This Publisher's Column shall feature developments related to Filipino literature. Each monthly update also shall include a featured poet and poem. For comments and suggestions, please e-mail Meritage Press Associate Editor Jade Afable at Jade@meritagepress.com


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December's featured poet is Barbara Jane Reyes and her poem "101 words that don't quite describe me." Barbara is currently working on her MFA at San Francisco State University. Her work is featured in BABAYLAN and also forthcoming in EROS PINOY (Ed. Krip Yuson, Anvil, 2001). She says she is "also at work in collaboration with a SF Bay Area based Pil Am filmmaker on a horrific reinterpretation of her poems."

101 words that don't quite describe me

crazy. flirtatious. unstable. silly. beautiful. sarcastic. caustic. critical. scandalous. dangerous. ambitious. intellectual. ecstatic. angry. mysterious. belligerent. childlike. calculating. irreverent. insane. emotional. dreamer. cynic. hunter. enchantress. ruthless. insecure. sexy. adversary. idealist. bitch. whore. darkie. morena. diva. control freak. prophet. wanna-be. renegade. delusional. goddess. teacher. lover. temptress. black sheep. blasphemer. princessa. hilot. salbahe. tarantado. puta. sirena. anak. nobya. querida. saint. donselya. slut. diwata. katolika. manhater. sistah. witch. profane. poet. songstress. scribe. storm. doña. bruja. babae. cunt. kayumanggi. rebel. shadow. divine. queen. home wrecker. dalaga. pinay. immigrant. babaylan. hayop. liar. heroine. child. stranger. voyeur. kontrabida. sinner. peripheral. body. tao. object. disillusioned. violent. other. woman.

Of her poem, Barbara writes, "...this poem came from recent journal entries and of course my rereading of marion zimmer bradley's the mists of avalon. for the most part the words came out this way, but as i went into editing mode, some words still needed to be said. others seemed out of place where they were. i wanted a momentum to build. i wanted to start with plausible words then launch into more implausible but not impossible words. i wanted the areas with the highest density of tagalog words to be the most tortured and impactful. i wanted beautiful words and ugly words to sit beside each other, but rather than contradict each other, i wanted them to enhance one another. // i wanted it to be both an examination of people's (mainly men's and white people's) perceptions of me, but also kind of a confession of my own. words i've heard said about me. words not necessarily spoken but thought about me. blurred distinction btwn the two. then i wanted it to wind down with a blunt conclusion in which i didn't have to necessarily state 'jaded.' or 'tired.'"

Barbara writes about her poem in one of the essays to be featured in the forthcoming anthology, FILIPINO WRITERS IN THE DIASPORA, edited by poet Luisa Igloria (Anvil).

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HOLIDAY POETRY CONTEST

Dear Poets--
You are invited to submit to a modest and cheerful poetry contest. No submission fees. E-mail submissions. Details below:

Holiday Poetry Contest
Sponsors: Meritage Press and the NPA (New Poets Army)
Judge: Nick Carbo
Deadline: December 31, 2001

All poets are encouraged to submit by e-mailing 1 or 2 poems to MeritagePress@aol.com. (Send no more than 2 poems). Please include your full name along with your e-mail address. However, the poems will be sent without your names to judge Nick Carbo, thereby allowing the poems to be read on their own. All poets are welcome. Emerging poets are especially welcome!

There are no limitations to poetry styles or content. All types of poems are welcome.

Send previously unpublished poems (you may, however, submit poems that you have featured on your own web sites or that have been published in limited edition chapbooks of no more than 250 copies).

The winner(s) will have their poems published in the February 2002 edition of "Babaylan Speaks" at www.MeritagePress.com. The winner also will receive autographed copies of

BRIDGEABLE SHORES, Selected Poems 1969-2001, by Luis Cabalquinto;

SECRET ASIAN MAN by Nick Carbo; and

100 MORE JOKES FROM THE BOOK OF THE DEAD by John Yau and Archie Rand.

Judge Nick Carbo is a Filipino poet who is also one of the leading lights on the American poetry scene. He is the author of two poetry collections including SECRET ASIAN MAN (Tia Chucha Press) which received the 2001 Members' Choice Literary Award from the Asian American Writers Workshop. He was the editor of the groundbreaking anthology RETURNING THE BORROWED TONGUE and co-editor, with Eileen Tabios, of BABAYLAN: AN ANTHOLOGY OF FILIPINA AND FILIPINA AMERICA WRITERS. His awards include poetry fellowships from the National Endowment of the Arts and the New York Foundation of the Arts. He currently teaches at Miami University.

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BOOK REVIEW: THE KISSING

Meritage Press thanks Dr. Leny Strobel for her brief review of Merlinda Bobis' latest book, THE KISSING (Aunt Lute, 2001). THE KISSING is the first U.S.-published book by the multi-awarded Filipino-Australian writer, poet, and performance artist. More information about Merlinda and her book may be accessed at www.auntlute.com. Here is the review by Leny, author of the groundbreaking book COMING FULL CIRCLE: THE PROCESS OF DECOLONIZATION AMONG POST-1965 FILIPINO AMERICANS (Giraffe Books, 2001):

Good Art transcends without bypassing history and politics. In THE KISSING this is seamlessly done with geniusly crafted sensuous, evocative, lighthearted, immense, colorful, intimate stories. Yet just a little beneath the sheen of its beautiful, labyrinthine language, the pain of History of a devoured country and people whispers. And still beneath the determining power of history's master narratives, the stories tell of the power and muscle of strong women (the fish-hair woman, the border lover for example) whose strength is born precisely from their great suffering. A dignified suffering hints at a hidden wisdom, a transcendent knowing that Life is bigger than what is endured on earth.

I like how Memory is invoked over and over again; how it is used to interweave history's past and present, one place to another, one life to another. All these are fluidly told from one tongue to another, as if it has never occurred to those voices that in some places one's accent, one's foreignness are signs of unbelonging.

What THE KISSING does is reveal to the reader that the world can open up to us from the most intimate spaces, from the stories that belong to others yet so familiar to our own souls. There is a powerful subtext, however, and we are asked to take a glimpse at history and politics and the way it shapes our lives even as we believe that we shape our own.

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OPEN LETTER FROM MERLINDA BOBIS

Following her recent book tour throughout the United States, Merlinda writes this letter to all those who attended her events:

Dear All,
Once again, let me thank you for hosting me and THE KISSING. Despite these difficult times, I found my book tour around the US personally rewarding. Despite the smaller audiences in most of the reading venues, those who came further affirmed my conviction in a humanist politics that, I believe, I try to espouse in my works. The book tour had its best moments when members of the audience made a gesture that underlined the resonances between our different experiences. This deepens my belief that literature allows us to cross to the Other's side, especially in these times of doubt, resentment, fear and paranoia. In books, we are able to accommodate the Other in our own homes. I may not know you, but in your stories, I smell the bread rising in your kitchen, hear your child's breathing in her sleep. My body eases, my psyche opens up. I know that you can be as vulnerable and tender as I am.

Let's hope that all the different sides in this conflicted world of ours do not stop telling stories, even for the other side, while also listening to that side's own stories and maybe hearing familiar timbres or inflections. The fact that you welcomed me, a Filipino-Australian, and my stories is an assurance that there is reason to hope.

With very best wishes and thanks.
Merlinda

PS. This is a rather long PS, especially written for my hosts and friends in Hawaii. On the week that I was there, I heard that Fil-Am students in Hawaii are not as confident as those in the mainland, because of the migration history of the first Filipinos in Hawaii, the plantation workers. I thought through this and felt the urge to offer a reflection, if I may. Maybe we can let the camera turn towards another angle. There is so much confidence and fortitude in Pinoys who leave home and settle and work extremely hard (we do!) in another country. Migration is a formidable task. It is a strange and difficult love story. Migrants work hard in order to love the new home, to make it their own, and be loved back by it in return. Every occupation (including writing) that any migrant undertakes is a form of serenading. We keep singing to this new home, so it will open its window and hear our own stories, and perhaps sing with us. But even while in this act of wooing, we are so afraid that the first home might stop loving us. Because we left. Being caught in a love affair like this calls for incredible confidence. And Filipinos have it!

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EKPHRASIS: POETRY/ART COLLABORATIONS

Featuring: Max Gimblett, Archie Rand, Eileen Tabios and John Yau

When: 6:30 p.m., Thursday, December 13, 2001
Where: Asia Society, 725 Park Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10021
Suggested Admissions Fee: $5
Sponsors: Asia Society and Asian American Writers Workshop

To celebrate the release of Meritage Press' first book, 100 MORE JOKES FROM THE BOOK OF THE DEAD, the two artists and two poets shall present slide presentations, poetry readings, panel discussions and audience question-and-answer opportunities. More information about John, Archie and Eileen are available in the "Meritage Press" and "ABOUT" sections of this website. More information about Max is available at www.MaxGimblett.com.

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THE POETRY OF SIX DIRECTIONS:

As a result of the September 11, 2001 tragedy, the deadline for Eileen Tabios's multidisciplinary project, "POEMS FORM/FROM THE SIX DIRECTIONS," has been extended to January 31, 2002:

ATTENTION ALL POETS: You are cordially invited to Eileen Tabios's marriage to Poetry. RSVP by January 31, 2002 by sending a poem (no longer than one page) to PinoyPoetics@aol.com. No poem will be rejected as poems should never be rejected. All poems will become part of an installation, "Poem-Tree." See the October 2001 entry for more information about this project.