The Hermit Poet

Lots of things in process right now. Here’s a brief survey on my current projects.

1. Boxcar Poetry Review – Issue 2 — Almost done. Waiting for one last review and a couple layout fixes.
2. Lost Country of Sight (book of poetry – aka my MFA thesis) – Done for now. Currently seeking a publisher. I need to put it in proper format and gets signatures to turn it in as my thesis, but that’s really a formality as it’s already been approved.
3. Babbage’s Dream (book of poetry) – About 10 poems in this manuscript so far. Hope to have more done this quarter, maybe even a complete book by the end of summer.
4. The Poetry of the Stone: Translations of Poetry in Hong Lou Meng (book of translations, some theory as well) – Just started. I’ve written one paper on the topic and done some initial translation work. I don’t believe anyone else has tackled the translation of these embedded poems as real poetry — usually they are passed over or rendered in rather tortured Victorian verse.
5. The Ephemeral Man (novel based loosely on Sadakichi Hartmann’s life) – Planned. No one has written a satisfactory biography or portrait of Hartmann. I’m not certain yet if this will be a historical novel with Hartmann as the main character or if I will simply have Hartmann’s life as a parallel to what’s happening in a more contemporary moment.
6. Course Proposals – Started. I’m drafting proposals for all sorts of classes. In addition to the usual Intro and Advanced courses in Poetry and Fiction, I’m also working on courses on the translation of poetry, chapbook design, Asian American poetry, and basic web design for writers (websites vs blogs, publishing online, etc)
7. Web Design Business – Underway. Realizing that there’s a good chance that I will end up back in Canada after graduation, I’ve decided to run a web design business catering mainly to writers and artists, but accepting occasional commercial projects.