V for Voices

This slim anthology of poetry, of varying mimetic forms and degrees, also dabbles in the discourse on, inter alia, market democracy, socialism, people power, sovereignty, exile and alienation, Filipino Diaspora, critical race theory, Trumpism, Dutertismo, and in addressing the tensions of certain grand isms such as between domination and liberation, conservatism and liberalism, negative liberty and positive liberty, with a view to articulating the opportunity for rethinking what we think. "For art to be meaningful," Filipino novelist F. Sionil Jose has told a group of aspiring writers, "it must not be just for enjoyment. It must have relevance to the times, to human beings, to serving justice."

Art is also political. And political action through the exchange of voices is essential to collective citizenship.