I am pleased to be here and thank the people who helped this evening come about––

––Audre Lorde, during a reading in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, Nov. 13, 1987

 
 

But this birth is arduous: we grow faster than our words can say.

––Édouard Glissant, “Sun of Consciousness,” translated by Nathanaël

 
 

[“hanom”] [“hanom”] [“hanom”]

––Craig Santos Perez, from Unincorporated Territory [HACHA]

 
 
 

A Soldier Mistook My Muscles for Feathers

A video poem written and directed by Jeric Smith. Movement by Antonius Bui. Dress and Mask by Robinick Fernandez.

A mending of testimony, poetry, dance, and craftwork to explore themes of militarism, queerness, and rebirth.

 
 
 

originally premiered at the 2021 Artists of Color Expo & Symposium

Jeric Smith is a Chamoru-Filipino, queer poet living in Seattle. His family is from Dededo and Chalan Pago, Guahan. His poems have appeared or are forthcoming in Assaracus: A Journal of Gay Poetry, Indigenous Literatures from Micronesia (University of Hawai'i Press), Moss, Poetry Northwest, among other publications. He has performed and read original work at the Wing Luke Museum of the Asian Pacific American Experience, the Center on Contemporary Arts, and at various festivals & conferences. He received an MFA in Creative Writing from the Rainier Writing Workshop and is the Director/Curator of the contemporary art gallery, From Typhoon.