Poetry, CDs and Ceramics
Jerry Gordon tells KS about
an alternative Kansai experience
 I
came to Osaka for five years and it's been the longest five years
I've ever known. At this point, it has stretched to a little over
10 years. After spending my first summer literally lost in Osaka,
I was lucky enough to meet a group of writers, dancers, artists
and whatnot centered in Tennoji. Many of them have left Japan, but
relationships still underlie much of what I do. Rather than institutions,
relation- ships weave the foundation of an underground community.
 Kansai
Poets Vol. 1 is my latest thing. It's a 44 track CD of six Kansai
area expatri-ate writers — Jonathan Crewe, Andy Moat, Duro
Jaiye, Robin Gunkel, Michael Salovaara and Daniel Marlin. The project
started last spring. I was on a bus heading to Voice Box —
a monthly poetry reading hosted by Charles Billard - and talking
with Jonathan Crewe.
As the engine rumbled beneath us and we jabbered about the realities
of poetry publishing, the idea for the spoken word CD sprang up.
I was interested in doing some-thing with sound and had long felt
it would be good to capture some of the voices that pass through
Osaka. So many good writers appear in town, say a few words and
then vanish like ghosts. I wanted to grab some of their syllables
as proof of their ephemeral presence.
And, so it happened. Six writers active in the Osaka area kindly
spoke into my Sony condenser mic. I edited them on my computer,
put together the cover, and here we are with another product available
for ¥1000. The world is made new, one corner at a time.
I say that Kansai Poets Vol. 1 started last spring on that Mukonoso
bus, but that's only half right. It also started in 1998, when I
began working with Michael Salovaara to put out F-magazine.
F was Michael's brainchild and had as its motto, "F's just
not that kind of magazine." And it always was not. An experiment
in publishing on the cheap, it was a little, underground magazine
of creative words and images based in Osaka, all done primarily
to see if we could. We put out five issues, with the sixth issue
— F-ate — not surviving its time hanging on the cross
of printing. Shouganai. We sewed its lips closed and buried its
tiny body in an unmarked grave near Osaka castle.
Continuing my love of the letter F, a couple years ago I put out
Fully Formed Failure, a spoken word hour of my own poetry on CD.
In a parallel reality, two years ago I staged Black Moon, a one-day
exhibition of my ceramics held in a retired JR train tunnel in Hyogo.
Lit only by candle-powered lanterns, the darkness and cavey quiet
reoriented how viewers experienced the 80 cups and bowls displayed.
Last year, another exhibition was held. Organized with Gareth Jones,
the second event involved eight artists from five countries doing
works focused on the tunnel itself, and also included poets and
improvi-sed PlinkPlonk music.
Things continue to come up. In December, I'll be singing in the
chorus of an English noh play of Robert Frost's poem The Hired Man,
created and directed by long-time Kyoto-ite and noh dancer John
McAteer.
There are spaces all around us — often times temporary, illegitimate
and overlooked — where art and freedom can find shape. If we
can see them, it only takes a subtle balance of very little and
an enormous amount to do something.
CDs can be bought, questions answered and info
about future events provided by contacting Jerry Gordon at threecorneredmoon@mail2moon.com
MoontriangleL: http://moontriangle.blogspot.com/
Text & photos: Jerry Gordon
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