The Parlement of Giraffes: Poems for Children - Eight to Eighty

by José García Villa, John Cowen (Editor), Larry Francia (Translator)

Here for the first time, is a collection of Villa's magical and most joyful poems selected especially for the world's children. These are poems to ignite children's imaginations and perhaps enflame their own future words. Tagalog translation by Larry Francia, edited by John Cowen. With original drawings by the author.

Genres: Poetry

94 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1999

About the author

Jose Garcia Villa was a Filipino poet, literary critic, short story writer, and painter. He was awarded the National Artist of the Philippines title for literature in 1973, as well as the Guggenheim Fellowship in creative writing by Conrad Aiken. He is known to have introduced the "reversed consonance rime scheme" in writing poetry, as well as the extensive use of punctuation marks—especially commas, which made him known as the Comma Poet. He used the penname Doveglion (derived from "Dove, Eagle, Lion"), based on the characters he derived from himself. These animals were also explored by another poet e.e. cummings in Doveglion, Adventures in Value, a poem dedicated to Villa.

(From wikipedia.org, retrieved 14 March 2011. More info here.)

Reviews

[Anne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really inspiring poems and quirky drawings from one of the most talented Filipino poets.

[George Gonzaga Deoso · Rating 4 out of 5]

Particularly love this one:

27

When, Nothing, is, so well, said,
or, so, well, done,

It, betrays, itself, and becomes,
Something:

As, apples, by, Cezanne, or, just,
Lines, by Mondrian.

[Mark Anthony S. Salvador · Rating 3 out of 5]

Maganda ang pagkabuo sa kalipunan: 1) may salin sa Filipino; 2) may mga ilustrasyon na iginuhit mismo ni Jose Garcia Villa noong kanyang kabataan at natagpuan lang nang yumao na siya; 3) may magandang panimula at afterword (na sipi sa pagpapakilala kay Villa bilang pambansang alagad ng sining para sa panitikan).

Ang magandang paglimian: tulang pambata ba ang lahat ng tula sa kalipunan?