SUN STIGMATA: AWAIT THE PAPERBACK EDITION!

It took three years but SUN STIGMATA soon will see its hardback edition go out of print. Publisher Marsh Hawk Press then will release a paperback edition; hopefully it'll be at SPD next month. The paperback at $16 is less expensive than the $24 hardback so I hope that encourages paying renewed attention to this book. Deep gratitude to those who helped move the hardback edition.

There seems to be four remaining hardbacks at SPD. It'll take me a couple of weeks to get my grubby hands on them so if you get there before I do, you'd have a hardback collectible. 

There is one hardback left at Amazon priced at $24 and then the "used" are priced from $46 to $58. Just sayin' :) 

MANHATTAN IN MISSOURI

I'm often amused at where my poems travel, given that I'm just sitting in front of a computer. This weekend, MANHATTAN: An Archaeology, celebrates its official release--TODAY: OCT. 1, 2017--by turning up on Lulu with its 2017 50% Discount!  And it also celebrates itself by turning up on a farmers' market in Missouri! Here is the book displayed with other titles as part of the "Guerrilla Alliance Night Market" -- my poems love to hang out with guerrillas:

Thanks to artist Janna Anonuevo Langholz for bringing Manhattan to Missouri. I notice from her display that at least two other books made it there: SUN STIGMATA and THE ANCHORED ANGEL:...JOSE GARCIA VILLA.  It's all great fun, and I wish I was there to read and eat balut!

CALL FOR EKPHRASTIC WRITING!

So, after you've voted :), you might want to look at some art and if inspired, write a poem, (flash) fiction or any other type of creative writing inspired by an artwork! That's the idea to a new project, EKPHRASIS WRITING AFTER ARTWORKS in THE FILIPINO AMERICAN ARTIST DIRECTORY. 

The project is open to all writers, Filipino or not. More information is available at the CALL FOR WRITING . You'll also see there two examples--one by Luisa A. Igloria and one by me ("Alegria" , a "Haybun Interrupts" variation of the hay(na)ku, after Janna Anonuevo Langholz's installation "Ghost Houses") to give you an idea of poems written after some of the art. Please spread the word.

I will be editing this feature, and participating writers also will receive, in addition to publication, either of two of my ekphrastic books, Reproductions of the Empty Flagpole (inspired by abstract expressionism) and SUN STIGMATA (inspired by sculpture).

This project has an ongoing deadline and offerings will be posted as accepted over time. Please visit the site -- at least it will expose your eyes to some LOVELY ART!

FUNDRAISING FOR ARTS & EDUCATION

The Center for Art and Thought is currently holding its online fundraising program. Several of my books have been exchanged for donations (I thank those people for their interest in my writings). Now, more of my books are offered for various donation levels, as indicated below. Please consider supporting a wonderful arts and education organization, CA+T:

$40 INVENT(ST)ORY

Eileen Tabios. “INVENT(ST)ORY: Selected Catalog Poems & New (1996-2015)”. Dos Madres Press, 2015. 242 pages. Courtesy of + signed by author. “There are so many paths thru the enchanted forest that is Eileen Tabios’ oeuvre that no one can possibly take them all in one lifetime”—John Bloomberg-Rissman

$50 Sun Stigmata

Eileen Tabios. “Sun Stigmata (Sculpture Poems)”. Marsh Hawk Press, 2014. Hardbound. 134 pages. Courtesy of + signed by author. “Eileen Tabios’s poems twist like silk scarves caught in the wind, offering ardent calligraphies and sly subversions of the passions, so many ways of naming lucidity.”—Andrew Joron

$75 Eileen R. Tabios Poetry Bundle

“The Connoisseur of Alleys.” Marsh Hawk Press, 2016. 96 pages AND “Sun Stigmata (Sculpture Poems).” Marsh Hawk Press, 2014. Hardbound. 134 pages. Courtesy of + signed by author.

Go HERE for CA+T's online fundraising program. Several other book, art objects, a theater session and even a karaoke lesson are available!

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?

CENTER FOR ART AND THOUGHT

It's Monday and I'm mailing out books! This package, I'm delighted to share, will be part of the goodies for a fabulous cause: Center for Art and Thought (CA+T), a nonprofit cultural and educational outreach organization. They have four central programs that bring artists, scholars and the general public together: (1) curated virtual exhibitions; (2) commissioned artwork by emerging artists; (3) a DIALOGUES series; (4) a virtual artist-in-residency. With Executive Director Sarita See (Associate Professor in Media and Cultural Studies at UC Riverside), they launched in August 2013, and just completed their seventh virtual exhibition, "Talking Bodies." Click on link for some fabulous and interesting work at their site!

I'm sending INVENT(ST)ORY, SUN STIGMATA, THE CONNOISSEUR OF ALLEYS and, yes, lurking amidst them are advance copies of AMNESIA: SOMEBODY'S MEMOIR which will be released in October.

[Info on books at my website; click on "Publications". Oh, and you can still order AMNESIA at a discounted pre-release sale over HERE.]

AUCTION ITEMS FOR CENTER FOR BABAYLAN STUDIES

You are invited to a unique dinner fundraising for the Center for Babaylan Studies' Third Annual Conference in Vancouver this September; the event will take place June 18, 2016 in Santa Rosa, CA, per flyer below (CLICK ON IMAGES TO ENLARGE):

I'm happy to share that among the silent auction items will be three of my recent books, accompanied by two bottles of Rhone wine.  WINEPOETICS in action!

PERHAPS MY YOUNGEST READER ...

Eleven-year-old Noah is reading my book SUN STIGMATA!

I couldn't be more pleeeeeaaaaased!

I am thinking Noah may be my youngest reader yet (of my poetry books).  At least, I can't recall a younger reader right now.

I couldn't be more pleeeeeaaaaased!

I often find the most attentive readers among open-minded readers, and that open mind is often among children. So, thank you Noah for your attention!

I couldn't be more pleeeeeaaaaased!

THE DAILY ART SOURCE!

Chris Mansel over at The Daily Art Source has been generous enough to do reviews of three of my recent books.  I'm moved and grateful.  And as my poet-buddy Mark Young once said about reviews, one of the best and most interesting parts is seeing which poem(s) gets the reviewer's attention. On this matter, I am usually (pleasantly) surprised.  Thanks Chris!

For SUN STIGMATA's review, can go HERE for the entire review but here's an excerpt:

You have to admire the fluidity in the way Tabios writes. In another poem entitled Jade, she writes, "No need to turn the urn/to realize I no longer believe/ in the humility of monks." This is fitting. She is out there, where Hemingway spoke of, Sun Stigmata is like applying perfume to the pulse on your wrist and neck. The constant vibration of these words will radiate,and burst from the palms of your hands. This is a volume that is necessary. The sun gives life and so does good writing.

*

For INVENT(ST)ORY's review, you can go HERE for the entire review but here's an excerpt:

Ms Tabios has put together a very handsome collection of her work spanning from 1989 to 2015. "Drink nothing but the liquid from a pigeon's egg for 40 days." That is one of the many footnotes you will find in this fascinating book...

*

For AGAINST MISANTHROPY's review, you can go HERE for the entire review but here's an excerpt:

Eileen Tabios is a writer who cares about the reader.  Against Misanthropy is really in my opinion, and that is all this is after all, a gift to those who buy her books. 

***

The Daily Art Source is also looking for more poetry books to review!  Go HERE, click on CONTACT and contact them if you have a review copy to share!

AMERICAN CANYON CELEBRATES FIL-AM HISTORY MONTH ... WITH MY BOOKS!

I was invited to celebrate October as Filipino American History Month over at the American Canyon Public Library. I decided to go as I thought I then could go to neighboring city Vallejo afterwards for dinner.  I should have known better -- this being a Filipino affair, there was plenty of food for dinner and take-home!  Then, I hadn't actually realized so many of my books were in the area's public library system and it was an unexpected treat to see them displayed.  Food and books -- what a fabulous evening!  Thanks to librarian Ricah Quinto and poet-professor Janet Stickmon for organizing the affair.  Both deserve Kudos -- I believe Ricah set up the first Fil-am History celebration for the area's public library system; Janet is not only an accomplished poet/performer but helped set up the Philippine Studies program at Napa Valley Community College. Here's a visual coverage!

Display with THE THORN ROSARY

Caramel Cake!

Display with SUN STIGMATA

Display with NOTA BENE EISWEIN, THE LIGHT SANG AS IT LEFT YOUR EYES and THE AWAKENING

Janet Stickmon and Ricah Quinto

Sheila Bare with books!

Huge Filipino flag on library fence.

The kulintang!

In anticipation of the holidays, Filipino parols or lanterns!

Dinner: pancit, ensamada stuffed with chicken adobo and fried lumpia!

Highlighted accomplished Filipinos included Cristeta Comerford

Presenter on the need for Fil-Am Studies

Student performer

Event coordinators and performers

More books!

NEW REVOOOOOOOOS

An embarrassment of riches.  But I'm grateful to the reviewers who took the time.  First, I FORGOT LIGHT BURNS was reviewed by Zvi A. Sesling in Boston Area Small Press and Poetry Scene.  You can see entire review HERE but here's an excerpt:

...many of the poems are worth remembering. Take for example the following poem ...

I forgot memory contains an underbrush—
I forgot the inevitability of ashes—
I forgot sentences like veins—

*

Also receiving a recent review is SUN STIGMATA (SCULPTURE POEMS), reviewed by Edric Mesmer in new issue of Yellow Field.  You can see entire review HERE but here's an excerpt (reprinted in Marsh Hawk Press Blog as YF is a print edition):

...Tabios is a poet who needn't reinvent herself; rather the span of her expression is wide, and this booked enfold takes on a more narrative aspect than other collections, often sensuous in its rend: "I'd give you / the ripest plum, ready to split / apart from a thought I still / would be folded about your tongue" (61); other times, anguished: "familiar with departures / the loosening of embraces / the forfeiture of birth places" (60); and once more, philosophically political: "the unanswered question / will be, "Might Justice / be colored white?"

AT MARSH HAWK PRESS BOOK LAUNCH!

You are invited to Marsh Hawk Press' Spring Book Launch, with bounteous wine and appetizer reception, at the wonderful Poets House.   Launch details:

Poets House
New York City
May 15, 2015
7 pm
Free and open to the public

The launch will be for books released during Winter 2014-Spring 2015:

Christina Olivares: No Map of the Earth Includes Stars 

Jon Curley: Hybrid Moments

Jane Augustine: KRAZY: Visual Poems and Performance Scripts

Basil King: The Spoken Word / The Painted Hand from Learning to Draw / A History

Eileen Tabios: SUN STIGMATA (Sculpture Poems).

(Click to enlarge)

DO PENCIL ME IN FOR NEW YORK!

I'm flying to New York City in May for literally a one day in-and-out.  Why?  For launching my books with the rest of Marsh Hawk Press' recently-published authors.  May 15, 7 pm at Poets House.  More info HERE.

You are invited!!!

ON THE ONE HAND, PROLIFIC; ON THE OTHER HAND, A SLACKER!

Huh.  Last year, I released three poetry collections and an edited anthology.  So far in 2015, I've released two books, have another forthcoming, have two manuscripts under consideration, and three other manuscripts I'm just sitting on as I don't have time for them except to sit on them.  But apparently, I can still be considered a slacker.  Well, at least when I start getting compared to Joyce Carol Oates!  It's all good, of course.  If anything, coverage like that by my local paper reminds me not to keep sitting on my butt ...

The St. Helena Star is three books behind on its coverage of me....but no complaints: I'm just happy to have coverage!

AFFINITIES: HELMUT LANG

As the gal who slouches around in her Dad's old shirts, I don't pay much attention to fashion ... though I was peripherally aware of Helmut Lang's avant garde designs.  Then, this morning, I stumbled across an article of him in the Wall Street Journal Magazine -- an article about his new career as a sculptor.  And thus did I discover him doing something in sculpture I did for SUN STIGMATA and am doing in the Murder, Death and Resurrection poetries.  To wit, from the article by Julie L. Belcove:

Lang...ushers me down to a second room, where some 200 tall, thin poles lean against the walls.  From a distance they resemble a forest of birch trees. Most are blackish or whitish, while some are bright red, blue or yellow. Up close their mottled surfaces reveal themselves to be resin and pigment mixed with bits of colorful yet indecipherable textures--in truth, shredded remnants of Lang's clothing designs.... 

In what was perhaps a cathartic exercise, Lang found an artistic use for his own fashion trove. After a 2010 fire in the SoHo space where he stored his remaining archive, he systematically destroyed the 6,000 to 8,000 items of clothing that survived.  "That all got shredded with an industrial shredder," he says, "without hierarchy."

Beautiful mind.  Beautiful poetics.

Here are some shots of the illustrations in the article.  The first is of the pole sculptures and the second is a resonant black sculpture which had been simply a stack of flattened cardboard in his studio that he doused in thick coats of resin and pigment...

What's interesting, too, about his pole sculptures is that Lang is self-educated and yet felt moved to manifest the iconic imagery of the pole sculptures.  That, contrary to the corporatized/academicized art and poetry cultures, shows something basic about Art.

ALL VOICED UP!

The current issue of Our Own Voice is generous to me.  Thank you Reme Grefalda and Aileen Ibardaloza for featuring, not just Mom’s reminiscences of me as a toddler-writer, but

--a poem from AMNESIA: SOMEBODY’S MEMOIR: “I Forgot All Ancestors” 

--a review of FOOTNOTES TO ALGEBRA.  Here's excerpt of review:

[Tabios’] “poetry” may be “inherently a matter of interconnections,” but the principle of “a word arbitrarily place next to another” is not going to guarantee the collection of generative interconnections; the poet needs to have written the poems carefully and then to have thought vigorously enough to establish effective groupings. And she did. … When Tabios’ poetry simultaneously enables the reader to contemplate the significance of the “frame” of words and to “see/ Beyond the frame” to “another possibility,” its algebra is most enticing and acute.

--my interview with poet Patrick Rosal about his breakdancer drawings:

"Patrick Rosal: Sketching the Energy of Breakdancers" 

--a review of my three 2014 released poetry collections: SUN STIGMATA, 44 RESURRECTIONS and 147 MILLION ORPHANS. Here are excerpts from the review:

On Sun Stigmata 

With few exceptions, the titles of the poems in this collection begin with an open bracket as if they are being written in parenthesis. To my mind this is because they seek to offer an elaboration or a rephrasing on something that has gone before. Interestingly, the brackets are never closed. This is the parenthesis that offers a space, a digression, an interlude that Tabios leaves for the reader. It is up to the reader to complete whatever it is that he or she discovers in the poem and then to close that bracket. It is a mechanism that allows the poem to breathe, to resonate in all its nuances, much as a person might stand before a painting and not move away from it until its impact has been experienced in full. 

 In the opening section, “My Greece,” Tabios gives hints as to the strategy she will adopt as a writer. She will embrace unpredictability, she will not be constrained by narrative, she will appeal to the emotions, write from the heart as well as the head, and escape chaos through the creation of art. She is attracted by the statue of the Kritios Boy because it breaks with tradition by shifting away from a rigid full-frontal position, the right leg slightly bent, the whole statue immortalized in hesitation. In “Purity” she laments how a square canvas depicts a square and a circular canvas depicts a circle. In contrast to such dull predictability, she wants her writing to flow like “a menstruation—ooze with a viscous intensity unmitigated by geometry.” 

 On 147 MILLION ORPHANS 

This is a book that offers up some powerful thought-provoking messages. It deserves to be heard because it speaks out against social injustice and brings to light the shocking plight of those who have no voice of their own. 

 

On 44 RESURRECTIONS 

The overall effect is often one of the beginning of a story or series of stories which the reader is left to complete because once again Tabios has allowed us the freedom to indulge in the realm of our own imaginations. Isn’t that one of the things that all great poetry should really be about?

I guess I've been busy....