NICE, UH, TORSO...

Ever since I released 5 Shades of Gray, I do occasionally get, uh, certain comments. The latest comes from Edric Mesmer, master collator of Yellow Eden literary journal out of Buffalo. He wanted me to see THIS (posted by faboo poet Nate Dorward).  I think you should see it, too...on your way, of course, to checking out MINE.

I WAS PRURIENT READING DU JOUR

by Jean!

Jean also reminds 5 SHADES OF GRAY isn't my first foray into BDSM. For those interested in short stories from the intersection of eros and the visual arts, there's BEHIND THE BLUE CANVAS which I'd dedicated to Pauline Reage...

By the way, Jean, those are nice paintings you've been doing lately. Love "Brink City" by Jean Vengua

because I'm always on the brink of, uh, something ...
 

LET MOI WHIP YOU WITH POWS OF IDEAS!

Whip you?  Sorry, cheesy Moi couldn't resist.  Anyway...

One of Amazon's top reviewers, Grady Harp, reviews moi 5 SHADES OF GRAY!  Go HERE  for the five-star review! But here's an excerpt:

This collection of poems are in response to that bizarrely popular trilogy by EL James titled FIFTY SHADES OF GRAY -- a series of books that explore the outer limits of sexual boundaries. Tabios has attempted to read the trilogy but instead elected to explore the subject matter of bondage, discipline, dominance, submission, sadism and masochism through her own resources and in response to all this she wrote these poems. Her poems regard the propensity of public behavior and needs as much as commenting on the strange popularity of the novels and the results are brief, terse, emotionally charged pows of ideas.

MY BEST BOOK?

That’s what Tom Beckett says about moi 20th print poetry book: 5 Shades of Gray! Check it out HERE, but also let’s consider this the official release by the following press release below:







i.e. press Announcement:

5 Shades of Gray, poems by Eileen R. Tabios
ISBN No.: 978-1-934299-09-8
Release Date: Fall 2012
Distribution: Lulu.com and Amazon.com

Fifty Shades of Grey, a 2011 erotic novel by E.L. James, has topped best-seller lists around the world. It is the first in a Trilogy which has sold over 40 million copies and book rights in 37 countries. It also set the record as the fastest-selling paperback of all time, surpassing the Harry Potter series. Eileen R. Tabios has not read E.L. James' novels, but that did not stop her from writing the poems comprising 5 Shades of Gray. She first read about BDSM ( bondage/discipline, dominance/submission, sadism/masochism) in a New York Times article about a room in Japan set up as a private park for businessmen clad only in oversized diapers and wheeled about in oversized prams pushed by women in British nanny costumes. Ms. Tabios also appreciates Ellen Degeneres' attempts to read Fifty Shades of Grey on YouTUBE, accompanied by sound effects provided by handcuffs, ping pong paddle and a whip.

The Sphinx’s Unasked Riddle


Which is more powerful:

A moon so bright it erases night

Or

A sun so bright it darkens vision

ADVANCE WORDS:
From TOM BECKETT:
Eileen Tabios’ …latest book of poetry, 5 Shades of Gray. I want to quote one poem from this superb book:

Poetics (#2)

"Move to the limit
of what you know--

Start there"

That is quite possibly the best piece of advice a human being could be given. I really admire Eileen's book. It is for me her best book so far.



ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Eileen R. Tabios has released 20 print, 4 electronic and 1 CD poetry collections, an art-essay collection, a poetry essay/interview anthology, a short story book and a collection of novels. Recipient of the Philippines' National Book Award for Poetry for her first poetry book Beyond Life Sentences, she has exhibited visual poetry and visual art throughout the United States and Asia. She has also edited, co-edited and/or conceptualized nine anthologies of poetry, fiction and essays. Ms. Tabios has crafted a body of work that is unique for melding ekphrasis with transcolonialism. Her poems have been translated into Spanish, Italian, Tagalog, Japanese, Portuguese, Polish, Greek, computer-generated hybrid languages, Paintings, Video, Drawings, Visual Poetry, Mixed Media Collages, Kali Martial Arts, Music, Modern Dance and Sculpture.

IT'D BE KINDA HARD TO SWALLOW

(pun intended) if my forthcoming book was just one of the many thousands of byproducts mentioned HERE.

CLIFTON THEN LEAPING INTO THE GRAY

Again: I don't assign myself poetry books to review.  I just try to read as widely as I can and then whichever poetry books compel Moi to review them end up being ... the poetry books I would have reviewed!  So here I was in the middle of my 4th review for the next issue of Galatea Resurrects -- a review of, wait for it, THE COLLECTED POEMS OF LUCILLE CLIFTON: 1965-2010, Edited by Kevin Young and Michael S. Glazer!  Book is wonderful--I confess to never having paid much attention to Clifton's poems before ... but this beautifully- and respectfully-designed edition is compelling!  Kudos to BOA Editions for puting it out.

Anyway, there I was in the middle of writing the review and I'm interrupted by a house visitor.  She wanted to know if I'd heard of this book Fifteen Shades of Grey because she saw the author's husband on Good Morning America and got curious....  So I explained 50 SHADES OF GRAY and, somehow, the conversation made a turn into...:

Eileen: Actually, there are studies that show that married people's sex lives improve after they read that book ...

Visitor: Well, then I'm not going to read it. I'm not married!

Uh. Somehow, that's not the result that is to be expected from this whole shady project.  Anyhoo: I just told the visitor to stick with my forthcoming 5 SHADES OF GRAY.  She nodded, Okay ... , but moithinks is looking at me differently after I told her about my own shady take ...

Anyway, as I was saying about Clifton--I'm writing a review!  I highly recommend the book!  And did you know she has something to do with the Carolingian Dynasty?  Only in Galatea Resurrects would you discover such nuggets! 

And for those who want to produce their own gems of wisdom, review copies are available HERE!

MOI & MOM

BLISS, here, is defined as working concurrently on two book designs for one book by Mom and one book by Moi. 

This seems like such a logical state of affairs, ever since Mom noticed me as a toddler folding pieces of paper that I would align into a shoebox -- I was making books, according to Mom, and putting them onto a bookshelf.  Was I even two years old at the time?  Faith--one of the most precious things we can give our children, or anyone.

Here's Mom when she was a college student at Silliman University, working on a Master's Thesis that would become one of the earliest investigations of "local color" in Filipino English-language literature ...:

Here she is more recently reading, of course, a book!  (She was reading my THORN ROSARY at the time):

Thanks, Mom, for all your faith in my books (though I likely, ahem, will not send you my newest one).  I hope you like the design Michelle and I are putting into your own first book, DAWAC. 

A first book at age 82!  Mom, you are an inspiration!

50 SHADES OF GREY

Well, actually, NOT QUITE.

I'm still drafting the blog for what looks to be my next book, 5 Shades of Gray (Yes, Gray, not Grey). But I'm sharing it now because it's tickling me (though not with a feather).  Yes, this would be a poetry collection under my favorite category of "What I Do To Amuse Moiself"!

Plus, if you need a chortle, I do recommend the referenced YouTUBE video of Ellen Degeneres reading this global bestseller. I mean, can you believe this book's numbers!?  It topped (no pun intended, if you know what I mean) Harry Potter for Xmas' sake!

(For my book, be careful of typos in the URL.  If you typed 500 instead of 5, for instance, you'd end up ... elsewhere ... chuckle)