Eileen R. Tabios is a poet working in multiple genres and in-between. She also loves books by writing, reading, publishing, critiquing, romancing and advocating for them. This blog will feature her bibliophilic activities with posts on current book engagements and links to her books and projects related to books.

Wednesday, September 30, 2015

HIRAETH: TERCETS FROM THE LAST ARCHIPELAGO

A new poetry manuscript. But of course. This one entitled

HIRAETH
Tercets From the Last Archipelago

I like this definition (which was introduced to me by one of Melissa Sipin's FB posts (salamat! Sometimes FB is useful):


As the title indicates, the poems -- or it could be a single, book-length poem (don't know yet) -- are all written viz tercets.

HIRAETH also reminds me of British artist Andrew Bick's paintings, specifically an older series I fell in love with wherein he paints on "wax" layers.  Here are some (crappy) IPhone photos of some of his works to illustrate how I feel he made art the way I created the poems in HIRAETH: through layers.  If I understand his process right, Bick poured a layer of wax (or something wax-like) and painted on it; after the layer dried, he poured another layer and painted on it again, and so on.  The result is a thickened surface where each layer is transparent enough to reveal the earlier brush strokes.  Here are two examples with which I've enjoyed living for years:



Those square patches of non-transparence are, IMHO, panes of genius: in life, there will always be things that remain forgotten or stubbornly incomprehensible, di ba?  Here's a drawing that's part of this series and which I found witty and innovative for its material: he made a drawing and then slipped it in a wax paper bag to evoke the same sense of transparence but with the fuzziness of memory and/or intellect (of course that black panel is smart!):


All of this surfaced organically from the pot ever-brewing within me -- the poems, and their ekphrasis inspiration, arising with no conscious intent. This poet's job? To go with the flow with whatever overflows from prior living -- poems allowed facilitated by getting out of the way....







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