Poetry

 

“Daybreak” from yndio arxipelago | Stepping into the smoke / that climbs the mountainside / carrying in its jaws the memory of fire… READ

“Tanaga du Ivatan,” (Asa, Dadwa, Tatdu, Apat) | Masalawsaw sicharaw / Malatyat ‘changuriyaw, / Navuya mu u hañit?… READ

“Nu Nunuk du Tukon / The Nunuk on the Hill” | Two new translations of traditional Laji poetry… READ

“Exile” from Di Achichùk  |  They were exiled / for half a century / from the island the ocean became / a deep and treacherous / border cut into the land…  READ

“Migrations” | Water rocks the hull of the ship and the dark night comes on the waves / against the dark wood taken from the forests on the island… READ

“Stone of the Fish” | Sometimes / on the slip / of your tongue / or the well / of the kutsara / or maybe / on the ridge of the dry / gin glass / you will find it: the bone of the fish… READ

“The Change Giver” | The Change-giver drops four pisos / into my hand / swivels hips sideways / calls out the next stop / Ortigaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaas… READ

 

Poetry & Music

“Heaven is a Second Language” from the spoken word & music album with DJ Highend (CafeBeats Music, 2003)

“Regression of Fire” from Heaven is a Second Language with DJ Highend (CafeBeats Music, 2003)

“Awake” from In Our Blood: Filipina/o American Poetry and Spoken Word from Los Angeles (La Enkanto Kollective, 2001)

 

Anthologies

 

New translations of traditional Laji, Tanaga du Ivatan in “Always Again: New Work from the Philippines and Philippines Diasporas,” Manoa Journal, University of Hawaii, Vol 36, No. 2, edited by Laurel Fantauzzo.  READ

 

 

“For My Cousins Who Will Choose Who They Are,” from Completely Mixed Up: Mixed Heritage Asian North American Writing and Art (Rabbit Fool Press, 2015) | running home this evening / I look for the san gabriels / to find only / a faint line above the haze / a razor-black definition / of home running… READ

 

In Our Blood: Filipin@ Poetry and Spoken Word from Los Angeles, the first audio anthology to document the Filipino Hip-hop / Spoken Word movement of the late 1990s, featuring fifteen poets and musicians, produced by the LA ENKANTO Collective. 

 

The Laji Project

For generations, the Ivatan people of the northern Philippines have been singing Laji, a unique and ancient verbal art that combines melody with poetic language. It is traditionally recited in social settings, such as pre-wedding conferences, wakes and courtship. The playful and complex lyrics capture the communal spirit and the cultural knowledge of this remote indigenous community.

But today, the tradition — and the spirit and linguistic diversity it embodies — is in danger of vanishing.

Learn more about the Laji Project, which documents and promotes Ivatan poetry.