Shahril jumps on the good ship Poetika

Hi hi, sorry for the silence since my last post. Thing is I've been occupied with stuff: computer death, house moving and life in general. But good news is that Shahril Nizam, poet and illustrator extraordinaire (his book "If Only" is a must buy!), has agreed to help me out with designing and putting together the new issue of Poetika. We have given ourselves two to three months to put it together so expect it to come out in February 2008.

In the meantime, we're still accepting submissions.

:-)

moving, moving, moving

Yes, yes... it does seem as though I'm only half-comitted to keep this blog afloat. It's like an orchid I once had next to my desk in my now ex-flat in Villa Scott, Brickfields. Poor thing dies after a few months. And it's not that easy to kill an orchid. They're usually able to suffer neglect for quite a while before conking out. I hope I won't do the same to this blog.

Anyway, it's been hectic.

Just moved out of the old place and more than 2/3 of my stuff is in storage. Hurray! Feeling a bit like a nomad. And a bit like an ascetic. It's still sinking in though. Some days I feel as though I still live there.

And then some.... Poetika is still coming together. I'm only working part time now so technically I should have more time to do this. Still, right now I'm swept up with organising KL Sing Song 2007. Check it out if you have time.... time.... time....

Memories from 2001, KL + Verbal Deluxe

I was up til 4am last night looking over the master copies of the old Poetikas, reading the poems and looking at the pics... scanning the names... surprising myself at the dates (the first issue came out in June 2001, barely two months after I moved here and started my new job as a ghostwriter in an office somewhere in Ampang... it got a bit nostalgic, I have to admit... I was remembering all the people I had met through Poetika, and the whirlwind of activity that was happening around that time.

It was when Silvervfish was still new to Bangsar Baru--I met my flatmates Pang, Hari and Danny there; also good friends Sharanya and Zedeck; Amir (who introduced me to Raman) used to go there all the time (I think he still does) and was plotting world domination (I think he still does) with Dhojee, Amri and Irman; I was introduced by Raman to Antares, Alfian Sa'at, Sharaad K, Alex Yong, Sharon B, Faisal Tehrani (before he went all fundie). That was also the time when I went to Peter Hassan's Acoustic Jam gigs at Commonwealth Club and played my first open mic in KL, where I met many good muso friends whom I still keep in touch with today--Sei Hon, Aziz, Azmyl, Peter H, Markiza, Pete Teo, Aidil from Couple. All the time while sharing a little room in a terrace house in Setiawangsa with my eldest brother. (I slept on a foam mattress that I had to lay on the tiled floor every night). And then I started writing theatre reviews through which I made my first few enemies--but thankfully I made more good friends: Lorna T, the Five Arts guys, the Nyoba guys, the Gamelan club, etc. By the time I stopped putting out Poetika (last issue was dated August 2002), I had met so many people. Ah...

After reading the old Poetikas, I spent an hour in bed wide-eyed, my mind flooded with memories. Good ones. And also some not-so-good ones (those who have read "Love In The Post Nicotine Age" in Silverfish New Writing 1 would know what I mean).

Still, it all seems quite strange.

All these years, I've always considered myself as an outsider in KL that I never really realised how ensconced I really am in the local scene. I've been here pretty long, not as long as some others, but it's still three years shy of a decade. Ah... still feels strange though... can't help it.

I wish I'd been the type to take photos and blog more often. But I've never been able to do it (well, until now) because I was too busy running around trying to do as much as possible. I've always fancied myself a kind of nomad. One with a little burro. And a wide-brimmed hat. Travelling from village to village selling worn out folktales. LOL.

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Anyway, the collection of Poetika issues one to twelve (actually only eleven in total--issue seven never came out and the twelfth issue was accidentally numbered eleven) is coming along.

I'm typing it all out by hand, LOL, since I've lost the soft copies of all the original contributions, plus the old Poetika email account no longer works so I can no longer retrieve the original files off the Internet.

It's tiring work but it's nice too to get reacquainted with the writings. For such a little zine, there's actually a lot of stuff. I'm quite surprised by how much stuff got published in Poetika.

The quality of the writings is rather inconsistent, to be honest. But I've always maintained that Poetika is just a platform for publishing creative work. No matter how good or bad, Poetika embraces (albeit with a few edits every now and then--it's not 100% free of interference) the strata. It's no arbiter of standards. Let QLRS and all the other sites and university-funded journals do the critical evaluations of the literary merits of the cultural significance of the discursive relevance of the unparalleled emotionally-devastating and intellectually-skyscraping aesthetic achievements of such-and-such and so-and-so and thus-and-thus.

LOL.

Poetika had a lot of very personal, simple, heartfelt poems. Some funny. Some sad. But mostly wistful. And melancholy... that most conducive mood to writing poetry. LOL.

Five years later, collecting the new batch of contributions for issue thirteen of Poetika, I'm glad to say it's much the same. It's kind of reassuring to know that a lot of people reserve the most careful aspects of their language for poetry. It's still the hardest literary form to master. No wonder so many people love it so (un)erringly.

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Oh yes. One last thing for today--sorry for making this entry such a long-winded one. I'm in the middle of negotiations right now to organise a regular reading event, tentatively to be called "Verbal Deluxe" at The Attic KL, Jalan Bangkung, Bukit Bandaraya, Bangsar. It's a great opprtunity for the local scene. The thing is I don't have time to do it because I'm trying to focus more on bringing Poetika out (aside from dayjob, working on my album, novel, and Troubadours events--phew!).

So anyone who's interested to do it, please email me at: poetikamalaysia@gmail.com

It's really quite simple actually. Just need to be a bit rajin and have a gung ho attitude towards the whole thing. I can help out a bit in the beginning but that's about it.

Pics

Took some photos of the old Poetikas and photoshopped them for fun. Thinking that it might be cool to see a bit of colour on them. I could never afford to put in colour, except maybe if I get some substantial amount of dough to print a proper cover. Maybe I should try and look for funding somewhere. Hmm...

Anyway, work on putting the collection of old Poetikas is progressing, albeit slowly. I still can't make up my mind how to put it all together. I think I'll do a completely new layout. That'll be something fun to do - and also resolves some issues with layout design. Actually... maybe I should ask for help. Will post more updates soon.

Meanwhile, I've been reading novels again, after a three year bout of non-fiction. I just finished reading Shirley Jackson's We Have Always Lived In The Castle and Angela Carter's Nights At The Circus. Wonderful writing from the two dames, an absolute thrill, both unputdownable. Right now I've started on Susanna Clarke's Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell. It's a thousand pages thick! I shall try my best.

Found It + Gentle Anarchy

Yep, I found the old master copies of Poetika, among a pile of old magazines in a bookcase in my living room. If it weren't for me inheriting mum's passion for hoarding stuff, I might have been less careful with it. Just the other day I saw a pile of magazines disappear. (In the middle of moving house.)

Will try to take some photos of it. :-)

In a bit of a dilemma. I'm not sure whether to publish the old Poetikas as they were, or redesign the layout. Would be fun to try something different. But would also be quite fun to reprint them as they were. Hmm... something to ponder.

Guess I'll decide when I take a look at them later in the week.

(Which also means that Poetika might only come out in June after all. Bad, bad me.)


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Also, some people have been asking me about deadlines. FYI, there are no definite deadlines. It'll go to publication if and when I feel there's enough. And so should contributors decide when they're ready to go to print. If you want today to be the deadline, so be it. Tommorrow, then just snap your fingers and say "Voila!"

Poetika is ruled by gentle anarchy.

And if it's the same as how it was a couple of years ago, Poetika will come out maybe once or twice a month. So you can time your emailing according to the waxing or waning of the moon.

So far I've received contributions from (in no particular order):

1. Yusuf MA Bradley
2. Anis Ibrahim
3. Chi Too
4. Karcy R
5. Adeleke Adesanya
6. kG
7. Tolu Ogunlesi
8. Lauralyn Silva
9. Mohd Ikhwan
10. Nicholas Wong
11. Dreamygirl
12. Sobana Muthuvelu

plus some kick ass illustrations from Ace Lau.

Thank you so much to all. I've been enjoying reading the contributions and picking which ones to appear in the comeback issue.

Keep em coming.


Actually, come to think, that's already quite a handful, no? LOL.

Poetika blog wants your links + Update

I woke up this morning and thought "My God this blog looks bare." I guess the photos will come in good time. But right now it needs links! So if you want to, you can leave your link in the comment section of this post and I'll put it up. :-)

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BTW, I've started receiving contributions to Poetika. Amazing stuff. Mostly poetry. And one guy who sent in some amazing illustrations. I can still do with a few more, of course. I know a lot of people out there want to contribute. Please do.

In the meantime, I'm trying to remember where I placed the original master copies of the original print run of Poetika. Hmm... I think it's in one of the big boxes in the storeroom.

Poetika is currently accepting submissions

It's affirmative. The little zine Poetika is open to an all-out, no holds barred submission assault.


Submission guidelines (very simple) are:

Poetry
1. Subject matter, style, form open.
2. Not more than 30 lines.
3. Send 3 poems max per issue.

Fiction Prose
1. Subject matter, style, form open.
2. Not more than 400 words. (We also accept extracts of longer pieces.)
3. Send 2 prose pieces max per issue.

Illustrations
1. Subject matter, style open.
2. Black & white works preferred.
3. Send 3 A4 size pieces max per issue.


If necessary, submissions will be subject to some kind of editing. But contributors will have the luxury of approving the edits before they go to print.

As before, Poetika cannot pay. I apologise beforehand. Even though they'll have a price tag on them this time around, I'll be using the proceeds to pay for the photocopying. Contributors will get a few complimentary copies.

Got it?


Send all submissions to: poetikamalaysia@gmail.com

Poetika

It's been a while now since I've last put out an edition of Poetika, my little monthly journal of poetry that came out in 2001-2002. Five years later, it's going to start again. Cheers, JK