Jim Pascual Agustin's Blog, page 20

February 17, 2017

February 13, 2017

“Open Air Cinema in the Rain” on Soundcloud.com

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original artwork from Synaesthesia Magazine


“Open Air Cinema in the Rain” was first published by Synaesthesia Magazine (pages 40-41).

It now finds a home in my new collection, WINGS OF SMOKE.


I posted a reading on Soundcloud.com


Should I say HAPPY VALENTINE?

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Published on February 13, 2017 05:01

February 10, 2017

More Wig than Human – a draft

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Images from Inquirer.net and Wikipedia


 


More Wig th an Human


“The criminals, the drug lords, drug pushers, they are not humanity. They are not humanity. In other words, how can that be when your war is only against those drug lords, drug addicts, drug pushers. You consider them humanity? I do not.”

                                                                    – Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II


A certain creature first sucked

nourishment from nipples.

Natural or man-made, like his wig

now, does it really matter?


He’s so comfortable, he feels nothing

can budge him from his

temperature-controlled leather

seat. You can hear him snoring


through the thick door

that bears the title:

Secretary of Justice.

Far from where he lords,


ants are milling around

an injured fellow ant

as if they were trying

to help it get back


on its broken legs,

dragging it with great effort

to a place of shade, away

from further harm.


-o-


http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/867331/criminals-are-not-human-aguirre


 


some readers don’t like the title. any suggestions? I also welcome all feedback. thank you in advance.


Filed under: Mga Tula / Poetry, terrorism, Uncategorized Tagged: drug war, Jim Pascual Agustin, Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II, war on the poor, wigman
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Published on February 10, 2017 01:00

February 9, 2017

Another State of the Nation Address (SONA) from Zuma will need some imagination

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photo from the Twitter account of ENCA


So, another year, another chance for Zuma to hypnotize us into submission. This year is likely to be the same as the past few years. With a few slightly different details such as the presence of 441 members (odd number, that) of the South African National Defense Force being deployed at Parliament in Cape Town, along with the restrictions on press movement (they get their own pen – perhaps without a pig, hopefully with ink) while covering the expected pomp (include all the negative things that word might conjure) and… yawning.


We poor citizens will have to use our rich imagination to entertain ourselves while being tortured and shown the prospect for another grim year under this man who has nearly 800 counts of corruption charges the National Prosecuting Authority should file but just won’t.


Here’s a suggestion. That photo. That hand behind Zuma. Imagine those fingers folding two while holding the middle one straight. Raise that hand. Aim at Zuma’s bald head. Then make him turn his head to that middle finger.


Feel a little better? Now aside from this exercise, get to work. Prove to him this country can be better without him sitting and laughing at us as if we were all fools.


Filed under: politics, Uncategorized Tagged: ANC, corruption, DA, EFF, Jacob Zuma, Nkandla, parliament, SONA, South Africa, zuma
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Published on February 09, 2017 02:12

February 7, 2017

It’s alive! It’s alive!

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My UK publisher, The Onslaught Press, posted this photo on Twitter of my new book alongside two other new titles. So my paper child is real. Alive.

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Published on February 07, 2017 13:47

January 31, 2017

A paper child is born

1 February 2017. Or nearly. As I start writing this it is 23:33 in Cape Town. It is already dawn where I was born. I wonder what it’s like in the UK where my new paper child, Wings of Smoke, has just been born.

A few years ago two books of mine came out at the same time, Alien to Any Skin and Baha-bahagdang Karupukan. I’m still very fond of those books. They broke the more than 10 years of publication silence I underwent. I was terrified what would happen to them, as if they were flesh and blood of mine. So I wrote a poem where I gave them names, Karu and Skin. That poem later appeared in another book, Sound Before Water.

I can’t remember if I’ve posted it here before, but it seems appropriate to share it as Wings of Smoke is born.

May you all find loving homes and eager readers, my paper children, sooner rather than later.


How to Sell a Child Door to Door

for Karu and Skin, my paper children


tell them this child has no parent

and can only bring joy

to its new home

bring light and promise

into the room

as it silently sits

in their hands


even as the world burns

outside the window


tell them everything

they want to hear

that might make them smile


anything just to get

this child’s little foot

in the door


do not bat an eyelid

should the child

gasp at fragments

of moth wings


by the kettle

no one invites sorrow

into their lives


-o-


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Filed under: Alien to Any Skin, Baha-bahagdang Karupukan, Jim Pascual Agustin, poetry, Sound Before Water, Uncategorized, Wings of Smoke Tagged: Alien to Any Skin, Baha-bahagdang Karupukan, Jim Pascual Agustin, Sound Before Water, The Onslaught Press, Wings of Smoke
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Published on January 31, 2017 14:09

January 26, 2017

“The Breath of Sparrows” on Soundcloud

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Photo from Wikipedia


I have many fathers. One who gave me flesh and bone, a few who guided my first steps in the world of words, some who don’t even know I exist, and then many now no more than dust. I shall not name them here. There is no need.


In that vein I wrote “The Breath of Sparrows” years ago and posted its early version here on matangmanok. It now finds a final version in print form in my forthcoming book, Wings of Smoke (The Onslaught Press, UK, 2017).


I did a rough audio recording of it. Please click this LINK TO SOUNDCLOUD to listen to the final version of “The Breath of Sparrows.”


Tell me what you think, if you have the time or inclination.


Filed under: Mga Tula / Poetry, poetry, Uncategorized, Wings of Smoke Tagged: fathers, Jim Pascual Agustin, Nelson Mandela, Soundcloud, The Onslaught Press, Wings of Smoke
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Published on January 26, 2017 11:00

January 24, 2017

Of Pregnancy and Paper Children

I have the utmost respect for mothers. It is no small effort to carry a life that is slowly growing inside you, turning your body into a vessel that seems less and less your own. Imagine bearing two or more!

My wife didn’t have the easiest time when she was carrying our twins. Likely only the mothers of twins or multiples will ever have a true idea of how it was for her. All I could do then was try to be around whenever she needed any assistance, especially in the last few months of the pregnancy. I’ll spare you the details of those days for now.

Here’s a poem I wrote way back, not to make light of the whole ordeal, I hope. The poem appeared in my book Alien to Any Skin (UST Publishing House, 2011) – a book I wish more readers would seek as it contains what I feel is a substantial body of work.


Pregnant Moon Reflection


I watched the moon lift herself,

a woman ripe

with twins.


Brimming with awesome fullness,

she heaved her burden of light

over the eastern mountains,

past sandstone peaks,

cubist dream of broken rocks,

deserted cities of the future.


Up she pushed herself

until the blue darkness

surrendered his realm.


The stars felt faint,

their grandeur diminished.


A hush fell upon the heavens

reminiscent

of my wife’s visit

to the clinic.


     January 2009

-o-


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I call my books paper children. The struggle to bring each one to life is not at all like carrying a real child.

A paper child is bound to be put out for adoption once born. Yet I feel something similar to a parent who is forced to surrender a child for whatever reason.

What I let go will have to wind its own way without looking back. It has to find its own home. Otherwise it will be forever lost, perhaps shredded beyond remembrance by cruel time.

Who will adopt this new one?

My UK publisher, The Onslaught Press, posted an initial announcement regarding the worldwide release of Wings of Smoke. CLICK THIS LINK to the page on their website where you can place your order come 1 February 2017.

Two other fantastic titles will be released – Hold Your Breath by Waqas Khwaja (Pakistan-United States) and long days of rain by Janak Sapkota (Nepal).

Friends in South Africa will have to wait just a little longer – 1 March 2017 – to be able to order the book through me. I’ll see if an arrangement can be made with accommodating local book dealers.


Here is the Goodreads.com link to WINGS OF SMOKE.


Aside from The Onslaught Press website, the book will also be made available through Amazon.


Filed under: Filipino poetry, Filipino-South African, Jim Pascual Agustin, poetry, Wings of Smoke Tagged: Jim Pascual Agustin, poetry collections, The Onslaught Press, Wings of Smoke
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Published on January 24, 2017 23:16

The Boy in the Chair – a first draft

The Boy in the Chair

should be the last victim

of the hand that slaps,

shoves, hits and maims

a child at school


now in his shack that has

no windows, he hears

the other children kicking

a soccer ball in the distance


with legs no longer

like his own, he still

dreams of the day

he becomes a doctor


-o-


This is an initial reaction to a news item in South Africa about a boy who was assaulted by a principal after accusing him of stealing R150.


Filed under: Uncategorized
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Published on January 24, 2017 22:34

January 20, 2017

Veins Cut Open – an audio recording attempt (although the poem is about xenophobia in SA, it might as well be about Trump and his troops)

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I’ve got a new paper child about to be born – WINGS OF SMOKE. I’ll write about it in the next few days, I hope. “Veins Cut Open” is one of the poems, it was first published in the Sol Plaatje EU Award Anthology. I recorded an audio reading of it – instead of just posting the text – to give you an idea of what’s in the book. Well, I just felt like it. haha. Tell me what you think.


I don’t have a great voice, I admit. But it’s the only one I have. Although I do drive my kids nuts when I take on various voices, sometimes singing made up lyrics of some language plucked out of nowhere.


So HERE IS THE SOUNDCLOUD LINK.


Filed under: Uncategorized, Wings of Smoke Tagged: Durban, Filipino poetry, Jim Pascual Agustin, poetry, South Africa, The Onslaught Press, Veins Cut Open, xenophobia
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Published on January 20, 2017 00:52