Comments on: Review: CHA: AN ASIAN LITERARY JOURNAL, ISSUE 12

By: Henry

Henry — Sat, 13 Nov 2010 05:09:06 +0000

Thanks all for the comments and the response on Cha’s blog. It was a pleasure to write about these poems; I’m glad the review’s being received well. I’ve tried my best to show what your poems can offer on multiple reads, and distinguish rather than merely praise, diagnose rather than merely condemn. I hope my comments were helpful in some way.

@Yamabuki: I appreciate your candid response. All poets love language in its various densities and flavors, pompous or otherwise. You and I might simply come from different schools of thought. If you’d like to debate diction, style, method, etc in writing, feel free to email me at

leung.wx [at] gmail [dot] com

and I’ll be glad to discuss further.

By: Helle

Helle — Thu, 11 Nov 2010 22:23:17 +0000

To Henry–thank you for pointing out the mistake in my poem. I believe I visited both the Mogao and the Bezeklik caves and mixed them up in my head, despite my efforts to be careful. I will fix it!

-Helle (an ignorant tourist)

By: Phill Provance

Phill Provance — Thu, 11 Nov 2010 17:24:15 +0000

Henry,

What an astute appraisal of this issue. Also, thank you kindly for your insightful commentary on and praise of my work.

Sincerely,
Phill Provance

By: Asian Cha

Asian Cha — Thu, 11 Nov 2010 17:17:36 +0000

Thank you, Henry and Lantern Review, for reading Cha so attentively and sharing your thoughts with us. We have written a brief response: http://is.gd/gW9Oz

By: Yamabuki Zhou

Yamabuki Zhou — Thu, 11 Nov 2010 15:01:34 +0000

Rather an interesting
And thoughtful review
Of the poetic depths
Of Cha, issue 12.
Still, the reviewer
Seems in my opinion
Overly analytical
In his approach

More disturbing to me
Is his use of arcane words
Such as:

abstruse
vernacular
colloquial
neologism
anfractuous
quondam
vituperation
vivifies
prolix
execrates
heuristic
inapposite
linguistically
dialectically
diglossic
supererogatory
vivacity
susurrus
periphrastic

One or two would be fine
But why so many
Sprinkled throughout
Not that they are used
Incorrectly
Or inappropriately
But rather they are jarring
And even pompous
And interfere
With the clarity
Of his writing

Still, I appreciate his effort
His depth of knowledge
His critical understanding
His writing ability
His point of view
His positive review
Of our beloved Cha

yamabuki