HESA a.m., MIBF p.m.

yesterday, early in the morning, i happen to see that two of my attempts at poetry are up at HESA inprint: "((random) remarks)" and "Notes on the Flashing Yellow Light that Kept on Winking," the former being a villanelle, the latter being a prose poem and some time in the near future, shall hopefully be something else, and that something else is something i look forward to as i have a probable conspirator with that something else. what i find pleasant about HESA and most independent group of creatives, publishers, writers, so and so, that i worked with by means of mere submission is that they respond promptly and i find that human and i find it beautiful early in the morning as, with the latter piece, i emailed them about minor changes that needed to be made and they responded and they delivered and through them i sort of re-earned, at the very least, the trust i have lost in writing and art communities and in humanity, so sensitive of me, so exaggerated but yes. yes, i am driving at something as paper monster press calls for submissions at panitikan.com.ph [submit!] and had their call posted elsewhere, many elsewheres, promising things they previously failed to deliver as they do not actually reserve contributors' copies but instead have them sold [shame!], given the chance. chance! chances are,

we would really cross paths with people whom we share similar interests w. saw the ser dums, and other friends, old and new. at the 33rd MIBF yesterday, from early in the afternoon til early in the evening, i hunted for books, failed to find some, but so far, my haul was quite a catch. and, the cost quite a lot, pitted against what i-- anyway, nope, no enumeration of books, just booths, stalls. not sure if powerbooks and national bookstore had their powers merged, but it seems so. spent the most at nbs. spent the least at, guess what, ateneo press, but god, i shall save up for that prof chari book. i guess in terms of quantity, that was new day publishing, and maybe, breadth, "harvests" from ilocos, mindanao, cebu, etc. in terms of quality, of course the bias, and thus, i have the special mention of titles from the university of the philippines press (i think it also maintains panitikan.com.ph): rosario cruz-lucero's "feast and famine: stories of negros" and edel garcellano's "knife's edge: selected essays." both are newfound favorite (not just writers, but, i don't know, characters, maybe and, as they are) intellectuals. both have books i shall have soon. the former's "ang bayan sa labas ng maynila" and the latter's "vanishing history & other poems," though poems in this collection are accessible online.

too much time spent. things left undone. blog entry too long. ending with "Notes..." after this p.s. that i saw a poetry collection of billy corgan that i did not purchase because i did not have the money for it yet as i have the money for the the things i have purchased and, you know, we have to allocate resources during these critical times when basic needs need to be sacrificed for vices such as books, so, here, a prose poem:

send-offs, regret-wallowing, book-keeping

besides cynthia alexander's migration to the u.s because of 'lack of support,' another ribcage-devastating news was confirmed through dear comradely wastol, xl. the former, however, is more bearable than the latter--as, with a couple of friends, i went to one of the send off gigs, the one at 19 east, with, uhm abby clutario (see stick.com's feature here) of fuseboxx fame and humanfolk and other prominent musicians. the latter is, well, i don't know. hoping to publicly release a sigh about it soon. at the moment, what i am pertaining to is still in progress. *restrain further disclosure*

besides these ribcage-devastating news is another ribcage-devastating goodbye, but this one just needs a little adjustment and everything shall be fine: i have to leave my, uhm, sort of, little library behind and, of course, visit it from time to time. in my case, this is another time and space problem: too many books, too little (reading) time and, let me add, too little (shelf) space dilemma. sorting things out, organizing what goes where with the hows and the whys are headache-inducing these days. no further details after the cut. just photos. of books. and shelves.

[btw, salamat, lyza for for delivering these *tears*]