Red Door Magazine 35
IN THIS ISSUE: RESONANS A FRINGE OF NATURE & CULTURE in celebration of our sweeeet 15! POETRY by Russell Sage Elmaz Abinader Stephen Grant Patrick Horner Isaac Essex Christopher Menezes Clela Reed Featured artist KARSTEN GARNER THE RESONANCE WITHIN Anthology of Latin American voices on Red Press Featuring: Margarita Drago, Mónica González Velázquez, Lalo Barrubia, Ángela García and Pita Ochoa. THE RED TRANSMISSIONS PODCAST is turning 5! WALES PEN Cymru Anniversary event BIOGRAPHY OF A BODY Biografia de un cuerpo Lalo Barrubia and more!
IN THIS ISSUE:
RESONANS
A FRINGE OF NATURE & CULTURE
in celebration of our sweeeet 15!
POETRY
by Russell Sage
Elmaz Abinader
Stephen Grant
Patrick Horner
Isaac Essex
Christopher Menezes
Clela Reed
Featured artist
KARSTEN GARNER
THE RESONANCE WITHIN
Anthology of Latin American voices
on Red Press
Featuring:
Margarita Drago, Mónica González Velázquez, Lalo Barrubia, Ángela García and Pita Ochoa.
THE RED TRANSMISSIONS PODCAST
is turning 5!
WALES PEN Cymru
Anniversary event
BIOGRAPHY OF A BODY
Biografia de un cuerpo
Lalo Barrubia
and more!
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RED DOOR<br />
TRANSMISSIONS<br />
FEATURING KARSTEN GARNER<br />
SPRING 2024<br />
REDDOORMAGAZINE.COM<br />
01
RED<br />
34-<strong>35</strong><br />
WALES PEN Cymru<br />
Anniversary event,<br />
LONDON<br />
BIOGRAFIA DE UN<br />
CUERPO / BIOGRAPHY<br />
OF A BODY<br />
LALO BARRUBIA<br />
36-37<br />
02<br />
08-09<br />
<strong>Red</strong> <strong>Door</strong> turns 15 and<br />
to celebrate, we’re<br />
throwing our very own<br />
FRINGE OF NATURE &<br />
CULTURE!
40-41<br />
THE RESONANCE<br />
WITHIN<br />
An anthology of Latin<br />
American Women<br />
voices in poetry, in<br />
collaboration with<br />
Versopolis<br />
33<br />
THE RED<br />
TRANSMISSIONS<br />
PODCAST<br />
is turning 5!<br />
38<br />
The POETIC<br />
PHONOTHEQUE<br />
Now in Wales,<br />
Sweden,<br />
Finland,<br />
Denmark<br />
and a screen<br />
near you!<br />
17-25<br />
RED DOOR 34:<br />
Celebrating the work<br />
of KARSTEN GARNER<br />
03
Founder & Director:<br />
Elizabeth Torres<br />
(Madam Neverstop)<br />
www.madamneverstop.com<br />
Poetry Editor:<br />
Pablo Saborío<br />
Correspondents:<br />
Melaine Knight<br />
The Neon Rebel<br />
Australia<br />
Tanya Cosio,<br />
Mexico<br />
Brandon Davis,<br />
Germany / DK<br />
Mario Z.Puglisi<br />
Mexico<br />
Collaborators:<br />
Patrick Horner<br />
Nature & Culture<br />
International Poetry Film<br />
co-director<br />
Denmark / Canada<br />
Miller Almario<br />
<strong>Red</strong> Visions<br />
Colombia<br />
Dominic Williams<br />
Write 4 Word<br />
Wales<br />
Kultivera<br />
Sweden<br />
Kirjan Talo<br />
Finland<br />
Cover & featured art by<br />
KARSTEN GARNER<br />
TABLE OF CONTENTS:<br />
RESONANS<br />
A FRINGE OF NATURE & CULTURE<br />
in celebration of our sweeeet 15! -------pgs. 08-09<br />
POETRY ---------------------------------------------pgs. 10-16<br />
by<br />
Kris Nesbitt<br />
Elmaz Abinader<br />
Stephen Grant<br />
Patrick Horner<br />
Isaac Essex<br />
Christopher Menezes<br />
Clela Reed<br />
Featured artist<br />
KARSTEN GARNER --------------------------- pgs. 17-25<br />
THE RESONANCE WITHIN<br />
Anthology of Latin American voices<br />
on <strong>Red</strong> Press -------------------------------------- pgs. 26-32<br />
Featuring:<br />
Margarita Drago, Mónica González Velázquez,<br />
Lalo Barrubia, Ángela García and Pita Ochoa.<br />
THE RED TRANSMISSIONS PODCAST<br />
is turning 5! ----------------------------------------------pg. 33<br />
WALES PEN Cymru<br />
Anniversary event ------------------------------pgs. 34-<strong>35</strong><br />
BIOGRAPHY OF A BODY -------------------- pgs. 36-37<br />
Biografia de un cuerpo<br />
Lalo Barrubia<br />
...and more!<br />
Welcome to the beginning<br />
of our 15th year.<br />
Oh, who woulda thought we’d get here.<br />
Baby, look at us.<br />
RED DOOR MAGAZINE #<strong>35</strong><br />
SPRING, 2024<br />
<strong>Red</strong> Press, Copenhagen<br />
ISBN: 978-87-94003-24-7<br />
www.reddoormagazine.com<br />
All rights reserved to the<br />
corresponding authors.<br />
04
SUBMIT CONTENT to<br />
RED DOOR MAGAZINE:<br />
<strong>Red</strong> <strong>Door</strong> <strong>Magazine</strong> releases digital & printed issues<br />
quarterly with an emphasis on visual art and poetry.<br />
This includes multimedia art, artistic research, essays<br />
on projects, reports on festivals and activism, as well<br />
as relevant media articles and documentation of the<br />
activities by you and your network.<br />
The magazine always features a poetry selection, prose,<br />
and occasional interviews by established and emerging<br />
artists, plus relevant upcoming events. We’re here to give<br />
you a handful of essential pieces you can digest in one<br />
sitting.<br />
We’re currently seeking visual art, music, film reviews,<br />
travel and media articles, poetry, fiction, and creative<br />
nonfiction. Simultaneous submissions are always ok, but<br />
if you have a piece accepted elsewhere, please let us<br />
know by adding a note to your submission; we’re not<br />
aiming for exclusivity - but relevant, quality content.<br />
Please send your questions to reddoorny@gmail.com<br />
________________________________________<br />
File specifications: Your article may be a maximum of<br />
two pages, and we accept a maximum of 3 poems per<br />
submission. All languages are welcome but please include<br />
English translations. Also include a small biography of up<br />
to 5 lines about you. All this must be included as .doc files<br />
or PDF. All images must be attached as .jpeg images in a<br />
resolution of 1080 x 1080 px or its equivalent in format so<br />
it can be used for print and hi-res for web.<br />
Please note we currently accept poetry submissions only<br />
via our submittable platform:<br />
https://redpress.submittable.com/submit<br />
LEARN MORE AT:<br />
WWW.REDDOORMAGAZINE.COM<br />
GIVE YOUR SUPPORT:<br />
WWW.PATREON.COM/REDDOOR<br />
05
FROM THE DESK OF MADAM NEVERSTOP<br />
THE YEAR OF RED DOOR<br />
The Product IS the Process - The Process IS the Product<br />
06<br />
Madam Neverstop,<br />
Denmark, Spring 2024<br />
To most, 2024 is and will continue to be a year of<br />
turmoil and rising conflicts, geopolitical shifts and<br />
dispair, from the genocide in Gaza and the war in<br />
Ukraine, to the planet’s hottest week on record,<br />
floods, earthquakes and record-breaking wildfires,<br />
not that the records themselves make us winners<br />
at anything, except self-destruction.<br />
To many, 2024 gets to be the year they saw their<br />
very first solar eclipse, the very first trial of a former<br />
US president, or the year they witnessed NATO’s<br />
largest military “collective defense exercises”<br />
since the Cold War.<br />
To some, 2024 will be a year of uncertainty, of<br />
economic confusion, of grief, of hearbreak, of<br />
disillusion, and although these stories don’t often<br />
make the news, it will be a year that is forever<br />
sketched in that mental drawing we carry with us<br />
when we think of the passing of time.<br />
These are not predictions but simple narrations of<br />
what is happening around us as I write this.<br />
Fifteen years ago, immersed in love, a vibrant<br />
poetic community in New York, and plenty of new<br />
dreams, upon the arrival of spring I gathered my<br />
closest collaborators and announced, that <strong>Red</strong><br />
<strong>Door</strong> <strong>Magazine</strong> was no longer just an idea, but<br />
an obsession that somehow needed to manifest<br />
itself, in spite of the lack of funds or experience.<br />
The goal was a first release in the fall of that year.<br />
Although the internet was nothing like it is today,<br />
it felt like an accessible solution to bring our<br />
communities together, in spite of the long physical<br />
distances. From the beginning, <strong>Red</strong> <strong>Door</strong> was an<br />
international endeavour, with collaborators in<br />
Mexico, Colombia, Australia, the US and various<br />
parts of Europe.<br />
Since it wasn’t a physical publication, and I was<br />
just getting started, I first needed to figure out<br />
the logistics and then submerged myself in the<br />
process of re-designing the website every single<br />
time a new issue of the magazine would be<br />
released. That quickly turned out to be extremely<br />
tedious and unnecessary, but it sure was a good<br />
learning step. As it was later on, deciding to rebel<br />
and go to print after all, but we learn as we go.<br />
When people ask about the name, I always have<br />
to share the story:<br />
Walking through the halls of 5-Pointz, Queens,<br />
(now defunct) during one of the artists’ studios<br />
opening weekends, Dave Vanegas (co-founder<br />
of RD) and I, found that one of the doors to the<br />
studios was closed. There was music, incense,<br />
weed, laughter, filtering through the little gaps<br />
between the door and its frame, so we knocked<br />
a few times, and everyone got quiet... then they<br />
laughed even louder, and nobody opened the<br />
door. It was RED. It had an horus eye above it.<br />
Of all the exhibitions and studios we saw during<br />
that weekend, the only thing that sayed, was that<br />
door. The idea of possibility. What would have<br />
happened if we were allowed in? What awaited<br />
us on the other side of this door? Isn’t <strong>Red</strong> <strong>Door</strong>,<br />
precisely about welcoming the unknown?<br />
To us, who are part of <strong>Red</strong> <strong>Door</strong>, which is now more<br />
than just a magazine, but also a gallery, a family,<br />
an international community, 2024 marks the 15th<br />
anniversary of an idea. It marks the solution and<br />
highlights the way, for independent creators<br />
and cultural organizers, to serve as a platform<br />
and as an alternative space for the distribution of<br />
important messages. This, especially whenever<br />
times are most uncertain. There is a freedom in<br />
our independent voice, that is worth its weight in<br />
poetry.<br />
To me, 2024 marks a beginning. It was impossible<br />
to guess, 15 years ago, that <strong>Red</strong> <strong>Door</strong> would take<br />
over my life and show me the way. But now that I<br />
am fully conscious and aware of the power of our<br />
collective efforts, what comes next?<br />
RESONANS: A Fringe of Nature & Culture, is the<br />
official celebration of this anniversary. It is also an<br />
answer beginning to take shape. I envision a more<br />
interdisciplinary delivery of our collaborations.<br />
Hybrid and fluid, poetic, always. I invite you to join<br />
us in Copenhagen this November, so that together,<br />
we can manifest what the future looks like.<br />
Happy year of our quince, dear <strong>Red</strong> <strong>Door</strong> fam.
...To many more!<br />
Thanks to<br />
all the artists,<br />
collaborators,<br />
volunteers.<br />
supporters and<br />
readers.<br />
07
08
esonansfringe.com<br />
Get ready, Copenhagen! This October, the<br />
city is in for an exciting treat – the RESONANS<br />
Fringe Festival! From October 8 to 13, this<br />
new event will bring people together from<br />
across the globe to connect through art,<br />
science, and sustainability.<br />
Created in celebration of <strong>Red</strong> <strong>Door</strong><br />
<strong>Magazine</strong>’s 15th anniversary, this festival<br />
brings together the Nature & Culture -<br />
International Poetry Film Festival Screenings,<br />
an ecological anthology release, concerts,<br />
exhibitions, and collaborations with Nordic,<br />
US and Latin American partners.<br />
At RESONANS, we believe in the power of<br />
creative collaboration to spark important<br />
conversations about our planet. Picture<br />
digital art installations, film screenings,<br />
poetry performances, and panel discussions<br />
all exploring environmental issues in fresh<br />
and engaging ways.<br />
What makes RESONANS special is its focus<br />
on bringing different voices and perspectives<br />
together. Local artists, Nordic partners, and<br />
international talents will come together to<br />
create a diverse and inclusive program.<br />
Through art and science, we’ll explore what<br />
sustainability means for us all.<br />
But RESONANS isn’t just about the events –<br />
it’s about the connections we make and the<br />
conversations we have. Whether you’re an<br />
artist, a scientist, or just someone who cares<br />
about the world we live in, RESONANS is your<br />
chance to be part of a global community<br />
working towards a better future.<br />
09
POETRY<br />
A Kiss is a Loving Headbutt<br />
hagiographic sympathies<br />
emotional instruction windfall<br />
victim prowling dissolute euphoria<br />
morose inclinations implicates lurid evidence<br />
dreams die by attainment<br />
twist the fabric of reality wring out what<br />
fervor over reason<br />
civility anchors strategic silence<br />
leverage the instinct for reciprocity<br />
locus astride disintegrated perspective<br />
laidless<br />
sexual and ominous<br />
a burden long with the universe<br />
its only a whole life<br />
being right is not not being wrong<br />
ideological hitchhikers peddle sectarian paths<br />
opportunity costs tragedy<br />
abundance isnt enough<br />
hostage worth ransom<br />
admonition against levity<br />
allies in alleys<br />
dose for does<br />
worse angels<br />
wanting to be forged and not clay<br />
010<br />
A 2019 graduate from Russell Sage in Writing and Contemporary Thought, Kris Nesbitt lives in<br />
a small New York village. Recently published by Indelible Lit, Wayne Literary Review & Wingless<br />
Dreamer. Forthcoming publication in From Whispers to Roars.
Trying to keep hopes low<br />
because the city is composed of organs, each wall<br />
retracing tracks of frantic entry and flight<br />
because every cinderblock<br />
is a casting of a heart<br />
blackened by history stacked to render<br />
makeshift schools and border walls<br />
because each grove was seeded with skin cells<br />
a new growth, undetectable by the machine<br />
that unearthed the trees, ripped them like loose threads<br />
discarding their bones<br />
The effort began after a sniffer dog named Flash signaled<br />
to his Chilean search and rescue team<br />
that someone might be alive under the concrete<br />
and debris in the neighborhood of Mar Mikhael.<br />
Searchers said their sensors have confirmed the<br />
presence of a body<br />
…what they believe could be a weak human pulse.<br />
Edward Bitar, a member of NGO Live Love Lebanon said<br />
“We are trying to keep hopes low. If someone is found,<br />
it would be a miracle”.<br />
Organs float too, jellyfish and octopus ride<br />
when the electricity is cut in Gaza and the children<br />
turn side gaze, fish eye, to the road split in two<br />
by the sewage filling<br />
the streets a channel to the sea<br />
These trackers cannot truly believe these are the only<br />
lives underground<br />
somewhere between the nightclubs<br />
and the sea,<br />
martyrs echo in tunnels,<br />
subterranean<br />
anthems reminding them that holidays, even joyful ones<br />
remember crucifixion, loss, homelessness.<br />
they should remember jenin and skin shredded in<br />
digging<br />
beneath the fallen buildings the lifelines<br />
charcoaled with mud voices were heard<br />
all the time, every day, until the unreachable<br />
grew silent.<br />
a month after the explosion, the dog tells the team<br />
to listen<br />
a breathing cycle detected, a morse code of 18<br />
inhales, 18 exhales, weak<br />
a child, they believe, singing the dust of<br />
drywall and concrete.<br />
And for a moment it is quiet in a way Beirut<br />
never is<br />
we want the miracle. keeping hopes low<br />
is what we always do<br />
and the buried child is not ready to part,<br />
signals the dog in a secret language resisting<br />
this final burial.<br />
Elmaz Abinader is an Arab American poet, memoirist, and fiction writer. She has<br />
published two award-winning poetry books, and a memoir. She is the co-founder of<br />
VONA, the Voices of our Nations Arts Foundation offering workshops for writers of color<br />
since 1999. Elmaz lives in the Bay Area.<br />
011
POETRY<br />
Afternoon Idyll<br />
I have nothing to change my perspective,<br />
mere skeins of words. Only chance and<br />
daring remain while the talk of our lives<br />
fades into black velvet. It is fixed on the<br />
end of a pier, dangling a verbal toe into<br />
water of imperceptible coherence, halting<br />
the shrill and the fury. The sea laps onto the<br />
rocky shore, a carousel of laughter, a<br />
playground of mirth. Crossing the truss<br />
bridge for the last time at 5 a.m., the future<br />
found north and never reverted to its old<br />
ways. All that is left is an oil-slick<br />
on a rainbowed creek, sweet hues of indigo<br />
and green pastel muddling together<br />
and finding each other, touching like<br />
a faint zephyr on a rosy cheek. We take<br />
the sonority for granted. Softly dazzled,<br />
sun-proofed souls evaporate like mist,<br />
quenching the unquenchable, taking calm<br />
from here, comfort from there. We hit<br />
our stride through elegant legato, bassoons<br />
lowing in the distance, from which comes<br />
clarity of vision. But rationality offers itself<br />
at too great a cost, too steep a price.<br />
Stephen Grant is a Canadian writer and poet, trying to source the sweet spot between love and<br />
sorrow. His most recent work can be found in In Parentheses, magazine and website.<br />
012
Excerpt from Rituals and Antidotes<br />
They hold it in their hands.<br />
Lines of light green converge in<br />
the centre of the leaf like paths<br />
towards the centre of a garden.<br />
A vascular system dividing space<br />
into section. The edges of the leaf<br />
rise and drop like small waves<br />
across shallow water. A structure<br />
that feeds on light. When you do<br />
not listen to the whispers, they<br />
crawl inside you and find a home<br />
in your flesh, like caterpillars<br />
on a leaf. Feed on tissue and<br />
eventually burrows into bone.<br />
Patrick Horner is a Canadian poet and engineer living in Copenhagen, Denmark, where he<br />
works to develop new water treatment technology. He co-wrote and co-produced Waste Dump,<br />
a serial radio play, and his poetry and fiction have been published in magazines and journals in<br />
Canada and the USA. He is co-director of Nature & Culture: International Poetry Film Festival.<br />
Refugia, University of Calgary Press 2022, is his first book of poetry.<br />
013
POETRY<br />
Sentinels<br />
after Wangechi Mutu<br />
They are standing amid an air of water slowly moving against brass. Assembled into<br />
a two legged stance, from this we assume human. In some ways they might be called<br />
woman. But what, really, does this offer of such a body. A defiant composition, their<br />
presence exceeds what is known from naming. Strengthening the sense of embodied<br />
change. Tones of skin and earth entangling, the blooming of an earth-being. They<br />
de-cohere the body, those gazing upon a reflected kind of self. Their brushing with<br />
soft light shows contours, facading what this space brings by design: a fantasy of<br />
becoming. They are adorned. A jewelling directs sites of looking. The feet, or place of<br />
grounding. The limbs, or sites of strength. The face, or, rather, where the gazing eye<br />
feels the need to focus. Ephemeral gathering around points of contact for what makes<br />
a body. They hold an implement for crafting, crafted, of crafting, this reading assuming<br />
what the body is made for. It trails across the page, or plinth, the staging inviting the<br />
viewer to presume. What stages this making of flesh; when might difference forbode.<br />
And who is the agent of this looking? We are only in this standing, this looking, for a<br />
little while.<br />
Isaac Essex is a trans poet living in Providence, Rhode Island after stints in Philadelphia, London,<br />
and Nebraska.<br />
014
Where Their Minds Go<br />
Russian writers in Stalin’s time<br />
chose manual jobs—window washing,<br />
street sweeping—so their minds<br />
could be free to conjure<br />
the forbidden fiction and poetry<br />
they would pen at midnight.<br />
Ticket-takers scan, punch, or tear off<br />
stubs one after another after another<br />
with mindless automation,<br />
museum attendants rock on their heels,<br />
look straight ahead, eyes moving<br />
from corner to corner across<br />
polished hardwood floors.<br />
And everywhere, laboring hands—<br />
warehouse workers feeding boxes<br />
to conveyor belts or forklifts,<br />
farmers in their fields of green routine—<br />
all dismiss attentive focus.<br />
Imagine their imaginings, freed from time<br />
and tedium, swirling ascensions<br />
of energy, shades of blue and gold<br />
(think Chagall or Van Gogh)<br />
that charge the air all around,<br />
so that a passerby may feel a shiver,<br />
another, solve a nagging problem,<br />
and a third—caught in eddies<br />
of creative churning [sparks and snaps]—<br />
birth opening notes of a symphony.<br />
Clela Reed is the author of seven collections of poetry. Recently Silk (Evening Street Press,<br />
2019) won the Helen Kay Chapbook Prize and then the 2020 Georgia Author of the Year in<br />
chapbook competition. A Pushcart Prize nominee, former English teacher, and Peace Corps<br />
volunteer (Romania), she has had poetry published in many journals and anthologies. She lives<br />
and writes with her husband in their woodland home near Athens, Georgia.<br />
015
POETRY<br />
MIX FOR GETTING THROUGH THE FIRST FEW YEARS OF MARRIAGE,<br />
TRAUMATIZED FROM CANCER AND UNABLE TO HAVE CHILDREN,<br />
PARKED IN THE DRIVEWAY,<br />
SITTING ALONE AND LISTENING TO MUSIC<br />
1. “World Turn,” by Copeland—<br />
The waves kept crashing<br />
and quiet washed over us.<br />
2. “Palace,” by The Antlers—<br />
We were lighter when we thought<br />
like kids<br />
before we learned to disconnect<br />
and hide within.<br />
3. “33 ‘GOD,’” by Bon Iver—<br />
This is how we grow now.<br />
4. “Onaroll,” by Jeremy Enigk—<br />
Imagine, darling,<br />
if blue skies availed.<br />
5. “Clearing Life,” by The Appleseed Cast—<br />
Everyone is reaching in,<br />
reach out.<br />
6. “Stillness is the Move,” by Dirty<br />
Projectors—<br />
Isn’t life just a mirage of the world<br />
before,<br />
a great longing for a higher<br />
mountain?<br />
7. “Like Myself,” by You Blew It!—<br />
The poison I exhale<br />
fills the room around me.<br />
8. “An Introduction to the Album,” by The<br />
Hotelier—<br />
I searched for a way out<br />
but I choked.<br />
9. “The Artic Cat,” by The Gloria Record—<br />
In all the uncertainties,<br />
certainly, you will be loved.<br />
10. “Third of May/ Ōdaigahara,” by Fleet<br />
Foxes—<br />
Night ended the fight, but the song<br />
remained,<br />
like castaways crowded together on<br />
the sand.<br />
11. “Big Empty,” by Stone Temple Pilots—<br />
We waited too long and fell further<br />
from what we are.<br />
12. “Total Entertainment Forever,” by<br />
Father John Misty—<br />
Someone is living my life for me.<br />
13. “Soul to Squeeze,” by The <strong>Red</strong> Hot Chili<br />
Peppers—<br />
My angels have turned into demons<br />
of greed.<br />
14. “Death of a Disco Dancer,” by The<br />
Smiths—<br />
Love, peace and harmony?<br />
Maybe in the next world.<br />
15. “The Cure of Death,” by The Pains of<br />
Being Pure at Heart—<br />
When you’ve lost more than you’ll<br />
ever know<br />
nothing will be so clear.<br />
16. “So Now What,” by The Shins—<br />
I guess we’ll just begin again.<br />
17. “Blue Beard,” by Band of Horses—<br />
Gonna roll the dice in this grand<br />
illusion,<br />
drink with you in neon glow.<br />
18. “Með suð í eyrum,” by Sigur Rós—<br />
With bloody hands<br />
we’ll beat our drums.<br />
19. “Gagging Order,” by Radiohead—<br />
Move along, there’s nothing left to<br />
see,<br />
just a body.<br />
20. “Road to nowhere,” by Talking Heads—<br />
Let’s take that ride.<br />
21. “Slower,” By Mineral—<br />
It’s best not to understand the<br />
reasons why.<br />
016<br />
Christopher Menezes holds a BA in creative writing from California State University, Long Beach, and an<br />
MFA in poetry from Converse College. His work has appeared in literary publications like Switchback,<br />
RipRap, Rockvale Review, Gold Man Review, Untenured, Foliate Oak, Buck Off <strong>Magazine</strong>, and others.
017
FEATURED ARTIST<br />
KARSTEN GARNER<br />
Exhibiting at <strong>Red</strong> <strong>Door</strong> Gallery May 17 - June 1st.<br />
Opening May 17 at 5pm<br />
<strong>Red</strong> <strong>Door</strong> Gallery, Møllegade 23a kld, 2200 KBH N, Denmark<br />
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Karsten Garner, born in 1975 and<br />
based in Hvalsø, Denmark, is a<br />
multifaceted artist whose creative<br />
pursuits transcend the boundaries<br />
of visual and auditory expression.<br />
Educated and actively engaged as<br />
both an art and music teacher, Garner’s<br />
work embodies a harmonious fusion<br />
of two distinct yet interconnected<br />
disciplines.<br />
In his paintings, Garner ventures into<br />
the captivating realm between the<br />
abstract and the figurative, weaving<br />
together vibrant colors, intricate<br />
interior landscapes, and fantastical<br />
architectures. Garner’s artistic vision<br />
is deeply influenced by his extensive<br />
experience as a musician, having<br />
played the drums in a diverse array of<br />
bands spanning various genres. As a<br />
drummer, Garner has lent his talents<br />
to numerous bands across a diverse<br />
array of genres, from the experimental<br />
sounds of AutomatAutomat or<br />
SPEkTR to the african grooves of<br />
WhoAreYouPeople and the balkan<br />
rhythms of Umti Orkestar, Calamari<br />
Dancers and Balkanholdet, among<br />
others. His musical experiences enrich<br />
his visual art, infusing it with a sense of<br />
movement and fluidity that captivates<br />
the senses and transports viewers to<br />
new realms of possibility.<br />
Through his exhibitions and<br />
performances, Garner invites<br />
audiences to embark on a journey<br />
of discovery, where the boundaries<br />
between art and music blur and the<br />
creative spirit soars. With each stroke of<br />
the brush and beat of the drum, Garner<br />
invites us to embrace the beauty of the<br />
unknown and celebrate the endless<br />
possibilities of artistic expression.<br />
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RED PRESS PRESENTS<br />
“The Resonance Within” (La resonancia interna) emerges as a pivotal<br />
anthology that encapsulates the profound narratives of five Latin American<br />
women, whose voices interlace to form a strong poetry collection rich in<br />
testimony and resilience. Through the evocative medium of poetry, Ángela<br />
García, Margarita Drago, Mónica González Velázquez, Lalo Barrubia, and Pita<br />
Ochoa, extend an invitation into their worlds — worlds marked by the indelible<br />
scars of displacement and war, the pervasive specter of femicide, and the<br />
harrowing experiences of political imprisonment. Yet, within these pages, the<br />
reader discovers not only the portrayal of struggle and affliction but also a<br />
resilient undercurrent of hope, courage, and an unwavering spirit of resistance.<br />
Each poet, with her unique voice and perspective, contributes to a collective<br />
narrative that speaks volumes about the complexities of agency, identity, and<br />
survival in the face of adversity.<br />
Translated Elizabeth Torres, “The Resonance Within” serves as a bridge across<br />
cultures and languages, ensuring that the poignant messages of these poets<br />
reach a broader audience. This book is the second of a poetry collection<br />
released by <strong>Red</strong> Press in collaboration with Versopolis, with the support of<br />
Creative Europe.<br />
“The Resonance Within” is an essential read for those who seek to understand<br />
the nuances of Latin American struggles through the intimate and transformative<br />
lens of poetry. It is a book that resonates with the voices of its authors, inviting<br />
readers to listen, reflect, and find their own resonance within its pages.<br />
The Resonance Within // La resonancia interna<br />
Released by <strong>Red</strong> Press in Denmark, March 2024<br />
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RED PRESS<br />
LALO<br />
BARRUBIA<br />
There is no homeland<br />
the delimited territory<br />
where you were born<br />
is called paisito<br />
or this country or this<br />
country of shit<br />
shitty country<br />
you don’t come from anywhere<br />
uruguay / hawaii / kuwait<br />
are concepts that nobody knows<br />
with certainty what they mean<br />
No hay una tierra natal<br />
al territorio delimitado<br />
en el que naciste<br />
se lo llama paisito<br />
o este país o este<br />
país de mierda<br />
mierda de país<br />
vos no venís de ninguna parte<br />
uruguay / hawai / kuwait<br />
son conceptos que nadie sabe<br />
con seguridad qué significan<br />
Lalo Barrubia (Montevideo, Uruguay, 1967) is a writer, translator and performance artist. She was part of the generation<br />
that stirred up the Uruguayan cultural scene after the fall of the dictatorship in the 1980s.<br />
She has experimented with poetry in different formats and in alternative spaces. She has published several books of<br />
poetry, novels and short stories. Her novel Pegame que me gusta (Montevideo, Trilce, 2009) received the 3rd prize<br />
of the Annual Literature Awards in 2011. And her book of short stories Ratas, was awarded 1st prize in the Annual<br />
Literature Awards of the Ministry of Education and Culture of Uruguay in 2014.<br />
Her work is represented in several anthologies and has participated in festivals and conferences in different parts of<br />
the world.<br />
She has a degree in social work and has worked in various social development programs through culture in the city of<br />
Malmö (Sweden) where she has lived since 2001.<br />
028
PITA<br />
OCHOA<br />
Breath<br />
Stride with fire<br />
bold the cry<br />
flayed the finding<br />
broken infinity<br />
cracked heart<br />
black mirror<br />
estranged I embrace myself.<br />
In my own emptiness<br />
I breathe.<br />
Respiro<br />
Zancada con fuego<br />
atrevido el grito<br />
desollado el hallazgo<br />
roto el infinito<br />
corazón cuarteado<br />
negro espejo<br />
extraña me abrazo.<br />
En mi propia vacío<br />
me respiro.<br />
Poet. Infrarealist without remedy. Hyperabsurdist by conviction. Libertarian by nature. Feminist<br />
by vocation. Lover by pleasure. Historian by necessity. Documentalist by contagion.<br />
I write because it is a way to burn. I do not charge or contest to be a poet.<br />
I continue to be marginalized by my own free will. So I remain just a poet who publishes where<br />
and with whom I have vibes in common. I am in the anthologies of the infras where they are,<br />
and of the Horazerians of Peru. And other subway ones in Mexico and in the world. The official<br />
anthologists and the independent little mafias hate me.<br />
I share poetry on sidewalks, in parks, cafés, bars, canteens, living rooms, bedrooms... And<br />
yes, sometimes, in cultural events and workshops. I have started to create trasmedia works. In<br />
2002, I published a four-handed book, in collaboration, in memory, in celebration of David H.<br />
Rambo. I have written, produced and collaborated on numerous documentaries, educational<br />
and cultural television programs, and advertising.<br />
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MARGARITA<br />
DRAGO<br />
Last battle<br />
When the light of your gaze<br />
blinds the gaze of the jailer’s eye<br />
when the caress of your loving hand<br />
removes the face of wrath<br />
Última batalla<br />
Cuando la luz de tu mirada<br />
ciegue la mirada del ojo carcelero<br />
cuando la caricia de tu mano amante<br />
elimine el rostro de la ira<br />
cuando nuestros cuerpos trenzados en<br />
abrazo<br />
batan el miedo<br />
when our bodies braided in embrace<br />
beat fear<br />
when innocence is stronger<br />
than the claw the fist and the shrapnel<br />
when the celebration of the fruit<br />
prevails over the gall of envy<br />
when the word polished in a silver furnace<br />
prevails over the hostility of the verb<br />
we will have fought the last battle.<br />
cuando la inocencia pueda más<br />
que el zarpazo el puño y la metralla<br />
cuando la celebración del fruto<br />
impere sobre la hiel de la envidia<br />
cuando la palabra pulida en horno de<br />
plata<br />
se imponga sobre la hostilidad del verbo<br />
habremos librado la última batalla.<br />
Margarita Drago (Argentina). PhD, Professor of Spanish American Language and Literature at the City University of New<br />
York, poet and storyteller. Author of Fragmentos de la memoria: Recuerdos de una experiencia carcelaria (1975-1980),<br />
declared of cultural interest by the Honorable Cámara de Diputados de la Nación Argentina, and of the recent expanded<br />
edition Fragmentos de la memoria. My life in two battles.<br />
She has also published the poetry collections Con la memoria al ras de la garganta, Quedó la puerta abierta, Hijas de los<br />
vuelos, Un gato de ojos grandes me mira fijamente, Heme aquí, Con la memoria stretta in gola Sé vuelo, Un cuerpo que<br />
aún palpita, Palabra ardiente, and the academic study Sor María de Jesús Tomelín (1579-1637), concepcionista poblana:<br />
La construcción fallida de una santa (Sister María de Jesús Tomelín (1579-1637), concepcionista poblana: The failed<br />
construction of a saint). She is co-author of Tomamos la palabra: mujeres en la guerra civil de El Salvador (1980-1992). She<br />
has participated in symposiums, poetry festivals and book fairs in the United States, Latin American and Caribbean countries,<br />
Canada and Spain.<br />
030
ÁNGELA<br />
GARCÍA<br />
Haya purpúrea<br />
Purple Beech<br />
Si quieres saber de mis festejos<br />
deja un instante el corazón en vilo.<br />
Sentirías conmigo cuando la raíz<br />
empieza a erguirse en tronco,<br />
y el limo esparce su carboncillo verdebruma<br />
palpando a la vez corteza y aire.<br />
Aunque no lo goce tu vista, sentirías<br />
conmigo<br />
el vehemente ajetreo de los nidos.<br />
Las pupilas eléctricas de las ardillas,<br />
o sus correrías como hilos de agua por mi<br />
tallo.<br />
Quizás te rozaran los pies<br />
conejos perfumados de cilantro y menta.<br />
If you want to know of my feasts<br />
leave your heart in suspense for a while.<br />
You would feel with me when the root<br />
begins to stand upright in trunk,<br />
and the slime spreads its green-brume<br />
charcoal<br />
touching bark and air at the same time.<br />
Even if your sight does not enjoy it,<br />
you would feel with me<br />
the vehement bustle of the nests.<br />
The electric pupils of the squirrels,<br />
or their running like threads of water<br />
down my stem.<br />
Perhaps your feet would be brushed by<br />
rabbits scented with coriander and mint.<br />
Ángela García was born in Medellín (Colombia) in 1957 and lives in Malmö (Sweden). Poet, translator, cultural<br />
manager. Co-founder of the International Poetry Festival in Medellín.<br />
She has published among others: Entre leño y llama (Ed. Prometeo), Rostro de Agua (Ed. Prometeo), Farallón<br />
Constelado/ Sternige Klippe (Ed. Delta), De la fugacidad/ Om flyktigheten (Ed. Aura Latina), Veinte grados de<br />
latitud en tres horas (Ed. Smederevo), Doce poemas sobre el silencio/ Tolv dikter om tystnaden (Ed. Poesía con<br />
C.), Todo lo que amo nace continuamente (Ed. Universidad EAFIT), Retablos del movimiento (Ed. Aura Latina),<br />
Apuntes para el Ejecutante (Ed. La Otra), Io sono la vertige (Ed. La Vencedora) and Se arrodillan para beber (Ed.<br />
Visor), Premio de Poesía Casa de América de poesía americana 2021. She directs Världspoesidagen i Malmö/Lund.<br />
She has translated Swedish poets and storytellers into Spanish and<br />
co-directed two poetry documentaries.<br />
031
RED PRESS<br />
MÓNICA<br />
GONZÁLEZ<br />
VELÁZQUEZ<br />
The atrocious scene of the crime<br />
Paraphrasing Cortázar: Every loving memory carries its<br />
madeleines, and mine, know this, wherever you are,<br />
is the memory of your whole body<br />
and not in parts like a broken doll, Magdalena.<br />
To Magdalena<br />
La atroz escena del crimen<br />
A Magdalena<br />
Parafraseando a Cortázar: Cada memoria enamorada<br />
guarda sus magdalenas, y la mía, sábelo, allí donde estés,<br />
es el recuerdo de tu cuerpo entero y no en partes<br />
como una muñeca rota, Magdalena.<br />
Mónica González Velázquez (Mexico City, 1973). Editor and poet. Graduated from the Escuela Nacional de Artes<br />
Plásticas (UNAM) with a degree in Graphic Design. At the same time she studied a Diploma in Literary Creation at<br />
the School of the General Society of Writers of Mexico (SOGEM). She took experimental poetry workshops with<br />
the poet Raúl Renán (1998, 2001).<br />
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She has published the following poetry collections: Tríptico de desamor, La luz y las sombras altas, Poesía<br />
reunida, Las cosas últimas; Gran mal, Glory box, Las eternas rutas, El misterio de los mundos vulgares, Breviario<br />
de la renunciación, Crónica de los días que ya no son (Antología poética 2001-2015; El quirófano ediciones,<br />
Guayaquil 2016) and El Ruido del mundo. She was a participant in La palabra transfigurada: cien años de poesía<br />
visual mexicana (Ediciones del Lirio, CONACULTA-INBA, 2014). Finalist in the International Prize of Experimental<br />
Visual Poetry, Badajoz 2015. Director of miCielo ediciones, a project specialized in Book-object and Artist’s Book.
THE RED TRANSMISSIONS PODCAST<br />
Since its first episode release in the spring<br />
of 2019, The <strong>Red</strong> Transmissions podcast<br />
aims to document the work, behind-thescenes<br />
moments and creative process of<br />
the incredibly interesting characters in our<br />
network, be it in Copenhagen, New York,<br />
Bogota, or anywhere around the world<br />
where poetic adventures take us.<br />
in this year of celebrations, it’s important<br />
. to also thank each and everyone of<br />
the guests of the podcast’s previous<br />
episodes, for these fantastic 5 years of<br />
storytelling, important projects, exchange<br />
of knowledge, and worldthreading.<br />
Find out why artists do what they do,<br />
how they do it, and hear about the inner<br />
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happenings and conversations on culture,<br />
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You are now tuned in to<br />
THE RED<br />
TRANSMISSIONS<br />
PODCAST.<br />
033
WRITE 4 WORD - WALES<br />
Wales PEN Cymru 10th anniversary event<br />
LONDON<br />
I am close friend of <strong>Red</strong> <strong>Door</strong> and<br />
when I heard the theme of the<br />
current edition was transmissions<br />
my thoughts turned immediately<br />
to Elizabeth Torres’ <strong>Red</strong><br />
Transmissions podcast series. I<br />
featured in an episode back in 2020<br />
when we were just a few months<br />
into the pandemic and consequent<br />
various versions of lockdowns.<br />
During the episode I shared “the<br />
process of translating communitybased<br />
events to a digital format,<br />
and then reintroducing them into<br />
a physical environment, allowing<br />
these two to converge into a more<br />
inclusive hybrid existence.”<br />
As co-director of write4word CIC,<br />
with my colleague Mel Perry we<br />
have spent the last four years<br />
championing the hybrid model<br />
of delivery as a critical tool for<br />
developing a more inclusive arts<br />
sector. I am also a board member<br />
of Wales PEN Cymru and was very<br />
pleased recently to be able to<br />
support PEN Cymru at the poetry<br />
Café in Covent Garden, London<br />
in the hybrid delivery of the first<br />
of their significant celebrations of<br />
the tenth anniversary of this PEN<br />
Centre.<br />
Dylan Moore, chair of PEN Cymru,<br />
told us at the event, it is a relatively<br />
young centre, supported by Irish<br />
Pen, Scottish PEN and of course<br />
PEN international and English PEN<br />
who have both recently celebrated<br />
centenaries.<br />
There have been several failed<br />
attempts at starting a PEN<br />
centre in Wales but at the PEN<br />
international congress in Bisskep,<br />
Kyrgyztan, Wales PEN Cymru was<br />
established. The event opened<br />
with a bilingual introduction to<br />
the work of PEN Cymru from its<br />
president, Menna Elfyn. Menna<br />
noted how Wales as a nation has<br />
always promoted and protected<br />
the Welsh language and its culture<br />
through non-violent means. Wales<br />
is a Nation of Sanctuary and<br />
considers itself outward-looking<br />
and internationalist.<br />
On 24 February 2024 the<br />
Smithsonian returned a chest from<br />
The USA to Wales. This act was to<br />
mark the centenary of a Pledge for<br />
Peace sent to America in 1924. The<br />
Chest contained a petition signed<br />
by 400,000 Welsh Women, that is<br />
two thirds of all the women Wales<br />
at the time.<br />
Menna also reminded us of the<br />
women who marched from South<br />
Wales to Greenham Common to<br />
establish a peace camp in 1981.<br />
Over the last decade PEN Cymru<br />
has been involved in various<br />
PEN congresses and campaigns,<br />
such as campaigning against the<br />
killing of journalists in Mexico and<br />
the clamp-down on Freedom of<br />
Expression in Turkey.<br />
034
BY DOMINIC WILLIAMS<br />
Board members of PEN Cymru<br />
work on PEN international<br />
committees and regularly<br />
collaborate domestically with<br />
partners such as Swansea Asylum<br />
Seekers Support Group and Hafan<br />
Books. It is an unfunded voluntary<br />
organisation.<br />
At the event an Empty Chair was<br />
prominently displayed to focus<br />
our minds s on all writers who<br />
are prisoners of conscience, like<br />
İlhan Sami Çomak, who has been<br />
imprisoned for 30 years and with<br />
whom, for the last three years,<br />
Menna has exchanged poems<br />
every month.<br />
cinema as well as Welsh language<br />
TV after seeking asylum in the UK.<br />
In a time when the support and<br />
solidarity of writers across the<br />
world is in such critical demand,<br />
it allowed us also to pause and<br />
celebrate what has been achieved.<br />
In Dylan’s closing words it provided<br />
“food for thought and thought for<br />
action”.<br />
Menna opened the performance<br />
programme with readings of some<br />
those poems contained in letters<br />
from İlhan. Her readings were<br />
followed by a rich programme that<br />
celebrated the Welsh language and<br />
Wales multilingual society, it was a<br />
celebration of our differences and<br />
the thigs that bind us together. The<br />
schedule featured, readings from<br />
PEN members across Wales via<br />
zoom as well as those in London.<br />
It included a poem about learning<br />
Welsh from octogenarian farmer<br />
Patrick Dobbs; a performance by<br />
the National Poet of Wales Hanan<br />
Issa; a musical interlude by Zeynel<br />
Ali Bingöl, which incorporated a<br />
traditional Welsh folk song and an<br />
interview with theatre-maker and<br />
activist Mehmet Ali Alabora who is<br />
known for his roles in Turkish<br />
Pg. 26: PEN Cymru<br />
Pg.27: On the left, Patrick Dobbs<br />
Top image: Dylan Moore Chair Wales PEN Cymru<br />
Middle image: Hanan Issa Nationla Poet of Wales<br />
Bottom image: Menna Elfyn President Wales PEN Cymru<br />
0<strong>35</strong>
LALO BARRUBIA<br />
BIOGRAFIA DEL CUERPO<br />
APUNTES SOBRE LA POESIA<br />
Durante los casi cuarenta años que llevo<br />
ejerciendo como poeta, y como parte de un<br />
proceso que viene desde más atrás aún, se<br />
han producido algunas transformaciones<br />
importantes en la escena poética.<br />
En los 80, el arte que yo practicaba no era<br />
considerado poesía por los que tenían el derecho<br />
de definirla, sino más bien poesía adjetivada, léase<br />
oral, performática, experimental, algo así como un<br />
subgénero para inconformistas que no estaban<br />
dispuestos a leer y trabajar. La adjetivación, casi<br />
siempre, lleva implícita una discriminación, una<br />
intención de ponerte al margen del sustantivo<br />
por sí mismo, como cuando se habla de poesía<br />
femenina, de autores inmigrados o de literatura<br />
de clase trabajadora. Este recurso, a veces, ayuda<br />
a interpretar contextos, pero sin duda, también<br />
es usado para marcar posiciones dentro de una<br />
supuesta escala jerárquica. Estar al margen no<br />
es algo que me preocupe, y menos las escalas<br />
jerárquicas, que están diseñadas por aquel<br />
que se ubica a sí mismo en la cumbre. Cuando<br />
nos tomamos la libertad de elegir el margen en<br />
el que queremos ubicarnos, las pirámides se<br />
desdibujan.<br />
Si yo quisiera adjetivar a la poesía de la que formo<br />
parte, me gustaría más llamarla poesía del cuerpo,<br />
al decir de mi amigo y poeta Luis Bravo. Porque,<br />
de esa manera, no hablamos solo de la puesta en<br />
escena, sino también de un lenguaje diseñado<br />
para activar la integridad física del espectador<br />
o lector. El desafío, aunque bastante intuitivo<br />
al principio, era devolver a la poesía su papel<br />
de disparador de emociones y pensamientos.<br />
No íbamos detrás de la confirmación de los<br />
intelectuales sino que buscábamos destrabar<br />
el flujo de las ideas, compartir con otres la<br />
sensibilidad de un tiempo que se nos venía<br />
encima y que no ha parado de acelerarse. Por<br />
lo que hubo que seguir innovando, probando,<br />
desmoronando estructuras, reinventando el<br />
decir, incorporando tecnologías, instrumentos.<br />
Hubo que poner el cuerpo, salir a la intemperie,<br />
arriesgarse, hacer el ridículo si era necesario.<br />
036<br />
Hubo que sacar a la poesía de los salones limpios<br />
de la Academia donde la habían encerrado a<br />
una muerte segura. En parte, este proceso se fue<br />
haciendo de forma casi natural, trasladando a<br />
la poesía a boliches, plazas o centros culturales<br />
de barrio, pero también determinó la forma de<br />
hacerla.<br />
No se puede separar la forma del contenido<br />
porque se constituyen mutuamente. Los propios<br />
contextos, el aprendizaje y la necesidad de<br />
insertar el hacer poético en otras realidades,<br />
muchas veces en nuestras realidades, implicó<br />
quitarle la solemnidad y desvestirla de los<br />
códigos secretos que se pretendían necesarios<br />
para entenderla.<br />
El conocimiento nunca sobra. Los poetas del<br />
cuerpo se valen de herramientas intelectuales<br />
para su trabajo y su formación. Es una ingenuidad<br />
creer que el juego es una actividad espontánea<br />
y vacía de objetivos éticos o estéticos. O que<br />
hacer poesía con el cuerpo, con la voz o con<br />
las emociones puede sostenerse sin trabajo. La<br />
forma nunca es azarosa, es el resultado de una<br />
cocción en la que se mezclan ingredientes de<br />
un proceso expresivo, cada vez más aguzado<br />
con el correr de las décadas, los talleres, los<br />
intercambios.<br />
La construcción de una poesía del cuerpo parte<br />
de no limitar el origen de los ingredientes, de<br />
saber que el germen puede estar en cualquier<br />
lugar del cuerpo o del mundo. Que la poesía la<br />
definimos haciéndola.<br />
Si bien existen, y siempre van a existir, grupos que<br />
no se sienten a gusto con los cambios, esa noción<br />
sectaria de varones blancos regodéandose en su<br />
exclusividad y en su manejo minucioso de la lírica<br />
del cerebro, se fue quedando vieja, muy vieja.<br />
Esto son apenas unos apuntes. Ya no es necesario<br />
adjetivar. La que llamaban ”poesía performática”<br />
se ha convertido en ”la poesía” y la que llamaban<br />
”la poesía” se ha convertido en un subgénero.<br />
Lalo Barrubia, 2024.
BIOGRAPHY OF A BODY<br />
ANNOTATIONS ON POETRY<br />
During the almost forty years that I have been<br />
practicing as a poet, and as part of a process<br />
that goes even further back, some important<br />
transformations have taken place in the poetic<br />
scene.<br />
In the 80s, the art that I practiced was not<br />
considered poetry by those who had the right<br />
to define it, but rather adjective poetry, read as<br />
oral, performative, experimental, something like<br />
a subgenre for nonconformists who were not<br />
willing to read and work. Adjectivization almost<br />
always implies discrimination, an intention to<br />
put you on the sidelines of the noun itself, as<br />
when talking about feminine poetry, immigrant<br />
authors, or working-class literature. This resource<br />
sometimes helps to interpret contexts, but<br />
undoubtedly, it is also used to mark positions<br />
within a supposed hierarchical scale. Being on<br />
the sidelines is not something that worries me,<br />
and even less hierarchical scales, which are<br />
designed by those who place themselves at the<br />
top. When we take the freedom to choose the<br />
margin in which we want to place ourselves, the<br />
pyramids blur.<br />
If I wanted to adjective the poetry of which I am<br />
a part, I would prefer to call it poetry of the body,<br />
as my friend and poet Luis Bravo says. Because,<br />
in this way, we are not only talking about staging,<br />
but also about a language designed to activate<br />
the physical integrity of the spectator or reader.<br />
The challenge, although quite intuitive at first,<br />
was to return poetry to its role as a trigger for<br />
emotions and thoughts. We were not seeking<br />
confirmation from intellectuals but rather seeking<br />
to unlock the flow of ideas, to share with others<br />
the sensitivity of a time that was coming upon us<br />
and that has not stopped accelerating. So, we had<br />
to continue innovating, experimenting, breaking<br />
down structures, reinventing expression,<br />
incorporating technologies, instruments. We had<br />
to put our bodies into it, go out into the open, take<br />
risks, make fools of ourselves if necessary.<br />
We had to take poetry out of the clean halls of<br />
the Academy where it had been locked away<br />
to a certain death. In part, this process was<br />
almost natural, moving poetry to clubs, squares,<br />
or neighborhood cultural centers, but it also<br />
determined the way to do it.<br />
Form cannot be separated from content because<br />
they mutually constitute each other. The contexts<br />
themselves, learning, and the need to insert<br />
poetic creation into other realities, often our<br />
own realities, implied removing the solemnity<br />
and undressing it of the secret codes that were<br />
deemed necessary to understand it.<br />
Knowledge is never redundant. Poets of the<br />
body rely on intellectual tools for their work<br />
and formation. It is naïve to believe that play<br />
is a spontaneous activity devoid of ethical or<br />
aesthetic objectives. Or that making poetry with<br />
the body, voice, or emotions can be sustained<br />
without work. Form is never random; it is the<br />
result of a cooking process in which ingredients<br />
of an expressive process are mixed, increasingly<br />
sharpened over the decades, workshops,<br />
exchanges.<br />
The construction of poetry of the body starts from<br />
not limiting the origin of the ingredients, knowing<br />
that the germ can be anywhere in the body or the<br />
world. We define poetry by making it.<br />
Although there are, and always will be, groups<br />
that do not feel comfortable with changes, that<br />
sectarian notion of white men reveling in their<br />
exclusivity and their meticulous handling of the<br />
lyric of the brain, has become old, very old.<br />
These are just notes. Adjectivizing is no longer<br />
necessary. What they called “performative<br />
poetry” has become “poetry” and what they<br />
called “poetry” has become a subgenre.<br />
Lalo Barrubia, 2024.<br />
037
THE POETIC PHONOTHEQUE<br />
LEAVE<br />
YOUR<br />
POEM<br />
AFTER<br />
THE<br />
TONE.<br />
The dream has always been, to have a type<br />
of traveling device, which would allow for the<br />
collection of poetry in the voice of its poets, wherever<br />
a representative of the Poetic Phonotheque was<br />
in movement, and for the rest of the time, for it to<br />
be at the headquarters of the Phonotheque in its<br />
respective countries.<br />
The dream is now a reality. Look for the red FONOTEK<br />
in Wales, Sweden, Finland and Denmark, (or record<br />
your message on our website) and in all the events<br />
where the Poetic Phonotheque is present... now all<br />
you gotta do is pickup that handset, and leave your<br />
poem after the tone.<br />
038
Gestos de la poesia is a hybrid poetry festival hosted by the Cultural Center of the Universidad de los Andes Colombia. The spring part of the festival will<br />
take place at the University of the Andes Library, and the second part digitally. Follow @centroculturauniandes to learn more.<br />
039
FINLAND: KIRJAN TALO / BOKENS HUS HAS MOVED<br />
Warm greetings from Turku, though as of today, it seems we’re<br />
still blanketed in snow!<br />
This has already been a big year for us. In January we officially<br />
moved into our new premises in Taiteentalo – a huge new<br />
arts and culture center located right in the heart of Turku’s old<br />
town. We now have 300 square meters of office, library, and<br />
event space on the building’s 5 th<br />
floor. Not to brag, but we think our center has the best view in<br />
the whole city. We’ve already started renting out our spaces for<br />
artists, art courses and social clubs, and have also begun<br />
hosting book launches and concerts.<br />
We held our grand opening in mid-March – a whole week of<br />
shows, workshops, panels, and plenty of good food concluding<br />
with a full-day party on Saturday. It was a lot of work, and a<br />
lot of fun, and was just the first of many exciting events we’ve<br />
got planned for the year. A quick sample of projects we’re<br />
involved with include: Poetry Veckan (Swedish Language<br />
Poetry Week) in April, Vanhankaupungin juhla (Old Town Celebration)<br />
15.6, Taiteiden Yö (Night of the Arts) 17.8, GoRuno-<br />
Go/Poetry Day, 6.7, and Rap and Poetry by the Lake in Liitoinen<br />
(date), as well as our monthly Bar Ö poetry evenings and<br />
(something in Salo). We will also be sending a delegation to<br />
Tranås, 29.6 – 6.7. and <strong>Red</strong> <strong>Door</strong>’s 15 th anniversary<br />
(date).<br />
It’s been exciting and rewarding to watch our vision for our<br />
center becoming a reality, and we are on the lookout for new<br />
collaborations and projects to make even better use of these<br />
beautiful new premises. We hope to see some of you here with<br />
us soon.<br />
Until then, we’ll be admiring the view.<br />
Much love,<br />
040<br />
The Kirjan Talo/Bokens Hus Team.
SWEDEN: TRANÅS AT THE FRINGE<br />
Tranås at the Fringe 2024<br />
Kultivera has organised a cultural festival called Tranås at the<br />
Fringe since 2014.<br />
From being a festival with a few hundred visitors and about<br />
twenty events, the festival has continuously grown to become<br />
an established festival with 2500 visitors and over 150 events.<br />
In 2024, between June 29 and July 6, Kultivera will be hosting<br />
the festival for the eleventh year, and the audience will be able<br />
to choose from a wide range of events.<br />
Poetry and performing arts, experimental film, theatre, dance<br />
and visual arts. Artist talks, workshops and seminars, as well<br />
as exhibitions and a book fair. All this and more in several<br />
locations within easy walking distance in the city centre. So<br />
why not come to Tranås this summer and be part of the Fringe?<br />
Don’t worry, it’s easy to find us.<br />
We are right there, between somewhere<br />
and nowhere.<br />
041
The <strong>Red</strong> <strong>Door</strong><br />
Network:<br />
<strong>Red</strong> <strong>Door</strong> <strong>Magazine</strong> is a quarterly Arts &<br />
Culture publication meant to document<br />
the work of creators everywhere, as<br />
well as facilitate new conversations on<br />
important matters for our communities<br />
in a local and international way, through<br />
the linking of themes, collaborations,<br />
interviews and hybrid events that can<br />
expand the reach of independent voices<br />
and remarkable projects. <strong>Red</strong> <strong>Door</strong><br />
counts with the help of correspondents<br />
in Australia, Mexico, the US and Denmark.<br />
<strong>Red</strong> <strong>Door</strong> also functions as a<br />
gallery and independent space in<br />
order to serve as a platform for the<br />
same purposes. In expanding its<br />
reach, <strong>Red</strong> <strong>Door</strong> also counts with:<br />
-A podcast called the <strong>Red</strong><br />
Transmissions, where creatives,<br />
activists and cultural organizers share<br />
their process, projects and initiatives.<br />
042<br />
-A Poetic Phonotheque, which serves<br />
as an online collection of poetry in many<br />
languages in the voice of its authors,<br />
created to break the barriers of distance<br />
and facilitate free access to poetry in<br />
households around the world.<br />
-An independent print project called <strong>Red</strong><br />
Press, which focuses on the publication<br />
of poetry (and illustration) in translation.<br />
Bilingual books, handmade, limited<br />
edition books.<br />
-The <strong>Red</strong> <strong>Door</strong> Gallery located in<br />
the cultural hub of Copenhagen on<br />
Møllegade, Nørrebro, where talks,<br />
workshops, exhibitions, performances<br />
and other events are often on the<br />
calendar, as well as limited edition<br />
books and prints, original art,<br />
miniature books and other art related<br />
products, often with a focus on poetry.<br />
See them also on the online shop:<br />
www.reddoormagazine.com/shop<br />
-And other cultural collaborations<br />
internationally.<br />
THE PARTNERS:<br />
Litteraturcentrum KVU:<br />
An international literary initiative we<br />
often promote as a league of publishers<br />
in Scandinavia. <strong>Red</strong> <strong>Door</strong> is published<br />
through this collaboration.<br />
Kultivera operates international cultural<br />
programs. It is the organization in charge<br />
of the Tranås Fringe Festival and their<br />
curriculum of activities can be seen on<br />
the issues of the <strong>Red</strong> <strong>Door</strong> <strong>Magazine</strong>.<br />
Kirjan Talo / Bokens Hus is a cultural<br />
organization based in Turku, Finland,<br />
and headquarters of the Poetic<br />
Phonotheque in that city.<br />
Write4Word: Is a West Wales community<br />
organization with a focus on language<br />
arts. Its director, Dominic Williams, is a<br />
frequent correspondent of <strong>Red</strong> <strong>Door</strong>.<br />
La Libélula Vaga: is a spanish literary<br />
magazine published in Sweden<br />
documenting the work of poets all<br />
over the planet, as well as encouraging<br />
translations, talks and other<br />
collaborations.
THIS IS WHERE YOU GET TO PLAY<br />
AN ACTIVE ROLE.<br />
HEAR HEAR! In celebration of <strong>Red</strong> <strong>Door</strong><br />
<strong>Magazine</strong>’s 15 year anniversary coming up<br />
in 2024, we’ve decided to launch a brand<br />
new PATREON, exclusively for <strong>Red</strong> <strong>Door</strong><br />
related shenanigans.<br />
Want to get a subscription of the<br />
magazine to your door?<br />
Easy peasy. Visit www.patreon.com/<br />
reddoor and choose the tier to the left...<br />
then just add your address.<br />
Want to show your support of <strong>Red</strong> <strong>Door</strong><br />
events, festivals, publications and other<br />
poetic endeavours?<br />
Well, sign up to Patreon and show some<br />
love!<br />
Are you more of an entrepreneur, cultural<br />
organizer or business owner, who’d like to<br />
have <strong>Red</strong> <strong>Door</strong> as part of your repertoir?<br />
We now offer a <strong>Magazine</strong> Distribution tier<br />
level, with which you’ll receive not just the<br />
magazines for you to sell, but also stickers,<br />
books, and other goodies, to make your<br />
shop look extra spiffy.<br />
<strong>Red</strong> <strong>Door</strong>, in simple terms, is a love<br />
project. A DiY magazine / gallery / umbrella<br />
for other projects / platform for your voice...<br />
We do not receive grants nor support from<br />
any institutions, so it only makes sense to<br />
ask you today to give your helping hand<br />
and help keep this project going...<br />
The income earned always goes<br />
to domains, print and other bills,<br />
such as rent, water and heat<br />
at the gallery... and of course<br />
materials for the continuation<br />
of artistic projects<br />
both in print<br />
and digitally.<br />
043<br />
www.patreon.com/reddoor
YOU ARE CORDIALLY INVITED<br />
RESONANS<br />
res·o·nance ˈre-zə-nən(t)s<br />
A FRINGE OF NATURE AND CULTURE<br />
In celebration of the 15th anniversary of <strong>Red</strong> <strong>Door</strong> <strong>Magazine</strong>,<br />
we’ve decided to embark on a very exciting, yet challenging adventure.<br />
From October 8th to the 13th, 2024, in Copenhagen, Denmark,<br />
we will be hosting the very first RESONANS festival, a fringe of nature<br />
and culture. That is to say, a celebration of humanity’s connection with<br />
our environment, through expressions in poetry, visual art, theater,<br />
music... all with a focus on multimedia.<br />
There will be, of course, digital happenings, as well as a publication,<br />
and plenty of other collectable items<br />
for us to celebrate this occasion.<br />
We have already begun recruiting local venues for this endeavor, and<br />
our partners have already agreed to put on their fanciest suits and<br />
curate programs that represent their region in our festival, but we still<br />
need to recruit funding and sponsors to make this great thing happen.<br />
Please give your support at www.patreon.com/reddoor to give us the<br />
necessary impulse to accomplish this feat.<br />
If you have other ideas of how you’d like to get involved,<br />
please write to<br />
reddoorcph@gmail.com<br />
Meanwhile, please save the date.<br />
We look forward to celebrating with you,<br />
yes, here, in Copenhagen.<br />
044<br />
WWW.RESONANSFRINGE.COM
045
RED DOOR MAGAZINE<br />
TRANSMISSIONS<br />
FEATURING KARSTEN GARNER<br />
SPRING 2024<br />
046<br />
WWW.REDDOORMAGAZINE.COM