joi barrios mahal na mahal po kita/This book speaks of so much romance and revolt intertwined, It's romanticism that doesn't dismiss struggle, It's power that doesn't mock pain, ltDefinitely a favorite. Giving voice to victims of violence, the workers, the women, the disappeared, these are courageous love poems that address the paradoxical nature of nation, of struggle, and of the deeply personal.
Often in the voice of woman, Barrios' poems are exquisite guerilla forays into the theater of contemporary cultural wars we emerge from them having learned that love's secret name is justice.
SYLVIA TIWON, University of California Berkeley
Dapat basahin si Joi bilang makata na babae, feminista, aktibista, at nasyonalista.
Magkakatuwang ang mga naturang katangian upang ibukod siya sa kasalukuyang hanay ng mga makata sa Filipinas, Magkakatuwang din ang mga ito upang higit siyang maging kapanipaniwalang tinig kaysa makatang babae lamang, feminista lamang, aktibista lamang, o nasyonalista lamang.
VIRGILIO S. ALMARIO, National Artist for Literature
One of the most influential and major voices in Philippine feminist poetry, Joi Barrios powerfully and tenderly speaks the twin passions of personal desire and social revolt that have propelled the radical national struggles for freedom and justice, in which she has long been an important cultural actor and activist.
In bringing together the unforgettable laments and protests, cries of anger and consolation, and songs of love and solidarity that she has penned and performed over the last few decades of feminist and nationalist struggle, Barrios offers us a poignant, vivid and inspiring chronicle of the life force of sentiment that is the hidden and yet indispensable force of political commitment and community.
NEFERTI TADIAR, Columbia University
Laging nakaugnay sa mga batayang isyu ng bayan, tunay na makabuluhan ang pagtula ni Joi saanman siya naroon.
BIENVENIDO LUMBERA, National Artist for Literature
Joi Barrios' metaphors, images and words attempt to capture the impossible "bare life" as a Filipino condition.
In her lush Tagalog verse, we encounter hopeful lovers, murdered farm workers, grieving mothers of missing activists, Jose Rizal's radical but lesserknown sister, and countless Filipino immigrants.
There is love and loss, brutality and beauty, history and memory in her elegant poems that beg to be read in both languages.
NERISSA S. BALCE, Stony Brook University
About the Author and the Translator
JOI BARRIOS teaches Filipino and Philippine literature at UC Berkeley while on leave as Associate Professor at the University of the Philippines.
She has won the Palanca Awards for poetry, drama, and the essay and was a recipient of the TOWNS award The Outstanding Women in the Nation's Service in.
This is her third poetry collection,
MARK PANGILINAN is a poet and translator currently in his fourth year of graduate study at the University of California, Irvine.
He studies translation, postcolonial and trauma theory with an emphasis on twentiethcentury literature of both the US and the Philippines.
Pangilinan translates to and from Filipino and Spanish, and hopes to complete his Ph, D in the spring of, Ang ganda TT Glad about the annotations because they provide context about the history of the poems/why they were written/for whom and for what purpose.
The book contains poems that I'll think about fondly even in the future, I'm guessing, I thoroughly enjoyed reading this, Myth book read this year and my third time to give a fivestar rating,
Reading this collection of poetry felt like meeting sitelinkJoi Barrios in person and connecting with her like an old friend.
Such a beautiful, beautiful person captured in her mesmerizing verses, Joi Barrios is an epitome of a strong modern Filipina: smart, feminist, highly educated, brave activist yet she still has that nurturing, caring and loving characteristics of Asian women.
She is definitely still a woman who enjoys a good oldfashioned romance and who will not have a second thought of giving her life to the people she loves dearly.
She is also not ashamed to tell the world that she has had botox injections, that she came from a poor country as she now resides in California and probably, based on my interpretation of one of her poems, that she made love to a male friend just for the sake of having sex.
I mean, she is a natural not that I see having sex without love a natural thing but Barrios seems not to care announcing those to the world because that's how she feels about things and she shares her feelings through her beautiful poems.
It's her life anyway and what she offers is a good poetry book and what I had a great time with it.
What I am trying to say is in the end, for me, what really matters is that the poet is able to convey her innermost thoughts through her beautiful poems and if is able to "connect" with her readers, that's a fivestar book of poetry.
Bulaklak sa Tubig Flowers in Water is a bilingual book so you, my nonFilipino friends, may want to try this out.
Barrios writes in Filipino and currently teaches Filipino Literature at the University of California, Berkeley, Her works here are adequately translated by Mark Pangilinan who by now must have graduated already from his masteral degree at University of California, Irvine.
I read some of his translations and I thought that he did everything properly meaning without
losing the essence, message and lyrical beauty of Barrios' exceptionally touching poems.
I have so many favorites in this book but most of them are very long for me to capture here so I'll pick one that is short and since most of the people who read my reviews are nonFilipinos, below is its English translation.
The poem is entitled "Transit" and its original Tagalog version was used in Tulaan sa Tren Poetry in Trains.
I did not see how it was done but a friend told me that the verses of the poems were written on the walls of the city train LRT or Light Railway Transit that traverses the center of the old city of Manila and sometimes somebody reads the poem aloud over the train's sound system.
What a cool idea.
Each love affair, its journey,I wish I could go and ride the train if and when Tulaanhappens, Yes, I will leave my car and ride the train just for the sake of reading poems like this,
You dive into the deepest oceans,
Then scramble to meet the mountain summit,
You straddle hope,
And cleave steadfast to belief,
Each love affair, its journey,
Remember.
Don't drag your feet,
Don't run with eyes closed,
In the midst of the journey,
stop a moment,
Wipe the sweat from your forehead,
Press the soles of your feet,
Take stock of your heart, and
mind not to mislay it by some wayside path,
Don't let yourself grow weary
between journey's end and journey's open,
And never,
Stop for fear
Through your destination be unknown,
There is no final journey
for the lover
who will travel,
Bravo, Miss Barrios! Maria Josephine Barrios, popularly known as Joi Barrios, is a poet, activist, scriptwriter, actress, translator and teacher.
Born in, she completed her Ph, D. in Philippine Literature at the University of the Philippines UP, She taught at the University and also served as an Associate for Fiction at the UP Likhaan: Creative Writing Center.
She has won various honors and awards, including the Palanca Award, the most prestigious literary award in the Philippines, During the Marcos dictatorship and the tumultuous years that followed, she became well known as a freedom activist and rally poet.
She has taught in Korea, Japan, and is currently working as a visiting Professor at the University of California, Irvine.
Her works include Ang Pagi Maria Josephine Barrios, popularly known as Joi Barrios, is a poet, activist, scriptwriter, actress, translator and teacher.
Born in, she completed her Ph, D. in Philippine Literature at the University of the Philippines UP, She taught at the University and also served as an Associate for Fiction at the UP Likhaan: Creative Writing Center.
She has won various honors and awards, including the Palanca Award, the most prestigious literary award in the Philippines, During the Marcos dictatorship and the tumultuous years that followed, she became well known as a freedom activist and rally poet.
She has taught in Korea, Japan, and is currently working as a visiting Professor at the University of California, Irvine.
Her works include Ang Pagiging Babae ay Pamumuhay sa Panahon ng DigmaBailaya: Mga Dula Para sa KababaihanMinatamis at iba pang Tula ng Pag ibigand Prince Charming at iba pang Nobelang Romantiko.
Virgilio Almario, one of the best recognized literary critics and a scholar of Filipino poetry, has stated that Barrios is one of only four recognizable women poets in Philippine literature.
from sitelink wikifilipinas. org sitelink.