Student of the Month October 2014
Featuring: Joanna Gordon
University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa
A Note on the Series Our Student of the Month series features on our website stellar student writing and visual art from the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa, the institution where our roots dig deep. In print for more than 40 years, our journal has been an established voice in the Pacific and beyond for decades, featuring work from emerging writers alongside literary heavyweights. The Student of the Month series is our latest effort to expand Hawai‘i Review’s reach in local and far-reaching literary communities.
Introduction
From the stage to the page, Joanna Gordon is a talented and diverse poet whose work in slam poetry, spoken word, and page poetry exemplifies the bright and promising reach of creative writing in Hawai‘i. In July, Joanna joined Team Hawai‘i in Philadelphia to compete in the annual Brave New Voices international slam poetry festival. Last month she read alongside Rain Wright Cannon, Donovan Kūhiō Colleps, and Dawn Akemi at the M.I.A. reading series at Fresh Cafe. After graduating from Kaiser High School, Joanna went on to the University of Wisconsin, where she was a member of the First Wave Hip Hop Theatre Ensemble and performed in a collaborative production called “Welcome Mat at Capacity” at First Wave’s annual LineBreaks festival. When she returned to Hawai‘i, Joanna coached the Kaiser team in the 7th Annual Interscholarstic Poetry Slam in 2013. She currently studies English at UH-Mānoa. In addition to her writing and performance career, Joanna is also a Culture Keeper in Pacific Tongues, a nonprofit organization that aims to cultivate a creative Oceanic community through workshops, public events, and pedagogical development.
Copyright © 2014 by the Board of Publications, University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa If you are a student and would like to feature your work in Student of the Month or an instructor for a creative writing course and would like to submit exemplary University of Hawai‘i student work to Hawai‘i Review’s Student of the Month initiative, please send submissions to our Submittable account at bit.ly/submit2HR Contact us at hawaiireview@gmail.com
Pacific Tongues co-founder Lyz Soto has been a long-time mentor of Joanna’s and told Hawai‘i Review: “In the last few years, I have seen Joanna’s work grow enormously. She is willing to take risks in her work, both on the page and the stage, and as a performer she has, with enormous success, brought humor into the repertoire of Pacific Tongues poetry. Sometime laughter really is the best medicine.” After watching Joanna’s recent performance in Pacific Tongue’s team piece “Mating Call,” we can’t agree more with Lyz. What follows is another of Joanna’s voices: sincere, vulnerable, and fierce. Hawai‘i Review is proud to feature this bold and important poet as our Student of the Month. —No‘u Revilla, Hawai‘i Review Poetry Editor
You asked to describe it so I did
shesaid iwantyou todescribe it/ describe what/ isaid/ isaid/ youcannotdescribe it/ its/ morethanjust/ a clenched fist/ isaid/ itfeelslike running/swimming/ always2slow/ itshouldbe a dream/ but/ iamnothatlucky/ youarelucky/ shesaid/ lucky2bealive/ shesaid/ isaid/ nothatlucky/ isaid/ thereisafamilyofmiceinmylungs/ theyaretramplingonmyheart/ &icantbreathe/ itwillpass/ shesaid/ iwantyoutodescribeit/ again/ shesaid/ itfeelslike/ onewaystreets/ nodirection/ thestoplightsdontwork/ and/ &/ andthecarsdonthavebrakes/mybraindoesnthavebrakes/imeanmyheartdoesnthavebreaks/imeanicantbreathe/imeanicantsee yousaiditwouldgetbetter/whyisthereafistinmythroat/whyistheremiceinmylungs/whatdotheywant/whatdoeseveryonewant/ whatdoeseveryonewantfromme/imgoingtofailyou/imgoingtofail/iamgoingtobreak/going2combust/allash/norebirth/nothin doctor/ howdoyoumanageachokingthroat/ doctor/ whydoifeelthisintensely/ recovery/ shesaid/ sucks/ andthen/ itgetsbetter/ butnotyet/ now itisjust astorm/ahurricane/afuckeduppoem withnospacebar/ thatwouldgivemeanxiety/ isaid/ iknow/ shesaid/
Girl Girl talks about feeling insecure I laugh. Girl says she hates herself because roommate keeps losing weight and girl isn’t But girl’s not gaining any either and I’m really laughing now choking actually. Because it’s been a year since I wore clothes that didn’t feel like they were trying to bite into my softness in another year another girl will still want to starve the apple trees out of her chest Because well, I’m laughing at myself. I know enough broken girls Enough to blanket the world twice with their discarded parts Landfills of hips and thighs Enough to call it contagious To lose the vision of women There are communities of fleshy girls with bony hearts bony girls with fleshy hearts. Magazines with computer designed
lips and legs Patchwork women to sell our clothes on glossy covers too many hands in our mouths that inflict prejudice on our own bodies we all collapsed Stretched bloated. It’s sick. A sick habit. Listening to a person ask for the nearest lighthouse and ignore them Because it’s been months since I or anyone else had light And they don’t know dark like I do, Why does it have to be me? Why do I have to listen? And why does she think shes so different than me? Like what, she thinks she’s the only one that’s scared of the shade her body makes? Like she’s the only one Who tries on clothes Like she’s in an interrogation room Like she’s special
The only one to be stuck with a body that screams At her when she’s alone. And I just want to laugh Choke on the scales in my throat The ones that still say Girl doesn’t get to complain Because girl wears my clothes like loose carcasses and they still look better on her. Because We were never supposed to think we were completely beautiful were we. If we did God forbid Diet pills rotting on their shelves a pool of their own disease, former plastic surgeon seeking new employment, fashion designers would spend the extra dollar for a sample size fit for queens, I could finally write about women becoming women Instead of a gutted fish.
He Said When all the eyes weren’t looking I took your fear sprinkled it with salt and pepper. I slathered it in butter down and around the curves of its shoulders Massaged it in flour. fried in a pan. I slapped on an egg spooned freshly whisked Hollandaise sauce all over. Finally, I garnished it
with chorizo, the smells of your heritage. I took your fear he said When all the eyes weren’t lookin’ and I cooked it for you. He asked. Yes. I said. And I did.
Will you eat with me?
www.hawaiireview.org Hawai‘i Review Staff, 2013-2015 Anjoli Roy, Editor in Chief Kelsey Amos, Managing Editor Donovan Kūhiō Colleps, Design Editor No‘ukahau‘oli Revilla, Poetry Editor David Scrivner, Fiction Editor
bit.ly/submit2HR