Two Tokyo Readings (Plus Four Random Things)

Tokyo friends, two poetry readings you should know about:

1) 'Taking a Line for a Walk': The Pleasures and Surprises of the Poem
At 6:30 on Sunday 18th May at Good Day Books, Paul Rossiter will be talking about some of the pleasures, surprises, fascinations, and frustrations of reading and writing poems. In the second half of the talk he will introduce and read some poems from From the Japanese, his book which collects poems on Japanese themes, ranging in time from his first visit to Tokyo in 1969 (the era of Vietnam and Zengakuren) to the post-tsunami Japan of today. There will be plenty of time for questions and discussion.

ADMISSION: Purchase from Good Day Books one copy of From the Japanese, or one copy of any other Isobar Press book (all at ¥1,500 + sales tax).

Good Day Books, Tokai Bldg. (big-b shoes building), 2-4-2 Nishi Gotanda, Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo 141-0031. Tel: 03 6303 9116.

Five minutes walk from Gotanda station; click below for a map.

http://www.gooddaybooks.com/contents/home/new_location?language=english


2) Launch of the second four Isobar Press books:

The launch of the second four Isobar Press books will be from 6–9 p.m. on Friday 6th of June in room 403/404 on the fourth floor of International House of Japan in Roppongi.

http://www.i-house.or.jp/eng/index.html

Royall Tyler will read from A Great Valley Under the Stars; Andrew Fitzsimons and Nobuaki Tochigi will give a bilingual reading of A Fire in the Head; Jessica Goodfellow will read from The Insomniac's Weather Report; and Paul Rossiter will introduce and read from Whispers, Sympathies, and Apparitions: Selected Poems of David Silverstein.

And now for some random things:

1) Each week, the Poets.org website will feature a different entry from Edward Hirsch's A Poet's Glossary. This week's word is 'poetry.' Sign up to get the weekly newsletter. 

2) According to Slate, Pennsylvania (my home state) is the most linguistically diverse in the union. I admit to missing the Philly accent, and to subscribing to two podcasts recorded in the Philly area in order to listen to the accent every week while living far away in Japan!

3) Slate also introduces us to the website Something Pop. It's a mathematical algorithm for helping you make decisions. I was intrigued but doubtful, so I used it on a decision already made but about which I feel ambivalent, and I was pleased to find that what I did chose was the (mathematically determined) better choice (the other option came in as not a bad choice either though). Believe it or not, that actually gave me some comfort.....though I continue to be intrigued but (slightly less) doubtful. 

4) Tapastic brings you Abstract Madlibs for PhDs and academics. If you're one of these (or partnered with one of these) you'll find this amusing. (Hat tip to Diane Nagatomo.)