Joseph Eaton Da Chen tells a good story. Sloped back on a chair at the 23rd Ave. Bookstore, he keeps the small audience at his reading riveted as he describes collecting fertilizer for his family s garden.
Water buffalo are like humans.
The first thing they want to do when they wake up is go to the bathroom. The audience laughs with him. Then he pushes the story further, describing days spent wandering country roads with an army of village children, all searching for animal crap. Suddenly, the room is quiet. Through the long lens of time, Chen has learned to bring out a full range of emotions from his painful recollections.