Internet use has certainly made it so much easier to post a submission call for an anthology, and expect quick results. Helped along by friends in at least three other continents, we received a multitude of submissions. Several weeks later, we found ourselves having collated, then selected, worthy contributions representative of poetry being written in at least a dozen countries.
On June 15, Wednesday, Honoring Fathers: An International Poetry Collection, published by University of the Philippines Press, will be launched at 6 p.m. at Mag:net+ Gallery-Bookstore and Café-Bar on Katipunan Ave., Quezon City (right across the Miriam College gate).
On the same day, the book will also be launched at 6:30 p.m. at the newly opened Bookazine Shop at Jardine House in Central, Hong Kong, as sponsored by Bookazine and Women in Publishing Society. Eight of the 10 poet-contributors from Hong Kong are expected to participate in the reading and signing session.
On June 18, a mini-launch will also be held during the NaFFAA-region 7 meeting at the Asian Family Center, 4424 NE Glisan Street in Portland, Oregon, thanks to Melissa Nolledo-Christoffels, who honored her late father, the distinguished writer Wilfrido D. Nolledo, by featuring him in the book cover design.
The collection showcases 62 poems from 48 poets of 20 nationalities. Naturally, among the contributors are eight homegrown Pinoys in Marc Ayende, Karen Ann C. Capco, Frank Cimatu, Ken Ishikawa, BJ A. Patiño, Ramon C. Sunico, Ernesto Superal Yee and Lawrence Lacambra Ypil. Except for Cimatu who’s based in Baguio, and Yee who’s in Dumaguete, the local contributors will be present to sign copies at the launch, as well as to lead off in the reading.
Wednesday evening’s literary event will also feature guest readers Patricia Evangelista, Kris Lanot Lacaba, poet-performer Nerissa Guevarra, and Mookie Katigbak, who will host the proceedings.
Music performers will include representatives of the "successor" generation: Diego Abad with his rock band, Aba Dalena on guitar, Kris Lacaba on vocals, and our 17-year-old Aric Yuson with a rap number.
Poetry lovers, especially those who still have to pick up a gift for Father’s Day on Sunday, June 19, are most welcome to join this family affair.
Filipino poets based in the USA whose works appear in the collection are Fernando Afable, Marie Bismonte, Luis Cabalquinto, Eugene Gloria, Mike Maniquiz, Joel Barraquiel Tan and Rowena T. Torrevillas.
Filipino contributors based elsewhere are Edgardo B. Maranan who works in London, Papa Osmubal in Macao, and Virgil Reyes who serves as our Ambassador in Pretoria, South Africa.
As a multicultural entrepot and our closest neighbor in more ways than one, Hong Kong has provided the most number of contributors: Barbara Baker who’s now back in London, Gillian Bickley, Zheng Danyi from China, Salah Elewa from Egypt, Kavita Jindal from India, Timothy Kaiser from Canada, Agnes Lam, Mani Rao from India, Madeleine Marie Slavick from the US, and Eddie Tay from Singapore.
From the USA, we have Brent Fujinaka, Tsipi Keller who was born in Prague and grew up in Israel, Ben Orlove, Pat Matsueda, Julia Klatt Singer and Frank Stewart
From Malaysia, we have N.F. Abdul Manaf, Muhammad Haji Salleh and Baha Zain, from Canada, Ariadne Sawyer and the Chilean poet and radio show host Alejandro Mujica-Olea, and from Australia, David Myers and Thomas Shapcott.
The rest of the contributors are the distinguished poet-performer W.S. Rendra of Indonesia, Montri Umavijani of Thailand, Robert Yeo of Singapore, Nguyen Bao Chan of Vietnam, Mohammad Rafiq of Bangladesh. Lynda Chanwai-Earle of New Zealand, and Tunisian-born Amina Said of France.
Translators are Harry Aveling of Australia (for W.S. Rendra), Carolyn B. Brown of the US (for Mohammad Rafiq), Luo Hui (for Zheng Danyi) and Ramon C. Sunico and Reine Arcache Melvin (for Amina Said, whose poems also appear in the original French).
As the introduction says, "The poems in this collection manifest a cornucopia of poetic voices, styles, lyric modes, non-traditional versification and fresh experimentation. Some speak of death, war, anger, guilt and sorrow; some of wonder and gratitude, of fealty and legacy, of love. All together, they honor the universal regard for fathers, surely a familiar theme for fine world poetry."
Here’s a fine sample poem from the book, by Eddie Tay, simply titled "Father":
"I was tall as his pants,/ following him everywhere on weekends/ with a spanner, with awe, like a shadow/ bobbing by his belt, aspiring/ to his oil-stained shirt and jeans/ that reeked of manhood.// He knew the heart of metal./ When machines began to cough/ he would kneel on the floor to survey/ the underbelly, the sides, tugging/ at the latches. With my spanner/ he would pound or twist at a bolt.// Treat a machine like a woman,/ he said to me with a wink,/ that’s the secret of a man. I was proud/ when everyone thanked him/ and ruffled my hair. I wondered when/ I would finish primary school,// when I would get to wear his clothes/ like a man, when I would learn to belch/ the way he did at home after dinner./ Mother would do the dishes and say/he is the best there is, and what a lucky catch,/ so hardworking. But he stopped coming home.// He began to speak of another pair of eyes,/ and men in the factory winked. I stopped/ following him to work. Weekends, weekdays,/ mother spent her hours wringing the tablecloth./ One day I came home from school/ and we had apples for dinner.// The basin was filled with plates, the floor/ covered with dust. The kitchen windows/ became murky. The stack of bills grew taller./ Sometimes, when the teacher was talking in class/ I thought of mother peeling apples,/ apples and more apples for dinner."