FEATURED AS (I MEAN, AT) LITTER

Wow. An unexpected feature on Moi over at Leafe Press' LITTER Magazine! As in

     Introduction

     Interview with Eileen Tabios

     Review of "I Forgot Arts Poetica / Am Uitat Arta Poetică"

     Review of "The Opposite of Claustrophobia"

     Four New Poems by Eileen Tabios

As they say, I'm gobsmacked. Thanks to editor & reviewer Alan Baker, interviewer John Bloomberg-Rissman, reviewer Valerie Morton and avatar Angelo Suarez. The new poems are from a manuscript, HIRAETH.  And here's the "Author Photo" they chose from googling me.

From Valerie Morton's review of I FORGOT ARS POETICA:

There is continuous movement in these poems which hop from place to place within the mind, hardly allowing the reader a breathing space, and like a musical concerto reaching great heights and lows, twists and turns.  Although I never quite comprehend the “you” throughout this work, I do enjoy the mystery of trying to fathom whether this is the country left behind, the one waiting ahead or a lover, a parent, a friend. But this seems unimportant as whichever way it is read it comes back to the same thing—loss/discovery, displacement, loneliness, passions, fears—eventually settling in acceptance and re-discovery of the true sense of the self re-emerging and free. The ‘you’ becomes what you want it to. And yet the reader never becomes “resigned” —there are forever more questions to be asked.

From Alan Baker's review of THE OPPOSITE OF CLAUSTROPHOBIA:

There are passages of rare beauty, there are striking phrases and cadences, and there surprises on every page: 

I forgot meagre pity.I forgot omission as confession.I forgot dungeons waste marble. 

And always, throughout the sequence, there is an abiding sense of mystery: 

I forgot her hobby of attending to deathbeds – afterwards she always lusted forhotel lobbies stuffed with crystal chandeliers 

By generating these poems, and by using her own past poetry as raw material, Tabios has breathed new life into the “I remember / I forget” form, in a way typical of this inventive poet.

Thank you, Universe.

MY REPRESENTATIVE

I spent the day working on what will be my 30th book. Combined with  chaps and edited anthologies, I guess I've been "prolific"--reminding me of a question I've been asked more than once: Given my mucho output, what's a good intro or representative book I'd recommend to someone about to read me for (almost) the first time?

It took me 20 years to write that "representative" book. It's ironic that it's my first bilingual edition as that means that the Romanian-language side of it will be irrelevant to non-Romanian readers. But the English presents 25 poems and the constraint of choosing them ended up creating a collection I wouldn't mind as a representative. That book just got onto Amazon.com . If you've not read me or much of me before, here it is:

I FORGOT ARS POETICA / AM UITAT ARTA POETICA

GRATEFULLY TRANSLATED INTO ROMANIAN ... & SPANISH!

Got an email this morning with the fit subject header “Best from Bucharest”—being open to where the poetry leads has brought me to Romania which will release my first trilingual edition next year, poems translated into Romanian and Spanish, entitled YOUR FATHER IS BALD: Selected Hay(na)ku Poems. Given the hay(na)ku's focus on 3s (tercet), I am grateful for the edition coming out in three languages.

Deep gratitude to Roxana Doncu, Teodor Panait, Elena Ţăpean, Gabriela Apetrei, Iulia Andreea Anghel, Irina Secarescu, and Ioana Agafitei who are among those translating my poems into Romanian. As well, thank you to Daniel Dragomirescu for coordinating the entire enterprise!

Relatedly, Contemporary Literary Horizon has just featured an excerpt from I FORGOT ARS POETICA or, in Romanian, AM UITAT ARTA POETICA. Old poem and old photo but I am grateful, Romania! My best to you too! Their feature presents my poem, "Nobility" with Romanian translation by Gabriela Apetrei and Teodor Panait.

FOR FILIPINO AMERICAN HISTORY MONTH

Book Presentations during Celebration for Filipino American History Month

Oct. 29, 2016, 2-4 pm

The Sitting Room: A Community Library

2025 Curtis Drive

Penngrove, CA

What a fabulous event--thanks to curator Sheila Bare , JJ Wilson and The Sitting Room community library. It was fabulous to read and present along with Justine Villanueva . The context--including an Ethel Adnan exhibit and, always, Virginia--was warm and interested. The cooks were superb. 'Twas joyful to say hello to my section in the library. And it didn't hurt that not only did all my books sell out but I brought home some mail orders! Here are some pics (click on images to enlarge):

LOOKING LOVELY (I THINK) IN ROMANIAN!

I appreciate this unique "Book Day" defined as when one receives Author Copies. Here I am in Romanian(!) with my new book

I FORGOT ARS POETICA / AM UITAT ARTA POETICA

as translated by Roxana Doncu, Teodor Panait, Elena Ţăpean, Gabriela Apetrei, and Iulia Andreea Anghel from university of Bucharest. THANK YOU!

Let’s see: there are three Romanian speakers at my doctor’s office. Critic T.C. Marshall’s son speaks Romanian due to Peace Corps background. And that’s it for my Romanian marketing--unless you know someone! Fortunately, the English remains in the book and, with these 25 poems, serve as a de facto “Selected-as-chosen-when-my-back-is-up-against-the wall”. So if that interests the rest of you, it just became available on Amazon! The retail price there is $19.00 but if you let me know by email (Galateaten at aol dot com), you can have one of my Author Copies for $15, free domestic shipping and signed.

Those Romanian stamps are lovely ...

Do pass the word on to your Romanian-speaking or Romanian friends!!

PROOFING ROMANIAN

Living in indigenous time means I'm global. So I was up past midnight proofing the pages sent from Romania for my first bilingual edition, I FORGOT ARS POETICA / AM UITAT ARTA POETICĂ. I'm very pleased with the job they're doing--here's my front cover. Design was their decision and they put a grave on it. Perfectly fine with me--I try not to challenge how others read my poems. I'll also share the back cover where they chose to highlight from and old (and lovely) review by the generous Anny Ballardini. Very grateful to the translators from the Univ. of Bucharest -- I shall cherish you always Roxana Doncu, Teodor Panait, Elena Ţăpean, Gabriela Apetrei, and Iulia Andreea Anghel. Good morning and I'm off to bed!

WHOAH: MY FIRST BILINGUAL EDITION! And MY HOW TO DO SELECTED POEMS

Just sitting here minding my own business and then I receive the offer for what would be my first bilingual poetry edition! Well, Thank You, Universe!  So I'm delighted to share that said bilingual edition, with its English title,

I FORGOT ARS POETICA

will be coming out of Bibliotheca Universalis in Bucharest. Yes: my first bilingual edition will see my poems translated into Romanian! Like I said, this was an unexpected opportunity -- I wasn't exactly strategizing on how to get my poetry into Romania. But, nonetheless, I am honored to have my poems enter the distinguished Romanian culture.  

And thus I've been preparing a selection of poems that, it occurred to me after my first cut at the selections, could be a rehearsal for how I might choose what may be my favorites among the 25 million poems or so that I've written. 

Precisely because I'm prolific, I've to date only chosen to do "Selected Poems" project based on form -- also, this allows readers (if they care) to see if my work has expanded the parameters of that particular form, e.g. the prose poem addressed by THE THORN ROSARY and the list or catalog poem addressed by INVENT(ST)ORY. I also have a manuscript-in-progress, HIRAETH, of Selected Poems addressing the tercet.

But for the bilingual edition, I was asked to provide (among other things) 25 poems. So how to choose the 25 poems? I can't even do a one poem per book (my preference) approach as I've written more than 25 poetry collections.

As it turns out, the answer came fairly quickly to me. There's a particular element (for lack of a better way to put it) that some of my poems have more than others when those poems tap into some stream or vein of something ineffable. All I know is that I realize I was particularly "on" or beyond myself when I wrote those poems. 99.9% of the poems in REPRODUCTIONS OF THE EMPTY FLAGPOLE contain this element (perhaps that's why it sold out its first printing in less than six months). By extension, many of the poems in SUN STIGMATA which chisel out poems from the raw material of REPRODUCTIONS ... also bear this stigmata. So, for the 25 chosen poems, 10 come from REPRODUCTIONS, 11 from SUN STIGMATA, 1 from MENAGE A TROIS WITH THE 21ST CENTURY, and 3 from AMNESIA: SOMEBODY'S MEMOIR (listed in such order below).

As expected after I made my selections--and as another reason why I previously avoided Selecteds not based on form--I felt guilty: 'twas as if I had played favorites among my 25 million poems. I'll live. But, for now, here's my first ever selection of just ... favorites. I can't feature all the favorites since I'm limited to 25, but this exercise is certainly useful as it forces me for the first time to consider what I've liked the most from what I've written.  Finally, I know you're dying to know so here are the Favored Poems that will comprise I FORGOT ARS POETICA:

ETHOS

JADE

COME KNOCKING

AFTER 2 A.M.

PROFILES

GREY SURREPTITIOUSLY

EULOGY

THE WIRE SCULPTURE

THE FAIRY CHILD’S PRAYER

THE CONTROLLING AGENT

(ECLIPSE*

(PURITY

(COROLLA

(NOBILITY

(THE SECRET OF HER HAPPINESS

(MUSE POEM

(MUSTERING

(AMBER 

(MY STATEN ISLAND FERRY POEM

(RAPUNZEL ENRAPT

(AGAINST DISAPPEARANCE

(RETURNING THE BORROWED TONGUE

"LOOKING PAST THE BIRTH" (Gabriela Silang poem)

I Forgot the Language of Scars
I Forgot Eyes Widening to Pull In More of the World
I Forgot Ars Poetica

(*UPDATE: "(ECLIPSE" was left out of the book due to space considerations)

Last but not least, my first bilingual edition is in a language I would not have expected. I might have thought Spanish, one of the Filipino languages... But I appreciate this unexpected development for reflecting how I'm not a Pin@y in the U.S., but a Pin@y in the diaspora. As noted Filipino poet-novelist-artist Eric Gamalinda once said, "The history of the Philippines is the history of the world." Romania, here I come! How might you translate the ineffable?