ramblingsoul: IntPoWrimo: Day 29

Wednesday, April 29, 2009

IntPoWrimo: Day 29

Sparrow

flick and plummet

through the chrism

of these first hours

after the rain

spraying droplets

off its wingtips then

scissoring past

the phone lines

into the blue

distance of roofs

and freeways

how not see it as

diving past

all we slather

onto the world

diving past it

the same way

we survive

our happiness

and also: sorrow.

PETER CAMPION

The Lions

The University of Chicago Press

from Poetry Daily

Renga # 29

i want to be
anonymous, but it seems
that that's just not possible

when language is the thumbprint
when language is the culprit
that feeds the thumbprint

when the words outweigh
meaning. i do not matter.
i am no one. and many more.

h, lawrence, ramblingsoul

About Joel

Joel M. Toledo holds a Masters degree in English Studies (Poetry) from the University of the Philippines Diliman, where he likewise finished two undergraduate degrees (Journalism and Creative Writing). He has authored three books of poetry – Chiaroscuro (UST Press, 2008), The Long Lost Startle (UP Press, 2009), and Ruins and Reconstructions (Anvil Publishing, 2011). Chiaroscuro was a finalist for the 2008 National Book Awards. Toledo was the recipient of the 2006 NCCA Literary Prize, and has won several literary awards for his poetry in English, including two Don Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards, The Philippines Free Press Literary Award, The Meritage Press Poetry Prize in San Francisco, USA, and the Bridport Prize for Poetry in Dorset, United Kingdom. He was a recipient of the Rockefeller Foundation Creative Arts Residency at the Bellagio Center in Italy in March 2011 and was the Philippine representative for the 2011 International Writers Program (IWP) at the University of Iowa, USA. Toledo is the current Literary Editor of the Philippines Free Press. He teaches Literature at Miriam College.