization, demilitarization, environmental justice, food
>> sovereignty, political self-determination, and migration. Four of my books
>> have been published thus far, with my fifth forthcoming next year (you can
>> see my books here at my website: www.craigsantosperez.com). When I think
>> about "play" in my work, I think about my use of playful
>> techniques/aesthetics, including collage, polyphony, satire, humor, gossip,
>> the carnivalesque, and metanarratives.
>>
>> I enjoy thinking of collaboration as a kind of inter-play. The two main
>> collaborations I have done have been with Hawaiian artists/writers. One art
>> installation called "defence" can be found here:
>> http://craigsantosperez.com/defence/. A poem-video, called "praise song
>> for oceania" can be found here:
>> http://craigsantosperez.com/praise-song-oceania/.
>>
>> Lastly, I have found that creating a space of creative play at activist
>> events have been very fruitful. I have organized many poetry writing spaces
>> and creative writing workshops at different kinds of protest marches,
>> activist festivals, cultural events, and more for people to express
>> themselves. I have also hosted poetry reading and open mics at activist
>> events, teach-ins, etc. I believe making these kinds spaces are vital for
>> social justice movements to keep things playful (engaging, fun,
>> pleasurable, expressive, creative, etc).
>>
>> I look forward to learning from everyone one.
>>
>> Cheers,
>> Craig
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> Dr. Craig Santos Perez
>> Interim Director of Creative Writing
>> Associate Professor, English Department
>> Affiliate Faculty, Center for Pacific Islands Studies
>> & The Indigenous Politics Program
>> University of Hawai'i, Mānoa
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> empyre forum
>> empyre at lists.artdesign.unsw.edu.au
>> http://empyre.library.cornell.edu
>
>
>
> --
>
>
>
> Margaret Rhee, Ph.D.
>
> College Fellow in Digital Practice (2018 - 2019)
> Department of English
> Harvard University
>
> Assistant Professor in Media Theory (2019)
> Department of Media Study
> SUNY Buffalo
>


-- 
Dr. Craig Santos Perez
Interim Director of Creative Writing
Associate Professor, English Department
Affiliate Faculty, Center for Pacific Islands Studies
& The Indigenous Politics Program
University of Hawai'i, Mānoa

http://craigsantosperez.com/
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