Kevin Canty at 2010 SLS

Montana's Kevin Canty to teach at Summer Literary Seminars in Montreal, Summer 2010.

Hitting the Highlights, Vilnius Style

The big stuff, so far:

• Canadian embassy reception at the Vilnius Novotel. Dressed up writers eating canapes is pretty much the same anywhere in the world.
• Poetry workshop with Peter Cole. Instead of sitting there silently while other people comment on our work, we are asked to guide the workshop through our thought processes. As Peter says, the chinese character for sincerity is literally a man standing beside his word. So we have to stand up for our words, if we can. It is disconcerting. Soul-ripping, actually. Like drinking self-doubt from a can.
• Travel writing workshop with Laima Vince. Next Friday, we get to go to the KGB Museum, which is housed in the old cells where the KGB used to interrogate prisoners. The guides/docents at the museum used to be former prisoners, but now said former prisoners have retired and passed on their stories to young historians who guide tour groups and answer questions.
• Tomorrow, Trakei Castle.
• Tonight, Lithuania's version of Mexican food.
• Rain. When it's not raining, it's threatening rain. Sun is a ruse that hides the rain until it is upon you. All is puddles and ringworm fear. Yesterday, a bus drove through the flooded gutter just to splash us. And succeeded. Extravagantly.
• Then there was the toddler at the beer garden, picking receipts up from the ground and holding them up so his mother could light them with her cigarette. Apparently it's OK to play with fire here if your mother lights it for you.

Breakfast in Vilnius and other issues

I can't stomach sweetness in the morning. When I wake up, I crave salt. This urge is especially strong here in Vilnius, perhaps because when I wake up here it's dinner time at home.

In the mornings I've been visiting a local bakery on my way to the Institute, where our workshops are held. In addition to the dozens of sugary pastries that turn my stomach before noon, there is a small case of savory selections set to the side of the register as if for me. There are kibinas, football-shaped wads of buttery dough filled with ground meat that is seasoned with onions. These are my favorite. There are also the bandele su farsu, bread rounds that are topped with sesame seeds and have scalloped edges pressed together to encase similarly seasoned meat and shredded carrot. The shell of it tastes like a slightly sweet soft pretzel. I choose the bandele for mostly aesthetic reasons, or on days when there are no kibinas to be had.

The proprietess of this particular shop is as much of a draw as her carb-loaded offerings. A smiling blonde woman, she knows no English but is single-handedly responsible for every Lithuanian word I know. Aciu being the thanks I give for her patience with my ignorant, monolinguistic American ways. Supienu being the milk she suggests I take with her no-nonsense kava. Kava being a word that speaks for itself. Like a kindergarten teacher, whe emphasizes these words as she uses them with gestures and slow enunciation so I can pick them up.

On Wednesday, my blonde angel of the morning was sadly away, replaced by a surly younger brunette who clearly hated me. Especially hungry, I ordered two kibinas and a kava supienu. As I chose a place to sit on the small patio outside, I bit into my first kibinas only to find the normally brown meat a sickly shade of pink. I ate it anyway because I was hungry and did not want to confront the surly brunette imposter. I began my second kibinas and found the meat inside bright red. Visions of an unending night on the wet floor of the dormitory's tiled and reeking washroom danced before me. The washroom with open and rusting pipework. The washroom with only one working stall (out of four). If the food-borne illness didn't kill me, the tetanus surely would.

I threw the suspect food in the trash. Lesson learned: Beware the surly brunette and her meats.

Forthcoming: Getting e-mail rejections from litmags while abroad, workshop stories, and a visit or two to Antakalnis Cemetery.

Wave Books Poetry Weekend and other stuff

Received from Wave Books:

Dear Friends, Hello to you all. We are writing to you with an update about the Wave Books three-day poetry event, this coming August. We've receivedenthusiastic responses, both from people who have confirmed their attendance, and also from some of you who are excited to attend, butare finding yourselves unable to afford the current price. We want tomake it possible for as many of our readers and supporters to attend,so we are reducing the price, and have added an additional option forattending: We are REDUCING THE PRICE OF THE EVENT PASSES to $75 ($50 students).The passes will get you into all of the readings, the filmscreenings, book arts presentation, with access to the Henry ArtGallery and exhibitions. The pass also grants you local bookstorediscounts, and includes a welcome packet with additional informationand materials. We are also offering a FULL SCHOLARSHIP to 10 people who would beotherwise unable to attend, and who can confirm they will be inattendance for all three days. Through the generosity of a donor, weare able to offer 10 Full Scholarships, which include all of thebenefits and materials for a regular Event Pass. We are hoping thatthese Scholarships will make it possible for those who cannototherwise attend to be there for the entire weekend. Please email usat wavepoetryweekend@gmail.com, and let us know a little bit aboutyourselves. Act soon, as this offer will disappear quickly. Please let us know if you have any questions at all. You can reach usat wavepoetryweekend@gmail.com, or visit the Wave website at http://www.wavepoetry.com/catalog/79. We greatly appreciate your interest, and we look forward to seeing you here in Seattle this August! Sincerely, Wave Books 1938 Fairview Avenue East, Suite 201 Seattle, Washington 98102 http://www.wavepoetry.com/http://www.wavepoetry.com/catalog/79http://www.henryart.org/

Also:

Dear Friends & Neighbors,

Hello to you all. This is Brandon Shimoda, writing from Wave Books --

I am writing with additional news regarding Wave's three-day poetry event, this coming August at the Henry Art Gallery. By now you should have received an update from us, with the news of the reduction in event ticket price. In case you have not, tickets are now available for $75 ($50 student rate) (http://www.wavepoetry.com/catalog/79). In addition, we are going to be offering a limited number of Day Passes. Day Passes will be available locally (only), for $25, and for those individuals who are only able to attend single days. Day Passes will be available for Friday and Saturday only; there will be no passes available for Sunday events.

___________________________________________


So, if you're in the Pacific Northwest and have the inclination, you should go.

In other news, I'm headed to Vilnius next week with Summer Literary Seminars. I hope to blog the experience, but in this life there are no guarantees.

In still other news, poems are up here and here. The latter includes audio! Whee! The wonders of the Internet!

Speaking of which, I love me some online journals. Say what you will about them, they reach a greater audience than print journals, which usually have a circulation of no more than 2,000-3,000. In addition, there are so many possibilities for visually and aurally presenting your work. And there's no paper involved! No USPS (Have I mentioned my bright-burning, undying hatred of the USPS lately? The fuckers still haven't figured out how to forward my mail the 1.5 miles between Ballard and Fremont and It's been over a month since I moved. Fuckers)! Downsides: no money (which is also an upside, since readers don't have to pay to read), excessively long acceptance-to-publication waits, and the possibility of the journal folding overnight (which, given the state of the economy, is as much of a danger with print these days).