Amigo Warfare: Poems

88 Pages·2007·0.2 MB·English

by  Eric Gamalinda

Amigo Warfare

Amigo Warfare
Poems by Eric Gamalinda
Cherry Grove Collections
© 2007 by Eric Gamalinda
Published by Cherry Grove Collections
P.O. Box 541106
Cincinnati, OH 45254-1106
ISBN: 9781933456669
LCCN: 2007923410
Poetry Editor: Kevin Walzer
Business Editor: Lori Jareo
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Acknowledgments
The following journals, webzines and anthologies previously
published earlier versions of these poems, some under
different titles. My gratitude to their editors.
Barrow Street: “The Skin of War”
Big City Lit: “My Generation”; “Sprung Pidgin”
A Habit of Shores: Filipino Poetry and Verse from English
(University of the Philippines Press, Manila:
Gemino H. Abad, ed.): “Pictures from a Country in
Mourning, after Botero”
The Hat: “Autobiography of Water”; “Ego>Lust>Guilt”;
“Valley of Marvels”; “Antonio Machado’s Off-
Season”
Interlope: “The End of the World Will Happen on December
21, 2012”
Interpoezia: “Valley of Marvels”; “Autobiography of Water”;
“#846”
International Quarterly: “Pictures from a Country in
Mourning, after Botero”
Literary Review: “DMZ”; “Poem Not Written in Catalan”
Love Gathers All (Anvil Publishing/Ethos Books, Manila /
Singapore: Sunico, Yuson, Lee, Pang, eds.):
“Bollywood Ending”
The Philippines Free Press (Manila): “The Remembered
World”; “Rampart”
Pinoy Poetics: Autobiographical and Critical Essays (Meritage
Press, CA: Nick Carbo, ed.): “Melting City”
Poets & Writers Online: “Two Nudes”
Rain Tiger: “Two Nudes”; “Politoxic”
Respiro: “Bollywood Ending”; “Antonio Machado’s Off
Season”
Search (Colegio San Agustin, Manila): “Tektite”; “Burning
the Body, after Tarkovsky”
Structure and Surprise (Teachers and Writers
Collaborative, Michael Theune, ed.): “Subtitles Off”
The Sunday Inquirer (Manila): “Two Nudes”; “The Map of
Light”; “Ceremony, after Kiarostami”
Tomas (University of Santo Tomas Press, Manila: Alfred
Yuson, ed.): “Sign Language”; “Plan B”; “Poems of
Sorrow, after Luis González Palma”
Many thanks to Le Chateau de Lavigny in Switzerland, Le
Chateau de la Napoule in France, and Ledig House
International Retreat for Writers in New York for giving me
the opportunity to work on several of these poems.
I am also grateful to Arthur Sze, Eugene Gloria, and Tina
Chang for reading my manuscript and giving invaluable
advice; the Asian American Writers Workshop; the
Philippine Literary Arts Council; Reynaldo Ileto for the
book's title; Nick Carbo; and D. Nurkse.
And as always to Bunny, Marisse, Mark, Celine, Diana,
Bing, Miel, and our mom, Doris Trinidad: maraming salamat.
Cover photograph: No sabía que ella estaba pensando en, 2004
(detail from diptych) | Copyright Luis González Palma |
Courtesy Robert Mann Gallery, New York.
Table of Contents
DMZ | 11
Sign Language | 13
Plan B | 15
Poem Not Written in Catalan | 16
False Hopes, True North | 18
Ego > Lust > Guilt | 19
Sprung Pidgin | 21
Bollywood Ending | 22
Daisy Cutter | 24
9/12 | 26
Christians Killed My Jesus | 27
The End of the World Will Happen on
December 21, 2012 | 29
Subtitles Off | 30
Poems of Sorrow, after Luis González Palma
| 31
Politoxic | 33
Two Nudes | 37
Autobiography of Water | 38
Self-Portrait in Hell | 40
Posthumous | 41
My Generation | 43
Amigo Warfare | 44
Pictures from a Country in Mourning, after
Botero | 46
Disciples of the Dog | 49
The Skin of War | 51
The Remembered World | 53
The Map of Light | 59
Valley of Marvels | 60
Antonio Machado’s Off-Season | 62
Burning the Body, after Tarkovsky | 64
Ceremony, after Kiarostami | 65
Koan: The Last Eclipse of the Millennium | 66
Abell 2218 | 67
Yellow Tang | 71
Tektite | 73
Île Saint-Honorat | 75
Melting City (1) | 77
# 846 | 79
Rampart | 81
No Fly Zone | 82
Notes | 83
If I had to sum up my impressions of America,
I would list these: waste, innocence, vastness, poverty.
Michelangelo Antonioni