Editor's Note: The following excerpt is derived from a book review of Eileen R. Tabios' book "The In(ter)vention of the Hay(na)ku: Selected Tercets 1996 – 2019," originally published in the November 2019 edition of The Halo-Halo Review.
"Poet, publisher, novelist and editor Eileen Tabios has been working on her craft for many years, propelling her own work as well as that of other FilAms, leading notable projects with pre-eminent poets Nick Carbo, Barbara Jane Reyes, and others. Tabios’ latest volume, The In(ter)vention of the Hay(na)ku: Selected Tercets 1996 – 2019 offers an intimate look at the process of innovating the age-old forms of the tercet and haikus through her invention of the “Hay(na)ku,” a poem of three lines, with several variations. In the annals of FilAm literary history, this volume will remain significant because it documents the evolution of a poetic pattern that was conceived, defined and refined by Tabios, in collaboration with poets and writers of Filipino descent.
"Filipinos are accustomed to hybridity. Our relentless quest for cultural survival has often involved the creation of something new out of the interiority of the Filipino experience, infused with borrowings from our colonial past and present. In the book, Tabios offers commentary on the Hay(na)ku’s post-colonial implications, arising from its origins in Japanese haiku and the Kerouacian approach to the tercet.
"Speakers of Tagalog would recognize the phrase “Hay naku!” as a well-worn expression that, depending on how it is exhaled, can communicate different emotions: awe, exasperation, surprise. Sometimes “Hay naku!” is a stand-in for “Susmaryosep!” as a pronouncement of either extreme astonishment or disappointment – there is no in-between."
Read more on The Halo-Halo Review
 |
| Eileen Tabios |
"Filipinos are accustomed to hybridity. Our relentless quest for cultural survival has often involved the creation of something new out of the interiority of the Filipino experience, infused with borrowings from our colonial past and present. In the book, Tabios offers commentary on the Hay(na)ku’s post-colonial implications, arising from its origins in Japanese haiku and the Kerouacian approach to the tercet.
"Speakers of Tagalog would recognize the phrase “Hay naku!” as a well-worn expression that, depending on how it is exhaled, can communicate different emotions: awe, exasperation, surprise. Sometimes “Hay naku!” is a stand-in for “Susmaryosep!” as a pronouncement of either extreme astonishment or disappointment – there is no in-between."
Read more on The Halo-Halo Review
 |
| Cover Art for "The In(ter)vention of the Hay(na)ku" |