Customer Reviews

Zero Gravity

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

I have been impressed by Eric Gamalinda's poetry since I encountered his ground-breaking first book of poems Lyrics From A Dead Language (Anvil) and now I am completely satisfied with the appearance of his second book Zero Gravity (Alice James). If Baudelaire were alive he would raise his glass of wine to the earthy poems of Mr. Gamalinda. I have taught this book to my college undergraduates in a poetry workshop class at Rutgers University. My students were overwhelmed by the beauty of the language in the poems, they were moved to new literary heights by the timbre of Eric's imagination. This book is well-worth the money because it will feed your soul.

This book is beautiful from start to finish. I've shared it with all I know who are fellow lovers of poetry, and the written word in general. I have even introduced some of my professors to Gamalinda's poetry as he is not well known (with only one published collection of poems). I have never met a person who feels differently than I do about his work and am deeply curious about those who seem to think so poorly of it. His words are carefully chosen, and his lines are perfectly broken. He is aware of form and style; movement and meaning. I am able to read this book again and again. A fellow student in a poetry class of mine said that "You Can Choose Your Afterlife," is the closest thing she's ever seen to a perfect poem. This may not seem fantastic in and of itself, but this girl was hyper-critical of some of the most highly acclaimed "agreed upon" poetry ever written. Gamalinda encompasses so much of what contemporary poets are striving for, and he does so with ease and grace. For those who are unfamiliar with the craft and creation of poetry, this is no easy thing to accomplish. I only wish that some of the negative reviewers had spent less time hypothesizing about the results of Mr. Gamalinda's ethnicity and all that it implies, and more time focusing on this nearly perfect collection of poems.

An accomplished collection like this cannot be ignored. I was struck with the grace of this author's language even as he explores such grim subjects as Juana the Mad in the poem "Las Ruinas del Corazon." A sign of a true poet. A highly recommended read.

Word for word, page by page, a masterpiece. Bravo

Reminiscent of the French surrealists and Eastern European and Latin American poetry of the late 20th century, Zero Gravity is a book that transcends boundaries. There is beauty, grace and elegance here, as well as depth and honesty rarely found in contemporary American poetry.

Eric Gamalinda, with his new book 'Zero Gravity,' raises the standard of excellence for poets in America. The poems challenge readers into re-thinking the way they look at life.

Eight years after the publication of his sublime "Lyrics from a Dead Language," Eric Gamalinda has finally published his first American solo project. During the past few decades, his poetry and fiction have exhibited sharp and unusually profound perceptions of politics, love, creativity, and everyday life. A multi-faceted and versatile artist, rich with many eyes, he is hailed by critics and his peers as one of the most gifted writers of his generation. Gamalinda's new book of poems will no doubt be a welcome jewel in the ever-growing scope of Filipino and pan-American literature.

Why do I have this gnawing suspicion that the five-starred reviews for this book are written by the autrhor himself or by his cajoled friends just so to jack up sales of this ponderous but mediocre volume of poetry?

The poems in Zero Gravity lack the weight of intellectual rigor and attention to the tradition of Blake, Hugo, and Rilke. Instead of adhereing to the Newtonian laws of Zero Gravity, we should enforce the Darwinian code of "Survival of the Fittest" and let the frail poems of Mr. Gamalinda expire in ephemeral gasps.

I was happy to chance upon a Filipino poet in the person of Gamalinda only to be terribly disappointed. His poetry is so self-conscious, like a pretty girl in a pink dress counting the number of stares she gets from kibitzers. At times, he labors for his effects and gasps for air straining for a style that makes his poetry sound turgid and tedious. He seems to forget that we read poetry for an experience first, then magnanimity of thought, second. Unfortunately, he equates good poetry with style strutting in ponderous cadenzas, like a caparisoned centaur parading before naive arbiters of horsemanship. This makes me suspect we Filipinos are too self-conscious with our English acquired mostly from UNICEF-donated textbooks.The result? We will never succeed in conquering that summit of human expression -- poetry. But prose is a different matter. We show great promise in writing it. Maybe, if Gamalinda chooses to concentrate on his prose we will see the promise. But then I still have to read one of his novels to even get a glimpse of that. And I am not even sure what surprise is waiting for me there. But, wait! After reading his poems, I think I am sure what to expect now.