#gachapress

[bentchbites]

“You already are here and somewhere else:⁣ At someone’s wake hearing wedding bells.⁣ Your name’s on a sash of a beauty queen⁣ While your epal face on a tarpaulin.”⁣ •⁣ I must admit, I had to read and reread this zine a couple of times for me to get it. And even then, I can’t claim that I got ALL of it. 😅 The pieces are short, but are brilliantly structured and layered with laughs and provocation. The underlying messages are wrapped in humor that’s distinctly Filipino and are written compellingly, making readers enjoy unraveling the playful verses to get to the honest core.⁣ •⁣ In a podcast interview by @ansela.corsino , the author mentions that this is a collection of pieces that were written either too early or too late for other books so there might be a disconnect between poems. It didn’t take away my enjoyment at reading these works and even made me curiouser as to how college professors talk about these in their classrooms. ⁣ •⁣ My favorites are ‘bowl limn yeah’ which took me a while to decode, and when I finally did, 😃 I felt so accomplished. (*and then i felt a little sick bec this is about a mental illness, obvi, that i’ve seen / experienced myself and this was a little too honest for my feels); and ‘Areglo’ bec there’s a cyclic issue in it that i feel perfectly captures the cyclic issues we we are facing as a country.⁣ •⁣ My copy is a gift from the author, and came with an autograph and a dedic that’ totes On Brand™️ for me. I also got a #tanag sticker that teases a serving of this book’s fun and wit. thank you, @jun10r53n10r ⁣ •⁣ E is for Epal by Paolo Manalo⁣ .⁣ .⁣ .⁣ .⁣ #bookstagram #bibliophile #booknerdPH #bookworm #instabooks #bookish #alwaysreading #bookstagramersPH #booksofig #poetry #zine #GachaPress #EIsForEpal #PaoloManalo #PoetsofIg #poems ⁣ #readlocalPH #diversebooks #diversereads (at Meycauayan, Bulacan) https://www.instagram.com/p/Bwd4bFlHEuZ/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=f8fdk8jc2qvi