What is poetic cartography? Simply, it seeks to accomplish the same thing a map does - guide the reader through an unfamiliar place. Instead of county borders and bodies of water, however, I want to explore something harder to find on your handy atlas - the human situation in that unfamiliar place, the beauty and pain within those borders and seas.
In this project I hope to bring both a poet’s lyricism and an academic’s analysis to a pair of countries with rich yet embattled histories. Through the spring and summer, a series of poems and contextualizing essays will explore the juxtaposition of traditional past and bustling present, the experience of a sojourner in a foreign land, and the textures of a contemporary life in these cosmopolitan nations.
Focus cities are Kyoto, Japan, and Taipei, Taiwan, where I will by the conclusion of the project have embedded myself for a total of approximately four months. I hope to have the final version complete by Fall 2015.
This project is made possible by the generosity of the Chappell Lougee Fellowship program and the Golden Fund.
In this project I hope to bring both a poet’s lyricism and an academic’s analysis to a pair of countries with rich yet embattled histories. Through the spring and summer, a series of poems and contextualizing essays will explore the juxtaposition of traditional past and bustling present, the experience of a sojourner in a foreign land, and the textures of a contemporary life in these cosmopolitan nations.
Focus cities are Kyoto, Japan, and Taipei, Taiwan, where I will by the conclusion of the project have embedded myself for a total of approximately four months. I hope to have the final version complete by Fall 2015.
This project is made possible by the generosity of the Chappell Lougee Fellowship program and the Golden Fund.