Teresa Mei Chuc

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" height=95 BGCOLOR="#CC99CC" TEXT="#080000" background="006265f1ezuady.png"> <div> <FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Times New Roman" ><B>FootHills 2014</B></FONT><B>  </B><B> </B><B>|   </B><A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="FootHills 2014"><U><B>home</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="FootHills 2014"><U>FootHills 2014</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id13.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Books 2014"><U>Books 2014</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id14.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="FHP Poets Alphabetically"><U>FHP Poets Alphabetically</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id70.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Martha Deed"><U>Martha Deed</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id71.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="o b e e d ú i d "><U>o b e e d ú i d ~</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id72.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Alan Weltzien"><U>Alan Weltzien</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id73.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Charlie Rossiter"><U>Charlie Rossiter</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id74.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Kaye Newbury"><U>Kaye Newbury</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id75.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Bruce Bennett"><U>Bruce Bennett</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id76.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Carla Perry"><U>Carla Perry</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id77.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Laura D. 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In <I>Keeper of the Winds</I> images explode as if they were</div> <div> landmines. In this book sadness walks hand in hand with violence. What</div> <div> makes Teresa Mei Chuc's work important is that her poems are personal</div> <div> while speaking for other lives. Her work embraces the earthworm as</div> <div> well as the water buffalo. After tragic events like Fukushima, Teresa</div> <div> Mei Chuc is still capable of dancing with the brown bear; a dance of</div> <div> life's celebration. When she writes about nature it is always with</div> <div> love. Her poetry is a 'spiritual lake' we should cherish and sit close</div> <div> to."</div> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> --E. Ethelbert Miller, author of <I>Fathering Words</I></div> <bR> <bR> <div> "Teresa Mei Chuc's voice on the page--calm and contemplative--lulls</div> <div> the reader who 'thinks it's a toy they've found' until the horror of</div> <div> our common histories is manifest and unavoidable. Here is a poet who</div> <div> simultaneously enchants and terrifies. Here is a poet who demands to</div> <div> be read--you won't be disappointed."</div> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> --Lynne Thompson, Winner, Perugia Press, Book Award for <I>Beg No Pardon</I></div> <bR> <bR> <div> "These are essential poems, brutally honest, courageous, and clear in</div> <div> their vision, delivered without apology, but with great heart and true</div> <div> soulfulness. Teresa Mei Chuc challenges us to come face-to-face with</div> <div> our history, our real and ever-present world."</div> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> --Sam Hamill, author of <I>Border Songs</I></div> <bR> <bR> <div> From the introduction:</div> <bR> <div> The Vietnam War, like all wars, is not over.  Farmers in Vietnam are still getting their hands blown off by bombs, their children are playing in fields that are still sewn with death, and the ghostly presence of chemical warfare still kills and deforms people.  The clear and devastatingly graceful poems of Vietnamese American poet Teresa Mei Chuc tell these stories and others, most of them haunted by the endless ripples of the violence of war.  </div> <bR> <div> Yes, there is violence here, devastation, but these stories are told by a tremendously gifted writer who is acutely aware of the beauty of the world and still strong enough to not look away from the vicious insanity of war. It takes great strength to be calm and completely aware, awake, to try to prevent the pathological somnambulists from destroying everything and yet not become bitter and morose.  Teresa Mei Chuc has that strength and combined with a graceful lyrical sense she has created poems of real beauty and terror, a significant achievement.</div> <bR> <div> Teresa Mei Chuc has crafted a wonderful book of poems in <I>Keeper of the Winds,</I> on one hand a passionate indictment of war and on the other a lyrical celebration of the whole world.  She is a writer to watch.</div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> Rick Kearns</div> <div> March 27, 2014</div> <bR> <div> From the book:</div> <bR> <div> <B>Depleted Uranium</B></div> <bR> <div> The water runs</div> <div> a neon color</div> <div> in the village.</div> <bR> <div> All the villagers</div> <div> know why</div> <div> the babies</div> <bR> <div> are born dead</div> <div> and deformed.</div> <bR> <div> Others say</div> <div> there is no</div> <div> proof it was</div> <div> the war.</div> <bR> <div> Sometimes</div> <div> truth can</div> <div> only be</div> <div> understood:</div> <bR> <div> the father carries</div> <div> the little body</div> <div> wrapped in a</div> <div> blanket.</div> <div> She will be buried</div> <div> with a wooden</div> <div> grave marker,</div> <div> her name</div> <div> inscribed</div> <div> with a knife.</div> <bR> <div> There are coffins</div> <div> that are only</div> <div> six inches long.</div> <bR> <div> If you place</div> <div> your hand</div> <div> inside,</div> <div> it will fit.</div> <bR> <bR> <div> <B>Self As Kintsukuroi Art</B></div> <bR> <div> I tell myself</div> <div> what I could</div> <div> not before:</div> <div> I am gold as sun</div> <div> as daffodil petals</div> <div> and dandelion flowers</div> <bR> <div> gold as rivers</div> <div> that run along</div> <div> the sides of this</div> <div> pottery sealing</div> <div> illuminating</div> <div> its brokenness</div> <bR> <div> in the coming</div> <div> into myself again</div> <div> I let the</div> <div> fractures in my heart</div> <div> be cracks through</div> <div> which light shines</div> <bR> <bR> <div> <B>About the Author</B></div> <bR> <div> Teresa Mei Chuc was born in Saigon, Vietnam, shortly after the horrendous war that bombed her people and her homeland. She and her family survived, although her parents were separated for a long time. Chuc, her brother, and their mother escaped Vietnam in a ship crowded with hungry, sick, and frightened immigrants. Under political asylum, they settled in California, where eventually they were reunited with her father, who had spent nine years in a Vietcong "re-education" camp.</div> <bR> <div> Chuc writes about war and her personal and family history. Out of her personal history, beyond her cultural heritage, and apart from her family, Chuc finds her own individuality in her poems.</div> <bR> <div> Nominated for a Pushcart Prize for "Truth is Black Rubber," a section of poems from <I>Red Thread</I>, Teresa Mei Chuc is a graduate of the Masters in Fine Arts in Creative Writing program at Goddard College in Plainfield, Vermont, and teaches literature and writing at a public school. Her poems appear in journals including <I>EarthSpeak Magazine</I>, <I>Hawai'i Pacific Review, Kyoto Journal, The National Poetry Review</I>, <I>Rattle</I>, and Verse Daily. Chuc is the founder and editor-in-chief of Shabda Press. She lives with her three sons in Southern California. Visit Teresa Mei Chuc at <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#0000FF" FACE="Garamond" ><A HREF="http://www.tue-wai.com" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.tue-wai.com"><U><U>www.tue-wai.com</U></U></A></FONT></div> <bR> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="394f4770.jpg" border=0 width="500" height="375" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <bR> <bR> <div> <I>Keeper of the Winds</I></div> <bR> <div> is a 52 page hand-sewn paperbook with spine - $14.00. </div> <bR> <bR> <div> <B>TO ORDER:</B></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id11.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Ordering By Mail"><U><B>To order through mail click here.  </B></U></A><B>   </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>ON-LINE          </B><B> </B><B>                              </B></div> <bR> <div> From the US      <B> <form target="paypal" action="https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr" method="post"> <input type="image" src="https://www.paypal.com/en_US/i/btn/sc-but-01.gif" border="0" name="submit" alt="Make payments with PayPal - it's fast, free and secure!"> <input type="hidden" name="add" value="1"> <input type="hidden" name="cmd" value="_cart"> <input type="hidden" name="business" value="fhp@foothillspublishing.com"> <input type="hidden" name="item_name" value="Keeper of the Winds"> <input type="hidden" name="item_number" value="14-13"> <input type="hidden" name="amount" value="14.00"> <input type="hidden" name="currency_code" value="USD"> </form>  </B></div> <bR> <div> From Canada      <B> <form target="paypal" action="https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr" method="post"> <input type="image" src="https://www.paypal.com/en_US/i/btn/sc-but-01.gif" border="0" name="submit" alt="Make payments with PayPal - it's fast, free and secure!"> <input type="hidden" name="add" value="1"> <input type="hidden" name="cmd" value="_cart"> <input type="hidden" name="business" value="fhp@foothillspublishing.com"> <input type="hidden" name="item_name" value="Keeper of the Winds"> <input type="hidden" name="item_number" value="14-13"> <input type="hidden" name="amount" value="14.00"> <input type="hidden" name="shipping" value="4.00"> <input type="hidden" name="currency_code" value="USD"> </form>  </B></div> <bR> <div> From Other Countries           <B> <form target="paypal" action="https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr" method="post"> <input type="image" src="https://www.paypal.com/en_US/i/btn/sc-but-01.gif" border="0" name="submit" alt="Make payments with PayPal - it's fast, free and secure!"> <input type="hidden" name="add" value="1"> <input type="hidden" name="cmd" value="_cart"> <input type="hidden" name="business" value="fhp@foothillspublishing.com"> <input type="hidden" name="item_name" value="Keeper of the Winds"> <input type="hidden" name="item_number" value="14-13"> <input type="hidden" name="amount" value="14.00"> <input type="hidden" name="shipping" value="7.00"> <input type="hidden" name="currency_code" value="USD"> </form>  </B></div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>