Catch Sightseer In This Killing City Edited By Eugene Gloria Presented As File

don't read a lot of poetry, but this collection spoke to me, I like Gloria's accessible language and phrasing, The language seems transparent at firstlike the meaning is right there on the surfaceuntil a quirk upends my reading and suggests something else.
There's anger here, and humor, and even some desperation, but the structure and control of the language keeps it from going off the rails.
I'm keeping this one on the shelf, Pretty good poetry collection. Wish it was longer. Eugene Glorias fourth collection of poetry captures the surreal and unreal feelings of the present, Through the voice of Nacirema, the central persona of the collection, who is a Filipina American woman with an ambiguous sexual identity, we are introduced to a character who chooses mystery and inhabits landscapes fraught with brutality and beauty.
Flawed like America, Nacirema embodies ideas of wanderlust and selfdiscovery, In poems that recount her journey, Gloria invokes the spirit ofs soul music and of jazz, blending the urban lament of Thelonious Monk and John Coltrane with the idiom of Stevie Wonder and Fela Kuti.
Sightseer in This Killing City argues for grace and perseverance in these strange times, Reminded me a bit of García Márquez, with disparate story elements run together, some intelligible and others not.
"There was nowhere else to be but in bed
with you who wears her tiredness well,
We'll retire for chitchat, substitute the beds
in our dorm rooms for capsule beds in love
motels with rooms adorned with frescoes
of saints over a

congregation of souls
our bed, a congress's fevered with ghosts
of skin, hands, our fluid stains, a bed alit
in this goon republic where our commander
has declared our eyes, our seeing, a capital
offense a semaphore flag for public unrest.

Your hip against mine, your limbs to my lips
like on out first parting at the campus rally
where we sealed what parting cancels.
"


RATING:./

Nacirema, American spelt in reverse, is a term used in social sciences in relation to aspects of behaviour and society of US citizens to consciously create selfdistancing, enabling US social scientists to talk about their own culture objectively.
Nacirema, a fluid entity, becomes a way in for Gloria to talk about all that has horribly gone wrong in America, the Philippines, and everything between, in thest Century.
The poems have an inner music of their own, a heaving, heady balladesque quality to them, Contemporary events are mixed with Biblical references to create a lyrical hybrid, It's like an incandescent soundtrack of our discontented times, Gloria provides an alternative to the current scenario as a way of pushing against it, my partner noticed this at the library amp i figured i'd check it out too as Filipino poet I haven't read before.
personally not my style but i still enjoyed the read

Gloria has a way with words, I feel like there was a stanza or line from each poem that stood out for me even if it all didn't resonate for me.
I really liked thinking about the book title "Sightseer in this Killing City" in how we/this character witnesses the violences happening in both the US amp Philippines

I checked this out at the library after the strikingly colorful cover caught my eye.
Eugene Gloria has gained a new fan, These poems connect past to present, political to personal, and small moments to history made, What an excellent collection. This poet will be speaking at Franklin College this week, and I wanted to have a feel for his poetry before the event.
Gloria writes beautifully and composes art that cant be rushed, Each stanza must be slowly eaten and digested, Refreshing work! Eugene Gloria earned his BA from San Francisco State University, his MA from Miami University of Ohio, and his MFA from the University of Oregon.
He is the author of three books of poems My Favorite Warlord Penguin,, Hoodlum Birds Penguin,and Drivers at the Short Time Motel Penguin,.
His honors and awards include a National Poetry Series selection, an Asian American Literary Award, a Fulbright Research Grant, a San Francisco Art Commission grant, a Poetry Society of America award, and a Pushcart Prize.
He teaches creative writing and English literature at DePauw University in Greencastle, Indiana, .