A poem makes the cut

I’m off to the Poetry in McGregor this Friday to read a poem (“My Mother had a Concrete Garden”) that was selected as a finalist for this year’s competition. I’ll be reading the poem before a live audience for the first time since the lockdown. Wish me luck.

Today I had a chance to browse a bit. So bumped into a review of How to Make a Salagubang Helicopter & other poems which I should have shared long ago. Here’s the link to the Bookbed review.

Here’s a bit of what they say: “How to Make a Salagubang Helicopter & Other Poems by Jim Pascual Agustin is a great collection of poetry that lays out hard-hitting truths and manages to strike universal emotional nerves.”

They also shared a few pages from the book.

I’ve been writing in bursts – wild production of a new series and just about what hits me – followed by long silences of maybe just gathering or recollecting. It wasn’t always like that.

Something random… The other day I went to a craft fair (with bric a brac) and saw this – perhaps a unique/disconcerting version of Chewbacca which my kids convinced me not to buy:

About matangmanok

Jim Pascual Agustin writes and translates poetry. Sometimes he tries his hand at essays and stories. His latest book is BLOODRED DRAGONFLIES, published by Deep South in South Africa. Check out the official blog page for Bloodred Dragonflies. In 2011 the University of Santo Tomas Publishing House in Manila released BAHA-BAHAGDANG KARUPUKAN (poems in Filipino) and ALIEN TO ANY SKIN (poems in English). The same publisher released his most recent poetry collections SOUND BEFORE WATER and KALMOT NG PUSA SA TAGILIRAN. In 2015 a new poetry collection in English, A THOUSAND EYES was released. His first collection of short stories in Filipino, SANGA SA BASANG LUPA, was released in 2016. UK publisher The Onslaught Press launches his poetry collection, WINGS OF SMOKE, worldwide in February 2017. San Anselmo Publications released HOW TO MAKE A SALAGUBANG HELICOPTER & OTHER POEMS in 2019 followed by CROCODILES IN BELFAST & OTHER POEMS in 2020 - both books can be purchased through their Facebook page. View all posts by matangmanok

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