A few weeks ago, I made my merry way to The Gladstone Hotel for the launch of Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha’s new book, Consensual Genocide (also available at the Toronto Women’s Bookstore) . I arrived early and thirsty after doing a bit of cybernet sleuthing…having only read a couple of her poems previously, the research was very necessary:
Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha was raised in Worcester , Massachusetts , the daughter of a Sri Lankan father and an Irish/ Ukrainian mother. After moving to New York for four whirlwind years of coming of age in the middle of riot grrl, queer, anarchist and student of color organizing, she moved to Toronto in 1997 in the hopes of no longer being the only Sri Lankan in the room. Her work has been published in the anthologies Colonize This!, Dangerous Families , With a Rough Tongue: Femmes Write Porn , the Lambda Award-nominated Brazen Femme, Without a Net, Geeks, Misfits and Outlaws and A Girl’s Guide To Taking Over the World . A frequent contributor to Colorline s and Bitch magazines, she has performed her work throughout North America, from gigs at Yale University and Oberlin College to benefits for queer youth resource centers and at antiwar protests. She teaches writing to LGBT youth at Supporting Our Youth Toronto, for which she won the City of Toronto Community Service to Youth Award in 2004, and is one of the organizers of the Asian Arts Freedom School. [Link]
Respect!
My experience within the Toronto literary scene is a sad state of affairs so I was feeling a little unsure of my footing in the creative landscape that is West Queen West (TO’s Soho, why do we have to have these NY rip off names, WHY? Another time, another post 🙂 As my frothy malt bevvie began to settle I caught Leah standing nearby, talking with friends. Her remarkable bio had me a little star struck so the best I could muster was an awkward smile/nod combo in her direction. She promptly walked over and gave me a hug as if we had been friends forever. Let us pretend, for the sake of my silly pride, that it was not simply a case of mistaken identity…hugs rule! You could say that the hug or even the sheer amount of M.I.A. playing at the launch informed my resulting opinion of it. You would not be entirely wrong. Rosina Kazi’s (of LAL) opening performance was superb (fingers crossed for a new LAL album). Leah’s reading was fresh to death. She conversed easily with her audience, between poems, about post-9/11 border crossings, girlfriends, getting her Canadian passport, loss of community space and other facets of her journey from writing to being published. The following day, I devoured one poem after another on the metro, overwhelmed by the honesty and wit, the beauty and hurt, which lay before me. “Mummy, look! That crazy ladyÂ’s hugging a book!” PÂ’sha, kids! It was but a small gesture for the inexplicable gratitude I felt at being able to experience writing that elicited more than slow beat from my colder-than-a-witchÂ’s-teat heart.
A little taste of what made me so giddyÂ…This is the first poem:
eating a $5 plate
snoozing in front of Seinfeld on the beige on beige recliner
his belly folds after years
of american chop suey, hamburgers and Michelob
Nothing
he really wanted to eat
was ever on the shelves
of Iandolli’s or the Big D
I think of that man
who cried three times in my life
once when appamma died
once when our dog died
& once when I sent him
a 99-cent package of tamarind candy
& he called me long distance after Ma went to bed
weeping from tasting tamarind
for the first time in thirty years
+++
Many thanks to Leah for letting us steal the photo and the poem.
Thanks for this post, Neha!
And for those of you in NYC, Leah is reading at Bluestockings on 5/15 and at the SAWCC literary festival, Mixed Messages (www.sawcc.org/mixed.html) on 5/21. I think there are details on her website.
That poem is very, very good. Thanks for the post and find, Neha.
Thanks for the headz-up on Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha – I will have to check out her book. I myself thought I was a bonafide Tin-man, until after finishing reading above poem and felt something, which I belive people call emotions.
i went to one of her readings last week. and i have been reading her book this entire week, in between posts on sepia mutiny. she has craft and personal experience and politics articulately mixed into her work. my favs (so far!) from the book are “sweet water” and “restorative justice”. i like, i like.
I LOVE LOVE LOVE the book Colonize This!!! It’s one of my top 10 books that changed my life. I HIGHLY recommend all my desi sisters pick it up… Good find, Neha…
of relevance – the event, as narrated by the lingus, was sponsored by tsar books – co-founded by noorjehan aziz and m.g. vassanji, he of Giller prize fame – i think they’ve done a fine job – and for those idle readers – it is a good opportunity to meet some interesting folks – the last meeting i attended had austin clarke of polished hoe fame – and some really yummy sweet-spicy pakoras of general gastronomic fame – must be a goojie thing- my fav pome from that readign had a section as below – …
ok – i spoke from memory – her version was way better – i have the sensitivity of a dead iguana – but you catch my drift, no? I would highly recommend these intimate little sessions if you’re a Torontonian
hey boi – give me a shout the next time you’re in the neighborhood – i’m a fan – rather enjoyed your little kajra re tale 🙂
Hey, thanks for the deets, Dhaavak! Where would I go to find the next set of
pakorasreadings?breathless.. and besides myself – i know of happening events in town that The Lingus doesnt !! – could this be true – or is she just throwing the old dog a bone – anyhoo.. – to cut to the chase – i dont know – i heard this bhandari person on cbc talk about it so i hopped on over – the tsarbooks link doesnt have any announcements – but here’s a thot – why dont a TO bloger offer to host it in his/her place – my place is a little um rugged – you know – bikes, barbells, papers, books, dead potted plant, rotting scalp, chainsaw with dried blood, etc. – i’d sponsor the eats and local advertisement – promise! swear on my left dhokla – So let me know — want to pull together a reading — let’s do it… although i suppose, it could be hosted in a public spot like the labyrinth in high park … hmm..
Seems like the brainwashing in the bunker is paying off…you’ve been subliminally inducted in the SMMIA club! 🙂 Thanx for the heads up. Cool.
Dhaavak – Thanks for the compliment! I’m totally down for a reading, though I am not sure who would be reading and what they would read. But, I do think the T.O. contingent of SM should have a little get together. I’m thinking at Lahore Tikka? Their veggie platter and BBQ Red Snapper should satisfy Neha’s veggie diet. Mmmmmm – Lahore Tikka – excuse I’m getting hungry and have to go raid my fridge.
hey – there’s enough local talent for us to support – put the word out – free drinks and eats – and they’ll be hordes of folks elbowing their way in – sounds like you’re volunteering your pad for the launch 🙂 – think of it – do you remember fez batik before they remodeled – i can totally see the dutty brown salon – a sanctuary for the youth of toronto, cynical and raging against the establishment – a cauldron of genius juice – where the group of seven or the arcade fire in literature will come from – i can see it now – twenty years from now – they’ll say it was the dutty brown movement and there will be kids writing papers on it.
ok – i’ll bring the cheese log and the plonk.
sure – i’m up for the lahore tika house.
She just has a crush on you like the rest of us, Neha. 😉
Her book launch was crazay! The couple of Lankans I dragged to the event were at once mortified and absolutely enchanted by her work. Props to LAL’s Rosina Kazi but I thought Karine Silverwomyn was pretty damn cool too!
Sepia Mutiny Staff
I trust you intend to keep the news posting facility free of extreme right wingers who use it as a forum to promote their hatreds and post movie reviews with headlines like the following:
It’s your call but I reckon you are worth a lot more than to be a repository for extreme right wingers to vent their doggerel and turn your site into another Sulekha. You could stop the rot and hate infestation before it begins. It’s your home.
It’s your call but I reckon you are worth a lot more than to be a repository for extreme right wingers to vent their doggerel and turn your site into another Sulekha. You could stop the rot and hate infestation before it begins. It’s your home.
I am not sure how the SM Staff could control such postings. Of course they could delete such postings but that would only encourage the posters to post even more ridiculous items. Lately SM has started attracting some extreme desi right wingers but thats a testament to the popularity of this website more than anything else. I dont know about others, but I am also getting a little tired of the hate spewed by some new very hateful and angry commenters. I guess thats the price a website pays when it becomes popular. I do love the two new additions to the SM family.
The SM gang are wise enough to use their discretion. The new posting facility is a great idea – informative, helpful, interesting and fun. But it is vulnerable to the agenda of extreme right wingers who tend to infest good places like this. They don’t care that they ruin the vibe or ethos – but all I’m saying is that in blatant cases like the above, it’s best to stamp on the cockroaches before they breed, and it doesnt do any harm to be vigilant.
relax man… have a smoke or something.
You need to proffer that advice to the ones with mirchi up their jacksy who go on hate sprees my friend, not me. I am relaxation personified.
then may i suggest you take a toke and make an offering to the lingus.
here’s my modest contribution.
dhavaak
Is this Cheech and Chong week or something?
Nice post, Neha!
I think of that man who cried three times in my life once when appamma died once when our dog died & once when I sent him a 99-cent package of tamarind candy
This reminds me of something from the Cuban nationalist poet Jose Marti (the guy who wrote their national song “Guantanamera”):
Twice, two times have I seen the soul Once when the old man died And once when she bade me goodbye.
(My translation from Sp.)
The beauty of it all is that this is STILL a personal blog (where spreading the mutiny of minds is the only goal) and not sulekha.com (where making money is the only goal) and people can be blocked from spreading hate. Not to be confused with censoring which IMO does not happen on SM. I have a very strong feeling that a lot of the hate mongering is being spread by traffic unfortunately coming here from Sulekha because I see some of the same posters that spread the crap there spreading it here and unfortunately the same level of unintellectual bantering!
No, friend, it’s Canada month! May I offer you a special brownie? 🙂
I’ve actually lost sleep over some comments, but I never thought that SM is in any danger of being “taken over” by right-wing sentiments, 1) because many of the bloggers, especially the recent ones, rep the left with dignity, passion and humor, 2) because there are also people like Madurai Vivekan, whose comments consistently refute the right-wing nonsense, and 3) because Taz and Neha are sexy. SM threads would overflow with my comments if I had the time to keep up with the fast pace of debates, but I’m sure it can do without, as the balance is pretty healthy as it were.
Mirchi is good. You and I both need a smoke.
To be more topic-relevant, this Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha woman is such a beautiful soul. Gonna go pick up her stuff asap. Thanks Neha!
Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha just might beat Gayatri Chakravorti Spivak for cross-culture longitudinal naming.
awwww
Aww Shruti, thanks for the kind words, but there are a whole lot of people here who take apart the fundoos much more articulately and knowledgably than me…
That poem was amazing. I had no idea that she’d rolled through my college – sorry I missed it, must not have been there.
Manish (#26):
And I can understand what Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha writes the first time through 😛
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