Post by thepoetslizard on Oct 10, 2008 15:52:56 GMT 2
Catalina Cariaga is the author of Cultural Evidence Subpress Collective / ‘A’A Arts, 1999). She is contributing editor of Poetry Flash and received her M.F.A. from San Francisco State University. She has taught on the adjunct faculty of New College of California. Her poems mix critique, history, autobiography, anecdote, and exploration of Filipina-American identity. Publisher’s Weekly notes about her book, “Whether deconstructing myths of anthropology’s objectivity, of ‘culture’ as defined by different, often incompatible world views, or self-sustaining myths of non-fluid time, nation, place or language, Cariaga’s passionate investigations provide ample evidence for their dispersal.” She works in Berkeley, and lives with her husband and young son in Oakland, California. In her spare time, she plays and collects vintage ukuleles and Bolivian charangos.
Excerpts from
SO CALLED `SONNETS' TO MY FATHER IN THE PSYCHIATRIC HOSPITAL WARD OF THE MEN'S CENTRAL JAIL, COUNTY OF LOS ANGELES
"TEN TWENTY-SIX"*
metallic, taste, tongue, time, Halydol, stiffened,
joints, paranoid, convulsant, shoulders, Depakote,
kidneys, replete, lithium, time, bladder, euphoric,
grandiose, psychotic, visions, versions, on, watch,
grimace, release, no, bail, no, reprieve, no, help,
razor, no, time, Alzheimer's, false, positive, tremor,
governor, liver, time, deteriorate, lead, chemical,
deputy, Tylenol, toilet, barber, policy, nurse, sigh,
question, if, time, medications, doktor, restraint,
visits, calendar, time, newspaper, visit, poem, of,
not, guilty, mail, cubicle, number booking, case, as,
insanity, room, time, key, no, fork, time, counsel,
by, way, of, sleep, spoon, pen, time, bed, book, night,
day, cell, sing, slur, plea, cry, low, call, light, loon --
*Penal Code 1026: Not guilty by reason of insanity.
(Web source: Meritage Press/Babaylan Speaks)
*
Link to
"Tracking Un/American Poetics in Asia/Pacific Experimental Writing"
by Rob Wilson (in boundary)
boundary2.dukejournals.org/cgi/pdf_extract/28/2/9
