19 June 2022 | 2:00 p.m. to 3:15 p.m. EDT | Virtual
Event poster
Poetry by Patria Rivera
Paintings by Joe Rivera
Opening Remarks: Mr. Justin Poy, Honorary Patron, Asian Heritage Month-CFACI
This joint project will present 10 of Joe Rivera’s oil paintings and 31 of Patria Rivera’s poems under the title of “May Days.” While the paintings vividly depicted the “Ordinary” neighbours with a slice of their “Everyday” life, the poems are not versed in their everyday tongues.
Sophisticated, award-winning poet, Patria introduces the readers to Miroslav Holub (pronounced [mɪrɔslaf ɦɔlʊp]; (13 September 1923–14 July 1998), an important Czech poet. Patria acknowledges the syntax of her new poems derived directly from the Czech poet’s scientific analysis as an immunologist:
“In his book, The Dimension of the Present Moment (1990), Miroslav Holub posited that the dimension of the present moment—about three seconds—is roughly the same amount of time it takes to speak a line of poetry.”
Patria decided to use “Holub’s three-second parameter as the length of the poetic line for the musings and observations of moments in the everyday.”
At first sight of the Patria’s experimental poetry, the readers feel immediately challenged. Traditional syntactics are not followed here; subjects and objects are dissected, while actions and events were described, analyzed, or imagined through the poet’s eye via meditative monologues. However, elements of everyday life continue to flash and spark through dreams, images and symbols via many three-second moments of her 31 poems set in the month of May.
Event co-organizers: Asian Heritage Month—Canadian Foundation for Asian Culture (Central Ontario) Inc.; Toronto Public Library; York Centre for Asian Research, York University; Asian Institute at the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy, University of Toronto; York University; Richard Charles Lee Canada Hong Kong Library, University of Toronto; Chinese Canadian Photography Society of Toronto; WE Artists’ Group; Social Services Network; Cambridge Food and Wine Society
Asian Heritage Month Festival is partially funded by the Government of Canada through the Department of Canadian Heritage and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council. Asian Canadian Artists in Digital Age is funded by Canada Council for the Arts Digital Strategy Fund.