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{ i normally dont comment on a book featured in my first page thursdays. i dont feel i can give a poet the platform s/he deserves. but i have to make an exception for this newly-published collection of poetry. i am simply overwhelmed by the desire to meow-scream. this is what first pages are all about. }

sarah gambito does a series of verónicas, a matadoras cape maneuvers, after the first bull comes out into the arena. gambitos verónica is elegant, valiant and immediately classic. her first page is her first cape-maneuver. it made me jump and scream with admiration. i read nervously, then i bowed with respect. american-born she is, all of 31 years, her first page, the most important page in a book, is written in tagalog.

gambitos matadora becomes a classic without trying. it is brave for just being. it is subversive for its layers of meaning. it is english for being tagalog.

in the corrida of the poetry world, there is a shortage of fighters, and oversupply of bulls. this young woman-warrior represents much of what the challenge to poetry is about. that she is filipina makes me proud. tagalog is perhaps the language of her parents. i am not certain how fluent she is in it. she has only been to the philippines once, when she was two. but these are not limitations for her, but a source of energy and strength. and on her first page alone, one can see how a filipina matadora gathers her ancestral spirits and confronts the conquerors tongue.

filipino-ams, give this book to uncle sams children, these native english-speakers. let them stare at you when they say, but i dont understand the first page. then tell them, for 350 years of colonial rule, that was how my people felt.

indeed, we are still grappling with the pages of the history they left us.

and, if youre filipino and you dont understand whats written on the first page . . . then take this moment to understand why gambito used this venue of expression.

this moment is for you, sarah gambito. que tenga suerte en tu primera corrida, matadora. y que tú suba, suba--paloma de las montañas.

* * * first page


Paloma Loves

Gayon na lamang ang pag-ibig ng Diyos sa sanlibutan, kaya ibinigay niya ang kanyang bugtong na Anak, upang ang sumampalataya sa kanya ay hindi mapahamak, kundi magkaroon ng buhay na walang hanggan.

Gayon na God knew g-ibig ng Diyos sa sanlibutan, kaya ibinigay niya ang kanyang bugtong na another languagelataya sa kanya ay hindi mapahamak, kundi magkaroon ng buhay na walang hanggan.

Gayon na lamang ang pag-ibig ng Diyos sa sanlibutan, kaya ibinigay niya ang kanyang bugtong na Anak, upang ang pretty well.a sa kanya ay hindi mapahamak, kundi magkaroon ng buhay na walang hanggan.

Gayon In another language, he drank Pelligrino water.ya ibinigay niya ang kanyang bugtong na Anak, upang ang sumampalataya sa kanya ay hindi mapahamak, kundi He left gift-bags for comrades. ggan.

Gayon na He drew reindeer. ng Diyos sa sanlibutan, kaya ibinigay niya ang kanyang bugtong na Anak, upang ang sumampalataya sa kanya ay hindi mapahamak, kundi magkaroon ng buhay na walang hanggan.

Gayon na Paloma would have written about this but she does not write every day in her Light Journal. Paloma buys jewelry. g buhay na walang hanggan.

Gayon I noticed a new garnet in her ear the other day. But she ay niya ang kanyang bugtong na Anak, upang ang sumampalataya sa kanya ay hindi mapahamak, kundi magkaroon wanted me to notice her scarf.

Gayon na lamang She pointed to it and said, libutan, kaya ibinigay niya ang kanyang bugtong na Anak, up Now, I am Paloma of the Mountains ak, kundi magkaroon ng buhay na walang hanggan.

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