| September 2001 Poetry/Filipino Studies 5.5 x 7.5 inches, 128 pages Paperback 1-885030-34-7 $12.95 list |
Bridgeable Shores: Selected Poems
(1969-2001) By Luis Cabalquinto Book Description . About the Author . Excerpt . Reviews . Events . Buy Books Now |
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Bridgeable Shores: Selected Poems (1969-2001) is the
first United
States publication of the work of the veteran Filipino
American poet Luis
Cabalquinto. This long overdue collection features the
compassion, wisdom,
and well-being gained from the multi-ethnic worlds the author inhabits.
Comprising four sections in total, it is the first two that
form the heart
of the book: "Morningland," which features poems inspired by
the Philippines,
and "Sun on Ice," inspired by New York. By choosing this structure of
two separate but "bridgeable" shores, Cabalquinto embodies
the expatriate
Filipino as poet and celebrates the possibility of
crosscultural harmony. Although Luis Cabalquinto has been writing some of the most
stimulating
American poetry since the end of the Second World War, with
the publication
of Bridgeable Shores, for the first time we are treated to a full feast
of poems that only the literary cognoscenti had on their
menus. A welcome
addition to the field of Asian American literature from a Filipino
master
of letters, this collection is a must for all libraries. Luis Cabalquinto suffers from a useful malady for poets: a passion for
the turn and tuck of words. He serves them up on a strong bed
of narrative,
of story. These poems teach, tell us about the dilemmas of
exile and immigration,
what happens when we look back at the cities we have left and begin to
sing before we turn to stone. In Bridgeable Shores, Luis Cabalquinto constructs poems that
are elegant
without affectation, humorous with a hint of despair. Clearly, this is
a poet who understands the contradictions and complications
of our human
predicament. Whether the speaker is stepping outside of an apartment,
or making a close observation of a meal, we are given instructions on
how to live through this poetry. Luis Cabalquinto's poems give insights into those subtle alignments of
human feeling with living nature. They are a delight to read, moving us
always toward our own humanity. Luis Cabalquinto's poems enter and transcend the world
without bypassing
the historical and ideological spaces that produce them. In this way,
poetry becomes a profound way of articulating the Filipino
diasporic consciousness
without getting unmoored from its home. |
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