Review of Against Misanthropy by Eileen Tabios
Eileen Tabios is a Filipino-American writer, editor, activist, and so forth. The so forth is crucial. Her integration of writing, editing, activating, and otherwise living a life of artistic, aesthetic, compassionate, and supportive acts defines a creative life that we could all learn from. Not to place her too high on the pedestal: she probably swears once in a while, or enjoys Adam Sandler movies.
Against Misanthropy collects interviews and statements directly concerned with the gerunds in the third sentence above. It thus offers a look at the creative impulse and how one might make use of it.
While Eileen early showed interest in writing and art—a charming recollection in this collection, written by Eileen’s mother, shows a youngster bursting with creative energy—Eileen's education led her to journalism, which led her to economics and Wall Street. Not until her mid-thirties did Eileen become a fulltime and serious writer, writing and publishing poems, stories, and the always tantalizing whatnot. Her use of the Internet to publish much of her work, and connect with others, shows innovation and practicality.
In the poem “Kali”, quoted in her essay “MAGANDA: Thoughts on Poetic Form (A Hermetic Perspective)”, Eileen writes:
To live poetry
instead of just marking
words on a page—
none of it too much
or too little
It is only what it is
and all of it is
perfectly pitched
Eileen here describes a manner of proceeding, both in the creation of a poem and in the living of her life. This sense of acceptance focuses her on the important things, which for Eileen are the same gerunds in sentence three (and personally, I hope, don’t include Adam Sandler movies, which, it must be admitted, are important to at least Adam Sandler).
Though willing to take things as they come, Eileen is very much project-oriented. She uses blogs to create projects, as witnessed in several of the pieces in this collection. The blogs not only place the work in public view—with the interesting advantage of our seeing the projects in media res (or in media endlessness)—but invite participation by readership. Here are links to some:
To name a few.
These projects show how Eileen creates. Her work exceeds the boundaries of limning poems in the moody moonlight, adjectives and dotted i's. It stands as a decalcification, if you will.
I write about this book because it brims with useful tabiosity. The relatable aspect of how Eileen places her work within the interests and imperatives of her life delivers a good and useful impact. In terms of any work, the message says, accept who you are, where you have been, listen, and trust that your engagement can touch something beyond you. That’s simple enough, even for an educated person.
I know that the word poetry will set a barrier for some people, but this gallimaufry of direct resonance from Eileen’s working machine seems to offer many pastures. It would be the reader of choice who read this book and did the central whatever of their life. As a final notion, always take note of balloons in hallways.