My interview of Vietnames artist Huang. https://ips-dc.org/war_and_peace_an_epic_mural/ John Feffer and IPS were sponsors of her exhibit and John Feffer introduced me to her and suggested I write a piece abt her.

Thank you.

I interviewed her over the telephone. She was a joy to talk to.

I've only written a few articles about other artists.

I don't write about my own artwork as I believe they should "go out on their own, and speak for themselves" as in W.S. Merwin's Envoy from d'Aubigne.

https://voca.arizona.edu/track/id/62239

I was so fortunate that just when I was having my poetry binge and won the William Carlos Williams Award from the Academy of American Poets, (the judge was Dannie Abse), W. S. Merwin selected my friend Dr. Sharon Ann Jaeger for the translation prize.

Hearing and seeing W. S. Merwin read was unforgettable.

The tower of his stacked-up published books of poetry was as high as the podium. I don't remember his hair but one silver eyebrow shot off into space.

I still have his signed book, The Carrier of Letters.

That's what I mean when I say I have had a wonderful life.

I've met the most amazing people.

"Their's not the fault have I not shone like them," as my friend in Burma Khin Khin Thein wrote of our economist mentors.

I've been more fortunate that I started my conscious life in a Western country, and ended up the last 4 decades in another one.

It's better than contorting myself to fit some nationalistic ideal pone san khwet (the molded plates used in prison--but Dr Sean Turnell recently released says they were fed out of a used paint bucket and had to use their hands to scoop out the rice gruel. He said he caught Covid 5 times.)

I'm tired of all the flak and all the drivel on Facebook.

One Burmese dissident wrote "At this point I had had enough," when the ABSDF (All Burma Students Democratic Front) started putting death sentences on each other.

Kyi May Kaung.

3-8-2023