AGIMAT

Romalyn Ante

ISBN 10: 1784745774 / ISBN 13: 9781784745776

Published by Vintage Publishing, GB, 2024

About this Item

'An alchemical wonder of a poet' Fiona Benson, author of Vertigo and Ghost'Vivid, lyrical, and always surprising . . . Both a balm and a call to action' Nathan Filer, author of The Shock of the FallA sparkling new collection from Romalyn Ante, nurse and prizewinning poet, moving between the Philippines and Wolverhampton, myth and the grind of the present-day NHS.'this charms the buried light of stars -this deflects bullets - this unblooms a war - 'In some Filipino clans, parents pass down to each child an AGIMAT, an amulet, in the hope its magic will protect and empower them. At the dawn of the pandemic, the poet - a practising nurse in the NHS - is thrown onto the frontlines of the war against COVID-19.Past conflicts swim into the now. When she falls in love with a man of Japanese heritage, it forces a reckoning with her family's suffering under Japan's brutal wartime occupation of the Philippines. Elsewhere, we meet the irrepressible goddess Mebuyan, who, in Philippine myth, nurses the spirits of children in the underworld. Here, she watches over young people in crisis - a girl who can't stop cutting herself, a teenager who has leapt from a railway viaduct.These are poems of strength and solace; they question what it means to fight, and what it takes to heal.

Seller Inventory # LU-9781784745776

Bibliographic Details

• Title: AGIMAT
• Publisher: Vintage Publishing, GB
• Publication Date: 2024
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1784745774
• ISBN 13: 9781784745776
• Binding: Paperback
• Condition: New
• Dimensions: 13.5W x 2H x 21.6D centimeters 13.5 centimeters width by 2 centimeters height by 21.6 centimeters depth
• Weight: 300 grams

About this title

Synopsis

this charms the buried light of stars – this deflects bullets – this unblooms a war –

In some Filipino clans, parents pass down to each child an agimat, an amulet or charm, in the hope its magic will protect and empower them. In a world of daily pain and loss, Romalyn Ante’s second collection asks how do we keep safe what we hold most dear? At the dawn of the pandemic, the poet – a practicing nurse in the NHS – is thrown onto the frontlines of the war against COVID-19, and finds herself questioning what it means to fight, and what it takes to heal.
V Past conflicts swim into the now: when the poet falls in love with a man of Japanese heritage, it forces a reckoning with her family’s suffering under Japan’s brutal wartime occupation of the Philippines. Elsewhere, we meet the irrepressible, many-breasted goddess Mebuyan, the poet’s alter ego. In Philippine myth, Mebuyan nurses the spirits of departed children in the underworld, but here she watches over young people in crisis – a girl who can’t stop cutting herself, a teenager who has leapt from a railway viaduct. These are poems of strength and solace – they quiver with heart, feeling a way toward hope.

About the Author

Romalyn Ante FRSL is a Filipino-British poet, essayist, and editor. She was born in Lipa, Philippines, and was 16 years old when her mother – a nurse in the NHS – brought the family to live in the UK. Her debut poetry collection, Antiemetic for Homesickness, was shortlisted for the Jhalak Prize and longlisted for the Dylan Thomas Prize in 2020, and her second collection, AGIMAT, published in 2024. She lives in the West Midlands where until recently she worked as a full-time NHS nurse and psychotherapist, specialising in the mental healthcare of young people.