Last night, I attended the book launch for Roy Miki’s latest book, There. It was held in downtown Vancouver at Spartacus Books, an independent bookstore located on the second floor of one of the older downtown buildings.
It was a lovely space, recently renovated — lots of books, a good open spot for the reading, and plenty of seats. Even so, the room was packed. Roy Miki is one of the better known poets and Asian Canadian poets in Canada. His work is accessible and yet inventive, clear and precise — a certain economy and facility which coupled with his easy-going personality, made for a very enjoyable reading. New Star Press was represented by its editor and one of the associate editors — both nice people who I chatted with afterward when the sushi and gyoza were being distributed.
Roy’s approach to the reading reminded me of something we often forget — the need to engage the audience and let them in on a few pertinent secrets. Sharing something about the poem or the experience which lead to it without ruining the poem or boring the audience is a difficult thing to master. I felt that Roy found that balance — revealing just enough to intrigue, but not enough to spoil.
Each revelation, often accompanied with a little humor, provided an insight into the workings of his creative mind — no deep philosphical or political ramblings, no needlessly complex explications of obscure references, but rather short and simple glimpses at what was encountered or how the poem was entered into.
I should also say that the book launch was a fairly star-studded event. Fred Wah was present and helped with the setup of the sound. I’m pretty certain Gary Geddes was also there. A number of other well-published poets whose pictures I’ve seen on various Canadian literature and poetry sites (UBC and SFU faculty pages, League of Canadian Poets, and the like) were also there — but being relatively ignorant of Canadian literature, I can’t really offer any names at this time. After the reading, I also had the chance to meet Todd Wong who coordinates the Gung Haggis Fat Choy New Year’s event — Vancouver’s only celebration of both Chinese New Year’s and Scottish Robbie Burn’s Day.
One of the things that Roy Miki said during the reading really struck me. About the middle of his reading, he paused and said that looking over the audience he realized that over his many years of writing that he’s come to know and work with many of the poets in the Canadian poetry scene, most of whom were in the room. As I looked out over the same crowd, I realized I recognized none of them (except Fred Wah who I had exchanged emails with 8 years ago). I suddenly felt very much outside of that community. Not so much the prodigal son come home, as much as an unknown illegitimate son appearing unannounced at the door step.
“Citizenship” becomes a complicated thing sometimes — on a night, like last night, surrounded by poets whose names I should know, I find myself wondering where is my home exactly? At this point, it seems like I am more American than Canadian in many people’s eyes.