I NEVER met Nick Carbo, but I knew him through his books. In 1994, I got a letter from him asking me to contribute poems to his anthology, \"Returning a Borrowed Tongue.\" It was a landmark anthology of Filipino American and Filipino poetry, published by Coffeehouse Press. I still remember the $20 check I got for my poems, which I did not encash and kept in my pile of souvenirs.<\/p>\r\r
I also saw Nick's poetry books at the library of the MacDowell Arts Residency when I was a fiction fellow there in the summer of 2022.<\/p>\r\r
Nick went to International School Manila and took his college studies at Bennington. He then went on to take an MFA in Creative Writing at Sarah Lawrence College in New York and a PhD at the University of Manchester. He had rock-solid academic credentials, and he bent his poetics to lean toward the postcolonial.<\/p>\r\r
His books included \"Andalusian\" (Word Tech Communications, 2004); \"Secret Asian Man\" (Tia Chucha Press, 2000); and \"E. Grupo McDonald's\" (Tia Chucha Press, 1995), which won the Asian American Literary Award.<\/p>\r\r\rNoted Fil-Am poet and editor Nick Carbo has passed, leaving a legacy of innovative writing. His last book was 'Epithalamion.' PHOTOS BY ANDREA PASION FLORES OF MILFLORES PUBLISHING<\/figcaption>\r<\/figure>\r\r
He wrote: \"... for omitting the presence of Filipino poets, the end result is a stubborn invisibility. This is an invisibility that is dehumanizing a whole nation and personal identity. It must stop here!\" But he did not stop there. He walked the talk and produced the aforementioned anthology, along with \"Babaylan,\" a pioneering anthology of Fil-Am women writers, which he co-edited with Eileen R. Tabios.<\/p>\r\r
I have translated Eileen Tabios' first novel, \"Dovelion\" into Filipino, called \"KalapatingLeon,\" which was recently published by UST Press. You can trace part of Eileen's innovative and creative spirit to the influence of Nick Carbo, whom she calls \"my mentor.\"<\/p>\r\r
Eileen said: \"As young poets, Nick Carbo and I were enraged \u2014 that has made all the difference to our poetry. We were enraged at how we became English-language Filipino poets \u2014 that it has to be rooted in a lethal colonialism inflicted on our birth land, the Philippines. We were enraged that as English-language poets, our poems had to be contextualized within the myopic and racist constraints of the history of English and US-American poetry.\"<\/p>\r\r
Dylan Thomas said we should rage against the dying of the light in his immortal poem to his father who was going blind. But rage could also be positive, as in the case of Eileen.<\/p>\r\r
She adds: \"From our joint anger, I formed a press \u2014 Meritage Press \u2014 specifically to publish \"Pinoy Poetics,\" the first anthology of autobiographical poetics essays by Filipino poets. Yes, we wanted each Filipino poet to speak for one's self. Critical reception has not been voluminous for Filipino poetry, which is itself problematic. But we also wanted to avoid third-party reductiveness when it came to presenting Filipino poetry.\"<\/p>\r\r
This is Filipino American History Month in the US, and in memory of that and Nick's passing, Eileen encourages people to read Nick's introduction to \"Pinoy Poetics.\"<\/p>\r\r
She notes: \"I know that his Introduction is informed by his MFA thesis which is how he researched how Filipino poetry \u2014 like, generally, Filipino culture \u2014 has long been ignored or silenced in the US [including Asian American] culture.\"<\/p>\r\r
Nick's last book was \"Epithalamion: New and Selected Poems 1990-2020,\" published by Andrea Pasion Flores of Milfores. In a Facebook post, Andrea said: \"Nick's poems are bold, out of the box, political and historical; he turns Spenser's 'Epithalamion' on its head. He has images (literal pictures) that are poems. I'm thinking I want these poems taken up in school... Now, he's posting photos of beautiful places he can no longer visit.\" Nick had end-stage renal disease and was having dialysis three times a week. He also had congestive heart failure (20 percent outflow).<\/p>\r\r
Andrea published a Q&A, part of which I am reprinting to spotlight the life of a major Fil-Am poet.<\/p>\r\r
Andrea:<\/strong> What is the world of literature like for you to respond with your writing in this manner?<\/p>\r\r
Nick: <\/strong>My sage advice to younger poets is better not live to respond to outside literature about your work. Take it all with a grain of salt.<\/p>\r\r
Andrea: <\/strong>I like the characters in your poems: \"Little Brown Brother,\" \"Secret Asian Man,\" the \"Boy in Blue Shorts\" and \u2014 most especially \u2014 \"Ang Tunay na Lalaki,\" which is like a joke that people have somewhat taken seriously here and write quotes\/memes about. They're self-deprecating, powerful observations of the Filipinos in the world... Where did these characters come from?<\/p>\r\r
Nick: <\/strong>They came from my imagination, of course. My ex-wife had written a book with all things Barbie, so I wanted to write something different. Ah, from the Filipino perspective!<\/p>\r\r
Andrea: <\/strong>What was going on in our head when you wrote them?<\/p>\r\r
Nick:<\/strong> What was going on in my head was Franz Kafka. I wanted the absurdist influence and so Barbie became the Curacha!<\/p>\r\r
Andrea:<\/strong> Who and what were your influences? Who are you reading these days, and why do you like them?<\/p>\r\r
Nick:<\/strong> I am reading a lot of Krip Yuson and Jenny Ortuoste these days. One thing in their astute reading of the poems that they missed is the true nature of the poems in circles. The words are color-coded and one has to hang the words in a three-dimensional space and follow the colors to form a sentence. One of my influences is the oeuvre of John Waters and Stanley Kubrick. Films are composed of images. And so is poetry.<\/p>\r\r
Andrea:<\/strong> How has life as a poet been for you, and do you have regrets having lived such a life?<\/p>\r\r
Nick: <\/strong>Apr\u00e8s le d\u00e9luge, c'est moi! After the great flood, it is me! The poet always triumphs. I have no regrets living this poetry life. In all endeavors, I aim for the max. And I have had some spectacular failures. At least, I did not settle for the lower fruits where the Juan Tamad-fruit lies heavy and low.<\/p>\r\r\r
\"Nick Carbo's Epithalamion: New and Selected Poems 1990-2020\" is available at Shopee and Milflores Publishing's website. His other books are on sale at amazon.com.<\/em><\/p>","article_custom_fields":"{\"\":[\"\"],\"seo_meta_keywords\":[\"\"],\"seo_meta_description\":[\"\"],\"seo_meta_title\":[\"\"],\"sponsored_flag\":[\"\"],\"offer_flag\":[\"off\"],\"featured_article_flag\":[\"\"],\"drupal_json\":[\"{\\\"type\\\":null,\\\"properties\\\":{\\\"PUBLISHED\\\":0,\\\"PROMOTED\\\":0,\\\"STICKY\\\":0},\\\"fields\\\":[]}\"],\"wp_custom_json\":[\"{\\\"type\\\":\\\"\\\",\\\"fields\\\":[]}\"],\"article_tags\":[\"\"],\"show_image\":[\"off\"],\"Disable_Ad\":[\"off\"],\"disable_player\":[\"off\"],\"column\":[\"\"],\"kicker\":[\"\"],\"edel\":[\"\"],\"delu\":[\"\"],\"delt\":[\"Read this in The Manila Times digital edition.\"],\"premium\":[\"off\"],\"Redirect_URL\":[\"\"],\"Registration_required\":[\"off\"],\"background_image\":[\"off\"],\"page_number\":\"0\",\"initial_publication\":\"\",\"date_created\":\"2024-10-18 22:40:08\",\"date_modified\":\"2024-10-18 22:44:31\",\"last_modified_user\":\"Severino Frayna\",\"section_color\":\"\",\"target_page\":\"0\",\"cxense_metatags\":null}","cms_type":"live","author_id":2466,"section_id":13,"seo_meta_keywords":"Nick,Carbo,goes,into,the,light","seo_meta_description":"","seo_meta_title":"Nick Carbo goes into the light","publish_time":"2024-10-19 00:06:00","related_articles_ids":"","article_tags":"","sub_section_id":6,"visit_count":110,"sponsored_flag":0,"offer_flag":0,"featured_article_flag":0,"media_gallery_flag":0,"video_gallery_flag":0,"highlight_flag":0,"top_story_flag":0,"is_updated":0,"is_old_article":0,"old_article_id":0,"article_byline":"Danton Remoto","ts":"2024-12-02 14:26:18","last_edited":"2024-10-18 22:44:31","alt_publish_time":"2024-10-18 22:44:34","image_path":"{\\\"image_path\\\":\\\"manilatimes\\\\\/uploads\\\\\/images\\\\\/2024\\\\\/10\\\\\/18\\\\\/440699.jpg\\\",\\\"cms_type\\\":\\\"live\\\",\\\"small_image\\\":\\\"\\\",\\\"is_updated\\\":\\\"0\\\",\\\"image_cropping\\\":\\\"{\\\\\\\"original_image\\\\\\\":{\\\\\\\"image_original_width\\\\\\\":1200,\\\\\\\"image_original_height\\\\\\\":630,\\\\\\\"icd_image_type\\\\\\\":\\\\\\\"original_image\\\\\\\"},\\\\\\\"main_image\\\\\\\":{\\\\\\\"image_main_width\\\\\\\":1200,\\\\\\\"image_main_height\\\\\\\":630,\\\\\\\"icd_image_type\\\\\\\":\\\\\\\"main_image\\\\\\\"}}\\\",\\\"is_copied\\\":\\\"0\\\",\\\"media_type\\\":\\\"0\\\",\\\"image_caption\\\":\\\"\\\",\\\"image_alt_text\\\":\\\"\\\",\\\"image_count\\\":2}","author_name":"Danton Remoto","section_name":"Opinion","sub_section_name":"Columns","slide_show":0,"breaking_news":0,"visit_count_update_date":"2024-12-02 14:26:18","old_cms_article_id":null,"permalink":"2024\/10\/19\/opinion\/columns\/nick-carbo-goes-into-the-light\/1987350","show_image_in_thumb":0,"api_status":2,"a_custom_data":"{\"exclude_from_gallery\":null,\"lead_image_id\":null}","publication_id":2,"max_publish_time":"2024-10-19 00:06:00","page_number":"0","homepage_article_flag":0,"article_shortlink":null,"cropped_image":0};
I NEVER met Nick Carbo, but I knew him through his books. In 1994, I got a letter from him asking me to contribute poems to his anthology, "Returning a Borrowed Tongue." It was a landmark anthology of Filipino American and Filipino poetry, published by Coffeehouse Press. I still remember the $20 check I got for my poems, which I did not encash and kept in my pile of souvenirs.
I also saw Nick's poetry books at the library of the MacDowell Arts Residency when I was a fiction fellow there in the summer of 2022.
