Jim Pascual Agustin's Blog, page 5
June 27, 2023
Review of BLOODRED DRAGONFLIES in Stanzas
Bloodred Dragonflies was reviewed by Gary Cummiskey in Stanzas (shared on Gary’s blog).
It’s a warm review, and also mentions my own wish for a thicker collection. You can buy the book from Deep South (Robert Berold), from me, or from a decent local bookshop in South Africa. If you are in the Philippines, the book is available from San Anselmo Publications via their Facebook page.
In other territories, it can be ordered via the website of The African Books Collective or through Amazon – in both ebook and hard copy.
https://dyehard-press.blogspot.com/2023/02/review-of-bloodred-dragonflies-jim.html?m=1 https://www.instagram.com/p/Ct-C59SSDQ-/?igshid=MTc4MmM1YmI2Ng==
When HOW TO MAKE A SALAGUBANG HELICOPTER & OTHER POEMS was launched without me but with me
A few years ago, I was like a ghost on a video screen, larger than my usual proportions.
The first time I read “To be an Orc” to an audience with all the necessary contortions.
Subscribe to my small YouTube channel.
June 8, 2023
A year late, the Pre-launch Zoom recording of BLOODRED DRAGONFLIES
The book Bloodred Dragonflies took many years in the making. It took so long that I was beginning to doubt it would ever come out.
My Deep South publisher, Robert Berold, shared immense wisdom in shaping the final version of a book we felt we could be proud to share with the rest of the world. Or at least any reader of poetry who doesn’t just go for popularity or passing fads.
The book is available in South Africa through me, Robert, and at decent book sellers in the country. It is available in the Philippines through a special arrangement with San Anselmo Publications (order via their Facebook page). For the rest of the world it is distributed in hard copy and ebook format by the African Books Collective through their website. It is also available from other online retailers.
We had a Pre-launch Zoom event in April 2022. I never got around to editing the recording until yesterday. Apologies to all. I’ve posted it now on my YouTube channel, matangmanok. Please subscribe to the channel and consider sharing it. I hope to reach more readers using it.
May 30, 2023
April 2023 Zoom reading hosted by Off the Wall Poetry
I had a chance to share my poems online via two poetry platforms recently, one in April and the other just this month.
I’ll make shorter clips of these recorded readings one day.
HERE IS THE LINK TO MY YOUTUBE CHANNEL with the Zoom event hosted by Off the Wall Poetry.
May 16, 2023
Zoom event
Selfie before dawn. Outside, the only lights are from the neighbours’ who have emergency backup power during loadshedding.We were out of electricity for most of yesterday due to unannounced maintenance in the area. Then the scheduled power cuts again from 2 to 5 am.Tomorrow is my ZOOM event and it’s smack into another scheduled power cut, but I’m preparing some videos just in case all my backup stuff fails at the last moment.Please join me in the dark 7:30pm South African time.Buy my books from me, from my various publishers. If you don’t, who will? Hahaha.Driving in fog soon. Good morning, Cape Town!https://www.instagram.com/p/CsVKjL_Pzxv/?igshid=MTc4MmM1YmI2Ng==
May 2, 2023
Third prize in a recent mini competition
A small poem unexpectedly got the attention of judges in a mini competition I joined in March 2023 soon after I returned to Cape Town. (I know that I still have to share stories about my trip to the USA to attend the 2023 AWP Conference and Bookfair – one of these days I promise to get around to that.)
You Were Never Alone
apologies to Sting
This is a way to mend
what I did not know was broken.
For how could someone missing
something like a leg or an arm
keep on running? Keep on flapping?
Yet you did, and further than anyone
ever dreamed of one born
beneath an angry star. You did
perhaps despite that absence
or because. Too late
now that all the feathers
have been pushed out
like titanium needles
through bone, through skin,
filament by filament drying
in the evening sun. Sting of dawn
a blessing, a promise of flight
of youth and all that would be lost.
So long ago.
So long to go.
-o-
This is what I sent to the AVBOB people when they asked for some background on the writing of the poem:
I always look at calls for submissions to journals and entries for competitions as both a game and a challenge. It just so happens that back in December 2022 I had written a poem that I thought might be a good fit with the AVBOB theme, so I entered that one. (I also wrote a new poem, but that one wasn’t as lucky.) “You were Never Alone” is a bit like a letter to myself, but as if I were someone else at the same time. It interchanges the “I” and the “you” and looks at a personal history as something in the past and still about to happen. In the subtitle I had to say “apologies to Sting,” as I borrowed a few images from him. The title of my very first book which was published in 1992, Beneath an Angry Star, comes from his song “Fragile” which goes “For all those born beneath an angry star, lest we forget how fragile we are.”
HERE IS THE LINK TO THE ANNOUNCEMENT AND THE WINNING POEMS; https://www.avbobpoetry.co.za/Blog/View/135
April 27, 2023
Video on Instagram “The Man Who Wished He were Lego”
Slightly recycled video that originally appeared on the YouTube channel of Dr Ahmed Elbeshlawy. “The Man Who Wished He were Lego” remains a favourite. You can get copies of the book, HOW TO MAKE A SALAGUBANG HELICOPTER & OTHER POEMS from me if you are in South Africa (send me a message! or email kalayaan7@gmail.com). I also have copies of my other books – BLOODRED DRAGONFLIES and limited copies of WAKING UP TO THE PATTERN LEFT BY A SNAIL OVERNIGHT. If you are in the Philippines, please contact San Anselmo Publications via Facebook. https://www.instagram.com/reel/Crh_oKCpll2/?igshid=MDJmNzVkMjY=
March 28, 2023
A day after my birthday, Gaudy Boy due to release my new paper child
2022 Gaudy Boy Poetry Book Prize WinnerWAKING UP TO THE PATTERN LEFT BY A SNAIL OVERNIGHT
Official release a day after my birthday!
Poetry lovers, friends and family in the US and Singapore can now order copies!
We’re still working on editions in other territories. If you know publishers we can approach, please send me a message!
The book contains poems that mention or refer to Martial Law in the Philippines, the Duterte fake drug war, Jacob Zuma, Maria Ressa, Mad Max, Björk, and Taylor Swift, among others.
March 10, 2023
#AWP23 Book Signing by Jim Pascual Agustin
I’ve had two off-site events here and it’s been a spectacular experience. The book fair is awesome!
If you’re in Seattle, please drop by at the Gaudy Boy table and check out the truly brave and beautiful titles they’ve been putting out since 2018.
My book is the new baby – Waking Up to the Pattern Left by a Snail Overnight!
I’ll be around for the book signing from 2pm! See you!
March 9, 2023
#AWP23 Calling writers from South Africa and the Philippines
I have to admit, I didn’t think I would ever be here at AWP. So with this being my first time, and hopefully not the last, I’d like to link up with other South African and Filipino writers.
I posted about this on my Instagram account
Thank you to the amazing people who have supported my writing in various ways. The crowd funding campaign made it possible for me to get to Seattle.
