October 2007 Archives

Charles Simic, Surrealist With Dark View, Is Named Poet Laureate:



Charles Simic, a writer who juxtaposes dark imagery with ironic humor, has been named the country’s 15th poet laureate by the Librarian of Congress.

Damau.org is an overseas, mostly US-based venue through which Vietnamese people from within the country have a chance to read and appreciate world literature. According to poetry editor Nhat-Lang Le, Vietnam is still under the bamboo curtain regarding culture and literature--the government censors and still owns newspapers and magazines. Le says she's an avid reader of 2River and two poems by Laura McCullough caught her attention--the content of the poems is to some degree sexual--so she chose them to translate for other Vietnamese readers.

Poems from 2River in Vietnamese:

A Formal Feeling:



The editor of Poetry magazine favors traditional technique in verse....