FUSION Global Art, Words, and Music VOLUME 4, ISSUE 1 FUSION: Global Art, Words, and Music publishes outstanding writing, translations, and photography from our community and internationally recognized artists. The world-renowned writers, visual artists, and musicians in our international features inspire young artists. Where else do students have the opportunity to see their work published alongside, for example, Guggenheim fellows, a winner of the Queen’s Gold Medal for Poetry, New York Times bestsellers, and artists whose work is exhibited in major national galleries? FUSION encourages explorations of the rich relations between music and all the arts, responding to E. M. Forster’s charge, “Only connect!” Editor-in-Chief, Special Features Editor: Joseph Coroniti Fiction Editor: Julie Rold Global Poetry Editor: Deborah Bennett Associate Editor, Poetry & Outreach: Beth Platow Associate Editor, Fiction & Outreach: Mark Polanzak Associate Editor, Creative Nonfiction: Akshay Ahuja Graphic Design and Layout: zzGassman Design Workshop Copy Editor: Lesley Mahoney Work-Study: Callie Huber FUSION: Global Art, Words, and Music MS-7 LART Berklee College of Music 1140 Boylston Street Boston, MA 02215 FUSION considers submissions from September through April at [email protected]. For submission guidelines and more information, visit FUSION Online at fusionmagazine.org © Copyright 2014 Berklee College of Music All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. ISBN: 978-0-615-96906-0 Cover image: Iona—Restored Stone Cross by Michael Russell Masthead image: Callie Huber CONTENTS Editor’s Introduction Joseph A. Coroniti, PhD, Editor-in-Chief 9 From a Selkie Song to Settled Airs: Voices and Visions from the U.S. and Scotland BERKLEE COMMUNITY Fiction Andrew Choi 14 Childhood Alexandra Groff 19 In Which the Time Passes Kathleen Parks 26 Beacon James Sanderson 28 Three Words Chris Stites 36 The Lion Boy Inés Velasco 42 In Her Own Time Poetry Jordan Casty 47 Sonnet 23 Emmett Ceglia 48 The Pain of Creation Paige Chaplin 49 first/last Erica Charis 50 Untitled April Gompers 52 Stained Glass Sea 53 Raspberry Sorbet Seph Hamilton 54 Starfish, Sleeping Erin Snyder 55 The Arboretum Translation Initiative Juana Aquerreta 57 La piedad por tus ojos 58 Mercy in Your Eyes Naongsunsa (1262-1342) 59 청산은 나를보고 60 The Mountains Speak Author Unknown 61 Calon Arang 64 Calon Arang Yohan Jo o 66 빗소리 / 주요한 67 The Rain Han Feizi (280-233 BC) 68 守株待兔 69 At the Foot of the Stump Yiru Wang 70 七步诗 71 Poem of Seven Steps: Translators’ Preface Cao Zhi (192-232 BCE) 72 七步诗 73 Poem of Seven Steps Yu Lou (1125-1210 BCE) 74 卜算子 咏梅 75 In Praise of the Plum Blossom Creative Nonfiction Nicholas Salvador 77 Eating Together Cordelia Vizcaino Leal 79 Chasing Song Interview Leah Hinton 82 Singer-songwriter Moana Avvenenti Film Studies Zev Burrows 86 Star Wars Episode VII: Return of the Empire or Revenge of the Consumer? Visual Art Diane Esmond 89 Photographs of Six Paintings Louise Bichan 94 Portrait of fiddler Jenna Moynihan and harpist/vocalist Màiri Chaimbeul Lauren Desberg 95 Portrait of Jenna Moynihan 96 Fiddle Fingers, Jenna Moynihan Moana Avvenenti 97 Self-Portrait with Gum Tiger Okoshi 98 Family Traveling in the Stormy Indian Desert Callie Huber 101 “Night Vision” sequence Edward Wersocki 105 Elation 106 Maeve Gilchrist, Scottish harpist and vocalist Louise Bichan 109 Kimberley Fraser 110 Kimberley Fraser Philip Barlow 111 Alasdair Fraser, Natalie Haas 112 Natalie Haas 113 Natalie Haas FEATURED WRITERS Lacey Daley 115 Friction Amy Quan Barry 117 loose strife Brian Burt 119 Occupations 120 What I Was Trying to Say Was Amy M. Clark 121 Elegy for Our Dog 121 Surf Lesson Carolina Ebeid 123 A Thing Will Still Be a Thing No Matter What You Place in Front of It 123 Napoleon Major Jackson 124 XXV. Salobrena Kirun Kapur 125 Dancing with My Father 127 For the Survivors Kent Maynard 128 After Lorca’s Death 129 Biting the Branch 130 This Window and a Wish 131 The Witch’s Eye Jennifer Militello 132 Dear B, 132 Dear B, Pete Mullineaux 133 Raftery’s Buttons 134 A Piper Prepares 135 A Slow Start to the Set 135 Music of the Spheres 136 Concertina 136 Requiem 137 Tonight’s the Night Lynne Potts 139 Last Imagining My Death Poem 139 Europa and the Bull Leslie Williams 140 Self-Portrait with American Crows 141 Avenue of the Stars Celtic FUSION The Scottish Feature Larry Bethune 143 Adventures in Scottish Culture: A Personal Journey Iain Anderson 146 Celtic Connections: Glasgow’s annual folk, roots and world music festival—The Beginnings Robert Crawford (poetry) Norman McBeath (photography) 148 Excerpts from Simonides 154 Excerpts from Venice Claudia Daventry 156 Blot 157 Leaving Amsterdam 158 Selfish 159 Selkie Song 163 Time Difference Paula de Fougerolles 164 The Chronicles of Iona: Exile Douglas Dunn 184 Retirement 185 The Wash Jana Laiz 187 Alba Obsessed Michael Russell MSP 188 Scottish Photographs Susan Sellers 206 Given the Choice 211 CONTRIBUTORS 219 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS FUSION Editor’s Introduction From a Selkie Song to Settled Airs: Voices and Visions from the U.S. and Scotland As in every issue, these pages include a fusion of creative talents, from Berklee students, staff, and professors to featured artists with global reputations. Jazz trumpeter and painter, Professor Tiger Okoshi, has given us three brilliant works. Tiger writes, “When I play my trumpet, my horn is my brush, high/low, fast/slow, bright/dark . I paint the air one note at a time.” Berklee’s creative writing program fosters remarkable student fiction, creative nonfiction, literary translations, poetry, plays, and screenplays. While our students demonstrate an exceptional level of achievement in music, they engage fully in other art forms. Many are highly accomplished in writing, the visual arts, theater, and film. As part of our commitment to “Global Art, Words, and Music,” FUSION’s Translation Initiative pairs international students with native English speakers. This results in fine translations, a celebration of diverse cultures, and greater involvement by international students in the intellectual and artistic life of the community. Our students come from over 90 nations. This issue includes poems translated from Spanish, Korean, Chinese, and Old Balinese. Our online issues of FUSION feature videos, multimedia projects, music competitions, and student columns on such topics as film, busking, and making a living in the arts. • • • The people of Scotland vote this year in a special referendum to decide their nation’s future: to separate from the United Kingdom and become an independent country for the first time in centuries, or determine that they are “Better Together,” as part of the UK, alongside England, Wales, and Northern Ireland. The world is watching as the Scots debate sovereignty and what it means to be Scottish. This decisive moment has inspired our special Scottish Feature. We do not presume to offer an opinion from Boston on what is best for Scotland. We simply take this opportunity to highlight some of Scotland’s greatest writers and artists. One of our poets, Douglas Dunn, won the 2013 Queen’s Gold Medal for Poetry. The BBC reports that Committee chair and Britain’s poet laureate, Carol Ann Duffy, said Dunn was one of “the greatest poets Scotland FUSION Editor’s Introduction has produced.” We are delighted to share Douglas’s poems with our readers and that our students’ poems share space with such work. An interest in Celtic culture and music has been growing steadily at Berklee. Every year, FUSION produces its popular Celtic FUSION concert, featuring outstanding student and professional Trad players. Berklee Celtic music masters, such as cellist Natalie Haas, harpist and vocalist Maeve Gilchrist, Danú fiddler Oisín McAuley, Cape Breton fiddler Kimberley Fraser, and multi-instrumentalist and songwriter, Mark Simos, play with students who have won competitions throughout the Celtic world. Many students and recent alumni have begun promising international careers, including harpist and Scottish Gaelic singer Màiri Chaimbeul, from the Isle of Skye; pianist Hamish Napier; fiddler and step dancer Holland Raper; and Jenna Moynihan, a fiddler in the Scottish tradition, whose agility is matched only by her warm tone. I often invite these student musicians to give clinics. Celtic fiddlers, pipers, bodhran and bouzouki players, pianists, and guitarists inspire students to learn Trad music. A jazz or classical flautist hears her peers, discovers an old tradition, and buys a wooden Irish flute. I am very happy to co-edit this special Scottish feature with Larry Bethune, Berklee’s vice president for student affairs. Larry, like an accomplished piper, has his fingers on the pulse of Scottish culture, in Boston and in Scotland. Over the years he has created a community that understands its shared musical origins. Larry’s Preface, “A Personal Journey,” celebrates the adventure of discovering one’s heritage, including a deeper understanding of Scottish music and its relation to American roots music. • • • You will find more details in the Contributors Page, but I would like to give you, at the front of the book, a sense of the achievements and broad sweep of our featured artists. Photographer Michael Russell is Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong Learning in the Scottish Government. His photographs, taken each day as he goes about his duties, provide an authentic perspective on the western constituency of Argyll & Bute, which he represents in the Scottish Parliament. As Michael says of his photograph of restored stone Celtic crosses from the island of Iona, “These crosses have been raised for the first time in hundreds of years.” This powerful image of renewal and the FUSION of old and new was an easy choice for our cover. The National Portrait Galleries in London and Edinburgh have more than 50 of Norman McBeath’s photographic portraits in their permanent collections.