Foreword to FOLLOWER OF THE SEASONS by OSCAR PEÑARANDA

Tony Robles presents the Foreword to

 Follower of the Seasons: A Onethology in Symphony by Oscar Peñaranda

(Eastwind Books of Berkeley, 2023)

 

BOOK LINK 

Oscar Penaranda: A Bridge, Unabridged

The function of a bridge is to connect. It connects one side to another—opposites or what we perceive to be opposites. A bridge facilitates movement, is the go-between, if you will, between here and there. Of course, there is space between either side of a bridge, the area of pause, a gray area, an area that needs to be filled.  There are times when traversing a bridge when one knows not if they are coming or going. One can walk across a bridge or stop at any point of it and look out at the expanse and reflect. I see a man on the bridge as I make my way through the fog. As I get closer, I see that it is Oscar Peñaranda, "Mr. P" to his many students. He stands on the bridge—in this case the Golden Gate Bridge—looking outward at the city—the city of contradictions, of laughter, of tragedy, of legacy and history. I think the bridge is the perfect metaphor to describe the vision, work and humanity that is "Mr. P." As a Filipino American who, for a long time, didn't know he was Filipino American, Oscar bridged the gap between myself and the Philippines, guiding me on my first journey to the motherland in 2016. From this bridge we can see the expansive waters of San Francisco Bay as well as the water of Manila Bay, Bristol Bay and Moro Bay. Oscar is a bridge into our depths, our deep consciousness as Filipinos and Filipino Americans and Filipino Canadians and Mexipinos and Friscopinos and Blackapinas and Blackapinos etc. Oscar Peñaranda is a bridge—a teacher, a guide who is ready to take you on a journey through poetry, story or history no matter where you happen to be—on a bridge or thumbing a ride on the side of the road. He is a gambler, farmworker, cannery worker, pool hustler, prize fighter with a 0-150 record; a bartender ready to listen to your saddest of stories, kali practitioner, actor, teacher—BRIDGE. Come take a walk across this bridge. He is your guide. Take his hand and leap into the cool waters of yourself, your history, your struggle, your pain and finally, yourself. Listen to the tune that Bayani sings as you stand on that bridge with Oscar. Behold the blueness of possibility that awaits you.  

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Tony Robles is the author of the poetry collections, Thrift Store Metamorphosis (Redhawk Publications, 2023), Cool Don't Live here No More—A Letter to San Francisco and Fingerprints of a Hunger Strike. His work has been published in various collections including Growing Up Filipino Volume II, Likhaan Journal 17, Kīpuka, Pinoy Poetics and the Bellingham Review. He was short list nominated for poet laureate of San Francisco in 2017. He was named Carl Sandburg Writer in Residence by the Friends of Carl Sandburg in Flat Rock, NC in 2020. He currently lives in Hendersonville, NC.