SABALI MET NGA BENDICIÓNES

Have also been working on Prau, the manuscript for Jean Vengua's first poetry book due out this Fall from Meritage Press. And, this morning, got her second blurb from no less than Catalina "Catie" Cariaga (Catie says she's my ading by 2 months kano; so Agyamanac from your Manang, Catie!):

At last, this pioneer of the literary blog scene who I have followed through cyberspace since the nineties has a book of poetry that I can take home with me! Vengua’s poetry delves into the very nature of culture and custom. An ordinary postage stamp triggers a multi-racial dilemma. A personal memento unlocks a sequence of historic ramifications witnessing the first ever explosion of a hydrogen bomb. This is poetry tempered by the movements of New Historicism, Post Modern irony and the culture clash of living in California . Languages abound. A typo or a footnote can become central to the themes she navigates in her agile prau, sorting through truth, folklore, dream, memory, and pure desire.
--Catalina Cariaga, author of Cultural Evidence

I'ma tellin' ya: Jean's book will be a ... special moment! Hope you will pick it up to be part of this specialness!

Meanwhile, speaking of Catie and I love speaking of my ading, here's a timely LINK as regards how Catie's "interrogation of language and form shares with many Filipino American poets an investigation of colonized subjectivity in relation to cultural imperialism, particularly the imposition of Spanish and English on the Filipinos. Part of this investigation entails the poets' exploration of the possibilities of using the colonizers' language to tell 'another tale'." Yadda.