AGIMAT
Published on 5. September 2024
Book
Paperback/Softback
96 pages
978-1-78474-577-6 (ISBN)
Description
'An alchemical wonder of a poet' Fiona Benson, author of Vertigo & Ghost
'Vivid, lyrical, and always surprising . . . Both a balm and a call to action' Nathan Filer, author of The Shock of the Fall
A 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.
'Vivid, lyrical, and always surprising . . . Both a balm and a call to action' Nathan Filer, author of The Shock of the Fall
A 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.
Reviews / Votes
'Ante is an alchemical wonder of a poet: unparalleled in her image-making, raw to both historical and contemporary damage and rich in cultures. Utterly original, AGIMAT is itself a talisman - a fiery binding of pain and a message of love to the wounded and lost. Keep these poems with you as I will - always' * Fiona Benson * 'With precision, deftness, and at times playfulness, AGIMAT weaves in mythical and modern imageries, the universal with the intimate. The result is a powerful and hopeful collection, filled with heart and beauty, that illuminates us to the many forms that caring and healing can take' * Cecile Pin * 'Romalyn Ante's mesmeric new collection is deeply rooted in the dualities of life, cultural identity, and the profound interplay of personal and communal experience. Vivid, lyrical, and always surprising, it is a testament to those who navigate the complex legacies of history toward healing and resilience. It is both a balm and a call to action, reminding us of the transformative power of bearing witness.' * Nathan Filer * 'If translation is always physical, often joyous work - the act of carrying meaning across the chasms separating languages - then AGIMAT is about the daily embodied acts involved in this labour. To live in translation is to be estranged. Yet the joy of translation comes from this very estrangement. Romalyn Ante makes us feel this, as estrangement transforms into its own vibrant space of joy. Ante's irrepressible inquiries into translation create a colourful linguistic sanctuary' * Jason Allen-Paisant * 'Romalyn Ante's first collection introduced us to a voice both vibrant and thoughtful. This collection grows out from this - now coming with a feeling of added power and forcefulness. This is a special book - both urgent and beautiful' * Niall Campbell * [A] spellbinding meditation on love and loss... Her poems throb vigorously with life... in the hands of Romalyn Ante the human self far exceeds statistics and the subtotal of all its scars * Observer * Ante's second collection is rooted in her experience as an NHS nurse during Covid. She is unflinching in detailing the physical and emotional exhaustion of that labour... what unites the poems is her simple, beautiful language, and an awareness of the difficulty of healing * Guardian *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Vintage Publishing
Product notice
Paperback (UK-trade)
Dimensions
Height: 208 mm
Width: 135 mm
Thickness: 12 mm
Weight
113 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-78474-577-6 (9781784745776)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
E-Book
09/2024
Vintage Digital
€6.99
Available for download
Person
Romalyn Ante FRSL is a Filipino-British poet, essayist, and editor. She was born and bred in Lipa, Philippines. She was 16 years old when her mother - a nurse in the NHS - brought the family to the UK. Her debut collection, Antiemetic for Homesickness (Chatto, 2020), was shortlisted for the Jhalak Prize and longlisted for the Dylan Thomas Prize. She is the co-founding editor of harana poetry, a magazine for poets who write in English as a second or parallel language. She was awarded the Jerwood Compton Poetry Fellowship in 2021-2022, sits on the editorial board for Poetry London magazine, and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. She lives in the West Midlands where she works as a registered NHS nurse and psychotherapist, specialising in the mental healthcare of young people.