THE FORCE IS WITH THE SAN FRANCISCO PUBLIC LIBRARY

(click on images to enlarge)

"The Force..."--just a Pinoy Pun on the generous title of an exhibit on some of my books over at the San Francisco Public Library's International Center (3rd floor, 100 Larkin Street, San Francisco). The title is courtesy of the exhibit's generous curator who deserves to receive plaudits, not give them: Abraham "Abe" Ignacio. Since about four months ago, Abe has served as Librarian of the SFPL's Filipino American Center. I'm honored, I'm blessed, and I'm grateful. Maraming Salamat, Abe!  Abe is a historian and noted author as well, having released the important The Forbidden Book: The Philippine-American War (co-authored with Helen Toribio, Enrique de la Cruz and Jorge Emmanuel).

Here are photos of the exhibit which also reminds me to say Thank You to my book publishers whose faith I appreciate in publishing me. Featured in the exhibit are publications released through Editions du Cygne (France), Knives Forks and Spoons Press (U.K.), Black Radish Books, Theenk Books, Otoliths, and a few each by Paloma Press and Moria Books/Locofo. Thank you Patrice, Daniel, Irene, Alec, Marthe, Steve, Mark, Aileen and Bill.

Also below are photos of various Filipino- and Filipino-American titles displayed and also curated by Abe. It is great to be surrounded, to be contextualized among, these wonderful works by what is still one of the more overlooked groups within the literary world: Filipino English-language writings.

(Abe Ignacio)

In the marvelous company of:

LINES OF SIGHT: VISUAL ART IN ASIAN AMERICAN POETRY

My thanks to Michael Leong and Ken Chen/Asian American Writers Workshop for featuring me and 8 other "ekphrastic poets" for "Lines of Sight: Visual Art in Asian American Poetry."    The company is outstanding. As Ken posted in FB, "Images by Kiki Smith, Diane Arbus, Bruce Nauman and others, are paired with poems by John Yau, Mei-Mei Berssenbrugge, Jennifer Hayashida, Eileen Tabios, Shin Yu Pai, Debbie Kuan, Christine Wong Yap, Walter K. Lew, and O Chung." Michael wrote a fabulous introduction -- here's an excerpt (which references a review-essay on ekphrasis I had written for Jacket):

When engaging with the tradition of ekphrastic poetry, these poets frequently strive to go beyond, to quote Leo Spitzer’s classic definition, “the reproduction, through the medium of words, of sensuously perceptible objets d’art.” A case in point would be Eileen Tabios’ “Athena’s Diptych,” which, rather than reproducing a specific artwork, inventively “reproduces” the painterly technique of scumbling in a linguistic medium. In a 2003 review-essay called “Redeeming my Faith in Ekphrasis,” Tabios says, “I came to prefer [. . .] writing poems that, while inspired by and perhaps even seeking to mirror a visual image, actually came to embody something different.” Likewise, in his introduction to Viva la Difference: Poetry Inspired by the Painting of Peter Saul John Yau outlines the project’s allegiance to non-normative and anti-mainstream ekphrasis: “Our intention was different [. . .] Our intention was not to be impressionist or to tell a story. Those are well-known solutions, and, frankly we wanted something else.” 

*****

For this folio, Michael chose poems (in the chained hay(na)ku form) from a nine-year-old book, DREDGING FOR ATLANTIS. How heartening!  And wonderful to see the poem living its life beyond the poet's intention...  Thank you, Michael.