Jim Pascual Agustin's Blog, page 3
December 6, 2023
November 18, 2023
That Bullet is Alien
That Bullet is Alien – the third poem in the section “intergalactic nightmares” from ALIEN TO ANY SKIN (UST Publishing House, Manila 2011). #ceasefirenow #Palestine #ICC #humanrights #Israeliwarcrimes #gaza Donate to GIFT OF THE GIVERS https://www.instagram.com/p/CzyGZ9Du7po/?igshid=ZDBjMWI0ZjMxOQ==
November 17, 2023
Alien to Any Skin: intergalactic nightmares
I started sharing on my Instagram account poems from a section of Alien to Any Skin (UST Publishing House, Manila 2011) which deals with war, displacement, land theft, human rights, colonial violence, and related issues.
HERE IS THE LINK to the first post.
November 15, 2023
Where to get my paper children
This list is a work in progress and will be updated as time allows. The links are all active as of this writing.
Waking Up to the Pattern Left by a Snail Overnight (Gaudy Boy, New York 2023)
Crocodiles in Belfast (Vhakololo Press, Limpopo 2023 & San Anselmo Publications, Manila 2020)
in South Africa
Email Vhakololo Press or contact them on Facebook
in the Philippines
San Anselmo Publications via Facebook
the rest of the world
Amazon Kindle
Bloodred Dragonflies (Deep South, Makhanda 2022)
in South Africa
Clarke’s Bookshop on Long Street, Cape Town
in the Philippines
San Anselmo Publications via Facebook
the rest of the world / online
How to Make a Salagubang Helicopter & other poems (San Anselmo Publications, Manila 2019)
in South Africa
in the Philippines
San Anselmo Publications via Facebook
the rest of the world
The following titles are all from the University of Santo Tomas Publishing House. They may be ordered via the UST Publishing House Facebook page or through some Philippine online retailers.
Sanga sa Basang Lupa at iba pang kuwento (2016)
A Thousand Eyes (2015)
Kalmot ng Pusa sa Tagiliran (2013)
Sound Before Water (2013)
Baha-bahagdang Karupukan (2011)
Alien to Any Skin (2011)
The following titles are currently unavailable
Salimbayan (Publikasyong Sipat, Manila 1994)
Beneath an Angry Star (Anvil Publishing, Manila 1992)
Wings of Smoke (The Onslaught Press, Oxford 2017)
November 4, 2023
Cape Talk radio’s Pippa Hudson Interviews Alien
https://omny.fm/shows/afternoons-with-pippa-hudson/on-the-couch-filipino-south-african-poetI’m never comfortable being interviewed live (as opposed to dead? Haha). But Pippa Hudson made it so much fun for me, I think I ended up rambling, sometimes not even answering what she was asking about (yes, I was nervous, and yes I had written down what I wanted to say – but forgot to look at my notes!).
Anyway, I’ll correct a few things I said like the year I wrote my first poem (about 1985 or 1986)…but I’ll have listen to the recording again to see what else.
The poem I read in the end had a funny voice – my wife didn’t like! Haha.
October 27, 2023
This post doesn’t even have a photo
There was a boy jumping up and down, visible in the corner of the CCTV screen. Despite the blur and grain of the footage, you know he is happy playing so close to a wall.
In a split second a bomb sent by Israel with the intent to kill randomly lands and blows up near the top of the screen. Everything shakes and crumbles as the blast sends shards and dust flying.
The boy disappears. The CCTV does not capture sound, just images.
This is how a life is erased.
October 17, 2023
In a Place of Silence – part 1
Part 1: The reading
On the morning of the 14th of October 2023, I stood before a small audience in a place where silence is often kept. Silence in the pages of books before they are opened, before words tumble out and swirl into many doors and windows, entire worlds. It was a library with high ceilings, abundant with natural light, a public library in the centre of Cape Town, South Africa, the city I have come to love as my second home.
With David Kapp and Stanley Wagon Grant. 
Mike Klink of Friends of Central Library (FOCAL) who was magnificent in more than just organising the venue and refreshments. 
With the fantastic Stacy Grod of the Central Library in Cape Town. 
Ingrid Jonker Prize winner Sindi Busuku graced the small affair. 
This was the first in a series of readings and launches in public libraries for my newly released books (two of which are South African editions of previous titles):
Bloodred Dragonflies (Deep South, Makhanda 2022 & San Anselmo Publications, Manila 2022)
Waking Up to the Pattern Left by a Snail Overnight (Gaudy Boy, New York 2023 & forthcoming from Ateneo de Manila University Press, Manila 2024)
Crocodiles in Belfast (Vhakololo Press, Limpopo 2023 & San Anselmo Publications, Manila 2020)
Sound Before Water (Minimal Press, Cape Town 2023 & UST Publishing House, Manila 2013).
Being with small independent publishers is a challenge for both the brave publisher and the author. One doesn’t have the backing of huge promotional campaign funds. There is no team to work with and throw ideas around, no long meetings on how to reach target audiences. It is a humble existence, and often solitary. But when one finds keen readers and listeners, one sees the most beautiful and magical of fireworks that do not just fade into darkness.
It was Robert Berold, highly-respected poet and owner of Deep South who encouraged me to find ways to share my new books. He said it is not every day that a poet finds him/herself with four new books in two years! It just never happens. But, shocked as I am, it has by chance happened to me! (Maybe I’ll write about how this came about at another time.) And now I have an obligation to these books, these paper children. I need to find them new homes with the little means I have at my disposal.
Thus, I decided to embark on this small journey by seeking to work with the kind and generous people who run the many public libraries in and around Cape Town. I have so far secured four events, three of them in November.
This one at the Central Library was a beautiful beginning to what I hope to be a unique journey. For a while, in that almost sacred space, I was allowed to break the silence.
I started with quiet poems about the struggle of small creatures, about hearts and distances conquered, before unleashing my gutter-like voice for a poem dressed up as a tribute to The Lord of the Rings, but was actually about the real tragedy of war and destruction. I then ended the reading with an old poem which appeared in Alien to Any Skin (UST Publishing House, Manila 2011), “The Side of Love, for Mahmoud Darwish”
The people who sat and listened looked very much entranced. They asked important questions in between the reading of the poems. Afterwards they repeatedly thanked me for sharing my work with them.
-o-
Part 2 to follow soon.
Go to Clarke’s Bookshop!
Clarke’s Bookshop on Long Street in Cape Town has most of the books. They’re wonderful and super helpful. Please get your books from them instead of snotty pretend book sellers that only stock imported so-called (manipulated as) bestsellers. Local authors really appreciate the few spaces they’re allowed. It’s unfair, but something for another day.
