AGIMAT (Paperback)

Romalyn Ante

ISBN 10: 1784745774 / ISBN 13: 9781784745776

Editore: Vintage Publishing, London, 2024

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Paperback. A sparkling second poetry collection from the nurse and prizewinning poet, moving between the Philippines and the speaker's adopted England, between myths of the past and the grind of the present-day NHS, asking- how do we keep safe what we hold most dear?this charms the buried light of stars -this deflects bullets - this unblooms a war -In some Filipino clans, parents pass down to each child an agimat, an amulet or charm, in the hope its magic will protect and empower them. In a world of daily pain and loss, Romalyn Ante's second collection asks how do we keep safe what we hold most dear? At the dawn of the pandemic, the poet - a practising nurse in the NHS - is thrown onto the frontlines of the war against COVID-19, and finds herself questioning what it means to fight, and what it takes to heal.Past conflicts swim into the now- when the poet falls in love with a man of Japanese heritage, it forces a reckoning with her family's suffering under Japan's brutal wartime occupation of the Philippines. Elsewhere, we meet the irrepressible, many-breasted goddess Mebuyan, the poet's alter ego. In Philippine myth, Mebuyan nurses the spirits of departed children in the underworld, but here she watches over young people in crisis - a girl who can't stop cutting herself, a teenager who has leapt from a railway viaduct. These are poems of strength and solace - they quiver with heart, feeling a way toward hope. Shipping may be from our Sydney, NSW warehouse or from our UK or US warehouse, depending on stock availability.

Codice articolo 9781784745776

Dati bibliografici

• Titolo: AGIMAT (Paperback)
• Editore: Vintage Publishing, London
• Data di pubblicazione: 2024
• Lingua: Inglese
• ISBN 10: 1784745774
• ISBN 13: 9781784745776
• Rilegatura: Paperback
• Condizione: new

Descrizione articolo

Riassunto

'An alchemical wonder of a poet' Fiona Benson, author of Vertigo & Ghost

'Vivid, lyrical, and always surprising . . . Both a balm and a call to action' Nathan Filer, author of The Shock of the Fall

A sparkling new collection from Romalyn Ante, nurse and prizewinning poet, moving between the Philippines and Wolverhampton, myth and the grind of the present-day NHS.

'this charms the buried light of stars –
this deflects bullets – this unblooms a war – '

In some Filipino clans, parents pass down to each child an AGIMAT, an amulet, in the hope its magic will protect and empower them. At the dawn of the pandemic, the poet – a practising nurse in the NHS – is thrown onto the frontlines of the war against COVID-19.

Past conflicts swim into the now. When she falls in love with a man of Japanese heritage, it forces a reckoning with her family’s suffering under Japan’s brutal wartime occupation of the Philippines. Elsewhere, we meet the irrepressible goddess Mebuyan, who, in Philippine myth, nurses the spirits of children in the underworld. Here, she watches over young people in crisis – a girl who can’t stop cutting herself, a teenager who has leapt from a railway viaduct.

These are poems of strength and solace; they question what it means to fight, and what it takes to heal.

Informazioni sull?autore

Romalyn Ante was born in 1989 in Lipa Batangas, Philippines. She was 16 years old when her mother – a nurse in the NHS – brought the family to the UK. Her debut pamphlet, Rice & Rain, won the Saboteur Award for Best Poetry Pamphlet 2018. She is the winner of the Poetry London Clore Prize 2018; joint-winner of the Manchester Poetry Prize 2017, and the recipient of the Platinum Poetry in Creative Future Literary Awards 2017. She currently lives in Wolverhampton, West Midlands, where she works as a registered nurse and psychotherapist.