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addendum (october 17, 2005): paolo javier's first book, the time at the end of this writing, has been awarded "book of the year 2004" by small press traffic literary arts center. a big congratulations:

* * *now, to the original post:

from paolo javier's second book, 60 lv bo(e)mbs:




( note on poem: certain long lines and spacing may have been automatically changed or moved because of the limited space in this blog. apologies to the author)


The Gazette


acquit the army!
enlist obscure Filipinos to surrender disinterested infantry!
force the fist to loosen the lip of the lunatic sober agent errant lust
andean disease iguanas persecute jose can you see?
see Desi cinema nibble on Danzig figurines
Bruna gave it her all at the plate save the occasional schoolgirl delicacy
avarice in a veil atlas, atlas australis
my cross negated Alibata scrawled on bark
( ). The lengths that I go to make you whole
avarice amanuensis, why hasten my Alma it's too humid
Tian Tian rescinded the mark has landed
the East is impertinent
acquire Tiananmen


acquit the army in vain the accumulation of hate event horizon
destroying men to undo entertainment at freedom's convalescence
avarice vanity missed blouses in essence barcode graves
Kai currently pours her heart out murmurs hastened dawn comes for no illegal alien
yeah my Villa Ovid avidly combusts Villa's anchor
summer's memorable trysts lost me completely attractive in tattered leaves
soon fatigue vis a vis inutility harbors ambient mentality
my army Kai tells to go stateside dissident tanks I listen nonstop to Yo La Tengo's
latest cd
my hatred foresees gunless legions of corpse & skulls
puerile Nietzsche's legacy why communicate to control me
lilim of hatred guards so rudimentary the scenery
mirrors of me confused a race to complete these waters
why I lie on the floored army of books beleaguered & hellbent
to inquire, in spite of numbness, why I tire of baring content in
Al-Ahram


* * *

if you ever wonder how newspaper headlines become poetry, try to get a taste of javier's new collection, 60 lv bo(e)mbs .

his voice is a scream in fragments. miniscule thoughts and images that coalesce into something grander, a testament to our own's endless search for fuller meanings in the contemporary world of byte size politic.

imagine catching the cover of a new york broadsheet; catching the headline, not picking up the newspaper to read it in its entirety. eye it, remember it, and then sit on the subway and listen to the rhythmic murmurs of your mind. this is javier's poetry.

in reading javier, one must read each word, each phrase and enjoy the pleasure of deciphering why and how they were sewn together into a quilt. what may seem misplaced at first in its disjointedness is consciously located by this ever-curious young mind. He intrigues me with his talent for the anti-sentence, and how he arrives at his vision at the end of each poem, this vision which punctuates a barrage of multiple ideas in cautiously and purposely fragmented speech.

should it be a surprise from someone who spent his life in many countries such as the philippines, egypt, canada and now the united states of new york? imagine what a young poet saw in these places. and imagine how such visions and imagery eventually became an inspiration to a work of art that constantly challenges the norms of contemporary poetry.

* * *

come to his reading:


come celebrate the launch of '60 lv bo(e)mbs' (O Books)

on Saturday, October 15th


7 pm (DJ set by Despo)
8 pm (reading)


at Mangiami

9 Stanton Street
Cross Street:
Between Bowery and Chrystie Street
New York, NY 10002
(212) 477-7047


NO COVER / appetizers will be served
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