REMEMBERING NICK CARBO (1964-2024)

 Eileen Tabios Presents A Tribute to Nick Carbo

NICK CARBO, BELOVED POET AND MENTOR TO MANY WRITERS:

REST IN PEACE, POWER AND LOVE

“… for omitting the presence of Filipino poets, the end result is a stubborn invisibility. This is an invisibility that is dehumanizing a whole nation and personal identity. It must stop here!”

—Nick Carbo

As young poets, Nick Carbo and I were enraged—that has made all the difference to our poetry. We were enraged at how we became English-language Filipino poets—that this has to be rooted in a lethal colonialism inflicted on our birthland, the Philippines. We were enraged that as English-language poets our poems had to be contextualized within the myopic and racist constraints of the history of English & U.S.-American poetry.

This is why Nick Carbo entitled his first anthology of Filipino poetry RETURNING THE BORROWED TONGUE. The “borrowed tongue” refers to how English became widespread among Filipinos through how U.S. colonialism spread it across the Philippine archipelago—why, of all countries, would the Philippines be the third largest English-speaking country in the world? “Borrowed tongue,” though, is a euphemism; “enforced tongue” would be more accurate as attested by rivers of spilled Filipino blood.

From our joint anger, I formed a press—Meritage Press—specifically to publish PINOY POETICS, the first anthology of (mostly) autobiographical poetics essays by Filipino poets. Yes, we wanted each Filipino poet to speak for one’s self. Critical reception had not been voluminous for Filipino poetry which is itself problematic; but we also wanted to avoid third-party reductiveness when it came to presenting Filipino poetry. (And, btw, it’s time to do a volume 2 of “Pinoy Poetics,” though it need not be titled as such.)

I encourage you to read his Introduction to PINOY POETICS which is available HERE in an earlier issue of The Halo Halo Review. That Introduction is important enough that I wanted to bring it online to a larger audience years before Nick would pass. I also know that Introduction is informed by his MFA thesis which is how he researched how Filipino poetry—like, generally, Filipino culture—long has been ignored or silenced by U.S. (including Asian American) culture. 

After editing together PINOY POETICS and BABAYLAN (the first U.S. anthology of Filipina women writers), Nick and I wanted to continue with more Filipino literary anthologies. Next up, we thought, should be an anthology of more discernibly if not radically innovative writings. I thought this was a logical progression given the roots of English for Filipinos. Nick was willing, but counseled we wait a little longer for more of these innovative Filipino poets to reveal themselves. I am sad we ran out of time for our last planned book as co-editors.

I share the image below of a picture of joy (photo by Corey Sipkin). Taken at the Asian American Writers Workshop (NYC), we were some of the workers from the early days of expanding the publication of Filipino literature—from L to R: Eric Gamalinda, Jessica Hagedorn, Nick Carbo, Regie Cabico, Eileen Tabios, and Luis Francia. 

How committed was Nick Carbo to promoting Filipino literature? Well, let me share something about his last day. At 11:05 a.m., he contacted me about my new novel THE BALIKBAYAN ARTIST. Maybe he can do a review, he suggested. I knew he’s had health issues since at least 2020 which made him unable to participate in some projects we’d discussed. But I’d long suspected that what he wanted from me was the consistent focus on literary matters because that was our “normal.” So two hours later I emailed him a pdf for review. Then some hours later I would receive word that he had passed. I am *appalled*—perhaps I should be grateful but I am instead appalled—that he would take the time to be concerned about my new book when he was, as it turns out, just hours from his transitioning. To the end, he blessed me, and I am …  I am … devastated.

When I look at poets and artists, I privilege those who don't rest on achieved aesthetics but instead continually attempt something they hadn't done before. This is another reason why I loved/love Nick Carbo as a poet. As poets of color, we're often considered if not judged by our community-related stances. Nick could have stuck to the poems that made him that "Secret Asian Man" (also the title of a prize-winning poetry collection). But he also innovated his art, including turning to visual poetry. Here is a collaboration we once did—through snail mail exchanges because we could not transcend the physical exchange—of sculpted poems. I'm only sad we could only show one of the poem-sculptures. The text remains but all of the poem-sculptures were lost/damaged through him through a flood and through me through a wildfire. This example shows how Nick riffed off the banal toilet regulator mechanism to craft an amusing couplet: “Can you regulate / The flow of desire.”

Both the photo above as well as the prior one of jumping Filipino editors show our joy, our sense of humor, our likeability even—the likeability of the Filipino. And, yes, people are accurate to call Nick Carbo “sweet.” He was sweet and loving. But when I think of Nick now, I don’t want to avoid thinking about anger. As Filipino poets, we were angry and should have been and should still be angry (I repeat: do read his Introduction to PINOY POETICS. As Audre Lorde has said, “Anger is loaded with information and energy.”

Hell as much as Heaven existed on this earth we inherited with zero personal choice. As poet-brother Nick Carbo has ascended, may he cease the anger to rest in pure joy. As I write this, I finish a Netflix binge of a poetry series, “Rhythm + Flow: Brazil.” From that show, I am reminded, “The rap that makes you believe, it isn’t dead, you know?”

Salamat Nico, for helping us know!

*****

 

Eileen Tabios has released books of poetry, fiction, essays, art and experimental prose from publishers around the world. Recent releases include the novel The Balikbayan Artist; an art monograph Drawing Six Directions; a poetry collection Because I Love You, I Become War; an autobiography, The Inventor; and a flash fiction collection collaboration with harry k stammer, Getting To One. Other books include a first novel DoveLion: A Fairy Tale for Our Times (2021) which was translated by Danton Remoto into Filipino as KalapatingLeon for a 2024 release from UST Publishing (University of Santo Tomas). More information is at https://eileenrtabios.com. She was/is "Best Buds" with Nick Carbo.