Travel as Treatment: Glenn Stowell, in China, in Verse

In late August of this year (wow—we were all so young back then, weren’t we?), I received a message from the other side of the planet. Glenn Stowell ’13, hockey goalie, poet, and FYI classmate extraordinaire, was asking for a small favor. A month later, I finally got around to it—but if I’d read the collection of poetry Stowell wrote in China over the summer, Travel as Treatment, closer to when he actually sent it to me, the turnaround would have been much faster. Stowell’s brief and accessible snapshots, each one anchored to a specific locale, spread over three weeks, use spaces to generate spaces; I’ve never been to China (nor heard of it!), but with the aid of a comfortable beer buzz I found myself filling in the gaps with images of soft rain, streetside vendors, and quiet isolation. From Stowell:

I was fortunate enough to have this project funded by the Olin Fellowship. I owe the donors and trustees of the fellowship a great deal of gratitude for their generosity and for their trust.

This final product is a short collection of pieces written in China. In the month of August I was working with a contemporary Chinese poet, Yan Jun on our final manuscript for his new English book. In May, I was lucky enough to be named the head translator and editor on the project. The book, You Jump to Another Dream, is available in late October from Vagabond Press (Sydney and Tokyo.)

Glenn’s pictured above working with the aforementioned Yan Jun in full grayscale glory. Travel as Treatment can be read/downloaded right here. (EDIT: G.S. asks that you try this if Google Docs isn’t working out for you.)