Unshod Quills

Bjorn Wahlstrom on the Theme of Democracy

“The last butterfly in Shanghai just landed on my leg.”

Bjorn Wahlstrom on the theme of Democracy

Bjorn Wahlstrom on the theme of Democracy

Bjorn Wahlstrom on the theme of Democracy

Author Biography –

Bjorn Wahlstrom owns HAL Publishing, Shanghai’s independent English language press. He was born in Sweden. His photography appeared in the June 2011 issue of Unshod Quills and again in September.
www.haliterature.com

INTERNATIONAL VIDEO POETRY FESTIVAL

SCREENINGS: PORTLAND OREGON – JACK LONDON BAR – 3/19/12 –  8 PM – COVER $8

SHANGHAI CHINA – THE RABBIT HOLE – 3/15/12 – 8 PM – COVER 50 RMB

Finalists –

Lani Jo Leigh (Portland) – Darcy Fisher (Shanghai) – Andrea Hope (Portland) – Posie Currin (Portland) – Ren Rey (Renee Reynolds) – Matthew Reed (Vancouver, BC) – Fork Burke (Switzerland) – Jacques Korn (California) – Zachary Schomburg(Portland) – David Foote (Shanghai) – Michael Earl Craig & Dalton C. Brink (Montana) – Robert Duncan Gray(Portland) – Josh Fernandez (California) – Barbara Anderlic (Shanghai)

HAL PUBLISHING OF SHANGHAI CHINA  and UNSHOD QUILLS OF PORTLAND, OREGON have teamed up with Portland’s Monica Storss to produce a cross-cultural, trans-Pacific video poetry film festival. Hosting bi-lateral events in Shanghai and Portland, the festival will celebrate the spoken word as infused by the medium of film, promoting and connecting artists from around the world.

Shanghai and Portland, Oregon have more in common than meets the untrained eye. Dark, busy, and both studded with Shanghai tunnels (those in Portland were used in the insidious pursuit of many illegal activities, including the kidnapping of young men for use as slave sailors on the Pacific; Shanghai’s own tunnels transport people in cars beneath the river to do whatever the hell they want). Both cities are divided by a river of trade and both cities are booming with literary communities as vibrant as anywhere else in the world. Both cities lay claim to Unshod Quills and HAL Publishing, sister sites and companies united in the pursuit of promoting excellent art and literature the world over.

$300 USD (RMB 1900) Grand Prize – Judges Choice for Best Video Poem – Second and Third Prizes – Screening Events in Shanghai and Portland, Oregon – Publication on HAL and Unshod Quills – SECOND AND THIRD PRIZES – DINNER AND BOOKS – more TBA

HAL Publishing, (www.haliterature.com) independent English language publisher based in Shanghai, China and Unshod Quills, (www.unshodquills.com) a Pandemic Journal of the Arts and Letters based in Portland, Oregon, in cooperation with Monica Storss (www.monicastorss.org) of Portland, Oregon announce the first ever SHANGHAI TUNNELS PROJECT — AN INTERNATIONAL POETRY FILM FESTIVAL.

With screening events to be held during March 2012 in both Portland, Oregon and Shanghai, China, this festival will celebrate the art of video poetry—the mix of verse and video into a creative form all its own.

Between now and February 22, 2012, poets and video artists are invited to submit a video poem for entry into the festival. Initial judging will be conducted by editors from HAL Publishing and Unshod Quills.

Eleven finalists will be chosen. Three must reside in Shanghai and three must reside in Portland; remaining finalists may be from anywhere in the universe.

Finally, an international panel of five independent judges (including Mike Tsang, Editor at Penguin Books China, Tammy Ho Lai-Ming, editor for Hong Kong’s Asian Cha and London’s Fleeting Magazines, B Frayn Masters, writer and producer of Portland, Oregon’s Back Fence PDX, and author and publisher Kevin Sampsell, of Portland’s Future Tense Books)  will select the grand prize winner from a group of eleven finalists. Two judges will be Shanghai-based, two will be Portland-based and one will be based elsewhere.

Those eleven finalists will be featured at events screened live in Portland and Shanghai where audience members will be provided with a chance to vote for their city’s second and third place choices. There will be only one grand prize winner, but there will be two second and two third place winners.

Grand prize winner will be announced prior to the event

GRAND PRIZE: One winner will be awarded $300 USD/ 1900 RMB

SECOND PRIZE: (LOCALS ONLY) one artist based in Shanghai and one artist based in Portland will be awarded dinner and drinks for two at a local restaurant (Shanghai) or at UQ editor Dena Rash Guzman’s delightful pastoral home, Stargazer Farm in Sandy, Oregon, and assorted books provided by Future Tense Publishing (Portland.) and Small Press Distribution. One copy for each winner of HAL’s newest publication Middle Kingdom Underground will be awarded. Once copy for each winner of HAL’s first publication, Party Like It’s 1984 will be awarded.

THIRD PRIZE: Two finalists will receive a collection of books from HAL Publishing and other sponsors.

ALL FINALISTS WILL RECEIVE PRESS, PROMOTION AND/OR PUBLICATION BY UNSHOD QUILLS AND HALiterature.

(All prizes are subject to change depending on sponsorship, but the guaranteed GRAND PRIZE will be a minimum of $300.)

SHANGHAI TUNNELS CONTEST RULES AND REGULATIONS

• For the purposes of this competition and festival, video poetry is defined as a piece of film or video based around a poem. Therefore, entries must be a video or film and it must feature either some form of poetic text or spoken word.

• Video poetry entered into the contest is not to exceed five minutes in length.

• Each contestant may enter one (1) video poem.

• Videos may have been previously published, but they must reasonably be the property of the contestant. Collaborations between filmmakers and poets are welcome, but failure by the contestant to ensure both parties are willing to submit the video will result in disqualification. Further, any copyrighted material of any length or media not belonging to the contestant or his/her collaborator is strictly disallowed. By entering the contest, the participant agrees to relieve Shanghai Tunnels and its associates of all responsibility for ensuring work is legal to disseminate and that all parties owning rights to the video have been notified of entry.

• Contestants may live anywhere in the world. However, a minimum of three Shanghai and three Portland based artists will be chosen in the preliminary round.

• There is no entry fee.

• Contestants may enter by completing an entry form providing a link to a hosted video poem to the email addresses provided for this purpose. No files will be accepted. Vimeo and Youtube, for example, are acceptable formats for initial entry.

• Finalists will be notified by March 1. Finalists will have five days to submit their work via an electronic file sharing system to the contest holders. A method will be assigned when finalists are announced. Failure to do so will disqualify finalist from the contest.

• Employees, family members, domestic partners, editors or board members of HAL Publishing, Unshod Quills or Monica Storss Publicity are ineligible to enter.

TO ENTER:

ENTRY FORM

Please download, fill out and return the entry form above by February 22 to both dena@haliterature.com and butler@haliterature.com.

enter ST SUBMISSION into header to ensure the proper delivery of your entry for the competition.

Please contact Wendy at unshodquills.com with any inquiries or questions. Thank you! Good luck.

Bjorn Wahlstrom shares the digitally captured poetry of his home, Shanghai, and of other locations around the PRC.

on Somewhere Never Traveled, Gladly Beyond

Bjorn Wahlstrom, "You Are Here" (Pudong International Airport, Shanghai)

"I Am Here," Jinxian Lu, Shanghai

"We Built You a New House, Mom." Burnt down house, Jiaozhou Lu, Shanghai

"Quagmire Factory Bathroom," in Suzhou

"Escape Hatch," at home in Shanghai

"Living Out of My Suitcase," at home, Shanghai

"Neighbor's Pet Roosters," Yongjia Lu, Shanghai

"Rapture," Jiulong Lake

"The Jesus Church," abandoned village near Ningbo.

"Truck Driver's Bed," Shilong, Dongguan

"Instruction - Three Only," Kangding Lu bar, Shanghai

"Shakespeare Before the Typhoon: Last Message to the World," Huaihai Lu, Shanghai

"Chai, Slotted for Demolition," Changle Lu, Shanghai

"Uighyr Noodle Man," Pujiang Town, Shanghai

"Cell Phone Numbers for Sale, Shaanxi Nan Lu, Shanghai

Artist Biography

Born in Sweden, Bjorn Wahlstrom is a writer and publisher living in Shanghai where he works, writes and prays. www.haliterature.com

Photo: Jianjue bu zou! (We Refuse To Leave!) Bjorn Wahlstrom, on "When We Two Parted."

Poetry and photography by  Shanghai’s Björn Wahlström 

I Look At You Shanghai

– When We Two Parted

Shanghai, April 2011

I look at you Shanghai. I look at you, you look away.

But mind you Shanghai, this is not a love song,
and fuck the broken hearted,
you know what you did to lose what you had,
you all do, as do I.

You gave me everything Shanghai, all you had to offer,
a billion RMB in an LV man-bag, prime real estate in Lujiazui, an uncle in politics,
and a mink mini-skirt on a late night Mint massacre.

That’s right, I know you Shanghai.

I’d race along your gaojia at approaching midnight,
drink and drive from Puxi to Gotham City,
drink and fuck whoever with an ever numbing sense of self-pity,
as M. closes at two,
I’d spend hours on hands and knees by the Jiangpu,
drinking from your veins Shanghai,
as you would want it,
as you demand that I do,
you dirty beautiful whore, you
pulled my head down by the hair, down under the surface,
and refused to let me die.

I look at you Shanghai, and you look away.

In stars and pearls you dress yourself,
my darling mistress of 2008, back when I owned you,
that’s right Shanghai I owned you, I fucking owned you,
and you loved it how i I’d treat you like a slut back then,
I’d do whatever and you’d follow,
I still found the green alleys of the French Concession charming back then,
I’d text you and you’d join, your own plans instantly over board,
summer evening strolls,
no worries, no panties,
always on the first date, and always closing.

Back then I was mean to you Shanghai, and you never said a word. It goes to your credit.

I look at you Shanghai. You look away.

I cry in Jing’an, but I get wasted in the French Concession,
with all the other 10 million homeless people here,
like all the other secretly exiled poor fucks here,
tequila to forget and drugs for the pain,
pints for the wicked and wine bars for the vain,

Shanghai, you keeper of tabs, you high roller; shine you crazy diamond.

Shine.

I look at you Shanghai, I look at you but I have no idea what you are thinking Shanghai, right now in this moment, right here in this forgotten shitty bar on Wuning Lu where I happen to be now in early 2011,
our fling long gone,
dust and dirty tap water,
rust and 9-5 to no good end.

You see I loved you those first years, I did
I just didn’t understand you, I didn’t know how to show it.

Whatever.

You wear a fashionably short evening gown tonight,
and I was the one who helped you with the zipper in the back, Shanghai, only to see that beautiful back walk away.
That sounds sad, but to you it’s just another bottom line.

I look at you Shanghai and I imagine
that your eyes have a secret warmth for me,
black hole suns for the homeless, a tiny bit of
hot burning love for me, “real” feelings for me, ha!

I look at you Shanghai. You look away.

This is not a rant

Shanghai

you crazy bitch, you lovely creature you,

This is a

requiem.

Author Biography

Born sometime in late 70s Stockholm, Sweden, Björn Wahlström  is editor and co-founder of HAL Publications. A sometime writer, he’s a promoter of China based literature, including his own.

After a six year stint in sinologist academia Bjorn became a corporate stooge in 2005, two years after first moving to China. Despite this severe digression, he maintained his interest in the arts and is a passionate patron and promoter of the literary scene in Shanghai, having conceived and founded the city’s most popular English based writers’ group.

His creative writing is colored by a peculiar insight into China, and  by his broad familiarity of Western and Eastern philosophy. Bursts of cynical laowaisims (read: foreignerisms) are tempered with a genuine appreciation and understanding of China, a sane madman in a crazy land. Bjorn is a member of the Unshod Quills Writers Collective.