Pacita Abad, ‘Avocado,’ 2000, oil and mirrors stitched on canvas, 6” x 6”. As seen on the cover of ‘Murder Death Resurrection’ by Eileen R. Tabios; reproduced with the permission of the estate of Pacita Abad.
In 2013, I was weary of everything I’d written. So I decided to murder my poems — specifically twenty-seven poetry collections published up to that point — in an attempt to find another way for creating poems. For this attempt, I also wanted to deepen my interrogation (and disruption) of English which had facilitated twentieth-century US colonialism in my birthland, the Philippines.
Jacket2’s summer intern, Brianne Alphonso, reviews three poetry titles that deal in cityscapes: On a Clear Day by Jasmine Dreame Wagner, Manhattan an Archaeology by Eileen R. Tabios, and Blue by Wesley St. Jo and Remé Grefalda. Of On a Clear Day, she notes in part: “Wagner’s book — a medley of prose, poems, and essays — tells a story of urban noise in an age where ‘visibility, consistency, solvency, become moral imperatives.’ From the tapping of fingers on iPhone screens to the radio waves buzzing in our ears, the very air we breathe is loud.”
Jacket2’s summer intern, Brianne Alphonso, reviews three poetry titles that deal in cityscapes: On a Clear Day by Jasmine Dreame Wagner, Manhattan an Archaeology by Eileen R. Tabios, and Blue by Wesley St. Jo and Remé Grefalda.
Cityscapes in verse
Brianne Alphonso
Jacket2’s summer intern, Brianne Alphonso, reviews three poetry titles that deal in cityscapes: On a Clear Day by Jasmine Dreame Wagner, Manhattan an Archaeology by Eileen R. Tabios, and Blue by Wesley St. Jo and Remé Grefalda. Of On a Clear Day, she notes in part: “Wagner’s book — a medley of prose, poems, and essays — tells a story of urban noise in an age where ‘visibility, consistency, solvency, become moral imperatives.’ From the tapping of fingers on iPhone screens to the radio waves buzzing in our ears, the very air we breathe is loud.”
Jacket2’s summer intern, Brianne Alphonso, reviews three poetry titles that deal in cityscapes: On a Clear Day by Jasmine Dreame Wagner, Manhattan an Archaeology by Eileen R. Tabios, and Blue by Wesley St. Jo and Remé Grefalda.