The editor reading a cleave poem: migration

The Editor (Phuoc-Tan Diep) reading a cleave poem “Migration” at Premieres and Poetry: Migration

A cleave poem for Dennis Kelly: Mountain Whispers, by Phuoc-Tan Diep

A cleave poem: Mountain Whispers.

“The first robins are here now, the little green crocus swords have worked their way upward, the first pink buds of the cherry trees are ready to bloom.” Dennis Kelly

when our mountain cries	– this
our waterfall	– I know all this is you
the crocus tips	– your fingertips
tender	– stretch up
bend gently and	– from the earth
the mountain’s breath	– your breath
stirs the trees, I see	– your eyes
beyond the leaves	– a face in
my hands	– outlines
in the sky	– Is that you or
the first robin singing	– the mountain whispers?

Premieres and Poetry at The Poetry Society Cafe

The Editor will be performing 2 poems (including a cleave poem), followed by music composed in response to these poems, at the Poetry Café in Covent Garden in April:

‘Premieres and Poetry’ arranged by EMFEB Orchestra

30th April 2009

Live musical responses to live readings from contemporary poets.
6 composers and 6 poets are ‘paired up’ and the resulting work is bound
into a dramatic, intense performance with orchestral instrumentalists.
The poetry and the readings are separate, the music responding to the text.

Premiere:
The Poetry Society Café:

The Poetry Society
22 Betterton Street
London WC2H 9BX

Time: 7:30
Tickets: TBC

Composers: Ben Oliver, Benjamin Ellin, Owen Bourne, Jacques Cohen, Ashley Kinnair, Oliver Leith.
Poets: Luke Wright, David Kessel, Charles Bourne, Rohan Kriwaczek, Phuoc-Tan Diep.

Migration by Phuoc-Tan Diep

Migration

Swifts and swallows leave – while I grasp for memories like

fruit – remnants of home

riddled with holes – my baby cools in my arms

dripping fermented juice – the milk from her mouth

sweet – sticks under my fingernails

under blushing trees – the guards, with eloquent guns, demand my  coat

those that can’t leave expect a cold winter – they smirk at my battered sweetbox

with its few hopes – inside are smuggled postcards of thatched houses

and promises – of English orchards.

This cleave poem was written specifically for the “Don’t be a stranger” initiative launched at this year’s Evangelical Alliance flagship event The Temple Address 2008, given at The Royal Society on the 27th November by The Archbishop of York; The Most Reverend and Right Honourable Dr John Sentamu. The cleave is included in the booklet accompanying this initiative and on the EA website and in upcoming press releases.

November by Phuoc-Tan Diep

                    November
          The sun weeps - cider tinted tears
             for Summer - for the fading
for the moon that hides - light
       behind the trees - as Autumn leads Winter
  shivering and anaemic - by the hand

**For those interested, I have included all my drafts here: Anatomy of a cleave poem: November**

Cleave poem by Phuoc-Tan Diep

_________________________Steak and red wine

_______________The sirens whine-flames flash
_____and lights slice through smoke-heavy with the smell of steak
shrouding bodies littering the ground-charred at the edges.
__The policeman stalks a straight line-I swallow, I gulp
_____________________I wobble,-expensive
______________booze on my breath-red wine
______________and guilt in my guts-trying to conceal burnt meat.