HALO-HALO IS FRESH!

And not just because halo-halo is a refreshing dessert!  I've just released the third issue of THE HALO-HALO REVIEW's Mangozine! Click on link for refreshing takes on Filipin@ literature!  The issue includes--and I'm grateful for--reviews of

THE CONNOISSEUR OF ALLEYS reviewed by Leny M. Strobel; go HERE for review but here's an excerpt

Imagine a string of over a thousand lines offering Beauty and Poet whispering: Do not Forget. 

I accept this gift. Here, the Poet’s elision of her authorial voice (I forgot) offers me, as a reader, the gift of renewing my second sight—where its gifts often hide in alleys sidelined by socially-condoned consensual reality shaped by what we are now willing to admit as the failure of the modern narrative.

THE CHAINED HAY(NA)KU PROJECT reviewed by Chris Mansel; go HERE for review but here's an excerpt:

The first section of the book is a twenty-four-page poem composed by those that curated the book, Ivy Alvarez, John Bloomberg-Rissman, Ernesto Priego & Eileen Tabios. The title of the poem is “Four Skin Confessions” it is separated into six different sections and written in three lines each time. It begins, “The/ body judges/ better than the / mind.” In some way this could describe the entire book. We are all products of or environment. It all seeps in. Towards the very back of the book there is a thirty-one-page conversation between the writers of this poem on the construction of the piece and it by far the biggest reason you should buy this book. It is quite a fortunate thing to be able to eavesdrop on a collaboration such as this.

VERSES TYPHOON YOLANDA reviewed by Mary Kasimor; go HERE for review but here's an excerpt:

VERSES TYPHOON YOLANDA is about a tragedy and how it affects the human spirit. It is about gathering up the pieces and mourning death and other losses. The poets whose work are included in this book have many styles. There are “professional” writers and poets and then there are those poets who are writing their poems from their hearts. Nonetheless, all the poems are emotional responses to loss through major disaster and in the end, how people deal with this loss—whether through their strong belief in religion or in the human relationships that keep people bonded and strong. This is a collection of poetry worth reading because of the heartfelt sadness. I have not ever read a collection of poetry quite like this—devoted to the topic of a natural disaster.

I also offer an online reprint of my Introduction to the Poetry Section of SCREAMING MONKEYS, an important anthology on Asian American images put out in 2003 by Coffee House Press.

There are many more valuable topics -- hope you peruse, read and enjoy Mangozine #3 from THE HALO-HALO REVIEW!