As the country observes Philippine National Women’s Month, I share a quartet of slim tomes that provoke thought, elicit emotion, and provide practical advice for women’s health. Three are works of poetry (two by women writers), and one is a non-fiction work on topics ranging from pregnancy to menopause.
Dinah Roma’s “We Shall Write Love Poems Again” starts forcefully with a set of political polemics that draw attention to social justice issues. In “State of the Nation,” Roma employs a repetitive device that drives home the horror of tokhang: “Repeat it enough and you will learn the force / the words carry beyond the boom microphones / numbing the multitude into assent to a life … Repeat it enough and you will learn how shooting / tallies bodies, swiftly…
Other sections deal with questions about life, travel, and identity as the poet explores her feelings toward her own experiences and relationships with others, as a writer and a woman.
In “Palaspas,” a woman burns palm fronds, “the fragrance rising up to the ceiling…she rose into the smoke, a goddess young again…” Roma’s spirit shines in each verse, confident in her inner self, steadfast.
“Mookie Katigbak-Lacuesta’s” collections Burning Houses and Hush Harbor have been collected in one volume by UST Publishing House. This gives the reader twice the treasure of works on longing and love, loss and lust.
In the interesting section “Spaces We Leave Empty,” the poet uses crosswords to puzzle out thoughts and emotions on the relationship between father and daughter, lover and beloved, man and wife. Other sections are just as rich in theme, imagery, and form. The poet’s use of the prose poem form is masterful, each ripe with narrative.
In a couple of works of acute insight, Katigbak-Lacuesta bends space and time, confessing she still has a distance to travel—“I’ve far to go. / Crossing words and kissing clues, I testify / I’m far from done. / The puzzle / Is a box across and down (“Spaces We Leave Empty”),” even as she ponders time’s vagaries as an unknowable dimension: “If time is distance, / And distance is the speed it takes / To erase ourselves, / At which point do we say we were here?” (“Testify / 6 Down”)
Meanwhile, in “Hush Harbor” are poems that hug erotic curves and plumb the recesses of sensuality: “Scent of jasmine sprayed on a body after sex. To your sixteen-year-old self, it is sweet and sticky and you cannot name the smell” (“Lisp”). “Consider the damage,” the poet asks. Your own memories of passion awaken.
This is a volume one can return to again and again to plumb the depths of its riches, not only of story but also of sounds, as the rhythms the poet plays lend themselves to spoken word readings.
In “Why Keanu Reeves is Lonely,” Simeon Dumdum, Jr. finds his center and reaches out with both arms to touch topics as wide apart as classic literature and internet memes, and in between war, jazz, death, art, religion, and love of family.
In the eponymous poem, musings on a meme: “Of sadness Keanu Reeves is nothing less than a master. / Without words he can impart being alone as given,” and we agree, seeing in our minds the photograph of the actor on a bench.
In the “Ballad of Pleading Jail,” the poet references Oscar Wilde and his own legal career as judge, expertly weaving the disparate strands of inspiration to tell a tale: “They looked just like the usual prisoners, / One short the other tall, / Men destined for a life in the slammer, / The children of the Fall…”
For the student of poetry, this volume would make an excellent textbook, as Dumdum plays with the forms of haiku, ghazal, sonnet, and others.
Dr. Alice Sun-Cua releases a timely tome of advice in “Women Talk: Answers to Common Pregnancy and Gyn Questions.” The topics tackled here are those often in the realm of old wives’ tales, and Dr. Sun-Cua busts myths and presents facts to guide those interested in learning more about pregnancy, childbirth, breastfeeding, menopause, and illnesses related to the female reproductive system.
For instance—dark-colored food and pregnancy cravings can’t influence a baby’s looks, so go ahead and eat the flavonoid-rich chocolate and purple grapes. Likewise, a mother’s moods can’t shape her baby’s personality.
The author also devotes a chapter to the father’s role in pregnancy, something that many men need to be reminded about.
The book is written in layman’s terms, and the articles, arranged by topic, are short and easy to follow. This is a good read for those wanting to be proactive about their health.
For comments and feedback, you may reach the author on Facebook and Twitter: @DrJennyO
Why Keanu Reaves Is Lonely And Why The World Goes On As It Does
By Simeon Dumdum Jr.
108 pages, Milflores Publishing, 2021
P499.00, HC // www.milflorespublishing.com
From UST Publishing House (shopee.ph/ustpublishinghouse):
We Shall Write Love Poems Again
By Dinah Roma
72 pages, 2020 / P295.00, PB
Burning Houses & Hush Harbor
By Mookie Katigbak-Lacuesta
149 pages, 2021 / P470.00, PB
Woman Talk: Answers To Common Pregnancy and Gyn Questions
By Dr. Alice M. Sun-Cua
121 pages, 2019 / P400.00, PB