I’m astounded by how far my poems have taken me, both figuratively and literally—few places as remarkable and unique as Macau.
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I feel so blessed to have been a featured author at The Script Road: Macau International Literary Festival. I’ve never been a part of a literature festival with such robust and ambitious accommodations for attendees from varied linguistic homes, everything live translated in Cantonese, Mandarin, Portuguese, and English.
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It’s still hard for me to process how someone can live translate both extemporaneous dialogue and then the complex language of a poem.
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There is a very particular kind of transcendent connection you witness take shape as the faces of audience members, speakers of different languages but listening to your poem, all open up, smile and gasp and cheer, but 2-3 seconds delayed. Whew.
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And, lastly, of course, the city Macau: one of the most beautiful, delightfully strange, and singular places I’ve ever seen.
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May the poems continue to take us beyond the bounds of our own imaginations.
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(Official festival photos by Eloi Scarva)
