New Home for published poems
Most places that accept poetry often have a note that they only accept unpublished material. A lot of my poems in previous books would love to find new readers in other homes and so it is a joy to find places like DEAD SNAKES.
Three poems from ALIEN TO ANY SKIN just got accepted there. Please visit DEAD SNAKES and leave a comment to show your support.
Enjoy!
Posted this one in my main blog, MATANGMANOK, but it really belongs here.
This news came as a welcome surprise after many years of writing and trying to put my work out there. Despite having published five books of poetry, and a sixth on its way to the printers hopefully before the end of October 2013, I have never really won a major award in my country of birth for this art. The closest one was when my book of poetry in Filipino, Baha-bahagdang Karupukan, was shortlisted for the National Book Award.
Last month I received an email informing me that I had won some prize I’d never even heard of, for a poem that, until then, I didn’t know had been accepted for publication back in 2012. I remember sending a few poems to New Coin late in 2011, but since I never heard from the editor, let alone saw a copy of the issue, I had simply forgotten about it…
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A good few years ago, long before I put together Alien to Any Skin, I wrote a poem that deals with memory loss, among other things. It was called “The Waiting Room.” I sent it off to a magazine in August 2009, then forgot all about it.
Then a month or so ago I got an email. Kaleidoscope Magazine apologized for taking a long time getting back to me. They wanted to know if I would still allow them to include the poem in a forthcoming issue, 67. Of course I said yes, and they said they didn’t mind that it was already in Alien. Last night I received a rather formal email with an attachment. A Memorandum of Agreement along with a token payment offer. Wow. It wasn’t much, but they dealt with me in a meticulous and respectful manner so unlike other publications that I thought I should say something about it somewhere.
This might be a good time as any to say that I have a handful of copies of Alien to Any Skin still with me in Cape Town. You can send me a message here or on my main blog, http://www.matangmanok.wordpress.com if you are interested.
Sound Before Water and Kalmot ng Pusa sa Tagiliran, the new siblings of Alien and Baha-bahagdang Karupukan are taking some time to be put out due to various reasons. But hopefully some time soon they’ll take physical form. haha.
http://matangmanok.wordpress.com/2013/02/01/14-love-poems-an-introduction/
I started posting love poems from my two recent books, Baha-bahagdang Karupukan and Alien to Any Skin, for the month of February. It isn’t easy to write translations for every single poem – to or from Filipino/English – but I am trying my best. So I hope you visit my main blog, MATANGMANOK
That’s the title of a poem I wrote some years back, before ALIEN TO ANY SKIN was published. I posted it originally on my personal blog, Matangmanok. I thought it still applies to what is happening in Gaza these days. Sadly, again.
Israel Needs Shoes
New moon dimmed by flares
Shoes scatter on rubbled streets
Not one matching pair
-o-
This poem has found a home in Alien to Any Skin. If you are in the Philippines, the book is stocked in most National Book Store outlets, at Solidaridad Bookshop and other independent book shops. International orders may be placed via Kabayan Central or Mary MartinsBooksellers. The ebook edition is not yet available. I wish it was.
Snapshot of Philippines Free Press webpage. Read the entire poem by CLICKING the snapshot.
Joel M. Toledo, poetry editor of The Philippines Free Press, informed me that my poem “Going Retro: The Victorious Army of Gobbledygooks Penetrates the City” had just been published on their website.
The word “gobbledygook” is said to have been invented in 1944 by US Representative Maury Maverick, according to an online dictionary.
1944, Amer.Eng., first used by U.S. Rep. Maury Maverick, D.-Texas, (1895-1954), a grandson of the original maverick (q.v.) and chairman of U.S. Smaller War Plants Corporation during World War II. First used in a memo dated March 30, 1944, banning “gobbledygook language” and mock-threateaning, “anyone using the words activation or implementation will be shot.” Maverick said he made up the word in imitation of turkey noise.
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/gobbledygook
Interesting, I thought. Turkey noise, eh? But one can’t leave out the possible source of the word “gook.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gook
So in this poem (originally written in December 2008) from Alien to Any Skin I decided to not just turn the table but to flip it upside down.
-o-
ps if clicking the snapshot doesn’t work, please tell me and I will post the whole poem here.
I don’t want to repeat what I have posted in my personal blog, so I will just provide a link to it HERE.
Thank you to all who voted! And enjoy the poems from Alien to Any Skin that are available online!
Just a reminder, the online retailers that carry the book are Mary Martin Booksellers and Kabayan Central
If it gets the highest number of votes in this little competition then at least 2.5 million other readers might get a chance to decide whether they like “People Like You,” too. Then this might be my one poem that reaches the most number of people ever. At least until I sell 3 million copies of my book… hahahahahahhaha
GOODREADS FEBRUARY NEWSLETTER TOP FINALISTS’ POEMS — PLEASE SELECT ONE!
CLICK HERE TO READ THIS MONTH’S FINALISTS
* Voting is anonymous and choices are listed randomly.
Thanks, as always, to our judges, Wendy Babiak, Tara McDaniel and Ruth Bavetta for selecting six finalists from this month’s group!
My poem “People Like You” has been reprinted in this week’s edition of Philippines Free Press. The poem first came out in Rhino 2011 (click THIS to hear me read it!)
This is one of those poems that seemed ready even as a first draft. It practically wrote itself. Gemino Abad once spoke of being in tune to what the Muse is trying to send you, as if you had an antenna that had to be fixed just at the right angle, at the right moment when the transmission is being sent, then KABLAM! The poem arrives on paper as if by magic. You feel more like a transcriber than creator.
I hope the poems in Alien to Any Skin and in my other books will somehow reach more people than I will ever meet in person. That my words will outlive me – go beyond this feeble existence each of us is given for a time.
I’m not in the best of moods at the moment so hearing about a poem being published/reprinted is like being able to breathe again, though momentarily, before the sink-or-swim thrashing resumes. And no, it’s not exactly an uplifting poem, but I do believe it is worth reading.
Maraming salamat, Joel M. Toledo, poetry editor of Philippines Free Press, for letting this poem (and this poet) breathe again.
Alien to Any Skin 