Media
The Philippine Embassy shares my poem (video)
To help celebrate the 75th Anniversary of Philippine – United States diplomatic relations, the Embassy commissioned Poets laureate Aileen Cassinetto of San Mateo County, California; Luisa Igloria, current poet laureate of Virginia; Sophia Starnes, former poet laureate of Virginia, and me to collaborate on a commemorative poem. All four videos are posted at the embassy’s Cultural Shorts page.
Overlooking the Pacific, Marin Headlands, California
Together we wrote heartfelt four tanagas inspired by the relationship between our two nations. The Tanaga is an indigenous Filipino form. My poem, Tanaga: Song Where Every Filipinx Person Is Standing by the Ocean and those of my fellow laureates appear in the July 2021 issue of Poetry Magazine.
Delaware, The 1st State @NEA’s 50th (video)
image: “The United States of Art“– The National Endowment for the Arts 50th Anniversary Celebration
(January, 2016) The Delaware Division of the Arts collaborated with NEA/ArtWorks to produce this three-minute video showcasing Delaware arts and culture as part of a series of state stories celebrating The National Endowment for the Arts 50th Anniversary.
I plug Delaware literary arts and Poetry Out Loud; artist Lori Crawford showcases the beautifully restored Dover Post Office murals (a 1937 WPA project); and Division director Paul Weagraff introduces The Grand Opera House, The Biggs Museum and other Delaware arts institutions.
The production artists acted on my suggestion to include visuals of bridges, especially the iconic Indian River Bridge, shot at night in its gown of blue lights.
“Wilmington, Delaware: A Place to Be Somebody”
from Urban Voices: 51 Poems from 51 American Poets (San Francisco Bay P, 2014)
The film opens with lines from “A Place to Be Somebody”–my poem about Wilmington and its history that mentions the Indian River Bridge. The poem paints a picture of our state–small geographically, socially complex, straddling its southern agrarian and northern industrial cultural history, home to big-hearted, resilient people who love the arts.
Interview with U.S. Poet Laureate, Juan Felipe Herrera (August 2, 2015 podcast)
Juan Felipe Herrera, U.S. Poet Laureate. “There is so much pain. We all need an embrace.”
The host of Delaware’s State of the Arts radio program, Guillermina Gonzalez and I asked the newly-appointed U.S. poet laureate, activist, teacher and children’s author why he writes. He was in California, I was in Michigan, and Guillermina was in Delaware that day: conference calls are great, but you may need to turn up the volume on this one! Juan Felipe talks about getting the call to accept his new honor (“Were you sitting down?”) and reads a brand-new poem, “Nine Drops of Blood,” tribute to and elegy for nine church members shot and killed in Charleston, South Carolina on June 17. (Me: “Could we hear a poem?” JFH: “Sure. Let me step over to my second desk, which is just as disorganized as my first desk.”) Recorded July 20, 2015. Recent Division of the Arts “State of the Arts” podcasts are archived on this page:
National Poetry Month interview at WDDE radio
Radio host Cathy Carter and I talked about poetry and its obsessions at Delaware’s NPR station in Dover. Listen to the interview and a couple of poems: April 1, 2015 Arts Playlist.
Poet laureate writes Sussex poem
November 20, 2012. Jon Bleiweis. Delaware Wave/delmarvanow.com
JoAnn Balingit at Herring Point, Cape Henlopen St Park. Chuck Snyder photo
Video
JoAnn Balingit appointed Delaware poet laureate May 15, 2008
Reading from Delaware’s New Poet Laureate
The News Journal/ delawareonline.com video broadcast
May 15, 2008– JoAnn Balingit reads her sonnet “History Textbook, America”
Woman Made Gallery Presents: It’s About Time
Article about the reading panel and link to audio recording.
Poets (from left) Angela Torres, Ariana Nash, Lynn Pattison, Erika Mikkalo, Keli Stewart, Stefania Gomez and JoAnn Balingit
September 9, 2012– Article, bios & audio recording, WBEZ 91.5 by Kurt Eric Heintz