Menu
FUJI HUB
  • Welcome
  • About
  • Books
    • We Face The Tremendous Meat On The Teppan
    • Where I Was Born
    • Mother Said, I Want Your Pain
    • Silver Seasons of Heartache
    • Home, No Home
    • Cochlea
    • GLYPH: Graphic Poetry = Trans. Sensory
  • Graphic Poetry
    • Gallery of Graphic Poems
    • 31 Facts about GLYPH
    • Listen to graphic poems
    • Interview Project
    • Warashibe Documentary
      • First Erasure
      • First Found Poem
    • Study Guide
      • What is Trans. Sensory
      • Create a first graphic poem
      • How to Approach Image
      • line-breaks
      • Visual Erasure Poetry
  • Translation
    • Conveyorize Art of Translation
    • Waka Workshop
    • 百人一首
  • Gallery
    • working on
      • Working On Guest List
    • Other Goings On
    • Something is Going On
  • Welcome
  • About
  • Books
    • We Face The Tremendous Meat On The Teppan
    • Where I Was Born
    • Mother Said, I Want Your Pain
    • Silver Seasons of Heartache
    • Home, No Home
    • Cochlea
    • GLYPH: Graphic Poetry = Trans. Sensory
  • Graphic Poetry
    • Gallery of Graphic Poems
    • 31 Facts about GLYPH
    • Listen to graphic poems
    • Interview Project
    • Warashibe Documentary
      • First Erasure
      • First Found Poem
    • Study Guide
      • What is Trans. Sensory
      • Create a first graphic poem
      • How to Approach Image
      • line-breaks
      • Visual Erasure Poetry
  • Translation
    • Conveyorize Art of Translation
    • Waka Workshop
    • 百人一首
  • Gallery
    • working on
      • Working On Guest List
    • Other Goings On
    • Something is Going On

OTHER GOINGS ON

Picture
英語学習編はこちらへ。

Progress Not Perfection

2/25/2021

 
Picture
I am not sure what GLYPY is up to these days.
I output more than I am capable of when I meet smart, trusted people.

In the creative field, one is always surrounded by competitive fellow writers and artists. I have a tremendous ego, much like so do many of them. And with some sort of fear -- like threating letters --  I must write. I must create new things.

My first publication in the U.S. was in 2008. I still remember that two poems were accepted by Kathleene West at Puerto del Sol on Christmas Eve in Japan. I was spending time with my family. Later, she and I started exchanging emails. Once I graduated and had more free time to travel, she passed away. I did not know of her death until someone told me at the following AWP.

The last words from her email (April 6, 2013) were:
I hate to say. Don't try too hard. So I will just say be gentle with yourself. It's all about progress not perfection . Of course, I don't follow my own advise, but still...
Finally, I started to understand what "progress, not perfection" meant. Like my first graphic poetry collection, I was really specific in only using base poems that were already published in magazines. This created a metal safety-net for me because I knew the base material has already been proven. I was protecting myself with my own adaptation of perfection.

I think that I am more relaxed now because I found places where I could be me -- Japanese, female, a second-language writer, poet, & artist -- with people who have similar goals.

Natalie Solmer is the editor-in-chief of the Indianapolis Review. With her motherly garden of quarterly journals, I could have experiments with not only large scales of graphic poems, but also recording with music and ambient noises. She let me play in the creative field -- Free-Range Naoko, Origami-Fed.
Current Issue 15: Winter 2021
Solmer accepted three pieces of my work, including an art review for Minami Kobayashi's works. This experience lead me to create longer versions of graphic poems (forthcoming, North American Review) and audio & graphic poetry (forthcoming, ​Zocalo Public Square). I am really lucky to know her while growing in these poetic fields. She became one of the most important people in my tribe.

Speaking of my tribe: RHINO Editors had their first #RHINOArt2Art submission meeting. Holy R-H-I-N-O! There were more submissions than I expected. After careful considerations, the editorial team will post the visual adaptations in RHINO Poetry's Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. One editor told me, "This is your baby. Own it." That was another moment that snapped my awareness of my progression into place. I am grateful to be accepted as a free-range RHINaOko there. And I am truly enjoying these experiences progressing to the next phase.
submit #RHINOArt2Art

Comments are closed.

    About Naoko

    Picture
    シカゴ在住詩人&雑誌編集員
    More About Naoko

    Archives

    March 2023
    February 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021

フジハブ
Welcome to FUJI HUB: Way Station to Poetry, Art, & Translation. This is not your final destination. There are many links to other websites here, so please explore them!


​Popular Sites:

​Sitemap
​
​​Gallery of Graphic Poems

Working On Gallery 
(Monthly New Article by Writers & Artists)
Other Going On Gallery
(Almost daily or weekly blog in Japanese)
Something is Going On Gallery
(Blog for Current Projects)

About Naoko Fujimoto​

Books

Contact
​Naoko Fujimoto Copyright © 2023