good tidings for the new year: a tribute to filipino poets

rattle, originally uploaded by carbonator.

in the new winter 2005 issue of Rattle.

poets included are: nick carbo, joan dy, amanda blue gotera, vince gotera, luisa igloria, mike maniquiz, lani t. montreal, misael mesina paranial, jon pineda, jose edmundo ocampo reyes, jun de la rosa, joel barraquiel tan, angela narciso torres, and r.a. villanueva.

Manigong Bagong Taon!

the best gift for the holidays is a calendar (no, not the barechested one)

calendar, originally uploaded by carbonator.

which also happens to be the best poetry anthology published in the last five years.

POETRY CALENDAR 2006: 365 Classic and Contemporary Poems by 300 Poets. selected by Shafiq Naz (Alhambra Publishing, Belgium)

poets included:

ALLEN • ALLMAN • ALVI • ANDERSON • ANDREWS • ARMITAGE • ARNOLD • BACON • BAGGOTT • BAKER • BALDWIN • BARNES • BASS • BATEMAN • FRANCIS BEAUMONT • JEANNE MARIE BEAUMONT • BECKMAN • BEHN • BELL • BERNSTEIN • BLAKE • ELY • BOLAND • BRADSTREET • BRIDGES • BRODY • BRONTÉ • BROOKE • BROUWER • ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING • ROBERT BROWNING • BRYANT • BURNS • BYER • BYRON • CAMPBELL • CAMPION • CARBO CAREW • CARRUTH • CHANG • CHAPPELL • CHAUCER • CLANCHY • CLARE • CLARK • CLEARY • CLOUGH • CLOVER COLEMAN • COLLIER ° BILLY COLLINS • MARTHA COLLINS • COMER • CONSTANTINE • COOLEY • CORDING • COULETTE • COWLEY • COWPER CRANE • CROOKER • DEBORAH CUMMINS • JAMES CUMMINS • DEFOE • DENHAM • DENNIS • DICKINSON • DINGS • DI PIERO • DONNE • DOTY • DOVE • DRAYCOTT • DUGDALE • DUHAMEL • DUHIG • DUNBAR • DUNN • DYBEK • EDGAR • EMERSON • EVERSON • FEIN • FELD • FELDMAN • FENNELLY • FERRY • FIELD • FINCH • FLATMAN • FORHAN • FRENEAU • FROST • FUNKHOUSER • GALVIN • GIBB • GIOIA • GIZZY • GOLDSMITH • GOOGE • GORHAM • GRAHAM • GREGER • GREVILLE • HADAS • HALL • HAMBY • HAMILL • HARDY • HARRISON • HASHMI • HAWKEY • HAXTON HAYDEN • HEFFERNAN • HENNESSY • EDWARD HERBERT • GEORGE HERBERT • HERNANDEZ • HERRICK • HICOK • HIRSCH • HIRSHFIELD • HIX HOAGLAND • HOLLANDER • HOLMES • HOOD • HOPKINS • HOWE • HOWELL • HUDGINS • HULME • HUNT • HUNTINGTON • JACKSON • JARMAN • JENKINS • JOHNSON • JONSON • KAPOVICH • KEATS • BRIGIT PEGEEN KELLY • ROBERT KELLY • KENNEDY • KHALVATI • KILMER • KIRBY • KIRCHWEY • KLEINZAHLER • KOESTENBAUM • KOETHE • KOOSER • KRYSL • KUMIN • LANDAU • LANDOR • LANIER • LAWRENCE • LEAR • LEHMAN • MARK LEVINE • PHILIP LEVINE • LIARDET • LINDSAY • LOCKWARD • LOGAN • LONGFELLOW • LOVELACE • AMY LOWELL • JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL • LUX • LYNCH • MARLOWE • MARVELL • MASTERSON • MAZER • MAZUR • McCLATCHY • McHUGH • MEHIGAN • MELVILLE • MEREDITH • MERRILL • MEZEY • MILTON • MINHINNICK • MOORE • MORGAN • MORRIS • MOTION • MUENCH • MULDOON • MUSKE-DUKES • NEZHUKUMATATHIL • NIKOLAYEV • NOBLES • NORDHAUS • NORTHROP • NYE • O’BRIEN • ORLEANS • OSTRIKER • OWEN • PADEL • PARMENTER • PASTAN • PATMORE • PEACOCK • PETIT • PHILIPS • PHILLIPS • PINSKY • PLUMLY • POE • POLLIFT • ALEXANDER POPE • JACQUELYN POPE • POWELL • PRIOR • QUARLES • RAAB • RALEGH • RAZA • REDDY • REKDAL • RICH • RICHARDSON • RILEY • RIORDAN • ROBERTS • ROHRER • ROLLINSON • ROSENBERG • CHRISTINA ROSSETTI • DANTE GABRIEL ROSSETTI • RYAN • SAGE • ST. JOHN • SAMPSON • SCHULMAN • SCHWARTZ • SCOTT • SEEGER • SEWELL • SHAKESPEARE • SHAPIRO • SHARE • SHELLEY • SHEPHERD • SHIELDS • SHIPLEY • SHIRLEY • SIDNEY • SIKELIANOS • SIMIC • SKELTON • SKINNER • SKLAREW • SKOYLES • SLEIGH • SMITH • SNODGRASS • SNYDER • SOUTHEY • SOUTHWELL • SPAHR • SPICER • SPIRES • SPRACKLAND • STANLEY • STATON • STICKNEY • STRAND • SUÁREZ • SWEENEY • SWIFT • SWINBURNE • SZIRTES • TATE • TAYLOR • TEASDALE • TENNYSON • THOMAS • TRAHERNE • TWICHELL • VAUGHAN • VIOLI • WACHTEL • WAGONER • WALLER • WARREN • WATERS • WATTS • WHITMAN • WICKS • WIER • WILDE • C. K. WILLIAMS • MILLER • WILLIAMS • JOHN HARTLEY WILLIAMS • WILMOT • WILNER • WIMAN • WOLOCH • WORDSWORTH • WORMSER • WOTTON • WRIGLEY • WYATT • WYLIE • YAU • YENSER • EDWARD YOUNG • GARY YOUNG • ZAPRUDER

A trully amazing feat of diversity and quality of poems and poets. The most astute anthologist of American and English poetry is an Arab and lives in Belgium!

denise&aaron

d&aaron, originally uploaded by carbonator.

the best part of the night was when aaron smith came up and introduced himself to denise to thank her for picking his book for the agnes starrette lynch first book prize. he's ab fab and has a great career ahead of him.

judgeharry

judgeharry, originally uploaded by carbonator.

here's harry waitzman, a retired judge who earned his mfa a year after i graduated from slc. his first book of poems Skunk Cabbage (box turtle press) came out in 2004. he's become another personality in the poetry scene. who says you can't follow your dreams and be a septugenarian published poet!

jeanne

jeanne, originally uploaded by carbonator.

always amazing poet jeanne beaumont (author of Curious Conduct and Placebo Effects) showing off her crisp copy of mille et un. at one point of our ny adjunct careers jeanne, denise, david trinidad, and i all taught poetry at rutgers, new brunswick at the same time. those were fun days.

d&amy&kathy

d&amy&kathy, originally uploaded by carbonator.

just three of the gals from the famous Bitch & Whine party!

emily&denise

emily&denise, originally uploaded by carbonator.

this is emily who was one of our students during our dublin/trinity college summer poetry shebang last year. she's doing her mfa at sarah lawrence college now and she brought down her friends to see denise read.

martha:martha:martha

martha:martha:martha, originally uploaded by carbonator.

here's martha rhodes, the wonderful poet and founder of 4way books introducing the readers. she's very much an integral part of the fabric of the nyc poetry scene. do you remember when she curated her series at the jewish community center in tribeca? fond memories.

sunday, our last full day in the city

was a smashing success. we had a quick laye brunch at dojo's (to remind us of the old st. marks st days when you could get a tofu burger for a dolla nindy-nine). then a brisk walk to the bowery poetry club where denise gave a reading with some nice poets, Jeffrey Skinner, Christopher Davis, and Pimone Triplett. it was the annual 4 way books party with homemade cookies and i couldn't resist having one of each. among the poetry luminaries spotted were dennis nurkse, tim liu, jeffrey mcdaniel, chris brandt, and l.a.b.

1paolo&bino

1paolo&bino, originally uploaded by carbonator.

after the lecture paolo and i went to a japanese restaurant for lunch. as we were having dessert, paolo says that the legendary poet & novelist bino realuyo lives just down the street. he calls bino on his cell and leaves a message to meet us on the corner. it was awesome to see bino bounding gracefully over the snow piles like a russian ballet dancer towards us. the time with bino was too short but it makes good memories.

on friday morning

the big snow storm hit and i had to trudge through the piles of snow to the 6 train to get to hunter college where i was invited to give a lecture on filipino and filipino american poetics to his filipino-american literature class. that was a fulfilling experience talking to the younger generation and telling them the struggle is not over yet, we need to be made more visible, we need to spread our poems and stories and nobody can shut us down!

1threepoets

1threepoets, originally uploaded by carbonator.

no one can stop us now!

1omar&ed

1omar&ed, originally uploaded by carbonator.

then these two poetry personalities from my days at the aaww: omar and ed.

1guillermo

1guillermo, originally uploaded by carbonator.

it was good to see old friends like guillermo castro, nice scarf!

1oscar

1oscar, originally uploaded by carbonator.

hey barbara, it's your love interest, oscar!

1paolo

1paolo, originally uploaded by carbonator.

cool dude paolo performing

1phil&purvi

1phil&purvi, originally uploaded by carbonator.

here's the modern master poet phil dacey who was so gracious to come to our reading. behind him is the lovely poet purvi shah whose first book Terrain Tracks won the 2004 MVP award from new rivers press and will come out this spring.

audience

audience, originally uploaded by carbonator.

they're enrapt with the premier of my film/visual poem on the small tv screen. would have been better to have a big tv or projector set up. the tall guy in the back is the famous visual artist brice brown.

thurs night reading

1sarah, originally uploaded by carbonator.

we walked up to 5 union sq to teachers & writers collaborative where the perfect host sarah gambito (author of Matadora, and founder of Kundiman) introduced paolo and me to the buzzing audience. there was a large group of kids there from south bronx high school and they really enjoyed our poems.

on thursday

we had a late breakfast at the corner diner (my usual, corned beef hash and eggs scrambled) and we took the E train up to fifth avenue to visit the all-important MOMA and see the mesmerizing Elizabeth Murray exhibit. there we met our dear friend stephanie strickland (author of Vniverse). we got complementary tickets because our friend kathy lawerence's daughter works there as an assistant curator, score! sounds geeky but only artists and poets would get excited about getting in free to a museum, especially the MOMA. after we wandered the contemporary exhibits, Nora joined us and she took us to the staff caff to have lunch. much less expensive and to think of the great artists who worked at the MOMA and sat there over a cup of expresso. Nora then took us to see the latest matisse painting in which she had a hand in researching during the aquisition. i had to not look too long at van gogh's starry night or be swept into monet's water lillys as we walked by. save them for another time. She also took us back to the contemporary galleries to experience the aural art of Janet Cardiff. very moving indeed.

by 4pm stephanie had to go and as we were about to leave, i decided to pop into the museum store. we bought a whole lot of cool, funky gifts for our friends. at the checkout line our biggest surprise of the day came by serendipity. we ended up at the cash register of a former student of denise's who gave us the 40 percent employee discount. score! stephen cramer is the author of the national poetry series award-winning book Shiva's Drum. we forgot he works at the MOMA. we knew he got married to a lovely woman but the big news is that they are packing up and moving to vermont by xmas. they have no jobs yet up there but they are young and eager. hey, if you know of any good teaching/adjunct opportunities in vermont, just email him: cramer.stephen@gmail.com he's an awesome poet, good teacher, and has his mfa.

last wednesday

1denise&tom, originally uploaded by carbonator.

we woke up early to get breakfast at the corner diner before we took the E train to La Guardia Community College where our friend Thomas Fink (his latest book of poems is After Taxes) arranged a reading for us. A kind happy host is Tom and he showed us his latest painting series which he has displayed around his office in the english dept. Very good gray black & white palette with some of the shapes he uses recurring in his shaped poems that he is sending out to poetry magazines. our reading went great and we then went out to a wonderful korean restaurant on 40th st where i ordered a real bibinbab dish served with a popping-hot earthenware bowl with a raw egg ontop. later that night denise went over to her friend kathy lawrence's apt for the famous Bitch & Whine party (no men allowed), just literary women bitchin' and drinking lots of wine. i chose to go meet my filipino peeps at a fabulous thai eatery called Pam's Real Thai Kitchen located in hell's kitchen. who did i see and have chismis over coffee with at the tea pot? none other than the ab fab gina apostol (author of the awesome novel Bibliolepsy) and the legend himself, eric gamalinda (author of Zero Gravity, and many novels). eric has a new book of poems coming out from wordtech press late next year. and what chismis did we make? only the coffee knows!

denise's reading

her reading at the New School was just fab. spotted old friends there like Omar, Dorothy, Page, Stephen, Stavros, and Johnny. saw new friends like Brice Brown, who is an awesome visual artist. amy lemmon brought her students from FIT, yes, she teaches at the fashion institute of technology and these fashionistas got to hear some great poetry. after the reading the director robert polito and core faculty members david lehman and deborah landau (author of Orchidelirium) took us to dinner at their local hangout on 13th st, cafe loup. excellent french bistro and fine martinis. david's wife stacie and friend christine also joined us. by the time we had dessert the new school poetry workshops had finished for the night and more faculty came by to say hi and have drinks. mathew zapruder (author of American Linden) and mark bibbins (author of Sky Lounge) and the venerable poet paul violi chatted away while we sipped our cappuchinos. it was nice to hang with the new school/kgb bar poetry power house. i would seriously argue that they may have the best and most dynamic mfa program in nyc.

Carly, Claro, Ryan, Marc, and Nick

Carly, Claro, Ryan, Marc, and Nick, originally uploaded by carbonator.

this one was taken last night and the kids are scotty's current and former poetry students who came to hear me read and talk about secret asian poetry. it's nice to see the younger asian generation pick up the poetry pen and push on. carly on the left has a filipino boyfriend, everyone is welcome at the secret asian poetry club!

nick,scotty,denise

nick,scotty,denise, originally uploaded by carbonator.

this was taken last sunday at scotty & jose's apt.

make it here, make it anywhere, but it's always better here!

we are in the midst of our ten day new york city reading tour extravaganza. tonight Denise reads at the new school at 6:30pm rm 510 @ 66 w 13th st. and at 4:30pm i'm off to pay a visit to Scotty's (Scott Hightower) nyu poetry class to talk about my books and my poems. scott is a sweety and one of the city's guiding poetry stalwarts. we go way back to his days when he curated the world coffee shop readings at union square. his latest book is the amazing hayden carruth prize winner from copper canyon press, Part of the Bargain (2005) which has a picture of a cowboy on the cover. it is nice to walk our old neighborhood, refamiliarize ourselves with the buildings and the shadows they cast in early winter. nice to see that the DKNY sign on houston & broadway is still there. that's the same sign that shows up in my second poem in my second poetry book Secret Asian Man (2000).

our typical day was like sunday when we woke up late and walked to the dinner on west 4th next to the golden swan park. after breakfast we walked across to the IFC movie theater and got in line to see Felicity Huffman in her oscar winning role (prediction but very sure) in the tour-de-force film Transamerica. if you love movies, go out and see this one! after the movie we walked over to sharyn wolf's brownstone apt where she was having a jewelry sale. sharyn is denise's longtime friend and she's a famous author and therapist who's a frequent guest on oprah, and now she's making fine artistic quality jewelry. after some wine, fine cheese, and talk of precious stones, we walked up to 23rd st where we visited scotty & jose's luxurious two-level roof top apartment which has a spectacular view of the new chelsea.

from chelsea we walked over to the N train to queens where we went to visit amy lemmon and her two lovely children. amy then led us to a local greek restaurant where we ate some great sea food. we got back to washington sq park where our hotel is located by 1am. everything was quiet and there was a light snowfall as we passed the big white arch. there were multi-patterned lanterns covering the park lamp post lights giving the park a christmas touch. very new york and romantic, indeed!