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):

A RECOMMENDED POEM

I'm grateful to Melissa Studdard for recommending my poem "It's Curtains" in VIDA's series, "Voices of Bettering American Poetry 2015." The poem is one of the poems in my Marsh Hawk Press book, THE CONNOISSEUR OF ALLEYS.

Thank you, Melissa! What GREAT COMPANY to be noted in the company of works by Claudia Rankine, Kaveh Akbar, Lois P. Jones, Hafizah Geter, Jennifer Givhan, Pamela Uschuk, and Kamilah Aisha Moon.

I REMEMBER THIS I FORGOT POEM

One of my poems from The Connoisseur of Alleys is featured in the new issue of OurOwnVoice entitled

     the relational elations of ORPHANED ALGEBRA

Yes, I have a book (with j/j/ hastain) with that same title --  the newer poem is a combined reading and remix of the book ...

... because I (and perhaps the boy in the above cover) didn't want to forget.

The poem begins:

[1]I forgot other boys like Samuel and Elwin whose bones became transparent…. I forgot imagination cannot alchemize air into protein…. I forgot an ascetic’s illusion of ecstasy will always be illusion due to its condition precedent: a suffering so unmitigated it hollowed non-survivors from children to earthworms…. I forgot no one else noticing the diminishing moon’s tiptoe across the night sky…. I forgot the lucidity of ancient mountains…. I forgot staring at a photograph of a baby with belly larger than head and later arguing with my math teacher, “Two negatives do not equal a positive!” I forgot broken glass surfacing my first conception of Beauty from the lovely wink of a glass sliver, belying edges and their sharpness…. I forgot the clutter of broken objects manifesting affordable treasures when one owns nothing, or owns only dilemmas over belonging….I forgot the seeking that began without knowing whether one was beginning to stink or sing…. I forgot the differences between desires for father and fodder…. I forgot anthologies of glass.

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!

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!

"THE AGE OF EMPIRE WAS NOT OBLITERATED, BUT MERELY MORPHED INTO THE AGE OF THE MULTINATIONALS"

I'd said that? I forgot! But I'm glad I'd said that!

One of the greatest compliments to a poem or poetry project is when they generate new poems from an inspired reader. So I can tell you about this wonderful review that THE CONNOISSEUR OF ALLEYS just received but, happily, I can share instead a new poem that it generated!

And what I also love about the "poem-review" by Joey Madia of New Mystics Reviews is how it hews so niftily to the spirit of the Murder, Death, Resurrection project that created the CONNOISSEUR -- specifically, per Joey's description: "the following is a poem formed from 27 lines taken from my 9 previous reviews of Tabios’ work (3 lines pulled from each). Using a combination of I Ching–inspired coin tossing and one of my own random generator algorithms that I use for my experimental prose projects, the lines have been reformed in what I hope will be both a testament to not only the form and substance of Tabios’ poetic tapestry as I have written about it over the years and a testament to Tabios’ ability to inspire and co-create from afar, through the power of her words and fearless pursuit of new forms to deliver them."

I naturally appreciate Joey's comments on my work but I am more WOWED by his approach which reveal his own artistry. I love that he found my work relevant to his.  You can see the entire review HERE at New Mystics Reviews, BookMasons and Literary Aficionado, but here's the poem the "reviewing" process created (with its clever non-punctuated end/opening):

“dieci da nove”

I forgot the hooks are finely barbed and grab you in the deepest places. I forgot each line begins with the phrase “I forgot” which was inspired by a Tom Beckett poem that began in the same manner. I forgot the condition of the artist and one’s Identity (geographically, sexually, psychologically) are key subjects in the considerable volume of work Tabios has created. I forgot poets have been either continually revising their poems (e.g., Whitman’s Leaves of Grass) or taking found texts, etc. to create works for a long time now… 

I forgot, if poetry, like all writing, is a form of autobiography, then the path to the Truth is lined with thorns and nails and broken glass, at the end of which are myriad locks. I forgot the riches to be mined are as endless as the possibilities emerging from Tabios herself. I forgot ancient wisdom says that once you find the moon, you no longer need the finger that points to it. I forgot that we, the Readers, are the locks into which the various and sundry keys are meant to enter. 

I forgot there is always counterpoint, yin and yang, light in dark. I forgot “The Color of a Scratch in Metal” and “The Fairy Child’s Prayer” are so beautiful, one could read them in meditation over and over, losing all sense of time and place and gaining new perspectives as doors are thrown wide. I forgot scores do not necessarily reflect Math aptitude, but a slew of other deficiencies in Communication. I forgot that the age of Empire was not overcome and obliterated, but merely morphed into the age of the Multinationals. 

I forgot Tabios is not only a talented wordsmith, and visual artist of language—she truly is an innovator. 

I forgot Dostoyevsky and Freud put forth the notion that it is impossible for an autobiography to reveal the Truth because of our penchant for self-delusion and both positive and negative exaggeration. I forgot the rich wordsmithed novels of the Victorian and Edwardian age, when books were thick and wordy because they were expensive and had to last the reader a good long while. I forgot how much I enjoy creating narrative from the nigredo of cultural reference and biographical minutiae. I forgot I’ve always admired Hunter S. Thompson and Sebastian Junger… 

I forgot Oscar Wilde said that the future of fiction is to “reveal the innermost workings of [wo]man’s soul”… then the coupling of reviewer and reviewed is an essential mechanism for opening the locks. I forgot the source material is reconstituted in exquisite couplets full of enjoyable word play and just the right amount of sexual zing to bring a nearly constant smile to one’s face. I forgot it is up to the reader to find unity in disparity; to be the catalyst in an alchemical transaction (a hieros gamos) that rises beyond Reality into the etheric realms where the nigredo of our art is born(e). 

I forgot many of the poems have no end punctuation, leaving the thought, the situation, the moment unfinished, as they so often are

Hola Tom Beckett! And how clever is that title that translates to "ten made from nine" (the 10th review from 9 prior reviews)!

In an earlier post at Literary Aficionado, Joey had said about my and certain others' works that we "create works that require the reader in relationship for them to reach full bloom. One cannot read their poems, nor review them, in a traditional way."I do believe this reviewer artist "got" my work! Thank you!

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.]

A REVIEW FROM X-PERI!

Daniel Y. Harris and Irene Koronas have reviewed my latest book, THE CONNOISSEUR OF ALLEYS, for X-PERI. You can see the entire review HERE, but here's an excerpt:

“I forgot a mirrored face only partially owns its reflection….I forgot a long-haired woman exists, but outside the frame as has been reality for centuries.” 

         In this small excerpt, Eileen R. Tabios explores the objectification of women as the historian’s intrepid cliché. Who will see past the body, past the skin, past the allure modeling itself for the pleasure of others? Of course, “outside the frame” we are reminded, “a mirrored face only partially owns its reflection.” The rest is owned by the strong poesis of voice, a voice tuned to the spirit of the ellipse. It contains a multitude of how we forget to remember, and in so doing fill forgetting with absence.

"MURDER, DEATH AND RESURRECTION"

[Apologies ahead of time for replicating a Facebook post]

So some of you care what Eric Gamalinda thinks, and he happens to think my forthcoming book THE OPPOSITE OF CLAUSTROPHOBIA: THE OPPOSITE OF CLAUSTROPHOBIA is the best poetry book I’ve written. Of course, Eric hasn’t read all of my books (who has?) but he’s really talking about the books coming out of my “Murder, Death & Resurrection” (MDR) project, which include THE CONNOISSEUR OF ALLEYS, I FORGOT LIGHT BURNS, and the forthcoming AMNESIA: SOMEBODY'S MEMOIR.  I’m reminded of Eric’s input when X-Peri (thank you curator Daniel Y Harris) just featured an excerpt from THE OPPOSITE OF CLAUSTROPHOBIA which you can see HERE. You might also consider this Black Radish Pre-Publication Special. While all coming out of MDR, these projects are actually very different from each other so my non-biased opinion is that you won’t find it boring to have copies of all of them. (That’s it today for “marketing” moiself, which I do for the presses lovely enough to support my work—thank you all.)

Last but not least, thanks to Irene Koronas for her artwork designed to accompany the excerpt from THE OPPOSITE OF CLAUSTROPHOBIA:

"Komma Klawed Magnolia"

CONNOISSEUR IS REVIEWED BY THE VOLTA!

I'm very grateful for Marthe Reed's review of The Connoisseur of Alleys in one of my favorite journals The Volta.  The review itself is beautifully written; here's an excerpt:

Though the lines insist on the loss of memory, the logic of the generated poem—the recursion on which the poems are founded—asserts that nothing is ever forgotten. Each poem is composed in eight paragraph-like stanzas, the returns both familiar and new. Tabios’ algorithmic work depends upon the vivid imagery and emotion of the original lines and the wonder to which each new configuration gives rise. Reading these poems, I entered a durational space, a state in which time flows otherwise, according to the orbits of the recurring lines. I lost track of where and when in the drifting patterns the poet has construed, finding myself midmost a language journey: “I forgot the empty chair that awaited us, its expanse the totality of a planet still unexplored.”

Go HERE for entire review.

Marthe also does something that I actually think more reviewers might consider doing -- relating the cover image(s) to the interior poems (in some of my other books, I have an "About the Cover" section where I or the artist discuss the cover art). I see many books where said art is related to the poems but it's not noted by the reviewers. Anyway....of course, I also appreciate what Marthe said about the poems, particularly as she expresses so beautifully.

Connoisseur's front and back cover images were provided by Advaita Patel who had responded to an open call for artists interested in providing art for the book, a call managed by Michelle Bautista. I'm grateful to you all.

Here, actually, is a painting Advaita made as inspired by the poems in Connoisseur: