Newton resident Ingrid Chiemi is a poet, songwriter, and musician. In the past few years, she has used her artistic talents to create many songs that reflect both her life and the world’s collective experience in the age of COVID, and she has published multiple books of her lyrics. Her first book, Karma Bank to Following By Listening, was a collection of lyrics to music she composed during the pandemic, capturing the experience of being forced to slow down and listen, both to the world and to oneself. Her second book, Odd Simple Beauty, celebrated moments of creativity, hope, and connection that emerged, sometimes paradoxically, from the collective experience of COVID. Now her third book, World As Refuge, presents songs and art about collective emergence from the pandemic and the ways people are finding that lives and perspectives have been changed.
“This book is about where we’ve gotten to be now,” said Ingrid. “After all we’ve been through, there’s a sense of lessons learned, and a thoughtfulness going forward as we are finally actually able to take steps to emerge together.” A good example is the song Lunar Monkeyshines. It recounts the experience of a group of artists who stealthily move about Tacoma, WA, placing their artistic creations of monkeys (representing the Chinese zodiac animal) in hiding places where they know people will eventually discover them. It’s a revival of a traditional practice that allows art to be enjoyed both at the moment of creation and as keepsakes for years to come. World as Refuge is devoted to exploring instances like this, in which the current world, with all its flaws, can nevertheless function as a place of sanctuary.
A portion of proceeds from sales of World as Refuge benefits the Coalition for Anti-Racism and Equity (CARE), just as Ingrid’s prior books also benefit the Asian Community Development Corporation and Asian Women for Health charities, respectively. The CARE Coalition supports teaching cultural education or “true history” in public schools (including topics such as the Chinese Exclusion Act, Japanese internment camps, and National Day of Mourning origins).
Readers can enjoy Ingrid’s music and reading at an afternoon Poetry Party at 3PM on Sunday, October 1, at Newtonville Books in Newton Centre. For more of Ingrid’s work, visit her on Soundcloud, YouTube, Instagram, Bandcamp, and chiemimusic.com.
