Juan Luna's Revolver

Luisa Igloria

Description

The poems in Juan Luna' s Revolver both address history and attempt to transcend it through their exploration of the complexity of diaspora. Attending to the legacy of colonial and postcolonial encounters, Luisa A. Igloria has crafted poems that create links of sympathetic human understanding, even as they revisit difficult histories and pose necessary questions about place, power, displacement, nostalgia, beauty, and human resilience in conditions of alienation and duress.

Igloria traces journeys made by Filipinos in the global diaspora that began since the encounter with European and American colonial power. Her poems allude to historical figures such as the Filipino painter Juan Luna and the novelist and national hero Jose Rizal, as well as the eleven hundred indigenous Filipinos brought to serve as live exhibits in the 1904 Missouri World's Fair. The image of the revolver fired by Juan Luna reverberates throughout the collection, raising to high relief how separation and exile have shaped concepts of identity, nationality, and possibility.

Suffused with gorgeous imagery and nuanced emotion, Igloria's poetry achieves an intimacy fostered by gem-like phrases set within a politically-charged context speaking both to the personal and the collective.

Sujets

• Filipinos
• América
• Filipino people
• American poetry
• General officer
• Hispanic
• Poetry
• Juan Luna
• General
• José Rizal
• American

Informations

• Publié par: University of Notre Dame Press
• Date de parution: 15 janvier 2009
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780268082635
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 2 Mo

Extrait

Winnerofthe2009 Ernest Sandeen Prize in Poetry

“InJuan Luna’s Revolver,Luîsa Iglorîa establîshes herself as a sîngular and revelatory voîce în Amerîcan poetry. Here, she explores the dîchotomy of Fîlîpîno: înterwoven yet hermetîcally sîngular, acquîsîtîve yet înventîve, docîle yet amok. Her engrossîng poems hîde, behînd theîr gorgeous scrîms, a brîstlîng wall of spears.” —Sabina Murray,author ofForgery, A Carnivore’s Inquiry,andThe Caprices

“ ‘What a world to have lîved în, to have arrîved în,’ Luîsa Iglorîa wrîtes early on în thîs brîllîant collectîon that explores colonîzatîon and cultural dîsplacement, and how the artîst must lîve în the aftermath of both. Even when she wrîtes about places many mîles away, Iglorîa constructs a lumînous portraît of what îs utterly human and ultîmately famîlîar. These poems reveal a poet devoted to the truth of her craft.” —Honorée Fanonne Jeffers,author ofOutlandish BluesandRed Clay Suite

“In sure and compellîng measures, wîth rîchly textured turns, and attendîng to the mystery of matter, Luîsa Iglorîa’s poems offer a powerfully tangîble world, and a world wîthîn, and a world beyond.” —Scott Cairns,author of Compass of Affection

The poems înJuan Luna’s Revolverboth address hîstory and attempt to transcend ît through theîr exploratîon of the complexîty of dîaspora. Luîsa A. Iglorîa traces journeys made by Fîlîpînos în the global dîaspora that began after the encounter wîth European and Amerîcan colonîal power. Her poems allude to hîstorîcal igures such as the Fîlîpîno paînter Juan Luna and the novelîst and natîonal hero José Rîzal, as well as the eleven hundred îndîgenous Fîlîpînos brought to serve as lîve exhîbîts at the 1904 Mîssourî World’s Faîr.

Luisa A. Igloriaîs an assocîate professor în the MFA creatîve wrîtîng program at Old Domînîon Unîversîty. The wînner of numerous natîonal and înternatîonal creatîve wrîtîng awards, she îs the author of nîne books.

University of Notre Dame Press Notre Dame, IN 46556 undpress.nd.edu

9 780268 031787

9 0 0 0 0

igloria

J u an

L u na’s REVOLVER

P O E M S B Y

Luisa A. Igloria

J u an L u na’s R evolver

J UA N L U N A ’ S R E VO LV E R

T H E E R N E S T S A N D E E N P R I Z E I N P O E T R Y

E D I TO R Cornelius Eady

2009,Juan Luna’s Revolver,Luisa A. Igloria

2007,The Curator of Silence,Jude Nutter

2005,Lives of the Sleepers,Ned Balbo

2003,Breeze,John Latta

2001,No Messages,Robert Hahn

1999,The Green Tuxedo,

Janet Holmes

1997,True North,Stephanie Strickland

Juan Luna’s R E V LV E R

L U I S A A . I G L O R I A

University of Notre Dame Press Notre Dame, Indiana

Copyright © 2009 by Luisa Igloria

Published by the University of Notre Dame Press Notre Dame, Indiana 46556 www.undpress.nd.edu

All Rights Reserved

Manufactured in the United States of America

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Igloria, Luisa A., 1961– Juan Luna's revolver / Luisa A. Igloria. p. cm. — (The Ernest Sandeen Prize in poetry) ISBN-13: 978-0-268-03178-7 (pbk. : alk. paper) ISBN-10: 0-268-03178-9 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Filipinos—Poetry. 2. Group identity—Poetry. I. Title. PS3553.A686J83 2008 811'.54 —dc22 2008027897

∞ The paper in this book meets the guidelines for permanence and durability of the Committee on Production Guidelines for Book Longevity of the Council on Library Resources.

For Ruben

And in memoriam:

Gabriel Zafra Aguilar (10 December 1913 – 31 July 1990)

Cresencia Rillera Buccat (14 September 1940 – 5 June 2006)

C ONTENTS

Acknowledgments

JourneytotheWest

I /

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I N D I O S B R AV O S Invocation6 Intimacy deserves a closer look Rainy Day8 The Minim10 Decoding the Signature12 In the Clothing Archive14 Letras y Figuras16 Juan Luna’s Revolver19 Luces22 Auit/ Song25 Doctrina Christiana27 Mil Besos29 Black Elk in Paris31

II / T H E C L E A R B O N E S The Clear Bones35 Sediment37 Riddle38 Bypass40 Barter42 Ten Thousand Villages Irreversibles45

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Mission Report Interregnum Archipelago

47 49 51

III / T H E A R R O W S F I T E X A C T LY I N T O T H E W O U N D S Ekphrasis55 Lyrica Obscura56 Wanting57 Provisional58 The Kitchen Girl’s Journal60 La Americana62 Koken’s Barbershop64 Venom65 Auit/ Song66 Meridian67 Worth68 Marine Layer69 Dolorosa70 Your Hand in My Side72

IV/ P O S T C A R D S F R O M T H E W H I T E C I T Y Blur79 Alborotos80 Postcards from the White City83 Mrs. Wilkin Teaches an Igorot the Cakewalk Hill Station90 Descent93 White Nights97 When I think of time I think of narrative,

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A CKNOWLED GMENTS

(Citations, Prizes, and Individual Poems Published in Literary Journals)

“The Clear Bones,” 2007 49th Parallel Prize for Poetry, selected by Car- olyne Wright,Bellingham Review “Hill Station,” inLanguage for a New Century: Contemporary Poetry from the Middle East, Asia, and Beyond,ed. Tina Chang, Ravi Shankar, and Nathalie Handal (W. W. Norton, 2008)

“The Minim,”Natural Bridge(spring 2008) “Venom,” 2007 James Hearst Poetry Prize, selected by former US Poet Lau- reate Ted Kooser,The North American Review(March–April 2007) “Mrs. Wilkin Teaches an Igorot the Cakewalk,” Finalist, 2007 49th Parallel Prize,Bellingham Review

“Intimacy deserves a closer look,” Finalist, 2007 Indiana Review Poetry Prize,Indiana Review(winter 2007)

“Black Elk,” “Letras y Figuras,” “Doctrina Christiana,” Finalist citation (but not publication), 2007 Lynda Hull Memorial Award for Poetry,Crazyhorse

“Descent,” 2006 National Writers Union Award for Poetry, selected by Adrienne Rich National Writers Union andPoetry Flash

“Rainy Day,” “Dolorosa,” “Bypass,” “Your Hand in My Side,” 2006 Richard Peterson Poetry Prize,Crab Orchard Review(fall–winter 2006) “Marine Layer,” Finalist, 2006 Muriel Craft Bailey Poetry Prize,Comstock Review(fall 2006) “Sediment,” “Wanting,”Smartish Pace(spring 2006)

“Worth,” 2007Her Mark Calendar, Woman Made Gallery, Chicago (win- ter 2006)

“Blur,”Columbia Poetry Review(spring 2005)

“Yekaterinsky dvorets, Tsarkovoe Selo,” in “Wish You Were Here” Post- card series,Switched-on Gutenberg(fall 2003)

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