the envoy 065

May 2014 Envoy-065 Editor – Danielle Dinally – [email protected]

The ENVOY The official newsletter of the CCLA

I.S.S.N. - 1911-0693 May, 2014 Issue 065

Dear CCLA Members:

It is wonderful to have The Envoy back in full swing again. Thank you Danielle Dinally for coming on

board as Editor. She is a true Cuba-file with trips to Cuba under her belt and now, as is so common with

Cuban travelers, has dear friends there. Her unique Cuban perspective will be valuable as editor. You

can reach her at—[email protected]. She will need your support with your content for future

issues. We hope you will send her your; poetry, prose, book reviews, trip reports, etc.

CCLA Members’ Anthology: We are now collecting work for our next CCLA members’ anthology.

See attached “Call For Submissions”. We now have Bruce Kauffman on board as editor. Thanks very

much Bruce. The call for work will give you his email address. Please send him your work.

CCLA 10th Anniversary Trip Reports and Poems/Prose: Send your Trip Reports with pics to the

editor of The Envoy – Danielle. We are always happy to hear from the so-called non-writers that joined

us on the trip – send us your memories. ALSO send your poems and prose for the Anniversary Chapter

of the next CCLA members’ anthology – see attached info.

One of the delights for me this winter was that my first grandchild was born while I was in Cuba. His

name is Lionel. Here are two letter poems that were written while I was away.

Here a Cuban hug.

With much affection,

Prez Tai / Grandpa Tai

mailto:[email protected]


JANUARY, 28, 2014 ARRIVAL (On the birthday of José Julián Martí Pérez) Dear Lionel:

I am thinking about you

while sitting under a Cuban palm

wafted by a warm January ocean breeze

with the ghost of Jose Marti lapping

at my pale Canadian ankles.

We received the news

of your January 25th planetary arrival

from the womb to cradling arms.

You may have already met Marti

before you arrived. His 161st birthday

was today, three days after yours.

I have only met the freedom

that he fought and died for.

Your mother emailed my dear

Cuban sister Adonay the news.

Adonay told my brother Manuel,

Manuel told little brother Wency

then finally Wency phoned Kim and me

at the Club Amigo Hotel in Guardalavaca.

All of your Cuban family is delighted

by your safe arrival

but no one more than I.

We have all shared kisses and hugs

besos y abrazos

and can only imagine your pink puckered toes,

your wrinkled worry-free brow,

ten tiny fisted fingers

eager to explore your new reality

of sights unseen, unheard.

What a wonderful adventure

you have embarked on.

I look forward to meeting you in person

holding your little hand one day

on a Cuban beach

for a heart-to-heart about freedom

and the prices paid.

With love, Grandpa Tai


The Round (Dedicated to Stanley Jasspan Kunitz)

February 14, 2014

My Dear Lionel:

Happy Valentine’s Day.

I am on my way home

from Cuba from my life

swept adventure of swaying

palms, horse carts and fresh

warm fruit. You are less than one

month old, living

your first days. In the spirit

of Stanley Kunitz poem,

“The Round” he reminds us

with these words to live

each day, every day as a new

day. “I can scarcely wait

till tomorrow / when a new life

begins for me / as it does

each day / as it does each day.” Today all

you can possibly do is live

each day as a new day, as a

new life. Beginnings are truly all

you have, beginnings,

beginnings and more beginnings.

As a new life begins for you,

as it does each day, as it does

each day for me, for you, for all,

all you can do is live

each day, each day.

Yours truly,

Grandpa Tai


Member News:

Colin Morton’s new book of poetry, Winds and Strings (BuschekBooks) includes some of his poems from Cuba. You can learn about it at his new website, www.colinmorton.ca. His wife Mary Lee Bragg has also published her poems, some also written in Cuba, in chapbook Winter Music, which won the Tree Chapbook Award in 2013. Gary Rasberry has been nominated for a SiriusXM Indie Award this year. Congratulations to Gary!!

Member Blogs:

We are now asking CCLA members for URL links to their poetry or prose blogs and websites if any. In the meantime here are a few below to pursue at your own leisure: - Cuba Blog - President Tai- http://cubablog.hiddenbrookpress.com/ - CCLA Member - Shane Joseph- www.shanejoseph.com/blog- themes include: 1) The Writing Life, its rewards and travails 2) Politics & Society (specifically exploring what does not work) 3) Business Life, its necessity and its incompleteness 4) Travel 5) Social Media, its opportunities and pitfalls 6) Life Stages. Shane’s blog is also syndicated with websites such as: www.blogcatalog.com , www.broowaha.com and www.northumberlandview.ca - CCLA Member - Chris Faiers- http://riffsandripplesfromzenrivergardens.blogspot.com/- - CCLA Member-Donna Allard - http://donnaallard.blogspot.com/ Donna’s book trailer can be viewed at http://canadian-poet-donna-allard.webnode.com/ We also encourage members to include URL links to their poetry readings, music and videos

http://www.colinmorton.ca/

http://cubablog.hiddenbrookpress.com/

http://www.shanejoseph.com/blog-

http://www.blogcatalog.com/

http://www.broowaha.com/

http://www.northumberlandview.ca/

http://riffsandripplesfromzenrivergardens.blogspot.com/-

http://donnaallard.blogspot.com/

http://canadian-poet-donna-allard.webnode.com/


Snowbirding in Florida and Cuba

Lisa Makarchuck

As Historian Eric Hobsbawm said, “this is an age of extremes”: Naples, Florida, where

we stayed in November, was a plethora of strip malls, an abundance of goods and

many eating places within every mile. People were courteous but portrayed an

underlay of harassment and anxiety in their movements. Later, In Jibacoa, Cuba,

where sunbeams wrapped around the resort almost every day, we were more isolated,

more ruralized, with one store, three eating areas, a resort of smiling faces. In Naples,

the Latino landscapers were actively unengaging with their clientele; black people

were rarely seen. In Cuba, seniors raking the grounds were forthcoming, talkative and

were not to speak of people’s general openness. In Naples, relative prosperity and

extreme privatisation (no public transit to speak of, compared to Canada), was

counter-balanced in Jibacoa with what might be considered on the surface as material

poverty but life exuded a combination of an extreme sense of collectivity and

informality. Tolerance, friendliness and downright affection produced a quality of life

unique to Cuba.

Enjoyment of things cannot take the

place of human bonding in

empathy. The overriding social

relationships in Naples were guided

by “me against the world that is

dangerous and out to get me”; stand

your ground against “the other”

threatening your life, your family

and/or your property; get a gun to

“protect” yourself. Proportionately,

there are more people in jail in the

US than in any other developed

country. To arrive in Cuba is to

enter a welcoming warmth which

has become its trademark. Old

Havana rocks with an easy harmony of its inhabitants of many colours in a hustle for

the convertible peso. To go out at night? No problem; however, a suggestion: don’t

wear a gold necklace or it might be snatched.


In Cuba, people spoke of “errors” committed in the past and about cautious change for

the future. Back in the US, policing the world to keep it “safe” for democracy appears

to be imbued in people's minds. After bombing 23 countries since 1979, there appears

to be little to show for it except massive suffering and societal destruction. Cuba

exports mainly its doctors and other medical personnel while the US continues to

export soldiers and military hardware.

Once upon a time there was a stereotype of Cubans speaking with a tourist that he or

she was not supposed to be speaking to, turning around to see who might be

watching. We still to this day hear this in introduction to stories about Cuba told by

tourists. In Florida, people would look around to see who was listening aware that any

USer might label what was being said as “liberal,” “socialist” if not “communist”—all

labels at the least misunderstood or used as a weapon to stifle argument. While the

Ladies in White were doing their protesting at the Revolution Plaza in Havana, the US

Congress passed Bill 347 re-jailing of protesters if found in areas designated as

“restricted.”

Both places luxuriated in the elegant majesty of swaying royal palms. The nighttime air

was charged with blue, snapping starlight and gorgeous full moons or quarters

carrying water. We had retreated from the north before an advancing wall of a polar

vortex and ended up in unimaginably beautiful scenes of piña colada overdose in both

places.

On balance, the alienation of Naples reminded me of my youth and my Intoxication with

Camus’ existentialism/nihilism. Luckily for me, I perceived Cuba then, as I do now, as

sapling growing out of a crevice of solid rock sending down roots and striving for the

embrace of the sun’s rays. My outcropping of passionate care for what happens in the

world, including Cuba, saved me from the abyss.


Lisa was one of the two founders of the

International Festival of Poetry of

Resistance (IFPOR) in Toronto and co-

ordinated the Third IFPOR. She worked

as a radio journalist in Havana in the

1960's hosting a midnight jazz

program. After her retirement from

teaching, she was appointed by the

PM's Office as Honorary Consul for

Canada based in the Consulate in

Varadero where she served for almost

two years. She has been active in

several committees to free the Cuban

Five.

CCLA Member- Lisa Makarchuk

WINDCHILL K.V. Skene

Shivers of glass, a slow storm cutting corners, branches ripped out of touch a blurred voice on the radio each season sings its own name its passage wings overhead, occasional stars nipples of ice.


THE CITY DISAPPEARS (discovering David A. Balfour Park) K.V. Skene layer by layer as we step down, Yellow Creek rushes to spring- green maple, ash, elm, oak, willow that bends the sky, rainwet with wild flowers underfoot, mud puddles beneath bridges: fern, moss, knot of root, fallen branch to climb over tumble of rock, sudden skitters of squirrel, chipmunk, wingflutters of bird, and our potbellied pug goes wolf.


THE THREE LUCIAS, JAN, 28, 2014 (Haikus) John Hamley

Mariscos y vino a cada mesa un extranjero

Sea food and wine at each table a foreigner Señora Matamosca juega al ajedrez

Lady flykiller plays chess

Todos los ángeles alertas el año nueva a las puertas del cielo de los cerdos

All angels alert new year at the gates of hog heaven

La familia del cirujano come bien

The surgeon’s family eats well


THE THREE LUCIAS, MARCH 18, 2014 John Hamley

Silencio— el llamado de una lechusa tan claro como las estrellas

Silence — Then an owl’s call as clear as the stars (published in the Haiku Canada Review, 2009)

Viejo estanque— ranas debaten conducta humana

Old pond frogs debate theories of human conduct

Espejo— como lo mires te mirará a tí

Mirror the way you look at it looks back at you (published in the Mainichi Daily News, 2013)


THE OLD MAN Maria Isabel Bifez Ostez - student of the University of Ciego De Ávila

Do you know who he is? See his worn, aged hands, dirty. Look over there, he is sitting on a small chair beside a bicycle I am sure you won’t like him but come and have a look anyway. He doesn’t smell very good. He has no house, no job, no food. He is hungry and has no plans, no future. He is an old man. I feel so sorry for him. What will happen to him?


THE FAIR Merle Hernandez Gonzalez - student of the University of Ciego De Ávila Wake up, wake up it’s Sunday, the day to go to the fair Yes! Family is ready This is not a pulguero in United States neither a Mexican Tianguis. You should come down to earth. This is a Cuban market “The Fair” the most popular event of the weekend. A few deals, prices like towers. Even soil is sold, a rip-off merchant playing with the scale. A vendor cries “The best yucca here. Two pineapples for 15 pesos” Hurry up, let’s go to Feria I like shopping.


A REPORT FROM THE CIEGO DE ÁVILA CHAPTER

Mabel Acosta Garcia

In January, in the hot winter season, we had the pleasure of receiving two members of the

Canada Cuba Literary Alliance (CCLA): Mr. Richard M. Grove, the President of this alliance

and Kimberly Grove, the secretary of the alliance. This couple has dedicated almost their

entire lives to study and learn all the secrets of literature and poetry; that is why they joined us

to develop some workshops at the University of Ciego de Ávila. Their main purpose was to

teach how to write short stories and poems. The course lasted twelve days, from January 8th

until January 20th.

In this activity 26 teachers and 80 students participated, all of them were excited as the

professors were very well-prepared and they wanted to transmit their knowledge.

At the beginning of the course, the students didn´t have any ability to write poems and short

stories, nevertheless, in each lesson the students learned new techniques, fresh ideas, and

useful tools, which made the work easier. At the end, people who participated had written at

least two poems or a short story.

During this period, the Canadian visitors worked in the course every morning and in the

afternoons, they had the opportunity to share with all the students of the English Language

Major. In each meeting, they interchanged with each other and spent a good time together.

During the course, we created a chapter of the CCLA. Professor Felix Antonio Castillo Flores

was elected as the president of this chapter and Professor Mabel Anastacia Acosta Garcia as

the ambassador of the association.

When the course finished the professors were invited to participate in the VII Seminar on

Canadian Studies which main topic was “University and Society”. It took place on January 21st

and January 22nd where the participants presented their research mainly about three topics:

university and society, linguistics and Canadian glimpses. We also invited members of the

University council along with Mr. Kevin Tunney, Vice-Secretary of the Canadian embassy in

Cuba who was also invited.

These events were successful triumphs of the Canadian Studies Center, they demonstrated

once again the togetherness of our countries and that our relationship may be an example for

the world.


CCLA Members’ Anthology

Call for submissions Please send far and wide, new members are welcome.

New Members: New members are welcome to submit work. We are always happy to have

new members included in The Envoy, The Ambassador and our Member Anthologies.

We are now collecting work for our next CCLA Members’ Anthology.

This will be our 10th anniversary anthology.

Deadline: June 30, 2014

Send your work to: Bruce Kauffman– [email protected]

Subject Heading Note: Please include the words “CCLA anthology” on the subject line of

your email otherwise the spam filter might view emails as junk and I may not get them all.

Theme: Cuba related work is preferred but not essential.

Number of Submission: 3 poems or 3 micro prose or 1 prose.

Length of Submission: Prose – 1,200 words max. Prose poems – 350 words max. Poems –

60 lines max including title and blank lines, lines can be 50 characters max per line including

spaces.

Language: English only, all Spanish work must be sent pre-translated.

Donate Your Work: Because this is a not-for-profit CCLA membership anthology we will

not be giving a free copy to members. Copies will be available to members at a 50%

discount.

10th Anniversary Trip Submission: This members’ anthology will have a special chapter

dedicated to work that is specifically of a Cuban Theme, written while on the trip, inspired

by the trip or from the trip. If you were on our 2014 CCLA 10th Anniversary Trip this

chapter is for you. Aside from the work for the other chapters please submit, 3 poems or 3

micro prose or 1 prose of the same length as mentioned above. We hope you will submit

work for both sections of the book. Please indicate which section your work is for.

Publishing Time Line: If all goes as planned we hope to have a finished book available by

the end of September 2014.

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