Merlie M. Alunan is a famous Filipino poet, and this time she has contributed poems in response to the invitation.
Maki Starfield is currently busy with painting and literature. Nevertheless, she has many exchanges with poets and collaborates not only European poets but also with Asian and African poets. This time, a poetic dialogue between Japanese and Filipino poets was held with the keyword of memory. First of all, Merlie is at an age where she has many memories, and shows a sense of transparency after sublimation. On the other hand, Maki Starfield is at an age where she is currently experiencing events that become memories. I saw this as a difference in approach, not a generation gap. Dr. Alunan wrote the poem "You haven’t prayed enough
" This is an awareness not only of a devout Christian but also of a human being. She responds with Maki Starfield's "In Love A Sound" It is a book worth reading. (Editor Mariko Sumikura)
She is the author of three important books on Visayan literature: Sa Atong Dila Introduction to Visayan Literature (UP Press, 2015), Susumaton Oral Narratives of Leyte (Ateneo de Manila University Press, 2016), and Tinalunay Hinugpong nga Panurat nga Waray (UP Press, 2017), all winners of the NBDB-Manila Critic’s Circle National Book Award. Her latest collection of poetry, Running with Ghosts (ADNU Press, 2017) also won the NBA in 2017. Her poetry has been recognized by the Palanca Memorial Awards for Literature. Her life work has also been honored by UMPIL, the Sunthorn Phu Award by the Kingdom of Thailand, the Ananda Coomaraswamy Fellowship of the Republic of India, and Ani ng Dangal, a Philippine citation. UP awarded her Professor Emeritus upon her retirement in 2008. She lives in Tacloban City and continues to write books and hold workshops that support the work of writers in the Visayan mother tongues.
Blue Cat Sunflower
Brilliantly beautiful
There is a sunflower flower garden
A blue cat comes out of that flower garden
I can see it in the direction of the rainbow of the seven colors
She was born in isolation
Draw the scenery of the planet of cats
There lived the blue cat's papa and mama
As soon as she gave birth to a blue cat, she died
The cat's mother's sister became its foster mother.
The blue cat's papa and foster mother
On the Earth where humans live
They say that there are sunflowers
Through the sunflower's energy
You hear a chord connected to the universe
Many arts were born on the earth.
The history of art is long
In Prague of Rudolph II
From painting, sculpture, alchemy, astronomy etc.
A secret gallery will be built and forever
Scattered to the present age
Van Gogh’s sunflower and
Following the meteorite of the universe
The blue cat
In the flower garden of sunflowers
Is watching humans
Who cannot be seen from the planet of cats--
The beautiful sunflower field of a blue cat
