Kuwentuhan (Talkstory) Opening Reading: April 21, 2016

Steve Dickison introduces the weekend-long Kuwentuhan (Talkstory) residency and fuller project. He then introduces Arlene Biala, who remarks on the meaning of Kuwentuhan and reads "for kai (at 20 weeks inside me)." Barbara Jane Reyes discusses how the project came to be and her own experience of writing the personal. She reads "To Pray to the Goddess of Lost Things. " Javier Huerta remarks on Reyes' support of his early work and reads "American Copia," from American Copia: An Immigrant Epic (Arte Publico, 2012). Lehua Taitano remarks on her being from Guam and the general lack of Chamorro writers. She then reads a quote from Theodore Roosevelt followed by her poem "Hyphenation" from A Bell Made of Stones (TinFish Press, 2013) and an excerpt from a series called "Maps." Urayo?n Noel reads "My Burning Hemisphere" from Buzzing Hemisphere/Rumor Hemisferico (The University of Arizona Press, 2015). He remarks on epilepsy and then reads "Solneto/Sunnet, Syllabic Staircase Sonnet." Angela Narciso Torres speaks of homeland and displacement and reads "Lucky" and "Soap" from Blood Orange (Aquarius Press, 2013). Aimee Suzara remarks on the personal and the political and reads "Sometimes We Would Find Bones" and "Tiny Fires" from Souvenir (WordTech Editions, 2014).

Following the readings and in response to questions from the audience, Reyes discusses the improvisational nature of Kuwentuhan and the origins of the project. Torres speaks of her experience of "making kuwento" in the Philippines with her girlfriends. Suzara speaks of her poem "Tiny Fires" and a parallel between the resilience of butterflies and of Filipinos. The poets discuss how they work native or second languages into their poetry, and the importance of representing one's culture. They speak to the vulnerability involved in writing personal narratives, and to the potential for poetry as a therapeutic medium.