Happy Holidays MMVII

announcements, write-ups, photos, etc from the past few days.

first, sir marne kilates has a new blog he calls the poets' picturebook, "the ezine for poems & pictures that deserve each other". he is accepting contributions for featuring and critiquing. for details, just visit the site. btw, thanks sir marne for featuring my poem "crows".

secondly, huge thanks to arkaye kierulf and lourd de veyra for agreeing to be guest speakers in my Phil Lit and World Lit classes in miriam. wasak na wasak sila sa inyo. salamat rin kay direk john torres for sitting in. :)

thirdly, happy birthday muli kay Khavn who celebrated his 30++ last night. hehe.

lastly, sir eric gamalinda's amigo warfare is here! download nyo na agad bago mawala. was able to get my copy using IE7. sir krip has a review in his column at the phil star today. btw, sir eric is judging this year's 7th annual meritage press holiday poetry contest. deadline is dec 31. if you guys want a chance at getting an actual hard copy of the book, then join, amigos and amigas!

and oh, sir krip's responsible for sending some of the more interesting photos here. for your holiday fancy. ahehe.

maligayang pasko sa lahat!

Voices, Tilted Screens, and Scenes of Extended Microphones

Happy Mondays XVIII

tonight's Happy Mondays Poetry Night

@mag:net cafe katipunan

is brought to you

by the number

our nine featured readers are:

1. Conchitina Cruz
2. Andrea Teran
3. Adam David
4. Yaps Etagle
5. Angelo Suarez
6. John Torres
7. Kash Avena
8. Marne Kilates
9. Waps San Diego


also expected to drop by are Sir Krip Yuson, Sir Rayvi Sunico, Marie La Viña, Lope Cui, Jr., Arkaye Kierulf, Allan Pastrana, MIkael Co, and Pancho Villanueva.

7-930pm. free admission. kitakits!

Folding the Ace

R.I.P. Ace Vergel, Philippine cinema's original bad boy. basag at wasak!

The Decemberists

two new anthologies out -- the 2007 Likhaan Journal (UP Press) and PEN's At Home in Unhomeliness: An Anthology of Philippine Postcolonial Poetry in English (UST Press). the former is edited by Butch Dalisay and the latter by Neil Garcia. a few of my poems are in both anthologies. thanks a heap to both Sirs Butch and Neil. bili naman kayo, please.

the UP Writers Night last saturday was somber due the passing of Sir Rene Villanueva (RIP). the set-up was likewise a bit too cramped, but intimate nonetheless. too bad the event coincided with the PEN anthology launch in intramuros. pero masaya pa rin naman; 'di lang wasakan. still, the tanduay booth was there, and the beer. congrats to the ICW for the successful awarding of the Madrigal First Book Award 2007 and the lauch of the Likhaan Journal.

btw, check out Microsoft's new Silverlight technology. this is the real-deal, next-gen, guys.

Is It the Kingfisher?

This is how I desire god on this island
With you today: basic and blue
As the sea that softens our feet with salt
And brings the living wave to our mouths
Playing with sounds of a primary language.
"God is blue," sang the poet Juan Ramon Jimenez,
Drunk with desiring, his hair, eyebrows,
Eyelashes turned blue as the kingfisher's wings.
It is this bird that greets us as we come
Round the eastern bend of this island;
Tells us the hairbreadth boundary between us
Is transient as the air, permeable to the blue
Of tropic skies and mountain gentian.
Where we sit on this rock covered with seaweeds,
I suddenly feel the blueness embrace us,
This rock, this island, this changed air,
The distance between us and the Self
We have longed to be. A bolt of burning blue
Lights in my brain, gives the answer
We've pursued this whole day:
Seawaves sing it, the kingfisher flies in it,
This island is rooted in it. Desiring
God is transparent blue-- the color
Which makes our souls visible.

--- Marjorie Evasco

*for discussion, E-105 classes

: Z e R 0 . 9 r ^ V / + Y :

The dry basin of the moon must have held
the bones of a race, radiant minerals,
or something devoid of genesis, angel-heavy,
idea-pure. All summer we had waited for it,

our faces off-blue in front of the TV screen.
Nothing could be more ordinary -- two figures
digging dirt in outer space -- while mother repeated
Neil Armstrong's words, like a prayer

electronically conveyed. The dunes were lit
like ancient silk, like clandestine pearl.
In the constant lunar night this luminescence
was all we hoped for. A creature unto itself,

it poured into the room like a gradual flood
of lightning, touching every object with the cool burn
of something not quite on fire. If we stepped out
Manila would be blank ether, way-station,

a breathless abeyance. It didn't matter,
at that moment, where our lives would lead:
father would disown one brother,
one sister was going to die. Not yet unhappy,

we were ready to walk on the moon. Reckless
in our need for the possible, we knew
there was no turning back, our bags already packed,
the future a religion we could believe in.

--Eric Gamalinda

*for discussion, E-105 classes

*for E-106 classes looking for Louise Glück's All Hallows, check this blog's July 2007 archive

Fotografia/Poetas

huge thanks to all the poets, artists, and friends who came to the Happy Mondays reading last night. see you guys again on the 17th of the month.

Happy Mondays XVII + More Books

more books. no money so have to sell these babies. pick up on wednesday next week @kfc katipunan (or if you can meet me earlier). just place a comment or email me @ ramblingsoul@yahoo.com. first to email/comment gets the book(s). tenk yu!

1. The Rattle Bag Poetry Anthology(500pp): edited by Seamus Heaney & Ted Hughes -- P400
2. Let's All Kill Constance (HB): Ray Bradbury -- P450
3. The Trouble With Poetry & Other Poems: Billy Collins -- P300
4. Is Sex Necessary? (75th Anniv Edition): Edited by James Thurber and E.B. White -- P300
5. The Sacred Wood (Essays on Poetry & Criticism): T.S. Eliot -- P400
6. To Criticize the Critic & Other Writings: T.S. Eliot -- P400
7. The Golden Apples of the Sun (Stories): Ray Bradbury -- P350
8. Green Shadows, White Whale: Ray Bradbury -- P350
9. The Elephant Vanishes: Haruki Murakami (a bit used)-- P250
10. After the Quake: Haruki Murakami (new) -- P400



***


It's the 17th installment of the Happy Mondays Poetry Nights again tomorrow, December 3, starting with the unveiling of Sir Marne Kilates' poem at the mag:net cafe's Poet's Alcove at 7pm.

below is the list of readers:


1. Lourd de Veyra vs. Eric Melendez
2. Marne Kilates
3. Allan Pastrana
4. Khavn dela Cruz
5. Angelo Suarez
6. Pancho Villanueva
7. Sasha Martinez
8. Adam David
9. Andrea Teran
10. Kris Lacaba


other expected poets and friends are Sir Krip Yuson, Sir Jimmy Abad, Lope Cui, Jr., and John Torres, and Arkaye Kierulf.

reading runs from 7 to 930pm. Admission is free.

Open Mic follows so bring 1-2 poems if you feel reading, guys. See you!