Poetry Reading: Ocean Vuong
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 28 มี.ค. 2017
- Poet and essayist Ocean Vuong was born in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, in 1988 and immigrated to the United States in 1990, is the author of the best-selling book Night Sky with Exit Wounds, which won the 2016 Whiting Award. A Ruth Lilly fellow from the Poetry Foundation, he has received honors from the Lannan Foundation, the Civitella Ranieri Foundation, The Elizabeth George Foundation, The Academy of American Poets, and the Pushcart Prize.
Vuong’s writings have been featured in The Atlantic, The Nation, New Republic, The New Yorker, The New York Times, The Village Voice, and American Poetry Review, which awarded him the Stanley Kunitz Prize for Younger Poets. Selected by Foreign Policy magazine as a 2016 100 Leading Global Thinkers, alongside Hillary Clinton, Ban Ki-Moon and Warsan Shire, Ocean was also named by BuzzFeed Books as one of “32 Essential Asian American Writers” and has been profiled on NPR’s All Things Considered, PBS NewsHour, Teen Vogue, The New Yorker, and VICE.
This event is sponsored by Department of English and Communication Studies and the School of Liberal Arts.
March 7, 2017. Fashion Institute of Technology
![How Can Poetry Help Transform Us? - Helena Bonham Carter [2018] | Intelligence Squared](/img/n.gif)
The fashion and poetry analogy was brilliant, what a great thinker. This guy is a badass in his poetry too, hope he generates an even greater audience.
I wish she would stop saying 'Right' after every damn line!
She is using the word 'Right' as a bigoted stopgap after she comes out with what she things of as a clever use of words.
In what minute he say the analogy, please?
Girl*
@@danielroman9310 right before he started reading the poem
He has a huge audience now :)
I want him to read his poetry to me forever.
All his poems pierce my soul on such an infinite level where i feel sense of compassion for everything. Where has this poet been hiding all my life? Thank you. Thank You. Thank You.
His poetry and his way of reciting... It really touched me to my core... I felt chills while he was reciting the poem about the couple in the burning home...
To have such power in words.....
And his perspectives are also so very human... I don't know how else to put it.
I planned on watching a little bit of it at present and then watching the rest later. But I got so absorbed into it, that I didn't or couldn't stop till the end. Happened after a long time too....
My absolute favorite writer/poet EVER! Truly, DEEP WATERS! Vuong brings HEART MIND BODY GHOST MULTI-GENERATIONAL FAMILY EARTH SEXUALITY into the roots of language mastery and questioning the breakdown of ALL! DEEP DEEP LOVE! I am continuously blown away by his work! LOVE LOVE LOVE!
Love, love Ocean Vuong's poetry.
His voice is so beautiful
oh gosh, what beautiful words.
What a great articulate young man, it was a honor to listen to Ocean Vuong openness and understanding of life, and the reality of our pain and suffering, no doubt I will want to read his expressive thoughts thru his poetry writing...thank you!
One of the greatest poetry readings for both content and voice I have ever experienced. Bravo Ocean
Starts at 5:05
8:50 - Saigon Poem
Dear God even his off the cuff responses are poetry
Enjoyed your poems and reading. I was in Viet Nam close to Saigon ( tansanut?) but my tour of duty ended in 1965 -before the horrific Tet Offensive.
I’m a poet and fictional story writer specializing in Japanese forms of poetic endeavor: haiku, tanka, haibun, kyoka, senryu. I hope you don’t mind me sharing a tanka and my haiku-a tribute poem to Bashō’s frog with commentary by the late Jane Reichold who also considered my poem among her top 10 haiku of all time. What an honor.
Here’s the Bashō poem and commentary:
Bashō,s frog
four hundred years
of ripples
- -Al Fogel
“At first the idea of picking only 10 of my favorite haiku seemed a rather daunting task. How could I review all the haiku I have read in my life and decide that there were only 10 that were outstanding? Then realized I was already getting a steady stream of excellent haiku day by day through the AHA
forum.
The puns and write-offs based on Basho's most famous haiku are so
numerous I would have said that nothing new could be said with this
method, but here Al Fogel proved me wrong. Perhaps part of my delight in this haiku lies in the fact that I agree with him. Here he is saying one thing
about realism-ripples are on a pond after a frog jumps in, but because it refers back to Basho and his famous haiku, he is also saying something about the haiku and authors who have followed him. We, and our work, are just ripples while Basho holds the honor of inventing the idea of "the
sound of a frog leaping is the sound of water".
As haiku spreads around the world, making ripples in more and larger ponds, its ripples are wider-including us all. But his last word reminds us all that we are only ripples and our lives are that ephemeral. It will be the frogs that will remain”.
My tanka/kyoka:
returning home
from a Jackson Pollock
exhibition
I smear my face with paint
and turn into art
-All love in isolation
from Miami Beach,
Florida.
Al
tansanut = Tan Son Nhat?
@@Peaceful1972
Yeah, that’s the correct spelling. Thanks.
I thought poetry was dead. Boy was I wrong.
The poetry is inmortal, my friend ;)
LTProductionsInc Yes. You were.
That was pretty stupid to think. Poetry will never die.
Well said!
My god, beautiful words.
Their words in sonic splash like "The city is so white it is ready for ink" painted me blue in brown interstice.
I'm so stupid for ignoring his poetry. I saw this video recommended to me 2 years ago but I ignored it in favor of delving into African American poets (who are equally amazing!). I love his poems!
I'm jealous you get to read On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous for the first time.
@@turtleblight I haven't read his novel yet but I'm adding it to my Kindle now because you seem to like it and I wanna see it for myself.😂
Great work of poetry!
I love this
Incredible
You are soooo talented.
from 5:00
very good
Thanks
that last line. fuck. what a way to end it
One last kyoka and haibun poem to Basho’s frog that the late great Japanese format poet and founder of AHA forum Jane Reichhold considered one of her all time favorite poems.
Here’s the Bashō poem and commentary:
Bashō’s frog. . .
four hundred years
of ripples
- -Al Fogel
“At first the idea of picking only 10 of my favorite haiku seemed a rather daunting task. How could I review all the haiku I have read in my life and decide that there were only 10 that were outstanding? Then realized I was already getting a steady stream of excellent haiku day by day through the AHA
forum.
The puns and write-offs based on Basho's most famous haiku are so
numerous I would have said that nothing new could be said with this
method, but here Al Fogel proved me wrong. Perhaps part of my delight in this haiku lies in the fact that I agree with him. Here he is saying one thing
about realism-ripples are on a pond after a frog jumps in, but because it refers back to Basho and his famous haiku, he is also saying something about the haiku and authors who have followed him. We, and our work, are just ripples while Basho holds the honor of inventing the idea of "the
sound of a frog leaping is the sound of water".
As haiku spreads around the world, making ripples in more and larger ponds, its ripples are wider-including us all. But his last word reminds us all that we are only ripples and our lives are that ephemeral. It will be the frogs that will remain”
My kyoka:
returning home
from a Jackson Pollock
exhibition
I smear my face with paint
and I turn into art
-All love in isolation
from Miami Beach,
Florida.
Al
I am so proud of you for you are Vietnamese
If it was you, H, enjoy Vuong's literature
Affectatious.
Eloquence meets genius here.
Get the microphones figured out ahead of time!!!
This is great
Beautiful
amazing
❤️
You are my second heart. I can feel your happiness and sadness.❤❤❤.
If that famous artowrk,'LITTLE BLUE BOY' could talk? Would recite Ocean Young's first poem. Keep up the good work.
YO his poetry
floored
As mentioned, I write fictional stories and this one was based on a true incident that should appeal to all Afro Americans and also older adults.
Takes place in the 1950s and deals with prejudice but has an unexpected ending. Titled ELOISE, EDNA & THE CHICKEN COOP
“based on a true incident”
~~
There was once a young Black lady named Eloise who in the 1950s inherited from her grandmother a parcel of land in the suburbs of Compton, California at a time when there was strong racial prejudice against women of color-especially those Black women who owned property in predominately white neighborhoods.
It happened there lived adjacent to Eloise’s land a white woman named Edna who did not like the fact that a Black lady owned land next to hers.
Eloise would try to be friendly because she believed Jesus when He said “Love Thy Neighbor” and to Eloise that meant even if your neighbor was unfriendly.
But whenever Eloise saw Edna, Edna would turn her back and ignore her and go about her business. In fact, ever since Edna’s husband died a decade ago, she became mean and unfriendly to everyone in the neighborhood.
But to Eloise, she was especially hateful and full of animosity so much so that at night when all the lights in Eloise home were off, Edna went to her own backyard where she kept her chicken coop and gathered up all the manure and dumped it on Eloise land and upon her tomatoes and her greens and everything she was growing, in an attempt to destroy it.
And when Eloise realized the next morning that there was all this manure, instead of becoming angry, she decided to rake and mix it in with the soil and use it as fertilizer.
Every night Edna would dump the manure from her chicken coop litter box on Eloise’s land and every morning Eloise would turn the manure over and mix it in with the soil.
This went on for several weeks until one morning Eloise noticed there was no manure in her yard.
One of the neighbors informed Eloise that Edna had fallen ill. But because Edna was so disliked because of her and unfriendly personality , no one came to see her.
But when Eloise heard about Edna’s condition she picked the best flowers from her garden, walked to Edna’s house, knocked on her front door and when Edna saw Eloise she was in complete shock that this Black lady who she had been so cruel would be the only neighbor to visit and bring flowers.
Edna was deeply moved by Eloise kindness.
Then Eloise handed the flowers to Edna who uttered,
“These are the most beautiful flowers I’ve ever seen! Where’d you get them?”
Eloise replied,
“Edna, I owe you a debt of gratitude; if it wasn’t for you, these flowers would not exist. It was you who helped me make them because when you were dumping in my yard, I decided to plant roses and use your manure as fertilizer.”
This unexpected act of kindness opened the floodgate of Edna’s heart that had been closed for so long.
“When I’m feeling better, I would love to have you over for tea,” Edna informed Eloise.
“Thank you, “ Edna replied , assuring her she would come. And then added “ I will pray for your speedy recovery every night”
And with those words Eloise departed.
It’s amazing what can blossom from manure.
There are some who allow manure to fall on them and do nothing.
But then there are others-like Eloise -who “turn the other cheek” when abused or in this case “turn over the soil” to make something new like those beautiful red roses that opened a white women’s heart.
-Al Fogel
14:14 Because It’s Summer
@~24 min in 😳😮😆. I had to pause, and take a moment to check my surroundings. And switch to 🎧
It make me feels that this generation will suffer unknown tragedies and this uncertain feelings drives the memories of the past exploding today with anxiety of the confidence that they may introduce and educate for the floods wars nuclear pollutions random gun fires invasions slavery digital dictatorship annihilation extinction fear rain radio active acide rain grey day and night freezing
"It makes me feel
that this generation will suffer
unknown tragedies
and these
uncertain feelings
drives the memories
of the past exploding today
with anxiety of confidence
they may introduce
and educate for the floods
wars
nuclear pollutions
random gun fire
invasions
slavery
digital dictatorship
annihilation
extinction fear
rain radio active
acid rain
grey day
and night freezing" - Pierre Ghislain
@@richardlee4730 7/10 would read
Detonation - 21:42
THANK YOU!!!!!!!
53:56
I cannot fully relish the beauty of his poetry because I can't get past the Michael Jackson voice..
17:00
17:18
Hello, I want to reach out to you to ask for permission to use some small section from the clip for a project regarding colonialism period in Vietnam that I'm working on. Hope to hear back from you soon. Thank you.
Why was he watching his father showering?
Lol
14:02
Uh who is My-An-Ja-lou
Brilliant poetry. Taking a breath between every single word is rather off putting though
I think it’s meant to convey the poetic syntax
Edit: this comment does not condone Ted Bundy in any way.
Humans violating each other. Humans rising. I don't have the patience to hear/read it anymore. I don't have the virtue to contribute my own soul either. Humanity does not deserve it, and I could care less.
buzzfeed poetics
What is poetry? What’s the criteria? Doesn’t it have to rhyme?
It does not - a lot of modern poetry has abandoned rhyme; they write in free verse. I think you can thank the beat poets for making free verse more popular. It is also more accessible for newer poets as they don’t have to learn effective rhyme, meter, assonance etc. There is some great free verse poetry - as shown in this video here! Apologies if this reads as condescending.
oomingmak#5726 not at all. I really don’t understand the concept of poetry so thank you for the input. I still don’t fully understand the requirement, how is this different from reading a page out of any book?
What makes poetry different from prose is that the former is more concerned with form; instead of having paragraphs or sentences there are lines and stanzas. One key difference is what poetry aims to achieve -- which is to evoke intense emotions or replicate feelings or a certain moment. That is not to say a novel cannot do these things but the way in which poets go about by using figurative language, metaphors, rhyme, meter, rhythm, is different to prose/reading a paragraph in a book.
The answer to this question will most likely never be black and white. Especially when prose is very lyrical such as below, written by Emily Bronte...
“Catherine Earnshaw, may you not rest as long as I am living. You said I killed you--haunt me then. The murdered do haunt their murderers. I believe--I know that ghosts have wandered the earth. Be with me always--take any form--drive me mad. Only do not leave me in this abyss, where I cannot find you! Oh, God! It is unutterable! I cannot live without my life! I cannot live without my soul!”
Here she has taken into great consideration grammar, uses figurative language, and emotive expressions -- all things linked to poetry. In this case it is not a poem and only a paragraph because 1. It belongs to a book, and is part of a greater narrative that isn't consistent in poetic language and 2. It does not take into consideration FORM!
See blow a POEM by Emily Bronte.
Riches I hold in light esteem
And love I laugh to scorn
And lust of Fame was but a dream
That vanished with the morn --
And if I pray, the only prayer
That moves my lips for me
Is -- "Leave the heart that now I bear
And give me liberty."
Yes, as my swift days near their goal
'Tis all that I implore --
Through life and death, a chainless soul
With courage to endure!
Even though free verse doesn't employ a strict meter, it definitely uses rhythm or , in some cases, metrical lines sporadically interspersed throughout a piece. If you read aloud Whitman, you'll identify a kind of musicality in his verses. This is true for nearly all good 'verse libre'. Also you'll find that, in the absence of a specific metrical scheme to engage a reader, a lot of free verse incorporates other poetic devices (chiefly strong and distinct imagery) to capture a reader's imagination. On the surface it might appear that it is 'easier' to write free verse but as Jorge Luis Borges believed, writing good free verse is very difficult as you don't have a meter to provide a structure, or a form to fit your poem into.
Writing free verse involves creating new rhythms and new forms, for which one must have basic mastery over formal verse. So to say that free verse frees modern poets from learning meter etc, in my opinion, is incorrect.
@@pip6293 abandoned rhyme? Not really. ocean voung uses a lot of it in 12:40 he uses internal rhyme glisten and listen just to name one..
The hapless honey pivotally depend because face structurally drip down a skillful white. undesirable, tasty belgian
I feel like his poetry is a language i dont understand...i read this collection for a class and my only thought was "how did this gibberish get published?"...so frustrating...
It's the language of pretension & shite-arsery! What's happened is that the universities have gotten a hold of poetry. Then those people move into publishing & the arts councils where they're in control of what gets published & who gets grants. The problem is that the poets getting published have nothing to write about, because they're lives have been too easy for them & they're disconnected from reality. All they can prattle on about is the pseudo-intellectual rubbish they pick up in the the college canteen. There's no good poet left alive to even distinguish the good from the rubbish any more. Poetry is in an awful state all together!
@@jamesmccarthy6764 What a bunch of gibberish you have spouted here.....
I mean... Do you even understand what poetry is? To me, this comment just sounds like elitist crap
@@jamesmccarthy6764 “their lives have been too easy” under an Ocean Vuong reading.. do you not see the irony here?
dreadful stuff, awful -- pretentious drivel
@Historia Antiqua That's the concept. But the execution is totally totally lame. It might be an interesting concept, but the result is bad. Maybe he should just write autobiographical essays, instead of attempts at "poetry" and a "novel".
Brand, I completely agree with you!!!!
what poetry do you like?
@@CoarStolos My left foot, by Julian Stern
@@brandgardner211 what have you written last. Apart from your cv lol
what crap
No ❤️
Oh wow, a sad hater.
❤