ALOYSIUSI
POLINTAN provides “Flash Reviews” of
Fish-Hair Woman by Merlinda Bobis
(Anvil Publishing, Inc., 2012)
Candido’s Apocalypse by Nick
Joaquin
(Anvil Publishing,
Inc., 2010)
Puppy Love and Thirteen Short Stories by F. Sionil Jose)
(Solidaridad
Publishing House,1998)
Twisted Flicks by Jessica Zafra
(Anvil Publishing, 2003)
The Poet Learns to Dance and Aimless Walk, Faithful River by Simeon Dumdum Jr.
(Ateneo Publishing, 2017)
Fish-Hair Woman by Merlinda Bobis
"Ours
is not the story of a war. It is the story of those whom we love and hate."
Passion and poetry overflows in Merlinda Bobis's elegantly woven novel of magic
realism, high mythology and historical narratives. The story, actually,
inspired one of my recent poems, "A Change of Heart". It was like
having a river goddess reintroducing to us readers the realms of our ancestry:
the richness of folklore, the passion of the dwellers and tillers of lands, and
the complexity of our relentless search for peace and justice. This novel does
not reduce itself to being a web of revenges and revolts. More importantly, the
transnationally oriented author's magnificent use of language as vehicle of
meaning, stirring the people's imagination, has testified to the fruits of
discipline in the writing process and of deep love for the forgotten sectors of
our consciousness. This, in short, is a remarkable oeuvre.
****
Candido’s Apocalypse by Nick
Joaquin
This long
story by the great man, the "complete, consummate writer", has
touched on psychoanalysis, speculative fiction, Filipino family affairs, human
anatomy and a whole lot more. This is the gift of Nick Joaquin—the diffusion of
language into innumerable layers of knowledge and existence, done his unique,
effortless way. Candido is an alter-ego that tries to conquer the reality of
Bobby, and I saw myself with him, in matters of identity and repression. This
must not be a literal apocalypse, but a series of metaphorical vicissitudes
confined in the magic of brevity.
****
Puppy Love and Thirteen Short Stories by F. Sionil Jose)
What does
an old man know about love? In his bleeding times, the National Artist
remembered for his Rosales Naga (which I'm looking forward to read this year or
the next) had mastered the shades and layers of love—with all its abstraction,
physicality, superficiality and depth—alongside the immediate repercussions of
the turbulent forces of his time. Through these stories, I am enabled, and thus
ennobled, to see in my proximity to delusion and destruction the spark of love,
so beautiful and strong. Keep on, my old man, my support and veneration is all
and always yours!
****
Twisted Flicks by Jessica Zafra
I have
always been a fan of Jessica Zafra and an enthusiast of the reel industry—its
accolade exaggerations, acting rivalries, scandals and ironies. This book
gathers some of her uncountable movie reviews which she laid out as lenses for
a pedestrian reader to delve into the nuances of popular culture, the politics
of the phallus and the award-winning journalist's never-ending stint of world
domination. I have read and enjoyed some of her books and online entries, and
she's always the woman I adore and the nerd I find myself likened to.
****
The Poet Learns to Dance and Aimless Walk, Faithful River by Simeon Dumdum, Jr.
The superb and dazzling Simeon Dumdum Jr. has produced another
personal favorite of a book (in this case, two books in one). A poetry
collection, bound with another, demonstrates the poet's versatility in the
craft and his utmost sensibility to versified worlds. The Poet Learns to Dance, with its tones at once melancholic and
devotional, has brought us lovers of poetry to places far and proximate, and to
acquaintances whose experience of life is deemed similar to ours. Aimless Walk, Faithful River explicitly
renders Dumdum's effortless grip of poetic forms such as villanelles, sonnets
and ghazals, while making him out as one used to aimless walkings and inspired
gardenings. Rest assured that this poet-judge and disciple of the Divine
exhausts his guts and contemplative stints to the perfection of the poetic
voice.
*****
Since 2016, Aloysiusi
Polintan has worked as a Senior High School Principal in Divina Pastora
College. He started scribbling poems and essays when he was 17 years old. These
poems are still kept in a notebook and wait to be revised for future publication.
This notebook will be revived and will give birth to language already
"lived." That is why his blog is named "Renaissance of a
Notebook," a blog of poems, personal and academic essays, and flash movie
reviews. His book reviews, which are published and featured in The
Halo-Halo Review and Galatea Resurrects, are also to be
found on the blog, under the series title "Mesmerized." He believes
that the ability to judge or critique a literary piece starts with the reader's
being moved and mesmerized by the artful arrangement of words articulating some
longing for freedom and individuality. He's now working on a manuscript of 50
poems, with a working title of Brittle Sounds. He's 24 years old,
living in Nueva Ecija.
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