ARCHIVED AT POETS'' HOUSE, NEW YORK CITY

VERSES TYPHOON YOLANDA was presented during Poets House's Annual Poetry Showcase.  And it is now in its collection -- a list of all books archived from the showcase this year is available HERE!

(Photo from Poets House, New York City)

TACLOBAN BOOK LAUNCH UPDATE

VERSES TYPHOON YOLANDA was just launched in Tacloban!  We are grateful to writer-activisit Almira Gilles for coordinating the event at the University of the Philippines at Tacloban.  Almira writes, “I was fortunate to have met Jasmin Ado, and she'll attest that the launch was emotional and powerful. Tacloban and other disaster-hit areas are still in much need of help, and this book is a tribute to their resilience and our unity.”

Here are some photos!

Almira with another VTY poet, Jasmin Ado

From Almira: "First visit to UP Tacloban, the morning of the event. The fabulous U.P. Prof. Joycie Dorado-Alegre, organizer of the event, second from right."

Feel free to go to Almira Astudillo Gilles' Facebook for more photos, including scenes from the aftermath of Yolanda, such as this:

Meritage Press would like to thank everyone involved in presenting the book.  We also are glad that anthology sales helped aid a donation of anthology copies to the Tacloban community.

"STORMED" BY FRANCESCO CONTE

UPDATE:  The documentary, "STORMED" is now available for your perusal on Vimeo.  Go to this link: http://vimeo.com/99549556

At about 21:41, Joi Barrios-Leblanc's poem, "SUMPA NG KAWAYAN" (with English translation) is read over the compelling images.

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Francesco Conte is an Italian journalist and film maker.  He's making a documentary entitled "Stormed" on the Haiyan and Sendong storms.  And we're pleased to report that Joi Barrios-Leblanc's poem in VERSES TYPHOON YOLANDA, "Sumpa Ng Kawayan" will be part of his documentary!  More information will be reported as we hear.  Meanwhile, here are some links to Mr. Conte:

https://www.facebook.com/franatopos

• http://italiain30giorni.blogspot.com/
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• http://twitter.com/#!/franatopos
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• http://www.franatopos.com
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• http://www.atopicamente.blogspot.com
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• http://www.flickr.com/photos/atopos
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DE ANZA COLLEGE: "ONE HEART ONE FAMILY"

VERSES TYPHOON YOLANDA will be represented by Eileen Tabios, Michelle Bautista and Aileen Ibardaloza at this weekend's benefit event at De Anza College -- open to the public:

The evening's program:

6-7p Dinner, set-up, DJs, Open Mic, Announcements

7-7:10 Introductions

10 min: PATTERSON

5 min: Brandon

5 min: Alicia

10 min: Brian Dublin

7 min: DSA

10 min: VERSES TYPHOON YOLANDA book reading

5 min: South Bay Task Force Haiyan/Kim & Rey (donations pitch)

5 min: Brandi

10 min or under: Far East Dragon Lion Dance

10 min: Sam Young & Kazamm

10 min or under: Ernie Reyes World West Coast Martial Arts

10 min: Denny Pham

10 min: Yiann

5 min: Closing

More information about the program is available at http://www.ysom.org/concert.html

This is a fundraising event and donations will be given to National Alliance for Filipino Concerns-USA which helps survivors of Typhoon Haiyan.

UPDATE: Some photos from event below (other photos are in prior post or HERE):

Michelle Bautista, her baby Gabriella, De Anza Instructor Rowena Tomaneng, 

Eileen Tabios and Aileen Ibardaloza)

(Aileen with Ray Llabang, one of the student organizers who also spoke on behalf of NafCon)

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Poets from VERSES TYPHOON YOLANDA participated in the May 31, 2014 Benefit at De Anza College, from 7-9 pm.  The VTY poets did a reading and the anthology was available for sale.  Participants were:

Michelle Bautista is a poet and 3rd degree black belt in the Philippine Martial Art of Kali. Her current projects include a memoir/instructional martial arts book tentatively titled, Mandirigmang Babae: journey of the woman warrior and multi-lingual children's ebooks. Author of Kali's Blade (Meritage Press, 2006), she lives in Oakland, CA with her husband and newborn daughter.

Aileen Ibardaloza is the Associate Editor of Our Own Voice Literary Ezine (www.oovrag.com). Her works have appeared in various online and print media including the anthology, Hanggang sa Muli: Homecoming Stories for the Filipino Soul. Her first poetry collection, Traje de Boda, was published by Meritage Press in 2010.

VTY Editor Eileen R. Tabios has released more than 20 print, three electronic and 1 CD poetry collections; an art essay collection; a “collected novels” book; a poetry essay/interview anthology; a short story collection; and an experimental biography. Recipient of the Philippines’ National Book Award for Poetry for her first poetry collection, she has crafted an award-winning 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.  She also has edited, co-edited or conceptualized ten anthologies of poetry, fiction and essays.  She maintains a bibliophilic blog, “EileenVerbs Books“; edits Galatea Resurrects; steers the publisher Meritage Press; serves as Library Director for BIBLIOTHECA INVISIBILIS; and frequently curates thematic online poetry projects including LinkedIn Poetry Recommendations.

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JULY 14, 2014 UPDATE:

I'm pleased to report the largest single donation so far for NAFCON  which helps survivors of Typhoon Haiyan.  Here’s an image — and may there be more future images like this (you can make it happen through HERE): 

PHOTO COVERAGE FROM "ONE HEART ONE FAMILY"

VERSES TYPHOON YOLANDA was represented at De Anza's Benefit for Yolanda survivors. Here are some photos of the FEST! Musicians, singers, a hula dancer, hip hop, a ukelele cover of Lorde, martial arts, "Bollywood"and, of course, Poetry!

Last but not least -- the tweaking lions!

(Baby Gabriella was unsure over the whole thing ...)

DE ANZA COLLEGE: "UNNATURAL DISASTER: TYPHOON HAIYAN"

De Anza College: “Unnatural Disaster: Typhoon Haiyan” is a cross-disciplinary curriculum project involving faculty participants from the English, Women’s Studies, Political Science and Environmental Studies departments.  The project will include a teach-in, a research project, an action project and a Spring 2014 Benefit Concert. 

[UPDATE: VERSES TYPHOON YOLANDA Editor Eileen R. Tabios and contributors Michelle Bautista and Aileen Ibardaloza will participate in the May 31, 2014 Benefit -- scroll below.]

We’re delighted to share that several poems from VERSES TYPHOON YOLANDA are being used in this project.

(click on image to enlarge)

The organizers are affiliated with South Bay Task Force Haiyan and work with National Alliance for Filipino Concerns-USA for donations.

*****

Poets from VERSES TYPHOON YOLANDA will participate in the May 31, 2014 Benefit at De Anza College, from 7-9 pm.  The VTY poets will do a reading and the anthology will be available for sale.  Participants are:

Michelle Bautista is a poet and 3rd degree black belt in the Philippine Martial Art of Kali. Her current projects include a memoir/instructional martial arts book tentatively titled, Mandirigmang Babae: journey of the woman warrior and multi-lingual children's ebooks. Author of Kali's Blade (Meritage Press, 2006), she lives in Oakland, CA with her husband and newborn daughter.

Aileen Ibardaloza is the Associate Editor of Our Own Voice Literary Ezine (www.oovrag.com). Her works have appeared in various online and print media including the anthology, Hanggang sa Muli: Homecoming Stories for the Filipino Soul. Her first poetry collection, Traje de Boda, was published by Meritage Press in 2010.

VTY Editor Eileen R. Tabios has released more than 20 print, three electronic and 1 CD poetry collections; an art essay collection; a “collected novels” book; a poetry essay/interview anthology; a short story collection; and an experimental biography. Recipient of the Philippines’ National Book Award for Poetry for her first poetry collection, she has crafted an award-winning 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.  She also has edited, co-edited or conceptualized ten anthologies of poetry, fiction and essays.  She maintains a bibliophilic blog, “EileenVerbs Books“; edits Galatea Resurrects; steers the publisher Meritage Press; serves as Library Director for BIBLIOTHECA INVISIBILIS; and frequently curates thematic online poetry projects including LinkedIn Poetry Recommendations.

excerpt from EDITOR’S INTRODUCTION

by Eileen Tabios

…the largest storm ever recorded on land, with winds nearing 200 mph and gusts up to 235 mph … unleashing massive waves … more than 11 million people affected … homeless … starving … over 6,000 dead (officials reluctant to estimate higher for bad political P.R.) even as 20-30 corpses a day continue to be  discovered under the debris, over half a million missing, about 6 million displaced … not just “dead city” Tacloban but also Samar, Iloilo, Panay Island, ... a newly-born girl dying days after the typhoon despite her mother and father trading shifts in manually blowing air into her lungs because there is no power …

I conceptualized and serve as editor for this anthology—I wish this book did not exist. 

I’m reluctant to write on Typhoon Haiyan, known as Yolanda in the Philippines.  My mood seems to be akin to what’s addressed in this anthology by the poems of Angelo R. Lacuesta and John Robert Luna. I did think of an idea for a poem—I would have titled it “Storm Cloud” and, punning off the term “cloud computing” for describing computing concepts that involve a large number of computers connected through real-time communication networks like the Internet, would have gathered phrases taken from media coverage of the disaster.  It could have been a powerful poem, annotating from survivors’ stories to the lack of body bags to the hunger strike of Yeb Sano (the Philippines' lead negotiator at the United Nations climate change summit in Warsaw) to warnings about corrupt politicians using relief donations to promote themselves or punish perceived government rebels to the mobilized return of volunteer nurses who had been part of the Philippines’ “export” of health care workers to Western countries to the generous (thank you!) U.S.-American relief activities also serving its government’s military public relations in Asia to the suddenly new orphans…  Well, it was promising but I chose not to write it—instead, my poem-contribution to this book is one written in 2006 after a landslide in Leyte. The older poem relates to Typhoon Yolanda because both events reflect adverse effects of climate change—symbolically, I also choose to “recycle” a poem in a nod for reducing one’s footprint on earth.

Still, a poet’s job is to make a poem and poets are moved to write by what moves them—Typhoon Yolanda and her aftermaths are certainly resonant.  By sharing their poems through this anthology, the Filipino poets were also moved to contribute their efforts towards a fundraising: all book sale profits will be donated to relief organizations helping the survivors of Typhoon Yolanda.  (If you would like to use this book as a fundraiser for Yolanda survivors, feel free to contact me at MeritagePress@aol.com)  I’m sure I speak for all the poets when we share our hope that our modest contribution helps, and in this fashion also extend our love to our kababayan.  

One of my contributions as editor is the order in which the 132 poems are presented.  The order reflects a narrative that I started to feel surface as I read through all of the poems.  While each individual poem may be powerful, the poems together create a sum-effect greater than its parts.  What results is both novelistic in scope and urgent in communicating the news. For the news continue beyond the actual incident and aftermath of Typhoon Yolanda.  The news continue about how our actions degrade the environment and each other, making likely the return of Yolanda’s brethren…unless we amend our actions.  These damaging actions even confuse our young—one of the poets in this book is 19-year-old Jasmin Ado and she appropriately asks: How can elders (parents, teachers, friars) teach the youth “to treat people nice and kind” when “my eyes witness // how indulgence / squandered the / consciousness of many— // I see their victims / through the television, / newspapers and even / my windows & / my windshield”?  How, indeed?  The answer, or part of it, can certainly be read in Von Torres’ poem “tahimik” (which translates from Tagalog as “quiet” or “silent”):

quiet ourselves from money

quiet ourselves from fear

quiet ourselves from shame

quiet ourselves from time

quiet ourselves from religion

quiet ourselves from power

quiet ourselves from silence