poemeleon

It has taken me far longer than I anticipated to finish getting out all of the notifications for the persona issue, but it's done.

I think I've said this before, but the rejections are the hardest thing for me. I, too am routinely on the receiving end of the rejection slip, so I know how it feels. You've all put an enormous amount of effort and time and thought into your poems, and it shows, which is why I ended up turning down some very competent work this time. I hope that those of you whose poems we did not select will find success in publishing them elsewhere, and that you will continue to write and submit to Poemeleon. Regretfully, in order to speed up the process I had to resort to generic letters for the majority of rejections. It's not my preference, but I just didn't want to keep anyone waiting any longer. Joyfully, I think this is going to be one our most interesting issues to date.

Thanks for your patience. Look for the persona poem issue in early June.

Cati Porter

Spell Out Whatever You Want! Now!  

On January 22, 2008, the Burmese poet Saw Wei was arrested for publishing an eight-line poem entitled “February Fourteenth” in the weekly publication Love Journal.

The acrostic poem spells out “General Than Shwe is crazy with power”.

Saw Wei, a popular poet and performance artist, has headed up the poetry recital group, White Rainbow, fundraisers for AIDS orphans. He participated in the 1988 uprising, and has been an active proponent of human rights. Saw Wei is now in prison, held incommunicado. No information regarding charges has been released to the public.

Babel Fruit would like to call for contributions for a special supplemental: a selection of acrostic poems to be published on February 14th. The poems may spell out any word you feel is appropriate.

We encourage readers and contributors to print out Babel Fruit's PDF collection (including Saw Wei’s poem) and mail it to their diplomatic representative in Myanmar.

Let’s make this happen! There are only five days left until the deadline, but we can do it. Don’t revise and revise this time. Rage!

I am hoping there will be so many poems I will be totally overwhelmed and will need many, many people to help compile the poems.

Send poems to editors@babelfruit.org and put “Wei” in the subject line.

We also encourage other direct initiatives to help Saw Wei. Send individual or group responses to your diplomatic representatives to draw attention to this cause.

Dear poemeleon readers:

Another journal I help to edit is actively seeking work for its next issue, due out in November. Please read the call for submissions (below) and if you have anything suitable please send it to babel (at) icorn (dot) org.

Cati Porter

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Call for Submissions: Deadline October 25, 2007

babel aims to provide its readers with excellent writing by established and emerging authors.

Please note that the Voices section prioritizes work accompanied by translations. We also seek poetry and fiction related to the overall themes babel addresses.

For On Citizenship and Across Culture we welcome essays, fiction and poetry dealing with issues of identity, and on cross-cultural approaches to reading and/or writing literature.

For In Dialogue we are looking for interviews, correspondence between writers, and creative writing that speaks to classic poems.

We request that you email your submission as an attachment, .doc or .txt. Don't forget to write you name on each numbered page, and please include a brief and relevant cover letter & bio in the body of your email. Please write "submission" in the subject line and mail to babel (at) icorn (dot) org .

For tips on how to make free audio files, email ren (at) icorn (dot) org .

We are a not-for-profit organization and regret that we do not have funds to pay our contributors at this time. We hope that you will consider the right to include your work in babel as a donation to an important cause.

About babel:

ICORN's quarterly webzine babel is an extension of the network's efforts to help provide persecuted writers the freedom and opportunity to have their voices heard along with those of the best emerging and established writers working uncensored.

Perhaps Mansur Rajih's story is not typical of ICORN Guest Writers, but it does illustrate the ironic situation many of our Guest Writers face: censored, but significant in their homeland; uncensored, yet isolated abroad.

During the 15 years of his incarceration, Mansur Rajih's friends were able to smuggle his poetry out of the Yemeni prison. In this way, his work was published in the region for over a decade, his poetic voice was heard despite prison and a death sentence. However, once he had been released from prison - once he was able to write and live safely, to sleep "soundly throughout the night" (as former ICORN Guest Writer Carlos Sherman described his ICORN experience) - Rajih found himself living in a part of the world where very few people could speak or read his language, where very few people were qualified to translate his native tongue. While not impossible, publication was difficult. And his readership was geographically remote.

It is no surprise that exiled writers face unique challenges in reaching their intended audiences. This webzine is a small - but we hope significant- effort to spotlight the work and the interests of these writers.