leevilehto.net

Four new titles out from ntamo.

I feel humbled and honored to announce that my poem, “Aeons Swish In Edens Way“, originally dedicated for Charles Bernstein and Jörgen Gassilewski and based on our mutual homophonic and other versions of Charles’ poem, “Johnny Cake Hollow” (being thus “a work of linguistic upheavals”, “with immediate ‘content’ that is random, and violent”), has been translated into Chinese by my friend,  Luo Lianggong, and will be included, both in original and in translation, in Our Common Suffering: Anthology of Poets in Memoriam 2008 Sichuan Earthquake, a 250 pages book to be published by a top Chinese publishing house, Shanghai Foreign Languages Education Press, by October 10, for the Frankfurt International Book Fair 2008. My heartfelt thanks for Lianggong for recreating the poem for this purpose of expressing a “minimum of order and rational hope embedded in the seeming chaos”, and a ”glint of hope in the face of the impossible”, with a new dedication for the victims and heroes of the Sichuan Earthquake. (Quotes from my new Chinese foreword to the poem.)

“1. Milling Machines / 1. Vertical Milling Machines. / 2. Horizontal Milling Machines. / 3. Universal Milling Machines. / 4. Thread Milling Machines. / 5. Others.” Nummelin’s found text poetry chapbook with apocalyptic dimensions, now available at the Nordic Poetry Center.

Markus Huss in the Swedish Upsala Nya Tidning writes about my upcoming book of essays in Finnish.

is the title of my tomorrow radio feature  in Finnish Yle 1 (Ääniversumi),  87,9 MHz / Welho 92,3, starting 11 PM Finnish time and featuring 10 minutes interview (by the producer, Mikko Ahonen) + 45 minutes reading from traditional Finnish, experimental American and Swedish, and my own poetry (for details, see below). Also NOTE that from 11.10 PM Finnish time tomorrow, Sept 15, through around Oct 15, the reading will be globally available online at the Ääniversumi site.

Testimonials

“He is also famous for his strong performances of both his own work and of Finnish classics .” — Miia Toivio, Finland

”[gave] a terrific reading of a sound poem in ‘barbaric Finnish’.” — Ron Silliman, US

”The most singular performer I know.” — ADACHI Tomomi, Japan

”The Väinämöinen of Finnish Sound Poetry.” — Jouni Tossavanen, Finland

”[…] it is a kind of blessed nonsense that brings poetry back to its love affair with intonation and sound — that materiality of noise that coheres and melts again and coheres again…” — Philip Meters, US

”Much of it is in Finnish, but don’t worry — you might not understand it anyway!” — Leevi Lehto

Program Contents

– Eino Leino, Tuulikannel (1905)  2’02
– Otto Manninen, Vesuvius (1905)  5’09
– Leevi Lehto, Elegia (2004)  3’18
– Charles Bernstein, Besotted Desquamation (2001, in Finnish transl. by LL)  5’14
– Lars Mikael Raattamaa, Pajkerno (2006, in Engl. transl. by LL)  3’39
– John Keats, Bright Star (1818) / Leevi Lehto, Negatiivinen kyky (1997) / Leevi Lehto, Negative Capability (2006)  1’02
– Leevi Lehto, Handy MacCoystysen rakkauslaulu (2007)  10’04
– Leevi Lehto, Ananke: pantun (2004)   4’31
– Leevi Lehto, Sanasade (2004)  7’19

go there! Also see discussion related to my earlier Tomomi entry.

“When the Finnish poet LL learned that the expression ‘speaking Norwegian’ had gained a new meaning, ‘to throw up’, he decided to write a poem in that language.” This and more billeder from the Tekstallianse, Oslo, a week or so back, here, and here, and here. For the text (and earlier recording) of the poem in question, visit this.

A strong new book by an award-winning poet from Eastern Finland now out from ntamo.

About to leave for Oslo, Norway, and Tekstallianse, on behalf of ntamo, Nordic Poetry Center / Nokturno.org, and Tuli&Savu, and having promised to read (with Martin Larsen and Karl Larsson) tonight at 9.30 PM, and to give a talk on some topics of mutual interests sometime tomorrow.

(& I’ll read during today’s evening club, “Tähtiä yössä”, in Bio Rex, 9 to 11 PM). More about it all, here.

aka “Akustista ja vuosisadan vaihteen musiikkia”, my upcoming reading in Finnish Radio, now has its Facebook event page, with “Global” availability, here.

is an award-winning collection of poems in Swedish (published by Symposion in 2007), and now also in Finnish, in Miia Tovio’s and my translation, published by ntamo and announced here. UKON, aka Ulf Karl Olov Nilsson, will soon visit Helsinki, performing in the “Living Poets’ Evening” at the Huvila-teltta stage on Tuesday, Aug 19 (the event starts 7 PM in Tokoinranta). – & here’s the poet from his earlier visit to Helsinki, during TextKonst, November 2005, with a snippet from Synopsis.

Started to work on this on this fine Juhannus morning, at our country house in Degerby, Finland.