and the winner is…

Posted in Uncategorized on November 4, 2009 by J

THE 2009-2010 FILAMORE TABIOS, SR. MEMORIAL POETRY PRIZE!

Meritage Press Announcement

Meritage Press, a multidisciplinary literary & arts press based in San Francisco & St. Helena, is pleased to announce the recipient of The 2009-2010 Filamore Tabios, Sr. Memorial Poetry Prize (“Prize”): Karen Llagas, with her manuscript entitled ARCHIPELAGO DUST. Congratulations to Karen, whose book is scheduled to be published in 2010 by Meritage Press.

The Prize results from a global competition among Filipino poets; more information about the Prize is available HERE.

As regards the Prize’s recipient, Karen Llagas’ poems have appeared or are forthcoming in Crab Orchard Review, {m}aganda magazine, Broadsided Press, Quay and Wompherence, as well as in the anthologies Field of Mirrors (PAWA, 2008) and Poems of the San Francisco Bay Area Watershed (Sixteen Rivers Press, 2010). A recipient of a Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Poetry Prize in 2007, she holds an MFA from the Warren Wilson Program for Writers and a BA in Economics from Ateneo de Manila. She lives in San Francisco and works as a small business consultant, a Tagalog interpreter & instructor, and a poet-teacher with the California Poets in the Schools (CPITS). ARCHIPELAGO DUST will be her first poetry book.

Meritage Press also would like to congratulate the following Finalists, listed in alphabetical order of authors’ last names:

Loved Letters: Mailed Without a Scent of Home by Niki Eskobar
traje de boda by Aileen Ibardaloza
A Dark Continent Companion by Sean Labrador y Manzano
RIZAL IN SAN FRANCISCO AND OTHER POEMS by Don Pacis
TATTOO by Joel Vega

Meritage Press would like to thank all the poets who participated by sharing their poetry manuscripts. We are honored to have read all of the poems, and are delighted to conclude that the high quality of participation bodes well for the future of Filipino-authored poetry.

Eileen R. Tabios, Publisher, Meritage Press
Beatriz Tabios, Poetry Judge

morton marcus

Posted in Uncategorized on October 29, 2009 by J

Sorry to hear that local poet and film critic Morton Marcus has died.

Blink

factors

Posted in Uncategorized on October 28, 2009 by J

* Last fire of the season streaks the sky brown

* Wind blows dust and pollen, catches in my throat

* Talking indoors, in the phone booth; metal walls

* “brown bag lunch…brown bag lunch!” town crier

* I say “craw,” and tweet it

* That reminds me of the crow, and the dry dog food

* Unwanted heat behind the eyeballs

* Why so tired, then? i should be partying

* I have turned into a creature of the day

indie publishing

Posted in Uncategorized on October 27, 2009 by J

factors

Posted in Uncategorized on October 16, 2009 by J

* dutifully up in the morning
* a lack of clarity, detail, the landscape a blur
* roadkill (racoons, two cats, a seagull)
* humidity
* mist, suspended over the valley
* the horses at the trough
* mud from the gutters, over the road
* arborial debris
* power still out to the south
* skipping through the rest of the day
* taking a walk, then writing about it
* typing, sleepy, stop now…

readings in san francisco

Posted in Uncategorized on October 16, 2009 by J

So, if you are in SF this Saturday, stop at the Bayanihan Center, 1010 Mission St. @ 6th (that’s right: in the Tenderloin!). I will be doing a poetry reading:

When: Saturday, October 17, 2009 at 2:00 pm

Who: Writers Neelanjana Banerjee, Luis Francia, Alejandro Murguía, and Jean Vengua. Musical guests Chris Planas and Carlos Ziálcita

ALSO, at 8:30pm on the same date:

PAWA Arkipelago at Litquake! 8:30 pm @ Fabric8 Gallery, 3318 22nd. PAWA & Arkipelago Bookstore Present: Of History & Myths — Writings from Philippine-American Authors. Emcee and curator Karen Llagas. Readers: Luis Francia, Aimee Suzara, Rona Fernandez, Jenesha “Jinky” de Rivera, Eileen Tabios, Benito M. Vergara, Jr.

More information HERE.

twitter poetics

Posted in Uncategorized on October 13, 2009 by J

Lars Palm occasionally plays with poems on twitter.

tarot hay(na)ku

Posted in Uncategorized on October 11, 2009 by J

After Ernesto Priego’s Loteria hay(na)ku post, I thought I’d try my hand at a tarot post, since I just received the Golden Tarot deck (beautifully adapted and designed by Kat Black) in the mail. Choosing a recent pick:
DSC01065

suspended from his
leafy post
he

looks out upon
a scene
free

of common sense
and level
sight

in the distance
the tower
surveys

its subject with
a dim
eye

grateful sonnet

Posted in Uncategorized on October 2, 2009 by J

And, since I’ve been writing up a “storm” lately on Okir, and because I’m grateful that my relatives survived the last typhoon and flood, and because I just ate a bowl of tomato-bread soup packed with garlic, and because life isn’t all doom and gloom (or at least I’m lucky that it hasn’t hit here yet), here’s a Grateful Sonnet by Mike Snider, from Mike Snider’s Formal Blog (from his 8/4/09 post):

Grateful Sonnet

I never used to wonder how to ease
My joints on winter days I’d walked too far,
Or not at all, or not enough to please
My doctor, or only to the nearest bar.
That’s 40 feet. I’m broke. That’s for the best.
And, better still, I’m stiff because the bay
And river, one due east and one due west,
Are both about an hour’s walk away.
I chose the river so the sun would warm
My back and spare my eyes as I returned.
Of course the clouds rolled in, but did no harm
That garlic soup cannot relieve, I’ve learned.
So thank you, Carlos, for the recipe—
True comfort food, a sovereign remedy.

stop making sense

Posted in Uncategorized on September 26, 2009 by J